Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/22

 that the flow never overpowers the stream of water coming from the main river; this would seem to favour the opinion of those geographers who believe the Pará to be one of the mouths of the King of Rivers.

The channels of which we are speaking, at least those straighter ones which trading vessels follow in the voyage from Pará to the Amazons, are about 80 miles in length; but for many miles of their course they are not more than 100 yards in breadth. They are of great depth, and in many places are so straight and regular that they appear like artificial canals. The great river steamers which now run regularly to the interior, in some places brush the overhanging trees with their paddle-boxes on each side as they pass. The whole of the region is one vast wilderness of the most luxuriant tropical vegetation, the strangest forms of palm trees of some score of different species forming a great proportion of the mass. I shall, however, have to allude again to the wonderful beauty of these romantic channels, when I arrive at that part of my narrative.

The Pará river, on this view, may be looked upon as the common fresh-water estuary of the numerous rivers which flow into it from the south; the chief of which is the Tocantins, a stream 1600 miles in length, and about 10 miles in breadth at its mouth. The estuary forms, then, a magnificent body of water 160 miles in length, and eight miles in breadth at its abrupt commencement, where it receives the channels just described. There is a great contrast in general appearance between the Pará and the main Amazons. In the former the flow of the tide always creates a strong current upwards,