318 



THE POPULAK EDUCATOR. 



viz., the plain of the Orinoco in the north, the plain of the 

 Amazon in the middle, and the plain of the Rio de la Plata in 

 the south. The llanos, or savannahs, occupy nearly the whole 

 plain of the Orinoco. These are level grassy tracts without 

 trees, similar to the prairies, or vast meadows, of North America, 

 and are annually inundated by the rivers, like the regions of the 

 Nile. The selvas, or forest-plains, extend over the great basin of 

 the Amazon, and, as their name denotes, cover the ground with 

 trees, shrubs, and plants; to which may be added vast tracts 

 similar to those in the basin of the Orinoco, and salt and sandy 

 deserts in the interior. The pampas, or immense level plains 

 covered with grass, oats, clover, and other herbage, occupy the 

 plains of the Rio de la Plata, and the regions to the south of 

 it, and in their present wild state form small encouragement for 

 the habitation of man ; hence the generally desolate state of 

 the whole of the Patagonian region. The river Orinoco is 

 about 1,200 miles long ; it rises in the mountains of Guiana, 

 and falls into the Atlantic on the north of British Guiana. The 

 Amazon, which in the upper part of its course is called the 

 Maranon, rises amidst the elevated parts of the Peruvian 

 Andes, flows first northerly, and then easterly, and, after a 

 course of 3,900 miles, falls into the Atlantic at the equator. 

 The basin of the Amazon includes upwards of 1,500,000 square 

 miles, and is supplied with its waters by a number of large 

 tributaries. The Amazon is navigable for large vessels from 

 its embouchure to its junction by the Ucayali, or 2,500 miles 

 from the sea, and for small vessels to the foot of the mountains. 

 Its volume of water is so great, that its freshness is perceptible 

 500 miles out at sea. To give an idea of the level nature of the 

 basin of this mighty river, we may state that for the space of 

 600 miles before it discharges its flood into the deep, it has 

 only a fall of 10'5 feet, or about one-fifth of an inch per mile, 

 yet it is reckoned to flow into the ocean with about the same 

 velocity as the Ganges. For the whole of this distance the 

 tides of the Atlantic oppose its majestic flow ; but above this 

 point, the declivity being about 6 inches per mile, the velocity 

 of its waters surpasses that of our swiftest steamers ; and at 

 this point the opposition of its waters to the flow of the tide 

 becoming tremendous, their united action produces waves which 

 sometimes rise to the height of several feet, rolling back upon 

 the rapid stream like the noise of a cataract, and overwhelming 

 all the lowlands above its estuary. This phenomenon, justly 

 called the bore, or by the native Indians pororoca, will for ever 

 impede the useful navigation of this great river. The main 

 stream of the Amazon receives the waters of many great rivers 

 on the north and south banks. The chief of its affluents on the 

 north are the Putumayo, Caqueta, and Negro ; on the south, 

 the Madeira, Tapajos, and Xingu. 



The Eio de la Plata is a broad estuary formed by the junction 

 of the rivers Parana and Uruguay. The length of the Parana is 

 about 2,350 miles from its source to the embouchure of the Rio 

 de la Plata ; and that of the Paraguay, a branch of the same, 

 which joins it at the distance of 7CO miles from the sea, is about 

 1,260 miles. The Uruguay branch is 800 miles in length. The 

 Parana and the Uruguay are navigable for vessels of consider- 

 able burden for nearly 1,000 miles. Other rivers of some 

 importance in South America are the Magdalena, 860 miles 

 long, which flows into the Caribbean Sea ; and the Atrato, 300 

 miles long, which flows into the Gulf of Darien. The rivers 

 Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, Surinam, and others which flow 

 into the Atlantic eastward of the Orinoco, will bo remembered 

 chiefly from the important settlements to which they have 

 given their name. The San Francisco, in Brazil, is 1,500 miles 

 leng. The Colorado, 600 miles long, and the Rio Negro, 800 

 miles long, both flow into the Atlantic south of the La Plata. 

 The rivers on the west coast of South America have all short 

 courses, owing to the vicinity of the Andes to the shore. 



Lakes. The lakes of South America are few. The Lake of 

 Titicaca, on the table-land of the same name, and at an eleva- 

 tion of 12,847 feet above the level of the sea, contains about 

 3,800 square miles ; near its shores the depth is 720 feet ; its 

 waters are fresh. The Lake of Maracaybo, near the shores of 

 the Caribbean Sea, is connected by a narrow strait with the Gulf 

 of Maracaybo, and its waters are brackish ; it contains about 

 5,000 square miles. The Lake dos Patos, or " lake of the 

 ducks," of the same area, on the south-east coast of Brazil, 

 discharges its waters into the sea by a channel called the Rio 

 Grande do SuL 



SUMMARY OF BOUNDARIES. 

 NORTH : The Caribbean Sea, etc. 

 SOUTH : The Straits of Magellan. 

 EAST : The Atlantic Ocean. 

 WEST : The Pacific Ocean. 



SUMMARY OP ISLANDS. 

 Gallapagos, W. of Ecuador. 

 Lobos, W. of Peru. 

 Juan Fernandez, W. of Chili. 

 Chiloe, S. of Chili. 

 Chonos Archipelago, S. of Chiloe. 

 Wellington, W. of Patagonia. 

 Madre de Dios Archipelago, S. of 



Wellington. 



Hanover, W. of Patagonia. 

 Adelaide, S. of Hanover. 

 Desolation I., S. of Adelaide. 

 Tierra del Fuego, S. of Patagonia, i 

 Horn, S. of Tierra del Fuego. 

 Staten Land, E. of Tierra del j 



Fuego. 



Falklands, E. of Patagonia. 

 Georgia, S.E. of Falklands. 

 Trinidad, E. of Brazil. 

 Fernando Norouha, N.E. of Cape 



St. Roque. 



Caviana, M. of the Amazon. 

 Marajo, S. of Caviana. 

 Margarita, N. of Venezuela. 

 Tortugas, N. of Venezuela. 



SUMMARY OF PENINSULAS. 

 Patagonia, S. of La Plata. 

 Tres Montes, W. of Patagonia. 

 Sau Josef, E. of Patagonia. 

 SUMMARY OF CAPES. 

 Point Gallinas, Venezuela. 

 St. Koque, Brazil. 

 Frio, Eio Janeiro. 



S. Maria, Uruguay. 



St. Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 



Corrientes, Buenos Ayres. 



Three Points, Patagonia. 



Horn, Horn Island. 



Ajuja, Peru. 



Point Parina, Peru. 



San Lorenzo, Ecuador. 



San Francisco, Ecuador. 



SUMMARY OF MOUNTAINS. 

 Andes, S. America. 

 Chimborazo, ~\ 

 Cotopaxi ( _ 

 Antisana, >Ecuador. 

 Pichinca, / 

 Chuquibamba, 1 

 Sorata, 



Illimani, I Bolivia. 



Cochabamba, j 

 Potosi, J 



Aconcagua, Chili. 

 Maravaca, Venezuela. 



Sierra do Espinhaco, ) T, .. 

 n j-ii /~i i f Brazil. 

 Cordillera Grande, J 



SUMMARY OF BIVEKS. 

 Amazon, Brazil. 

 Orinoco, Colombia. 

 Eio de la Plata, between Buenos 



Ayres and Uruguay. 

 Uruguay, Uruguay. 



Parana, ) _, 



> Paraguay. 

 Paraguay, ) 



Pilcomayo, ) Argentine 

 Salado, j Confederation. 

 SUMMARY OF LAKES. 

 Titicaca, Bolivia. 

 Maracaybo, Venezuela. 

 Lake dos Patos, Brazil. 



LESSONS IN FRENCH. LXI. 



48. PARADIGMS OF THE AUXILIARY VERBS (continued). 



(5.) ETRE, TO BE, AFFIRMATIVELY (continued). 



IMPERATIVE MOOD. 



Sois, 



Qu'il soit, 

 Qu'on soit, 

 Soyons, 

 Soyez, 

 Qu'ils soient, 



be (t/u>u). 

 let him be. 

 let one be. 

 let us be. 

 be (ye or you), 

 let them be. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

 SIMPLE TENSES. COMPOUND TENSES. 



PRESENT. PAST. 



