OCR Text |
Show 192 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. part an east and west direction. From political reasons, the Brazilians, since the beginning of the present century, have testified a lively interest in the extensive plains east of the Rio Branco. See the memoir which I drew up at the request of the Portuguese court in 1817, "sur la fixation des limites des Guyanes Francaise et Portuguaise" (Schoell, Archives historiques et politiques, ou Recueil de Pieces officielles, Memoires, &c. t. i. 1818, pp. 48-58). Viewing the position of Santa Rosa on the Uraricapara, the cour;e of which appears to have been determined with tolerable accuracy by Portuguese engineers, the sources of the Orinoco cannot be looked for east of the meridian of 65to from Paris (63°.8' W. long. from Greenwich). This being the eastern limit beyond which they cannot be placed, and considering the state of the river at the Raudal de los Guaharibos (above Cafio Chiguire, in the country of the surprisingly fair-skinned Guaycas Indians, and 52' east of the great Cerro Duida), it appears to me probable that the upper part of the Orinoco does not really extend, at the utmost, beyond the meridian of 66to from Paris (64°.8' W. from Greenwich). This point is according to my combinations 4°.12' west of the little Lake of Amucu, which was reached by Sir Robert Schomburgk. I next subjoin the conjectures of that gentleman, having given the earlier ones formed by myself. According to his view, the course of the upper Orinoco to the east of Esmeralda is directed from southeast to northwest; my estimations of latitude for the mouths of the Padamo and the Gehette appearing to be respectively 19 and 36' too small. n.obert Schomburgk supposes the sources of the Orinoco to be in lat. 2°.30' (s. 460); and the fine" Map of Guayana, to illustrate the route of R. H. Schomburgk," which accompanies the splendid English work entitled "Views in the Interior of Guiana," places the sources of the Orinoco in 67°.18' (W. from Paris), i.e. 1 ~ 6' west of Esmeralda, and only 48' of longitude nearer to the Atlantic than I had thought admissible. From astronomical combinations, Schomburgk has placed the mountain of Maravaca, which is upwards of nine thousand feet high, in lat. 3".41' and long. 65°.38'. Near the mouth of the Padamo or Paramu, the Orinoco was scarcely three hundred yards wide; and more to the west, where it spreads to a breadth of from four to six hundred |