357 / 1060
BooK
VIII.
Royal
Commentaries.
cf being
contralted
ben~
een very high
Mountains,
which fr?m the bottom
co
the
top,
where the Snow
is
lodged
upon
th~m
, .meafure nhurreen,
fourteen~
and
fift~en
Leagues
almofr
perpendicular.
This
River
1s
the
g:~atefi ~f
any m _all
pgy,u,
wlnerefore
tl;ie
mdians
call ic
.Llpurimac,
becaufe
Apu
figa1fies
Ch1~f,
.
0r
Pnn–
c1pal
b©th
in
War
and
Peace : they call
it
alfo
C/lpac Mayu}
Capac
~grufymg pl~n
tifidl,
vicln, abundant,
and'
MllJU
a
River·: For.
as
Capac
.wa. an
Epithet,
~r
Title
g1:~en
tro their
Kings'.
fo
they
at.trib~ted
that
T~tle
or
Digmty
t<:>
the
Chief
and
Prince
of all their Rwers. This
River
keeps
its
nal111le,
whiJft JJt
pafles
through
~le
Countrey of
Per11<;
btilt ' hecher
it
lofes
its
name afterwards or
not,
or
that
tlue
Nations
who
live
in
the
Mountains
give
it
any
other
name, I am
ne>~
able
to
ta~n
the year
1
S'S'S',
by reafon
_of
the
gre~t Rain~
which fell_ that Winter,
'.!
yaft
}"lift
of
tb<e
Mountain
rumh>led
1111to
the fu.ver, wu:h fuch
mighty
and
prod1g1ous
Rflclts as gave a frop
to
the
cunreot of the water for
trnr~e
whole
days
j
and
fo
rema~ed
till the water o:verflowing
the
ruif.lous Mounnaio w&ich
fell
in,
came
at
lat;?
to
ta~e
it'S
na
nurale ~ourfe
; at
which
detencion, or ftoppage
1
of
the
water, the
~oor
Imh.abicants,
whld.lllived. below~
much
admiring,
and
1
0<9t
knowing
th~
reafon
thete<Q( rerxdude
d thatthe end 0f the World
was
come ;
,and
this
fioppag~
be–
l©w.
ca~fed
the water to
rife
at
fourteen
Leagwes cdillance
aibove, being
fenftbly
ele..
vaned as
far-
as
the Bridge, which is
in
the
great
and
royal High-way
lea<iihg-from
c~o·
to
Ciudad
Real.
This River
Apu~imac
runs North and
Sonth
at
leall:
five
tiundred
]Leagues from
the
head and fource of
it
to
the
JEquinoetial ; theAre
ra–
kimg
a
ti
n to tlae
Eaftward, in
runs
under
the
Equinoet:ia-1,
1ii~
hufldrndjand
fifty
League
meafored
on a
fuain
line,. co
the place
where
it
fa.l:ls.
inn©
the Sea· ;
hut
be–
isflg meafi.tred
by
the
timmi~
and windings of
it,
'twill
mak~
filteen
hundr~d
Leagues, as
Franci1 de Orella
reports,
who failed down- thatz Ri'Ver, in a Voyage fie
made
in
romnpmy
with
<!lionflt"lo P£1farro,
who wegn to make
difco~ry
of the
Cotm–
trey of
€An~swefbal1
mention
in
its
due
place. The
Chart
of
Navigacion
makes
U1
~n
a
fl:rait
line
tOJ
be
fix.hundred
and
fifcy
Leagues
withont
any
cloubling.s
of
ehe
River.
And
nhomgh
Merchants.
in
defo:rihing the
fituati0n
of
places
do
not
much.
meddle
with
iruland.Cou~r~
bnc
thoie
onely which
l:ye
on
the
Sea-coafi,
anc:j
teofe
Ri:
ers
hich fall inro tihe
Ocean :
et in: regard
than
thisRi¥er
is
the
grea-
'
teG in
the
Wmld,
being
above
fev-enry
Leagues
in
breadth at th€ mout;h
of
it,.
and
runs
witili
fo
gr~at
a
flro<laitn
and
wmmt,
that it makes
fpefu
water
fur
$ove-a.
hundred
E..ea§Ues
wi-Olrtln
the Sea ;
th€y
have
thought
it
w©r
fuy;
of
rfie1r
obfer
a–
tion
amid
€nap.iivy ·
So
than
according .to the :Relat?-on
~f (})~-o/l~11.,
..
<
as
Go~rtt-
at-·
te~
).
tho£e
fii.v..e
hundred
E@lgues \
rh1cfu
we
mentmn
m a fuait
hue,
will make–
two thoufand
Leagues with the
turnings; and. cloubliogs.
©f
r;his
iver falling
into
the
Sea
direttly
under
the
Equinoetial ;
and
it
was
called
Orellana
according
to
the
name
of
this Gentleman,
who fa!led over
it
in
the year
1543.
Howfo~ver
a
difcovery
was made
before that time
of this
River
by
the
Pinco–
nei
of
Sevil,
in
the .
year
15
oo ;
to which they
then
gave the
name
of
the
River
of
Am~n.r,
becaufe they obferved that the
Women
fought with
as
much cou–
rage
in
defence of thofe pares,
as the
Men
~
the
like
infiances whereof we
have
~n
our
Hifiory
of
Florida.
In
that River
there are many
greater
and leffer
Hlands,
and
the
tide flows
from the Sea above an
hundred-Leagues up
the River: And
thu
much !hall fuffice
to
have
faid of
this
Rf7er.
~ Now
as-tn
tbar
River
which
is-
called-
M1t<an»on,
it
falls
inro
the Sea about e–
venty Leagues
to
the
Southw~rd
of
Orellana,
which is about three
degrees
of
South-latitude, being
about
tw'enty Leagues
wide at the
mouth of
it.
This River
llfues
from
fome great
Lakes
on the upper parts
of
Peru,
which are filled
by
the
Snow-\vaters
that di!folve from the high
Mountains
which are covered with
Snow.
Now in regard
tha~
thefe
two
Rivers fall
into
the Sea,
fo
near one
unto
the
other,
I am apt
to
believe
that
they
make
one River of
thefe two, giving the name of
Orellana
to
both
thefe Rivers,
fo
far as the fre(h
water
runs
into the
Sea.
As
to
the
R~ver
which the
Spaniard1
call '
el rjo de la plata,
and the
Jndian,i I'Arahuay;
we
have
m
O?r
fecond
part
given
the reafon, why
this River was fo
called
in
Spanifh.
a __ttd
e~!l>lalfl:ed
nhe
fignification
of
the
Indian
word ; the
Fountains
ofwhofe waters,
llke-th:ofe ofl
Marannon,
have their head
or
fource
from
the
~rodigious
Mountains
of
the
fno.w 9efart,
calle~
the
Cordillera,
which paffes through all
the
Countrey of
Pe:u.
This
River many tunes
overflows with rapid inundations
all the Fields and
Villages near the banks, and
forces
the people for three Months in the
year,
ta
xx ~
b~
339
,
_,