393 



branches between the Apure, the Arauc&, the 

 Capanaparo, and the Sinaruco, cover a country 

 of nearly four hundred square leagues. At this 

 point the Oroonoko, turned aside from it's course, 

 not by neighbouring mountains, but by the rising 

 of counterslopes, runs toward the East instead of 

 following it's ancient direction in the line of the 

 meridian. Considering the surface of the globe 

 as a polyedron, formed of planes variously in- 

 clined # , we may conceive by the mere inspec 

 tion ofthe maps, that the intersection of these 

 slopes, rising toward the North, the West, and 

 the South «fo between San Fernando de Apure, 

 Caycara, and the mouth of the Meta, must 

 cause a considerable depression. The savan- 

 nahs in this basin are covered with twelve or 

 fourteen feet of water; and present, at the period 

 of rains, the aspect of a great lake. The farms 

 and villages placed on a sort of shoals, scarcely 

 rise two or three feet above the surface of the 

 water. Every thing here recalls to mind the 



* See a paper on the art of constructing canals, by Messrs. 

 Dupuis-Torcy and Brissot, in the Journal de I'Ecole Poly- 

 technique, vol. vii, p. 205. 



f The risings toward the North and the West are con- 

 nected with two lines of ridges, the mountains of Villa de Cura 

 and of Merida. The third slope, running from North to 

 South, is that of the land strait, between the Andes and 

 the chain of Parime. It determines the general inclination 

 of the Oroonoko, from the mouth of the Guaviare to that of 

 the Apure. 



