232 



CONDAMINE*S TRA^^LS 



traffic in this metal with the Manaos * their neighbours, and thefe again with the 

 people of the banks of the Amazons, of whom he himfelf purchafed a pair of golden 

 ear-rings. Father Fritz in his journal ftates, that in 1687, that is to fay fifty years 

 later than Father Acuna, he faw eight or ten canoes of Manaos, who, taking advan- 

 tage of the floods, had proceeded from their abodes on the Yurubelh, to trade with 

 his flock on the north bank of the Amazons. He fays that among other articles they 

 brought fmall plates of beaten gold, which thefe fame Manaos received in exchange 

 from the Americans of the Yquiary. All thefe places and rivers are laid down on the 

 chart of this Father. So many concordant teflimonials, proceeding all from refped- 

 able individuals, leave no room for doubting of the truth of thefe fafts ; and this, not- 

 withflianding the river, the lake, the gold mine, the land-mark, and even the Golden 

 village itfelf, have vaniflied like a fairy palace, fo that on the very fpots defignated all 

 memory of them is loft. 



Even in the time of Father Fritz himfelf, the Portuguefe, forgetting the title on 

 which their pretenfions were founded, infifted that the land-mark railed by Father 

 Texeira was placed higher up the river than the province of Omaguas, while, running 

 into the oppofite extreme, Father Fritz, a miflionary fubjedt of the crown of Spain, 

 maintained that it was reared only in the neighbourhopd of the river Cuchivara, lower 

 towards the mouth by two hundred leagues. As is ever the cafe in difputed matters, 

 each party launched into extremes. As for the fpot where the land-mark was planted 

 in the Golden village, if the diftrid in which the fourth Portuguefe miflion is fituate 

 defcending the river, be well examined, which is called Paraguari, and ftands on the 

 fouth fide of the Amazons, fome leagues above the mouth of the Tefe, where I ob- 

 ferved the latitude to be 3^ id S. it will be found to unite all the charafteriftics by 

 which the fite of the famous village is marked in the a£l of Texeira, dated at Guayaris, 

 and in the relation of Father Acuna. The Gupura confequently, one of whofe mouths 

 is oppofite to Paraguari, will be the Rio de Ouro, or Golden river, the mouth of 

 which noticed in th^ fame aft as being oppofite to the village. Remains to know 

 what have become of the Yurubefti and Yquiari, to which Father Acuiia gives the 

 name of the Golden River, and to which you afcend by the Tupura ; the difcovery of 

 this coft me fomewhat more pains, I think however that I have refolved the queftion, 

 and perhaps found the origin of the Parima Lake and the celebrated Dorado, but 

 regularity and precifion require the poftponement of the difcuflion to the period of our 

 treating of the Black River. 



In the courfe of our navigation, we enquired of the people of various nations, if they 

 had any knowledge of thofe warlike women which Orellana pretended to have encoun- 

 tered ; and if it were true they lived apart from men, receiving them but once a year, 

 as is related by Father Acuiia, in whofe narrative this forms a part fmgularly curious, 

 and well worthy of attention. AVe uniformly v/ere anfwered, that they had heard their 

 fathers fpeak of fuch things, and repeated many particulars which it were tedious to 

 detail, but which tended to confirm the faft, that in this continent did exift a republic 

 of women, who lived entirely feparate from the men, and who withdrew towards the 

 north into the interior, either by the Black River or fome other which flows on the ' , 

 fame fide into the Maranon. 



* Father Fritz writes Manaves. In the French tranflation of Acuna*8 nai*rative, the word is disfigured 

 to Mavagus. The Portuguefe at prefent write indifferently either Manaos or Manaus, pronouncing the 

 ivord Manaoos* 



An 



