563
CUR
C U Q
llio Naipi to Cartagena. The same way offers
the advantage of a very quick communication be-
tween Cadiz and Lima. Instead of dispatching
couriers by Cartagena, Santa Fe, and Quito, or
by Buenos Ayres and Mendoza, good quick-sail-
ing packet-boats might be sent from Cupica to
Peru. If this plan were carried into execution,
the viceroy of Lima would have no longer to wait
five or six months for the orders of his court. Be-
sides, the environs of the bay of Cupica abounds
with excellent timber fit to be carried to Lima.
We might almost say that the ground between
Cupica and the mouth of the Atrato is the only
part of all America in which the chain of the
Andes is entirely broken.]
CUPIN, a small river of the province and cap-
tainship of Para in Brazil. It runs n. n. zo and
enters the Guama, before it runs into the Amazo-
nas or Maranon.
CUPIRA, a river of the province of Barcelona,
and government of Cumana, in the kingdom of
Tierra Firme. It rises in the serrania, and runs
f. until it enters the sea, close to the settlement of
Tucuyo.
CUPITA, Cano de, an arm of the river
Orinoco, which runs out by the w. side, and takes
its course n. opposite the mouth of the Caura.
CUPLICOS, a river of the province and alcal-
dia maijor of Tabasco in Nueva Espana, which
falls into the sea in the bay of Mexico, between the
Dos Bocas and the Tabasco.
CUPO, a small river of the province and coun-
try of Las Amazonas, in the part possessed by the
Portuguese. It rises in the territory of the Nou-
rises Indians, runs s. and enters the Trqpibetas.
CUQUE, a large river of the province and
government of Darien, and kingdom of Tierra
Firme. It rises near the N. sea, to the e. of the
province, and following an e. course, enters the
canal of Tarena.
CUQUIARACHI, a settlement of the missions
which were held by the regulars of the company
of Jesuits, in the province and government of La
Sonora.
CUQUIO, the alcaldia mayor and jurisdiction
of Nueva Espana, in the kingdom of Nueva Ga-
licia, and bishopric of Guadalaxara ; is one of the
most civilized and fertile, abounding in fruits and
seeds, and being of a mild temperature. It is
watered by three rivers, which are the Verde on
the e. the Mesquital on the w. and the Rio Grande
on the s. in which last the two former become
united.
The capital is the settlement of its name, in-
habited by a large population of Indians, some
Mmtets and Mulattoes, and a few Spaniards ;
is 13 leagues to the n. e. of Guadalaxara, in long.
268° ; and lat. 21° 40'. The other settlements are,
Cantla==, ==Tenalucan,
Manalisco== , ==Quaquala,
Huisculco== , ==Ocotic,
Yagualica== , ==Tepunahuasco,
Acatico== , ==Yotahuacan,
Mestitlan== , ==Tacotan,
Nochistlan== , ==San Christoval,
Toyagua== , ==Iscatlan.
Apulco,
[CURA, with the surname of St. Louis de, is
situate in a valley formed by mountains of a very
grotesque appearance ; those on the s. w. side are
capped with rocks. The valley is, however, fer-
tile, and covered with produce, but the greater
part of the property consists in animals. The
temperature is warm and dry ; the soil is a reddish
clay, which is extremely muddy in the rainy sea-
sons ; the water is not limpid, although it is whole-
some. The inhabitants are 4000, governed by
a cabildo. In the church is an image of our Lady
of Valencianosy the claim to which was long a
subject of dispute between the curate of Cura and
that of Sebastian de los Reynos ; and after a SO years
contest, it was ordered by the bishop Don Fran-
cisco de Ibarro to be returned to this place, when
it was received in a most triumphant manner. This
city is in lat. 10° 2' ; twenty-two leagues s. xo. of
Caracas, and eight leagues s. e, of the lake of
Valencia.]
CURABICO, a river of the province and cap-
tainship of Maranan in Brazil.
CURACOA, or Curazao, an island of the
N. sea, one of the Smaller Antilles ; situate near
the coast of the province and government of Vene-
zuela. It is 30 miles long, and 10 broad, and is the
only island of any consideration possessed by the
Dutch in America. It was settled in 1527, by the
Emperor Charles V. as a property upon theliouse of
Juan de Ampues ; is fertile, and abounds in sugar
and tobacco, large and small cattle, also in very good
saline grounds, by which the other islands are pro-
vided : but its principal commerce is in a contra-
band trade carried on with the coasts of Tierra
Firme ; on which account its storehouses are filled
with articles of every description imaginable.
Formerly its ports were seldom without vessels of
Cartagena and Portobelo, which were employed
n the Negro trade, bringing home annually froiu
1000 to 15,000 Negroes, with various other ar-
ticles of merchandise, although this branch ofcom-
merce has, from the time that it was taken up by
the English, greatly declined. On the s. part of
EN