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Show CAT.lRACT~ OF TilE ORINOCO. 173 almost horizontal bed. An arm of the Nile (the Green Nile, llahrel- Azrek) flows from the celebrated mountain-lake near Gondar, in the Abys inian Gojam Alps, to Sycne and Elcphantis, through the mountains of Shangnlla and ennnar. In a similar manner, the Orinoco rises on the southern declivity of the mountain chain which, in the 4th and 5th parallel of north latitude, extends westward. from French Guiana towards the Andes of New Granada. The sources of the Orinoco (G) have never been visited by any European, or even by any natives who have been in communication with Europeans. In ascending the Upper Orinoco in the summer of 1800, we passed the Mission of Esmeralda, and reached the mouths of the Sodomoni and the Guapo. Here rises high above the clouds the massive summit of the Yeonnamari or Duida, a grand and picturesque mountain which presents to the spectator one of the finest scenes of nature which the tropical world has to offer. Its altitude, according to my trigonometrical measurement, is 8278 (8823 Eng.) feet above the level of the sea. The southern slope of the mountain presents a treeless, grassy surface, and the humid evening air is filled far and wide with the fragrance of the ripe ananas. The stalks of the pineapples, swelling with rich juice, rise between the lowly herbs of the meadow, and the golden fruit is seen shining at a distance from under its leafy crown of bluish-green. Where mountain springs or rivulets break forth from the turfy covering, the scene is further adorned by groups of tall fan-palms, whose foliage never feels the influence of a cool breeze. On the east of the Duida mountain a dense thicket of wild Cacao groves begins, and amidst these are found trees of the celebrated Bertholletia excelsa, the most vigorous of the productions of the tropical world. (7) Here the Indians colled the materials for their blow-pipes, colossal grass-stalks having joints above 18 feet long from knot to knot. (s) Some Franciscan monks have penetrated as far as the mouth of the Chiguire, where the river is already so narrow that the natives have thrown across it, near the waterfall of the Guaharibes, a suspension bridge formed of the twining stems of climbing plants. The Guaicas, a race of comparatively light com- 15* |