第五十六課 亞馬遜河
Starting from Lima, the capital of Peru, and crossing the Andes in a north-easterly direction for one hundred and twenty miles, the traveller reaches the famous silver mines of Pasco, the most elevated city in the world. Close beside it, in the very heart of the Cordilleras, there is a little lake, nearly 14,000 feet above the sea-level, and just below the limit of perpetual snow. To this little lake belongs the honour of giving birth to the mighty Amazon, the king of rivers.
從秘魯首都利馬出發,往東北方向穿過安第斯山脈120英里,就能到達世界上最高的城市帕斯科和其著名的銀礦。在科迪勒拉山脈中心地區，緊靠著帕斯科的地方有一個海拔大約14000英尺的小湖，這個湖就在積雪線的邊緣。這個小湖是河中之王強大的亞馬遜河的河源，何其榮耀。
At first a comparatively small stream, it flows in a series of cataracts and rapids, through rocky valleys, northwards, till it reaches the frontier of Ecuador, at a distance of eight hundred miles from its source. From this point the eye of the traveller may range, in imagination, over a vast valley clothed with impenetrable forests, stretching eastwards to the far distant Atlantic. Behind him, on the west, tower the lofty peaks of the Cordilleras; on his left, in a northerly direction, appear the highlands of Venezuela and Guiana; while to the south rise the sierras and table-lands of Brazil. In the valley before him more than half of Europe might be contained; and the tributaries alone of the mighty stream which drains it, exceed in bulk of water all the European rivers put together. The length of the main river, with its windings, is not less than four thousand miles.
源頭的水流相對來說較小，但是水流湍急。水流一路向北，穿過滿是巖石的山谷，直到厄瓜多爾的邊境，這時離水源地已經有八百英里了。想象一下，從這個地方向周圍望去，看到的是無邊無際的森林，一直往東延伸到遠處的大西洋。在后面，也就是西面，是科迪勒拉山脈高聳的山峰；在左邊，即北邊，能看到委內瑞拉和圭亞那高原；而放眼南望，則能看到隆起的塞拉山和巴西平原。前面的這片山谷要比半個歐洲都大；而從河流單獨分出來的一條支流的水流量就比歐洲所有河流的水流量加起來都要大。彎彎曲曲的主河道不會短于四千英里。
The valley of the Amazon is divided into an upper and a lower basin by the Rio Negro. The region of the Upper Amazon, as the great river is called above that boundary line, is a magnificent wilderness, where civilized man as yet has scarcely obtained a footing. Though the atmosphere, from the absence of regular winds, is stagnant and sultry, the climate is wonderfully healthy; and the rich alluvial soil produces vegetation even more luxuriant than on the lower river. The Upper Amazon is navigable at all seasons by large steamers for upwards of fourteen hundred miles above the Rio Negro; but during the rainy season the navigation is dangerous, as the tearing current, one or two miles in width, bears along a continuous line of up rooted trees, and often undermines the banks, which fall into the river with a terrific crash.
亞馬遜河谷被尼格羅河分為上下游兩個盆地。亞馬遜的上游，也就是從那條分界線開始往上就是我們所稱的亞馬遜河，那是一大片荒地，至今仍鮮有文明人涉足這個區域。雖然由于沒有風經常吹拂，那里的空氣很渾濁也很悶熱，但是那里的氣候健康的讓人無法相信；肥沃的沖積土上生長的植被甚至比下游還繁茂。亞馬遜上游一年四季都適合大船航行，航行位置在尼格羅河上游大約1400英里的地方；但是遇上雨季，航行就會變得很危險，因為湍急的水流往往能有一兩英里寬，能把樹木連根拔起，同時，被大水淹沒的河岸也會遭到嚴重破壞。
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