Richard Thomas, age 14, of Siiverbell, Arizona for his question:

Who are the Amazons?

The great Amazon River of South America borrows its name from a fantastic tale of ancient Greece. The Greek warriors constantly warred with a strange community of weird women who lived in Asia Minor by the River Thermodon. These women were sturdy, well ¬trained warriors. They raided surrounding settlements, mainly for the purpose of cap¬turing men to be their slaves. The husky females also built handsome cities. In the magnificent temples of their main city of Ephesus, they paid devout homage to Ares, the god of war, and Artemis, the husky goddess of hunting. These strong armed, female warriors were known to the ancient world as the Amazons.

Explorers of the New World were told stories of a similar race of female warriors that were thought to live deep in the tropical jungles. It seemed natural to name the great river of this region the Amazon. But nobody has found the legendary tribe of American Amazon warriors. There are native tribes in the Amazon jungles and some of these New World Amazons are mighty warlike. But, so far as we know, the tribal warfare is left to the men.