EIVEES OF GUIANA. 



19 



decision of the Tsar, to whom the question in dispute had been referred in 

 1891. 



The Awa or eastern branch, which now serves as the boundary between the 

 conterminous colonies, is supposed to be the more copious of the two headstreams, 

 although the Tapanahoui has the greater winter discharge. Both Crevaux and 

 Coudreau were able to ascend the Awa in boats fora distance of over 300 miles. 

 It has still a width of GO or 70 feet at the farthest puint reached by Coudreau on 

 the Itani, that is, the brunch which serves as the international frontier, and whose 

 junction with the Marouini farther east forms the Awa. Immediately beyond 

 this point begin the first rising grounds and steep foothills of the Tumuc-Humac 

 range. 



Despite its great distance from the Atlantic, the fluvial bed at the confluence 



Fig. 6. — SOUECES OF THE OtaPOK. 

 Scale 1 : 950,000. 



'^V^■•"'f'iV•••«^^'■•'(^''•■\'v.V.• .' V. '• ./° ■!".•: 'V^s^^î^ 



". oV .• ^.° ^^^' 0°;-,; .* '. . ^":-.,- . ■ 





* ■■'. ■''■'.'■ '■*• ''^^^^^^> 





53° 40- West c F Greenwich 



53° 10' 



IS Miles. 



of the two forks is only 650 feet above sea-level ; hence in its descent through 

 successive terraces to the coast the Maroni is interrupted by no cataracts of great 

 height. The rocky barriers which at intervals dam up the stream, and which 

 form so many reaches with scarcely perceptible current, have been eroded so as 

 to form a series of natural sluices, through which the river descends in sheets of 

 foam, small cascades, or falls of slight elevation. 



At the Hermina (Aramina) Falls, 50 miles from the sea, the Maroni descends 

 a total height of 15 or 16 feet, in a distance of about half a mile. Beyond this 

 point its course is free from all obstruction, and accessible to steamers of some 

 size. Here the river flows between two wooded banks, 3,000 to 5,000 feet apart, 

 and at its mouth forms a bar 16 feet deep at low water. 



