722 



a river several leagues from the coast (for in- 

 stance the Apure or the Jupura) joins another 

 river by a great number of branches, these mul- 

 tiplied bifurcations are merely furrows traced in 

 a very flat soil. It is the same with the oceanic 

 deltas, wherever the coasts, by general inunda- 

 tions anterior to the existence of the Oroonoko 

 and the Amazon, have been covered by deposi- 

 tions of accumulated earth. I doubt whether 

 all these oceanic deltas have been gulfs, or, as 

 some modern geographers say, negative deltas. 

 When the mouths of the Ganges, the Indus, the 

 Senegal, the Danube, the Amazon, the Oroo- 

 noko, and Missisippi, have been more carefully 

 examined in a geological view, it will be per- 

 ceived, that they have not all the same origin ; 

 the coasts that advance abruptly into the sea 

 from the effect of increasing alluvions* will be 

 distinguished from those, that follow the general 

 configuration of the continents ; lands formed by 

 a bifurcated river will be distinguished from 

 plains traversed by a few lateral branches, form- 

 ing part of a soil of alluvions, the extent of which 

 exceeds several thousand square leagues. 



The delta of the Oroonoko, between the Isla 

 Cangrejos and the Boca de Manamo, (the land 

 inhabited by the Guaraon Indians,) may be 



* Like the deltas of the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube, 

 and the Missisippi. 



