Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-03-09
THE AMAZON RIVER.

Lot us, following In bricl abstnes
the account Of Mr. Orton, touch upon
some prominent chatacieristics Of this
great ocean river. II rises in the H.
tie Peruvian Lake Of Lauricocha, just
below the limits Of perpetual snow
For 500 miles II nowsswiftly through
a deep valley. Then, turning sharply
eastward, il runs $500 miles across
the great equatorial plain. Two thons
sand miles above its mouth Its width
is q mile and a half, increasing to
moro than ten milcs at the head of
the Delta, where it divides, and, after
running 400 miles, presents front Of
$50 miles upon the ocean. For a great
distance it is bordcred by side chan.
nels or "bayous,' as they are called
upon the Mississippi named by the
Indians igdrdpes, or "canoc paths -
From Santarem, the principal town
above Para, one may paddle thon-
sand miles parallel to the river with
out once entering the stream. For
twenty-five degrees Of latitude every
river that flows down the eastern
slope Of the Andes is an afiluent of
the Amazon. 1t is as though all tho
rivers from Mexico TO Oregon united
their waters in the Mississippi. A
half score Of these tributaries are lar
ger-the Danube excepted-than any
European river out of Russia. The
volume of its waters is greater eveu
than the breadth Of the river
would indicate. AT Nauta, 200
miles from its mouth, the depth is 40
feet, increasing rapidly as it approach
es the ocean. The largest ocean
steamer could doubtless steam 1000
miles up tho Amazon.
The vegetation of the valley IS ex-
uberant. There is bewildering d.
versity Of grand and beautiful trees, IL
wild, unconquered race of vegetables
giants draped and iestooned by creep
ing plants. The moment you land
upon the shore you are confronted by
a solid wall of vegetation, through
which, il you wish to proceed, you
must hew your way with axe or mach,
eta. Palms, of which thirty varieties
are noted, constitute the majority of
trees. Then there arc i'cow trees"
hundred and fifty feet high, yieldinga
milk of the consistency of cream,nsed
for tea, coffee, and cnstards The
'caucho," or rubber-trec, though of n
different species from that Of the East
Indies, produces gum which consti-
tutes most of the rubber of commerce.
Agassiz puts this tree, forty or eighty
feet high, in the same class with the
"milk weed" of our American pas
lures. OF ornamental woods there il
no end. Foremost among these is th1
Nora PiniHd, or Tortoise shell wood,
the most beautiful in grain and color
fany in the world Enough Of this is
wasted every year TO veneer all tho
dwellings in tie civilized world For
many years TO come the exports ofthe
Amazon Valley must be mainly the
products of its forests. Yet. strangely
enough, timber is one OF the chief ar
ticles of import at Para. A city of
$4,000 inhabitants, lying on the verge
Of a great forest, buys pine boards
from Ear away Maine This folly
will in time come to an end. Contra
ry to all that we might expect, the
climate Of the Amazon Valley is tenn
pcrate rather than tropical 1t is
moro equal than in any other region
of the world. Year in and year out
it ranges from 74' to S7o-the fair
mean being s0',- --Hdrper's Magazine.