348 



A JOURNEY IN BEAZIL. 



from those of Mexico and Brazil, constituting several dis- 

 tinct faunae, there is one, the puma or red lion, the panther 

 of the North, which is found on the east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and the Andes, from Patagonia to Canada. 



" The movement of the waters, which affects so powerfully 

 the distribution of the fishes, forms in itself a very curious 

 phenomenon. There is, as it were, a rhythmical correspond- 

 ence in the rise and fall of the affluents on either shore of 

 the Amazons, causing the great body of the water, in its 

 semiannual tides, to sway alternately more to the north or 

 to the south. On the southern side of the valley, the rains 

 begin in the months of September and October. They pour 

 down from the table-lands of Brazil and the mountains of 

 Bolivia with cumulative force, gathering strength as the 

 rainy season progresses, swelling the head-waters of the 

 Purus, Madeira, Tapajoz, and other southern tributaries, 

 and gradually descending to the main stream. The process 

 is a slow one, however, and the full force of the new flood 

 is not felt in the Amazons until February and March. Dur- 

 ing the month of March, in the region below the confluence 

 of the Madeira, for instance, the rise of the Amazons aver- 

 ages a foot in twenty-four hours, so great is the quantity of 

 water poured into it. At about the same period with the 

 southern rains, or a little earlier, say in the months of Au- 

 gust and September, the snows in the Andes begin to melt; 

 and flow down towards the plain. This contribution from 

 the Cordilleras of Peru and Equador, coinciding with that 

 from the highlands of Brazil and Bolivia, swells the Ama- 

 zons in its centre and on its southern side to such an extent 

 that the bulk of the water pushes northward, crowding upon 

 its northern shore, and flowing even into the tributaries 

 which open on that side of the river, and are now at their 



