. The Andes and the Amazon :|bor across the continent of South America. his birthplace of the greatest of rivers : I can comi^are it tonothing so fitly as looking from the broken and ragged edges of a volcanointo the crater beneath. t From Lauricocha to its mouth, the Amazon, following the main curves,is 2740 miles long, as estimated by Bates; in a straight line, ; fromPara to the head of the Ucayali, 3000. From north to south the tributariesstretch 1720 miles. Canoe-paths. 265 below Teff^ magnificent reaches, with blank horizons, andforming a barrier between diiferent species of animals;
. The Andes and the Amazon :|bor across the continent of South America. his birthplace of the greatest of rivers : I can comi^are it tonothing so fitly as looking from the broken and ragged edges of a volcanointo the crater beneath. t From Lauricocha to its mouth, the Amazon, following the main curves,is 2740 miles long, as estimated by Bates; in a straight line, ; fromPara to the head of the Ucayali, 3000. From north to south the tributariesstretch 1720 miles. Canoe-paths. 265 below Teff^ magnificent reaches, with blank horizons, andforming a barrier between diiferent species of animals; itssystem of back channels, joining the tributaries, and linkinga series of lagunes too many ever to be named; its networkof navigable waters stretching over one third of the con-tinent; its oceanic fauna—porpoises and manatis, gullsand frigate-birds—remind the traveler of a great inlandsea, with endless ramifications, rather than a river. Theside-channels through the forest, called by the Indians iga-rapes, or canoe-paths, are one of the characteristic features. Igarape, or Canoe path 266 The Ajstdes and the Amazon. of the Amazon.^ They often run to a great distance par-allel to the great river, and intersecting the tributaries, sothat one can go from Santarem a thousand miles up theAmazon without once entering it. These natui-al high-ways will be of immense advantage for inter-communica-tion. But extraordinary as is this net-work of natural canals,the tributaries of the Amazon are still more are so numerous they appear on the map like a thou-sand ribbons streaming from a main mast, and many of theobscure affluents, though large as the Hudson, are unknownto geography. From three degrees north to twenty de-grees south, every river that flows down the eastern slopeof the Andes is a contributor—as though all the rivers be-tween Mexico and Mount Hooker united their waters inthe Mississippi. While the great river of the northern con-tinent drains an area of on
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidandesamazonb, bookyear1876
