Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- MAP of the RIVER AMAZON
- CHAPTER I PARA′
- CHAPTER II PARA′
- CHAPTER III THE TOCANTINS
- CHAPTER IV MEXIANA AND MARAJO′
- CHAPTER V THE GUAMA′ AND CAPIM RIVERS
- CHAPTER VI SANTAREM AND MONTEALEGRE
- CHAPTER VII BARRA DO RIO NEGRO AND THE SOLIMÕES
- CHAPTER VIII THE UPPER RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER IX JAVITA
- CHAPTER X FIRST ASCENT OF THE RIVER UAUPÉS
- CHAPTER XI ON THE RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER XII THE CATARACTS OF THE UAUPÉS
- CHAPTER XIII SÃO JERONYMO TO THE DOWNS
- CHAPTER XIV THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE AMAZON VALLEY
- CHAPTER XV VEGETATION OF THE AMAZON VALLEY
- CHAPTER XVI OBSERVATIONS ON THE ZOOLOGY OF THE AMAZON DISTRICT
- CHAPTER XVII ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE AMAZON
- APPENDIX: VOCABULARIES OF AMAZONIAN LANGUAGES
CHAPTER XV - VEGETATION OF THE AMAZON VALLEY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- MAP of the RIVER AMAZON
- CHAPTER I PARA′
- CHAPTER II PARA′
- CHAPTER III THE TOCANTINS
- CHAPTER IV MEXIANA AND MARAJO′
- CHAPTER V THE GUAMA′ AND CAPIM RIVERS
- CHAPTER VI SANTAREM AND MONTEALEGRE
- CHAPTER VII BARRA DO RIO NEGRO AND THE SOLIMÕES
- CHAPTER VIII THE UPPER RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER IX JAVITA
- CHAPTER X FIRST ASCENT OF THE RIVER UAUPÉS
- CHAPTER XI ON THE RIO NEGRO
- CHAPTER XII THE CATARACTS OF THE UAUPÉS
- CHAPTER XIII SÃO JERONYMO TO THE DOWNS
- CHAPTER XIV THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE AMAZON VALLEY
- CHAPTER XV VEGETATION OF THE AMAZON VALLEY
- CHAPTER XVI OBSERVATIONS ON THE ZOOLOGY OF THE AMAZON DISTRICT
- CHAPTER XVII ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE AMAZON
- APPENDIX: VOCABULARIES OF AMAZONIAN LANGUAGES
Summary
Perhaps no country in the world contains such an amount of vegetable matter on its surface as the valley of the Amazon. Its entire extent, with the exception of some very small portions, is covered with one dense and lofty primeval forest, the most extensive and unbroken which exists upon the earth. It is the great feature of the country,—that which at once stamps it as a unique and peculiar region. It is not here as on the coasts of southern Brazil, or on the shores of the Pacific, where a few days' journey suffices to carry us beyond the forest district, and into the parched plains and rocky serras of the interior. Here we may travel for weeks and months inland, in any direction, and find scarcely an acre of ground unoccupied by trees. It is far up in the interior, where the great mass of this mighty forest is found; not on the lower part of the river, near the coast, as is generally supposed.
A line from the mouth of the river Parnaíba, in long. 41° 30′ W., drawn due west towards Guayaquil, will cut the boundary of the great forest in long. 78° 30′, and, for the whole distance of about 2600 miles, will have passed through the centre of it, dividing it into two nearly equal portions.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010