The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1910-07-08
GIGANTIC AMAZON
1t Is the Greatest as Well as the
Strangest of Rivers.
ITS UPPER PART A MYSTERY.

vine 1FoWtnS InTougn winch
CLEAN of Sunlight Never Shows-A
Curious Woodland TangIe.
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 strangest
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 it, each stream having its birth
in one of the great ice masses. Yet
few hundred miles below, where they
merge and create the river, the tenn
perature is such that it works it's way
through a perfect labyrinth of tropical
vegetation.
Only the mariner can tell the place
where the Amazon really has its
mouth, because the opening it has
made on the eastern coast of South
America is SO wide that it extends over
100 miles. A long distance before one
comes to the mouth of the river how
ever, ore is really sailing on the wa
ters of the Amazon, because they force
their way so far out into the ocean.
They say that 300 miles out at sea off
the mouth of the Amazon you can
hoist a bucketful Of fresh water out
of the ocean from the deck Of a ship,
such is the quantity of its water that
flows from that gigantic basin.
Long after you have entered the ac-
tual river and have it's 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 place called Iquitos. 1t lies
four-fifths of the way across the con-
tinent from east to west. Yet from
Iquitos there is 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 a 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 a curious woodland
tangle exists. 10 the surface of the
water the SUMS 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
vapor. The surface Of the water In
places where the current is too slug
gish to carry it away is covered with
scum and weed.
1t requires no little courage to ex-
plore these Businesses, for man real
ly takes his life in his hands, so un-
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 scene Of life and beauty. Birds
and butterflies and other gorgeous In
sects are flying from place to 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 world of brightness and ami
nation; but, as already stated, 1t Is al
most entirely shut out from the human
eye.
10 attempt TO break through this
canopy of vines which hide it from the
lower world is almost impossible be-
cause the vines grow so thickly, but
some naturalists have penetrated 1t
and say that the forests really have
two surfaces, the one above this artifl-
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 unequaled in the world.
Whatever grows in the Amazon mud
strives with desperate internecine
struggle to reach this sky exposed sur
face and there blossoms. Beneath,
where man can walk or float, all is
dark. Only here and there 1ltful ray
of sunlight struggles through. Orchids
blossom within this shadowy region.
You can see these bright creatures
flitfully In the cavern below, but not in
NIL their glory, as they must behold
one another above. Sometimes as they
fit about beneath they will chance to
cross sunbeam slantlng through a
hole in the vegetation; then for an in
slant they flash into view like an ex-
ploSion of burning color. 1t is thus
that the great butterflies are seen to
the best effect. No one can imagine
what picture they produce in their
nntiye haunfs nc their wings flash and