sj6 , condamine's travels 



confluence of the two, at a fpot where no iflands were, and where the breadth of the 

 Maranon was from one thoufand to one thoufand two hundred toifes, while flemming 

 the current with all fail fet, in order, as well as poffible, to keep the boat ftationary, I 

 founded, but found no bottom with one hundred and three fathoms of line. 



On the 23d we entered the Rio Negro, or Black River, another fea of frefh water 

 which flows into the Amazons on the northern fide. The map of Father Fritz, who 

 never entered the Rio Negro, and the laft: map of America by Delifle, which copies 

 that of Fritz, reprefent this river as having a courfe from north to fouth while the fa6: 

 is according to the relations of thofe who have afcended it, that its courfe is from weft 

 to eaft, with a flight inclination towards the fouth : that fuch is its direction for feveral 

 leagues above its confluence with the Amazons, I myfelf had ocular demonftration, 

 having obferved that at this point its courfe is fo nearly parallel to that of the Amazons, 

 that, were it not for the tranfparency of its waters, which has earned it the difl:in£tion. 

 of the Black River, it might be mift:aken for a branch of the Amazons, feparated by 

 an ifland. We afcended two leagues up this river as high as to the fort built by the 

 Portuguefe on its northern bank, at its narroweft breadth, where I meafured it and 

 found it to be one thoufand two hundred and three toifes in width. The latitude of 

 the fort I obferved to be 3° 9' S. This was the firft fettlement we came to belong- 

 ing to the Portuguefe on the northern fide of the river Maranon. The Rio Negro 

 has been frequented by the Portuguefe more than a century, and a great traffic for 

 flaves is carried on, on its banks. On thefe there is conftantly a detachment of Portu- 

 guefe from the garrifon of Para, encamped for the purpofe of keeping the different 

 American nations in awe, and of facilitating the flave-trade within the limits prefcribed 

 by the laws of Portugal ; and every year this flying camp called the Redemption Troop 

 advances farther into the country. The Captain Commandant was abfent from the 

 fort on our arrival, and I halted here but four and twenty hours. 



On the whole of the banks of the Black River hitherto explored, are fettlements of 

 Portuguefe miflionaries of the fame order of Mount Carmel, we had conftantly noticed 

 in defcending the Maraiion, after quitting the fettlements of the Spanifli miflionaries. 

 On afcending this mighty river for a fortnight, three weeks, nay even a longer time, 

 it is yet found of ftill greater breadth than at its mouth, owing to the multiplicity of 

 iflands and lakes that it forms. Throughout the whole interval of fpace, its banks are 

 elevated and never overflowed ; they are lefs thickly covered with wood, and altogether 

 the country prefents an afpeft widely different from that which borders the Maranon, 



While at the fort on Rio Negro, we obtained more dift;ind information refpecling 

 the communication that exifts between this river and the Oronooco, and, confequently, 

 between the latter and the Amazons. I fliall not detail the various proofs of this fa£t 

 which I gleaned with care on my voyage, (of which, the moft material was the indif- 

 putable teftimony of a native American female, belonging to the Spanifli miflions on 

 the banks of the Oronooco, of the Cauriacani nation, and the village of Santa Maria 

 de Bararuma, with whom I held converfation, and who had been brought from thence 

 in a canoe to Para,) thefe evidences being rendered fuperfluous by that ultimately ob- 

 tained. By a letter from the reverend father John Ferreyra, redtor of the college of 

 Jefuits at Para, I have recently learnt that lafl: year ( 1 744), the Portuguefe belonging to 

 the flying camp, after afcending from river to river, at length met the fuperior of the 

 Jefuits of the Spanifli mifllons from the banks of the Oronooco, whom they brought 

 back with them by the way they came, without once landing to their camp on the Rio 

 Negro. . The fad, therefore, of the connection of the two rivers, no longer admits of 

 doubt, however contradided by the recent author of El Orinoco Ilii/irado, (Madrid, 



9 i74i> 



