544 STRVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BF.DS. [November 3. 



works. 1'lic boat liad "got among' the trees." The river banks are 

 fringed with canes over which decichions cypresses tower, while 

 farther l)ack is the evergreen pine forest. During floodtime, the 

 actual channel is very narrow, as the l)ranches of the high trees 

 stretch far over the water, so that, when the stream has risen 40 or 

 50 feet, nuich skill is require<l to keep the way between them. At 

 that lime, the adjoining swamps and lowlands arc inundated far and 

 wide, r.ut this ilood does practically no injiu-y to the forest directly 

 in the path of its strongest cm-rent or to thai farther back where the 

 current is less raj^d. L\ell found the same condition on the Mis- 

 sissippi delta, where the ilood waters, though laden with silt, have 

 not injured even the willow saplings. 



The Hoods of great rivers in other lands exhibit the same phe- 

 nomena. 



According to 1 lumboldt,-"-' the Hoods of the ( )rinoco l)egin soon 

 after the vernal e(|uinox and attain their maximmu in July. The 

 water remains at ])ractically the same height until August 25, after 

 which it falls more slowly than it rose. Its bounding region is 

 nuicli like that of the lower Mississi])pi and the flooded area is as 

 large as luigland though less than the ex])osed regi(Mi along the Mis- 

 sissipjii. The delta area is alwaxs wet except in some petty eleva- 

 tions, which are dry for brief periods. The surface is completely 

 inundated during several months each year. lUit it is covered with 

 a dense growth of Mauritius palm in which the inhabitants construct 

 raised platforms, on which they reside. 



Wallace-^ has described the broad level area extending to 20 or 

 30 miles from the main stream of the Amazon and extending for 

 long distances along the main tributaries. This is Hooded at every 

 time of high water. It is " covere<l with a dense forest of lofty trees, 

 whose stems are every year, during six months, from ten to forty 

 feet under water." Much of the Hooded area at the mouth of the 

 Amazon is covered with the mirite palms, Maitritia flcxiiosa and 

 M. v'mijcra. 



'"^ h. lluinh.ildt, " Person.il Xarrativc," Bohn I'.ng. Ed., 185.', Vol. HI., 

 p. 8. 



-' A. R. Wallace, " A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio 

 Negro," London, 1853, pp. 410, 436- 



142 



