ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
buritys could be admired. A great valley extending south 
with a central ridge could be distinguished. On it was 
the meeting-place of the Rio Diamantino and the Rio do 
Ouro (River of Gold), which, with the Sete Lagoas, 
formed another most important point of South America, 
for it was there that the Great Paraguay or Parana 
River rose. 
It was thus interesting to note that within almost a 
stone’s throw rose two of the most powerful rivers of 
South America, one flowing due north into the Amazon, 
the other almost due south as far as Buenos Aires and 
Montevideo, where it entered the Atlantic Ocean. 
A great confusion is made on most maps between those 
lagoons and the actual birthplaces of those important 
streams. The ancient Jesuits and friars had a fair idea 
of geography. I have in my possession a remarkable work 
in Italian published in Rome in 1698 by Father John 
Joseph of S. Teresa — a barefooted Carmelite. It is en¬ 
titled The History of the Wars in the Kingdom of Brazil 
between the Crown of Portugal and the Republic of 
Holland. The book contains a number of extraordinary 
maps of Brazil. Those of the principal harbours give a 
splendid idea of the places represented. The coastline of 
the continent is indicated with fair accuracy. It is curious 
to note that the author of that book and the cartographer 
place the sources of the Amazon and of the river Plate 
in the same spot, as descending on opposite sides of a 
range extending from east to west — a range which does 
not exist, unless it was intended to represent the Central 
Brazilian plateau. “ The river S. Francisco,” Father 
John Joseph goes on to state, “ has also its birth in the 
spot where the Amazon is born, but this is not sure.” The 
cartographer, in fact, places the head-waters of that river 
close to the head-waters of the Amazon, and makes them 
flow through a large lagoon in the heart of Brazil, evi¬ 
dently the Great “ Lagoa dos Veados ” or else the “ Sete 
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