730 



of the principal mouth of the Oroonoko (Bo- 

 ca de Navios) so differently estimated. The 

 great island Cangrejos is separated only by a 

 narrow channel from the inundated land, which 

 extends between the Bocas de Nuina and de 

 Mariusas, so that twenty or fourteen nautical 

 miles (at nine hundred and fifty toises) are x 

 obtained, according as the measure is taken (in a 

 direction opposite to that of the current) from 

 Punta Barima to the nearest opposite bank, or 

 from the same Punta to the eastern bank of the 

 Isla Cangrejos. The navigable channel is 

 crossed by a sand-bank or bar, on which are 

 seventeen feet of water ; the breadth of which 

 is supposed to be from two thousand five hun- 

 dred to two thousand eight hundred toises. 

 The Oroonoko, like the Amazon, the Nile, and 

 all the rivers that separate into several branches, 

 is less wide at the mouth than might be sup- 

 posed from the length of it's course, and the 

 breadth it preserves at some hundred leagues 

 inland. It is known from the labours of Malas- 

 pina, that the Rio de la Plata, from Punta del 

 Este near Maldonado as far as Cabo San Anto- 

 nio, is more than one hundred and twenty-four 

 miles (41*3 leagues) broad; but in going up 

 toward Buenos Ayres, this breadth diminishes 

 so rapidly, that opposite the Colonia del Sacra- 

 mento it is already no more than twenty-one 

 miles. What is commonly called the mouth of 



