Manchurian Books

At its departure from Lake Lauricocha the youthful river starts
toward the northeast for a distance of five hundred and sixty miles,
and does not strike to the west until it has received an important
tributary--the Panta. It is called the Mara?on in its journey through
Colombia and Peru up to the Brazilian frontier--or, rather, the
Maranhao, for Mara?on is only the French rendering of the Portuguese
name.
From the frontier of Brazil to Manaos, where the superb Rio Negro
joins it, it takes the name of the Solima?s, or Solimoens, from the
name of the Indian tribe Solimao, of which survivors are still found
in the neighboring provinces. And, finally, from Manaos to the sea it
is the Amasenas, or river of the Amazons, a name given it by the old
Spaniards, the descendants of the adventurous Orellana, whose vague
but enthusiastic stories went to show that there existed a tribe of
female warriors on the Rio Nhamunda, one of the middle-sized
affluents of the great river.
From its commencement the Amazon is recognizable as destined to
become a magnificent stream.


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