BOOK VIIL 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



The Rio Negro. — Limits of Brazil. — The Cassi- 

 quiare. — Bifurcation of the Oroonoko. 



The Rio Negro, if compared to the Amazons, 

 the Rio de la Plata, or the Oroonoko, is but a 

 river of the second order. It's possession has 

 been for ages of great political importance to the 

 Spanish government, because it might furnish a 

 rival power, Portugal, with an easy road of in- 

 troduction into the missions of Guyana, and 

 disturbing the capitania general of Caraccas in 

 it's southern limits. Three hundred years have 

 elapsed in vain territorial disputes. According 

 to the difference of the times, and the degree of 

 civilization of the natives, they have sometimes 

 leaned on the authority of the sovereign Pon- 

 tiff, and sometimes on the support of astronomy; 



