The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-02-18
The Amazon.

Let us. following in brief abstract the ac-
count of Mr.. Orion, touch upon some
prominent characteristics of this great
ocean river. 1t rises in the little Peruvian
Lake of Lauricocha, Just below the limits
of perpetual snow. For 500 miles it flows
swiftly through a deep valley. Then,
turning sharply eastward, it runs $500
miles across the great equatorial plains.
Two thousand miles above its mouth its
width Is a mile and a half, increasing to
more thar ten miles at the head of the
delta, where it divides, and, after running
400 miles, presents q front of $50 miles up
on the ocean. For a great distance it is
bordered by side channels or bayou" as
they are called upon the Mississippi,
named by the Indians igdrdpeS, or canoe
paths"
From Santarem, the principal town above
Para, a may paddle a thousand miles
parallel to the river without once entering
the stream. For twenty-fiyedegrees oflat-
itude every river that flows down the cast
ern slope of the Andes is an affiuent of the
Amazon. 1t is thought all the rivers from
Mexico to Oregon united their waters in
the Mississippi. A half score of these
tributaries are larger-the Danube excepted
than any European river out of Russia.
The volume of its waters is greater even
than the breadth of the river would indi-
cate. At Nauta, 2209 miles from its mouth,
the depth is 40 feet, increasing rapidly as
it approaches the ocean. The largest
ocean steamer could doubtless steam 1000
miles mp the Amazon.
The vegetation Of the valley is exubeI-
ant. There is q b~ewildering diversity of
grand and beautiful trees, a wild, uncon-
quered vegetable giants, draped and fes-
tooned by creeping plants. The moment
you land upon the shore you are confronted
by a solid wall of vegetation, through
which, if you wish to proceed, you must
hew your way with ak or mdchda. Palms,
of which three varieties are noted, consti-
tute the majority of trees. Then there are
''cow-trees, a hundred and fifty feet high,
yielding a milk of the consistency of cream,
used for tea, coffee, and custards. The
''caucho," or rubber tree, though of a diff
ferent species from that of the East Indies,
produces O gum which constitutes most of
the rubber o fcommerce. AgasSiZ puts this
tree, forty or eighty feet high, in the
same class with the ''milk weed" of our
American pastures. OF ornamental
woods there is no end. Foremost among
these is the ''Moira-Pinima, or tortoise
shell wood" the most beautiful in grain
and 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 exports of the
Amazon Valley must be mainly the pro-
ducts of lis forests. Yet, strangely enough,
timber is Row one of the chief articles of
import at Para. A city Of 80, QUO inhab-
itants, lyingon the verge of a great forest,
buys pine boards from far-away Maine
This folly will in time come to an end.
Contrary to all that we might expect, the
climate of the Amazon Valley is temperate
rather than tropical. 1t is more equal than
In any other region of the world. Year in
and year out it ranges from "a to 81 de-
.grees-the fair mean being so degrees
From "Ths Andes and he Amazon" in Hm-
per's MdgGzile.