518 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



much, a space equal to two-thirds of all Europe. Into this basin the United States 

 might be packed without touching its boundaries. It would hold the basins of the 

 Mississippi, the Nile, the Danube, and the Hoang-Ho. 



Dangerous sand-bankrf guard the giant's threshold ; and no less perilous to the nav- 

 igator is the famous Pororocca, or the rapid rising of the spring-tide at the shallow 

 mouths of the chief stream and .some of its embranchments, — a phenomenon which, 

 though taking place at the mouth of many other rivers, such as the Ilooghly, the 

 Indus, the Dordogne, and the Seine, nowhere assumes such dimensions as here, where 

 the colossal wave frequently rises suddenly along the whole width of the stream to 

 a hight of twelve or fifteen feet, and then collapses with a roar so dreadful that it is 

 heard at the distance of more than six miles. Then the advancing flood-wave slides 

 almost imperceptibly over the deeper parts of the river bed, but again rises ano^rily 

 as soon as a more shallow bottom arrests its triumphant career. 



The territory drained by the Amazon is so vast that, at the sources of its northern 

 and southern tributaries, the rainy season takes place at opposite times of the year. 

 So wonderful is the length of the stream that, while at the foot of the Andes it begins 

 to rise early in January, the Solimoens swells only in February ; and below the Rio 

 Negro the Amazon does not attain its full hight before the end of March. The 

 swelling of the river is colossal as itself. In the Solimoens and farther westward the 

 water rises above forty feet ; and Von Martius even saw trees whose trunks bore 

 marks of the previous inundation fifty feet above the hight of the stream durino' the 

 dry season. Then for miles and miles the swelling giant inundates his low banks, and. 

 majestic at all times, becomes terrible in his grandeur when rolling his angry torrents 

 through the wilderness. The largest forest-trees tremble under the pressure of the 

 waters, and trunks, uprooted and carried away by the stream, bear witness to its 

 power. Fishes and alligators now swim where a short while ago the jaguar lay in 

 wait for the tapir, and only a few birds, perching on the highest tree-tops, remain to 

 witness the tumult which disturbs the silence of the woods. 



Meanwhile the waters stimulate vegetation ; numberless blossoms break forth from 

 the luxuriant foliage ; and while the turbid waters still play round the trunks of the 

 submerged trees, the gayest flowers enamel their green crowns, and convert the inun- 

 dated forest into an enchanted garden. When at length the river retires within its 

 usual limits, new islands have been formed in its bed, while others have been swept 

 away ; and in many places the banks, undermined by the floods, threaten to crush the 

 pa.ssing boat by their fall, — a misfortune which not seldom happens, particularly when 

 high trees come falling headlong down with the banks into the river. 



Countless lagunes stretch along the course of the Amazon and its tributaries. These 

 lagunes, called by the natives igaripes, or canoe-paths, are a characteristic feature of 

 the river. One may paddle from Santarem a thousand miles up the Amazon, and 

 never, unless he chooses, enter the river itself. Most of these lagunes communicate 

 with the larger currents by channels, which, however, are generally dried up before 

 the rainy season sets in. The magical beauty of tropical vegetation reveals itself in 

 all its glory to the traveler who steers his boat through the solitudes of these aquatic 

 mazes. Here the forest forms a canopy over his head ; there it opens, allowing the 

 sunshine to disclose the secrets of the wilderness; while on either side the eye pene- 

 trates through beautiful vistas into the depths of the woods. Sometimes, on a higher 



