312 VALLEY. OF THE 1110 BRAXCO. 



of 4 4' and 4 12'. We there distinguish, from west to east 

 the mountains of Pacaraina, Tipique, Tauyana, among which 

 rises the Rio Parime (a tributary of the Uraricuera), Tuba- 

 chi, Christaux (lat. 3 56', long. 62 52'), and Canopiri. The 

 Spanish traveller, Rodriguez, marks the eastern part of the 

 chain by the name of Quimiropaca ; but prefering to adopt 

 general names, I continue to give the name of Pacaraina to 

 the whole of this Cordillera, which links the mountains of 

 the Orinoco to the interior of Dutch and French Guiana, 

 and which Raleigh and Keymis made known in Europe at 

 the end of the IGth century. This chain is broken by the 

 Rupunuri and the Essequibo, so that one of their tributary 

 streams, the Tavaricuru, takes it rise on the southern decli- 

 vity, and the other, the Sibarona, on the northern. On 

 approaching the Essequibo, the mountains are more developed 

 towards the south-east, and extend beyond 2^- north lat. 

 From this eastern branch of the chain of Pacaraina the Rio 

 Rupunuri rises near the Cerro Uassari. On the right bank 

 of the Rio Branco, in a still more southern latitude (between 

 1 and 2 north) is a mountainous territory in which the 

 Caritamini, the Padaviri, the Cababuri (Cavaburis) and the 

 Pacimoni take their source, from east to west. This western 

 branch of the mountains of Pacaraina separates the basin of 

 Rio Branco from that of the Upper Orinoco, the sources of 

 which are probably not found east of the meridian of 66 15' : 

 it is linked with the mountains of Unturan and Yumariquin, 

 situated S. E. of the mission of Esmeralda. Thence it results, 

 that, while on the west of the Cassiquiare, between that 

 river, the Atabapo, and the Rio Negro, we find only vast 

 plains, in which rise some little hills and insulated rocks ; 

 real spurs stretch eastward of the Cassiquiare, from N". W. 

 to S. E. and form a continued mountainous territory as far 

 as 2 north lat. The basin only, or rather the transversal 

 valley of the Rio Branco, forms a kind of gulf, a succes- 

 sion of plains and savannahs (campos) several of which 

 penetrate from south to north, into the mountainous land 

 between the eastern and western branches of the chain of 

 Pacaraina, to the distance of eight leagues north of the 

 parallel of San Joaquin. 



We have just examined the southern part of the vast 

 system of the mountains of Parime, between 2 and 4 of 



