426
GEOGRAPHICAL
ERRORS.
P o r t u g u e s e w e n t u p m o s t frequently b y the A m a z o n , the R i o N e g r o , and the Cassiquiare, and when Father G u m i l l a ' s letters were carried ( b y the natural interbranching o f t h e rivers) from the l o w e r O r i n o c o t o G r a n d Para, that very missionary made every effort t o spread the o p i n i o n t h r o u g h E u r o p e that the basins o f the O r i n o c o a n d the A m a z o n are perfectly separate. H e asserts that, having several times g o n e up the former o f these rivers as far as tho R a n d a l o f Tabaje, situate in the latitude o f 1째 4', he n e v e r saw a river flow in o r o u t that could be taken for the R i o N e g r o . He adds further, that " a great Cordillera, which stretches from east t o west, prevents the m i n g l i n g o f the waters, and renders all discussion on the supposed c o m m u n i c a t i o n o f the t w o rivers useless." T h e errors o f f a t h e r G u m i l l a arose from his firm persuasion that he had reached the parallel o f 1째 4' o n the O r i n o c o . H e was i n error b y m o r e than 5 ' 10' o f l a t i t u d e ; for I found, by observation, at the mission of Atures, thirteen leagues south o f the rapids o f Tabaje, the latitude to be 5째 37' 34". G u m i l l a having g o n e b u t little above the confluence o f the M e t a , it is n o t surprising that he had no knowledge o f the bifurcation o f the O r i n o c o , which is found b y the sinuosities o f the river t o be one hundred and t w e n t y leagues distant from the R a n d a l o f Tabaje. La C o n d a m i n e , during his memorable navigation o n the river Amazon in 1743, carefully collected a great number o f proofs of this c o m m u n i c a t i o n of the rivers, denied by the Spanish Jesuit. T h e m o s t decisive p r o o f t h e n appeared t o him to bo the unsuspected testimony of a Cauriacani Indian w o m a n with w h o m he had conversed, and w h o had c o m e in a boat from the banks o f the O r i n o c o (from the mission o f Pararuina) t o G r a n d Para. B e f o r e the return o f L a C o n damine to his own c o u n t r y , the voyage o f f a t h e r Manuel R o m a n , and the fortuitous m e e t i n g o f the missionaries o f the O r i n o c o and the A m a z o n , left no d o u b t o f this fact, the k n o w l e d g e o f which was first obtained by A c u n b a . T h e incursions undertaken from the middle o f the seventeenth century, to procure slaves, had gradually led the P o r t u g u e s e from the Rio N e g r o , by the Cassiquiare, t o t h e bed o f a great river, which they did not know to be the Upper Orinoco. A flying c a m p , c o m p o s e d o f the t r o o p o f