TRIBUTARIES OF THE AMAZON. 149 



state my impressions, for fear of appearing to exaggerate ; but 

 I will give you some figures. The front of fresh water which 

 pours into the Atlantic frona the mouth of the Amazon is one 

 hundred and fifty miles wide. This fresh water front is divided 

 into two branches by an island, Avhich is in the mouth of the 

 Amazon, called the island of Marajo, which is half as large as 

 Ireland. The opposite shores of the river above the island are 

 so far apart that it is utterly impossible for the eye to see the 

 two shores at once. You may ascend the Amazon a thousand 

 miles before you have a plain view of both shores, with the 

 exception of a single spot, at Obidos ; yet the whole tract is so 

 interspersed with islands that it gives the impression of an 

 archipelago in a fresh water ocean ; and when ascending the 

 great river you seem constantly to be between shores, when in 

 reality you sail between a succession of islands. The tributa- 

 ries are on a scale of magnificence which compares with the 

 main stream. The mouth of the Tocantins, (which is tlii first 

 great tributary of the Amazon, on ascending from Para, on the 

 south side,) is seventeen miles wide where it pours into the 

 Amazon ; and the Tocantins is not one of the larger tributaries 

 of the Amazon. The Rio Purus, which empties into the 

 Amazon over a thousand miles above its mouth, is navigable for 

 steamers drawing twelve or fifteen feet, for a length of five hun- 

 dred miles above its mouth. The Rio Madeira is another of 

 those giants which may be compared only to the large rivers of 

 the world, and is of the utmost international importance, since 

 it will one of these days furnish a communication not only 

 between the valley of the Amazon and the other parts o£ the 

 Brazilian Empire, but be a highroad between the Southern 

 Republics of South America and the more northern provinces ; 

 for through the Rio Madeira it is possible to establish a direct 

 water communication with the Rio Paraguay, and through the 

 Paraguay with the Parana ; and therefore a river circuit might 

 be made from Para, up the Amazon and the Madeira into the 

 Paraguay, and down the Paraguay and Parana to Buenos Ayres, 

 and back again. You see, then, what prospects there are for a 

 country which has such a territory, and over which flow such 

 rivers. And it is, perhaps, more than my words have impressed 

 upon your minds, for we generally consider a rivei* as a mass of 

 water which iiows between banks, is encased between these 



