“THE LARGEST river in the whole world!” said Benito to Manoel Valdez, on the morrow.
They were sitting on the bank which formed the southern boundary of the fazenda, and looking at the liquid molecules1 passing slowly by, which, coming from the enormous range of the Andes, were on their road to lose themselves in the Atlantic Ocean eight hundred leagues away.
“And the river which carries to the sea the largest volume of water,” replied Manoel.
“A volume so considerable,” added Benito, “that it freshens the sea water for an immense distance from its mouth, and the force of whose current is felt by ships at eight leagues from the coast.”
“A river whose course is developed over more than thirty degrees of latitude2.”
“And in a basin which from south to north does not comprise less than twenty-five degrees.”
“A basin!” exclaimed Benito. “Can you call it a basin, the vast plain through which it runs, the savannah which on all sides stretches out of sight, without a hill to give a gradient, without a mountain to bound the horizon?”
“And along its whole extent,” continued Manoel, “like the thousand tentacles3 of some gigantic polyp, two hundred tributaries4, flowing from north or south, themselves fed by smaller affluents5 without number, by the side of which the large rivers of Europe are but petty streamlets.”
“And in its course five hundred and sixty islands, without counting islets, drifting or stationary6, forming a kind of archipelago, and yielding of themselves the wealth of a kingdom!”
“And along its flanks canals, lagoons7, and lakes, such as cannot be met with even in Switzerland, Lombardy, Scotland, or Canada.”
“A river which, fed by its myriad8 tributaries, discharges into the Atlantic over two hundred and fifty millions of cubic meters of water every hour.”
“A river whose course serves as the boundary of two republics, and sweeps majestically9 across the largest empire of South America, as if it were, in very truth, the Pacific Ocean itself flowing out along its own canal into the Atlantic.”
“And what a mouth! An arm of the sea in which one island, Marajo, has a circumference10 of more than five hundred leagues!”
“And whose waters the ocean does not pond back without raising in a strife11 which is phenomenal, a tide-race, or ‘pororoca,’ to which the ebbs12, the bores, and the eddies13 of other rivers are but tiny ripples14 fanned up by the breeze.”
“A river which three names are scarcely enough to distinguish, and which ships of heavy tonnage, without any change in their cargoes15, can ascend16 for more than three thousand miles from its mouth.”
“A river which, by itself, its affluents, and subsidiary streams, opens a navigable commercial route across the whole of the south of the continent, passing from the Magdalena to the Ortequazza, from the Ortequazza to the Caqueta, from the Caqueta to the Putumayo, from the Putumayo to the Amazon! Four thousand miles of waterway, which only require a few canals to make the network of navigation complete!”
“In short, the biggest and most admirable river system which we have in the world.”
The two young men were speaking in a kind of frenzy17 of their incomparable river. They were themselves children of this great Amazon, whose affluents, well worthy18 of itself, from the highways which penetrate19 Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Grenada, Venezuela, and the four Guianas — English, French, Dutch and Brazilian.
What nations, what races, has it seen whose origin is lost in the far-distant past! It is one of the largest rivers of the globe. Its true source still baffles our explorers. Numbers of States still claim the honor of giving it birth. The Amazon was not likely to escape the inevitable20 fate, and Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia have for years disputed as to the honor of its glorious paternity.
To-day, however, there seems to be little doubt but that the Amazon rises in Peru, in the district of Huaraco, in the department of Tarma, and that it starts from the Lake of Lauricocha, which is situated21 between the eleventh and twelfth degree of south latitude.
Those who make the river rise in Bolivia, and descend22 form the mountains of Titicaca, have to prove that the true Amazon is the Ucayali, which is formed by the junction23 of the Paro and the Apurimac — an assertion which is now generally rejected.
At its departure from Lake Lauricocha the youthful river starts toward the northeast for a distance of five hundred and sixty miles, and does not strike to the west until it has received an important tributary24 — the Panta. It is called the Mara?on in its journey through Colombia and Peru up to the Brazilian frontier — or, rather, the Maranhao, for Mara?on is only the French rendering25 of the Portuguese26 name.
From the frontier of Brazil to Manaos, where the superb Rio Negro joins it, it takes the name of the Solima?s, or Solimoens, from the name of the Indian tribe Solimao, of which survivors27 are still found in the neighboring provinces. And, finally, from Manaos to the sea it is the Amasenas, or river of the Amazons, a name given it by the old Spaniards, the descendants of the adventurous28 Orellana, whose vague but enthusiastic stories went to show that there existed a tribe of female warriors29 on the Rio Nhamunda, one of the middle-sized affluents of the great river.
From its commencement the Amazon is recognizable as destined30 to become a magnificent stream. There are neither rapids nor obstacles of any sort until it reaches a defile31 where its course is slightly narrowed between two picturesque32 and unequal precipices33. No falls are met with until this point is reached, where it curves to the eastward34, and passes through the intermediary chain of the Andes. Hereabouts are a few waterfalls, were it not for which the river would be navigable from its mouth to its source. As it is, however, according the Humboldt, the Amazon is free for five-sixths of its length.
And from its first starting there is no lack of tributaries, which are themselves fed by subsidiary streams. There is the Chinchipa, coming from the northeast, on its left. On its right it is joined by the Chachapoyas, coming from the northeast. On the left we have the Marona and the Pastuca; and the Guallaga comes in from the right near the mission station of Laguna. On the left there comes the Chambyra and the Tigré, flowing from the northeast; and on the right the Huallaga, which joins the main stream twenty-eight hundred miles from the Atlantic, and can be ascended35 by steamboats for over two hundred miles into the very heart of Peru. To the right, again, near the mission of San Joachim d’Omaguas, just where the upper basin terminates, and after flowing majestically across the pampas of Sacramento, it receives the magnificent Ucayali, the great artery36 which, fed by numerous affluents, descends37 from Lake Chucuito, in the northeast of Arica.
Such are the principal branches above the village of Iquitos. Down the stream the tributaries become so considerable that the beds of most European rivers would fail to contain them. But the mouths of these auxiliary38 waters Joam Garral and his people will pass as they journey down the Amazon.
To the beauties of this unrivaled river, which waters the finest country in the world, and keeps along its whole course at a few degrees to the south of the equator, there is to be added another quality, possessed39 by neither the Nile, the Mississippi, nor the Livingstone — or, in other words, the old Congo-Zaira-Lualaba — and that is (although some ill-informed travelers have stated to the contrary) that the Amazon crosses a most healthy part of South America. Its basin is constantly swept by westerly winds. It is not a narrow valley surrounded by high mountains which border its banks, but a huge plain, measuring three hundred and fifty leagues from north ot south, scarcely varied40 with a few knolls41, whose whole extent the atmospheric42 currents can traverse unchecked.
Professor Agassiz very properly protested against the pretended unhealthiness o the climate of a country which is destined to become one of the most active of the world’s producers. According to him, “a soft and gentle breeze is constantly observable, and produces an evaporation43, thanks to which the temperature is kept down, and the sun does not give out heat unchecked. The constancy of this refreshing44 breeze renders the climate of the river Amazon agreeable, and even delightful45.”
The Abbé Durand has likewise testified that if the temperature does not drop below 25 degrees Centigrade, it never rises above 33 degrees, and this gives for the year a mean temperature of from 28 degrees to 29 degrees, with a range of only 8 degrees.
After such statements we are safe in affirming that the basin of the Amazon has none of the burning heats of countries like Asia and Africa, which are crossed by the same parallels.
The vast plain which serves for its valley is accessible over its whole extent to the generous breezes which come from off the Atlantic.
And the provinces to which the river has given its name have acknowledged right to call themselves the healthiest of a country which is one of the finest on the earth.
And how can we say that the hydrographical system of the Amazon is not known?
In the sixteenth century Orellana, the lieutenant46 of one of the brothers Pizarro, descended47 the Rio Negro, arrived on the main river in 1540, ventured without a guide across the unknown district, and, after eighteen months of a navigation of which is record is most marvelous, reached the mouth.
In 1636 and 1637 the Portuguese Pedro Texeira ascended the Amazon to Napo, with a fleet of forty-seven pirogues.
In 1743 La Condamine, after having measured an arc of the meridian48 at the equator, left his companions Bouguer and Godin des Odonais, embarked49 on the Chinchipe, descended it to its junction with the Mara?on, reached the mouth at Napo on the 31st of July, just in time to observe an emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter — which allowed this Humboldt of the eighteenth century” to accurately50 determine the latitude and longitude51 of the spot — visited the villages on both banks, and on the 6th of September arrived in front of the fort of Para. This immense journey had important results — not only was the course of the Amazon made out in scientific fashion, but it seemed almost certain that it communicated with the Orinoco.
Fifty-five years later Humboldt and Bonpland completed the valuable work of La Condamine, and drew up the map of the Mana?on as far as Napo.
Since this period the Amazon itself and all its principal tributaries have been frequently visited.
In 1827 Lister-Maw, in 1834 and 1835 Smyth, in 1844 the French lieutenant in command of the “Boulonnaise,” the Brazilian Valdez in 1840, the French “Paul Marcoy” from 1848 to 1860, the whimsical painter Biard in 1859, Professor Agassiz in 1865 and 1866, in 1967 the Brazilian engineer Franz Keller-Linzenger, and lastly, in 1879 Doctor Crevaux, have explored the course of the river, ascended many of its tributaries, and ascertained52 the navigability of its principal affluents.
But what has won the greatest honor for the Brazilian government is that on the 31st of July, 1857, after numerous frontier disputes between France and Brazil, about the Guiana boundary, the course of the Amazon was declared to be free and open to all flags; and, to make practice harmonize with theory, Brazil entered into negotiations53 with the neighboring powers for the exploration of every river-road in the basin of the Amazon.
To-day lines of well-found steamboats, which correspond direct with Liverpool, are plying54 on the river from its mouth up to Manaos; others ascend to Iquitos; others by way of the Tapajoz, the Madeira, the Rio Negro, or the Purus, make their way into the center of Peru and Bolivia.
One can easily imagine the progress which commerce will one day make in this immense and wealthy area, which is without a rival in the world.
But to this medal of the future there is a reverse. No progress can be accomplished55 without detriment56 to the indigenous57 races.
In face, on the Upper Amazon many Indian tribes have already disappeared, among others the Curicicurus and the Sorimaos. On the Putumayo, if a few Yuris are still met with, the Yahuas have abandoned the district to take refuge among some of the distant tributaries, and the Maoos have quitted its banks to wander in their diminished numbers among the forests of Japura.
The Tunantins is almost depopulated, and there are only a few families of wandering Indians at the mouth of the Jurua. The Teffé is almost deserted58, and near the sources of the Japur there remained but the fragments of the great nation of the Umaüa. The Coari is forsaken59. There are but few Muras Indians on the banks of the Purus. Of the ancient Manaos one can count but a wandering party or two. On the banks of the Rio Negro there are only a few half-breeds, Portuguese and natives, where a few years ago twenty-four different nations had their homes.
Such is the law of progress. The Indians will disappear. Before the Anglo-Saxon race Australians and Tasmanians have vanished. Before the conquerors60 of the Far West the North American Indians have been wiped out. One day perhaps the Arabs will be annihilated61 by the colonization62 of the French.
But we must return to 1852. The means of communication, so numerous now, did not then exist, and the journey of Joam Garral would require not less than four months, owing to the conditions under which it was made.
Hence this observation of Benito, while the two friends were watching the river as it gently flowed at their feet:
“Manoel, my friend, if there is very little interval63 between our arrival at Belem and the moment of our separation, the time will appear to you to be very short.”
“Yes, Benito,” said Manoel, “and very long as well, for Minha cannot by my wife until the end of the voyage.”
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1
molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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tentacles
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| n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛 | |
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tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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affluents
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| n.富裕的，富足的( affluent的名词复数 ) | |
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stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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lagoons
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| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
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myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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ebbs
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| 退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退 | |
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eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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49
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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51
longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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52
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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54
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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56
detriment
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| n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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58
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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59
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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61
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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62
colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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