Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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It Much
Resembles The Rio Negro In The General Aspect Of The Landscape.
The
trees of the forest, as in the basin of the latter river, advance as
far as the beach, and there form a thick coppice; but the Cassiquiare
has white waters, and more frequently changes its direction.
Its
breadth, near the rapids of Uinumane, almost surpasses that of the Rio
Negro. I found it everywhere from two hundred and fifty to two hundred
and eighty toises, as far as above Vasiva. Before we passed the island
of Garigave, we perceived to the north-east, almost at the horizon, a
little hill with a hemispheric summit; the form which in every zone
characterises mountains of granite. Continually surrounded by vast
plains, the solitary rocks and hills excite the attention of the
traveller. Contiguous mountains are only found more to the east,
towards the sources of the Pacimoni, Siapa, and Mavaca. Having arrived
on the south of the Raudal of Caravine, we perceived that the
Cassiquiare, by the windings of its course, again approached San
Carlos. The distance from this fort to the mission of San Francisco
Solano, where we slept, is only two leagues and a half by land, but it
is reckoned seven or eight by the river. I passed a part of the night
in the open air, waiting vainly for stars. The air was misty,
notwithstanding the aguas blancas, which were to lead us beneath an
ever-starry sky.
The mission of San Francisco Solano, situated on the left bank of the
Cassiquiare, was founded, as were most of the Christian settlements
south of the Great Cataracts of the Orinoco, not by monks, but by
military authority.
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