第126章

it is rounder in outline, more uniform in its general aspect--palms are much less numerous and of peculiar species--the strange bulging-stemmed species, Iriartea ventricosa, and the slender, glossy-leaved Bacaba-i (Oenocarpus minor), being especially characteristic; and, in short, animal life, which imparts some cheerfulness to the other parts of the river, is seldom apparent.

This "terra firme," as it is called, and a large portion of the fertile lower land, seemed well adapted for settlement; some parts were originally peopled by the aborigines, but these have long since become extinct or amalgamated with the white immigrants.I afterwards learned that there were not more than eighteen or twenty families settled throughout the whole country from Manacapuru to Quary, a distance of 240 miles; and these, as before observed, do not live on the banks of the main stream, but on the shores of inlets and lakes.

The fishermen twice brought me small rounded pieces of very porous pumice-stone, which they had picked up floating on the surface of the main current of the river.They were to me objects of great curiosity as being messengers from the distant volcanoes of the Andes-- Cotopaxi, Llanganete, or Sangay-- which rear their peaks amongst the rivulets that feed some of the early tributaries of the Amazons, such as the Macas, the Pastaza, and the Napo.The stones must have already travelled a distance of 1200 miles.I afterwards found them rather common; the Brazilians use them for cleaning rust from their guns, and firmly believe them to be solidified river foam.A friend once brought me, when I lived at Santarem, a large piece which had been found in the middle of the stream below Monte Alegre, about 900 miles further down the river; having reached this distance, pumice-stones would be pretty sure of being carried out to sea, and floated thence with the northwesterly Atlantic current to shores many thousand miles distant from the volcanoes which ejected them.They are sometimes stranded on the banks in different parts of the river.

Reflecting on this circumstance since I arrived in England, the probability of these porous fragments serving as vehicles for the transportation of seeds of plants, eggs of insects, spawn of fresh-water fish, and so forth, has suggested itself to me.Their rounded, water-worn appearance showed that they must have been rolled about for a long time in the shallow streams near the sources of the rivers at the feet of the volcanoes, before they leapt the waterfalls and embarked on the currents which lead direct for the Amazons.They may have been originally cast on the land and afterwards carried to the rivers by freshets; in which case the eggs and seeds of land insects and plants might be accidentally introduced and safely enclosed with particles of earth in their cavities.As the speed of the current in the rainy season has been observed to be from three to five miles an hour, they might travel an immense distance before the eggs or seeds were destroyed.I am ashamed to say that I neglected the opportunity, while on the spot, of ascertaining whether this was actually the case.The attention of Naturalists has only lately been turned to the important subject of occasional means of wide dissemination of species of animals and plants.Unless such be shown to exist, it is impossible to solve some of the most difficult problems connected with the distribution of plants and animals.Some species, with most limited powers of locomotion, are found in opposite parts of the earth, without existing in the intermediate regions; unless it can be shown that these may have migrated or been accidentally transported from one point to the other, we shall have to come to the strange conclusion that the same species had been created in two separate districts.

Canoemen on the Upper Amazons live in constant dread of the "terras cahidas," or landslips, which occasionally take place along the steep earthy banks, especially when the waters are rising.Large vessels are sometimes overwhelmed by these avalanches of earth and trees.I should have thought the accounts of them exaggerated if I had not had an opportunity during this voyage of seeing one on a large scale.One morning I was awakened before sunrise by an unusual sound resembling the roar of artillery.I was lying alone on the top of the cabin; it was very dark, and all my companions were asleep, so I lay listening.The sounds came from a considerable distance, and the crash which had aroused me was succeeded by others much less formidable.The first explanation which occurred to me was that it was an earthquake; for, although the night was breathlessly calm, the broad river was much agitated and the vessel rolled heavily.Soon after, another loud explosion took place, apparently much nearer than the former one; then followed others.The thundering peal rolled backwards and forwards, now seeming close at hand, now far off--the sudden crashes being often succeeded by a pause or a long,continued dull rumbling.At the second explosion, Vicente, who lay snoring by the helm, awoke and told me it was a "terra cahida"; but I could scarcely believe him.The day dawned after the uproar had lasted about an hour, and we then saw the work of destruction going forward on the other side of the river, about three miles off.Large masses of forest, including trees of colossal size, probably 200 feet in height, were rocking to and fro, and falling headlong one after the other into the water.