Situation and Form ofSouthern America.
Having compleated our Description ofMexicana, orNorthern America, being that greatPeninsulawhich lies Northward of theIsthmus, orStraightofDarien, together with all the Islands on the North side of theEquinoctial Line, we come now to the Southern Part, otherwise call’dPeruana, fromPeruthe chief Kingdom thereof, being the other greatPeninsula, which lies Southward of the aforesaidStraight: It is generally resembled to the form of a Pyramid revers’d; the Basis whereof, that is to say, the more Southerly parts of it towardsMagellanicaand theStraights, extend themselves largely both East and West, becoming more sharp and streight towards the North, and those parts by which it is joyn’d toMexicana: in the whole it is suppos’d to contain a Circuit of seventeen thousand Miles at least, and is water’d with four of the greatest Rivers of the World, besides abundance of lesser Streams, which issuing from theAndesand other Mountains of the Countrey, do run from all Parts both into the North and South Sea, much fertilizing the Countreys through which they pass; the four principal are these following:
The chief Rivers thereof.
1.Orellana, so call’d from the first Discovery thereof byFranciscus de Orellana, otherwise the River ofAmazons, from a Generation of warlike Women, who (as the Tradition goes) inhabited certain Countreys lying upon the Banks thereof. Thisriseth in the Province ofPeru, and runneth a Course of little less than five thousand Miles, discharging it self at last into the North Sea, through a Channel, as some say, of threescore Leagues broad, and yet with such a violent Current or Stream, that it is said to keep its natural colour and taste almost thirty Miles in the Sea.
2.Orenoque, by some call’dRaliana, from SirWalter Raleigh, who endeavor’d to discover it, a River of the Province ofGuiana, whose Head or Spring is not yet discover’d: It is said to be Navigable a thousand Miles together by the tallest Ships, and no less than two thousand by Pinnaces and smaller Vessels, and dischargeth it self likewise into the North Sea by sixteen several Channels or Mouths, making thereby several Islands; some whereof are said to be of good bigness, and to lie at a distance of a hundred Miles or more one from the other.
3.Maragnon, a River of a yet larger Course than any of the former, being, as ’tis said, no less than six thousand Miles from its Head, which is out of theAndesinPeru, to its Fall, which is likewise into the North Sea aboutCape Blanco, by a Channel of seventy Leagues in breadth.
4.Rio de la Plata, otherwise call’dParaguay, a River of two thousand Miles Course, and falling as the rest into the North Sea, by a Channel of threescore Miles over, and about thirty Degrees Southward of theLine, towards theStraightsofMagellane.
The MountainsAndes.
TheAndes, or Mountains before mention’d being the most noted, and biggest of allAmerica, and indeed of the whole World, and thought byCortesiusto be the same withSephar, spoken of in the tenth Chapter ofGenesis, run above a thousand Leagues in length fromTimama, a Town ofNew Granadain the Province ofPopayan, and are in the narrowest place about twenty Leagues broad; and also of equal heighth with, if not higher thanCaucasusit self: the Ascent to them is unpassable, except in very few places, by reason of craggy Precipices, and wild overgrown pathless Woods, serving onely for a shelter to Serpents and other poysonous Animals, which are there so numerous, that a whole Army of one of the Kings ofPeruis reported to have been destroy’d by them; and what-ever People there are inhabiting in any of these Woods and Fastnesses, must needs be in the very utmost degree of rude and brutish salvageness.
Some divideSouthern AmericaintoPeruvianaandBrasiliana:Peruvianathey subdivide intoTerra FirmaandPeru;BrasilianaintoBrasileandParaguay: But the most receiv’d and commodious Division is into these particular Provinces following, all of them wealthy and large,viz.1.Castella Aurea, orGolden Castile, 2.Nova Granada, orThe New Kingdom, as they call it. 3.Peru, specially so call’d. 4.Chile.5.Paraguay.6.Brasile.7.Guiana.8. LastlyParia, with some lesser Islands adjoyning to all or most of these Provinces, and commonly reckon’d as part of them.