The Basin Only, Or Rather The Transversal Valley Of The Rio Branco, Forms A Kind Of Gulf, A Succession Of

Plains and savannahs (campos) several of which penetrate from south to north, into the mountainous land between the eastern and

Western branches of the chain of Pacaraina, to the distance of eight leagues north of the parallel of San Joaquin.

We have just examined the southern part of the vast system of the mountains of Parime, between 2 and 4 degrees of latitude, and between the meridians of the sources of the Orinoco and the Essequibo. The development of this system of mountains northward between the chain of Pacaraina and Rio Cuyuni, and between the meridians 66 and 61 3/4 degrees, is still less known. The only road frequented by white men is that of the river Paragua, which receives the Paraguamusi, near the Guirior. We find indeed, in the journal of Nicolas Rodriguez, that he was constantly obliged to have his canoe carried by men (arrastrando) past the cataracts which intercept the navigation; but we must not forget a circumstance of which my own experience furnished me with frequent proofs - that the cataracts in this part of South America are often caused only by ridges of rocks which do not form mountains. Rodriguez names but two between Barceloneta and the mission of San Jose; while the missionaries place more to the east, in 6 degrees latitude, between the Rio Caroni and the Cuyuni, the Serranias of Usupama and Rinocote. The latter crosses the Mazaruni, and forms thirty-nine cataracts in the Essequibo, from the military post of Arinda (latitude 5 degrees 30 minutes) to the mouth of Rupunuri.

With respect to the continuation of the system of the mountains of Parime, south-east of the meridian of the Essequibo, the materials are entirely wanting for tracing it with precision. The whole interior of Dutch, French and Portuguese Guiana is a terra incognita; and the astronomical geography of those countries has scarcely made any progress during the space of thirty years. If the American limits recently fixed between France and Portugal should one day cease to be mere diplomatic illusions and acquire reality in being traced on the territory by means of astronomical observations (as was projected in 1817), this undertaking would lead geographical engineers to that unknown region which, at 3 1/2 degrees west of Cayenne, divides the waters between the coast of Guiana and the Amazon. Till that period, which the political state of Brazil seems to retard, the geognostic table of the group of Parime can only be completed by scattered notions collected in the Portuguese and Dutch colonies. In going from the Uassari mountains (latitude 2 degrees 25 minutes, longitude 61 degrees 50 minutes) which form a part of the eastern branch of the Cordillera of Pacaraina, we find towards the east a chain of mountains, called by the missionaries Acaray and Tumucuraque. Those two names are found on our maps between 1/2 and 3 degrees north latitude.

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