154 



nverturns the 

 piers aloAj^ the 

 river, and drives 

 the large ftones 

 which compofe 

 them, more 

 than fifty paces 

 off, 



tears up targe 

 trees by the 

 roots, and finks 

 and breaks vef- 

 fels in pieces. 

 Above St.Andre 

 it appears in 

 waves, above 

 Asque is feen in 

 its original form; 

 in waves again 

 above Lile, at 

 Terfac it re- 

 gains its firft 

 appearance ; 

 at Fronfac it 

 occupies the 

 •whole breadth 

 of the river, 

 pafles before 

 Lifbourne with 

 a terrible noife, 

 and ceafes at 

 Peyrefite. 

 Account of the 

 Pororoca on the 

 Amazons : 



Its noifi he2id 

 at a league 

 di (lance. 

 It advances in 

 feveral waves, 

 each twelve or 

 Afteenfcet high, 



SUDDEN INFLKX OP 



frighf, and lie flat there, without being able to come out. 

 Hard bodie«, which He in the way oFthe Mafcaret are ftruck 

 by it with Cuth force, that the piers, built for the ufe of the 

 veHels, along the flioreare demoliflied, and fome of the ftones 

 which compofe thetn, although very large, are driven away 

 more than fifty j)aces; the ftrongeft trees are torn up by the 

 roots, the tjarks which it meets are not only fank, but broken 

 afunder, efpecially if they are near the (hore, or have any 

 hard body lying beneith (hem. From the place called St. 

 Andre (Sec the l<jwer part of Plate IV.) on the river, the 

 Mafcaret forms itfelf into waves which half its breadth as far 

 up as Caverne; there it difappears for a (hort time, to appear 

 again between Afque and Lile like a promontory, and then 

 returns info the form of waves as far on as Terfac ; at Terfac 

 itregains its firft appearance, which it only quits at Vayne; from 

 Vayne it proceeds along the bank as far as Fronfac, thehoufe of 

 M. de Jlichelieu ; from Fronfac it occupies the whole breadth of 

 the river, pafles with a terrifying noife before the village of 

 Libourne, throws the road for velTels belonging to this village 

 into confufion, and afterwards appears at Genifac-les Reaux 

 and at Peyrefite with but very little force. The whole paffes 

 in the courfe of feven or eight leagues. 



The following is the account, which M. la Condamine gi\'es 

 of the Pororoca of the river Amazons, the comparifon of the 

 effefts of which with thofe of the Mafcaret will lend lo efta- 

 biifh the theory of thefe phenomena. 



In his voyage to the river Amazons, page 193, he relates^ that 

 ** between Macapa and Cape-Port, where the channel of the 

 river is moft confined by the iflands, and efpecially oppofite 

 (he mouth of ihe Arawary, which joins the Amazons on the 

 north fide, the flowing of the fea exhibits a fingular pheno- 

 menon. During the three days next the full of the new moons, 

 the times of the higheft tides, the fea, inftead of taking almoft 

 fix hours to rife arrives at itsgrealeft heighth in one or two mif 

 nutes ; it may be conceived that this does not happen qufetly; 

 there is heard at a league diftance a terrible noife, which an- 

 nounces ihe Pororoca, which is the name that the Indians of thefe 

 parts give to this frightful flood. In proportion as it approaches 

 thenoife encreafes,andfoQnanaccumulation of water, like aprOr 

 montory, appears from 12 to 15 feet high ; after that another 

 is fiaen, then a third, and fo/netimes a fourth, which fojlow 

 2 each 



