416 



the south ; I was prepared to find the equator 

 one degree north of San Carlos, consequently on 

 the banks of the Temi and the Tuamini. The 

 observations made at the mission of San Balta- 

 sar (the passage of three stars over the meri- 

 dian) had already led me to perceive, that this 

 hypothesis was erroneous ; but it was only by 

 the latitude of Piedra Culimacari, that I learnt 

 to know the real situation of the frontiers. The 

 isle of San Jose, in the Rio Negro, considered 

 up to this day as the limit between the Spanish 

 and Portugueze possessions, is at least, in 1° 38' 

 north latitude ; and if the commission of Ituri- 

 aga and Solano had attained the object of it's 

 long negotiations, if the equator had been defi- 

 nitively recognized by the court of Lisbon as 

 the frontier of the two states, six Portugueze 

 villages, and even the fort of San Jose, lying 

 on the north of the Rio Guape, would now 

 belong to the crown of Spain*. What it would 

 then have acquired, thanks to some pre- 

 cise astronomical observations, is more impor- 



of three inches radius, had pretty well ascertained the latitude 

 of Para, although he places in general the river Ama- 

 zon, where it extends to the east of the mouth of the Rio 

 Negro, too far to the south. (Lettres tdifiantes, ed. of 1717, 

 vol. 12, p. 212.) 



* The missions of San Miguel, Santa Ana, San Felipe, 

 Nosso Senhora de Guia, San Joam Baptista de Mabbe, San 

 Marcellino, and the fort of San Jose da Marabitanuas. 



