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by the portages between the Cababuri, the Pas- 

 simoni, the Idapa, and the Macava, to gather 

 the aromatic seeds of the puchery laurel behind 

 the Esmeralda. The Indians, I repeat, are ex- 

 cellent geographers ; they turn the enemy, not- 

 withstanding the limits traced upon the maps, 

 in spite of the forts and the destaeamento ; and 

 when the missionaries see them arrive from such 

 distances, and in different seasons, they begin 

 to frame hypotheses of pretended communica- 

 tions of rivers. Each party has an interest in 

 concealing what it knows with certainty; and 

 that propensity for all that is mysterious, which 

 is so common and so powerful among the igno- 

 rant, contributes to perpetuate the doubt. It 

 maybe observed farther, that the various Indian 

 nations, who frequent this labyrinth of rivers, 

 give them names entirely different ; and these 

 names are disguised and lengthened by termi- 

 nations that signify water, great water, current. 

 How often have I been perplexed by the neces- 

 sity of settling the synonymy of rivers, when I 

 have sent for the most intelligent among the 

 natives, in order to interrogate them by means 

 of an interpreter on the number of tributary- 

 streams, on the sources of the rivers, and on the 

 portages ! Three or four languages being spoken 

 in the same mission, it is difficult to make the 

 witnesses agree. Our maps are loaded with 

 names arbitrarily shortened or disfigured. To 



