THE AMAZONS DELTA 



3 



now run regularly to the interior, in some places brush 

 the overhanging trees with their paddle-boxes on each 

 side as they pass. The whole of the region is one vast 

 wilderness of the most luxuriant tropical vegetation, the 

 strangest forms of palm trees of some score of different 

 species forming a great proportion of the mass. I shall, 

 however, have to allude again to the wonderful beauty 

 of these romantic channels, when I arrive at that part 

 of my narrative. 



The Para river, on this view, may be looked upon as 

 the common fresh-water estuary of the numerous rivers 

 which flow into it from the south ; the chief of which is 

 the Tocantins, a stream 1600 miles in length, and about 

 10 miles in breadth at its mouth. The estuary forms, 

 then, a magnificent body of water 160 miles in length, 

 and eight miles in breadth at its abrupt commencement, 

 where it receives the channels just described. There is 

 a great contrast in general appearance between the Para 

 and the main Amazons. In the former the flow of the 

 tide always creates a strong current upwards, whilst in 

 the Amazons the turbid flow of the mighty stream over- 

 powers all tides, and produces a constant downward 

 current. The colour of the water is different, that of 

 the Para being of a dingy orange-brown, whilst the 

 Amazons has an ochreous or yellowish clay tint. The 

 forests on their banks have a diflerent aspect. On the 

 Para the infinitely diversified trees seem to rise directly 

 out of the water ; the forest frontage is covered with 

 greenery, and wears a placid aspect, whilst the shores 

 of the main Amazons are encumbered with fallen trunks, 

 and are fringed with a belt of broad-leaved grasses. The 

 difference is partly owing to the currents, which on the 

 main river tear away the banks, and float out to sea an 

 almost continuous line of dead trees and other debris 

 of its shores. 



We may, however, regard the combined mouths of the 

 Para and the Amazons with their archipelago of islands 

 as forming one immense river delta, each side of which 

 measures 180 miles — an area about equal to the southern 

 half of England and Wales. In the middle of it lies the 

 island of Mara jo, which is as large as Sicily. The land is 

 low and flat, but it does not consist entirely of alluvium 

 or river deposit ; in many parts the surface is rocky ; 

 rocks also form reefs in the middle of the Para river. 



