told of the asiatic Amazons in the Termodonte. The fact, however, is, that the women here called Amazonas were nothing more than women who assisted their husbands in battle; a practice very prevalent amongst the greater part of the nations of the american Indians. Such was the case when GONZALO had to encounter women in the kingdom of Tunja, SEBASTIAN de BENALCAZAR in Popayan, PEDRO DE VALDIVIA in Chilé, as also other conquerors in different provinces. The Amazons of the Maranon, of which we treat, and who made front against ORELLANA, were of the nation of the Omaguas, dwelling in the islands and on the shores of the river. The historians who paint the govern ment and customs of this fictitious race, are nothing but idle dreamers and fabulists, publishing wonders to accredit their voyages and histories. From the mouth of the river, as far up as the Yavari, on the S. shore, and as far as the settlement of Loreto de los Ticunes on the N. including the river itself, and the adjacent territories, the Portuguese possessions are considered at the present day to extend, and from thence upwards is claimed by the Crown of Spain. The latter power has founded many settlements of Indians, who have become Christians; as also certain reducciones, which form the mission called De Mainas, the same having had its origin, and having since flourished, under the discipline and management of the regulars of the company of Jesuits of the province of Quito, until that this order was supplanted, in 1767, by the presi dent Don JOSEF DIBUJA, who sent various priests in the place of the former; these banishing the Jesuits from the dominion of the king. Other missionaries were also sent of the religious orders of San FRANCISCO, to the shores of the rivers Manua, Putainayo, and Caqueta. The woods of the Marauon are immense, full of tigers, dantas, bears, leopards, wild boars, and an infinite variety of venomous snakes and serpents; the most formidable of which are those called yacumamas, saramicues, corales, exis, cascabeles, canelas, tigrillas, buhos and intiyuyes. The waters swarm with alligators or crocodiles, fine fish of various kinds, the same being peculiar to the lakes in its vicinities, some sorts exceedingly rare, and especially those called charapas or tortoise, the manati or sea-cow, the same being called also pexe-buey or ox-fish, from its great resemblance to this animal, and which feeds upon grass and suckles its young. The multitude, variety, and beauty of the birds, are truly striking to foreigners; and amongst the most noted are the piuries, quacamayos, loros, chiricluses, paujies, poeticadores, trompeteros, mountain-fowl, partridges, pheasants, quails, and the rest. Here are infinite variety of apes of different figures, and of the most extravagant and ridiculous appearances. The vegetable productions which grow wild, are cacao, cinnamon, bainilla, zarzaparilla, and pines; and those which are in part wild and generally cultivated are coffee, sugar-canes, rice, mahiz, plantains, pitajayas, lemons, limes, oranges, &c. also wax, storax, capayve carana, oil of Maria, copal, and other balsams, resins, and medicinal drugs. The woods are extremely precious, of every kind, color, and size; such as cedar, red-wood, (palo-rojo) holy-wood (palo santo) pine, tasla and chonta, which resembles ebony. The herbs and roots, although they are in very great abundance, are but little known, as are the different coloured mineral earths. Throughout the whole country washed by this mighty river, from the point or strait of Manseriche to its mouth, there is to be found no kind of stone, gold, or other mineral. Its current has great violence and rapidity, and its depth is unfathomable. The swellings and freshes are usually very great: and when these happen, the country is inundated for many leagues, the whole of the islands are covered with water, and are made to change their situation, or new ones are formed by the fresh channels which the river in its boundless impetuosity is accustomed to procure itself. In the parts called Pongo de Manseriche and Pauxis, its stream is confined in a narrow channel of about three leagues across. The water here is pure and well tasted, but very turbid and thick, owing to the number of trees, of pieces of earth, which it draws down with it in its course; and these impediments render its navi gation here somewhat dangerous to canoes, although not so to the larger vessels, or piraguas, of the Portuguese. This river is navigable from the city of Jaen, in the kingdom of Quito, as far as its entrance into the sea, which is nearly its whole course. The climate of the countries that it irrigates, from the province of Yaguarsongo to its mouth, is hot, moist, and unhealthy, espe cially on its shores, which have also the disagreeable molestation of mosquitos of a thousand kinds, as well as of many other venomous insects. The history of this river was written and published in a folio volume by the father MANUEL RODRIGUEZ, of the extinguished company of Jesuits. Ibid. OROONOQUE:Thus written in the 2d edition of Robinson Crusoe) A river of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, in S. America, one of the four largest rivers on the continent. It rises in the Sierras Nevadas to the N. of the lake Parime, in the province of Guayana, according to the discovery made by order of the court by Admiral Don JOSEPH ITURRIAGA, and by means of the information received from the Caribes Indians, proving erroneous the origin given to it by the father Joseph GuMILLA, the jesuit, in his book entitled "Orinoco Illustrado," as also the origin given it by the ex-jesuit COLETI, namely, in the province of Mocoa, in lat. 1° 21′ N. The fact is, that, according to the more recent and best accounts, it should appear to rise in the Sierra Ibermoqueso, from a small lake called Ipava, which is, agreeably with the account of our author, in the province of Guayana. This river runs more than 600 leagues, receiving in its extended course an exceeding number of other rivers, which swell it to an amazing size, and it proceeds to empty itself into the sea, opposite the island of Trinidad, by seven different mouths, forming various isles, denominated the Orotomecas or Palomas, so called from a barbarous nation of Indians of this name inhabiting them. The Orinoco bears the name of Iscante, until it passes through the country of the Tames Indians, where it receives, by the W. side, the rivers Paparnene and Plasencia, and acquires then the name of that district, which it changes at passing through the settlement of San Juan de Yeima into that of Guavare, and then to that of Barragan, just below where it is entered by the abundant stream of the Meta, and before it is joined by the Cazanare, of equal size. It receives on the N. side, the rivers Pau, Guaricu, Assure, Cabiari, Sinaruco, Guabiaris, Irricha, San Carlos, and others; and by the S. those of Benituari, Amariguaca, Cuchivero, Caura, Aroi, Caroni, Acquiri, Piedras, Vermejo or Colorado, and others of less note; and being rendered thus formidable with all the above, it at last becomes the Orinoco. Its shores and islands are inhabited by many barbarous nations of Indians, some of whom have been reduced to the catholic faith by the jesuits, who had founded some flourishing missions, until the year 1767; when, through their expulsion from the spanish dominions, these Indians passed to the charge of the capuchin friars. The Orinoco is navigable for more than 200 leagues for vessels of any size, and for canoes and small craft from its mouth as far as Tunja or San Juan de los Llanos. It abounds exceedingly in all kinds of fish ; and on its shores, which are within the ecclesiastical government of the bishop of Puerto Rico, are forests covered with a great variety of trees and woods, and inhabited by strange animals and rare birds, the plants, fruits, and insects being the same as those on the shores of the Maranon. This last mentioned river communicates with the Orinoco by the river Negro, although this was a problem much disputed until acknowledged by the discovery made by the father RAMUEL ROMAN, the jesuit, in 1743. The principal mouth of the Orinoco was discovered by Admiral CHRISTOPHER COLON in 1498, and DIEGO de ORDAS was the first who entered it; he having sailed up it in 1531. The sounding between fort San Francisco de la Guayana and the channel of Limon is 65 fathoms, measured in 1734 by the engineer Don PABLO DIAS FAXARDO, and, at the narrowest part, it is more than 80 fathoms deep; in addition to which, during the months of August and September, the river is accustomed to rise 20 fathoms at the time of its swelling or overflow, which lasts for five months; and the natives have observed that it rises a yard higher every 25 years. The flux and reflux of the sea is clearly distinguishable in this river for 160 leagues. In the part where it is narrowest stands a formidable rock in the middle of the water, of 40 yards high, and upon its top is a great tree, the head of which alone is never covered by the waters, and is very useful to mariners as a mark to guard against the rock. Such is the rapidity and force with which the waters of this river rush into the sea, that they remain pure and unconnected with the waters of the ocean for more than 20 leagues distance: its principal mouth, called de Navios, is in lat. 8° 9′ N. The Orinoco is remarkable for its rising and falling once a year only; for it gradually rises during the space of five months, and then remains one month stationary, after which it falls for five months, and in that state continues for one month also. These alternate changes are regular, and even invariable. Perhaps the rising of the waters of the river may depend on the rains which constantly fall in the mountains of the Andes every year about the month of April; and although the height of the flood depends much upon the breadth or extent of the bed of the river, yet, in one part where it is narrowest, it rises (as ALCEDO has correctly observed) to the astonishing beight of 120 feet. One mouth of the river is S. by E. of the gulph of Paria, in latitude 8° 50′ N. lon. 60° W. and opposite to the island of Trinidad. It is large and navigable, and has many good towns on its banks that are chiefly inhabited by the Spanish, and is joined also on the E. side by the lake Casipa. There are two other islands at its mouth, the entrance to which is also somewhat dangerous, as there is frequently a dreadful conflict between the tide of the ocean and the current of the river, that must, for the reasons assigned, sometimes run very rapidly. It is true that the river, including its windings, takes a course of 1380 miles. It may be considered as having many mouths, which are formed by the islands that lie before its opening towards the ocean; yet there are only two that are considered as of any use for the purposes of navigation. These are the channels of Sabarima and Corobana, otherwise called Caribbiana. The latter lies in a S. by W. direction, and is also divided into two distinct channels, that afterwards meet again at the island of Trinidad in the mouth of the grand river. But pilots pretend to say, that the mouth of this great river begins from the river Amugora, reaching from thence to the river Sabarima, and from thence about to the river Caribbiana; and some accounts state its mouths to be upwards of 40 in number, as if it were a collection of many rivers, all uniting at the mouth of the great river, and assisting to convey the main stream of that river into the ocean. The W. passage or channel of the river Orinoco, called by the Spaniards the gulph of Paria, lies between cape Salinas on the main, and the N. W. point of the island of Trinidad. It contains several islands, which divide the stream of the river into several branches, particularly the Boca Grande, or Great Mouth, which is the easternmost, being about gun-shot wide, but having no soundings within 500 fathoms, and the Boca Pequena, or Little Mouth, which is the westernmost, being almost as wide as the other, and having ground at from 50 to 60 fathoms. At New Cape Araya, on the N. side of the mouth of this river, are salt-pits, which yield the finest salt in the world. In some maps the head waters are called Inirchia. A more diffuse and particular account of this mighty river will be found in a recent publication of merit, under the following heads, which have been translated and selected from the works of DEPONS, and other writers, viz. The seven principal mouths of the Orinoco. The navigation of the Orinoco up to St. Thomas. Enchanting variety of its banks.-Importance of this river. Farther account of its waters, and its annual swell. Its tides, and peculiar animals inhabiting it. Table of latitudes and longitudes of these parts. It is presumed that the course of this river, for the first 100 leagues, is N.E. and S. In this part it leaves the imaginary lake of Parima 60 leagues from its left bank. The rivers which flow into the Orinoco give it, before it has run these 100 leagues from its source, as rapid a current, and as great a body of water as any of the most considerable rivers. From the Esmeraldas to San Fernando de Atabapa, its course is from E. to N.E. Between these places is the canal of Casiquiari, which forms the communication between it and the Amazones, by the river Negro. About 100 miles from the sea, the Orinoco, like the Nile, forms a sort of fan, scattered with a number of little islands, which divide it into several branches and channels, and oblige it to discharge itself through this labyrinth into the sea by an infinite number of mouths, lying N.E. and S. W. and extending more than 170 miles. These islands increase so on the coast, that the mouths of the Orinoco are very numerous, but very few of them are navigable, It is computed that these openings amount to near 50 and only seven of them admit the entrance of vessels, and these must not be of a large burden. An idea of the prudence and skill requisite for the navigation of these mouths may be formed by what daily happens among the Guayanos Indians, who, although born on the islands, and from subsisting solely on fish, are so accustomed to the intricacies of the different channels, yet frequently lose themselves, and are obliged to allow the current to carry them out to sea, and then to re-enter, not without the most minute observations and endeavours to ascertain the proper passage. It even requires a considerable skill to find the current; for the nuinerous channels have such different directions, that, in the greater part of them no current at all is perceptible, and, in the others, the eddies or the winds give the currents a direction up the river instead of down. The compass is frequently of no use, and when a person is once lost, he is often obliged to wander several days among the Guayanos islands, conceiving he is ascending the river when he is descending, or that he is descending when he is ascending, and at length finds himself at the very point from which he set out, The first of the mouths which are navigable is 25 miles S. E. of the entrance of the Guarapiche river, in the province of Cumana. It is one of those which empty their water in the gulph of Paria. It is called the great Manamo in contra distinction to the little Manamo, which runs in the same channel with it, nearly to the sea, and is navigable for shallops. The second mouth is 20 miles N.E. of the first, and is called the Pedernales. It runs from the E. of the island of Guarisipa, and falls into the sea 3 leagues S.W. of Soldier's Island, which is situated at the S. entry of the gulph of Paria. It is only navigable for canoes, or at the most for shallops. The third mouth is called Caparo; it is. an arm of the channel of Pedernales, from which it branches off at 50 miles from the sea. Its mouth is in the southernmost part of the gulph of Paria, 34 miles S.E. of that of the channel of Pedernales. The navigation is hardly fit for any vessels but canoes and shallops. Macareo is the name of the fourth mouth, it enters the sea six leagues S. of Capuro, and is the channel of communication between Guayana and Trinidad, and every thing concurs to give it this advantage exclusively. It is navigable for moderate-sized vessels, its channel is exceedingly straight and clear, and it falls into the sea opposite the point and river Erin in Trinidad. The fifth mouth is very little frequented, on account of the difficulty of the navigation and the ferocity of the Indians inhabiting its banks. They are called Mariusas, and have given their name to the fifth passage of the Orinoco. This mouth is 35 miles E.S.E. of the fourth. Between Mariusas and the sixth mouth are several outlets to the sea, which are naviga ble by the tide or by the floods. Twenty-five miles more to the S.E. is what is called the great mouth of the Orinoco; it bears the name of the mouth of vessels, (Navios) because it is the only one which admits ships of 200 or 300 tons. Its extent is six leagues, but it is far from being every where of an equal depth. Navigation of the Orinoco up to St. Thomas.-The grand mouth of the Orinoco is formed S.S.E. by Cape Barima to which is in 8° 54′ lat. N. and the island Cangrejos, lying W.N.W. of the cape. They are 25 miles from each other, but the breadth of the navigable part of the passage is not quite three. The depth of water on the bar, which lies a little farther out to sea than the cape, is, at ebb, 17 feet. Immediately on passing the bar, the depth on the side of the island is 4 or 6 fathoms, whilst on the side of the cape it is not more than 14. The flats extend from Cangrejos 7 leagues into the sea, but from Cape Barima they do not extend more than 2 leagues. Nearly one league from Barima is a river of the same name which discharges itself into the Orinoco. The entrance is by a narrow channel 14 fathom deep. On the same shores, S. of the Orinoco, and two leagues higher up than this river, is the mouth of the Amacuro, which crosses a great part of the eastermost territory of Guayana, occupied by the capuchins of Catalonia. Shallops can sail ten or fifteen leagues up. It is S. of the island and cape of Cangrejos, which forms, as has been before observed, the N. coast of the mouth of Navios or Vessels. Three leagues above Cangrejos is the island of Arenas, which is small, and of a sandy soil. It is from 12 to 15 feet under water in spring tides. In the S. part of it is a channel, which is often altered by the sand, of which the bottom is composed. Before ascending half a league there are two points, called by the Spaniards, Gordas. That on the N, side has a flat which runs out a little, but not enough to evstruct the navigation. Proceeding along the S. shore of the Orinoco, eight leagues above Barima, is the river Araturo, the source of which bounds the savannas of the missionaries. Its mouth is very narrow, but it is navigable for 10 leagues. It communicates, by different arms with the river Amacuro to the E. and with the Aguirse to the W. There is much wood on its banks, and some small islands bearing its name, opposite its mouth. On the N. side is the channel called Cocuma. It discharges itself into the sea. Eleven leagues above Barima is the island of Pegayos, in the middle of the Orinoco, but nearest to its right bank. Its soil is white mud,covered with mangles [qu. mangrove?] and at flood-tide it is 11 feet under water. It was formerly much larger than it is at present, and is observed to diminish sensibly. Immediately above the island of Pagayos, is that of Juncos. It is the most E. of the Itamaca islands, which occupy a space of 18 leagues in the Orinoco. They divide the river into two branches; the S. branch being called Itamaca, and the N. Zacoopana. Both of these are navigagable, but the S. branch, although the least, has by far the most water. We will describe the Itamaca branch to the W. point of the chain of islands, and afterwards give a description of that of Zacoopana :-The E. entrance of the Itamaca branch, which is 900 fathoms wide, is formed by the island of Juncos and cape Barima Zanica, which jets out from the right bank of the Orinoco. A creek called Carapo runs from the cape in-shore, and afterwards joins the river Arature. A little higher up is the mouth of the river Aquirre. Its source is in the tract of the missionaries of the catalonian capuchins. Its mouth is very broad, and the depth at 10 or 12 leagues from the Orinoco, is 3 fathoms. It was once much more navigable than it is at present, but very trifling repairs would be sufficient to restore it to its former state. As this river does not pass through any cultivated country, it is only frequented by those who resort to its banks for wood. The trees on each side are so high, that the sail cannot be used, and vessels consequently avail themselves of the tide. Two leagues from the mouth of this river, in the midst of the Orinoco, is the little island of Venado, and on the S. bank of the Orinoco, eight leagues above the Aguirre, is |