360 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
course and sources of this little-known but interesting 
and important river, would be an object worth the dan- 
ger and expense of the voyage. 
There is said to be a week’s smooth water above this 
place, to the Jurupari caxoeira, which is higher than any 
below it ; and above this no other fall has been found, 
though traders have been ten or fifteen days up. They 
say the river still keeps as wide or wider than below, — 
that the water is as ''white,” or muddy, as that of the 
Solimdes, — that many trees, birds, and fish peculiar to 
the Solimdes are there found, — that the Indians have 
Spanish knives, ponchos, and coins, — and relate that, 
higher up, there are extensive " campos,” with cattle, and 
men on horseback. AU these interesting particulars 
seem to show that the river has its sources in the great 
plains which extend to the base of the Andes, some- 
where near where the sources of the Guaviare are placed 
in most maps ; but which is, from all the information I 
can obtain, a much smaller river, and rises at a much 
shorter distance. Having only a pocket surveying sex- 
tant, without any means of viewing two objects much 
difiering in brilliancy, I endeavoured to obtain the lati- 
tude as accurately as I could, first by means of the 
zenith-distance at noon, obtained by a plumb-line and 
image of the sun, formed by a lens of about fifteen 
inches focus; and afterwards, by the meridian altitude 
of a star, obtained on a calm night, by reflection in a 
cuya of water. I took much care to ensure an accurate 
result, and have every reason to believe that the mean 
of the two observations will not be more than two or 
three minutes from the truth. 
