379
SOURCES OF THE RIO NEGRО. the I q u i a r e , w a s t h e first
s c e n e o f El D o r a d o .
shall
of
w e find
the names
the Fathers Acunha
by
them
in t h e rivers
script Portuguese
and
which
I
B u t where
Iquiare,
think
I
Iguari,* on s o m e
I possess.
I
given
recognise manu
have l o n g a n d
the geography of South America, north
o f t h e A m a z o n , from rials.
and
and Fritz?
Urubaxi
maps
assiduously studied
Yurubesh
ancient
maps
and u n p u b l i s h e d
mate
D e s i r o u s t h a t m y work s h o u l d preserve t h e c h a r a c t e r
o f a scientific
performance, I
of subjects
treating
ought
on which
I
n o t to hesitate
flatter m y s e l f
t h r o w s o m e light ; n a m e l y , o n t h e q u e s t i o n s sources
of the
Rio
Negro
nication
between
problem
of the auriferous
these
respecting t h e
and the Orinoco, the commu
rivers
and the A m a z o n ,
soil, which
tants o f t h e New World
about
t h a t I can
so much
and the
has c o s t t h e i n h a b i
suffering
a n d so m u c h
blood. In
t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t h e w a t e r s c i r c u l a t i n g o n the
face
o f t h e globe, as well
bodies, selves for all
nature; h a s p u r s u e d
has been
than
as i n t h e structure
to
the
believed
be guided marvellous.
a much
vague
We
course
conceptions
find,
the exceptions t o t h e laws
inferior of America
less complicated
by t h o s e w h o have suffered
by
t o o , that
furnishes
in t h e o l d w o r l d ,
l i t t l e n e s s , have less s t r u c k
posed
b u t that
these
phenomena,
the imagination
of
W h e n i m m e n s e rivers may be c o n s i d e r e d as c o m
o f several
parallel
furrows
o f unequal
depth;
t h e s e rivers are n o t e n c l o s e d in v a l l e y s ; a n d w h e n rior o f t h e g r e a t c o n t i n e n t with
that t h e
p h e n o m e n a equally e x
from
travellers.
taste
o f hydrography, which t h e
traordinary their
and a
plan them
all a n o m a l i e s ,
d i s p l a y s , are merely a p p a r e n t ;
of running waters
sur
o f organic
u s ; the
when
the inte
is as flat a s t h e s h o r e s o f t h e s e a
ramifications,
t h e b i f u r c a t i o n s , a n d t h e inter-
l a c i n g s in t h e form of n e t - w o r k , must be infinitely m u l t i p i e d . From what we k n o w o f t h e equilibrium o f t h e seas. I cannot think than
that
the
N e w World
t h e O l d , and that
issued
organic
life
from
t h e waters
is t h e r e
later
younger, or
m o r e recent; b u t w i t h o u t a d m i t t i n g o p p o s i t i o n s b e t w e e n the * It may be written Urubaji. The j and the x were the same as the German ch to Father Fritz. The Urubaxi, or Hyurubaxi (Yurubesh), falls into the Rio Negro near Santa Isabella ; the Iguari (Iquiare ?) runs into the Issana, which in also a tributary of the Rio Negro.