520 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



must frequently change; yet the low banks of the Amazon, and of its vassals, as soon 

 as they have emerged from the mountains where they rise, have everywhere a similar 

 character. " No spot on the globe," says Orton, " contains so much vegetable matter 

 as the valley of the Amazon. From the grassy steppes of Venezuela to the treeless 

 pampas of Buenos Ayres expands a sea of verdure, in which we may draw a circle of 

 eleven hundred miles in diameter, which shall include an ever green unbroken forest. 

 There is a most bewildering diversity of grand and beautiful trees; a wild, uncon- 

 quercd race of vegetable giants, draped, festooned, corded, matted, and ribboned with 

 climbing and creeping plants, woody and succulent in endless variety. The exuber- 

 ance of nature displayed in these million square acres of tangled, impenetrable forest, 

 offers a bar to civilization nearly as great as its sterility in the African deserts. The 

 moment you land, (and it is often difficult to get a footing on the bank,) you are con- 

 fronted by a wall of vegetation. A macheta is a necessary predecessor, for you must 

 literally cut your way at every step." The mass of the forests on the banks consists 

 of palms, of which there are about thirty species, leguminous or pod-bearing trees, 

 broad-leaved bananas, and giant grasses. Among the trees which might be useful are 

 the palo de sangre and the moria-pinima, or "tortoise-shell tree," the most beautiful 

 ornamental wood in the world. Enough of this is annually wasted to veneer all the 

 palaces of the civilized world. 



The great river is a crowded aquarium. Agassiz brought back more than 80,000 

 specimens of fishes, which are yet to be classified and arranged. Alligators abound 

 beyond all example elsewhere. "It is scarcely exaggerating," remarks Bates, "to 

 say that the waters of the Amazon are as well stocked with large alligators in the dry 

 season as a ditch in England is in summer with tadpoles." Turtles are the most 

 important product at present of the Amazon. The hunting of its eggs is the great 

 business of the inhabitants. They are used chiefly for the purpose of extracting their 

 oil, which is used for illumination. It is calculated that fifty millions of eggs are 

 annually destroyed. 



The Amazonian forests are apparently almost bare of animal life. But this barren- 

 ness is more apparent than real ; for so wide is the field that myriads exist, but they 

 are widely scattered and very shy. Insects are rare in the dense forests, being mostly 

 confined to the open country along the banks of the rivers and lagoons. The most 

 numerous family is that of ants. Termites abound. Their special duty is to hasten 

 the decomposition of decaying vegetation ; but they work their way into houses and 

 trunks. They have a special fondness for paper; so that, according to Humboldt, "it 

 is rare to find papers in tropical America older than fifty years." Butterflies swarm 

 in numbers and gorgeousness of coloring elsewhere unknown. Within half an hour's 

 walk from Para 700 species have been collected, while all Europe furnishes but 390 

 species, and the British islands only 66. Of spiders there are 8,000 species, more than 

 three times as many as exist in England. The largest of these, the Mygale Blondii, 

 is five inches long. Lizards are met everywhere, in houses, roads, and forests. They 

 run with such speed that it is almost impossible to catch them. Frogs and toads are 

 the chief musicians of the Amazonian forest. They are of all sizes, from an inch to a 

 foot in diameter. This latter size is attained by a toad of a dull gray color, studded 

 all over with enormous warts, who has a good right to his name, Bufo gigas. Of 

 snakes there is no lack. There are in South America 150 species, half as many as are 



