^04 ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 



The fecond name is that of the river of the Amazons, which was given it by Francifco 

 '^ Orellana, from the troops of women who made part of the body of Indians who oppofed 



his paflage, and who were not inferior either in courage, or the dexterous ufe of the 

 bow, to the men ; fo that, in Head of landing where he intended, he was obliged to keep 

 at a diflance from the fhore, and often in the middle of the channel, to be out of their 

 reach. However, on his return to Spain, and laying before the miniftry an account of 

 his proceedings, and of the female warriors that oppofed him, he was by patent created 

 governor of theie parts, in recompenfe, as it was expreffed, for his having fubdued the 

 Amazons ; and ever lince the river has been called by that name. 



Some have indeed doubted whether the Maranon and the Amazons were the fame 

 river ; and many feem to be ftrongly perfuaded, that they were really different. But 

 this opinion proceeds only from the river's not having been completely reconnoitred till 

 the clofe of the lafl century. 



This particular of the Amazons is confirmed by all writers, who have given a fuccind 

 account of the river, and Orellana's expedition ; and though this proof is abundantly 

 fufficient, if not of its reality, at leaft of its probability, it is additionally confirmed by 

 the tradition flill fubfifling among the natives, which we may believe on the authority 

 of one of the moft eminent geniufes the province of Quito ever produced ; I mean Don 

 Pedro Maldonado, who was a native of the town of Riobamba, but lived at Quito, and 

 whofe performances are well known in the republic of letters. In 1743, this gentleman 

 and M. de la Condamine agreed to return to Europe in company, by the way of the 

 river Maranon ; and among their other inquiries towards a complete knowledge of it, 

 and the countries through which it flows, they did not forget the famous Amazons ; 

 and were informed by fome old Indians, that it was an undoubted truth that there had 

 formerly been feveral communities of women, who formed a kind of republic, without 

 admitting any men into the government ; and that one of thefe female ftates flill fubfift- 

 ed, but had withdrawn from the b?inks of the river to a confiderable diflance up the 

 country ; adding, that they had often feen fome of thefe females warriors in their coun- 

 try. M. de la Condamine, in the narrative of his voyage down this river, printed at 

 Paris in the year 1745, and who had all the rational curiofity of his fellow-traveller Don 

 Pedro Maldonado, relates fome of the fads told him by the Indians, concerning the 

 Amazons whom they had feen. But I fhall only here infert what hillorians have faid 

 on this head, leaving every one to give what degree of credit he pleafes to the adventure 

 of Orellana, and the aftual exiflence of the Amazons. 



Some who are firmly perfuaded of the truth of the adventure of the Amazons with 

 Orellana, and believe that their valour might be equal to that of the men, in defence of 

 their country and families, will not hear of a female republic feparated from the inter- 

 courfe of men. They fay, and not without fufficient reafon, that the women who fo 

 gallantly oppofed Orellana were of the Yurimagua nation, at that time the mofl power- 

 ful tribe inhabiting the banks of the Maranon, and particularly celebrated for their 

 courage. It is therefore, fay they, very natural to think that the women fhould, in 

 fome degree, inherit the general valour of their hufbands, and join them in oppofmg 

 an invader, from whom they imagined they had every thing to fear, which might in- 

 flame their ardour ; as likewife from an emulation of military glory, of which there are 

 undeniable inflances in the other parts of the Indies. 

 *- The third and laft name is that of the Orellana, defervedly given to it in honour of 



. Francifco de Orellana, the firfl who failed on it, furveyed a great part of it, and had 

 feveral encounters with the Indians who lived in its iflands or along its banks. Some 

 have been at a great deal of pains to afTign certain diflances through its long courfe, and 



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