314 



on which I may flatter myself that I can throw 

 some light ; I mean the sources of the Rio 

 Negro and the Oroonoko, the communication 

 between these rivers and the Amazon, and the 

 problem of the auriferous soil, which has cost 

 the inhabitants of the New World so many tears, 

 and so much blood. I shall touch on these 

 questions, according as my journals lead me 

 toward the places, where they are most agitated 

 by the inhabitants themselves. As it would be 

 necessary, however, to enter into minute details, 

 if I attempted to give all the proofs of my asser- 

 tions, I shall here confine myself to the mention 

 of the most striking results, and shall reserve 

 the more ample discussions for the Analysis of 

 the maps, and the Essay on the Astronomical 

 Geography of the New Continent, which will be 

 published at the head of the Geographical 

 Atlas. 



These researches lead to the general conclu- 

 sion, that, in the distribution of the waters cir- 

 culating on the surface of the Globe, as well as 

 in thestructure of organic bodies, nature has pur- 

 sued a much less complicated plan, than has 

 been believed by those, who have suffered them- 

 selves to be guided by vague conceptions and a 

 taste for the marvellous. We find too, that all 

 the anomalies, all the exceptions to the laws of 

 hydrography, which the interior of America dis- 

 plays, are merely apparent ; that the course of 



