There are four round valleys joined by narrow
gullies. In each valley there is a small pond, but
one slender stream runs through all."

" You have sharp eyes, my friends," rippled the
brook. " There are hundreds of basins shaped
like each of these, and so we will call the valleys
of our little rivulets 'tjrpes' of the great river
basins that cover the earth's surface. Now for my
story of the Amazon :



42 BBOOKS AND BROOK BASINS.
"It is nearly midday, and if Redbreast should
fly far south to the land just under the sun, he
would see hundreds of white-capped mountains.
They are many times higher than the one which
he flew over in the storm.
"All along the east side of this great highland
there are countless streams flowing in as many
basins. If we could see ten times as far, we could
see ten times as many.
"Down the steep slopes they run, sparkling in
the clear sunlight. Here and there they flow
together, just like our slender rivulets, only many
times wider and deeper.
"Now they enter a dense forest, and from all
sides other streams come in, till they form a great
river. Its basin is so wide that we cannot see
across it.
" On, on, for days and weeks, it winds along a
low plain, through a forest so thick that the sun-
light can scarcely creep in. Again and again
great rivers flow in, till it looks like a vast sea.
Its basin is so wide that if our robin should fly all
day and all night he could not cross it.
