First Sentence

"Brazil. The name brings to mind a remarkable mosaic of riches to be found in this enormous country occupying half of South America and as large as Europe: magnificent beaches; tropical palms; silvery Embauba (Cecropia) trees rising above the vast sea of green forests covering the Amazon basin and its surrounding mountains; the sharply divided confluence of the clay-yellow waters of the Solimoes and the blackish River Negro as they meet to join the Amazon; great stretches of tawny grasslands; thorny trees; huge, black, granite boulders speckled with the rosettes of bromeliads, plants requiring little but the water collected at their hearts; endless fields of grass-green sugarcane and the vast, hidden treasures of the earth-the crystal, topaz, from smoky brown to glorious apricot, clear blue aquamarine and rich amethyst."