Chap. I. THE AMAZONS DELTA. 5 



whilst in the Amazons the turbid flow of the mighty 

 stream overpowers all tides, and produces a constant 

 dowuAvard current. The colour of the water is different, 

 that of the Para being of a dingy orange-brown, whilst 

 the Amazons has an ochreous or yellowish clay tint. 

 The forests on their banks have a different aspect. On 

 the Para the infinitely diversified trees seem to rise 

 directly out of the water ; the forest frontage is covered 

 with greenery, and wears a placid aspect, whilst the 

 shores of the main Amazons are encumbered with fallen 

 trunks, and are fringed with a belt of broad-leaved 

 grasses. The difference is partly owing to the currents, 

 which on the main river tear away the banks, and float 

 out to sea an almost continuous line of dead trees and 

 other eiebris of its shores. 



We may, however, regard the combined mouths of 

 the Para and the Amazons with their archipelago of 

 islands as forming one immense river delta, each side of 

 which measures 180 miles — an area about equal to the 

 southern half of England and Wales. In the middle of 

 it lies the island of Marajo, which is as large as Sicily. 

 The land is low and flat, but it does not consist entirely 

 of alluvium or river deposit ; in many parts the surface 

 is rocky ; rocks also form reefs in the middle of the 

 Para river. The immense volumes of fresh water which 

 are poured through these broad embouchures, the united 

 contributions of innumerable streams, fed by drenching 

 tropical rains, prevent them from becoming salt- 

 water estuaries. The water is only occasionally a little 

 brackish near Para, at high spring tides. Indeed, the 

 fresh water tinges the sea along the shores of Guiana 



