AMAZONS, (the river of), called by the Spaniards Maranon, is the greatest river in the world. It received the name of Amazons, because the Spaniards who first passed through the country on its banks, having some smart skirmishes with the natives, and afterwards examining the slain, found the bodies of some women among them. Orellana was the first who discovered this river, about the year 1539. The Maranon, after issuing from the lake from whence it takes its rise, in about eleven degrees of south latitude, runs towards the north to Jaen de Bracamoros, for the length of six degrees, from whence it directs its course towards the east, almost parallel to the equinoctial line, as far as the north cape, where it discharges itself into the ocean directly under the equator, by a mouth 50 or 60 leagues broad. It runs from Jaen, where it begins to be navigable, thirty degrees of longitude, according to Condamine, who was sent into these parts by the French king to discover the true measure of the earth. This is equal to 1800 miles of 60 to a degree. But if the turnings and windings are reckoned, it will then be at least 2700 miles. It receives from the north and south a prodigious number of rivers, some of which run 1500 miles, and are not inferior to the Danube or Nile. The country through which this river runs, is very little known to the Europeans.