RIVERS. 305 



the stream was traced downward from Peru by Francisco Orellana, whose name was 

 given to the river by his countrymen, to preserve the memory of his bold enterprise. 

 But the Spaniard's report of having met with armed women on its banks, deprived him 

 of the honour, for it originated the common title of the river of the Amazons. Its prin 

 cipal affluents rival the largest rivers of the Eastern continent, as appears from the fol 

 lowing statement of their supposed lengths : 



Miles. Miles. 



Ucayali - . 1350 



Yutai - . 750 



Jaura .... 750 



Madeira - ... 1800 



Topayos - 1 000 



Xingu - - 1080 



Napo - - 80O 



Rio Negro .... 140O 



The width of the Amazon averages from one to two miles in the upper parts of its 

 course, but towards its termination its opposite banks are seen with difficulty, and it 

 widens to upwards of a hundred miles, which is about its breadth upon joining the Atlantic. 

 For two thousand miles in a direct line from the ocean, the river is navigable by vessels 

 of any burden, for at the confluence of the Tunguragua and Ucayali, where the Amazon, 

 properly so called, commences, no bottom was found, in March 1836, with a line of 35 

 fathoms, or 210 feet. The tide rushes up its channel with immense violence at the period 

 of the full moon, in two, three, and sometimes four successive waves, each presenting a 

 perpendicular front of from ten to fifteen feet. When the tide ebbs in the rainy season, 

 the liberated waters of the river rush out of their channel with tremendous force, and 

 create a current in the ocean, which is perceptible five hundred miles from its mouth. 

 It is difficult to sound the river, owing to the rapidity of its current, which runs commonly 

 at the rate of from three to four miles an hour, a momentum not arising from the in 

 clination of its bed, the fall of which is very gradual, but from the immense quantity of 

 water which descends in it. The climate of its basin is perhaps the most humid to which 

 any country is subject. The quantity of rain which annually descends upon this region 

 has not been ascertained with precision ; but taking that at the town of Maranhao as a 

 sample, which is not less than two hundred inches, the amount of rain poured upon the 

 district of the Amazon every year must be prodigious. The heat also is excessive through 

 the whole year, the thermometer in the shade frequently rising to 106 when the sun is 

 near the line, a degree of heat not much inferior to that experienced in the Sahara ; and 

 as moisture and heat are the most efficient agents in promoting vegetation, hence the 

 luxuriance and energy of vegetable life in the fertile soil on the banks of the river, where 

 the noblest woodland scenery in the world is to be found. Notwithstanding the rapid 

 current of the Amazon, its navigation is easy to vessels both descending and ascending its 

 course, the ascent being facilitated by the far-penetrating tide of the Atlantic, assisted by 

 the wind, which is always blowing from the east, a direction contrary to that of the 

 stream. But the effect of the presence and absence of civilisation is nowhere more 

 strikingly exhibited than on the waters of the South American river, and those of its 

 rivals, the Mississippi, and the Yang-tse-Kiang of the Chinese empire. The vessels 

 that annually appear upon the surface of the Amazon are, probably, not more than 

 those which monthly navigate the Mississippi, or daily pass along the course of the 

 Yang-tse-Kiang. 



At the head of rivers, classed according to their length, the Mississippi is to be placed, 

 taking the Missouri branch, which ought to be the name of the united stream, not only 

 on account of its longer course, but because it brings down a greater body of water, and 

 imparts its turbid character to its rival. Geographers have, however, given the former 

 name to the joint rivers, the "Father of Waters," according to its Indian signification, 

 which may be aptly applied to the great central valley of North America, furnishing the 



