847 



broad. From this lake three rivers immediately 

 issue, the Rio Ucamu (Ocarao), the Rio Idapa 

 (Siapa), and the Rio Branco. The Oroonoko, 

 or Puruma, is indicated, as a subterraneous fil- 

 tration, at the western back of the Sierra Mei, 

 which skirts the lake or White Sea on the 

 west. This second source of the Oroonoko is 

 found in two degrees of north latitude, and thirty 

 degrees and a half east of the meridian of Esme- 

 ralda. The new river, after a course of fifty 

 leagues west-north-west, receives first the Uca- 

 mu, which issues from the lake Parima; and 

 then the Rio Maquiritari (Padamo), which rises 

 between the lake Ipava and another Alpine lake, 

 called by La Cruz Laguna Cavija. The word 

 lake being cavia in Maypure, the denomination 

 of Laguna Cavia signifies, like Laguna Parime, 

 simply a basin of water, Laguna de aqua. This 

 strange disposition of the rivers is become the 

 type of almost all the modern maps of Guyana. 

 A misunderstanding, founded on ignorance of 

 the Spanish language, has contributed to give 

 great authority to the map of La Cruz, in which 

 some accurate notions are mingled with sys- 

 tematic ideas drawn from ancient maps. A 

 dotted line surrounds the country, respecting 

 which Solano was able to procure some informa- 

 tion ; and this line has been taken for Solano's 

 route, who consequently would have seen the 

 south-western extremity of the White Sea. We 



