Crossing from Cumanà to La Guaira by sea our plan was to stay in Caracas until the end of the rainy season; from there we would go to the great plains, the llanos, and the Orinoco missions; then we would travel upstream on the great river from south of the cataracts to the Río Negro and the Brazilian frontier, and return to Cumanà through the capital of Spanish Guiana, called Angostura (64) or Straits. It was impossible to calculate how long this journey of some 700 leagues would take in canoes. On the coasts only the mouth of the Orinoco is known. No trading is carried out with the missions. What lies beyond the plains is unknown country for the inhabitants of Caracas and Cumanà. In a land where few travel, people enjoy exaggerating the dangers arising from the climate, animals and wild men.