473 



turn admitted and denied. It was forgotten, 

 that these mountains, even if they existed, did 

 not prove in an absolute manner the separation 

 of the hydraulic systems ; and that the waters 

 have opened passages even across the Cordil- 

 leras of the Andes, and the chain of Himalaya *, 

 the most elevated in the known world. It was 

 affirmed, and not without reason, that voyages, 

 which had been said to have been performed in 

 the same boat, did not prove, that the naviga- 

 tion had not been interrupted by portages -f~. I 

 have been fortunate enough, to verify myself all 

 the circumstances of this long contested bifurca- 

 tion ; but I am far from blaming such of the 

 learned, as, guided by a noble zeal in the re- 

 search of truth, have hesitated to admit what did 

 not appear to them sufficiently clear. 



The river of Amazons having been fre- 

 quented by the Portugueze and the Spaniards, 



* The Sutledge, the Gogra, the Gunduk, the Aran, the 

 Teesla, and the Boorampooter, pass through transverse valleys, 

 that is, perpendicular to the great axis of the Himalaya chain. 

 All these rivers consequently break the chain, as the Amazon, 

 the Paute, and the Pastaza, break the Cordillera of the 

 Andes. (See above, chap. 20, p. 41.) 



+ The same doubts on the existence of some portages, where 

 other geographers suppose a communication by water, have 

 been recently brought forward with respect to the problematic 

 communication of the Niger with the Nile ; and what is still 

 more extraordinary, with respect to Behring's Strait, and 

 the voyage of the Cossack Deschnew. 



