Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1910-07-05
GIGANTIC AMAZON
1t Is the Greatest as Well as the
Strangest of Rivers.
ITS UPPER PART A MYSTERY.
Shrouded In lmpenetrable Forests and
Vine Growths Through Which q
Clean of Sunlight Never Shows-A
Curious Woodland Tanele.

4
Clean of Sunlight Never Shows-A
Curious Woodland Tangle.
While the Amazon is the worlds
greatest river. If not in length at least
In the volume of water which flows
through it, it is the worlds strangesi
| river as well.
| The few travellers and explorers who
| have journeyed up this water course to
its many sources in the glaciers of the
South American mountains tell stories
which are almost incredible about the
| literal maze Of streams which unite to
| form 1t, each stream having its birth
In one of the great ice masses. Yet a
| few hundred miles below. where they
merge and create the river, the tenn
perature is such that it works its way
through perfect labyrinth OF tropical
vegetation
| Only the mariner can tell the place
where the Amazon really has Its
mouth. because the opening 1t has
made on the eastern coast of South
| America is so wide that 1t extends over
| 100 miles. A long distance before one
| comes to the mouth of the river, how.
ever, one Is really sailing on the wa.
| tiers of the Amazon. because they force
| they say that 300 miles out at sea of
| the mouth of the Amazon you can
| hoist a bucketful of fresh water out
| of the ocean from the deck of ship,
such is the quantity of its water that
! flows from that gigantic basiu.
Long after you have entered the &C
tual river and have its banks north
and south of you If you are in mid
stream you will still be out of sight of
| land. such is the breadth of the vast
channel. The river stretches far into
| the ocean and far up the country.
| Take map Of South America and
look up a place called lquitos. 1t lies
| four-ffths of the way across the con-
| tinent from east TO west. Yet from
| lquitos there is a fortnightly service
of ocean going steamers TO Europe
which descend some 5000 miles of the
river before they reach the sea.
1t is not only one branch OF the Am
azon. but many. that are thus to be re-
| garded as the same as ocean highways.
| The southern branches Of the Amazon
are broken by rapids along line
| where a low continental shelf exists.
Above these rapids. however. there is
again deep water. Thus beyond the
| falls of the Madeira there are over
10000 miles of navigable water on that
river and its branches.
Not only Sir Martin Conday, but
other travellers who have ventured
along the upper river and its tributa-
ries, say that here curious woodland
tange exists TO the surface of the
water the suns rays seldom reach, and
one may go many miles along water
ways where it is well nigh as dark as
night because the Sky is almost com
pletely shut out by the mass of vines
which interlace the trees and are so
thick with leaves. Deprived of the
sunlight. all Is dark and rank. The
| damp air is laden with unhealthful
places where the current is too slug
gish to carry it away is covered with
scum and weed.
II requires no little courage to ex-
plore these Businesses, for a man real
ly takes his life in his hands. so I'M
healthy are they. Occasionally, how
ever. one can see the upper portion Of
| the forest where there is little crew
| ice in its roof of vines. Above this is
| really q scene of life and beauty. Birds
and butterflies and other gorgeous in
sects are flying from place 10 place;
flowers of hundreds Of hues and shapes
are blooming from the plants attached
to tree, branch and trunk. While be-
low all may be lifeless and silent,
above the height where the mass of
vines overshadow the river nature has
created a world of brightness and ami
nation; but. as already stated. II is al
most entirely shut out from the human
eye.
10 attempt 10 break through this
canopy of vines which hide II from the
lower world is almost impossible be-
cause the vines grow so thickly, but
some naturalists have penetrated it
and say that the forests really have
two surfaces. the one above this artif-
cial roof and the one below. That
which Is above is barred from human
entrance. Its inhabitants are mostly
birds and insects that are radiant with
beauty unegualed In the world.
Whatever grows in the Amazon mud
strives with desperate iDternecine
struggle to reach rhis sky exposed sur
face and there blossoms. Beneath.
where man can walk or float. all Is
dark Only here and there ftful ray
of sunlight struggles through. Orchids
blossom within this shadowy region.
You can see these bright creatures
fiitfuIly in the cavern below. but not In
all their glory. as they must behold
one another above. Sometimes as they
fit about beneath they will chance to
cross sunbeam slanting through a
hole in the vegetation: then for an In
slant they fash into view like an ex-
pIosion of burning color. II Is thus
that the great butterflies are seen to
the best effect. No one can imagine
what a picture they produce 10 their
native haunts as their wings fash and
close and fash again In the sunlight as
they fly.
No; this upper world of the Amazon
forests has been closed to human be-
ings and promises to remain perpet-
eal mystery unless with the aid Of
some aerial craft one may be able to
visit it-Cba mbers' Journal.