Ch. V. S O U T H A M E R I C A. 369 



Maranon like another Nile, through feven or eight 

 mouths, and thefe are at fuch a diftance, that the in- 

 termediate fpace betwixt the firft and the laft, is not 

 lefs than 100 leao;ues and the other, which runs to 

 the eaftward, is not lefs famous under the name of 

 Negro. M. de la Condamine, in the narrative of 

 his voyage, confirms the opinion of its being one of 

 the communications betwixt the Oronoque and Ma- 

 ranon ; and corroborates his affertion, by the autho- 

 rity of a map compofed by father John Ferreira, 

 reClor of the college of Jefuits in the city of Gran 

 Para in which he obferves, that in the year 1 744 a 

 flying camp of Portuguefe, polled on the banks of the 

 Negro, having embarked on that river, went up it, 

 till they found themfelves near the Spanifh millions 

 on the river Oronoque, and meeting with the fu- 

 perior of them, returned v^^ith him to the flying camp 

 on the river Negro, without going a flep by land; on 

 which the author makes this remark, That the river 

 Caqueta, (already mentioned, and fo called from a 

 fmall place by which it paffes, near its fource) ifTuing 

 from Mocoa, a country joining eaftward to Almaguar 

 in the jurifdidlion of Popayan, after running eaftward 

 with a fmall declenfion towards the fouth, divides it- 

 felf into two branches one of which declining a lit- 

 tle more fouthward, forms the river Yupura, and af- 

 terwards feparadng into feveral arms, runs, as we have 

 noted above, into the Maranon, through feven or 

 eight mouths ; and the other, after a courfe eaftward, 

 fubdivides itfelf into two branches, one of which, run- 

 ning north-eafl, joins the Oronoque ; and the other, 

 in a fouth-eaft direction, is the river Negro. This 

 fubdivifion in the branches of large rivers, and their 

 oppofite courfes, though fomething extraordinary, is 

 not deftitute of probability •, for a river flowing 

 through a country every way level, may very naturally 

 divide into two or more branches, in thofe parts where 

 it meets with any inclination, though almoii infenfi- 

 VoL. I. B b ble. 



