513 



narrow land-strait, on the east of the moun- 

 tainous country which surrounds the source of 

 the Rio Negro ; but it is more probable that this 

 mountainous country (a small system of moun- 

 tains, geognostically dependent on the Sierra Pa- 

 rime), forms something of an island in the Llanos 

 of Guaviare and Yupura. Father Pugnet, guar- 

 dian of the convent of St. Francis at Popayan, 

 assured me, that when he went from the mis- 

 sions settled on the Rio Caguan to Aramo, a 

 village situated on the Rio Guayavero, he found 

 only savannahs destitute of trees *, extend- 

 ing as far as the eye could reach. The chain 

 of mountains placed by several modern geogra- 

 phers -f* no doubt to adorn their maps, between 

 the Meta and the Vichada, and which appears 

 to link the Andes of New Grenada with the 

 Sierra Parime. is altogether imaginary. 



We have now examined the prolongation of 

 the Sierra Parime on the west, towards the 

 source of the Rio Negro : it remains for us to 

 follow the same groupe in its eastern direction. 

 The mountains of the Upper Oroonoko, east- 



* What forest do the maps place in those countries (Selva 

 Grande or El Ayrico) ? The whole territory between the 

 Upper Oroonoko and the missions of Caquetais so unknown, 

 that the positions of San Juan de los Llanos, Caguan, Aramo, 

 and the confluence of the Rio Fragua with the Yupura or Ca- 

 queta, may be more than half a degree false in latitude. 



+ For instance, the great map of South America, by 

 Arrowsmith. 



VOL. VI. 2 M 



