The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-12-07

converts ana two colleges. But the pop
uiatlon was almost entirely composed Q
indians, who lived in manner but yer,
little different from their ancestors at th,
time of the conquest. Cuenca was tn,
place next in Importance to the capita
and there or in its neighborhood the chic
Iabors of the commission were transacted
They were cond ucted under difficulties a
great as those of their colleagues in the
frozen regions of the North, but of diff
ferent sort. The inhabitants Of the coun
try were jealous of the French commits
>ioners and supposed them to be eithe,
herotics or sorcerers, and to have come
in search of gold mines. Even persons
connected with the administration em.
ployed themselves in stirring up the mind.
of the people, till at last, in riotous as
semblage at Bullfght, the surgeon oi
the French Commissioners was killed
After tedious and troublesome legal pro
ceediugs, the perpetrators were let of with
a nominal punishment. Notwithstanding
every difficulty, the Commissioners con-
pleted their work in satisfactory man
ner, spending in all eight years in the
task, including the voyages out and home.
The Commissioners who had mado the
Northern measurements reported the
length of the degree at 66 n. Latitude to
be 57.422 toises, Messrs Bouguer and
La Condamine, the Equatorial degree
56.733 toises, showing a difference of
G6G to;coS or 13SQ z r.et
The diferece as corrected by later meas
urement<, is stated by recent authorities
at 1862 English feet; by which amount
the Northern degree exceeds the Southern.
His scientific labors having been in-
ished, La Condanine conceived the idea
of returning home by way of the Amazon
river, though difficulties attended the
project which VIC who live in a land Of
mighty rivers transyersed 6y steamboats,,
can hardly imagine. The only means of
navigating the upper waters of the river
was by RATS or canoes, the latter capable
OF containing but one or two persons be-
sides crew Of seven or eight boatmen.-
The only persons who were in the habit
of passing up and down the river were
Jesuit missionaries, who made their peri
odcal visits TO their stations along its
banks. A young Spanish gentleman, Don
Pedro Maldonado, who at first eagerly
caught at the idea of accompanying the
French chphilosopher on his bomeward route,
by way Of the river, was almost discour-
axed By the dissuasives urged by bis fam
lily and friends, and seemed inclined to
withdraw from the enterprise; so dan
rerous was the uDtried route esteemed.-
1t was however at length resolved that
they should hazard the adventure, and u
place of rendezvous was appointed at
village on the river On the 4ih of July
I743, La Condamine commenced hi- de-
scent of one OF the streams, which flow
into the great river OF the AmaZons.-.
The stream was too PERCEPTIONS in its de-
scent to BE- navigated by boats of any
kind, and the only method used wa BY
RATS. These are made of light kind OF
wood or rather cane, similar to the bam-
hoo, the single pieces of which are fasten
cd together by rushes in such a manner
that the they yield to every shock of rod
crate :ioience aud consequently are not
subject to be separted even by the strong
est On such conveyance the French
philosopher glided down the stream of the
Chuchunga. occasionally stopping on it.
banks, for day or two at a time, to al
low the waters to abate and admit of pass
ing dangerous rapid more safely, and
sometimes getting fast on the shadows,
and requiring to be drawn off by ropes b.
the Indian boatmen. 1t was not till the
18th of July that he entered the main
river at Laguna, wber be found his friend
MaldoDdo, who had been waiting for him
some weeks.
On the 23I of July, 1743, they en-
barked in two canoes Of 42 and "A feet
long. each formed out Of one sin gle trunk
of J tree, aud each provided with a crew
Of eight rowers. They continued their
course, night and day, in hopes to reach,
before their departure, the brigantines Of
the missionaries, in which they used to
send, once a year, to Para, the cacao
which they collected in their missions,
and for which they got in return supplies
OF European articles of necessity.
GA the 25th of July La Condamiue
AMI his companion passed the village OF
a tribe of Indians lately brought under
subsection, and in all the wildness of saw
age life; on the 9th they reached anoth-
er more advanced in civilization, yet not
so far as to have abandoned their savage
practices of artifcially fattening their
heads and elongating their ears. The
Ist August they landed at a missionary
station, where they found numerous Indi-
ans assembled (; and some tribes so en-
tirely barbarous as to be destitute OF
clothing, for either sex. "Thcre are in
the interior, the narration goes on to say,
"8ome tribes which devour the prisoners
taken in war, but there are none such on
the banks Of the river"
After leaving this station they sailed
day and night, equal to seven or eight
days, journey, without seeing any habita
ton On the 5th August, they arri we'd
at the first of the Portugues missionary
stations, where they procured larger and
more commodious boats than those in