The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-11

Ing IsIands-In the Delta or the
Holland of the AmazOn-A Look
at the People.
Copyright, 1899, by Frank G. Carpenter.
ON THE AMAZON, May 20, 1S99-Ahoat
upon the mighty AmazOn Steaming up
the greatest river of the world. Riding
on and on and on over a yellow inland
sea, now coasting shores lined with
tropical vegetation and now so far out
that the trees become hazy lines of blue
in the distance.
l am on an ocean steamer 500 miles
from the Atlantic in the heart of South
America l am just now within a half
mile of its south bank. The shores are
lined with cacao orchards, and by the
aid of my glass 1 can see the golden fruit
from which our chocolate comes shining
out of the green leaves Back of the or
chards are the lofty trees of the mighty
Amazon forests and close to the shore
are the gray matched huts of the peo-
pie. The opposite bank Is wooded but
II is so far away that it forms only line
of soft navy blue which fades into the
lighter blue of the sky.
In front and behind the steamer stretch
es this mighty stream carrying the wa
tiers of the northern and central Andes
down to the sea. 1t has in 1t the wash
ings of more than half a continent, and
is the downspout of a watershed half as
large as the whole United States. With
It are mixed the particles from the sluice
boxes of the gold mines of the Benz and
the Maranon. Atoms of it have received
bitter kisses from the Quinine trees of
Feru and other atoms have trickled from
the soil of Ecuador. 1t has the DRAWINGS
of the sacred cities of the Incas, and it
may contain some of the washings of
the diamond mines of upper Brazil. It
has passed through countries of canni-
balls, 1t has come from wilds where the
foot of white man has never trod, from
mountains and valleys and lofty plateaus,
and now is on its way across the CONT
nent to its great mother, the ocean.
EXTENT OF THE AMAZON.
I entered the Amazon by its lower
mouth, south of the island of Marajo.
] sailed about that island, which itself
Is as big as some of our states, to the mar
rows, and then wound in and out through
a series of wonderful channels into the
main stream. Since then / have been
steaming slowly up against the current.
] have passed Obydos and am now 60
ing on to the point 1000 miles from the
Atlantic where the Rio Negro flows into
the Amazon Tomorrow / shall go by the
mouth of the Madeira, and have already
crossed the mouths OF tributaries as large
as some of the great rivers of the world.
The Amazon receives into itself more
than 100 rivers. 1t has 100 branches,
and it is unQuestionably the greatest wa
ter system of the globe. 1t has eight
rivers, each of which has a navigable
length of more than 1000 miles.
In coming here passed the Tocantins,
up which you can: steam for days into
the wilds Of Brazil. / am on a great
ocean steamer, which, when we stop at
Manaos a few days from now, will be
further inland from the ocean than Chi
cago. There are steamers from Manaos
which will take you 1850 miles further
on to IQuitos, Peru, so that you can go
by steam upon the river 1850 miles west
ward from the sea.
ManaOS is on the Rio Negro. 1t has
steamers going up that river 40 miles.
/ could leave the Amazon before I get
to Manaos and go on a steamboat far on
up the Madeira. There are, indeed, more
that 5000 miles of steam navigation on
the Amazon and its greater branches,
and the whole river system is estimated
as having something like $4,000 miles Of
naVigable waterways.
Many Of these waterways, however
are small The whole valley is covered
by the rivers and streams, like a net,
and when you realize how large the val
ley is you begin to appreciate their ex-
tent.
GREATEST VALLEY ON EARTH.
There is no valley in the world like
that of the Amazon. 1t is 700 miles wide
and 2,4OO miles long. 1t Is as wide as
from New York to Cleveland, and longer
than from Philadelphia to the Great
Salt Lake. 1t is more like great slop-
ing plain than a valley. 1t has not the
high walls of other valleys and its slopes
to the north and south are so gradual
that it is said by one short canal the
water systems of all South America
could be connected. The Parana and
Paraguay system run almost up to the
Amazon. You can go up the Paraguay,
and its tributaries and by carrying your
canoes few miles can put them in the
tributaries of the Amazon and float down
to the Atlantic. The waters of the Am
aZon and those of the Orinoco, which
flow into the Atlantic at the northern
part of South America, are actually
united by the Cassiquiare river, so that
with short canal connecting with the
Paraguay one could really sail from the
edge of the Caribbean sea to the mouth
of the Rio de la Plata
ONE INCH TO THE MILE.
The slope of the valley from the Andes
to the sea is very slight It's fall is 1000
miles in only 200 feet, or just about an
inch TO the mile. You would hardly think
the water would flow at all with such a
fall, but it does flow and it carries with
1t vast quantities Of silt Millions unon
millions n of mud
by it every day into the Atlantic. Tree
trunks and bits of vegetation which grow
only III the Peruvian Andes have been
seen floating in the ocean 400 miles east
of the mouth of the Amazon, and the
waters are said to be stained as far as
GOO miles from the mouth.
Here the color of the water is yellow.
1t IS about as thick as pea soup, and 1
can see not only trees and grass float
ing by me, but great beds of vegetation.
floating islands, which have been torn
from the uplands and are being carried
down to the sea. Some of these islands
cover as much as ali acre. They rise and
fall In waves as our steamer goes by
them. Now and then they catch on
snags near the shore and wait there for
the floods or heavy wind to carry
them off
HOW THE AMAZON CAME TO BE.
liz 81 Sdlef part OF the Amazon valley
was mado up by the mud brought down
by the river. Biologists say that there
was originally a wide strait here Joining
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. South
America then consisted of two divisions
the highlands of Venezuela and the
Gulanas on the north and the great ISL
and of Brazil on the south. Then the
Andes were thrown up out of the sea
at the west. The bottom of the ocean
rolled back and this great Amazon plain
was formed.
During the centuries since then the