RIVERS. 305 



the stream was traced downward from Peru by Francisco Orellana, whose name was 

 given to the river by his countrymen, to preserve the memory of his bold enterprise. 

 But the Spaniard's report of having met with armed women on its banks, deprived him 

 of the honour, for it originated the common title of the river of the Amazons. Its prin- 

 cipal affluents rival the largest rivers of the Eastern continent, as appears from the fol- 

 lowing statement of their supposed lengths : 



Miles. Miles. 



Ucayali .... 1350 I Topayos - - - 1000 



Yutai - - 750 



Jaura - ... 750 



Madeira - - - ... 1800 



Xingu - - - 1080 



Napo - . 800 



Rio Negro - 1400 



The width of the Amazon averages from one to two miles in the upper parts of its 

 course, but towards its termination its opposite banks are seen with difficulty, and it 

 widens to between twenty and thirty miles, which is about its breadth upon joining 

 the Atlantic. For two thousand miles in a direct line from the ocean, the river 

 is navigable by vessels of any burden, for at the confluence of the Tunguragua and 

 Ucayali, where the Amazon, properly so called, commences, no bottom was found, in 

 March 1836, with a line of 35 fathoms, or 210 feet. The tide rushes up its channel with 

 immense violence at the period of the full moon, in two, three, and sometimes four suc- 

 cessive waves, each presenting a perpendicular front of from ten to fifteen feet. When 

 the tide ebbs in the rainy season, the liberated waters of the river rush out of their 

 channel with tremendous force, and create a current in the ocean, which is perceptible 

 five hundred miles from its mouth. It is difficult to sound the river, owing to the ra- 

 pidity of its current, which runs commonly at the rate of from three to four miles an hour, 

 a momentum not arising from the inclination of its bed, the fall of which is very gradual, 

 but from the immense quantity of water which descends in it. The climate of its basin 

 is perhaps the most humid to which any country is subject. The quantity of rain which 

 annually descends upon this region, has not been ascertained with precision ; but taking 

 that at the town of Maranhao as a sample, which is not less than two hundred inches, 

 the amount of rain poured upon the district of the Amazon every year must be prodigious. 

 The heat also is excessive through the whole year, the thermometer in the shade fre- 

 quently rising to 106 when the sun is near the line, a degree of heat not much inferior to 

 that experienced in the Sahara ; and as moisture and heat are the most efficient agents in 

 promoting vegetation, hence the luxuriance and energy of vegetable life in the fertile 

 soil on the banks of the river, where the noblest woodland scenery in the world is to be 

 found. Notwithstanding the rapid current of the Amazon, its navigation is easy to 

 vessels both descending and ascending its course, the ascent being facilitated by the far- 

 penetrating tide of the Atlantic, assisted by the wind, which is always blowing from the 

 east, a direction contrary to that of the stream. But the effect of the presence and absence 

 of civilisation is nowhere more strikingly exhibited than on the waters of the South 

 American river, and those of its rivals, the Mississippi, and the Yang-tse-Kiang of the 

 Chinese empire. The vessels that annually appear upon the surface of the Amazon are, 

 probably, not more than those which monthly navigate the Mississippi, or daily pass 

 along the course of the Yang-tse-Kiang. 



At the head of rivers, classed according to their length, the Mississippi is to be placed, 

 taking the Missouri branch, which ought to be the name of the united stream, not only 

 on account of its longer course, but because it brings down a greater body of water, and 

 imparts its turbid character to its rival. Geographers have, however, given the former 

 name to the joint rivers, the " Father of Waters," according to its Indian signification, 

 which may be aptly applied to the great central valley of North America, furnishing the 



