198 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



west, then to the north for one degree of latitude, afterwards almost 

 200 English miles to the east, and finally north and NNE. to its 

 junction with the Essequibo." As Mr. Hillhouse was unable to 

 reach the southern declivity of the Pacaraima chain, he was not 

 acquainted with the Amucu Lake : he says himself, in his printed 

 account, that " from the information he had gained from the Ac- 

 caouais, who constantly traverse all the country between the shore 

 and the Amazons River, he had become satisfied that there is no 

 lake at all in these districts/' This statement occasioned me some 

 surprise, as it was in direct contradiction i to the views which I had 

 formed respecting the Lake of Amucu, from which the Caiio Pirara 

 flows according to the narratives of Hortsmann, Santos, and Rodri- 

 guez, whose accounts inspired me with the more confidence because 

 they agree entirely with the recent Portuguese manuscript maps. 

 Finally, after five years of expectation, Sir Robert Schomburgk's 

 journey has dispelled all doubts. 



" It is difficult to believe/' says Mr. Hillhouse, in his interesting 

 memoir on the Massaruni, " that the report of a great inland water 

 is entirely without foundation. It seems to me possible that the 

 following circumstances may have given occasion to the belief in the 

 existence of the fabulous Lake of the Parime. At some distance 

 from the fallen rocks of Teboco, the waters of the Massaruni appear 

 to the eye as motionless as the tranquil surface of a lake. If at a 

 more or less remote epoch the horizontal stratum of granite at Te- 

 boco had been perfectly compact and unbroken, the waters must have 

 stood at least fifty feet above their present level, and there would 

 thus have been formed an immense lake, ten or twelve English miles 

 broad and 1500 to 2000 English miles long" (Nouvelles Annales 

 des Voyages, 1836, Sept., p. 316). It is not solely the vast extent 

 of this supposed inundation which prevents me from accepting this 

 explanation. I have seen plains (the Llanos), where, during the 

 rainy season, the overflowing of the affluents of the Orinoco annually 

 cover with water a space of 400 German geographical square miles 

 (equal to 6400 English geographical square miles). At such times 

 the labyrinth of branches between the Apure, the Arauca, the Ca- 

 panaparo, and the Sinaruco (see Maps 17 and 18 of my Geographical 

 and Physical Atlas), can no longer be traced, for the separate courses 



