The Morona is a tributary to the Amazon
River, and flows parallel to the Pastaza
and immediately to the west of it, and is the last stream of any importance
on the northern side of the Amazon before reaching the Pongo
de Manseriche. It is formed from a multitude of water-courses which descend
the slopes of the EcuadorianAndes south of the gigantic
volcano of Sangay; but it soon reaches the plain, which commences where it receives
its Cusulima branch. The Morona is navigable for small craft for about 300 miles
above its mouth, but it is extremely tortuous. Canoes may ascend many of its
branches, especially the
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Cusuhma and the Miazal, the latter almost to the base of Sangay. The Morona
has been the scene of many rude explorations, with the hope of finding it serviceable
as a commercial route between the inter-Andean tableland of Ecuador and the
Amazon river. A river called the Paute dashes through the eastern Andes from
the valley of Cuenca; and
a second, the Zamora, has
broken through the same range from the basin of Loja. Swollen by their many
affluents, they reach the lowlands and unite their waters to form the Santiago,
which flows into the Maranon at the head of the Pongo de Manseriche. There is
but little known of a trustworthy character regarding this river, but Wolf says
that it is probably navigable up to the junction of the Paute with the Zamora.
