intricate navigation of which the natives alone are acquainted. So narrow are these water-paths in many places, that the branches of the lofty trees meet overhead, and form a canopy, which, for miles together, shelters the traveller in his canoe from the noon-day sun. Here and there, a glimpse of the sky may be obtained through the thick foliage; 'while birds of gay plumage flit to and fro enjoying the cool shade, or sit on the branches trimming their feathers, and uttering strange and varied cries.

Sometimes the water-path broadens into pools and lakes, filled mostly by the overflowing of the main river during the rainy season. These pools swarm with a great variety of fishes, with many kinds of turtles and alligators, with electric eels, and other curious water-creatures. Water-fowl and other aquatic birds dwell on their banks; while on the surface of their placid waters float the widespreading leaves and magnificent blossoms of the Victoria Regia," and other lilies and water-plants.

The inland navigation of the Amazon and its tributaries available for commerce extends to no less than fifty thousand miles. Flowing, however, through a region very scantily peopled by indolent natives and not very active colonists, there are fewer vessels upon its waters in a year than may be seen on the bosom of the Mississippi every hour of the day.

Yet there is no nobler field of enterprise in the world than the great valley of the Amazon-none which is richer in natural resources, or which holds out a more certain reward to energy and persever

ance. You have only to look at the map to see that, with the exception of Chili and Patagonia, every country in South America is brought, directly or indirectly, within the range of its interior navigation.

So varied and so abundant are the products of this wide region, that it might well become the garden and the storehouse of the world. There is scarcely one either of the necessaries or of the luxuries of life which, if all other sources of supply were cut off, might not be obtained from the valley of the Amazon in sufficient abundance to supply the wants of the whole habitable globe. The supply of flesh, fish, and fowl of every description is simply unlimited. There is plenty of coffee and cocoa and

sugar; of maize and rice; of cotton and tobacco; of bananas and grapes; of spices, drugs, and dyes; of silver and gold; of every variety of fancy-wood for the finest cabinet-work, and of timber for building houses and ships.

Yet this prolific region remains still unused and, in great measure, unexplored. Here, if anywhere, is a field in which modern enterprise and enlightenment may achieve the grandest results.

1 Cordilleras, the Spanish name for the Andes (the full name being Cordillera de los Andes), the magnificent chain of mountains stretching down the western side of South America.

2 Little lake, called Lauricocha.

3 Amazon. This name was given to the river (otherwise called the Maranon) by Orellana, a Portuguese adventurer, who was the first European to follow its course (1521). It is said that Orellana, noticing some women bearing arms on the banks of the river, called it the Amazon, and the country Amazonia, after the Amazons, a fabled race of female warriors in Asia Minor.

Sierras, mountain ridges resembling the edge of a saw. [Span. sierra; from Lat. serra, a saw.]

'Rio Negro--that is, Black River—a common name for rivers in Spanish America. The water of these rivers is of a dark coffee colour, like moss water;

which, under the shade of the trees, appears black.

Jaguar, the leopard of America. It feeds on deer, monkeys, birds, and fishes, approaching its prey very stealthily, and pouncing upon it suddenly.

7 Macaw, a large and very showy bird, closely allied to the parrot.

9

Llanos, extensive open plains.

The tide.-The tide ascends the Amazon, headed by a bore (see p. 167) 12 or 15 feet in height; called by the natives pororocca, in imitation of the roar which it makes in crossing shallows. In high tides it devastates islands, and sometimes even sweeps away their foundations.

10 Water-paths, called igarapes.

"Victoria Regia.-This magnificent water-lily was first brought to England in 1838 by Sir Robert Schomburgk, a distinguished botanist, who named it after | Queen Victoria.

QUESTIONS.-Where has the Amazon its source? How far from Lima? What is the character of its higher waters? Give some idea of the great size of the valley, and of the volume of its waters. What is the length of the river? What is the region above the Rio Negro called? What is the character of the Upper Amazon? What makes its navigation dangerous? What is the chief feature of the Lower Amazon? What connection has the Rio Negro with the Orinoco? What is the largest southern tributary of the Amazon? What is the Strait of Obydos? What width does the river attain before it reaches the Atlantic? What struggle takes place at its mouth? How far up the river does the tide extend? How far out at sea are the waters of the river perceptible? What causes the net-work of water-paths in the Upper Amazon? What is remarkable about them? What is the extent of the inland navigation of the Amazon? Why is so little use made of it? What do its varied products fit it for becoming? Mention some of these products.

THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

WHEN the astonishing sagacity and enterprise of the Genoese1 had discovered the confines of a new world across the trackless Atlantic, it was without hesitation concluded, not only by himself, but by all Europe, that the new land formed the extreme eastern shore of Asia. Hence the name of Indies was erroneously given to these islands a mistake which has been perpetuated even to the present time.

Aware of the round form of the Earth, the geographers of that age could well conceive the possibility of reaching India by a westerly course; but, ignorant of the magnitude of the globe, they had formed a very inadequate idea of its position, being totally unaware of the vast continent, and still vaster ocean, which separated Asia from the Atlantic. But as, impelled by an insatiable thirst for gold, the unprincipled Spaniards pushed their career of robbery and murder further and further into the continent, they began to hear tidings of a boundless sea, which stretched away to the south and west, beyond the horizon of the setting sun.

2

Balboa, one of the reckless spirits who sought fortune and fame at all hazards in the newly-found regions, boldly determined to seek the sea of which the Indians spoke. At the head of a little band of men, guided by a Mexican, he succeeded, after severe privations and imminent dangers, in crossing the isthmus that connects the northern and southern portions of the continent.

They had arrived at the foot of a hill, from the

than a yard or two at most, but clothed with a mass of the richest and most verdant vegetation. Here and there, above the general bed of luxuriant foliage,

rises a grove of cocoa-nut trees, waving their feathery plumes high in the air, and gracefully bending their tall and slender stems to the breathing of the pleasant trade-wind.

The grove is bordered by a narrow beach on each side, of the most glittering whiteness, contrasting with the beautiful azure waters by which it is environed. From end to end of the curved isle stretches, in a straight line, forming, as it were, the cord of the bow, a narrow beach, of the same snowy whiteness, almost level with the sea at the lowest tide, enclosing a semicircular space of water between it and the island, called the lagoon."