Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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On The 11th Of June We Landed On The Right Bank Of The Orinoco At
Puerto De Los Frailes, At The Distance Of Three Leagues Above The
Ciudad De La Piedra, To Take Altitudes Of The Sun.
The longitude of
this point is 67 degrees 26 minutes 20 seconds, or 1 degree 41 minutes
east of the mouth of the Apure.
Farther on, between the towns of La
Piedra and Muitaco, or Real Corona, are the Torno and Boca del
Infierno, two points formerly dreaded by travellers. The Orinoco
suddenly changes its direction; it flows first east, then
north-north-west, and then again east. A little above the Cano
Marapiche, which opens on the northern bank, a very long island
divides the river into two branches. We passed on the south of this
island without difficulty; northward, a chain of small rocks, half
covered at high water, forms whirlpools and rapids. This is La Boca
del Infierno, and the Raudal de Camiseta. The first expeditions of
Diego Ordaz (1531) and Alonzo de Herrera (1535) have given celebrity
to this bar. The Great Cataracts of the Atures and Maypures were then
unknown; and the clumsy vessels (vergantines), in which travellers
persisted in going up the river, rendered the passage through the
rapids extremely difficult. At present no apprehension is felt in
ascending or descending the Orinoco, at any season, from its mouth as
far as the confluence of the Apure and the Meta. The only falls of
water in this space are those of Torno or Camiseta, Marimara, and
Cariven or Carichana Vieja.
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