723 



compared to the island of Marajo or Joanes*, 

 near the mouth of the Amazon. One of these 

 pieces of alluvial land is on the north, the other 

 on the south of the principal trunk of the river. 

 But the form of the island Joanes is connected 

 with the general configuration of the soil of the 

 province of Maranhao, as the coasts of the bocas 

 chicas of the Oroonoko are with that of Esse- 

 quibo and the gulf of Paria. Nothing appears 

 to me to prove, that this gulf extended formerly 

 toward the south from the boca de Manama as 

 far as Vieja Guayana ; or that the Amazon 

 filled with it's waters the whole bay between 

 Villa Vistoza and Grand Para. All that sur- 

 rounds rivers is not their own work. They have 

 most frequently scooped themselves out a bed in 

 alluvial lands, the origin of which dates from 

 more ancient geologic causes, from the great ca- 



* This pretended island, which the jesuit Andrew da Bar- 

 ros asserts to be larger than the kingdom of Portugal, though 

 it is only fifteen hundred square leagues, is inhabited by the 

 Nhengahybas (or Igaruanas, that is, boatmen), who know the 

 mouth of the Amazon as well as the Guaraons know that of 

 the Oroonoko. The topography of the island Joanes, and 

 of the vicinity of Belem or of Para, has little accuracy on 

 the most recent maps. The following is the real state of 

 things : a very narrow channel (the Tagypuru) issues from the 

 Amazon below the Villa de Gurupa, and joins the lake 

 Annapu near the town of Melgaco. The Rio Annapu, which 

 is the Guanapu of D'Anville, falls into this lake. East of 

 Melgaco, the Tagypuru receives the great river of the Tocan- 

 tins, on which stands the town of Para. 



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