The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-02-24

| fact every great river Of this system but The
| Para-has an open shore Tor some dis
lance back, although until cleared il is
| piled with driftwood, encountered by faller
| tree trunks, and heavily oycrgrown with
broad-leaved grasses.
| In Amazonia proper this shore belt fur
nishes most of the area cultivated; but
| tillage is in its rudest state; nobody does
| any regular work, and their fields, as well
as dwellings, are neglected and in a miser-
| able condition.
Except in some port where foreigners
collect, and commercial necessities COM
pei certain amount OF improvement To
be kept up. such is the condition OF all
| settlements along those great streams
which pour their turbid. deep yellow. or
dark-hued waters towards the sea in a
constant downward current, whose volume
is so vast that it even oVeTpoweTS the
ocean tides.
If one enters these squald, dilapidated
dwellings, they will be found exactly alike.
| Scarcely any furniture, ilammOckS for beds,
some few earthenware utensils, perhaps a
scrap of looking glass, and very possibly
the gaudy picture of a Saint. Nets, spears,
arms and boat gear make up the rest OF
most mems belongings.
We saw hardly anything beautiful in
their enyironS but treeS-eSpeclally palms,
and bananas, with those many graceful
parasitic vines that grow everywhere, and
I cover uD So Ilutll uilSIpulHiitSS. 1ft
birds seen around-panoquctS, fy-catch-
ers, finches, ant-tnrushes-seld show q
! rich plumage, and the voices OF all these
species sound harsh, only the little brown
! wren has pleasing song.
great variety OF small lizards we saw
! here with their colors assimlated to those
OF the surfaces over which they crawl, and
speckled gray or ashen-hued gecl.os-
house lizards might be found on the walls
or ceiling in every habitation.
These creatures are as independent OF
gravitation as flies; ascending smooth,
vertical planes, or running, back down
ward across horizontal ones, with equal
ease This is accomplished by means Of
the peculiar structure Of their feet. Under
each toe there is q cushion, with folds OF
skin forming flexible plates. As these
press upon the object over which the ami
NAL runs, quick muscular contractionS
and relaxations alternately form vacuums
or admit air, so that at one instant the
foot is. as it were, glued fast, and immedi-
ately afterwards set free.
Everybody here enteTtaInS an entirely
unrea sonabe belief in the VcnomouS char
| acter Of these harmless little animals, and
consequently they are killed. No one, OF
course has ever known Il gecko do any
mischief; but superstitionS rise above eA-
perience and reason.
The house lizards strkingly illustrate
that indefnacy Of growth exhibited in low
organizations. AS weight, however, in
creases according to The cube OF dimension,
and strength proportionally with its square,
increase Of size cannot be really Indefinite
il is only very variable in inferior orders.
An OK never gets 10 be as big as an ele
plant; yet further down in the scale Of
life. anomalies like this continually take
place. Correspondcntly with the above a
gecko's long tail appears Ia be of no par
ticular use to it. A very slight blow will
separate il from the body and lizards thus
mutilated do everything they did before,
without manifesting any perceptible in
convenience from the loss.
Gaunt, long legged hogs, melancholy
looking goats, bedraggled, ill-fed poultry
represent most all domcsticated species in
Anazonia, and, additionally. there is the
inevitable cur. That wonderful wild lite
with which these regions tcem lies close
around every such miserable little collec-
ton of huts looking like outgrowths from
the rivers mud. bat IL is unseen. When,
however. one sits late on the platform Of
has temporary home. probably feeling more
lonely than IL II were a deck belonging TO
some solitary ship at sea. sounds sug-
gestiNe Of Tcnlotest wiidernesscs drift upon
the air.
More likely than not this entire place
all these fragile traces Of mans presence.
wall soon be- gwen back "a nature. and
ohliicratcd Cor the doom al swift deray8
- on riost Indian villages
sitting here "a ntZht bird = sgy "A tiger
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