313 



many American nations) brought Father Fritz, 

 in 1687, several slips of beaten gold. This na- 

 tion, the name of which is still known * on the 

 banks of the Urarira, between Lamalonga and 

 Moreira-f-, dwelt on the Jurubesh (Yurubech, 

 Yurubets). M. de la Condamine is right in say- 

 ing, that this Mesopotamia between the Caqueta, 

 the Rio Negro, the Jurubesh, and the Iquiare, 

 was the first theatre of el Dorado. But where 

 shall we find these names of Jurubesh and Iquiare, 

 given by the Fathers Acunna and Fritz? I 

 think I recognized them in the rivers Urubaxi 

 and Iguari^ on some manuscript Portugueze 

 maps which I possess, and which were drawn 

 at the hydrographic repository of Rio Janeiro. 

 During a great number of years I have assidu- 

 ously studied the geography of South America, 

 north of the Amazon, from the most ancient 

 maps and a collection of many unpublished 

 materials. Desirous that my work should pre- 

 serve the character of a scientific performance, 

 I ought not to hesitate about treating of subjects, 



* See the Corogrqfia brasiliensis , which has just appeared 

 at Rio Janeiro, vol. ii, p. 353. 



f The Guape and the Urarira fall into the Rio Negro. 



% It may be written Urubaji. The j and the x have be- 

 come the German ch to Father Fritz. The Urubaxi, or 

 Hy urubaxi (Yurubech), falls into the Rio Negro near Santa 

 Isabella ; the Iguari (Iquiare ?) runs into the Issana, which 

 is also a tributary stream of the Rio Negro 



