865 



NOTE TO BOOK THE EIGHTH. 



NOTE A. 



M On the north of the confluence of the Curupatuba with 

 the Amazon," says Acunha (p. 40), " is the mountain of 

 Paraguaxo, which, when illumined by the sun, glows with 

 the most beautiful colours ; and thence from time to time 

 issues a horrible noise (revienta con grandes estruenos)" Is 

 there a volcanic phenomenon in this eastern part of the New 

 Continent? or is it the love of the marvellous, which had 

 given rise to the tradition of the bellowings (bramidos) of 

 Paraguaxo ? The lustre emitted from the sides of the moun- 

 tain recalls to mind what we have mentioned above of the 

 micaceous rocks of Calitarnini, and the island Ipomucena, in 

 the pretended lake Dorado. In one of the Spanish letters in- 

 tercepted at sea by Captain George Popham, in 1594, it is 

 said, " Having inquired of the natives, whence they obtained 

 the spangles and powder of gold, which we found in their 

 huts, and which they stick on their skin by means of some 

 greasy substances, they told us, that, in a certain plain, they 

 tore up the grass, and gathered the earth in baskets, to sub- 

 ject it to the process of washing.*' (Raleigh, p. 109.) Can 

 this passage be explained by supposing, that the Indians 

 sought thus laboriously, not for gold, but for spangles of 

 mica, which the natives of Rio Caura still employ as an or- 

 nament, when they paint their bodies ? 



END OF VOL. V, 



VOL, V, 



