304 THE EAINY SEASON. 



gulls and terns are heard over the sandy banks where they 

 deposit their eggs, while they may be seen during the day sit- 

 ting in rows on floating logs ghding down the stream, motion- 

 less and silent, as if contemplating the scenery. There are 

 divers and darters, too, in abundance. Now and then a huge 

 manatee comes gliding by, its cow-like head rising to breathe 

 the upper air ; while dolphins, porpoise-like, rear their backs 

 above the sui-face, or leap half out of the water as they swim up 

 the stream. On the low banks, huge alligators with open jaws 

 are basking in the sun, or leisui'ely swimming across the river. 



THE EAIXY SEASON. 



This magnificent region enjoys a perpetual summer, its 

 various fruits coming to maturity, according to their charac- 

 ter, at different periods throughout the jesiY. It has, how- 

 ever, its wet and dry seasons. The rain occurs at one time 

 in the Upper Amazon, and at another in the Lower, — greatly 

 swelling the volume of water in the main stream, which, 

 unable to find its way towards the ocean, rushes through the 

 countless channels and igarapes, overflowing the lower por- 

 tions of a vast district called the Gapo. The waters begin to 

 rise in February, and progi'ess inch by inch until the middle of 

 June, gradually swelling the rivers and lakes, when, these be- 

 coming filled, the lower lands and sand-banks are overflowed 

 even far away in the interior. The forests are traversed by 

 numerous gullies, which in the dry season are wide dells, but 

 now become transformed into broad creeks, through which 

 canoes can proceed to great distances under the shade of the 

 lofty trees. 



At this period of the year the inland pools are frequented 

 by swarms of turtle, as well as alligators, and shoals of fish 



