Buet Granacion

Blue Mountains, in Jamaica Table of Good Hope Cape

Feet above the

level of the sea.

sea.

11. As the mountains of America are so much superior to those of the other divisions of the globe, so are the rivers of much greater magnitude and importance. The Magdalena rushes into the ocean with such a volume of waters, that it holds itself independent of the Atlantic to a distance of at least twenty leagues from its disemboguement, and as far as this the water is perfectly pure and sweet to drink. The mouth of this river is about sixty-three miles to the north-east of Carthagena, 11° 2′ north latitude, and was discovered in 1525 by Rodrigo Bastidas, on the day of St. Mary Magdalen, and first navigated in 1531. It rises in the province of Popayan, from two fountains found in the mountains to the west of Timana, through which it passes; it then traverses and irrigates the province and government of Neiba; and following its course from south to north runs upwards of 300 leagues before it enters the sea, receiving the waters of many other rivers; some of which, as the Cauca, Cesar or Pompatao, Carari, Macates, De la Miel, Zarate, and others, are of considerable magnitude. It is navigable from its mouth as far as the town and port of Honda, a distance of 160 leagues. Its shores are covered with thick woods, in which dwell some barbarian Indians, who are ferocious and treacherous. Immense tigers are found here; and the river swarms with an incredible number of alligators, as well as with every kind of fish. By this river you pass to the kingdom of New Granada, and on it a great traffic is carried on by means of large flat-bottomed boats, here called champanes; but

the navigation is rendered unpleasant on account of the great number of musquitoes with which it is infested.

12. The Maragnon is the largest known river, not only in America, but in the whole world. It is said to rise from the lake Lauricocha, in the province of Tarma, in Peru, 10° 29′ south latitude; but its most remote source is the river Beni, which rises in the Cordillera De Acama, about thirty-five miles from La Paz, in the province of Sicasica. It runs from north to south as far as the province of Yaguarsongo, in the kingdom of Quito, whence it forms the strait of Guaracayo, and follows its course from west to east, running a distance of 1800 leagues. The mouth or entrance of this river is about 180 miles wide; the tide-water ends at Obidos, about 400 miles from its mouth, where the river is 905 fathoms wide. The violence with which this river flows is so great that it repels the waters of the ocean, and retains its own stream pure and unimpregnated for a distance of eighty leagues in the sea; a circumstance the more wonderful, inasmuch as from the above distance of Obidos to its mouth, 400 miles, it has a fall of only four feet. Innumerable are the rivers which it receives in its long-extended course. The first who discovered the mouth of this immense river, was Vinceute Yanez Pinzon, in 1498. It was afterwards reconnoitred in 1541 by Francisco de Orellano, lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro; in 1560 by Pedro de Ursua, by order of Don Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, marquis of Canete, viceroy of Peru; in 1602 by the father Rafael Ferrer, of the abolished order of Jesuits of the province of Quito, and missionary amongst the Cofanes Indians; and in 1616 by order of Don Francisco de Borja, prince of Esquilache, viceroy of Peru; also in 1725 by Juan de Palacois, in company with fathers Domingo Breda and Andres de Toledo, of the order of San Francisco. Besides these, Pedro Texeria, a Portuguese, undertook, in the name of Santiago Raimundo de Norona, governor of San Luis de Maranham, the further navigation of this river, arriving by the Napo as far as the port of Payamino, in the province of Moxos. In 1639 Don Geronimo Fernandez de Cabrera, count of Chinchon, and viceroy of Peru, sent as far as Paru, the fathers Christoval de Acuna and Andres de Artieda, Jesuits of the province of Quito, and also the father Samuel Fritz, a German, and of the same extinguished company, a great missionary and profound mathematician. He it was that took the most exact observations as far as Paru, in his voyage made in the years 1689 and 1691, and who gave to the world the first geographical chart of the Maragnon, made and published in Quito in 1707. Another map was afterwards published by Don Carlos de la Condamine, of the royal academy of sciences at Paris, he being one of the persons commissioned to make astronomical observations under the equinoctial line. This last map is the most correct, and was made in the voyages he took in the Maragnon in the years 1743 and 1744, although it was much amended and enlarged by another map which had been formed by the father Juan Magnin, of the aforesaid company, and then missionary of the city

of Borja, of the province of Mainas, and an honorary academician of the sciences at Paris. See AMAZONS RIVER.

13. The Orinoco rises in latitude 5° north, and longitude 65° west; its course is very crooked, somewhat resembling the figure 6. For the first 300 miles it runs from north to south. It then turns and proceeds for several hundred miles in a westerly direction. At St. Fernando it receives the Guaviari, a considerable river from the south-west. Turning northward it receives the Vichade from the west, and precipitates its waters down the cataracts of Atures 740 miles from the mouth of this river, and 760 from its source. About 90 miles below the cataracts the river is enlarged by the junction of the Meta, which is 500 miles long, and navigable 370 miles; and about 90 miles from the mouth of this river, the Orinoco receives from the west the river Apure, a large river 520 miles long, having numerous branches and more rapids than the OriLoco itself, into which by many mouths it disembogues its waters. After receiving the Apure it turns, and, running about 400 miles in an easterly direction, divides itself into many branches, and empties its waters into the ocean opposite the island of Trinidad by fifty mouths, the two most distant of which are 180 miles apart: seven of them are navigable; and the southern one, called the Ship's Mouth, for vessels of more than 200 tons. The various islands formed by the mouths of the Orinoco, called the Orotoinecas or Palomas, are inhabited by a barbarous race of Indians of the same name.

14. The Orinoco bears the name of Iscarite until it passes through the country of the Tames Indians and acquires the name of that district, which it changes at passing through the settlement of San Juan de Yeima into that of Guayare, and then to that of Barragan just below where it is entered by the Meta. The Orinoco is navigable for more than 200 leagues for large vessels, and for canoes as far as Tunja, or San Juan de los Llanos. Its shores are covered with black forests, abounding with an infinite variety of animals and rare birds. All the rivers which rise on the southern declivity of the chain of Venezuela, and on the eastern declivity of the Andes, between the parallels of 2° 9' north latitude, are tributaries to the Orinoco, which conveys to the ocean the waters of an immense basin extending from east to west about 1000 miles, and from north to south from 500 to 600. This river was discovered by Columbus in 1498; and Diego de Ordez was the first who entered it, he having sailed up it in 1531. The soundings between Fort San Francisco de la Guiana and the channel of Limon are sixty-five fathoms, measured in 1734 by the engineer Don Pablo Dias Faxardo, and at the narrowest part more than eighty fathoms deep. In the months of August and September the river is accustomed to rise twenty fathoms at the time of its swelling or overflow, which lasts for tive months; and the natives have observed that it rises a yard higher every twenty-five years. The flux and reflux of the sea is clearly distinguishable in this river for 160 leagues. In the part where it is narrowest stands a formidable VOL. II.

rock in the middle of the water of forty yards high, and upon its top is a great tree, the head of which alone is never covered by the waters, and is very useful to mariners as a mark to guard against the rock. Such is the rapidity and force with which the waters of this river rush into the sea, that they remain pure and unconnected with the waters of the ocean for more than twenty leagues' distance.

15. There is a peculiar phenomenon in this river, namely, that it rises and falls once a year only; for it gradually rises during the space of five months, and then remains one month stationary; after which it falls for five months, and in that state continues for one month also. These alternate changes are regular, and even invariable, and may depend on the rains which fall in the mountains of the Andes every year about the month of April.

16. The river La Plata ranks in size next to the Maragnon, and gives its name to some very extensive provinces to the south of Brazil. It was discovered by the pilot Juan Diaz de Solis in 1515, who navigated it as far as a small island in south latitude 34° 23′ 30′′; and who, having seen on the shores some Indian cabins, had the boldness to disembark with ten men; when they were all put to death by the native inhabitants. Five years afterwards there arrived here Sebastian Gaboto, who passed from the service of the English to that of the Spaniards, by the former of whom he was sent to the discovery of the strait of Magellan; but, finding himself impeded in his views by an insurrection of his people, he was under the necessity of entering the river La Plata, and sailed as far as the island discovered by Solis, to which he gave the name of San Gabriel. Seven leagues above this island he discovered a river called San Salvador, and another at thirty leagues' distance, which the natives called Sarcana, where he built a fort, which he called the tower of Gaboto. He then pursued his voyage as far as the conflux of the rivers Paraná and Paraguay, and, leaving the former to the west, entered by the second, and had a battle with the Indians in which he lost twenty-five men; but succeeded in routing the infidels, taking from them many valuables of silver; and, supposing that there was an abundance of this metal in the territories washed by this river, he conferred upon it the name of Rio la Plata, (river of silver,) whereby it lost the original name of Solis, given it by the discoverer.

17. This river is accustomed to have such excessive high floods as to inundate the country for many leagues, fertilizing it as the Nile does Egypt. It abounds with an incredible multitude of fish, and on its shores are numerous most beautiful birds. The distance from the conflux of the Paraguay and Paraná to its mouth, is about 200 leagues by the course of the river, the whole space being filled with the most delightful islands, and being navigable for the largest vessels. By some writers this broad river has been called an estuary formed by the Uruguay and the Paraná, which unite near latitude 34° south, since it is nowhere less than thirty miles broad, and at its entrance into the ocean, between the parallels of 35 and 36°, expands to the

F

width of 150 miles. It contains numerous rocks and shoals, on which many valuable vessels have been wrecked. Impetuous winds prevail in this river, which the natives call pamperos; and which blow from west to south-west, acquiring from the shore so much the greater force in proportion to the smallness of the obstacles they find to impede their course, sweeping over llanuras of 200 leagues without being interrupted either by mountains or trees. On some occasions, though not very frequently, a regular hurricane takes place here; which, if it takes its course along the river, no vessel can resist, but its masts are immediately snapped in twain, as has happened to some ships, even when their top-masts and yard-arms were struck. In this river storms are more frequent than at sea. It laves the cities of Buenos Ayres, the colony of Sacramento, and Monte Video. It has some very good ports, and its mouth is in south latitude

35° 30'.

18. The Uruguay, the eastern branch of the Plata, rises on the western declivity of the Andes of Brazil; and pursues a south-westerly course of more than 1000 miles, for the last 200 of which it is navigable. The Paraná, or western branch of the Plata, is formed by an union of several small streams, rising also on the western declivity of the Andes in Brazil, between 18° and 21° degrees south latitude. After running about 1000 miles in a south-westerly direction, it receives the Paraguay from the north; and, after a further course of 500 miles, joins the Uruguay. The fine river Paraguay has its remote springs to the west of the heads of the Arinas, in latitude 13°; and, after pursuing a southerly course through nearly 14° of latitude, joins the Paraná in the parallel of 27° south latitude. The confluence of the Jauru with the Paraguay is a point of much importance: it guards and covers the great road between Villa Bella, Cuiaba, and their intermediate establishments, and in the same manner commands the navigation of both rivers, and defends the entrance into the interior of the latter captainship. The Paraguay from this place has a free navigation upward almost to its sources, which are about seventy leagues distant, with no other impediment than a large fall. These sources are said to contain diamonds.

19. Between the Paraguay and the Paraná there runs from north to south an extensive chain of mountains, which have the appellation of Amanbay; they terminate to the south of the river Iguatimy, forming a ridge running south and west, called Maracaver. From these mountains spring all the rivers which, from the Taquari south, enter the Paraguay; and from the same chain also proceed many other rivers, which, taking a contrary direction, flow into the Paraná; one of them, and the most southern, being the Iguatimy, which has its mouth in latitude 23° 47' a little above the Seven Falls, or the wonderful cataract of the Paraná. This cataract is a most sublime spectacle, being distinguished to the eye of the spectator from below by the appearance of six rainbows, and emitting from its fall a constant cloud of vapours, which impregnates the air to a great distance.

20. From the river Xexuy downwards the Paraguay takes its general source south for 32 leagues to the city of Assuncion, the capital of Paraguay, and the residence of its governor. Eleven leagues to the south of Coimbra, on the west side of the Paraguay, is the mouth of Bahia Negra, a large sheet of water of six leagues in extent, being five leagues long from north to south; it receives the waters of the wide-flooded plains and lands to the south and west of the mountains of Albuquerque. At this bay the Portuguese possessions on both banks of the Paraguay terminate.

21. To the above rivers we may add the Janeiro, a river giving the name to that captainship in Brazil, being so called from its being discovered on the 1st of January, 1516, and which forms a large and convenient bay, much frequented by merchant vessels; the Apure, which, after running 300 leagues through the kingdom of Granada, enters by three mouths into the Orinoco with such force, that the latter resigns its current to the influence of the Apure for upwards of a league; the Negro, also tributary to the Orinoco, which it enters at a disemboguement a league and a half wide; the Valdivia, in the kingdom of Chili, which is so large, clear, and deep, that vessels of the greatest burden come close up to the city, three leagues from its mouth; the Biobio, and the Maule, both in the kingdom of Chili, whose shores abound no less in natural curiosities, and in gold and silver minerals, than they are noted for the famous battles fought between the Spaniards and the native Araucanians. In the Maule is found a clay as white as snow, smooth and greasy to the touch, extremely fine, and sprinkled with brilliant specks. It is found on the borders of several rivers and brooks in the province of Maule, in strata which run deep into the ground. Its surface, when seen at a distance, has the appearance of ground covered with snow; and is so unctuous and slippery, that it is almost impossible to walk upon it without falling. It does not effervesce with acids; and, instead of losing in the fire any portion of its shining whiteness, it acquires a slight degree of transparency. It is believed to be very analagous to the kaolin of the Chinese; and that, combined with fusible spar, of which there are great quantities in the province, it would furnish an excellent porceÎain.

22. The deserts of South America are vast and numerous, and are commonly known under the titles of paramos, llanos, and savannas. The former consist of table-lands resting upon mountains, several of them of greater altitude than the highest mountains of the Old World; the llanos are plains of the level country, of many leagues in extent; and, with the savannas, are sometimes entirely barren and sandy, and sometimes covered in part, particularly on the verge of the valleys or ravines, with rank vegetation. These deserts are common to every part of South America; but those in the neighbourhood of Caracas and La Plata are the most extensive. In the latter the traveller will sometimes see large flocks of cattle, of all descriptions, hurrying to some distant lake, to which they are

led by instinct, to quench their parching thirst; and with such force do they plunge into the water, that those who arrive first are sure to be drowned by the motion of those that are behind preventing them from recovering the shore.

23. The lakes of this country are rather large than numerous; many of them being nothing but the overflowings of immense rivers, and accordingly appearing in the winter, and being perfectly dried in the summer, when they form many of the savannas of which we have just spoken. Amongst the regular and more important lakes we shall particularize the following:-the lake of Maracaibo took its title from a cacique of this name, who was living at the time of the entrance of the Spaniards. It is about 132 miles long from north to south, and, at the broadest part, 90 wide (though Coleti reduces it to 33), and is formed by many rivers. In it are two small islands, the one called De las Palomas, the other De la Vigia. In the high sea-tides, the waters of the gulf of Venezuela enter this lake, and then they are somewhat brackish. Its first discoverer was Bartholomew Sailler, a German lieutenant of the General Ambrosio de Alfinger, who entered it in 1529; and, from having found a number of houses built in the same manner as they are at Venice, gave it the name of Venezuela. There are not more than four very small settlements; and the beams of timber on which the houses are built are converted into stone as far as they are immersed in the water. The extraordinary lake of Valencia is of an oblong form, and, although it receives the waters of twenty rivers, has no visible outlet. It has been diminishing for twenty years, and its waters, as they recede, leave behind them a rich productive soil, but an unhealthy air. The cultivators are, in some parts, from the want of water, under the necessity of draining the neighbouring streams to irrigate their plantations. The eastern side is laid out in tobacco-grounds. The lake of Parima, in Guiana, is an oblong sheet of water, 100 miles long, and 50 broad, in an island of which is a rock of glittering mica, celebrated as having been the seat of El Dorado, a suppositious city, the streets of which were paved with gold, alluded to by Milton in his Paradise

Lost.

24. No country in the world is more famous for its enormous gulfs than South America. The Gulf of Mexico of itself is an extensive sea, which almost intersects the two continents. Mr. Thompson has published a tract, wherein he attempts to explain how this gulf has been formed by the natural ablution of ages. He shows that there is a constant stream running from the bottom of New Holland, round the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic, into this gulf, whence it runs up the side of North America, forming the gulf-stream, and so onwards to the north beyond Newfoundland, &c. He also points out the peculiar circumstance of this stream's following the exact course of the sun's ecliptic, and ending, with respect to the gulf, exactly in that point where the continent is narrowest, namely, at the isthmus of Darien or Panama. The cutting across this isthmus has long been a subject of interest with politicians,

and nature will probably effect what human skill and labour could never hope to accomplish. It is a fact but little known, yet decidedly true, that the sea on the side of the gulf is about twenty-five feet higher than the waters in the South Sea on the opposite side. When Buonaparte had thoughts of going through Egypt to India, he sent some cognoscenti to survey the passage of the Red Sea, who pronounced the waters of this arm of the ocean to be about twenty-seven feet higher than the waters of the Mediterranean. The coincidence is strong and striking; and argues amongst other speculations the great probability that the waters of this gulf will, in the course of time, work their own way into the Southern or Pacific ocean. In long. 79° 19′ W. lat. 9° 30′ N. of this sea is the fine bay of Panama. The port is formed by some islands two leagues and a half distant from the town, where vessels may lie sheltered from the winds. The tides are regular; high-water is every three hours, when it runs to a great height, and falls with such rapidity as to leave three quarters of a league dry when down.

25. The harbour of Valdivia is the safest, and, from its natural position, the strongest and most capacious of any of the ports in the South Sea. The island of Manzera, situate in the mouth of the river, forms two passages strongly fortified, and bordered by steep mountains. San Miguel, a gulf in the province of Terra Firma, is beautiful and capacious, having its mouth, or entrance, closed in by a shoal called El Buey, there being only a narrow channel left for the course of vessels. Within it are many small rocks or reefs, and into it runs a large river, which flows down from the mountains of the same province. The port of Buena Ventura, in the district of the province of Choco, is also on the South Sea, where there is a small settlement, subsisting only by means of the vessels which arrive at it. It is of a very bad temperature, and difficult to be entered; and the road to the city of Cali is so rough as to be passed only upon men's shoulders— a circumstance which arises from the inaccessible mountains which lie in the route. It is thirty-six leagues from Cali, and is the staple port of this place, Popayan, Santa Fé, &c. Long. 76° 48′ W. lat. 3° 51' N. In Chiloe, an island dependent upon the government of Chili, there are two excellent ports, of which Chacas, in lat. 41°50′ south, is the best. Castro, the capital city, is also a good port, and lies between two small rivers. It is inhabited by some good and opulent families, and enjoys a pleasant and healthy temperature. It is of a regular and beautiful form, and is also called Chiloe, and has, besides the parish church, a convent of monks of St. Francis, and a bishop auxiliary to that of Santiago. It was sacked by the Dutch in 1643; is 42 leagues south of the city of Osorno, in lat. 42° 40′ S. But no bay on the western side of this continent deserves more to be noticed than that of Conception; it is large, noble, and convenient. Its only defence is a battery, on a level with the water, which defends its anchoring-ground.

26. On the coast of Terra Firma is the gulf of Cumana, so called from the capital on its shores This bay runs ten or twelve leagues from west to

east, and is one league broad at its widest part. It is from 80 to 100 fathoms deep, and the waters are so quiet as to resemble rather the waters of a lake than those of the ocean. It is surrounded by lofty chains of mountains, which shelter it from all winds, excepting that of the north-east, which, blowing on it through a straitened and narrow passage, is accustomed to cause a heavy swell, especially from ten in the morning until five in the evening, after which all becomes calm. In the above case the larger vessels ply to windward; and if the wind be very strong they come to an anchor on the one or other coast, and wait till the evening, when the land breezes spring up from the south-east. In this gulf there are some good ports and bays, as the lake of Obispo, of Juanantar, of Gurintar, and others. The gulf of Guayaquil, in north lat. 2° 27', so called from the river of its name, is famous for its shifting sandbanks, on which, as the river recedes, alligators are left in great numbers. Vessels, after leaving their guns in the island of La Puna, require to be steered by an experienced pilot. Gulf Triste, in the Atlantic, and in the province of Caracas, is sixteen leagues wide from the point of Carvalleda to the S.S. E. as far as cape Muerto to N. N. E., and about nine leagues in depth. It was so named on its first discovery by Columbus in his fourth voyage, 1498, to commemorate the misfortunes he suffered here.

27. In the gulf of Cumana, in the province of that name, are several convenient ports and bays; indeed the whole coast is beautifully indented with them the sea is here remarkably calm, and peculiarly so in the celebrated gulf of Cariaco, the gulfs of the lake of Obispo, Guanantar, Gurintar, &c. Within cannon-shot of the shore of the gulf lies the city of Cumana, in a semicircular form, where all kinds of vessels may be built a saline ground on its beach supplies salt for the use of the city and the neighbouring settlements. It lies in the middle of the plain of its name. At the back begins the serrania, which, for more than eight leagues, is impassable on account of brambles and thorns. The soil towards the front of the city is composed of pebble, gypsum, and sand, which, during the prevalence of the wind briza, occasions an excessive heat, and is very offensive to the eyes; bad sight here being a very common malady. Nearly in the centre of the town, upon an elevated ground, stands the castle of Santa Maria de la Cabeza, which is of a square figure, and commands the city. In the lofty part of the sierra are seen three round hills; upon the highest of which stands a castle called San Antonio, and upon the lowest a fort called La Candelaria. There is upon the beach another castle, called the fort of Santa Catalina, at the mouth of the river, just where a sand-bank has of late been formed so as to block up the entrance of the river, and to render it dangerous for large vessels. The fort is at some distance from the gulf. Todos Santos is one of the best of the numerous bays on the coast of Brazil. It is three leagues from the entrance from the bar of San Antonio to the strait of Tapagipe, twelve leagues in diameter, and thirty-six in circumference. It is convenient, secure, and full of

islands; and its vicinities are covered with sugar-engines and estates. Porto Seguro, on the same coast, takes its name from the security it afforded to Pedro Alvarez Cabral, who, when he discovered it, found it a shelter from tempests. The capital is situate on an eminence, and defended with good fortifications and a castle. The town is small, handsome, rich, commercial, and well peopled. Its climate is hot, but healthy. It is 92 miles south of San Jorge, and 286 N. N. E. of EspiriterSanto. Long.39° 37′ W. lat. 16° 7′ S.

28. The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is one of the finest known, having at its entrance a bar, at the extremes of which rise two rocks. This bay is twenty-four leagues in length, and eight in width; in which are many islands, the most celebrated of them being that called De Cobras, off which the ships cast anchor. On the opposite side of the city a natural wall of rocks, called Los Organos, extends itself as far as the sea; forming, independently of the neighbouring fortresses, a perfect line of defence. The bay of Maranham, 492 miles north-west of cape St. Roque, affords a convenient harbour at the mouth of the river St. Mary. The straits of Magellan, at the southern extremity of this continent, are amongst the most celebrated in the world, both for their length and the difficulty of their navigation. From cape Virgin Mary, in the Atlantic, west long. 68° 22′, south lat. 52° 24', to cape Pillar, in the Pacific Ocean, west long. 75° 10′, south lat. 52° 45', they have been estimated at 342 miles in length, and are of varying breadth, bounded northward by Patagonia, and on the south by Terra del Fuego. They derive their name from Hernando de Magallanes, who discovered them in 1520, and have been subsequently passed by Drake, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Bougainville. The straits of Le Maire form a safer passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, westward of Terra del Fuego, and bounded on the east by Staten-Land. Maire, who was the first that doubled Cape Horn, and after whom they are called, first passed them in June 1615.

Le

29. Some geographers have called the passage formed by the eastern mouth of the Maragaon, and the island of Morajo, by the name of the straits of Maguari; and various minor passages, formed by the numerous islands round the shores of this continent, have been dignified with this appellation.

30. Capes and promontories have generally the same names as the chief rivers or gulfs which surround them. Amongst the few that are worth enumerating is point Natá, or Chama, on the west point of the celebrated isthmus of Panama, from whence the coast tends west to Haguera Point seven leagues. All ships bound to the north-west, and to Acapulco, make this point. The promontory of Balleno, on the coast of Peru, to the south-south-east of the cape Borrachos, and north-north-east of Palmar, is surrounded by a sandy and level soil, and the water is very shallow. Canero extends itself with a gradual slope into the sea; here the prevalence of the east winds endangers navigation. Ballena, lying between

In Chili the point