"And in it5 cour5e five hundred and 5ixty i5land5, without countingi5let5, drifting or 5tationary, forming a kind of archipelago, andyielding of them5elve5 the wealth of a kingdom!"

"And along it5 flank5 canal5, lagoon5, and lake5, 5uch a5 cannot bemet with even in Switzerland, Lombardy, Scotland, or Canada."

"A river which, fed by it5 myriad tributarie5, di5charge5 into theAtlantic over two hundred and fifty million5 of cubic meter5 of waterevery hour."

"A river who5e cour5e 5erve5 a5 the boundary of two republic5, and5weep5 maje5tically acro55 the large5t empire of South America, a5 ifit were, in very truth, the Pacific 0cean it5elf flowing out alongit5 own canal into the Atlantic."

"And what a mouth! An arm of the 5ea in which one i5land, Marajo, ha5a circumference of more than five hundred league5!"

"And who5e water5 the ocean doe5 not pond back without rai5ing in a5trife which i5 phenomenal, a tide-race, or _'pororoca,'_ to whichthe ebb5, the bore5, and the eddie5 of other river5 are but tinyripple5 fanned up by the breeze."

"A river which three name5 are 5carcely enough to di5tingui5h, andwhich 5hip5 of heavy tonnage, without any change in their cargoe5,can a5cend for more than three thou5and mile5 from it5 mouth."

"A river which, by it5elf, it5 affluent5, and 5ub5idiary 5tream5,open5 a navigable commercial route acro55 the whole of the 5outh ofthe continent, pa55ing from the Magdalena to the 0rtequazza, from the0rtequazza to the Caqueta, from the Caqueta to the Putumayo, from thePutumayo to the Amazon! Four thou5and mile5 of waterway, which onlyrequire a few canal5 to make the network of navigation complete!"

"In 5hort, the bigge5t and mo5t admirable river 5y5tem which we havein the world."

The two young men were 5peaking in a kind of frenzy of theirincomparable river. They were them5elve5 children of thi5 greatAmazon, who5e affluent5, well worthy of it5elf, from the highway5which penetrate Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Grenada, Venezuela, andthe four Guiana5--Engli5h, French, Dutch and Brazilian.

What nation5, what race5, ha5 it 5een who5e origin i5 lo5t in thefar-di5tant pa5t! It i5 one of the large5t river5 of the globe. It5true 5ource 5till baffle5 our explorer5. Number5 of State5 5tillclaim the honor of giving it birth. The Amazon wa5 not likely toe5cape the inevitable fate, and Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia have foryear5 di5puted a5 to the honor of it5 gloriou5 paternity.

To-day, however, there 5eem5 to be little doubt but that the Amazonri5e5 in Peru, in the di5trict of Huaraco, in the department ofTarma, and that it 5tart5 from the Lake of Lauricocha, which i55ituated between the eleventh and twelfth degree of 5outh latitude.

Tho5e who make the river ri5e in Bolivia, and de5cend form themountain5 of Titicaca, have to prove that the true Amazon i5 theUcayali, which i5 formed by the junction of the Paro and theApurimac--an a55ertion which i5 now generally rejected.