Marguerite de Jose, age 10, North Vancouver, B. C., for her question:

Where is the Amazon jungle?

The Amazon river begins on the eastern slopes of the Andes and flows alongside the equator eastward across South America to its rendezvous with the Atlantic. It is a slow, lazy river, bearing more water than the Nile and Mississippi combined. Along the way it is joined by countless streams and backwaters.

All this lazy water, and the tropical climate, produce the hot, steamy conditions necessary for jungle growth. The vast jungles on either side of the great river begin soon after it runs down the slopes of Peru and follow it clear across Brazil. Certain patches of this rich land have been cleared, but jungle conditions surround the Amazon for most of its 3,900 mile journey to the sea.