17L 



and the Cassiquiare, at the foot of Cerro Duida, 

 and at the mission of Santa Barbara, we never 

 heard that rustling* of the leaves, which has a 

 peculiar charm in burning climates. The wind- 

 ings of rivers, the shelter of mountains, the 

 thickness of the forests, and the almost con- 

 tinual rains, at one or two degrees of latitude 

 north of the equator, contribute no doubt to 

 this phenomenon, which is peculiar to the mis- 

 sions of the Oroonoko. 



In the valley of the Amazon, which is south 

 of the equator, but at the same distance from it, 

 a strong wind rises every day two hours after 

 the culmination of the sun. This wind blows 

 constantly against the stream, and is felt only 

 in the bed of the river. Below San Borja it is 

 an easterly wind ; at Toioependa, I found it 

 between north and north-north-east ; it is still the 

 same breeze, the wind of the rotation of the globe, 

 but modified by slight local circumstances. By 

 favor of this general breeze you may go up the 

 Amazon from the Grand-Para as far as Tefe 

 under sail, a length of seven hundred and fifty 

 leagues. In the province of Jaen de Bracamo- 

 ros, at the foot of the western declivity of the 

 Cordilleras, this Atlantic breeze rises sometimes 

 to a real tempest. You can scarcely keep upon 

 your legs when you approach the banks of the 

 river ; such are the singular disparities between 

 the Upper Oroonoko and the Upper Maragnon. 



