Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2) / with scientific elucidations

by Alexander von Humboldt

In the vicinity of the mouths of the Guaviare and Atabapo grows the Piriguao,[62] one of the noblest of palm trees, whose smooth and polished trunk, between 60 and 70 feet high, is adorned with a delicate flag-like foliage curled at the margins. I know no palm which bears such large and beautifully coloured fruits. They resemble peaches, and are tinged with yellow mingled with a roseate crimson. Seventy or eighty of them form enormous pendulous bunches, of which each tree annually ripens three. This fine tree might be called the peach palm. The fleshy fruits are from the luxuriance of vegetation most often devoid of seeds, and offer to the natives a nutritious farinaceous food which, like plantains and potatoes, can be prepared in a variety of ways.

Hitherto, or as far as the mouth of the Guaviare, the Orinoco flows along the southern declivity of the Sierra de Parime; and from its southern bank the vast forest-covered plain of the Amazons River stretches far beyond the equator, even to the 15th degree of south latitude. When the Orinoco turns suddenly to the north near San Fernando de Atabapo, it breaks through a part of the mountain chain along the base of which it had previously flowed; and this is the site of the great waterfalls of Atures and Maypures. The river bed is here everywhere hemmed in by colossal masses of rock, and divided as it were into separate reservoirs by natural dikes.

In front of the entrance of the Meta there stands in the middle of a mighty whirlpool an isolated cliff, to which the natives have given the very appropriate name of the “rock of patience;” because when the waters are low it sometimes costs those who are ascending the river two days to pass it. Here the Orinoco, eating deep into the land, forms picturesque rocky bays. Opposite to the Indian mission of Carichana the traveller is surprised by the singular prospect which presents itself to his view. His eye is involuntarily riveted on an abrupt granitic rock, el Mogote de Cocuyza, a cube with vertically precipitous sides, above 200 feet high and bearing on its upper surface a forest of trees of rich and varied foliage. Resembling a Cyclopean monument in its simple grandeur, this mass of rock rises high above the tops of the surrounding palms, its sharp outlines appearing in strong relief against the deep azure of the sky, and its summit uplifting high in air a forest above the forest.

In descending the Orinoco from this point, still within the range of the Carichana mission, we arrive at the part of the river where the stream has forced for itself a way through the narrow pass of Baraguan. Here we recognise everywhere traces of chaotic devastation. To the north, (towards Uruana and Encaramada), masses of granite of extraordinarily notched and serrated outline and grotesque aspect shine with dazzling whiteness high above the thickets from amidst which they rise.

It is in this region, after receiving the Apure, that the Orinoco leaves the granitic chain of mountains and flows eastward to the Atlantic, dividing the impenetrable forests of Guiana from the grassy plains on which the vault of heaven seems everywhere to rest as on the horizon of the ocean. Thus the elevated cluster of the Parime mountains, which occupies the entire space between the sources of the Jao and the Caura, is surrounded on three sides, to the South, to the West, and to the North, by the Orinoco. Below Carichana the course of the river is uninterrupted by rocks or rapids to its mouth, excepting at the whirlpool of the Boca del Infierno (Hell’s mouth) near Muitaco, where, however, the rocks which occasion the rapid do not extend across the entire bed of the river as at Atures and Maypures. In these lower parts of the river in the vicinity of the sea, the only danger feared by the boatmen is that of encountering the great natural rafts, consisting of trees torn from the banks by the swelling of the river, against which canoes are often wrecked during the night. These rafts, covered like meadows with flowering water plants, remind the spectator of the floating gardens of the Mexican lakes.

After this rapid review of the course of the Orinoco, and of its general relations to the surrounding country, I pass to the description of the Falls of Maypures and Atures.

Between the sources of the rivers Sipapo and Ventuari a granite ridge projects from the elevated mountain group of Cunavami, and advances far to the west towards the mountains of Uniama. Four streams, which may be said to mark the limits of the cataracts of Maypures, descend from this ridge; two, the Sipapo and the Sanariapo, on the eastern side of the Orinoco; and two, the Cameji and the Toparo, on its western side. Near the Missionary village of Maypures the mountains retire and form a wide bay open to the south-west.

The foaming stream flows at the present time at the foot of the eastern mountain declivity, and far to the west we recognise the ancient bank now forsaken by the water. A grass-covered plain, only about thirty feet above the present highest level of the river, extends between the two chains of hills. The Jesuits have built upon it a small church formed of the trunks of palm trees.

The geological aspect of the district, the shapes of the rocks of Keri and Oco, which have so much the character of islands, the water-worn hollows in the first named of these rocks, situated at exactly the same height as the cavities in the opposite island of Uivitari, all testify that the Orinoco once filled the whole of this now dry gulf or bay. Probably the waters formed a wide lake as long as the northern dike was able to withstand their pressure. When it gave way, the prairie now inhabited by the Guareke Indians must have been the first part which appeared above the waters; which may subsequently, perhaps, have long continued to surround the rocks of Keri and Oco, which rising like mountain fortresses from the ancient bed of the river, present a picturesque aspect. As the waters gradually diminished they withdrew altogether to the foot of the eastern hills, where the river now flows.

This conjecture is confirmed by several circumstances. The Orinoco, like the Nile near Philæ and Syene, has the property of imparting a black colour to the reddish white masses of granite which it has bathed for thousands of years. As far as the waters reach, one may remark on the rocky shore the leaden-coloured coating described in page [189]: its presence, and the hollows before mentioned, mark the ancient height of the waters of the Orinoco.