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CH. xxvn INDIAN ROCK-PICTURES 475
the Barre nation, to point out to me any engraved
rocks which lay in our way. On reaching the Pedra
de Culimacari, a bed of granite a little beyond the
mouth of the Pacimoni, we found it still under water,
so that the figures seen there and copied by Hum-
boldt in the beginning of the century were not
visible. The pilot consoled me by saying that when
we reached the Laja de Capibara he would show
me there ten times more figures than I had missed
seeing at Culimacari. On the 9th of December we
passed the mouth of Lake Vasiva, and on the iith
reached a modern Indian village
called Yamadubani
(Wild Man's Land), or more commonly Pueblo
de Ponciano, having been founded by an
named Ponciano, who was not long dead.
Indian
Early
on the morning of the i3th \ve came upon the
deserted site of another village called Capibara,
being the nom de guerre of its founder, after whose
death it has become depopulated. It is on the left
(S.E.) side of the Casiquiari. Leaving here part
of the crew to cook our breakfast, I took with me
the rest, and under the guidance of the pilot struck
into the forest in quest of picture-writing. After
walking about half a mile, we came out on large flat
sheets of granite rock, naked save where in fissures
of the rock there were small oases of vegetation,
the first plants to establish themselves there being
a few lichens and mosses, and, rarely, some stunted
shrubs. The bare places, one of which was an acre
in extent, were covered with rude figures, the outlines
of which were about half an inch wide, and
were graven in the rock to nearly an inch deep.
The figures were in perfect preservation except that
in rare cases they were obliterated by the shaling of