53.-RIVERS, PLAINS, AND LAKES.

1. The Other Rivers.-(i) The two largest rivers, after the Amazon, of South America, are the Orinoco, and the La Plata (or River Plate) with its mighty tributaries, the Parana and Paraguay... The Orinoco is the great waterway of the northern regions of South America. It rises on the low watershed-the most remarkable in the world -which lies between its waters and those of the Rio Negro, the chief northern tributary of the Amazon. This watershed is remarkable, because it does not divide but joins the waters of the two basins. The natural canal which joins them, called the Cassiquiare, is broad enough and deep enough to float a first-class frigate. It is remarkable for its numerous windings, and for the magnificent curve with which it sweeps round the base of the Parime Mountains. In fact, its source and its mouth are almost in the same longitude. It sees in its course some of the largest plains in the world, some of the grandest forests; and it pushes into the sea, by fifty channels, its vast mass of green and milk-white waters, which form a vivid contrast to the deep indigo-blue of the North Atlantic.

2. The Other Rivers.—(ii) The La Plata, which is really a river-mouth formed by the junction of the Parana and Uruguay, is the widest river in the world. It is 62 miles broad at Monte Video, and it discharges more water into the ocean than any other river in the world, with the exception of the Amazon or the great African Congo. The Parana or Parana-Paraguay has been justly called the Mississippi of South America. It is fed by the tropical rains of Brazil on the east, and by the melting snows of the Andes on the west.

3. The Selvas.-The region called The Selvas is the largest forest-region in the world. It stands on the middle Amazon, and extends along both sides of the river for about 1200 miles from east to west, and 800 from north to south. At one central point one might draw a circle with a radius of nearly 1000 miles; and within that circle nothing but trees, trees, trees! This is the world-region of the densest and richest forest-life! There are more trees, and more large trees, than in any other part of the world; and there are also more different kinds of trees. Think of a pathless and impenetrable forest nearly twenty times as large as England! Forest upon forest of gigantic trees, lifting their lofty heads into the air; and joined by a chaos of bush-ropes and climbing-plants-of the thickest matting of creepers and climbers interlacing with their woody ropes and cables the trunks and the branches of the forest giants. Both the plants and animals of this world of trees take the character of creepers and climbers. Jasmines, nettles, and even palms, begin to climb, to twist, and to twine. Some coil like snakes around the nearest trunks; some join to form cables of many strands; some trail along zigzag fashion; and some grow in the shape of a mighty ladder leading to a dizzy height above. It is above this thick canopy of undergrowth that the flowers and fruit of the forest-trees rise-soaring above this gloomy air to the embraces of the light and the heat. Everywhere there is a solemn and awful stillness a stillness which appals the traveller and weighs heavily on his heart. A shriek of anguish-the crash of a falling tree-the cry of some monkey that has fallen into the clutches of a serpent-the horrible din of the "howlers" (a kind of ape) at sunrise and sunset,—these are almost the

only sounds that break the dismal silence. Were a house of stone-the stones fastened by iron clamps-to be built in this region of overpowering vegetable force, the stones would be torn from each other by the growth of plants within six months, and the house would be overgrown, through and through, by thousands of plants and creepers

4. The Plains.-South America is the Continent of Great Plains. As there are in the continent three great rivers, so there are three great plains or river-valleys. These three great plains are the Llanos, or Plain of the Orinoco; the Selvas, or Forest-Plain of the Amazon ; and the Pampas, or Plain of the La Plata. But these three plains are, indeed, but one mighty plain, which extends from the extreme north to the farthest south of

the continent-from the mouth of the Orinoco to the Straits of Magellan. They are one plain; for, between the Orinoco and the Rio Negro there is a water connection by means of the Cassiquiare; and, between the headwaters of the Madeira, the largest tributary of the Amazon, and those of a tributary of the Paraguay, there is a portage, over quite low land, of only a few miles. Thus the interior of South America is one vast and fertile plain, traversed by the richest and most highly developed system of rivers in the whole world.

5. The Llanos.-The Llanos of the Orinoco are a set of vast plains with an area about twice as large as that of the British Isles. So level is a large part of them, that, in some districts, in areas of about 500 square miles, no part can be found that is even a single foot higher than the rest. They are inundated at one time, and burnt up at another. During the dry season, they are a desert; in the rainy season, they are covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. The view upon these llanos is like the view upon mid-ocean nothing but sky and grass, grass and sky. A boundless expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the trimmest lawn, troops of horses and countless herds of cattle, clumps of towering palms, the delicate feathery foliage of the mimosa, beautiful tints of green and blue and purple in wondrous blending-such is the scene that spreads itself before the eye of the delighted traveller. In the dry season, the plain is a dreary expanse of hard and barren soil; the alligator and the water-boa lie plunged in the mud in a deep summer sleep; until, when the rain has come, "the dull tawny surface of the parched savannah changes as if by magic into a carpet of the liveliest green, enamelled with thousands of flowers of every colour. The moist clay, slowly heaving, bursts asunder, and from the

tomb in which he lay imbedded arises a gigantic watersnake or a huge crocodile. The newly formed pools and lakes swarm with life; and a host of water-fowl-ibises, cranes, and flamingoes-make their appearance to regale themselves on the prodigal banquet."

6. The Pampas.-The Pampas in the Argentine Republic are grassy treeless plains which stretch for several hundred miles west of the Parana. In some directions they are nearly 1000 miles long. For nearly two hundred miles west of Buenos Ayres, they are covered, at certain seasons of the year, with a forest of tall thistles; while, further west, for about 400 miles more, they form "a seemingly interminable ocean of grass and flowers." These plains are filled with a dread and solemn stillness- -a stillness as of the ocean when not a breath of wind is blowing; and this solemn silence is broken only, now and then, by the cry of a bird or the low roar of the jaguar. Nearer to the Andes, the ground rises; and the traveller meets with belts of shingle, and barren sandy plains, with here and there a few prickly shrubs and dwarf trees.

7. The Lakes of South America.-Compared with North America, the Southern twin-continent is singularly destitute of lakes. Whereas, of all the continents in the world, North America possesses the largest, and the largest number of lakes, South America has very few; and even the largest is not for a moment to be compared in size with Lake Superior. The largest lake in South America is Lake Titicaca. It stands on the table-land of Bolivia, at a height of 12,500 feet above the level of the sea. It is studded with many islands; and on these islands grew up-at an elevation of more than two miles-the rich civilisations of the old Peruvian peoples. The lake is nearly as large as Lake Ontario, and about fourteen times