CHAPTER XXI. 



THE UPTEK AMAZOXS. 



> 



The Elver. — Origin of its Name. — Pebas. — Marine Shells.— Geoiogy of the 

 Valley. — Glacial Phenomena. — Farewell to our " Zaparo." — Steam- 

 ers upon the Amazons. — The " Morona." — Maucallacta. — Indians 

 Alarmed. — Loreto. — Tabatinga. — The "Icamiaba." — Foute Boa. — 

 Tefi'e. — " llcny Christmas ! " — Arrival at Manaos. 



Y\"e can form only vague conceptions of the magni- 

 tude of the majestic Amazons. Observe its great length, 

 stretching across the continent almost from ocean to 

 ocean. Taking its rise less than one hundred miles from 

 the Pacific upon the "vvest, it runs a distance of almost four 

 thousand miles, to pour its floods into the Atlantic iipon 

 the east. But its breadth impresses us most deeply with 

 its oceanic proportions; one thousand miles from the sea 

 it has a width of three miles ; at a distance of five hun- 

 dred it spreads out ten miles in breadth ; and mingles with 

 the Atlantic along a lino of one hundred and fifty. It has 

 poured into it all the waters rolled down the eastern slope 

 of the Andes along a stretch of two thousand miles, and 

 all the floods from the highlands of Guiana upon the 

 north, and the table-lands of Brazil upon the south. So 

 gentle is the slope of the valley, from the foot of the Andes 

 to the ocean, that the Amazons has an average fall of only 

 six and one-half inches to the mile, and for the last two 

 thousand miles of its course its fall is less than two inches 



