^02 TJLLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 



hundred and three fathom of line. The river Negro, at the diflance of two leagues 

 from its mouth, meafured twelve hundred toifes in breadth, which being nearly equal 

 to that of the principal river, and fome of thofe we have named, Ucayale, the Madera, 

 and others, were found to be nearly of the fame width. 



About one hundred leagues below the mouth of the river Negro, the fhores of the 

 Maranon begin to approach each other near the efflux of the river Trumbetas, which 

 part is called the Eftrecho de Pauxis, where, as alfo at the polls of Peru, Curupa and 

 Macapa, along its banks, and on thefe eaft ojf the rivers Negro and Popayos, the Portu- 

 guefe have forts. At the Eftrecho de Pauxis, where the breadth of the river is near 

 nine hundred toifes, the effeft of the tides may be perceived ; though the diftance from 

 the fea-coafts be not lefs than two hundred leagues. This eflPeft confifts in the waters, 

 which, without any change in the direction of their courfe, decreafe in their velocity, 

 and gradually fwell over their banks. The flux and reflux are conilant every twelve 

 hours, with the natural differences of time. But M. de la Condamine, with his ufual 

 accuracy, as may be feen in the narrative of his own voyage, obferved that the flux and 

 reflux perceived in the oceari, on any certain day and hour, is different from that which 

 is felt at the fame day or hour, in the intermediate fpace between the mouth of the river 

 ^ and Pauxis, being rather the effe6l of the tides of the preceding days ; proportional to the 

 difliance of the place from the river's mouth ; for as the water of one tide cannot flow 

 two hundred leagues within the twelve hours, it follows, that having produced its effeft 

 to a determined diftance during the fpace of one day, and renewing it in the following 

 by the impulfe of the fucceeding tides, it moves through that long fpace with the ufual 

 alternation in the hours of flood and ebb ; and in feveral parts thefe hours comcide with 

 thofe of the flux and reflux of the ocean. 



After flowing through fuch a vaft extent of country, receiving the tribute of other 

 rivers precipitated from the Cordilleras, or gKding in a more gentle courfe from remote 

 provinces ; after forming many circuits, catarafts, and ftreights ; dividing itfelf into 

 various branches, forming a multitude of iflands of different magnitudes, the Maranon 

 at length, from the mouth of the river Xingu, direds its courfe north-eaft and enlarging 

 its channel in a prodigious manner, as it were to facilitate its difcharge into the ocean, 

 forms in this aftonifliing fpace feveral very large and fertile iflands ; of which the chief 

 is that of Joanes or Marayo, formed by a branch of the great river which feparates from 

 it twenty-five leagues below the mouth of the Xingu ; and direfting its courfe to the 

 fouthward, in a direftion oppofite to that of the principal ftream, opens a communica- 

 tion between the Maranon and the river of Dos Bocas, which has before received the 

 waters of the Guanapu and Pacayas, and flows into it through a mouth of above two 

 leagues in breadth. Thefe are afterwards joined by the river Tocantines ; the outlet of 

 which is ftill broader than the former, and at a ftill greater diftance : the river of Muju, 

 on the eaftern fide of which ftands the city of Gran Para, discharges its waters into the 

 fame ftream ; and it afterwards receives the river Capi, which waflies the city of the 

 fame name. 



The river of Dos Bocas, after joining that of Tagipuru, runs eaftward, forming an 

 arch as far as the river of Tocantines, from which it continues north-eaft like the Mara- 

 non, leaving in the middle the ifland of Joanes, which is nearly of a triangular figure, 

 except the fouth fide about one hundred and fifty leagues in length, and forms the arch 

 of a circle. This ifland divides the Maranon into the two mouths, by which that river 

 difembogues itfelf into the fea. The principal of thefe two mouths from Cape Maguari 

 in this ifland, and the North Cape, is about forty-five leagues broad ; and that of the 



channel 



