718 



now placed)^ in order to export the mules and 

 dried meat of the Llanos from the territory of 

 the province of Cumana itself, without crossing 

 the Oroonoko. The little jealousies, that always 

 subsist between two neighbouring governments, 

 will serve to favor this project ; but in the pre- 

 sent state of the cultivation of the country it is 

 to be wished, that it may be postponed yet a 

 long time. Wherefore erect on the banks of 

 the Oroonoko two rival towns, scarcely four 

 hundred toises distant from each other ? 



I have now described the country through 

 which we passed during a voyage of five hun- 

 dred leagues ; it remains for me to make known 

 the small space of three degrees fifty-two mi- 

 nutes of longitude, that separates the present 

 capital from the mouth of the Oroonoko. The 

 exact knowledge of the delta, and of the course 

 of the Rio Carony, is at once interesting to hy- 

 drography, and to European commerce. In 

 order to judge of the extent and configuration 

 of a country intersected by the branches of the 

 Oroonoko, and subject to periodical inundations, 

 I found it necessary to examine astronomically 

 the situation of the points^ in which the summit 

 and the extreme branches of the delta terminate, 

 Mr. de Churruca, who was appointed together 

 with Don Juacquin Fidalgo, to survey the north- 

 ern coasts of Terra Firma and the West India 

 islands, has ascertained the latitude and longi- 



