The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-12-30

may be gained from the fact that 900
miles from its mouth it receives a tribu-
tary itself 1900 miles in length. At
Mania, 2, 300 miles from the Atlantic, the
Amazon is nearly a mile WIDE at the-en
trance to the Madeira 1t is three miles,
at Santarem it is ten miles, and IL the
Para River be included in its mouth, it
empties into the sea in gigantic stream
$50 miles i'm width. At frequent points
In its lower course il is an inland sea,
the low shores Of which are not visible
from either SIDE, and so eff ctual q bar
rier is it that until the advent of steam
power the people on the oppos te banks
had little more intercourse with each
other than If they lived on different sides
of an ocean
Brazil is thus the most thoroughly
wat,r red country on the globe. So nu-
merous are its water courses, and so
closely do they inter ock, that only n
few short canals are necessary to enable
vessels of considerable size to traverse
the interior Of the country from end to
end. Nor Is this all; the magnif ent
Rio Negro, the greatest northern trbu-
tary, itself LOO miles long, is connected
by natural cana,s with the Orinoco, so
that river or canal transportation is q
possibility from the southern extremity
of Brazil TO the north coast Of South
America. The Amazon is always full;
there is no annual rise as in other rivers;
its waters are gathered from every | art
of great co tinent, so that when in
one reg on the dry term prevails, in
another tn annual rains are falling, and
its banks are Always OVERLOOKING. The
tide of the ocean is perceptible $50 miles
from the mouth, and a curious feature
OF the river Is its system OF side chan
nels, joining the main river at intervals,
Z so that one may travel for 1000 mile
from the mouth without ever entering
the main stream. it Is safer Tot to do
30, for at certain seasons tho shore" or
tidal swell in the river rises in tremen-
dous waves fifteen to thirty feet in
height, which sweep everything before
them, uprooting the stoutest trees and
endangering the strongest ship. The
Amazon Is the river OF cont nent, it
rises within seventy miles Of the Pacific,
and drains most OF South America. and
although only artial steam communi-
cation ha been established over 10000
Amiles OF inland water travel have been
thus opened up to the world The
who'e OF tie Amazon Valley, which as
already stated, comprises two third
of Brazil, is one vast forest OF
tropical vegetation. A recent trav-
eler lays that from the plains Of
Venezuela to the pampas of I Argen-
tine Con ederation there is a bew ldering
diversity OF grand and beautiful trees,
at every poinJ interviewed with vines Of
such prod gious size as elsewhere 20 DO
deemed trees, while the matted and
creeping ants, draped, festooned;
corded, matted, and ribboned in every
direction, form an almost impossible
bar 10 the progress OF the trave er. ] ong
auo Buck pointed ont that the cxubcr-
ance of nature in tropical climate, un-
der a burning sun, with water In abun.
dance. was almost as great barrier to
the progress of civilization as the rain
less deserts OF the. Sahara or Arabia.
Nature Is too abundant When piece
of land, with infinite aims and labor.