The Catañapo is a turbulent stream of clear, cold water that dashes down from the near-by Cerro Sipapo. Not far above its mouth is a good-sized village of Piaroas, who come down occasionally with plantains, pawpaws, and other fruits which they exchange for cloth and sugar at Atures. When the Indians come down they apparently bring with them numbers of freshly killed monkeys, the flesh of which is greatly esteemed as food. We saw several heaps of the charred bones near frequently used camping-sites, here as well as at Zamuro. The clear water of the Catañapo abounds in fish which may be seen twenty-five feet or more beneath the surface. Some were fully two feet long and resembled giant black bass; they refused to be tempted with meat bait, but rushed greedily for bright-colored objects such as fruit and flowers; they would take half an orange at a gulp. Atures, consisting of six or eight mud and grass huts, owes its existence to the fact that the governor lives on the Catañapo and all the residents are his employees. Formerly the town was larger and there were thirty ox-carts plying back and forth across the portage; but the governor promptly selected the few he wanted and then discouraged competition in such a manner that he was shortly left alone in the field. To us he was most cordial, and immediately placed his carts at our disposal; nor did he examine our luggage, which was his self-imposed duty, and extract anything that suited his fancy. The two miles from Atures to Salvajito, the port of embarkation above Atures Rapids, were covered in ox-carts which lumbered slowly along over the uneven semiarid country. Salvajito was only a small cleared space in the forest fringing the river.