The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-05-13

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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 noun
tains 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 hun
dred miles below, where they merge
and create the river, the temperature
is such that it works its way through
a perfect labyrinth OF tropical vege-
tation.
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 be-
fore one comes to the mouth of the
river, however, one is really sailing on
the waters of the Amazon, says
Chambers Journal, because they
force their way out so far into the
ocean. They say that 500 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 the ship, such is the quantity of its
water that flows from that gigantic
basin.
Long after you have entered the
actual river and have it's banks to
north and south of you. if you are
in midstream 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 out place called
Iquitos. It lies four-ffths of the
way across the continent 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
Amazon but many that are thus to
! be regarded 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 nav
! igable water on that river and it's
branches, and these only await the
making of short railway less than
200 miles long to be brought into con-
nection with the other highways of
the world.
Away in this remote part of the
South American continent nature has
been indeed generous, for in addition
! to the wealth of rubber there are
known to be deposits of gold and
other precious metals. 1t is said
that nearly every one of the glacial
/ streams washing down the foothills
of the mountains carries sand laden
with gold which has been accumulat-
ing in its bed for centuries. but as
! yet none has been secured by the
miner, owing to the distance to these
streams being so great and to there
+ being no route by which machinery
or tools for getting the gold can be
taken to these places.
Not only Sir Martin Conway but
other travellers who have ventured
: along the upper river and it's tribu-
taries say that here curious earthly
paradise really exists. To the sur
face of the water the suns rays sell
dom reach; and one may go many
miles along waterways where it is
well nigh as dark as night, because
! the sky is almost completely shut
out by the mass of vines which in
terlace the trees and are so thick
with leaves. Deprived of the sun
| light all is dark and rank. The
damp air is laden with unhealthful
vapor.
Above this is really scene of life
and beauty. Birds and butterflies and
! other gorgeous insects are flying from
| place to place; flowers of hundreds
of hues and shapes are blooming
from the plants attached to tree.
| branch and trunk. This upper world
of the Amazon forests has been
! closed to human beings and promises
to remain a perpetual mystery I'M
less with the aid of some aerial craft
one may be able to visit it.
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