301 



is agitated only when there is any question of 

 extending or narrowing the limits of the country. 



The Rio Negro and the Jupura are two tri- 

 butary streams of the Amazon, and may be 

 compared in length to the Danube. The upper 

 parts belong to the Spaniards, while the lower 

 are occupied by the Portugueze. The popula- 

 tion on these two majestic rivers has accumu- 

 lated where it draws nearest the centre of the 

 most ancient civilization. The banks of the 

 Upper Jupura or Caqueta have been cultivated 

 by missionaries, who descended from the Cor- 

 dilleras of Popayan and Neiva. The Christian 

 settlements are very numerous from Mocoa to 

 the mouth of the Caguan ; while on the Lower 

 Jupura the Portugueze have scarcely founded 

 a few villages. On the Rio Negro, on the con- 

 trary, the Spaniards have not been able to rival 

 their neighbours. How could they find support 

 in a population so distant as that of the province 

 of Caraccas ? Steppes and forests nearly desert 

 separate, at a distance of one hundred and sixty 

 leagues, the cultivated part of the coast from the 

 four missions of Marsa, Tomo, Daripe, and San 

 Carlos, which are all that the Spanish monks of 

 Saint Francis could establish along the Rio 

 Negro. Among the Portugueze of Brazil the 

 military system* that of presides and capitanes 

 pobladores, has prevailed over the government 

 of the missionaries. Grand Para is no doubt far 



