Chap. X 1 1 . THE PUKUS. I !»! ) 



CHAPTEK Xll. 



THE PROVINCE OF CARAVAVA. 

 A short Historical and Geogi-apliiciil Desciiptiou. 



The Peruvian province of Caravaya is drained by streams 

 which form part of the system of one of the largest and least 

 known of the tributaries of the Amazon — the river Pm-us. 



The Purus is the only great affluent flowing into the Ama- 

 zon from the south, the com'se of which has never yet been 

 explored. We have detailed accounts of the Huallaga from 

 Maw, Smyth, Poeppig, and Herndon ; of the Ucayali from 

 Smyth, Herndon, and Castelnau ; and of the Madeira from 

 Castelnau and Gibbon ; but of the Purus, the largest ap- 

 parently, and one which, in course of time, will probably 

 become the most important, we have next to nothing. Its 

 mouth, and the course of its tributaries, near the base of the 

 Andes, are alone described, 



Condamine and Smyth, in descending the Amazon, mention 

 the great depth and volume of water at the mouth of the 

 Purus : Herndon heard from a Brazilian trader at Barra, who 

 had ascended its stream for some distance, that it was of 

 great size, and without obstructions ; and Haenke, in the last 

 century, arguing from reliable geogi'aphical data which he 

 had collected from Indians, stated liis conviction that a very 

 large river, flowing from the Andes east of Cuzco, reached the 

 Amazon to the westward of the mouth of the Madeha. 



This is the sum of our knowledge of the mouth and lower 

 course of the Purus. The tributaries which flow into it dram 

 the eastern slopes of the Andes, from the latitude of Cuzco 



