MOUTHS OF THE AMAZON. 



189 



and named it Santa Maria de la Consolacion. We shall soon 

 have occasion to mention why this name was superseded by that 

 of Brazil. 



Pinzon explored with amazement the huge mouths of the 

 Amazon, whose immense torrents, as they emptied into the sea, 

 freshened its waters for many leagues from the land. Sailing 

 to the north, he followed the coast for four hundred leagues, 

 and then returned to Palos, carrying with him three thousand 

 pounds' weight of dye-woods and the first opossum ever seen in 

 Europe. 



And now, having closed the fifteenth century with the 

 achievements of the Spanish in the West, we open the six- 

 teenth with those of the Portuguese in the East. 



FEMALE OTTER AND HER YOUNG. 



