754 



whole of the shore between the Oroonoko and 

 the Amazon. 



Ten leagues distant from Cape Barima, the 

 great bed of the Oroonoko is divided for the first 

 time into two branches of two thousand toises in 

 breadth. They are known by the Indian names 

 of Zacupana and Imataca. The first, which is 

 the northernmost, communicates on the west of 

 *he islands Congrejos and del Burro with the 

 bocas chicas of Lauran*, Nuina, and Mariusas. 

 As the Isla del Burro disappears in the time 

 of great inundations, it is unhappily not suited 

 to fortifications. The southern bank of the brazo 

 Imataca is cut by a labyrinth of little channels, 

 ^nto which the Rio Imataca and the Rio Aquire-f- 

 flow. A long series of little granitic hills rises 

 in the fertile savannahs between the Imataca 

 and the Cuyuni; it is a prolongation of the Cor- 

 dilleras of Parima, which, bounding the horizon 

 south of Angostura, forms the celebrated cata- 

 racts of the Rio Caroni, and approaches the 

 Oroonoko like a projecting cape near the little 

 fort of Vieja Guyana. The populous missions 

 of the Caribbee and Guyana Indians, governed 

 by the Catalonian Capuchins, lie near the 

 sources of the Imataca and the Aquire. The 

 easternmost of these missions are those of Mi- 



* C anno francos. 

 + These channels communicate with the Canno de Areeifes, 

 which opens two leagues west of cape Barima. 



