511 



rous earth At Maroa, the most westerly 

 mission of the Rio Negro, the Indians assured 

 me that that river, as well as the Inirida (a tribu- 

 tary stream of the Guavare), rises at the dis- 

 tance of five days march, in a country bristled 

 with hills and rocks. The natives of San Mar- 

 cell ino speak of a Sierra Tunuhy, placed near 

 thirty leagues west of their village, between the 

 Xie and the Icanna. M. de Condamine heard 

 also from the Indians of the Amazon, that the 

 Quiquiari (Iquiari of Acuna and Fritz), comes 

 from " a country of mountains and mines." 

 Now, the Iquiari is placed by the French astro- 

 nomer, between the equator and the mouth of 

 the Xie (Ijie), which identifies it with the Igui- 

 are that falls into the Icanna. We cannot ad- 

 vance in the geognostic knowledge of America, 

 without having unceasingly recourse to the re- 



* Vol. v, p. 312, 320, 330. According to the journals of 

 Acuna, and Firtz, the Manaos Indians (Manoas) drew gold 

 from the banks of the Yquiari (Iguiare or Iguare), of which 

 they made blades. The manuscript notes of Don Apolli- 

 nario also make mention of the gold of the Rio Uaupes. 

 (La Condamine, Voyage a VAmazone, p. 98, and 129 j and 

 above, Vol. v, p. 313, 320, 664.) We must not confound 

 the Laguna de Oro, which is said to be found in going up the 

 Uaupes (nor. lat. 0<> 40') with another gold lake (south lat, 

 1° 10') which La Condamine calls Marahi or Marachi (water), 

 and which is nothing but a soil often inundated, between 

 the sources of the Jurubech (Urubaxi) and the Rio Marahi> 

 a tributary stream of the Caqueta. 



