ULLOA S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMEIilCA. 497 



CHAP. V. — Go-vernment of JS/laynas, and of the River Maranon, or that of the 

 Afuazons ; its Difcovery, Courfe, and that of the Rivers running i?ito it. 



HAVING treated of the governments of Popayan and Jean de Bracamoros, which 

 are the northern Hmits of the province of Quito ; as alfo of Atacames, which is its 

 "weftern boundary ; I now proceed to the government of Maynas, the eaftern limit of 

 its jurifdi£iion. This is particularly entitled to a feparate and fuccind defcription, as 

 the great river Maranon flows through it. 



The government of Maynas lies contiguous to thofe of Quixos and Jean de Braca- 

 moros, towards the eaft. In its territories are the fources of thofe rivers, which, after 

 rapidly traverfmg a vaft extent, form, by their conflux, the famous river of the Ama- 

 zons, known alfo by the name of Maranon. The Ihores of this and many rivers which 

 pay it the tribute of their waters, environ and pervade the government of Maynas. Its 

 limits, both towards the north and fouth, are little known, being extended far among 

 the countries of infidel Indians ; fo that all the account which can be expedled is from the 

 millionaries employed in the converfion and fpiritual government of the wild nations 

 which inhabit it. Eaftward it joins the polfefTions of the Portuguefe, from which it is 

 feparated by the famous line of demarcation, the boundary between the Spanifli and 

 Portuguefe polfeffions. 



Were I to confine myfelf in general to the extent of the government of Maynas, my 

 defcription would be very imperfed, and want the nobleft obje6l of the reader's curio- 

 fity, 'a defcription of the river of the Amazons ; a fubjeft no lefs entertaining than 

 unknown ; and the more difficult of obtaining a thorough knowledge of, from its lying 

 .fo very remote. This defcription I fliall divide into the three following heads, which 

 fhall contain its fource, and the principal rivers whereof it is compofed ; its courfe 

 through the vaft trafts of land it waters ; its firft difcoveries, and the fubfequent voyages 

 made on it ; in order to give an adequate idea of this prince of rivers ; and at the fame 

 time a more circumflantial account of the government of Maynas. 



I. — Of the Source of the River Maranon, and of the many others which compofe it. 



As, among the great number of roots by which nourifliment is conveyed to a ftately 

 tree, it is difficult, from the great length of fome, and the magnitude of others, to 

 determine precifely that from which the product is derived ; fo the fame perplexity 

 occurs in difcovering the fpring of the river Maranon ; all the provinces of Peru as it 

 were emulating each other in fending it fupplies for its increafe, together with many 

 torrents which precipitate themfelves from the Cordilleras, and, encreafed by the fnow 

 and ice," join to form a kind of fea of that which at firft hardly deferves the name of 

 a river. 



The fources by which this river is increafed are fo numerous, that very properly 

 every one which iifues out of the eaftern Cordillera of the Andes, from the govern- 

 ment of Popayan, where the river Caqueta or Yupura has its fource, to the pro- 

 vince of Guanuco, within thirty leagues of Lima, may be reckoned among the num- 

 ber. For all the ftreams that run eaftward from this chain of mountains, widening as 

 they advance from the fource by the conflux of others, form thofe mighty rivers, which 

 afterwards unite in the Maranon ; "and though fome traverfe a larger diftance from their 

 fource, yet others, which rife nearer, by receiving in their fhort courfe a greater num- 



voL. XIV. 3 s ber 



