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the Rio de la, Plata is but a gulf, into which the 

 Uruguay and the Parana fall, two rivers much 

 less considerable in breadth than the Oroonoko. 

 In order to exaggerate the breadth of the mouth 

 of the Amazon, the islands of Marajo and Ca- 

 viana are considered as comprised within it ; so 

 as to give the immense breadth of 3*5°, or 70 

 leagues, from la Punta Tigioca to Cabo del 

 Norte. But an examination of the hydraulic 

 system of the channel of Tagypuru, the Rio 

 Tocantins, the Amazon, and the Araguari, which 

 unite the immense volume of their waters, is 

 sufficient to show, how chimerical this estimation 

 is. Between Macapa and the western bank of 

 the island Marajo (ilka deJoanes), the Amazon, 

 properly so called, is divided into two branches, 

 which together are only thirty-two miles (eleven 

 leagues) broad. Lower down, the northern 

 bank of the island of Marajo stretches east and 

 west, while the coast of Portugueze Guayana, 

 between Macapa and Cabo del Norte, runs 

 from south to north. Hence it follows, that the 

 Amazon, where the two islands of Maxiana and 

 Caviana are situate, and the waters of the river 

 first come into contact with those of the Atlantic, 

 forms a gulf nearly forty miles broad. The 

 Oroonoko is inferior to the Amazon in the length 

 of it's course, still more than in it's breadth within 

 land: it belongs to the rivers of the second 

 rank. But it must be remarked, that all these 



