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378
LIFE.
in one net-work the boughs of the entire forest. This is a wonderful picture, which ought to be contemplated in free wild nature, either on the
shores of some lagune, where the enormous leaves and delicate rosy flowers of the Victoria regia display themselves, or else on the surface of a
tortuous stream, all festooned with garlands of interlacing plants, which
float beside the canoe of the travelers. In no country in the world are
strength and beauty, grandeur, with at the same time great beauty of detail, combined in so happy a manner; it is the triumph of living nature.
The forest is at the same time grand and joyous, and has nothing of the
melancholy of the woods of the temperate zone.*
If all the plants of the world are not found in the vast selvas of the
Amazons, at least all the genera, even those which are completely missing, still have their representatives. Thus the family of JRosacem, which
gives us the charming eglantine of our hedges and the beautiful garden
roses, the greater number of our fruit-trees, the pear and the apple, the
peach, cherry, medlar, almond, and many others, hardly exists under the
tropics; but these plants are replaced by another great family, that of the
myrtles, which produces the guava, the pitanga, and a great many savory
fruits whose names are scarcely, if at all, known beyond the tropical regions. Thus each zone has its special family of fruit-trees. In the same
way the humble cereals of the north, the grains of which serve as the chief
food for man, have equivalents in the neighborhood of the equator in the
great family of the palms, of which so great a number of species live on
the banks of the Amazon and its affluents. Each of these rivers has its
characteristic species of palm-tree, giving a new aspect to its forests and
the villages on its banks. Even on the principal river the varieties succeed each other several times, from the embouchure to the confluence of
the Solimoes with the Rio Negro, and higher up as far as the mountains
of Peru.f The species of this tree, which support the natives with their
fruit, and furnish them at the same time with refreshing water, with tissue, and with building materials, are still more numerous than the cereals
of the northern countries. And yet the Amazonian regions are scarcely
known even now, save in the immediate neighborhood of the river-banks,
and'each new exploration of botanists there will reveal the existence of
new vegetable treasures.
* Agassiz, Conversacoes Scientifi,cas sobre o Amazonas. t Id., Ibid.
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000421 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 378 LIFE. in one net-work the boughs of the entire forest. This is a wonderful picture, which ought to be contemplated in free wild nature, either on the shores of some lagune, where the enormous leaves and delicate rosy flowers of the Victoria regia display themselves, or else on the surface of a tortuous stream, all festooned with garlands of interlacing plants, which float beside the canoe of the travelers. In no country in the world are strength and beauty, grandeur, with at the same time great beauty of detail, combined in so happy a manner; it is the triumph of living nature. The forest is at the same time grand and joyous, and has nothing of the melancholy of the woods of the temperate zone.* If all the plants of the world are not found in the vast selvas of the Amazons, at least all the genera, even those which are completely missing, still have their representatives. Thus the family of JRosacem, which gives us the charming eglantine of our hedges and the beautiful garden roses, the greater number of our fruit-trees, the pear and the apple, the peach, cherry, medlar, almond, and many others, hardly exists under the tropics; but these plants are replaced by another great family, that of the myrtles, which produces the guava, the pitanga, and a great many savory fruits whose names are scarcely, if at all, known beyond the tropical regions. Thus each zone has its special family of fruit-trees. In the same way the humble cereals of the north, the grains of which serve as the chief food for man, have equivalents in the neighborhood of the equator in the great family of the palms, of which so great a number of species live on the banks of the Amazon and its affluents. Each of these rivers has its characteristic species of palm-tree, giving a new aspect to its forests and the villages on its banks. Even on the principal river the varieties succeed each other several times, from the embouchure to the confluence of the Solimoes with the Rio Negro, and higher up as far as the mountains of Peru.f The species of this tree, which support the natives with their fruit, and furnish them at the same time with refreshing water, with tissue, and with building materials, are still more numerous than the cereals of the northern countries. And yet the Amazonian regions are scarcely known even now, save in the immediate neighborhood of the river-banks, and'each new exploration of botanists there will reveal the existence of new vegetable treasures. * Agassiz, Conversacoes Scientifi,cas sobre o Amazonas. t Id., Ibid. |
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