Year: 1867

I OS hhS dLuOuul OI moisture received,
over the whole of its surface. The trade
winds blow in the mouth OF the Anna
zon and over the whole valley, SO that
there Is an unceasing cool breeze from
the Atlantic to the base of the Andes,
reducing markedly the average tenn
perature of the valley. Indeed, the
average temperature of the valley is
only 81 degrees. The maximum tenn
perature is from 80 to 81 degrees; the
minimum about 70 to "A degrees. 1t is
only about the Maiuas and the juno
ton of the Rio Negro that the temper
ature rises to 95 degrees. The temper
ature between day and night is always
nights are always remarkably cool.
Under these circumstances YOU see
| that far from sharing the intensity
of heat characteristic of tropical
regions, the Valley of the Amazon
is is.,,, favored to degree which
ton for the people of our race. During
nearly year of residence there, do
not feel that the climate had the slight
est unpleasant influence. Ny compan-
ions enjoyed it as well as did; and, in
fact, we found it was as agreeable u
residence as we could wish, preferable
to the intense heat of the dog days, and
so uniform as to save the inhabitants
from those sudden changes of our eli
mate so injurious to health. If the
bracing air of our Northern climate has
more stimulating influence upon the
energies of man, we know how many
1t kills; 1T is the strong and healthy
ona 1hat 81, survlvei and many diseases which
are the result of our Northern climate
are only cured by residence at the
South, while the South is saved from
all these Inconvenience, if it has some
of its own. / would sum up my de-
scription of the Valley of the Amhzon
as a healthy country which will prove
genial to the white race as much as any
other part of the world having a similar
temperature.


know that my statements are con-
trary to generally received notions, and
that the Valley OF the Amazon, in par
ticular, has a very bad reputation.
But it does not deserve it; and the
origin of this reputation is one which
ought to be explained. 1t is owing TO
the reports of the officers of the Gov
ernment OF Brazil, sent there to admin
lister the affairs of the country, who,
desirous of being relieved from "A kind
of exile in an unsettled land, and wish
ing to return to society, to the capital,
or to the luxury they may have en-
joyed, in order to accomplish that end,
represented the country as Injurious to
health, and their residence there as a
great sacrifice, deserving an advance in
their social position; and that this is a
true explanation, l have, by the ac-
acknowledgements of some gentlemen
who had been there, and who had them
selves played that game.


The front of the Amazon itself, as it
enters the Atlantic, is $50 miles, so that
1t Is, as you may see, the largest and
most voluminous of all the rivers
known. The banks of the river are
everywhere clear, and they rise gradu-
ally above the level of the water. The
rise is hardly over twenty, thirty or
forty feet in the middle course. You
have frequently banks of about fifty,
sixty, and sometimes one hundred feet
In one region only do the banks rise to
a greater height, and back of the river
are hills of 700 or 500 feet, which, owing
to the even appearance of the whole
country, give the impression to the
eyes of a lofty range; these really low
hills (the highest not being over 1000
feet, appear, by contrast with the hat
country, like our Alpine Mountains.


The river may be at times 80, 40 or 90
feet higher than at other times. You
may conceive what an amount of water
must be condensed from the atmosphere
in order to fill a plain so extensive with
an amount of water sufficient to ra Use
the level OF the main current to such an
extraordinary amount. But thus does
not take place simultaneously over the
whole valley; SO that there is the most
extraordinary distribution of freShets
over the whole basin. The rains begin
on the Southern side of the valley IN
the months of September and October;
and from the table-land of Brazil and
the mountainsIof Bolivia the Southern
tributaries of the Amazon first begin to
swell at such rate that. through De-
cember, they reach with their new flood
the Valley of the Amazon, the greatest
rise in the Amazon being in the month
of March, when, In the region below


IaHaiFn tho FiGn ho aa ,,I,
foot in "a hours during the whole month
of March. The rise continues on until
the end of June, when the river is most
full; SO that it takes from October to
June for the rivers on the Southern
side of the Amazon to fill and discharge
their water into the main stream. Alta
somewhat earlier period the Andes
send down their contribution to the
main river in consequence OF the melt
ing of the snow on the summit of the
mountains in the months of August
and Semptember. The freshet result
ing from this melting of the snow in
the Equator and here is felt in the val
ley in october and November as low as
Mainas, so that in connection with the
waters coming down from the Andes
and the waters coming from The table
land of Brazil and the mountains of
Bolivia, the Amazon is filled in its CEN
tire and on its Southern side, and flows
over TO its Northern side, and extend
ing Northward in consequence OF this
swell-for during three months all the
rivers which come TO the Amazon on its
Northern side are at their lowest stand
as empty as they ever are. In turn,
they will swell to a similar hight: but
in the month of December the North
ern rivers are at their lowest ebb. The
Southern rivers flow into them; they
push the waters of the main basin to a
more Northern latitude than during
any other season. 1t rains in the main
valley during the months of January,
February, and partly during March
also; but in March the rains extend
chiefly over the table land of Guayama
and the Northern part of the Andes.
and during April and May the North
ern rivers begin to swell, and in June
they have reached their maximum. so
that by the end of June, when the
Southern rivers have begun to empty,
the Northern rivers, flowing into the
Amazon, rise to the same great level.


The boat is the natural means of con-
veyance over the whole land, and there
IS something charming in the charac-
ter OF this water communication cover
edswith such luxuriant vegetation, so
varied and yet so continuous that
nothing can give an idea of what such
submerged country, covered by for
ests and iuterlocked by plants, is. 1t
must be seen to form an idea of its true
appearance. l VIII try, however, to
convey some idea by comparison rather
than by direct description. The whole
land is covered with vegetation and for
ests. There are here and there small
spaces which are occupied by water,


but even those are encroached upon by
the vegetation, and there is no know
ing where the land ends and the water
begins. The aquatic vegetation is SO
dense that it extends over the land into
the water, concealing the limits of the
one and the beginning of the other.
Wherever there are extensive lakes