THE LAKE AMUCTJ. 35 



one side, and the Pirara, the Mahu, and the Uraricuera or 

 Bio Parima on the other), may be considered as the classical 

 soil of the Dorado of Parima. The rivers at the foot of the 

 mountains of Pacaraimo are subject to frequent overflow- 

 ings. Above Santa Rosa, the right bank of the Urariapara, 

 a tributary stream of the Uraricuera, is called el Valle de 

 la Inundation. Great pools are also found between the Bio 

 Parima and the Xurumu. These are marked on the maps 

 recently constructed in Brazil, which furnish the most ample 

 details of those countries. More to the west, the Cano 

 Pirara, a tributary stream of the Mahu, issues from a lake 

 covered with rushes. This is the lake Amucu described 

 by Nicolas Hortsmann, and respecting which some Portu- 

 guese of Barcelos, who had visited the Bio Branco (Bio 

 Parima or Bio Paravigiana), gave me precise notions 

 during my stay at San Carlos del Bio Negro. The lake 

 Amucu is several leagues broad, and contains two small 

 islands, which Santos heard called Islas Ipomucena. The 

 Bupunuwini (Bupunury), on the banks of which Hortsmann 

 discovered rocks covered with hieroglyphical figures, ap- 

 proaches very near this lake, but does not communicate with 

 it. The portage between the Bupunuwini and the Mahu is 

 farther north, where the mountain of Ucucuamo* rises, 

 which the natives still call 'the mountain of gold.' They 

 advised Hortsmann to seek round the Bio Mahu for a mine 

 of silver (no doubt mica with large plates), of diamonds, and 

 of emeralds. He found nothing but rocky crystals. His 

 account seems to prove that the whole length of the moun- 

 tains of the Upper Orinoco (Sierra Parima) toward the east, 

 is composed ot granitic rocks, full of druses and open veins, 

 like the Peak of Duida. Near these lands, which still enjoy 

 a great celebrity for their riches, on the western limits of 

 Dutch Guiana, live the Macusis, Aturajos, and Acuvajos. 

 The traveller Santos found them stationed between the 

 Bupunuwini, the Mahu, and the chain of Pacaraimo. It ia 

 the appearance of the micaceous rocks of the Ucucuamo, 

 the name of the Bio Parima, the inundations of the rivers 

 Urariapara, Parima, and Xurumu, and more especially the 



* I follow the orthography of the manuscript journal of Rodriguez ; it 

 i* the Cerro Acuquamo of Caulin, or rather of his commentator. (/fif. 

 eorogr., p. 1 76.) 



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