Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-03-02
THE AMAZON.
It's Rise and COltrse-THe VALLEY Of the
Great ,RiUer and its Products.

It's Rise and COlTse-Ihe Valley Of the
Great -RjUer and its Products.
The Amazon rises in the lite Peruvion
Lake Of LOuricOcha, Just below the limits
Of perpetual snow For 500 miles itfiOws
swiftly through a deep valley. Then
turning sharply eastward, it runs $500
miles across the great equatorial plain.
Two thousand miles above its mouth its
width is a mile and a half, increasing to
more than ten miles at the head Of the
delta, where it divides, and, after run
ing 400 miles, present front Of $50 miles
upon the ocean. For a great distance it
is bOrdeTed by side channels or 'bayOus,
as they are called upon the Mississippi,
named by the Indians igdrdDeS, or 'ca-
nOe-paths.' From Santarem, the prin-
cipal town above Para, one may paddle
a thousand miles parallel to the river
without entering the stream. For twen-
ty-dve degrees Of latitude every river
that flows down the eastern slope Of the
Andes is an affiuent of the Amazon. It
is as though all the rivers from Mexico
to Oregon united their waters in the
Mississippi. A half score Of these tribu-
taries are laTger-the Dannbe excepted
than any European river out of Russia.
The volume of its waters is greater even
then the breadth Of the would indicate.
At Nuta, 8, 300 miles from its mouth, the
depth is forty feet, and increasing rapidly
as it approaches the ocean. The largest
ocean steamer could doubtless steam 3
900 miles up the Amazon.
The vegetation of the valley is exubar-
ant. There is a beWildeFing diversity of
grand and beautiful trees, a wild uncon-
quered race of vegetables giants, draped
and festOoned by creeping plants. The
moment you land upon the shore YOU
are confronted by a solid wall of vege-
tatiOn, through which, if you wish to
proceed, you must hew your way with
AK or IlGcbetd. Palms, of which thirty
varieties are noted, constitute the ma
jOrity of trees, Then there are "cOw-
trees, hundred and fifty feet high,
yielding a milk of the consistency of
cream, used for tea, and coffee, and Gus
taUds. "Ihe "canchO,O or TubbeT-tree.
though Of different spices from that of
East Indies, produces a gum which con
stitutes most of the rubber Of commerce.
AgassiZ put this tree, forty or eighty feet
high, in the same class with the tfmilk
weed Of OuB American pastures. OfOr- /
namental woods there is no end. Fore [
most among these is the 1fOira- PiRimD,
or, "tOrtise shell wood, p the most beau |
tiful in grain on color Of any in the world, /
Enough Of this is wasted every year to /
veneer all the dwellings of the civilized /
world. For many years to come the eX- /
ports of the Amazon Valley must be |
mainly the products of its forests. Yet /
strangely enough, timber is now one of
the chief articles of import at Para. A /
city Of 35, 600 inhabitants, lying on the /
verge of a great forest, buying pine .
boards from far-away Maine! This folly
Will I'm time come 10 an end. Contrary
to all that we may expect, the climate
Of the Amazon Valley is temperate
rather than tropical It is more equal
than in any other region of the would. /
Year in and yaau Out IL ranges fpoin
seVenty-fnur TO elghty-seven degrees
the fair mean being eighty degrees.