Until the second half of the eighteenth century the great Apure, Payare, Arauca and Meta rivers were hardly known in Europe by their names, and were obviously far less known than in preceding centuries when the valiant Felipe de Urre (90) and the conquerors of Tocayo crossed the llanos seeking the great city of El Dorado and the rich country of Omagua, the Timbuktu of the New World, beyond the Apure river. Such daring expeditions could take place only on a war footing. The weapons meant to protect the new colonizers were ceaselessly turned against the unhappy Indians. Following that period of violence and misery two Indian tribes, the Cabres and the Orinoco Caribs, became masters of those parts no longer being devastated by the Spaniards. Only poor monks were allowed to advance south of the steppes. The Venezuelan coast became isolated and the slow conquest of the Jesuit missionaries followed the banks of the Orinoco. It is hard to believe that the city of San Fernando de Apure, some 50 leagues from the coast, was not founded until 1789.

We began to load the new pirogue. It was, like all Indian canoes, made from one tree trunk, hollowed out by axe and fire. It was 40 feet long and 3 feet wide. Three people could not squeeze together from one side to the other. These pirogues are so unstable that the weight must be distributed very equally and if you want to stand up for a second you must warn the rowers (bogas) to lean over the other side. Without this precaution water would pour in on the lopsided side. It is difficult to form an idea of the inconveniences of these miserable boats.

A little above the Davipe mission the Río Negro receives a branch of the Casiquiare whose existence is a remarkable phenomenon in the history of river branching. This branch emerges from the Casiquiare, north of Vasiva, under the name Itinivi; and after crossing a flat, virtually uninhabited country some 25 leagues long, pours into the Río Negro under the name of Río Conorichite. It seemed to me, near its mouth, to be 120 toises wide, and added large quantities of white waters to the black waters. Even though the Conorichite current is very fast, you shorten the journey from Davipe to Esmeralda by three days using this canal. It is not surprising to find a double communication between the Casiquiare and the Río Negro when you recall that so many American rivers form deltas when they meet other rivers. In this way the Branco and the Jupura pour into the Río Negro and Amazon through many branches. At the confluence with the Jupura there is another more extraordinary phenomenon. Before joining the Amazon this river, which is its main recipient, sends three branches called Uaranapu, Manhama and Avateprana to the Jupura, which is none other than its tributary. The Amazon thus sends its waters into the Jupura before receiving the waters of the latter back.