NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS SCHULLER 15 



Finally, there is a legend concerning early communication between 

 the Amazon and Esequibo rivers, probably by the headwaters of the 

 latter and those of the Rio Branco, an affluent of the Rio Negro: 

 " Yayua caciq[ue] Aruaca Afio. 1553, subio por el rio de es[e]quibo 

 arriba co[nl 4. piraguas, y las passo a cues tas la sierra y dio a la 

 otra v[er]tie[n]te en otro Rio y por el fue a dar en el rio gra[n]de 

 de las amazonas. y hallo ta[n}ta ge[n]te q[ue] se bolujo " (" Yayua, 

 Aruaque chief, in the year 1553 went up the Esequibo with four 

 piragua, 1 and carried them over the mountains ; and on the other 

 side he reached another river, by which he went down to the great 

 Amazon ; and he found [there] so many people, that he returned "). 



The geographical nomenclature, especially the names of the rivers 

 between the Amazon and Orinoco, differs materially from that of 

 other maps, of the same period. 



Starting from the northern mouth of the " Amazonas," or Mara- 

 non, we find there the following rivers : R.[io] Cureti (Corrent-ine) ; 2 

 R. Beruisca (Berbisce?) ; R. Magnay .... ( ?) ; R. Mirari ; R. 

 Capaname; R. duce (!) (Esequibo); R. Baruma, cacique cagu- 

 rama); 3 R. Monica, cacique gumapoyma y Aruare cacique; R. 

 Guaynj (Wa-ini, We-ene), cacique Jeraya coyma; R. Guayanepe; 

 and R. Barimea (Bari-ma), cacique orejon (=long ear). 



The Aruaque there occupy the shores, and the interior of the 

 country is inhabited by the Carib(es). The line traced from the 

 mouth of the river Barima to the Berbisce seems to indicate the 

 border of their respective habitats. 



So many details on a relatively early map strengthen the belief 

 that the anonymous author must have had before him original infor- 

 mation, probably obtained from one of the El-Dorado expeditions, 4 

 undertaken in the second half of the sixteenth century. 



1 Canoa and piragua are two genuine Carib-aruaque words, notwithstand- 

 ing all said against this view by Professor Leo Wiener, of Harvard University. 



2 Ine, ene, in Aruaque, " water," " river " ; papam-ene is the Aruaque name 

 for the Amazonas. Pinzon in 1500 learned the name " Maria- (Paria)," or 

 " Marina- (Parina)-tam-balo (=palo =falo paro =faro), which seems to 

 be the Carib designation for that river. 



The origin of the name Maranon from the Portuguese Maranhao is un- 

 supported. 



3 On that river probably was situated the village of the chief mentioned 

 above. 



4 Archive General de Indias, Sevilla; 139-1-2, Tomo III : " De oficio. 

 Rio Maranon Desde 20 de Maio de 1530 hasta 21 de Febrero de 1539"; and 

 especially: 139-1-1, Tomo i and Tomo 11; cf. also the pen sketch map, of 

 about 1550, 145-7-7. Ramo 5. 



