44 



CHAPTER V. 



THE AMAZONS, THE GIANT RIVER OF THE TORRID ZONE. 



The Course of the Amazons and its Tributaries — The Huallaga — The Ucayale — 

 The lea — The Yapura, Jutay, Jurua, Teffe, Coary, and Purus — The Kio 

 Negro — The Madeira — The Strait of Obydos— Tide Waves on the Amazon 

 — The Tapajos — The Xingu — The Bay of the Thousand Islands — The Poro- 

 rocca — Eise of the Kiver — Inundated Forests — Lagunes — Magnificent 

 Scenery — Fishing Scene — Different Character of the Forests beyond and 

 within the verge of Inundation — General Character of the Banks — A Sail on 

 the Amazons — A Night's Encampment — The " Mother of the Waters " — The 

 Piranga — Dangers of Navigating on the Amazons — Terrific Storms — Kapids 

 and Whirlpools — The Stream of the Future — Travels of OreUana — Madame 

 Godin. 



THE Amazons, the giant stream of the tropical world, is of no 

 less magnificent proportions than the Andes, where it takes 

 its source. From the small Peruvian mountain-lake of Lauri- 

 cocha, 12,500 feet above the sea, the Timguragua, which is gene- 

 rally considered as the chief branch, rushes down the valley^. 

 At Tomependa, in the province of Juan de Bracamoros, rafts first 

 begin to burden its free waters ; but, as if impatient of the yoke, 

 it still throws many an obstacle in the navigator's way; for 

 twenty-seven rapids and cataracts follow each other as far as 

 the Pongo de Manseriche, where, at the height of 1164 feet 

 above the level of the sea, it for ever bids adieu to the romance 

 of mountain scenery. 



Its width, which at Tomependa exceeds that of the Thames 

 at Westminster bridge, narrows to 150 feet in the defile of the 

 Pongo, which in some places is obscured by overhanging rocks 

 and trees, and where huge masses of drift-wood, torn from the 

 slopes by the mountain torrents, are crushed and disappear in 

 the vortex. 



From the Pongo to the ocean, a distance of more than 2000 

 miles, no rocky barrier impedes the further course of the 



