Born among the Christians, having
travelled as far as the foot of the Rio Negro, understanding Spanish
and the language of the Macos, he thought himself superior to the
people of his tribe, and he no doubt soon forgot his forest love.
On the 31st of May we passed the rapids of Guahibos and Garcita. The
islands which rise in the middle of the waters of the river were
overspread with the purest verdure. The rains of winter had unfolded
the spathes of the vadgiai palm-tree, the leaves of which rise
straight toward the sky. The eye is never wearied of the view of those
scenes, where the trees and rocks give the landscape that grand and
severe character which we admire in the background of the pictures of
Salvator Rosa. We landed before sunset on the eastern bank of the
Orinoco, at the Puerto de la Expedicion, in order to visit the cavern
of Ataruipe, which is the place of sepulchre of a whole nation
destroyed. I shall attempt to describe this cavern, so celebrated
among the natives.
We climbed with difficulty, and not without some danger, a steep rock
of granite, entirely bare. It would have been almost impossible to fix
the foot on its smooth and sloping surface, if large crystals of
feldspar, resisting decomposition, did not stand out from the rock,
and furnish points of support.
