MOUNTAINS OF PAEIAIE. 3J-3 



latitude, and between the meridians of the sources of the 

 Orinoco and the Essequibo. The development of this 

 system of mountains northward between the chain of Paca- 

 raina and Rio Cuyuni, and between the meridians 66 and 

 61f, is still less known. The only road frequented by white 

 men is that of the river Paragua, which receives the 

 Paraguamusi, near the G-uiricr. We find indeed, in the 

 journal of Nicolas Rodriguez, that he was constantly obliged 

 to have his canoe carried by men (arrastrandq) past the 

 cataracts which intercept the navigation ; but we must not 

 forget a circumstance, of which my own experience furnished 

 me with frequent proofs, that the cataracts in this part of 

 South America are often caused only by ridges of rocks 

 which do not form mountains. Rodriguez names but two 

 between Barceloneta and the mission of San Jose ; while the 

 missionaries place more to the east, in 6 latitude, between 

 the Rio Caroni and the Cuyuni, the Serranias of Usupama 

 and Rinocote. The latter crosses the Mazaruni, and forms 

 thirty-nine cataracts in the Essequibo, from the military 

 post of Arinda (lat. 5 30') to the mouth of Rupunuri. 



With respect to the continuation of the system of 

 the mountains of Parime, south-east of the meridian of 

 the Essequibo, the materials are entirely wanting for 

 tracing it with precision. The whole interior of Dutch, 

 French, and Portuguese Gruiana, is a terra incognita ; and 

 the astronomical geography of those countries has scarcely 

 made any progress during the space of thirty years. If the 

 American limits recently fixed between France and Por- 

 tugal, should one day cease to be mere diplomatic illusions, 

 and acquire reality, in being traced on the territory by 

 means of astronomical observations, (as was projected in 

 1817), this undertaking would lead geographical engineers 

 to that unknown region, which, at 3 west of Cayenne, 

 divides the waters between the coast of Guiana and the 

 Amazon. Till that period, which the political state of 

 Brazil seems to retard, the geognostic table of the group of 

 Parime can only be completed by scattered notions collected 

 in the Portuguese and Dutch colonies. In going from the 

 Uassari mountains (lat. 2 25', long. 61 50') which form 

 a part of the eastern branch of the Cordillera of Pacaraina, 

 we find towards the tast, a chain of mountains, called by 



