Morris tribune., 1892-11-30
AMAZONIAN FLOODS.
FEATURES OF THE ANNUAL DEL
UGE OF THE GREAT RIVER.

| WI VT NV
Then the "WiId Hog River" Becomes a
Paradise of the swamp Loving Brutes.
Floating Islands Filled with Refugees
of the Brute Creation.
The worst foundations Of Louisiana
and eastern Arkansas are but spring
freshets compared with the monster
floods that visit the Amazon valley every
year with a regularity equaled only by
astronomical events and tax collections.
The rainfall of northern Brazil is about
three times that of the webfootiest cOun-
ties OF Oregon, and in midsummer the
thunder showers that drench the woods
every afternoon resemble daily cloud
burst On the Northern Pacific no other
word would be applied to an atmospheric
waterfall, darkening the air like Lon
don winter fog for hours together, and
swamping house, if the roof should
leak, through an aperture of a few
square INCHES.
Rains of that sort are apt to occur day
after day for a series of weeks, and their
effect on the lowlands can be only i'm
perfectly indicated by the fact that the
Amazon river drains an area Of more
than 100000 square miles. The Mis-
sissippi, too, drains half the eastern
slope Of country larger than Brazil,
but its largest af1iuents are dwarfed by
the third class tributaries of the South
American father of waters.
Not such flowing lakes only as the Rio
Negro and the MADEIRA, but the Purus,
the Yavari, the Qurua, the Hinge, the
Papajos and dozens of other streams
isthmus, enter the main river through
delta miles in width and deep enough
for the largest river steamers Of the st.
Lawrence.
About the middle Of summer these
streams begin to rise, those from the
southwest first, those from the north
west and nCrth few weeks later, and
fortnight after the arrival Of the second
supplement the valley of the Maranon,
the wild hog river" as the early
colonists called the Amazon, becomes a
paradise Of swamp loving brutes. The
taps, the peccari and the fish otter cele-
brate the picnic season Of their summer
life, and herds of wild deer begin their
westward exodus. Near Monte Beira,
in the province (now state) Of Matte
Crosse, the woods in midsummer get
full Of game as hundred years ago the
foothills of the Southern Alleghanies
swarmed with wild pigeons when the
forests of the north were buried in snow.
A more than usually sudden rise of
the flood cuts off many of these fugi-
tives, who are thus reduced to the alter
native of making for the highest acces-
sible ground, further east, till every
knoll becomes hill of refuge, crowded
with timid brutes whose survival de-
ponds on their escape from the giant cats
and boas who may approach their strong
hold by swimming, if the water should
have submerged too large a portion of
the continuous forest
About two months after the begin
ming Of the rainy season the deluge of
the loWland5 reaches it's maximum.
Thousands of square miles are sub
merged so effectually that canoes can
be padded through forests apparently
free from underbrush, since only the
taller trees, with their network of climb
ing vines, rise like islands above. the
surging waters. The swollen rivers
have found new currents; the broad,
gurgling streams twist and eddy through
the leafy wilderness, tearing off whole
groups of trees, with all their roots, but
making amends by depositing hillocks
of driftwood, which soon get covered
with tufts of new vegetation.
The pressure of the surging flood
against these mounds OF alluvium soon
becomes enormous, but the deep rooted
stems of the adansonia and the canoho
tree may resist till new deposits of drift
wood consolidate number of mounds,
thus forming good sized islands, with a
down stream base of perhaps half mile,
but a narrow head DETECTING the cur
rent left and right, like the wedge
shaped front of a stout bridge pier. At
the time of their incipiency these new
islands may be tenanted only by river
lizards, but necessity is the mother of
successful exploration, as we'll as of in
vention, and week after its birth the
driftwood hill swarms with animal refu-
gees, hogs, deer and capybaris jostling
each other in their struggle for base
of operations, thus often getting noisy
enough to attract the prowling car
nivOra.
The climbing talent Of the great cats
saves them the trouble Of emigration
The jaguar and the ocelot become en-
tirely arboreal, travelling like monkeys
from branch to branch, and making
themselves at home in the tree tops-so
much indeed that some of them go to |
housekeeping and raise litter of cubs
in the cavity Of a hollow tree.
Their larder is replenished by all sorts
of pheasants and wood hens, who make
their headquarters in the underbrush,
but who are now obliged to take up
lodgings on the lower branches of the
trees. By climbing around |
the stem and rising suddenly in view an
ocelot can scare aroost of gallinaceous
fowl out Of their wits and strike down
two Or three of the clumsy youngsters
before the whole flock contriyes to take
wing.-San Francisco Chronicle.