The Branco is the principal affluent of the Venezuela and Guyana from Brazil. Its two upper main tributaries are the Urariquira and the Takutu. The latter almost links its sources with those of the Essequibo. The Branco flows nearly south, and finds its way into the Negro through several channels and a chain of lagoons similar to those of the latter river. It is 350 miles long, up to its Urariquira confluence. It has numerous islands, and, 235 miles above its mouth, it is broken by a bad series of rapids.
The fact that the most purely fl-water rivers flow through districts of dense forest, and have granite beds, seems to show that it is the percolation of the water through decaying vegetable matter which gives it its peculiar colour.
Immediately on passing the Rio Branco, islands again appear, and the opposite bank is not visible for 240 miles further, when in about 64° 20' W. the river is clear, and its width, determined by triangulation from a measured base, is 4 1/4 miles.
All the islands, as well as the low parts of the river banks, are flooded annually for several months--generally from April to August or September, the rise of the river being from 30 to 50 feet.
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