787 



much enlarged this lake, that he gives it forty- 

 two leagues in length, and fifteen in breadth*. 

 The ancient geographers placed opposite to each 

 other, with very little hesitation, the tributary 

 streams of the two banks of a river ; and they 

 place the mouth of the Carony, and lake Cas- 

 sipa, which communicates by the Carony with 

 the river Oroonoko, sometimes *f above the con- 

 fluence of the Meta. Thus it is carried back 

 by Hondius as far as the latitudes cf 2° and 3°, 

 giving it the form of a rectangle, the longest 

 sides of which run from north to south. This 

 circumstance is worthy of remark, because, in 

 assigning gradually a more southern latitude to 

 the lake Cassipa, it has been detached from the 

 Carony and the Ami, and has taken the name 

 of Parima. To follow this metamorphosis in it's 

 progressive developement, we must compare the 

 maps which have appeared since the voyage of 

 Raleigh till -now. La Cruz, who has been 

 copied by all the modern geographers, has pre- 

 served the oblong form of the lake Cassipa for 

 his lake Parima, although thi« form is entirely 

 different from that of the ancient lake Parima, 

 or Ropunuwini, of which the great axis was 

 directed from east to west. The ancient lake 



* Map of Terra Fir ma, J 656. 

 + Sanson, Map for the voyage of Acunha, 1680. Id. South 

 America, 1659. Coronelli, Indes occidentales, 1689. 



3 £ 2 



