524 



north latitude. Ralegh first made known * in 

 1596, the system of the mountains of Parime* 

 between the sources of the Rio Carony and the 

 Essequibo,bythe name of Wacarima (Pacarima); 

 and the jesuits Acuna and Artedia furnished, in 

 1639, the first precise notions of that part of 

 this system which extends from the meridian of 

 Essequibo to that of Qyapock -jr. There they 

 place the mountains of Yguaracuru and Para- 

 guaxo, the former of which gives birth to a 

 gold river (Rio de oro), a tributary stream of 

 the CurupatubaJ; and according to the as- 

 sertion of the natives, subterraneous noises are 

 sometimes heard from the latter. The ridge of 

 this chain of mountains, which may be fol- 

 lowed in a direction S. 85° E., from the peak 

 Duida, near the Esmeralda (lat. 3° 19'), to the 



* Vol. v, p. 797, &c. 

 t Vol. v, p. 865. 



X When we know that in Tamanac gold is called caricuri; 

 in Carib, caricura; in Peruvian, cori (curi), we easily recog- 

 nize in the names of the mountains and rivers (Yguara-curu, 

 Cura-patuba), which we have just marked, the indication of 

 an auriferous soil. Such is the analogy of the imported roots 

 in the American tongues, which otherwise differ altogether 

 from each other, that 300 leagues west of the mountain 

 Ygaracuru, on the banks of the Caqueta, Pedro de Ursua 

 heard of the province of Caricuri, rich in gold washings. 

 (Vol. v, p. 823). The Curupatuba falls into the Amazon 

 near the Villa of Monte Alegre, N. E. of the mouth of the 

 Rio Topayos. 



