|
|
Article: A monstrous error of geography? Aside from death and taxes, there are few things in life that one can take for granted. But you can always rely on water to flow downhill. Or can you? Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt travel deep into the Amazon jungle in search of a river that seems to break this golden rule of geography.
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- July 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
The last time someone aimed an arrow at me, it had a rubber sucker on the end and I was eight years old. This time, it looked more serious. We'd just clambered ashore at the Yanomami village of Cejal on the upper reaches of the Orinoco in Venezuela and hadn't yet learnt how to get along with the locals. It was Miriam's idea to stop here; I was keen to push on to our ultimate goal--the Casiquiare River.
Once dismissed as "a monstrous error of geography", the Casiqiuare shouldn't exist. Or rather, it shouldn't be able to do what it does, which is transcend a watershed. In doing so, it appears to break one of the laws of nature--that water always flows downhill.
...