159 



of the mouth of the Putumayo j and, to reach the missions 

 of Baxo Putumayo, the monks of Pasto are obliged to go 

 down the Amazon to Pevas, below the mouth of the Napo ; 

 to proceed from Pevas to the north by land, as far as 

 Quebrada, or Cano de Yaguas, and enter the Rio Putumayo 

 by this Cano. Neither can the left bank of the Amazon, 

 from Abatiparana (long. 69° 32 ; ) to Pongo de Manseriche, 

 at the western extremity of the province of Maynas, be con- 

 sidered as the boundary of New Grenada. The Portuguese 

 have always had possession of both banks as far as to the. 

 east of Loreto (long. 71° 54') ; and the situation of Ta- 

 batinga, on the north of the Amazon, where the last Por- 

 tuguese post is placed, sufficiently proves, that the left bank 

 of the Amazon, between the mouth of the Abatiparana and 

 the frontier near Loreto,, was never considered by them as 

 belonging to the Spanish territory. To prove likewise, that 

 the southern bank of the Amazon does not form the boun- 

 dary with Peru from the mouth of the Javari toward the 

 west, I have but to mention the existence of the numerous 

 villages of the province of Maynas, situate on the Guallaga, 

 as far as beyond Yurimaguas, 28 leagues south of the Ama- 

 zon. The extraordinary sinuosity of the frontier, between 

 the Upper Rio Negro and the Amazon, arises from the 

 circumstance, that the Portuguese introduced themselves 

 into the Rio Yapura by going up toward the N. W., while 

 the Spaniards descended the Putumayo. From the Javari, 

 the Peruvian limit goes beyond the Amazon, because the 

 missionaries of Jaen and Maynas, coming from New Gre- 

 nada, penetrated into these almost savage regions by the 

 Chinchipe and the Rio Guallaga. 



Calculating the surface of the Republic of Columbia, ac- 

 cording to the limits we have just traced, we find 91,952 

 square leagues (20 to a degree) thus : 



