IN SOUTH AMERICA. £43 



well-known fad, and highly worthy of remark, that from the mouth of the Xingu 

 they no longer are feen, or at leaft are very rare on the right bank of the Amazons, 

 while the oppofite bank continues ftill infefted by them. After refleding on this fmgu- 

 larity, and examining the fites of thefe fpots, I conceived this difference to be the con- 

 fequence of the change in the courfe of the river at this place ; it rifmg here to the 

 north, the eaft wind, which almoft cOnftantly prevails, mufl neceflarily, coming from 

 fea, drive thefe infefts to the weftern fhore. 



On the 9th, in the morning, we arrived at the Portuguefe fortrefs of Curupa, built 

 by the Dutch when maflers of the Brazils. The King's lieutenant received us with 

 extraordinary marks of diftindion. The three days of our ftay were one continued 

 gala, in which was difplayed the moft profufe magnificence, fuch indeed as was little to 

 be expected in this country. Curupa is a fmall Portuguefe town, in which are no other 

 natives than fuch as are Haves to the inhabitants. It is pleafantly fituate on high ground, 

 on the fouth-eaftern bank of the river, eight days' fail from Para. 



From Curupa, where the ebb and flow is very perceptible, boats move only with the 

 tide ; at a few leagues below, a fmall arm of the Amazons, called Tagipuru, leaves the 

 main channel, which has a northern courfe, and, taking an oppofite direction towards 

 the fouth, tends to form the great ifland Joanes or Marayo, disfigured in all maps. 

 From its extremity on this bend it changes its courfe, and, forming a femicircle, rifes 

 north by eaft, and is fhortly loft in an eftuary which receives feveral large rivers one 

 after the other. The moft confiderable of thefe is : firft, the Rio de dos Bocas, or the 

 Two-mouthed Rivers, formed of the union of the Guanapu and Pacujas ; it is two 

 leagues wide at its mouth, and is laid down in all the old maps, as well as the Laet, 

 under the name of the Para river ; the fecond the Tocantin, of ftill greater width than 

 the preceding, allows navigation to a height which it requires feveral months to attain, 

 and, like the Topayos and the Xingu, has its origin among the mountains of Brazil, 

 abounding in mines ; finally, the Muju, which, two leagues up from its mouth I 

 found feven hundred and forty-nine toifes in breadth, and on which I faw a frigate be- 

 longing to His Portuguefe Majefty going up under full fail, in order to take, many 

 leagues higher up, certain rare and curious wood, the growth of its banks. On the 

 eaftern bank of this river it is that Para is fituate, juft below the mouth of the river 

 Capim, which, fliortly before its difemboguing itfelf into the eftuary, receives another 

 called the Guama. Nothing lefs than the fight of a corred map is requifite to furnifli 

 a diftindt idea of the fite of this city at the concourfe of fo many rivers, and prove that 

 it is not without reafon its inhabitants are far from conceiving themfelves placed on the 

 banks of the Amazons, of which river it is poffible that not a fingle drop bathes the 

 walls of their city ; for as well might we fay that the Loire flows by Paris, becaufe that 

 river communicates, by the canal of Riare, with the Seine. Indeed there is abundant 

 ground for fuppofing, that the immenfe quantity of running water which feparates the 

 Terra Firma on which Para ftands from the ifland Joanes, would experience no fenfible 

 diminution, though the communication between it and the Amazons fliould be inter- 

 rupted by the clofure, or deviation of the narrow branch of this river, which comes, 

 as it were, to take poflTeflion of all thefe rivers before recited, by ufurping their titles. 

 This, however, if fuch be chofen, may remain a queftion ; and that I may accommo- 

 date myfelf to the common opinion, I fliall not objeft to ftating, that Para ftands on 

 the eaftern mouth of the Amazons ; all that is required of me being, to ftate in what 

 light this is to be underftood. 



On my paflage from Curupa to Para, without being confulted on the courfe I chofe, 

 I was conducted between iflands, by narrow and crooked canals, from one river to an- 



j I 2 other, 



