482 



PROVINCE OF SOLIMOES. 



situated upon a lake, near the margin of the Amazons, eighteen miles above the 

 river Teffe. Its church is dedicated to St. Joaquim. The population is an 

 accumulation of various tribes of Indians, with many Mesticos, who, besides 

 absolute necessaries, cultivate some cocoa and sarsaparilla, but are much 

 incommoded by the pium musquito, and alike annoyed by the voracity of 

 the ants. Its first situation was upon the channel connecting the Hyapura with 

 the lake Amana, two days' voyage from the Amazons. The Ambuas and 

 Uaruecocas were then its inhabitants ; it was removed from thence to its present 

 site, by one Giraldo Gonsalves, in 1758. In Nogueyra there is a creek or 

 outlet, opened by nature, by which canoes, &c. proceed to Alvarens when the 

 rivers are overflowed. 



District of Hyutahy. 



This district is confined by the Amazons on the north ; by the river of its 

 name on the west; by the Spanish possessions on the south; and by the district 

 of Hyurba on the east : its width along the Amazons is about sixty miles. 

 The middle and southern parts are not better known than the same portions 

 of the surrounding districts, in consequence of being in the power of various 

 untamed Indian tribes, such as the Marauhas, Catuquinas, Uriibus, Cauaxis, 

 Uacarauhas, Gemias, Toquedas, Maturuas, Chibaras, Buges, and Apenaris, 

 Avith some others, who pass the rivers into the adjoining districts, and use the 

 esgaravatana, bow and arrow, and envenomed lance, when they go to war. 



It remains in a state of uncertainty whether the rivers Hyurba, upwards of 

 six hundred yards in width at its mouth, the Hyutahy, still more spacious, and 

 the before-mentioned Teffe and Puru, the largest of all, have their origins in the 

 serras of Peru or issue from the lake of Rogagualo ; their sources have been 

 attributed to both, without any exploration of their courses or any satisfactory 

 evidence being adduced in support of those statements. The extensive volume 

 of water which each brings to the Amazons indicates a very considerable course 

 from remote origins. It will be interesting to the future traveller to explore 

 tbeir unknown sources and extending margins. The Portuguese do not carry 

 their researches amongst the central Indians ; and, when they advance up the 

 rivers any distance, they never proceed beyond the limits of the pacific Indians, 

 with whom they have some commerce. 



Fonteboa, a middling povoa^ao, is situated on the eastern margin of the small 

 river Cayarahy, two miles above its mouth, twenty miles from the embouchure 

 of the Hyurba, and thirty-five below that of the Hyutahy. It has a church 



