431 



yaya, three leagues north-east of Tomependa, 

 In the whole of this distance, between Tambillo 

 and San Borja, the waters force a way, more or 

 less narrow, across the sand-stone of the Cordil- 

 lera of Chachapoyas. The mountains are lofty 

 near the Embarcadero, at the confluence of the 

 Imasa, where trunks of Cinchona, which might 

 be easily transplanted to Cayenne, or the Cana- 

 ries, approach the Amazon. The rocks in the 

 famous strait of Manseriche, are scarcely 40 

 toises high; and further eastward, the last hills 

 rise near Xeberos, towards the mouth of the 

 Rio Huallaga. 



In order not to interrupt the description of the 

 Cordilleras, between the 15° and 5i° of latitude^ 

 between the knots of the mountains' of Cuzco and 

 Loxa, I have hitherto passed over in silence the 

 extraordinary widening of the Andes near the 

 Apolobamba. The sources of the Rio Beni 

 being found in this counter-fort, which stretches 

 towards the north, beyond the confluence of 

 that river with the Apurimac, I shall designate 

 the whole group by the name of the counter-fort 

 of Beni. The following is the most certain in- 

 formation I have obtained respecting those 

 countries, from persons who had long inhabited 

 Apolobamba, the Real of the mines of Pasco, 

 and the convent of Ocopa. Along the whole 

 eastern chain of Titicaca, from La Paz to the 

 knot of Huanuco (lat,17i° to 10i°) a very wide 



vol. vi. u 



