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part of Guayana, from Angostura on the Orinoco up as far as the banks on this lower side of the Cuchivero river, making a straight line from the banks of the said Orinoco to the Marañon, or Ama zon the Reverend Capuchin Fathers, to encourage their conversions, remaining with the territory and district lying between the said Angostura and the principal mouth of the said Orinoco, where the missionaries joining them will distribute themselves; and the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, from the banks of the upper part of the said Cuchivero river, all the rest of the Orinoco, going always up, and all limits or boundaries in a straight line from the Orinoco to the Marañon, or Amazon.

"Which, having been heard and understood by the said Reverend Franciscan Fathers, they unanimously and of one accord said that once, twice, thrice, and as many times as may be necessary, for themselves and in the name of their Prelate, the Very Reverend Father Commissary of Piritu, Friar Francisco Rodriguez, and the other missionaries of the said conversion of Piritu, present and future, they accepted and they did accept the said territory so designated for them, and with demonstrations of humility and gratefulness they extended repeated thanks to the said Reverend Father Superior and Prefect and the other Capuchin Fathers, each regarding the other and promising themselves great increase of Christianity through the medium of so much union and fervor.

"After which they agreed, and said unanimously and of one accord, that in order to prevent difficulties in the future that might disturb the peace they desire to maintain, that they establish, and from the moment stipulate and agree, that whereas there are several Indian Nations within the limits designated, they declare that as regards the conversion of said nations so situated within the limits, it is to be free for him who most labors in its advancement; so that, without excepting any tribe, each Mission may, on its own part, convert and advance as many as it can of the nations within its limits; and the Indians once having been settled, they are to belong to the Mission of the sect settling them, without being allowed to pass to another; binding themselves reciprocally, should they do so, to always return them to their possession, which is established as a distinct article, to act contrary wise being prohibited now and forever-to which they agree.

"And his Honor, the said Governor and Captain General said that he approved, and did approve, this compromise, convention and agreement, and that he therein interposed and did interpose his authority and judicial decree that it may have force and effect now and at all times, and that in the name of the King our Lord he extended thanks to the Reverend Fathers for the Apostolic zeal shown in the increase of the holy Catholic faith, and he ordered me, the Notary, to furnish their Reverences with the exemplified copies they should request, and his

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Honor with those necessary to report to H. M.; and he signed it with the Fathers to which I certify.

"And it having been considered in my Council of the Indias, with the opinion of my Attorney General, it has been resolved to grant this request, and to confirm and approve in every respect (as by these presents I do) the agreement aforesaid.

Extract from Report by Joseph Gumilla, S. J. to the King of Spain, as to Means for Preventing Hostilities of Dutch and Caribs, [? 1745.]

[Reprinted from Blue Book, No. 3, pp. 262-263.]

The deplorable state of the Missions which the Province of the Society of Jesus for the New Kingdom began to restore on the Orinoco in the month of December, 1731, has obliged my Province to send me to this Court (having regard to my twenty-two years' experience in missionary life) to throw myself at the feet of Your Majesty, and as an eye-witness to represent these grave evils, and beg their remedy from Your Royal Benevolence, to the greater glory of God, the service of Your Majesty, and increase of your Royal dominions, which not only the Jesuit missionaries, but many apostolic men, Franciscans and Capuchins, will endeavour to promote on the said Orinoco.

Sire, the harvest is great, the soil of many pagan nations well-disposed and fertile for the reception of the Holy Gospel, and the labourers (though few) would produce much fruit if the enemy of souls did not avail himself of the avarice of the Dutch, and the bloodthirsty and inhuman character of the Caribs, to destroy in a day the apostolic labour of a whole year. They come up from the sea (both these nations) to rob and burn the villages of the Missions and carry off as many captives as they can, and sell them at Essequibo, Berbice, and Surinam, colonies of the aforesaid Republic established (not on the Orinoco), but a good distance to the east of its mouths. Besides the profit from slaves the Dutch are moved to keep up their strong alliance with the Caribs, by the value of the balsam of Tolu (Aceite de Maria), and of a species of bixwort found on the Orinoco. To procure these some Dutch introduce themselves among the fleets of these Indians, painted according to the custom of the said savages, by which they encourage them, and add boldness to the lamentable destruction which they work. Added to which, many Caribs receive a great supply of arms, ammunition, glass beads, and other trifles, with the understanding that they are to be paid for within a certain time

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with Indians, which they must take prisoners on the Orinoco. And when the time has elapsed, the Dutch creditors encourage and even oblige the Caribs to their bloody raids against the defenceless Indians of the Orinoco.

From this root sprang the first and second ruin of the Missions which the Jesuits established with great labour and trouble in the years 1684 and 1693, when the Reverend Fathers Ignacio Fiñol, Ignacio Toebas, Gaspar Bek, and Vicente Lovero gloriously shed their blood in defence of their sheep, as did also Tiburcio de Medina, the Captain of the guard, leaving the settlements once and again sacked and burnt.

But coming to our own times, from the same Dutch root springs the pride of the Chief Taricura and of the Caribs, his successors, and the incessant evil which it has wrought us from the year 1733 to the year 1738 (and, as I hold for certain, even to the present day) in the colonies on the Orinoco, with the death of many Indian catecumens, and the captivity of many more. On the 31st of March, 1733, they burnt our Colony of Our Lady of the Angels, and on the following day they came down on that of San Joseph de Otomacos with twenty-seven war canoes, and if the soldiers of the guard and the friendly Indians had not defended themselves valiantly, they would have burnt and sacked the place and taken my companions and myself prisoners, or killed us for their banquets, for this was the principal end of this and the following attacks, which I will briefly touch upon.

In the year 1735 the said Caribs burnt the settlement of San Miguel de Richado, and took a great number of Indians prisoners leaving many others dead. On the 29th of September, 1735, they stormed the colony of Mamo, which was under the care of the Franciscan Fathers. They killed nearly all the Indians and two soldiers, and after having shot the Venerable Father Andres Lopez through the body, and struck him on the mouth with one of their wooden weapons, they hung him when half dead, and returned with many captives to take the settlement of San Antonio de Caroni, which belongs to the Capuchin Fathers, unawares; but God willed that the aggressors should be discovered, and they were obliged to retire, and content themselves with having killed one of the principal Indians of that Mission. Shortly afterwards they burnt the colony of Conception of Uyapi, from whence the Franciscan Fathers had recalled their missionaries of Piritu that their lives might not be uselessly sacrificed. A few days afterwards they burnt the colony of San Joseph de Otomacos, and we were obliged to fly with a few Indians to a more secure and distant spot, where we were exposed to hunger and the total want of all necessaries. Though here set forth in a few words, these are bitter afflictions which have caused, and still cause, the missionary Fathers many tears; but their grief is no sooner grown more calm than we seek places of more security, gather together the dispersed Indians, and form new Colonies, with the grievous obstacle of fierce and repeated

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assaults from the Caribs on the small guard which assists us; but with the evident protection of God and the firm hope that Your Majesty's pious zeal will put an end to these evils, the Jesuits, Franciscans, and Capuchins still stand firm in Orinoco; and though they know the boldness of the Caribs will be daily increased by the encouragement they receive from the Dutch, the knowledge is so far from inspiring them with terror that many others at the sight of their glorious labours desire to bear them company.

Besides the aforesaid, I would also bring to the high understanding of Your Majesty that this great River Orinoco is like an open door, giving free access to the most interior provinces of Cumaná, Carácas, Maracaybo, and to all the New Kingdom of Granada. All these provinces have their fronts (so to speak) protected by fortresses, redoubts, &c., but their backs are unprotected on account of the free access given by the Orinoco, a point worthy of all consideration, and of notable consequence.

From whence it follows that we must look not only to the pacification of the Orinoco and the forwarding of its missions, but also that this great river shall have a door whose key is in the possession of Your Majesty, that thus the three bodies of missionaries may continue to instruct these uncivilized nations in peace, and that the back of the adjacent provinces, which form such a considerable part of South America, may be guarded and secured.

This was the aim of our province of the New Kingdom when in the year 1719 they sent Fathers Juan Capuel and Juan Romeo to explore the three hundred leagues of the Orinoco which flow from the River Meta to Guayana, which they did with all exactitude, taking with them persons well acquainted with the territory.

Extracts from description of the Lower Orinoco, Movements of Caribs, etc., by Ramon Santa Maria. From correspondence of Yturriaga, 1747.

Three leagues below the city that great river divides itself into three large branches. Two of these, which bend to the north and northeast, separate into so many channels that they empty into the sea through more than forty mouths. The third, which bends to the east, flows almost whole for fifty leagues until it empties into the sea under the

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name of ship channel (boca grande de Navois), because it is only through this that small vessels of six guns can go up.

Following the large branch in its course to the sea, some rivers are encountered which empty on the right hand, like that named the Aquire, and a branch of the Barema river, which separates into many other branches, the great windward point forming a labyrinth of islands and channels. Through these channels, without going out to sea, one can go in canoes up to the stronghold called the Post, which the Dutch of Esquivo maintain with three men and two small cannons, sixteen leagues from the Colony towards the ship channel, and this is the way taken by the Dutch when they return from the Orinoco in small vessels, in order not to expose themselves to the strong currents and winds which retard and render dangerous the navigation outside.

The Caribs, which live within the Orinoco line, occupy about seventy leagues of the southern bank from the mouth of the Caroni, distant six leagues to the west of Guayana, up to the mouth of the Caura river. Their audacity and superiority over other nations keeps them in constant action against the latter, however distant they be, to the end of making them slaves and selling them to the residents of the Dutch Colonies of Esquibo, Berbice, Corentin and Surinam. For this trip they have, besides the navigation of the Orinoco and the channels of the Barima, a road on land which, crossing the Caroni above the Guajana Missions, reaches the Aquire river, and they go down by this river to near its mouth, when they act in concert with some vessel, which waits on this river, and when not, they enter the Yuruari and follow it down to the Esquibo.

Inventory of Stock etc., at the Cuyuni Post, 1747.

[Reprinted from Ven. Sp. Docs., Vol. 2, pp. 33-34.]

In the year 1747 of the transfer of accounts to the former Postmaster and stock of the same, as follows:

Nine yards of coarse cloth to buy casave (tapioca bread) for the people

of the Post's maintenance.

Fifteen knives for the same.

Eleven knives that were paid to the Indians for carrying a despatch to the Governor.

A hatchet and short broadsword to buy a curiara (small Indian boat). A looking glass to buy casave.