38 



and blocks of granite piled on one another and 

 covered with palm-trees, among which one of 

 the greatest rivers of the New World chafes in 

 foam. But notwithstanding a uniformity of 

 aspect, each of these cataracts preserves an indi- 

 vidual character. The first, or northernmost, is 

 most easily passable when the waters are low. 

 The Indians prefer crossing the second, the 

 Maypures, at the time of great floods. Be- 

 yond the Maypures and the mouth of the Canno 

 Cameji, the Oroonoko is again free from ob- 

 stacles for the length of more than 167 leagues, 

 or nearly to it's source ; that is to say, as far as 

 the Raudalito of Guaharibos, east of Canno 

 Chiguire and the lofty mountains of Yumari- 

 quin. 



Having visited the basins of the two rivers 

 Oroonoko and Amazon, I was singularly struck 

 by the differences they display in their course of 

 unequal extent. The falls of the Amazon, which 

 is nearly 980 nautical leagues * (20 to a degree) 



* Reckoning the sinuosities, as for the Oroonoko, at one 

 third of the course of the river in a straight line, according to 

 the custom of hydrographers, M. de la Condamine gives the 

 Amazon 1100, and the Ucayale 500 leagues in length. {Voyage 

 cl V Equateur, p. 189.) I find for the Ucayale, on rectifying- 

 the longitude of the sources of the Apnrimac, 360 leagues. 

 All the statements given in geographical works respecting 

 relative lengths of the course of riv ers are extremely inaccu- 

 rate, because the estimations of old maps are repeated, and 

 because the sinuosities (the space which a boat carried along 



