317 



and as the inland seas lose their ancient com- 

 munications*. 



The certainty acquired by geographers since 

 the 16th century of the existence of several bi- 

 furcations, and the mutual dependance, of vari- 

 ous systems of rivers in South America, have led 

 them to admit an intimate connection between 

 the five great tributary streams of the Oroonoko 

 and the Amazon ; the Guaviare, the Inirida, 

 the Rio Negro, the Caqueta or Hyapura-j~, and 

 the Putumayo or Iza. These hypotheses, which 

 our maps exhibit under different forms, took 

 rise partly in the missions of the plains, and 

 partly on the back of the Cordilleras of the 

 Andes. In travelling from Santa-Fe de Bogota, 

 by Fusagasuga to Popayan and Pasto, you are 

 told by the mountaineers, that the Paramos 

 de la Summa Paz (of eternal Peace), of Is- 



* The geological constitution of tbe soil seems to indicate, 

 that, notwithstanding the actual difference of level in their 

 w aters, the Black Sea, the Caspian, and lake Aral, commu- 

 nicated with each other in an era anterior to historic times. 

 The overflowing of the Aral into the Caspian Sea seems 

 even to be partly of a more recent date, and independant of 

 the bifurcation of the Gihon (Oxus), on which one of the 

 most learned geographers of our days, Mr. Ritter, has thrown 

 new light. Erdkunde, vol. 1, p. 665 and 695. 



+ Hyapura or Jupura. Thus, instead of Javary, Yutai, 

 and Yurua, (tributary streams of the Amazon), the people 

 of the country say Hyabary, Hyutahy, and Hyuruha (Co- 

 rogr. bras., vol. ii, p. 285). 



