All I could say about our journey from Esmeralda to the mouth of the Atabapo would be merely a list of rivers and uninhabited places. From the 24th to the 27th of May we slept only twice on land; the first at the confluence with the Jao river and the second below the Santa Barbara mission on Minisi island. As the Orinoco has no shoals the Indian pilot let the canoe drift all night with the current. It took us only thirty-five hours to reach Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara mission is located a little to the west of the mouth of the Venturari river. We found in this small village of 120 inhabitants some traces of industry; but what the Indians produce is of little use to them; it is reserved for the monks or, as they say, for the church and the convent. We were told that a great silver lamp, bought at the expense of the neophytes, was expected from Madrid. Let us hope that after this lamp arrives they will think of clothing the Indians, buying them agricultural instruments, and schooling their children. The few oxen in the savannahs round the mission are not used to turn the mill (trapiche) to crush the juice from the sugar cane. This the Indians do and, as happens whenever Indians work for the church, they are not paid.