475 



thesis was maintained by the Jesuit Acunha : but 

 it is little conformable to the results of the 

 searches, which I have made in the works of the 

 first historians of the conquest # . Acunha as- 



* Acunha. Nuevo Diseubrimiento del Rio de las Amazonas r 

 Madrid, 1614. The comparison (p. 32) of the distance from 

 the Oroonoko and La Boca de Dragos to the mouths of the 

 Rio Felipe and the Maragnon would seem to prove, that 

 Acunha places the Rio de Felipe a little to the north-west of 

 the North Cape $ while in another place (p 2) he says, that 

 Aguirre went from the Maragnon by " a branch opposite the 

 island of Trinidad." Ancient geographers are extremely 

 confused on all that relates to the coast between Point Ti- 

 gioca and Cape Orange, as is proved by the name of North 

 Cape, given to Cape Orange (Laet, Nov. Orbis, p. 636) and 

 the position of the Rio Vicente Pinson, which led the diplo- 

 matic body into error at the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht* 

 It appears to me by no means probable, that Aguirre went 

 out beyond the North Cape by the interbranchings of the 

 esteres, which exist between the Amazon (below Macapa) ; 

 the Araguari, and the Matario. I should rather think (Gu- 

 milla, vol. v, p 43), that Acunha meant to denote by the 

 name of Rio Felipe the northernmost mouth of the Amazon, 

 that which lies between the western point of the island of 

 Caviana and North Cape. The new maps of the hydro- 

 graphic depot of Rio Janeiro call this mouth the channel of 

 Braganza. The first conquistadores had called the little river 

 Meary or Mearim, situate a hundred leagues south-east of 

 the mouth of the Amazon, Maragnon (Maranhao). See, on 

 the geographical error, which gave rise to this denomination 

 of the river, and of all the adjacent province, the Corogr.Bras., 

 vol. ii, p. 251, 253, 260. The opinion of the ancient geo- 

 graphers, who considered the Oronooko, the Amazon or Orel- 



