第五十六课 亚马逊河
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.
从秘鲁首都利马出发,往东北方向穿过安第斯山脉120英里,就能到达世界上最高的城市帕斯科和其著名的银矿。在科迪勒拉山脉中心地区，紧靠着帕斯科的地方有一个海拔大约14000英尺的小湖，这个湖就在积雪线的边缘。这个小湖是河中之王强大的亚马逊河的河源，何其荣耀。
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.
源头的水流相对来说较小，但是水流湍急。水流一路向北，穿过满是岩石的山谷，直到厄瓜多尔的边境，这时离水源地已经有八百英里了。想象一下，从这个地方向周围望去，看到的是无边无际的森林，一直往东延伸到远处的大西洋。在后面，也就是西面，是科迪勒拉山脉高耸的山峰；在左边，即北边，能看到委内瑞拉和圭亚那高原；而放眼南望，则能看到隆起的塞拉山和巴西平原。前面的这片山谷要比半个欧洲都大；而从河流单独分出来的一条支流的水流量就比欧洲所有河流的水流量加起来都要大。弯弯曲曲的主河道不会短于四千英里。
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.
亚马逊河谷被尼格罗河分为上下游两个盆地。亚马逊的上游，也就是从那条分界线开始往上就是我们所称的亚马逊河，那是一大片荒地，至今仍鲜有文明人涉足这个区域。虽然由于没有风经常吹拂，那里的空气很浑浊也很闷热，但是那里的气候健康的让人无法相信；肥沃的冲积土上生长的植被甚至比下游还繁茂。亚马逊上游一年四季都适合大船航行，航行位置在尼格罗河上游大约1400英里的地方；但是遇上雨季，航行就会变得很危险，因为湍急的水流往往能有一两英里宽，能把树木连根拔起，同时，被大水淹没的河岸也会遭到严重破坏。
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