150 



communicated, through the channel of the 

 Apure and the Oroonoko, with the ocean. 

 What has been here effected on a small scale 

 by the hand of man, Nature often performs, 

 either by progressively elevating the level of the 

 soil, or by those falls of the ground, which vio- 

 lent earthquakes occasion. It is probable, that, 

 in the lapse of ages, several rivers of Soudan, 

 and of New Holland, which are now lost in the 

 sands, or in inland basins, will open themselves 

 a way toward the shores of the ocean. We 

 cannot at least doubt, that in both continents 

 there are systems of interior rivers, which may 

 be considered as not entirely developed # ; and 

 which communicate with each other, either in 

 the time of great risings, or by permanent bi- 

 furcations. 



The Rio Pao has scooped itself out a bed so 

 deep and broad, that in the season of rains, 

 when the Cano grande de Cambury inundates 

 all the land to the North-West of Guigue, the 

 waters of this Cano, and those of the lake of 

 Valencia, flow back into the Rio Pao itself ; so 

 that this river, instead of adding water to the 

 lake, tends rather to carry it away. We see 

 something similar in North America, where 

 geographers have chosen to represent on their 

 maps an imaginary chain of mountains, between 



* Carl Hitter, Erdkunde, vol. i, p. 3X5. 



