208 



The Andes and the Amazon. 



the Coca, halted and bnilt a raft or canoe (Prescott says a 

 brig), in which Orellana was sent down the river to recon- 

 noitre, but who never returned. Up to this point the Napo 

 has an easterly course ; but after recei^ang the Coca, it turns 

 to the southeast. "We remained here two days co construct 

 a more comfortable craft for our voyage to the Amazon, a 

 distance of at least five hundred miles. The canoe is the 

 only means of navigation known to the Indians. But the 



