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as usual, although this is supposed to be the very end of 

 the rainy season. In the afternoon we finally entered 

 the wonderful Amazon itself, the mighty river which 

 contains one-tenth of all the running water of the globe. 

 It was miles across, where we entered it ; and indeed we 

 could not tell whether the farther bank, which we saw, 

 was that of the mainland or an island. We went up it 

 until about midnight, then steamed up the Rio Negro 

 for a short distance, and at one in the morning of 

 April 30 reached Manaos. 



Manaos is a remarkable city. It is only three degrees 

 south of the equator. Sixty years ago it was a nameless 

 Uttle collection of hovels, tenanted by a few Indians and 

 a few of the poorest class of Brazilian peasants. Now it 

 is a big, handsome modern city, with opera-house, tram- 

 ways, good hotels, fine squares and public buildings, and 

 attractive private houses. The brilliant colouring and odd 

 architecture give the place a very foreign and attractive 

 flavour in northern eyes. Its rapid growth to prosperity 

 was due to the rubber trade. This is now far less 

 remunerative than formerly. It will undoubtedly in 

 some degree recover ; and in any event the development 

 of the immensely rich and fertile Amazonian valley is 

 sure to go on, and it wUl be immensely quickened when 

 closer connections are made with the Brazilian highland 

 country lying south of it. 



Here we found Miller, and glad indeed we were to 

 see him. He had made good collections of mammals 

 and birds on the Gy-Parana, the Madeira, and in the 

 neighbourhood of Manaos ; his entire collection of 

 mammals was really noteworthy. Among them was 

 the only sloth any of us had seen on the trip. The most 

 interesting of the birds he had seen was the hoatzin. 

 This i? a most curious bird of very archaic type. Its 



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