The Amazon has its cradle high up among the peaks of the Andes, where the condor, the vulture of America, builds its nest. So vast is the basin of that great river, that all Western Europe could be placed in it without touching its boundaries! It is entirely situated in the Tropics, on both sides of the Equator, and receives over its whole extent the most abundant rains.

亚马逊河的发源地在安第斯山脉的最高处，美洲秃鹫秃鹰也在那里筑巢。其流域十分广阔，可以覆盖整个西欧并仍留有富余。此外，整条亚马逊河都处在热带地区，赤道两侧，凡其流经处降雨量无不丰富。

The swelling of the river, after the rainy season, is gigantic as itself. In some parts the water rises above forty feet; and travellers have even seen trees whose trunks bore marks of the previous inundation fifty feet above the height of the stream during the dry season. Then for miles and miles the swelling giant inundates his low banks, and, majestic at all times, becomes terrible in his grandeur when rolling his angry torrents through the wilderness. The largest forest-trees tremble under the pressure of the waters. Huge trunks, uprooted and carried away by the stream, bear witness to its power. Fishes and alligators now swim where a short while ago the jaguar lay in wait for its prey; and only a few birds, perching on the highest tree-tops, remain to witness the tumult which disturbs the silence of the woods.

雨季过后水平面涨到往常高度，部分地区高出40英尺，旱季时旅行者们甚至能看到上次涨水时树干上残留的水流痕迹高出50英尺。之后这位不断膨胀的巨人会一英里一英里地淹没它低矮的河岸，他那愤怒的激流在荒野中翻滚，他那一向庄严的气势变得可怕至极，他用水压的冲击令森林里最最高大的的树木颤抖不堪，用水流将巨大的树干连根拔起并冲到远处，所有这些无不展现其力量之大，鱼儿们和短吻鳄也会在此时游到不久前美洲虎埋伏等待猎物的地方，只有几只立在树梢高处的鸟儿们留下来观看这扰乱了森林寂静的喧闹。

When at length the river retires within its usual limits, new islands have been formed in its bed, while others have been swept away; and in many places the banks, undermined by the floods, threaten to crush the passing boat by their fall, —a misfortune which not seldom happens, particularly when, along with the loosened banks, high trees fall headlong into the river.

当洪水最终消退至正常高度，当岛屿们被无情地冲刷殆尽，新的岛屿从河床中显现。在有些地区，被洪水破坏的河岸会威胁甚至压垮过往船只，这种不幸时常发生，尤其当松垮的河岸上有高大的树木向前栽进河里。

The magical beauty of tropical vegetation reveals itself in all its glory to the traveller who steers his boat through the solitary mazes of the Amazon. Here the forest forms a canopy over his head; there it opens, allowing the sunshine to disclose the secrets of the wilderness; while on either side the eye penetrates through beautiful vistas into the depths of the woods.

热带地区的植被奇观在驾船穿越亚马逊迷宫的旅行者面前放肆地摆首弄姿。头顶是森林之木铺就的高大苍穹，苍穹缝隙处掠进的些缕阳光似乎正探头窥视荒野的秘密，而另一处旅行者们的视线早已穿透撩人的远景、探入森林深处。