Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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At The Mouth Of The Rio Zama We Approach A Class Of Rivers, That
Merits Great Attention.
The Zama, the Mataveni, the Atabapo, the
Tuamini, the Temi, and the Guainia, are aguas negras, that is, their
waters, seen in a large body, appear brown like coffee, or of a
greenish black.
These waters, notwithstanding, are most beautiful,
clear, and agreeable to the taste. I have observed above, that the
crocodiles, and, if not the zancudos, at least the mosquitos,
generally shun the black waters. The people assert too, that these
waters do not colour the rocks; and that the white rivers have black
borders, while the black rivers have white. In fact, the shores of the
Guainia, known to Europeans by the name of the Rio Negro, frequently
exhibit masses of quartz issuing from granite, and of a dazzling
whiteness. The waters of the Mataveni, when examined in a glass, are
pretty white; those of the Atabapo retain a slight tinge of
yellowish-brown. When the least breath of wind agitates the surface of
these black rivers they appear of a fine grass-green, like the lakes
of Switzerland. In the shade, the Zama, the Atabapo, and the Guainia,
are as dark as coffee-grounds. These phenomena are so striking, that
the Indians everywhere distinguish the waters by the terms black and
white. The former have often served me for an artificial horizon; they
reflect the image of the stars with admirable clearness.
The colour of the waters of springs, rivers, and lakes, ranks among
those physical problems which it is difficult, if not impossible, to
solve by direct experiments.
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