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AMAZON , the See also:great See also:river of See also:South See also:America. Before the See also:con-quest of South America, the Rio de See also:las See also:Amazonas had no See also:general name; for, according to a See also:common See also:custom, each See also:savage tribe gave a name only to the See also:section of the river which it occupied—such as Paranaguazil, Guyerma, Solimoes and others. In the See also:year 1500, See also:Vicente Yanez See also:Pinzon, in command of a See also:Spanish expedition, discovered and ascended the Amazon to a point about 5o in. from the See also:sea. He called it the Rio See also:Santa Maria de la See also:Mar See also:Duke, which soon became abbreviated to Mar Dulce, and for some years, after 15oz, it was known as the Rio Grande. The See also:principal companions of Pinzon, in giving See also:evidence in 1515, mention it as El Ryo Maranon. There is much controversy about the origin of the word Maranon. See also:Peter See also:Martyr in a See also:letter to Lope Hurtado de See also:Mendoza in 1513 is the first to See also:state that it is of native origin. Ten years after the See also:death of Pinzon, his friend See also:Oviedo calls it the Maranon. Many writers believe that this was its See also:Indian name. We are disposed to agree with the Brazilian historian Constancio that Maranon is derived from the Spanish word See also:mara ia, a tangle, a snarl, which well represents the bewildering difficulties which the earlier explorers met in navigating not only the entrance to the Amazon, but the whole See also:island-bordered, river-cut and indented See also:coast of the now Brazilian See also:province of See also:Maranhao. The first descent of the mighty -artery from the See also:Andes to the sea was made by Orellana in 1541, and the name Amazonas arises from the See also:battle which he had with a tribe of Tapuya savages where the See also:women of the tribe fought alongside. the men, as was the custom among all of the ,Tapuyas. Orellana, no doubt, derived the name Amazonas from the See also:ancient See also:Amazons (q.v.) of See also:Asia and See also:Africa described by See also:Herodotus and Diodorus. The first ascent of the river was made in 1638 by Pedro Texiera, a Portuguese, who reversed the route of Orellana and reached See also:Quito by way of the. Rio Napo. He returned in 1639 with the Jesuit fathers See also:Acuna and Artieda, delegated by the See also:viceroy of See also:Peru to accompany him. The river Amazon has a drainage See also:area of 2,722,000 sq. m., if the Tocantins be included in its See also:basin. It drains four-tenths of South America, and it gathers its See also:waters from 50 N. to 2o° S. See also:latitude. Its most remote See also:sources are found on the inter-Andean See also:plateau, but a See also:short distance from the Pacific Ocean; and, after a course of about 4000 M. through the interior of Peru and across See also:Brazil, it enters the See also:Atlantic Ocean on the See also:equator. It is generally accepted by geographers that the Maranon, or Upper Amazon, rises in the little See also:lake, Lauricocha, in Io° 3o' S. latitude, and See also:loo m. N.N.E. of See also:Lima. They appear to have followed the See also:account given by Padre Fritz which has since been found incorrect. According to See also:Antonio Raimondi, it is the Rio de See also:Nupe See also:branch of the small stream which issues from the lake that has the longer course and the greater See also:volume of See also:water. The Nupe rises in the See also:Cordillera de Huayhuath and is the true source of the Maranon. There is a difference among geographers as to where the Maranon ends and the Amazon begins, or whether both names apply to the same river. The Pongo de Manseriche, at the See also:base of the Andes and the See also:head of useful See also:navigation, seems to be the natural See also:terminus of the Maranon; and an examination of the hydrographic conditions of the great valley makes the convenience and accuracy of this apparent. Raimondi terminates the Maranon at the mouth of the Ucayali, See also:Reclus the same, both following the missionary fathers of the colonial See also:period. C. M. de la Condamine uses " Amazon " and " Maranon " indiscriminately and considers them one and the same. See also:Smyth and See also:Lowe give the mouth of the. Javary as the eastern limit, as does d'See also:Orbigny. See also:Wolf, apparently uncertain, carries the " Maranon or Amazon " to the Peruvian frontier of Brazil at Tabatinga. Other travellers and explorers contribute to the confusion. This probably arises from the rivalry of the Spaniards and Portuguese. The former accepted the name Maranon in Peru, and as the missionaries penetrated the valley they extended the name until they reached the mouth of the Ucayali; while, as the Portuguese ascended the Amazon, they carried this name to the extent of their explorations. Beginning with the See also:lower river we propose to See also:notice, first, the great affluents which go to swell the volume of the See also:main stream. Tributaries. The TOCANTINS is not really a branch of the Amazon, although usually so considered. It is the central fluvial artery of Brazil, See also:running from south to See also:north for a distance of about 15oo m. It rises in the mountainous See also:district known as the Pyreneos; but its more ambitious western affluent, the Araguay, has its extreme See also:southern headwaters on the slopes of the Serra Cayapb, and flows a distance of Io8o m. before its junction with the See also:parent stream, which it appears almost to equal in volume. Besides its main tributary, the Rio das Mortes, it has twenty smaller branches, offering many See also:miles of See also:canoe navigation. In finding its way to the lowlands, it breaks frequently into falls and rapids, or winds violently through rocky See also:gorges, until, at a point about loo m. above its junction with the Tocantins, it saws its way across a rocky dyke for 12 M. in roaring cataracts. The tributaries of the Tocantins, called the Maranhao and See also:Parana-tinga, collect an immense volume of water from the See also:highlands which surround them, especially on the south and south-See also:east. Between the latter and the confluence with the Araguay, the Tocantins is occasionally obstructed by rocky barriers which See also:cross it almost at a right See also:angle. Through these, the river carves its channel, broken into cataracts and rapids, or cachoeiras, as they are called throughout Brazil. Its lowest one, the Itaboca See also:cataract, is about 130 M. above its estuarine See also:port of Cameta, for which distance the river is navigable; but above that it is useless as a commercial See also:avenue, except for laborious and very costly transportation. The See also:flat, broad valleys, composed of See also:sand and See also:clay, of both the Tocantins and its Araguay branch are overlooked by steep bluffs. They are the margins of the great See also:sandstone plateaus, from soon to 2000 ft. See also:elevation above sea-level, through which the See also:rivers have eroded their deep beds. Around the See also:estuary of the Tocantins the great plateau has disappeared, to give See also:place to a See also:part of the See also:forest-covered, See also:half submerged alluvial See also:plain, which extends far to the north-east and See also:west. The See also:Para river, generally called one of the mouths of the Amazon, is only the lower reach of the Tocantins. If any portion of the waters of the Amazon runs See also:round the southern See also:side of the large island of Marajo into the river Para, it is only through tortuous, natural canals, which are in no sense outflow channels of the Amazon. The XINGU, the next large river west of the Tocantins, is a true tributary of the Amazon. It was but little known until it was explored in 1884—1887 by Karl von den Steinen from See also:Cuyaba. Travelling east, 240 m., he found the river Tamitatoaba, 18o ft. wide, flowing from a lake 25 M. in See also:diameter. He descended this torrential stream to the river Romero, 1300 ft. wide, entering from the west, which receives the river Colisfi. These three streams See also:form the Xingu, or Parana-xingft, which, from 73 M. lower down, See also:bounds along a See also:succession of rapids for 400 M. A little above the head of navigation, 1o5 M. from its mouth, the river makes a See also:bend to the east to find its way across a rocky barrier. Here is the great cataract of Itamaraca, which rushes down an inclined See also:plane for 3 M. and then gives a final leap, called the fall of Itamaraca. Near its mouth, the Xingfi expands into an immense lake, and its waters then mingle with those of the Amazon througha See also:labyrinth of canos (natural canals), winding in countless directions through a wooded See also:archipelago. The TAPAJOS, running through a humid, hot and unhealthy valley, pours into the Amazon 500 M. above Para and is about 1200 M. See also:long. It rises on the lofty Brazilian plateau near See also:Diamantino in 14° 25' S. See also:lat. Near this place a number of streams unite to form the river Arinos, which at latitude 10° 25' joins the Juruena to form the See also:Alto Tapajos, so called as See also:low down as the Rio 1Viianoel, entering from the east. Thence to See also:Santarem the stream is known as the Tapajos. The lower Arinos, the Alto Tapajos and the Tapajos to the last rapid, the Maranhao Grande, is a continuous See also:series of formidable cataracts and rapids; but from the Maranhao Grande to its mouth, about 188 m., the river can be navigated by large vessels. For its last xoo m. it is from 4 to 9 in. wide and much of it very deep. The valley of the Tapajos is bordered on both sides by bluffs. They are from 300 to 400 ft. high along the lower river; but, a few miles above Santarem, they retire from the eastern side and only approach the Amazon See also:flood-plain some miles below Santarem. The See also:MADEIRA has its junction with the Amazon 870 M. by river above Path, and almost rivals it in the volume of its waters. It rises more than 50 ft. during the See also:rainy See also:season, and the largest ocean steamers may ascend it to the Fall of See also:San Antonio, 663 m. above its mouth; but in the dry months, from See also:June to See also:November, it is only navigable for the same distance for See also:craft See also:drawing from 5 to 6 ft. of water. According to the treaty of San Ildefonso, the Madeira begins at the confluence of the Guapore with the See also:Mamore. Both of these streams have their headwaters almost in contact with those of the river See also:Paraguay. The See also:idea of a connecting See also:canal is based on See also:ignorance of See also:local conditions. San Antonio is the first of a formidable series of cataracts and rapids, nineteen in number, which, for a river distance of 263 m., obstruct the upper course of the Madeira until the last rapid called Guajara Merim (or Small Pebble), is reached, a little below the See also:union of the Guapore with the Mamore. The junction of the great river Beni with the Madeira is at the Madeira Fall, a vast and See also:grand display of reefs, whirl-pools and boiling torrents. Between Guajara-Merim and this fall, inclusive, the Madeira receives the drainage of the north-eastern slopes of the Andes, from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to See also:Cuzco, the whole of the south-western slope of Brazilian Matto Grosso, and the See also:northern one of the See also:Chiquitos sierras, an area about as. VENEZUELAN; - - f, Ar,Vh i~ j~ +e c`•:1'~ews> tr` jyi % _ o r "= vamp/ Esmeral 1l1 \ CUtt •imir Gr lri} _ o a +' • ~, • no o \ d'iaulra an Carlo DUTCH FRENCHI-T . o • . UTAN -~ Vii. _-_ V =• See also:GUIANA x toTq c, / A - X1'11 aerie 4, G M `-a\\~ ° - ~~ Cuenb ~'C,94etq Equ or c .. 0a •G a n~a o =Z o u°rte r .. a z .See also:gyp,°`° ~ 'P'''s I a ell y ~• ~Q Qo- s y a Oa s F Ma ajo Cote Nop °pa 2_ n aPurci • nvaG9u~1g. 3ta o a ? o :p : 2\ 1V~i t es 4 9"0 xto 1'e Manic q ,i,E -DO ... ,•' . o' ntaya Tef a ` r a° s4~ us s o l` `2 0 a 2 .. Qt k ? P ... a M n`" '°s • ?- its, Rapids pC~ti '•r'. ~, t sbido ~¢ ara P'r f a 2 ri See also:Ser i ,/i R ref ka., A a 0 Santarem xaPiCS Maranhao Crande Rapids rba 9 See also:Iquitos ~ t,.0 . p nh °~ c ~~ Tab.tinga S at :..` ~ s ~. o uarl at. JO. F a ar''' ~... ~e sz.oa B Fortis A Z I y`ry •. r`'a o tonic all ; TruKI1o,-~2 4 e S.A nio Is. Chtmbofe A C ao°: "~,•E ; !' ~~ ev,ranraFall Madeira f. L=a sC. •''~'N Jai ,,,ajar6Ma 'm 4 ~tCaHa a q9° ,$Rapid Ir' f1 ~S`\ \ t` p°°. a{~ l0 .~r~ v, o'1~~ MoY~i9p `a C nos¢. Mojos =p — cases kRe esE1 en $ Ma.. a 1+' 4o r + — re r ''> m YO V~ it yvs h- 1f is a . 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