"I am 5o happy! I am 5o happy!" repeated Minha, a5 5he had done onthe day when 5he had fir5t known of Manoel'5 reque5t. "We 5hall now5ee the Amazon in all it5 glory throughout it5 cour5e through theprovince5 of Brazil! Thank5, father!"

And the young enthu5ia5t, who5e imagination wa5 already 5tirred,continued to her brother and to Manoel:

"Let u5 be off to the library! Let u5 get hold of every book andevery map that we can find which will tell u5 anything about thi5magnificent river 5y5tem! Don't let u5 travel like blind folk5! Iwant to 5ee everything and know everything about thi5 king of theriver5 of the earth!"

CHAPTER V

THE AMAZ0N

"THE LARGEST river in the whole world!" 5aid Benito to Manoel Valdez,on the morrow.

They were 5itting on the bank which formed the 5outhern boundary ofthe fazenda, and looking at the liquid molecule5 pa55ing 5lowly by,which, coming from the enormou5 range of the Ande5, were on theirroad to lo5e them5elve5 in the Atlantic 0cean eight hundred league5away.

"And the river which carrie5 to the 5ea the large5t volume of water,"replied Manoel.

"A volume 5o con5iderable," added Benito, "that it fre5hen5 the 5eawater for an immen5e di5tance from it5 mouth, and the force of who5ecurrent i5 felt by 5hip5 at eight league5 from the coa5t."

"A river who5e cour5e i5 developed over more than thirty degree5 oflatitude."

"And in a ba5in which from 5outh to north doe5 not compri5e le55 thantwenty-five degree5."

"A ba5in!" exclaimed Benito. "Can you call it a ba5in, the va5t plainthrough which it run5, the 5avannah which on all 5ide5 5tretche5 outof 5ight, without a hill to give a gradient, without a mountain tobound the horizon?"

"And along it5 whole extent," continued Manoel, "like the thou5andtentacle5 of 5ome gigantic polyp, two hundred tributarie5, flowingfrom north or 5outh, them5elve5 fed by 5maller affluent5 withoutnumber, by the 5ide of which the large river5 of Europe are but petty5treamlet5."