IN- SOUTH AMERICA. 217 



This jundion of the three rivers takes place in latitude 5I' fouth j and from this 

 point, notwithftanding many windings, the main courfe of the Maraiion conftantly 

 approaches nearer, and more near the line till its mouth. Below this fame point the 

 river narrows, and forces itfelf a paffage between two mountains, at a fpot where the 

 violence of its current, the rocks in its bed, and a number of falls, render it unnavi- 

 gable ; what is called the port of Jaen, the place where the traveller embarks, being 

 four days' journey from Jaen on the little river Chuchunga, which merges in the Ma-r 

 rafion below the falls. However, notwithftanding the imagined imprafticability of pafs- 

 ing the catarafl:, an exprefs difpatched by me from Tomependa, with orders from the 

 governor of Jaen to his lieutenant at Sant Yago to forward a boat for me to the port, 

 overcame every obftacle on a little raft, compofed of two or three pieces of timber, a 

 float fufficiently large for a naked American, expert as they all are at fwimming. In 

 my way from Jaen to the port, I croiTed the Maraiion, and frequently found myfelf on 

 its banks. Within the interval between the above town and its port, the Maraiion re- 

 ceives a number of torrents from the north, which, in the rainy feafon, bring down 

 with them a fand mingled with fmall plates and grains of gold. At this feafon the 

 natives go to colled it, but they merely feek for what is neceflary to pay their tribute 

 or poll-tax, and when urgently obliged ; at any other feafon, they would rather tram- 

 ple under foot this coveted metal, than take the pains of collecting and cleaning it. 

 Throughout the whole of this diftrid, both fides of the river are covered with the 

 wild cocoa-trees, the fruit of which is nothing inferior to the cultivated,- but on which, 

 alfo, the natives fet as little value as on the gold. 



The fourth day after my departure from Jaen, I pafled the torrent Chuchunga, one 

 and twenty times by fording, and the laft time in a boat ; the mules, on reaching the 

 river, dafhed into the water, laden as they were, and, in confequence, all my inftru- 

 ments, books, and papers, were thoroughly wetted. This was the fourth accident of 

 th« kind which I had experienced in travelling among the mountains, my cafualties 

 from water never ceafing until I was fairly embarked on that element. 



Chuchunga is an hamlet containing half a fcore American families, governed by their 

 Cacique, who underftood about as many Spanifh words as I did of his native language. 

 I was under neceflity of leaving behind me at Jaen two fervants of the country, who 

 might have afted for me as interpreters ; and neceflity enabled me to manage without 

 them. The inhabitants of Chuchunga pofleflfed no other than fmall canoes fuited to 

 their purpofes, and that I had fent for by exprefs to Sant Yago could not arrive in lefs 

 than a fortnight, I therefore engaged the Cacique to caufe his people to frame a raft 

 for me, or, as termed by them, a Balfe, the fame word denoting as well the float itfelf 

 as the fpecies of wood of which it is conftrufted ; directing him to make it large enough 

 for myfelf, my inftruments, And baggage. The time occupied in preparing the Balfe, 

 afforded me leifure to dry my books and papers, flieet by fheet, a precaution as necef- 

 fary as it was tedious. The fun was vifible only about noon, but this glimpfe of it 

 enabled me to take an, altitude, which gave for the latitude 5° 21' fouth; and from 

 the barometer, fixteen lines lower than at the fea-fide, I gathered that at 235 fathoms 

 above its level, &c. j navigable rivers occur without being interrupted by falls : I am 

 far from inclined to aflert, that this is not the cafe with the Maraiion at a ftill greater 

 elevation, but I can only fpeak pofitively of what I know ; though it appears far 

 from improbable, that the fpot at which a river begins to be navigable for boats, the 

 courfe of which river to the fea is even from here more than a thoufand leagues, 

 ihould be more elevated above the level of the ocean than that where navigation com- 

 mences on rivers of fliorter courfe. 



VOL. XIV. F F O4 



K 



