William of Tyre is our original authority: see xix. 2-3 for his sketch of Amalric. Rohricht narrates the reign of Amalric I., Geschichte des Konigreichs Jerusalem, c. xvii.-xviii.
Amalric II., king from 1197 to 1205, was the brother of Guy of Lusignan. He had been constable of Jerusalem, but in 1194, on the death of his brother, he became king of Cyprus, as Amalric I. He married Isabella, the daughter of Amalric I. by his second marriage, and became king of Jerusalem in right of his wife in 1197. In 1198 he was able to procure a five years' truce with the Mahommedans, owing to the struggle between Saladin's brothers and his sons for the inheritance of his territories. The truce was disturbed by raids on both sides, but in 1204 it was renewed for six years. Amalric died in 1205, just after his son and just before his wife. The kingdom of Cyprus passed to Hugh, his son by an earlier marriage, while that of Jerusalem passed to Maria, the daughter of Isabella by her previous marriage with Conrad of Montferrat. (E. B. R.)
AMALRIC (Fr. AMAURY) OF BENA (d.c. 1204-1207), French theologian, was born in the latter part of the 12th century at Bena, a village in the diocese of Chartres. He taught philosophy and theology at the university of Paris and enjoyed a great reputation as a subtle dialectician; his lectures developing the philosophy of Aristotle attracted a large circle of hearers. In 1204 his doctrines were condemned by the university, and, on a personal appeal to Pope Innocent III., the sentence was ratified, Amalric being ordered to return to Paris and recant his errors. His death was caused, it is said, by grief at the humiliation to which he had been subjected. In 1209 ten of his followers were burnt before the gates of Paris, and Amalric's own body was exhumed and burnt and the ashes given to the winds. The doctrines of his followers, known as the Amalricians, were formally condemned by the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Amalric appears to have derived his philosophical system from Erigena (q.v.), whose principles he developed in a one-sided and strongly pantheistic form. Three propositions only can with certainty be attributed to him: (1) that God is all; (2) that every Christian is bound to believe that he is a member of the body of Christ, and that this belief is necessary for salvation: (3) that he who remains in love of God can commit no sin. These three propositions were further developed by his followers, who maintained that God revealed Himself in a threefold revelation, the first in Abraham, marking the epoch of the Father; the second in Christ, who began the epoch of the Son; and the third in Amalric and his disciples, who inaugurated the era of the Holy Ghost. Under the pretext that a true believer could commit no sin, the Amalricians indulged in every excess, and the sect does not appear to have long survived the death of its founder.
See W. Preger, Gleschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1874, i. 167-173); Haureau, Hist. de la phil. scol. (Paris, 1872); C. Schmidt, Hist. de l'Eglise d'Occident itendant le moyen age (Paris, 1885); Hefele, Conciliengesch. (2nd ed., Ereiburg, 1886).
AMALTEO, the name of an Italian family belonging to Oderzo, Treviso, several members of which were distinguished in literature. The best known are three brothers, Geronimo (1507-1574), Giambattista (1525-1573) and Cornelio (1530-1603), whose Latin poems were published in one collection under the title Trium Fralrum Amaltheorum Carmina (Venice, 1627; Amst., 1689). The eldest brother, Geronimo, was a celebrated physician; the second, Giambattista, accompanied a Venetian embassy to England in 1554, and was secretary to Pius IV. at the council of Trent; the third, Cornelio, was a physician and secretary to the republic of Ragusa.
AMALTEO, POMPONIO (1505-1584), Italian painter of the Venetian school, was born at San Vito in Friuli. He was a pupil and son-in-law of Pordenone, whose style he closely imitated. His works consist chiefly of frescoes and altar-pieces and many of them (e.g. in the church of Santa Maria de' Battisti, at San Vito) have suffered greatly from the ravages of time.
AMALTHEIA, in Greek mythology, the foster-mother of Zeus. She is sometimes represented as the goat which suckled the infant-god in a cave in Crete, sometimes as a nymph of uncertain parentage (daughter of Oceanus, Haemonius, Olen, Melisseus), who brought him up on the milk of a goat. This goat having broken off one of its horns, Amaltheia filled it with flowers and fruits and presented it to Zeus, who placed it together with the goat amongst the stars. According to another story, Zeus himself broke off the horn and gave it to Amaltheia, promising that it would supply whatever she desired in abundance. Amaltheia gave it to Acholous (her reputed brother), who exchanged it for his own horn which had been broken off in his contest with Heracles for the possession of Deianeira. According to ancient mythology, the owners of the horn were many and various. Speaking generally, it was regarded as the symbol of inexhaustible riches and plenty, and became the attribute of various divinities (Hades, Gaea, Demeter, Cybele, Hermes), and of rivers (the Nile) as fertilizers of the land. The term ``horn of Amaltheia'' is applied to a fertile district, and an estate belonging to Titus Pomponius Atticus was called Amaltheum. Cretan coins represent the infant Zeus being suckled by the goat; other Greek coins exhibit him suspended from its teats or carried in the arms of a nymph (Ovid, Fasti, v. 115; Metam. ix. 87).
AMANA, a township in Iowa county, Iowa, U.S.A., 19 m. S.W. (by rail) of Cedar Rapids. Pop. (1900) 1748; (1910) 1729. It is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railways. The township is the home of a German religious communistic society, the Amana Society, formerly the True Inspiration Society (so called from its belief in the present inspiration of the truly godly and perfectly pious), whose members live in various villages near the Iowa river. These villages are named Amana, West Amana, South Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana and Homestead. The houses are of brick or unpainted wood. The society has in all 26,000 acres of land, of which about 10,000 acres are covered with forests. The principal occupation of the members is farming, although they also have woollen mills (their woollens being of superior quality), a cotton print factory, flour mills, saw mills and dye shops. Each family has its own dwelling-place and a small garden; each member of a family has an annual allowance of credit at the common store and a room in the dwelling-house; and each group of families has a large garden, a common kitchen and a common dining hall where men and women eat at separate tables. Between the ages of five and fourteen education is compulsory for the entire year. In the schools nature study and manual training are prominent; German is used throughout and English is taught in upper classes only. No man is permitted to marry until twenty-four years of age, and no woman until twenty. The society's views and practices are nearly related to the teachings of Schwenkfeld and Boehme. Baptism is not practised; the Lord's Supper is celebrated only once in two years; foot-washing is held as a sacrament. At an annual spiritual examination of the members, there are mutual criticisms and public confessions of sin. The Inspirationists are opposed to war and to taking of oaths. The Society became attached to the Separatist leader, Eberhard Ludwig Gruber (d. 1728) in Wetterau in 1714; in 1842-1844 about 600 members, led by Christian Metz, the ``divine instrument'' of the Society, emigrated from Germany to the United States and settled in a colony called Ebenezer, in Erie county, near Buffalo, N.Y.; in 1855 the colony began to remove to its present home, which it named from the mountain mentioned in the Song of Solomon, iv. 8, the Hebrew word meaning ``remain true'' (or, more probably, ``fixed''), and in 1859 it was incorporated under the, name of the Amana Society. Metz died in 1864 and was succeeded by Barbara Landmann, since whose death in 1884 the community has lacked an inspired leader. Amana was the strongest in numbers of the few sectarian communities in America which outlived the 19th century. A few new members have joined the community from Switzerland and Germany in recent years. In 1905 the community won a suit brought against it for its dissolution on the ground that, having been incorporated solely as a benevolent and religious body, it was illegally carrying on a general business.
See W. R. Perkins and B. L. Wick, History of the Amana Society or Community of True Inspiration, Historical Monograph, No. 1, in State University of Iowa publications (Iowa City, 1891); R. T. Ely, ``Amana: A Study of Religious Communism,'' in Harper's Magazine for October 1902; and Bertha M. H. Shambaugh, Amana, the Community of True Inspiration (Iowa City, 1908).
AMANITA. The amanitas include some of the most showy representatives of the Agaricineae or mushroom order of fungi (q.v.). In the first stages of growth, they are completely enveloped by an outer covering called the veil. As the plant develops the veil is ruptured; the lower portion forms a sheath or volva round the base of the stem, while the upper portion persists as white patches or scales or warts on the surface of the cap. The stem usually bears an upper ring of tissue, the
Amanita muscaria. A, the young plant. g, the gills. B, the mature plant. a, the annulus, or remnant of C, longitudinal section of mature velum partiale. plant. v, remains of volva or velum p, the pileus. universale. s, the stalk.
remains of an inner veil, that stretched from the stem to the edge of the cap and broke away from the cap as the latter expanded. The presence of the volva, and the clear white gills and spores, distinguish this genus from all other agarics. They are beautiful objects in the autumn woods; Amanita muscaria, the fly fungus, formerly known as Agaricus muscarius, being especially remarkable by its bright red cap covered with white warts. Others are pure white or of varying shades of yellow or green. There are sixteen British species of Amanita; they grow on the ground in or near woods. Several of the species are very poisonous.
AMANUENSIS (a Latin word, derived from the phrase servus a manu, slave of the hand, a secretary), one who writes, from dictation or otherwise, on behalf of another.
AMAPALA, the only port on the Pacific coast of Honduras, on the northern shore of Tigre island, in the Bay of Fonseca (q.v.); in 13 deg. 3, N., and 87 deg. 94 W. Pop. (1905) about 4000. Amapala was founded in 1838, and its port was opened and declared free in 1868. The roadstead is perfectly sheltered and so deep that the largest vessels can lie within a few yards of the shore. It is the natural outlet for the commerce of some of the richest parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Salvador; and during the 19th century it exported large quantities of gold, silver and other ores, although its progress was retarded by the delay in constructing a transcontinental railway from Puerto Cortes. Its depots on the mainland, both about 30 m. distant,
are La Brea, for the line to Puerto Cortes, and San Lorenzo, for Tegucigalpa. Silver is still exported, in addition to hides, timber, coffee and indigo, and there are valuable fisheries.
AMARANTH, or AMARANG (from the Gr. amarantos, unwithering), a name chiefly used in poetry, and applied to certain plants which, from not soon fading, typified immortality. Thus Milton (Paradise Lost, iii. 353) —
``Immortal amarant, a flower which onceIn paradise, fast by the tree of life,Began to bloom; but soon for man's offenceTo heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,And where the river of bliss through midst of heavenRolls o'er elysian flowers her amber stream:With these that never fade the spirits electBind their resplendent locks.''It should be noted that the proper spelling of the word is amarant;the more common spelling seems to have come from a hazy notionthat the final syllable is the Greek word anthos, ``flower,''which enters into a vast number of botanical names.
The plant genus Amarantus (natural order Amarantaceae) contains several well-known garden plants, such as love-lies- bleeding (A. caudatus), a native of India, a vigorous hardy annual, with dark purplish flowers crowded in handsome drooping spikes. Another species A. hypochondriacus, is prince's feather, another Indian annual, with deeply-veined lance-shaped leaves, purple on the under face, and deep crimson flowers densely packed on erect spikes. ``Globe amaranth'' belongs to an allied genus, Gomphrena, and is also a native of India. It is an annual about 18 in. high, with solitary round heads of flowers; the heads are violet from the colour of the bracts which surround the small flowers.
In ancient Greece the amaranth (also called chrusanthemon and elichrusos) was sacred to Ephesian Artemis. It was supposed to have special healing properties, and as a symbol of immortality was used to decorate images of the gods and tombs. In legend, Amarynthus (a form of Amarantus) was a hunter of Artemis and king of Euboea; in a village of Amarynthus, of which he was the eponymous hero, there was a famous temple of Artemis Amarynthia or Amarysia (Strabo x. 448; Pausan. i. 31, p. 5).
See Lenz, Botanik der alt. Greich. und Rom. (1859); J.Murr, Die Pflanzenwelt in der griech. Mythol. (1890).
AMARAPURA (``the city of the gods''), formerly the capital of the Burmese kingdom, now a suburb of Mandalay, Burma, with a population in 1901 of 9103. The town was founded in 1783 to form a new capital about 6 m. to the north-east of Ava. It increased rapidly in size and population, and in 1810 was estimated to contain 170,000 inhabitants; but in that year the town was destroyed by fire, and this disaster, together with the removal of the native court to Ava in 1823, caused a decline in the prosperity of the place. In 1827 its population was estimated at only 30,000. It suffered severe calamity from an earthquake, which in 1839 destroyed the greater part of the city. It was finally abandoned in 1860, when king Mindon occupied Mandalay, 5 or 6 m. farther north. Amarapura was laid out on much the same plan as Ava. The ruins of the city wall, now overgrown with jungle, show it to have been a square with a side of about three-quarters of a mile in length. At each corner stood a solid brick pagoda about 100 ft. high. The most remarkable edifice was a celebrated temple, adorned with 250 lofty pillars of gilt wood, and containing a colossal bronze statue of Buddha. The remains of the former palace of the Burmese monarchs still survive in the centre of the town. During the time of its prosperity Amarapura was defended by a rampart and a large square citadel, with a broad moat, the walls being 7000 ft. long and 20 ft. high, with a bastion at each corner. The Burmans know it now as Myohaung, ``the old city.'' It has a station on the Rangoon-Mandalay railway, and is the junction for the line to Maymyo and the Kunlong ferry and for the Sagaing-Myitkyina railway. The group of villages called Amarapura by Europeans is known to the Burmans as Taung-myo, ``the southern city,'' as distinguished from Mandalay, the Myauk-myo, or ``northern city,'' 3 m. distant.
AMARAR, a tribe of African ``Arabs'' inhabiting the mountainous country on the west side of the Red Sea from Suakin northwards towards Kosseir. Between them and the Nile are the Ababda and Bisharin tribes and to their south dwell the Hadendoa. The country of the Amarar is called the Etbai. Their headquarters are in the Ariab district. The tribe is divided into four great famines: (1) Weled Gwilei, (2) Weled Aliab, (3) Woled Kurbab Wagadab, and (4) the Amarar proper of the Ariab district. They claim to be of Koreish blood and to be the descendants of an invading Arab army. Possibly some small bands of Koreish Arabs may have made an inroad and converted some of the Amarar to Islam. Further than this there is little to substantiate their claim.
See Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by Count Gleichen (London, 1905): Sir F. R. Wingate, Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1891); A. H. Keane, Ethnology of Egyptian Sudan (London, 1884).
AMARA SINHA (c. A.D. 375), Sanskrit grammarian and poet, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been ``one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya,'' and according to the evidence of Hsuan Tsang, this is the Chandragupta Vikramaditya that flourished about A.D. 375. Amara seems to have been a Buddhist; and an early tradition asserts that his works, with one exception, were destroyed during the persecution carried on by the orthodox Brahmins in the 5th century. The exception is the celebrated Amara-Xosha (Treasury of Amara), a vocabulary of Sanskrit roots, in three books, and hence sometimes called Trikanda or the ``Tripartite.'' It contains 10,000 words, and is arranged, like other works of its class, in metre, to aid the memory. The first chapter of the Kosha was printed at Rome in Tamil character in 1798. An edition of the entire work, with English notes and an index by H. T. Colebrooke, appeared at Serampore in 1808. The Sanskrit text was printed at Calcutta in 1831. A French translation by A. L. A. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps as published at Paris in 1839.
AMARI, MICHELE (1806-1889), Italian orientalist and patriot, was born at Palermo. From his earliest youth he imbibed liberal principles from his relatives, especially from his grandfather, and although at the age of fourteen he was appointed clerk in the Bourbon civil service, he joined the Carbonari like many other young Sicilians and actively sympathized with the revolution of 1820. The movement, which was separatist in its tendencies, was quickly suppressed, but the conspiracies continued, and Amari's father, implicated in that of 1822, was arrested and condemned to death together with many others; but his sentence was commuted to imprisonment, and in 1834 he was liberated. Michele Amari still held his clerkship, but he regarded the Neapolitan government with increasing hatred, and he led a life of active physical exercise to train himself for the day of revolution. He devoted much of his time to the study of English and of history; his first literary essay was a translation of Sir Walter Scott's Marmion (1832), and in 1839 he published a work on the Sicilian Vespers, entitled Hn Periodo delle storie Siciliane del XIII. secolo, filled with political allusions reflecting unfavourably on the government. The book had an immediate success and went through many editions, but it brought the author under the suspicion of the authorities, and in 1842 he escaped from a boat just as he was about to be arrested. He settled in Paris, where he came in contact with a number of literary men, such as Michelet and Thierry, as well as with the Italian exiles. Having no private means he had to earn a precarious livelihood by literature. He was much struck with certain French translations of Arabic works on Sicily,which awoke in him a desire to read the authors in the original. With the assistance of Prof. Reinaud and Baron de Slane he soon acquired great proficiency in Arabic, and his translations and editions of oriental texts, as well as his historical essays, made him a reputation. In 1844 he began his great work La Storia dei Musulmani in Sicilia, but the revolution of 1848 plunged him into politics once more. His pamphlet, Quelques Observations sur le droit public de la Sicile, advocating the revival of the 1812 constitution for the island, met with great success, and on arriving at Palermo,
whence the Bourbon government had been expelled, he was chosen member of the war committee and appointed professor of public law at the university. At the general elections Amari was returned for Palermo and became minister of finance in the Stabile cabinet. On its fall he was sent to Paris and London to try to obtain help for the struggling island; having failed in his mission he returned to Sicily in 1849, hoping to fight. But the Neapolitan troops had re-occupied the island, the Liberals were in disagreement among themselves, and Amari with several other notables with difficulty escaped to Malta. Characteristic of his scholarly nature is the fact that he delayed his flight to take the impress of an important Arabic inscription. He returned to Paris, sad and dejected at the collapse of the movement, and devoted himself once more to his Arabic studies. He published a work on the chronology of the Koran, for which he received a prize from the Academie des Inscriptions, edited the Solwan el Mota by Ibn Zafer (a curious collection of philosophical thoughts) and Ibn Haukal's Description og Palermo, and in 1854 the first volume of his history of the Mahommedans in Sicily appeared. He received a meagre stipend for cataloguing the Arabic MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and he contributed many articles to the reviews. Although a firm friend of Mazzini, he discouraged the latter's premature conspiracies. In 1859, after the expulsion of the central Italian despots, Amari was appointed professor of Arabic at Pisa and afterwards at Florence. But when Garibaldi and his thousand had conquered Sicily, Amari returned to his native island, and was given an appointment in the government. Although intensely Sicilian in sentiment, he became one of the staunchest advocates of the union of Sicily with Italy, and was subsequently made senator of the kingdom at Cavour's instance. He was minister of education in the Farini and Minghetti cabinets, but on the fall of the latter in 1864, he resumed his professorship at Florence and spent the rest of his life in study. His circle of acquaintances, both in Italy and abroad, was very large, and his sound scholarship was appreciated in all countries. He died in 1889, loaded with honours. The last volume of his Storia dei Musulmani appeared in 1873, and in addition to the above-mentioned works he published many others on oriental and historical subjects. His work on the Sicilian Vespers was re-written as La Guerra dei Vespro (9th ed., Milan, 1886). He was the pioneer of Arabic studies in modern Italy, and he still remains the standard authority on the Mussulman domination in Sicily, though his judgment on religious questions is sometimes warped by a violently anti-clerical bias.
See A. D'Ancona, Carteggio di Michele Amari coll' elogio di lui (Turin, 1896); and Oreste Tommasini's essay in his Scritti di storial e critica (Rome, 189I). (L. V.n)
AMARYLLIS (the name of a girl in classical pastoral poetry), in botany, a genus of the natural order Amaryllidaceae, containing the belladonna lily (Amaryllis Belladonna), a native of South Africa, which was introduced into cultivation at the beginning of the 18th century. This is a half-hardy bulbous plant, producing in the spring a number of strap-shaped, dull green leaves, 1-1 1/2 ft. long, arranged in two rows, and in autumn a solid stem, bearing at the top a cluster of 6-12 funnel-shaped flowers, of a rose colour and very fragrant. Several forms are known in cultivation. Most of the so-called Amaryllis of gardens belong to the allied genus Hippeastrum (q.v.).
AMASIA (anc. Amasia), the chief town of a sanjak in the Sivas vilayet of Asia Minor and an important trade centre on the Samsun-Sivas road, beautifully situated on the Yeshil Irmak (Iris). Pop. 30,000; Moslems about 20,000, of whom a large proportion are Kizilbash (Shia); Christians (mostly Armenians), 10,000. It was one of the chief towns of the kingdom of Trebizond and of the Seljuks, one of whose sultans, Kaikobad I., enriched it with fine buildings and restored the castle, which was thus enabled to stand a seven months' siege by Timur. It was also much favoured by the early Osmanli sultans, one of whom, Sclim I., was born there. Bayezid II. built a fine mosque. The place was modernized about a generation ago by Zia Pasha, the poet, when governor, and is now an unusually well built Turkish town with good bazaar and khans and a fine clock-tower. The Americans and the Jesuits have missionary schools for the Armenian population. Amasia has extensive orchards and fruit gardens still, as in Ibn Batuta's time, irrigated by water wheels turned by the current of the river; and there are steam flourmills. Wheat, flour and silk are exported.
Ancient Amasia has left little trace of itself except on the castle rock, on the left of the river, where the acropolis walls and a number of splendid rock-cut tombs, described by Strabo as those of the kings of Pontus, can be seen. The cliff is cut away all round these immense sepulchres so that they stand free. The finest, known from its polished surfaces as the ``Mirror Tomb,'' is about 2 m. from the modern city. Amasia rose into historical importance after the time of Alexander as the cradle of the power of Pontus; but the last king to reign there was the father of Mithradates Eupator ``The Great.'' The latter, however, made it the base of his operations against the Romans in 89, 72 and 67 B.C. Pompey made it a free city in 65, after Mithradates' fall. It was the birthplace of Strabo. (D. G. H.)
AMASIS, or AMOSIS (the Greek forms of the Egyptian nameAhmase, Ahmosi, ``the moon is born,'' often written Aahmes orAhmes in modern works), the name of two kings of ancient Egypt.
AMASIS I., the founder of the XVIIIth dynasty, is famous for his successful wars against the Hyksos princes who still ruled in the north-east of the Delta (see EGYPT: History, sect. 1.)
AMASIS II. was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest, 570-526 B.C. Most of our information about him is derived from Herodotus (ii. 161 et seq.) and can only be imperfectly controlled by monumental evidence. According to the Greek historian he was of mean origin. A revolt of the native soldiers gave him his opportunity. These troops, returning home from a disastrous expedition to Cyrene, suspected that they had been betrayed in order that Apries, the reigning king, might rule more absolutely by means of his mercenaries, and their friends in Egypt fully sympathized with them. Amasis, sent to meet them and quell the revolt, was proclaimed king by the rebels, and Apries, who had now to rely entirely on his mercenaries, was defeated and taken prisoner in the ensuing conflict at Momemphis; the usurper treated the captive prince with great lenity, but was eventually persuaded to give him up to the people, by whom he was strangled and buried in his ancestral tomb at Sais. An inscription confirms the fact of the struggle between the native and the foreign soldiery, and proves that Apries was killed and honourably buried in the 3rd year of Amasis. Although Amasis thus appears first as champion of the disparaged native, he had the good sense to cultivate the friendship of the Greek world, and brought Egypt into closer touch with it than ever before. Herodotus relates that under his prudent administration Egypt reached the highest pitch of prosperity; he adorned the temples of Lower Egypt especially with splendid monolithic shrines and other monuments (his activity here is proved by remains still existing). To the Greeks Amasis assigned the commercial colony of Naucratis on the Canopic branch of the Nile, and when the temple of Delphi was burnt he contributed 1000 talents to the rebuilding. He also married a Greek princess named Ladice, the daughter of Battus, king of Cyrene, and he made alliances with Polycrates of Samos and Croesus of Lydia. His kingdom consisted probably of Egypt only, as far as the First Cataract, but to this he added Cyprus, and his influence was great in Cyrene. At the beginning of his long reign, before the death of Apries, he appears to have sustained an attack by Nebuchadrezzar (568 B.C.). Cyrus left Egypt unmolested; but the last years of Amasis were disturbed by the threatened invasion of Cambyses and by the rupture of the alliance with Polycrates of Samos. The blow fell upon his son Psammetichus III., whom the Persian deprived of his kingdom after a reign of only six months.
See NAUCRATIS: also W. M. Flinders Petrie, History, vol. iii.; Breasted, History and Historical Documents, vol. iv. p. 509; Maspero, Les Empires. (F. LL. G.)
AMATEUR (Lat. amator, lover), a person who takes part in any art, craft, game or sport for the sake of the pleasure afforded
by the occupation itself and not for pecuniary gain. Being thus a person for whom the pursuit in question is a recreation and not a business, and who therefore presumably devotes to it a portion only of his leisure and not his working hours, the average amateur possesses less skill than the average professional, whose livelihood and reputation depend on his proficiency, and who therefore concentrates all his energies on the task of attaining the greatest possible mastery in his chosen career. In the arts, such as music, painting and the drama, the best amateurs are outdistanced as executants not merely by the best professionals but by professionals far below the highest rank; and although the inferiority of the amateur is not perhaps so pronounced or so universal in the case of games and outdoor sports, the records of such pastimes as horse-racing, boxing, rowing, billiards, tennis and golf prove that here also the same contrast is generally to be found. Hence it has come about that the term ``amateur,'' and more especially the adjectival derivative ``amateurish,'' has acquired a secondary meaning, usually employed somewhat contemptuously, signifying inefficiency, unskilfulness, superficial knowledge or training.
The immense increase in popularity of athletic contests and games of all kinds in modern times, and especially the keen competition for ``records'' and championships, often of an international character, have made it a matter of importance to arrive at a clear and formal definition of the amateur as distinguished from the professional. The simple, straightforward definition of the amateur given above has been proved to be easily evaded. Many leading cricketers, for example, preserve their amateur status who, although they are not paid wages for each match they play like their professional colleagues, are provided with an annual income by their county or club under the guise of salary for performing the duties of ``secretary'' or some other office, leaving them free to play the game six days a week. Similarly, ``gentlemen riders'' are often presented with a cash payment described as a bet, or under some other pretext. Nor is the dividing-line between ``out-of-pocket expenses'' allowed to the amateur and the remuneration payable to the professional always strictly drawn. The various associations controlling the different branches of sport have therefore devised working regulations to be observed so far as their jurisdiction extends. Thus the Amateur Athletic Association of Great Britain defines an amateur as ``one who has never competed for a money prize or staked bet, or with or against a professional for any prize, or who has never taught, pursued or assisted in the practice of athletic exercises as a means of obtaining a livelihood.'' The rules of the Amateur Rowing Association are stricter, denying amateur status to anyone who has ever steered or rowed in a race with a professional for any prize, or who is or has been by trade or employment for wages a mechanic, artisan or labourer, or engaged in any menial duty, besides insisting upon the usual restrictions in regard to taking money and competing with professionals. In association football the rules are much more lax, for although amateurs are clearly distinguished from professionals, an amateur may even become a regular member, though unsalaried, of a professional team without losing his amateur status. The Rugby game was, up to 1895, entirely controlled by the Rugby Football Union, which, by the strictness of its laws, effectually prevented the growth of professionalism, but there had been much dissatisfaction in the provinces with the Union's decision against reimbursing day- working players for ``broken time,'' i.e. for that part of their wages which they lost by playing on working days, and this resulted in the formation (1895) of the Northern Union, which permits remuneration for ``broken time,'' but allows no person who works for his living to play football unless regularly employed at his particular trade.
In America the amateur question is less complicated than in Great Britain; but the intensely business-like character of American ideas of sport has encouraged the modern spirit of professionalism. All important sports in America, except baseball, football, cricket, golf and rowing, are, however, under the control of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, the rules of which, so far as they relate to professionalism, are as follows. No person shall be eligible to compete in any athletic meeting, game or entertainment, given or sanctioned by this Union, who has (1) received or competed for compensation or reward in any form for the display, exercise or example of his skill or knowledge of any athletic exercise, or for rendering personal service of any kind to any athletic organization, or for becoming or continuing a member of any athletic organization; or (2) has entered any competition under a name other than his own, or from a club of which he was not at that time a member in good standing; or (3) has knowingly entered any competition open to any professional or professionals, or has knowingly competed with any professional for any prize or token; or (4) has issued or allowed to be issued in his behalf any challenge to compete against any professional or for money; or (5) has pawned, bartered or sold any prize won in athletic competition. It will be seen that by rule 3 the American Union enacts a standard for all athletes not much different from that of the British Amateur Rowing Association. The rules for the sports not within the Union's jurisdiction are practically the same, except that in baseball, cricket and golf amateurs may compete with professionals, though not for cash prizes. In the case of open golf competitions professional prize-winners receive cash, while amateurs are given plate to the value of their prizes as in Great Britain. There are practically no professional football players in America.
On both sides of the Atlantic the question of the employment of professional coaches has occasioned much discussion. In America it has been accepted as legal. In England the same is almost universally true, but there are certain exceptions, such as the decision of the Henley Regatta Committee, that no crew entering may be coached by a professional within two months of the race-day. Whether such a regulation be wise or the reverse is a question that depends upon the spirit in which games are regarded. Nobody wants to disparage proficiency; but if a game is conducted on business methods, the ``game'' element tends to be minimized, and if its object is pecuniary it ceases to be ``sport'' in the old sense, and the old idea of the ``amateur'' who indulges in it for love of the mere enjoyment tends to disappear.
AMATHUS, an ancient city of Cyprus, on the S. coast, about 24 m. W. of Larnaka and 6 m. E. of Limassol, among sandy hills and sand-dunes, which perhaps explain its name in Greek (amathos, sand). The earliest remains hitherto found on the site are tombs of the early Iron Age period of Graeco-Phoenician influences (1000-600 B.C.). Amathus is identified by some (E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cypern, i., 1902, pp. 13-14; but see CITIUM) with Kartihadasti (Phoenician ``New-Town'') in the Cypriote tribute-list of Esarhaddon of Assyria (668 B.C.). It certainly maintained strong Phoenician sympathies, for it was its refusal to join the phil-Hellene league of Onesilas of Salamis which provoked the revolt of Cyprus from Persia in 500-494 B.C. (Herod. v. 105), when Amathus was besieged unsuccessfully and avenged itself by the capture and execution of Onesilas. The phil-Hellene Evagoras of Salamis was similarly opposed by Amathus about 385-380 B.C. in conjunction with Citium and Soli (Diod. Sic. xiv. 98); and even after Alexander the city resisted annexation, and was bound over to give hostages to Seleucus (Diod. Sic. xix. 62). Its political importance now ended, but its temple of Adonis and Aphrodite (Venus Amathusia) remained famous in Roman time.
The wealth of Amathus was derived partly from its corn (Strabo 340, quoting Hipponax, fi. 540 B.C.), partly from its copper mines (Ovid, Met. x. 220, 531), of which traces can be seen inland (G. Mariti, i. 187; L. Ross, Inselreise, iv. 195; W. H. Engel, Kypros, i. 111 ff.). Ovid also mentions its sheep (Met. x. 227); the epithet Amathusia in Roman poetry often means little more than ``Cypriote,'' attesting however the fame of the city.
Amathus still flourished and produced a distinguished patriarch of Alexandria (Johannes Eleemon), as late as 606-616, and a ruined Byzantine church marks the site; but it was already
almost deserted when Richard Coeur de Lion won Cyprus by a victory there over Isaac Comnenus in 1191. The rich necropolis, already partly plundered then, has yielded valuable works of art to New York (L. P. di Cesnola, Cyprus, 1878 passim) and to the British Museum (Excavations in Cyprus, 1894 (1899) passim); but the city has vanished, except fragments of wall and of a great stone cistern on the acropolis. A similar vessel was transported to the Louvre in 1867. Two small sanctuaries, with terra-cotta votive offerings of Graeco-Phoenician age, lie not far off, but the great shrine of Adonis and Aphrodite has not been identified (M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros, i. ch.1). (J. L. M.)
AMATI, the name of a family of Italian violin-makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1550 to 1692. According to Fetis, Andrea and Nicolo Amati, two brothers, were the first Italians who made violins. They were succeeded by Antonio and Geronimo, sons of Nicolo. Another Nicolo, son of Geronimo, was born on the 3rd of September 1596 and died on the 12th of August 1684. He was the most eminent of the family. He improved the model adopted by the rest of the Amatis and produced instruments capable of yielding greater power of tone. His pattern was usually small, but he also made the so-called ``Grand Amatis.'' Of his pupils the most famous were Andrea Enamieri and Antonio Stradivari.
AMATITLAN, or SAN JUAN DE AMATITLAN, the capital of a department bearing the same name in Guatemala, on Lake Amatitlan, 15 m. S.W. of Guatemala city by the transcontinental railway from Puerto Barrios to San Jose. Pop. (1905) about 10,000. The town consists almost entirely of one-storeyed adobe huts inhabited by mulattoes and Indians, whose chief industry is the production of cochineal. In 1840 only a small Indian village marked its site, and its subsequent growth was due to the sugar plantations established by a Jesuit settlement. The wells of the town are strongly impregnated with salt and alum, and in the vicinity there are several hot springs. Lake Amatitlan, 9 m. long and 3 m. broad, lies on the northern side of the great Guatemalan Cordillera. Above it rises the four- cratered volcano of Pacaya (8390 ft.), which was in eruption in 1870. The outlet of the lake is a swift river 65 m. long, which cuts a way through the Cordillera, and enters the Pacific at Istapa, after forming at San Pedro a fine waterfall more than 200 ft. high.
AMAUROSIS (Gr. for ``blinding,''), a term for ``deprivation of sight,'' limited chiefly to those forms of defect or loss of vision which are caused by diseases not directly involving the eye.
AMAZON, the great river of South America. Before the conquest of South America, the Rio de las Amazonas had no general name; for, according to a common custom, each savage tribe gave a name only to the section of the river which it occupied — such as Paranaguazu, Guyerma, Sclimoes and others. In the year 1500, Vicente Yanez Pinzon, in command of a Spanish expedition, discovered and ascended the Amazon to a point about 50 m. from the sea. He called it the Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce, which soon became abbreviated to Mar Dulce, and for some years, after 1502, it was known as the Rio Grande. The principal companions of Pinzon, in giving evidence in 1513, mention it as El Ryo Haranon. There is much controversy about the origin of the word Maranon. Peter Martyr in a letter to Lope Hurtado de Mendoza in 1513 is the first to state that it is of native origin. Ten years after the death of Pinzon, his friend Oviedo calls it the Maranon. Many writers believe that this was its Indian name. We are disposed to agree with the Brazilian historian Constancio that Maranon is derived from the Spanish word marana, a tangle, a snarl, which well represents the bewildering difficulties which the earlier explorers met in navigating not only the entrance to the Amazon, but the whole island-bordered, river-cut and indented coast of the now Brazilian province of Maranhao.
The first descent of the mighty artery from the Andes to the sea was made by Orellana in 1541, and the name Amazonas arises from the battle which he had with a tribe of Tapuya savages where the women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among all of the Tapuyas. Orellana, no doubt, derived the name Amazonas from the ancient Amazons (q.v.) of Asia and Africa described by Herodotusand Diodorus.
The first ascent of the river was made in 1638 by Pedro Texiera, a Portuguese, who reversed the route of Orellana and reached Quito by way of the Rio Napo. He returned in 1639 with the Jesuit fathers Acuna and Artieda, delegated by the viceroy of Peru to accompany him.
The river Amazon has a drainage area of 2,722,000 sq. m., if the Tocantins be included in its basin. It drains four-tenths of South America, and it gathers its waters from 5 deg. N. to 20 deg. S. latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, but a short distance from the Pacific Ocean; and, after a course of about 4000 m. through the interior of Peru and across Brazil, it enters the Atlantic Ocean on the equator. It is generally accepted by geographers that the Maranon, or Upper Amazon, rises in the little lake, Lauricocha, in 10 deg. 30' S. latitude, and 100 m. N.N.E. of Lima. They appear to have followed the account given by Padre Fritz which has since been found incorrect. According to Antonio Raimondi, it is the Rio de Nupe branch of the small stream which issues from the lake that has the longer course and the greater volume of water. The Nupe rises in the Cordillera de Huayhuath and is the true source of the Maranon. There is a difference among geographers as to where the Maranon ends and the Amazon begins, or whether both names apply to the same river. The Pongo de Manseriche, at the base of the Andes and the head of useful navigation, seems to be the natural terminus of the Maranon; and an examination of the hydrographic conditions of the great valley makes the convenience and accuracy of this apparent. Raimondi terminates the Maranon at the mouth of the Ucayali, Reclus the same, both following the missionary fathers of the colonial period. C. M. de la Condamine uses ``Amazon'' and ``Maranon'' indiscriminately and considers them one and the same. Smyth and Lowe give the mouth of the Javary as the eastern limit, as does d'Orbigny. Wolf, apparently uncertain, carries the ``Maranon or Amazon'' to the Peruvian frontier of Brazil at Tabatinga. Other travellers and explorers contribute to the confusion. This probably arises from the rivalry of the Spaniards and Portuguese. The former accepted the name Maranon in Peru, and as the missionaries penetrated the valley they extended the name until they reached the mouth of the Ucayali; while, as the Portuguese ascended the Amazon, they carried this name to the extent of their explorations. Beginning with the lower river we propose to notice, first, the great affluents which go to swell the volume of the main stream.
Tributaries.
The TOCANTINS is not really a branch of the Amazon, although usually so considered. It is the central fluvial artery of Brazil, running from south to north for a distance of about 1500 m. It rises in the mountainous district known as the Pyreneos; but its more ambitious western affluent, the Araguay, has its extreme southern headwaters on the slopes of the Serra Cayapo, and flows a distance of 1080 m. before its junction with the parent stream, which it appears almost to equal in volume. Besides its main tributary, the Rio das Mortes, it has twenty smaller branches, offering many miles of canoe navigation. In finding its way to the lowlands, it breaks frequently into falls and rapids, or winds violently through rocky gorges, until, at a point about 100 m. above its junction with the Tocantins, it saws its way across a rocky dyke for 12 m. in roaring cataracts. The tributaries of the Tocantins, called the Maranhao and Parana-tinga, collect an immense volume of water from the highlands which surround them, especially on the south and south-east. Between the latter and the confluence with the Araguay, the Tocantins is occasionally obstructed by rocky barriers which cross it almost at a right angle. Through these, the river carves its channel, broken into cataracts and rapids, or cachoeiras, as they are called throughout Brazil. Its lowest one, the Itaboca cataract, is about 130 m. above its estuarine port of Cameta, for which distance the river is navigable; but above that it is useless as a commercial avenue, except for laborious and very costly transportation.
The flat, broad valleys, composed of sand and clay, of both the Tocantins and its Araguay branch are overlooked by steep bluffs. They are the margins of the great sandstone plateaus, from 1000 to 2000 ft. elevation above sea-level, through which the rivers have eroded their deep beds. Around the estuary of the Tocantins the great plateau has disappeared, to give place to a part of the forest-covered, half submerged alluvial plain, which extends far to the north-east and west. The Para river, generally called one of the mouths of the Amazon, is only the lower reach of the Tocantins. If any portion of the waters of the Amazon runs round the southern side of the large island of Marajo into the river Para, it is only through tortuous, natural canals, which are in no sense outflow channels of the Amazon.
The XINGU, the next large river west of the Tocantins, is a true tributary of the Amazon. It was but little known until it was explored in 1884-1887 by Karl von den Steinen from Cuyaba. Travelling east, 240 m., he found the river Tamitatoaba, 180 ft. wide, flowing from a lake 25 m. in diameter. He descended this torrential stream to the river Romero, 1300 ft. wide, entering from the west, which receives the river Colisu. These three streams form the Xingu, or Parana-xingu, which, from 73 m. lower down, bounds along a succession of rapids for 400 m. A little above the head of navigation, 105 m. from its mouth, the river makes a bend to the east to find its way across a rocky barrier. Here is the great cataract of Itamaraca, which rushes down an inchned plane for 3 m. and then gives a final leap, called the fall of Itamaraca. Near its mouth, the Xingu expands into an immense lake, and its waters then mingle with those of the Amazon through a labyrinth of eanos (natural canals), winding in countless directions through a wooded archipelago.
The TAPAHOS, running through a humid, hot and unhealthy valley, pours into the Amazon 500 m. above Para and is about 1200 m. long. It rises on the lofty Brazilian plateau near Diamantino in 14 deg. 25' S. lat. Near this place a number of streams unite to form the river Arinos, which at latitude 10 deg. 25' joins the Juruena to form the Alto Tapajos, so called as low down as the Rio Manoel, entering from the east. Thence to Santarem the stream is known as the Tapajos. The lower Arinos, the Alto Tapajos and the Tapajos to the last rapid, the Maranhao Grande, is a continuous series of formidable cataracts and rapids; but from the Maranhao Grande to its mouth, about 188 m., the river can be navigated by largevessels. For its last 100 mi. it is from 4 to 9 m. wide and much of it very deep. The valley of the Tapajos is bordered on both sides by bluffs. They are from 300 to 400 ft. high along the lower river; but, a few miles above Santarem, they retire from the eastern side and only approach the Amazon flood-plain some miles below Santarem.
The MADEIRA has its junction with the Amazon 870 mi. by river above Para, and almost rivals it in the volume of its waters. It rises more than 50 ft. during the rainy season, and the largest ocean steamers may ascend it to the Fall of San Antonio, 663 m. above its mouth; but in the dry months, from June to November, it is only navigable for the same distance for craft drawing from 5 to 6 ft. of water. According to the treaty of San Ildefonso, the Madeira begins at the confluence of the Guapore with the Mamore. Both of these streams have their headwaters almost in contact with those of the river Paraguay. The idea of a connecting canal is based on ignorance of local conditions. San Antonio is the first of a formidable series of cataracts and rapids, nineteen in number, which, for a river distance of 263 m., obstruct the upper course of the Madeira until the last rapid called Guajara Merim (or Small Pebble), is reached, a little below the union of the Guapore with the Mamore. The junction of the great river Beni with the Madeira is at the Madeira Fall, a vast and grand display ofreefs, whirlpools and boiling torrents. Between Guajara-Merim and this fall, inclusive, the Madeira receives the drainage of the northeastern slopes of the Andes, from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Cuzco, the whole of the south-western slope of Brazilian Matto (irosso and the northern one of the Chiquitos sierras, an area about
equal to that of France and Spain. The waters find their way to the falls of the Madeira by many great rivers, the principal of which, if we enumerate them from east to west, are the Guapore or Itenez, the Baures and Blanco, the Itonama or San Miguel, the Mamore, Beni, and Mayutata or Madre de Dios, all of which are reinforced by numerous secondary but powerful affluents. The Guapore presents many difficulties to continuous navigation; the Baures and Itonama offer hundreds of miles of navigable waters through beautiful plains; the Mamore has been sounded by the writer in the driest month of the year for a distance of 500 m. above Guajara-Merim, who found never less than from 10 to 30 ft. of water, with a current of from 1 to 3 m. an hour. Its Rio Grande branch, explored under the writer's instructions, was found navigable for craft drawing 3 ft. of water to within 30 m. of Santa Cruz de la Sierra — a level sandy plain intervening. The Grande is a river of enormous length, rising in a great valley of the Andes between the important cities of Sucre and Cochabamba, and having its upper waters in close touch with those of the Pilcomayo branch of the river Paraguay. It makes a long curve through the mountains, and, after a course of about 800 m., joins the Mamore near 15 deg. S. lat. The Chapare, Secure and Chimore, tributaries of the Mamore, are navigable for launches up to the base of the mountains, to within 130 m. of Cochabamba. The Beni has a 12-ft. fall 18 m. above its mouth called ``La Esperanza''; beyond this, it is navigable for 217 m. to the port of Reyes for launches in the dry season and larger craft in the wet one. The extreme source of the Beni is the little river La Paz, which rises in the inter-Andean region, a few miles south-east of Lake Titicaca, and flows as a rivulet through the Bolivian city of La Paz. From this point to Reyes the river is a torrent. The principal affluent of the Beni, and one which exceeds it in volume, enters it 120 m. above its mouth, and is known to the Indians along its banks as the Mayutata, but the Peruvians
call it the Madre de Dios. Its ramifications drain the slopes of the Andes between 12 deg. and 15 deg. of latitude. It is navigable in the wet season to within 180 m. of Cuzco. Its upper waters are separated by only a short transitable canoe portage of 7 m. in a straight line from those of the Ucayali. The portage on the eastern side terminates at the Cashpajah river 22 m. above its junction with the Manu. For the first 13 m. it is navigable all the year for craft drawing 18 in. of water, but the remaining 9 m. present many obstacles to navigation. At the Manu junction the elevation above sea-level is 1070 ft., the river width 300 ft., depth 8 ft., current 1 1/4 m. per hour. The general direction of the Manu is south-east for 158 m. as far as the Pilcopata river, where under the name of Madre de Dios it continues with a flow of 22,000 cubic metres per minute. Here its elevation is 718 ft. above the sea and its width 500 ft. During the above course of 158 m. the Manu receives 135 large and small affluents. Although the inclination of its bed is not great, the obstacles to free navigation are abundant, and consist of enormous trees and masses of tree-trunks which have filled the river during the period of freshets.
From the time it receives the Manu, the Madre de Dios carries its immense volume of waters 485 m. to the Beni over the extremely easy slope of a vast and fertile plain. Its banks are low, its bottom pebbly. A greater part of its course is filled with large and small islands some 63 in number. Its average width is about 1500 ft. Below the mouth of the Tambopata, the flow is estimated at 191,250 cubic metres per minute. The average current is 2 1/2 m. per hour. There are two important rapids and one cataract on the lower 300 m. of the river.
The Mayutata receives three principal tributaries from the south — the Tambopata, Inambari and Pilcopata.
The Peruvian government has sought to open a trade route between the Rio Ucayali and the rich rubber districts of the Mayutata. All of the upper branches of the river Madeira find their way to the falls across the open, almost level Mojos and Beni plains, 35,000 sq. m. of which are yearly flooded to an average depth of about 3 ft. for a period of from three to four months. They rival if they do not exceed in fertility the valley of the Nile, and are the healthiest and most inviting agricultural and grazing region of the basin of the Amazon.
The PURUS, a very sluggish river, enters the Amazon west of the Madeira, which it parallels as far south as the falls of the latter stream. It runs through a continuous forest at the bottom of the great depression lying between the Madeira river, which skirts the edge of the Brazilian sandstone plateau, and the Ucayali which hugs the base of the Andes. One of its marked features is the five parallel furos1 which from the north-west at almost regular intervals the Amazon sends to the Purus; the most south-westerly one being about 150 m. above the mouth of the latter river. They cut a great area of very low-lying country into five islands. Farther down the Purfis to the right three smaller furos also connect it with the Amazon. Chandless found its elevation above sea-level to be only 107 ft. 590 m. from its mouth. It is one of the most crooked streams in the world, and its length in a straight line is less than half that by its curves. It is practically only a drainage ditch for the half-submerged, lake-flooded district it traverses. Its width is very uniform for 1000 m. up, and for 800 m. its depth is never less than 45 ft. It is navigable by steamers for 1648 m. as far as the little stream, the Curumaha, but only by light-draft craft. Chandless ascended it 1866 m. At 1792 m. it forks into two small streams. Occasionally a cliff touches the river, but in general the lands are subject to yearly inundations throughout its course, the river rising at times above 50 ft., the numerous lakes to the right and left serving as reservoirs. Its main tributary, the Aquiry or Acre, enters from the right about 1104 m. from the Amazon. Its sources are near those of the Mayutata. It is navigable for a period of about five months of the year, when the Purus valley is inundated; and, for the remaining seven months, only canoes can ascend it sufficiently high to communicate overland with the settlements in the great india-rubber districts of the Mayutata and lower Beni; thus these regions are forced to seek a canoe outlet for their rich products by the very dangerous, costly and laborious route of the falls of the Madeira.
The JURUA is the next great southern affluent of the Amazon west of the Purus, sharing with this the bottom of the immense inland Amazon depression, and having all the characteristics of the Purus as regards curvature, sluggishness and general features of the low, half-flooded forest country it traverses. It rises among the Ucayali highlands, and is navigable and unobstructed for a distance of 1133 m. above its junction with the Amazon.
The Javary, the boundary line between Brazil and Peru, is another Amazon tributary of importance. It is supposed to be navigable by canoe for 900 m. above its mouth to its sources among the Ucayali highlands, but only 260 have been found suitable for steam navigation. The Brazilian Boundary Commission ascended it in 1866 to the junction of the Shino with its Jaquirana branch. The country it traverses in its extremely sinuous course is very level, similar in character to that of the Jurua, and is a fostered wilderness occupied by a few savage hordes.
The UCAYALI, which rises only about 70 m. north of Lake Titicaca, is the most interesting branch of the Amazon next to the Madeira. The Ucayali was first called the San Miguel, then the Ucayali, Ucayare, Poro, Apu-Poro, Cocama and Rio de Cuzco. Peru has fitted out many costly and ably-conducted expeditions to explore it. One of them (1867) claimed to have reached within 240 m. of Lima, and the little steamer ``Napo'' forced its way up the violent currents for 77 m. above the junction with the Pachitea river as far as the river Tambo, 770 m. from the confluence of the Ucayali with the Amazon. The ``Napo'' then succeeded in ascending the Urubamba branch of the Ucayali 35 m. above its union with the Tambo, to a point 200 m. north of Cuzco. The remainder of the Urubamba, as shown by Bosquet in 1806 and Castelnau in 1846, is interrupted by cascades, reefs and numberless other obstacles to navigation. Senor Torres, who explored the Alto Ucayali for the Peruvian government, gives it a length of 186 m., counting from the mouth of the Pachitea to the junction of the Tambo and Urubamba. Its width varies from 1300 to 4000 ft., due to the great number of islands. The current runs from 3 to 4 m. an hour, and a channel from 60 to 150 ft. wide can always be found with a minimum depth of 5 ft. There are five bad passes, due to the accumulation of trees and rafts of timber. Sometimes enormous rocks have fallen from the mountains and spread over the river-bed causing huge whirlpools. ``No greater difficulties present themselves to navigation by 10-knot steamers drawing 4 ft. of water.''
The TAMBO, which rises in the Vilcanota knot of mountains south of Cuzco, is a torrential stream valueless for commercial purposes. The banks of the Ucayali for 500 m. up are low, and in the rainy season extensively inundated.
The HUALLAGA (also known as the Guallaga and Rio de los Motilones), which joins the Amazon to the west of the Ucayali, rises high among the mountains, in about 10 deg. 40' S. lat., on the northern slopes of the celebrated Cerro de Pasco. For nearly its entire length it is an impetuous torrent running through a succession of gorges. It has forty-two rapids, its last obstruction being the Pongo de Aguirre, so called from the traitor Aguirre who passed there. To this point, 140 m. from the Amazon, the Huallaga can be ascended by large river steamers. Between the Huallaga and the Ucayali lies the famous ``Pampa del Sacramento,'' a level region of stoneless alluvial lands covered with thick, dark forests, first entered by the missionaries in 1726. It is about 300 m. long, from north to south, and varies in width from 40 to 100 m. Many streams, navigable for canoes, penetrate this region from the Ucayali and the Huallaga. It is still occupied by savage tribes.
The river MARANON rises about 100 m. to the north-east of Lima. It flows through a deeply-eroded Andean valley in a north-west direction, along the eastern base of the Cordillera of the Andes, as far as 5 deg. 36' S. lat.; then it makes a great bend to the north-east, and with irresistible power cuts through the inland Andes, until at the Pongo de Manseriche2 it victoriously breaks away from the mountains to flow onwards through the plains under the name of the Amazon. Barred by reefs, and full of rapids and impetuous currents, it cannot become a commercial avenue. At the point where it makes its great bend the river Chinchipe pours into it from southern Ecuador. Just below this the mountains close in on either side of the Marapon, forming narrows or pongos for a length of 35 m., where, besides numerous whirlpools, there are no less than thirty-five formidable rapids, the series concluding with three cataracts just before reaching the river Imasa or Chunchunga, near the mouth of which La Condamine embarked in the 18th century to descend the Amazon. Here the general level of the country begins to decrease in elevation, with only a few mountain spurs, which from time to time push as far as the river and form pongos of minor importance and less dangerous to descend. Finally, after passing the narrows of Guaracayo, the cerros gradually disappear, and for a distance of about 20 m. the river is full of islands, and there is nothing visible from its low banks but an immense forest-covered plain. But the last barrier has yet to be passed, the Pongo de Manseriche, 3 m. long, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it and the old abandoned missionary station of Borja, in 38 deg. 30' S. lat. and 77 deg. 30' 40'' W. long. According to Captain Carbajal, who descended it in the little steamer ``Napo,' in 1868, it is a vast rent in the Andes about 2000 ft. deep, narrowing in places to a width of only 100 ft., the precipices ``seeming to close in at the top.'' Through this dark canon the Maranon leaps along, at times, at the rate of 12 m. an hour3. The Pongo de Manseriche was first discovered by the Adelantado Joan de Salinas. He fitted out an expedition at Loxa in Ecuador, descended the Rio Santiago to the Maranon, passed through the perilous Pongo in 1557 and invaded the country of the Maynas Indians. Later, the missionaries of Cuenca and Quito established many missions in the Pais de los Maynas, and made extensive use of the Pongo de Manseriche as an avenue of communication with their several convents on the Andean plateau. According to their accounts, the huge rent in the Andes, the Pongo, is about five or six m. long, and in places not more than 80 ft. wide, and is a frightful series of torrents and whirlpools interspersed with rocks. There is an ancient tradition of the savages of the vicinity that one of their gods descending the Maranon and another ascending the Amazon to communicate with him, they opened the pass called the Pongo de Manseriche. From the northern slope of its basin the Amazon receives many tributaries, but their combined volume of water is not nearly so great as that contributed to the parent stream by its affluents from the south. That part of Brazil lying between the Amazon and French, Dutch and British Guiana, and bounded on the west by the Rio Negro, is known as Brazilian Guiana. It is the southern watershed of a tortuous, low chain of mountains running, roughly, east and west. Their northern slope, which is occupied by the three Guianas first named, is saturated and river-torn; but their southern one, Brazilian Guiana, is in general thirsty and semi-barren, and the driest region of the Amazon valley. It is an area which has been left almost in the undisturbed possession of nomadic Indian tribes, whose scanty numbers find it difficult to solve the food problem. From the divortium aquarum between French Guiana and Brazil, known as the Tumuc-humac range of highlands, two minor streams, the Yary and the Parou, reach the Amazon across the intervening broken and barren tableland. They are full of rapids and reefs.
The TROMBETAS is the first river of importance we meet on the northern side as we ascend the Amazon. Its confluence with this is just above the town of Obidos. It has its sources in the Guiana highlands, but its long course is frequently interrupted by violent currents, rocky barriers, and rapids. The inferior zone of the river, as far up as the first fall, the Porteira, has but little broken water and is low and swampy; but above the long series of cataracts and rapids the character and aspect of the valley completely change, and the climate is much better. The river is navigable for 135 m. above its mouth.
The NEGRO, the great northern tributary of the Amazon, has its sources along the watershed between the Orinoco and the Amazon basins, and also connects with the Orinoco by way of the Casiquiare canal. Its main affluent is the Uaupes, which disputes with the headwaters of the Guaviari branch of the Orinoco the drainage of the eastern slope of the ``Oriental', Andes of Colombia. The Negro is navigable for 450 m. above its mouth for 4 ft. of water in the dry season, but it has many sandbanks and minor difficulties. In the wet season, it overflows the country far and wide, sometimes to a breadth of 20 m., for long distances, and for 400 m. up, as far as Santa Isabella, is a succession of lagoons, full of long islands and intricate channels, and the slope of the country is so gentle that the river has almost no current. But just before reaching the Uaupes there is a long series of reefs, over which it violently flows in cataracts, rapids and whirlpools. The Uaupes is full of similar obstacles, some fifty rapids barring its navigation, although a long stretch of its upper course is said to be free from them, and to flow gently through a forested country. Despite the impediments, canoes ascend this stream to the Andes.
The Branco is the principal affluent of the Negro from the north; it is enriched by many streams from the sierras which separate Venezuela and British Guiana from Brazil. Its two upper main tributaries are the Urariquira and the Takutu. The latter almost links its sources with those of the Essequibo. The Branco flows nearly south, and finds its way into the Negro through several channels and a chain of lagoons similar to those of the latter river. It is 350 m. long, up to its Urariquira confluence. It has numerous islands, and, 235 m. above its mouth, it is broken by a bad series of rapids.
CASIQUIARE CANAL. In 1744 the Jesuit Father Roman, while ascending the Orinoco river, met some Portuguese slave-traders from the settlements on the Rio Negro. He accompanied them on their return, by way of the Casiquiare canal, and afterwards retraced his route to the Orinoco. La Condamine, seven months later, was able to give to the French Academy an account of Father Roman's extraordinary voyage, and thus confirm the existence of this wonderful waterway first reported by Father Acuna in 1639. But little credence was given to Father Roman's statement until it was verified, in 1756, by the Spanish Boundary-line Commission of Yturriaga y Solano. The actual elevation of the canal above sea-level is not known, but is of primary importance to the study of the hydrography of South America. Travellers in general give it at from 400 to 900 ft., but, after much study of the question of altitudes throughout South America, the writer believes that it does not exceed 300 ft. The canal connects the upper Orinoco, 9 m. below the mission of Esmeraldas, with the Rio Negro affluent of the Amazon near the town of San Carlos. The general course is south-west, and its length, including windings, is about 200 m. Its width, at its bifurcation with the Orinoco, is approximately 300 ft., with a current towards the Negro of three-quarters of a mile an hour; but as it gains in volume from the very numerous tributary streams, large and small, which it receives en route, its velocity increases, and in the wet season reaches 5 and even 8 m. an hour in certain stretches. It broadens considerably as it approaches its mouth, where it is about 1750 ft. in width. It will thus be seen that the volume of water it captures from the Orinoco is small in comparison to what it accumulates in its course. In flood-time it is said to have a second connexion with the Rio Negro by a branch which it throws off to the westward called the Itinivini, which leaves it at a point about 50 m. above its mouth. In the dry season it has shallows, and is obstructed by sandbanks, a few rapids and granite rocks. Its shores are densely wooded, and the soil more fertile than that along the Rio Negro. The general slope of the plains through which the canal runs is south-west, but those of the Rio Negro slope south-east. The whole line of the Casiquiare is infested with myriads of tormenting insects. A few miserable groups of Indians and half-breeds have their small villages along its southern portion. It is thus seen that this marvellous freak of nature is not, as is generally supposed, a sluggish canal on a flat tableland, but a great, rapid river which, if its upper waters had not found contact with the Orinoco, perhaps by cutting back, would belong entirely to the Negro branch of the Amazon. To the west of the Casiquiare there is a much shorter and more facile connexion between the Orinoco and Amazon basins, called the isthmus of Pimichin, which is reached by ascending the Terni branch of the Atabapo affluent of the Orinoco. Although the Terni is somewhat obstructed, it is believed that it could easily be made navigable for small craft. The isthmus is 10 m. across, with undulating ground, nowhere over 50 ft. high, with swamps and marshes. It is much used for the transit of large canoes, which are hauled across it from the Terni river, and which reach the Negro by the little stream called the Pimichin.
The YAPURA. West of the Negro the Amazon receives three more imposing streams from the north-west — the Yapura, the Ica or Putumayo, and the Napo. The first was formerly known as the Hyapora, but its Brazilian part is now called the Yapura, and its Colombian portion the Caqueta. Barao de Marajo gives it 600 m. of navigable stretches. Jules Crevaux, who descended it, describes it as full of obstacles to navigation, the current very strong and the stream frequently interrupted by rapids and cataracts. It rises in the Colombian Andes, nearly in touch with the sources of the Magdalena, and augments its volume from many branches as it courses through Colombia. It was long supposed to have eight mouths; but Ribeiro de Sampaio, in his voyage of 1774, determined that there was but one real mouth, and that the supposed others are all furos or canos4 In 1864-1868 the Brazilian government made a somewhat careful examination of the Brazilian part of the river, as far up as the rapid of Cupaty. Several very easy and almost complete water-routes exist between the Yapura and Negro across the low, flat intervening country. Barao de Marajo says there are six of them, and one which connects the upper Yapura with the Uaupes branch of the Negro; thus the Indian tribes of the respective valleys have facile contact with each other.
The ICA or PUTUMAYO, west of and parallel to the Yapura, was found more agreeable to navigate by Crevaux. He ascended it in a steamer drawing 6 ft. of water, and running day and night. He reached Cuemby, 800 m. above its mouth, without finding a single rapid. Cuemby is only 200 m. from the Pacific Ocean, in a straight line, passing through the town of Pasto in southern Colombia. There was not a stone to be seen up to the base of the Andes; the river banks were of argillaceous earth and the bottom of fine sand.
The NAPO rises on the flanks of the volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. Before it reaches the plains it receives a great number of small streams from impenetrable, saturated and much broken mountainous districts, where the dense and varied vegetation seems to fight for every square foot of ground. From the north it is joined by the river Coca, having its sources in the gorges of Cayambe on the equator, and also a powerful river, the Aguarico, having its headwaters between Cayambe and the Colombian frontier. From the west it receives a secondary tributary, the Curaray, from the Andean slopes, between Cotopaxi and the volcano of Tunguragua. From its Coca branch to the mouth of the Curaray the Napo is full of snags and shelving sandbanks, and throws out numerous canos among jungle-tangled islands, which in the wet season are flooded, giving the river an immense width. From the Coca to the Amazon it runs through a forested plain where not a hill is visible from the river — its uniformly level banks being only interrupted by swamps and lagoons. From the Amazon the Napo is navigable for river craft up to its Curaray branch, a distance of about 216 m., and perhaps a few miles farther; thence, by painful canoe navigation, its upper waters may be ascended as far as Santa Rosa, the usual point of embarkation for any venturesome traveller who descends from the Quito tableland. The Coca river may be penetrated as far up as its middle course, where it is jammed between two mountain walls, in a deep canyon, along which it dashes over high falls and numerous reefs. This is the stream made famous by the expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro.
The NANAY is the next Amazon tributary of importance west of the Napo. It belongs entirely to the lowlands, and is very crooked, has a slow current and divides much into canos and strings of lagoons which flood the flat, low areas of country on either side. It is simply the drainage ditch of districts which are extensively overflowed in the rainy season. Captain Butt ascended it 195 m., to near its source.
The TIGRE is the next west of the Nanay, and is navigable for 125 m. from its confluence with the Amazon. Like the Nanay, it belongs wholly to the plains. Its mouth is 42 m. west of the junction of the Ucayali with the Amazon. Continuing west from the Tigre we have the Parinari, Chambira, and Nucuray, all short lowland streams, resembling the Nanay in character.
The PASTAZA (the ancient river Sumatara) is the next large river we meet. It rises on the Ecuadorian tableland, where a branch from the valley of Riobamba unites with one from the Latacunga basin and breaks through the inland range of the Andes; and joined, afterwards, by several important tributaries, finds its way south-east among the gorges; thence it turns southward into the plains, and enters the Amazon at a point about 60 m. west of the mouth of the Huallaga. So far as known, it is a stream of no value except for canoe navigation. Its rise and fall are rapid and uncertain, and it is shallow and full of sandbanks and snags. It is a terrible river when in flood.
The MORONA flows parallel to the Pastaza and immediately to the west of it, and is the last stream of any importance on the northern side of the Amazon before reaching the Pongo de Manseriche. It is formed from a multitude of water-courses which descend the slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes south of the gigantic volcano of Sangay; but it soon reaches the plain, which commences where it receives its Cusulima branch. The MORONA is navigable for small craft for about 300 m. above its mouth, but it is extremely tortuous. Canoes may ascend many of its branches, especially the Cusuhma and the Miazal, the latter almost to the base of Sangay. The Morona has been the scene of many rude explorations, with the hope of finding it serviceable as a commercial route between the inter-Andean tableland of Ecuador and the Amazon river. A river called the Paute dashes through the eastern Andes from the valley of Cuenca; and a second, the Zamora, has broken through the same range from the basin of Loja. Swollen by their many affluents, they reach the lowlands and unite their waters to form the Santiago, which flows into the Maranon at the head of the Pongo de Manseriche. There is but little known of a trustworthy character regarding this river, but Wolf says that it is probably navigable up to the junction of the Paute with the Zamora.