Brazil, the River Plate, and the Falkland Islands / With the Cape Horn route to Australia. Including notices of Lisbon, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde.

CHAPTER X. THE AMAZON.

Sources of the MaraÑon.—Rapids and cataracts.—Embouchures of the Amazon.—Its volume, compared with the Ganges and the Brahmapootra.—Its discovery by Pinzon.—Expedition of Orellana.—Gold-seeking expedition of Pedro de Orsua.—Settlement of ParÁ, and discovery of the Rio Negro.—The Missions of the Jesuits, and their expulsion.—Discovery of the communication between the Amazon and the Orinoco.—Revolution of 1835.—ParÁ: its streets and public buildings.—Explorations of M. Castelnau and Lieutenant Herndon.—Tributaries and settlements of the Tocantins.—Lieutenant Gibbon’s exploration of the Madera.—His interview with General Belzu.—What is wanted to turn the stream of tropical South American commerce eastward.—Herndon’s descent of the Huallaga.—Tarapoto, and its future prospects.—Chasuta; its trade with Lima and ParÁ.—Yurimaguas, and the Cachiyacu.—Steam-boat communication between Nauta and ParÁ.—Progress of a piece of cotton from Liverpool to Sarayacu.—Estimated cost and profit of steam vessels on the Amazon.—Trade of Egas.—The new province of Amazonas.—Exports of Barra.—The Rio Negro, and its tributaries.—Communication by the Cassiquiari between the Amazon and the Orinoco.—Productions of Amazonas.—Santarem.—The Tapajos, and its tributaries.—Rapids of the ParÚ, and the XingÙ.—Climate and products of ParÁ.—Benefits to be expected from the opening of the Amazon and European immigration.

Though the Brazilian mission of the writer in connection with the original object of this volume virtually terminates at the close of the preceding chapter, his desire to communicate, however cursorily, an adequate idea of the immensity of extent and natural resources of the Brazilian empire would be altogether unfulfilled if some additional data were not offered respecting the illimitable and inexhaustible region of the Amazon. In conversing with enlightened inhabitants of Brazil, natives of the capital or elsewhere, on the vastness and fertility of their country, and on the magnificent destiny it is certain to attain, they concur with you, as a matter of course, but conclude with an intimation that you estimate but half of the reality, and a fourth of the probability of what is in store; for you leave out of your calculation the wondrous but almost unknown district of the Amazon. There, indeed, they imply, are the germs of marvellous and unmatched natural greatness to be sought; for, prodigal as nature has everywhere been to the country in every possible respect, it is there that she has been most profuse; and there are her bounties most accessible to man, if he would only make the slightest exertion to secure them. These views are entertained in a like degree by many of the most intelligent citizens of the United States, the attention of which country is being drawn in an increasingly marked degree to the commercial capabilities of the Amazon; and the frequency of the publications respecting it, and the wide and general circulation they obtain throughout the Union, attest the interest wherewith North America regards the locale of what one of their writers describes as the future inevitably greatest mercantile entrepot (ParÁ) in the world. With what justice this anticipation is formed it is the design of the annexed few pages to exhibit, consisting, as they do, in a great degree, of a digest of the more influential of the publications alluded to. Considering the magnitude of the existing relations between England and Brazil, and how large a share Great Britain will derive from the enterprises that are now being directed to the opening up of the Amazon, it is conceived that a summary of the most recent circumstances connected with the countries and peoples bordering on that mighty stream will not fail to be acceptable, the more so as, with the exception of Mr. Wallace’s volume already alluded to, and which is not a commercial, nor yet geographical, nor descriptive work, there has been in this country no recent publication of an analogous nature to those of the United States’ writers we shall presently enumerate.

The Amazon, the largest river in the world, traverses the tropical regions of South America from west to east, discharging its immense volume of water into the Atlantic, nearly under the equator. The Tanguragua, or Upper MaraÑon, is regarded as its principal head-stream, and rises in the Lake of Llanricocha, 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the region of nearly perpetual snow. For about 120 miles from its source it flows through a ravine, and is full of rapids and cataracts, having a fall in that distance of more than 11,000 feet. Near Huary the ravine opens into a wide valley, through which the river flows gently for about 380 miles, and is navigable for canoes. Its course is then interrupted by the rapids of the Pongo Rentema, and turns eastward, in which direction it runs nearly 180 miles, leaving the mountain region by the Pongo de Manseriche, a rapid seven miles long. In this part of its course the current is so strong that it can be descended only by floats; but from the rapids of Manseriche the river passes through an extensive plain, its entire length exceeding 3,000 miles.

A great number of tributaries pour their waters into the Amazon in the lower part of its course. On the north side the first from the west, below the rapids of Manseriche, is the Morona, and then come in succession the PastaÇa, Tigre, Napo, IÇa, YapurÀ, Rio Negro, and Oximina. From the south it receives, proceeding from west to east, the Huallaga, Ucayali, Yavari, Jutai, Jurua, TeffÉ, Coavy, Purus, Madera, Tapajos, XingÙ, and Tocantins. Most of these affluents discharge their waters into the Amazon by more than one mouth, which frequently are widely apart. Thus the two most distant of the four mouths of the YapurÀ are more than 200 miles asunder, and the outer embouchures of the Purus are about 100 miles from each other. In the upper portion of its course the Amazon divides Equador from Peru, between which its width varies from half a mile to a mile; beyond the limits of Equador it increases to two miles, and below the Madera (its most considerable tributary, having a course little less than 2,000 miles in length) it is nearly three miles. Between Faro and Obydos, to which place the tide reaches, it decreases to less than a mile; but below Obydos it widens again, and after the junction of the Tapajos it is nearly seven miles across. The width of the channel of Braganza do Norte, the northern mouth of this vast river, is 30 miles opposite the island MarajÓ, and 50 at its embouchure; that of the TangipurÀ channel is 18 miles at the junction of the Tocantins, and 30 at its mouth. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Amazon is the immense volume of water which it discharges into the ocean, which is ascribable to the forests which cover so large an extent of the immense region which it flows through, and attract a much greater quantity of rain than the scorched Llanos of the Orinoco, and the treeless pampas of the Rio Plata. While the principal branch of the Ganges discharges 80,000 cubic feet of water per second, and the Brahmapootra pours forth 176,188 cubic feet per second, the volume of water which flows through the Narrow of Obydos per second is calculated at 550,000 cubic feet.

Next in importance to the Madera among the tributaries of the Amazon, is the Rio Negro, which, after a course of 1400 miles, falls into the Father of Waters twelve miles below the town of Barra, where it is a mile and a half wide. The XingÙ has a course of 1000 miles, the Tapajos and the YapurÀ each 900 miles, and the Napo and IÇa each of 700.[61]

According to the best writers, the first expedition up the Amazon occurred in 1500, when a Portuguese named Pinzon discovered the mouth of the river, and took possession of its left bank. In 1540, Francisco Orellana descended the Napo and the Amazon to its mouth, and finding the native women in arms to oppose him, gave the name of Amazonia to the country, and conferred his own upon the river, by which it is still called by some geographers. In 1560, Pedro de Orsua, commissioned to explore the country in search of gold, descended the Jutai and Jurua, but was prevented by a mutiny from proceeding farther. In 1615 the governor of Maranham, Alexandro de Moura, in order to establish the sovereignty of Portugal, sent an expedition to the Amazon under Francisco Caldeira, who sailed up the Tocantins, and formed a settlement where ParÁ now stands. In 1648 a party of Portuguese discovered the Rio Negro, and reached Quito overland, which was regarded as a remarkable feat. Shortly afterwards, the Jesuits commenced their settlements on the banks of the MaraÑon; and during the reign of Philip III., when Portugal was united to Spain, it was seriously contemplated to make the Amazon the means of transit for the treasures of Peru and Chili, by which the sea-voyage would be much shortened, and the dangers from English and French cruisers more than proportionately lessened.

The Jesuits warmly espoused the cause of the cruelly treated Indians, but, unfortunately, their zeal outran their discretion, and, in 1604, they were expelled. Several settlements were made about this time on the MaraÑon and the Rio Negro, among others that of San JosÉ, now the town of Barra; and in the expeditions which took place between 1726 and 1730, the communication between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco was discovered. During the next twenty or thirty years, colonization appears to have made rapid strides, so much so that, in 1784, a commission was despatched from Portugal to explore the country for botanical and other scientific objects. Settlements continued to be formed, but no event worthy of record occurred until the change of dynasty in 1823. Since then the only occurrence of consequence has been the revolution of 1835, when the president of the province was assassinated, the citizens of ParÁ fled, and the whole of the province, with the exception of the town of CametÁ, on the Tocantins, fell under the power of the insurgents, who sacked the towns, and carried off the slaves and the cattle. Quarrels between the insurgent leaders increased the miseries of the country, and several presidents succeeded each other. At length, (see memoir of Admiral Grenfell), President Andrea arrived from Rio Janeiro with a sufficient force, and succeeded in recovering possession of ParÁ. The inland places gradually returned to their allegiance, and though the effects of these disturbances are still felt in some districts, ParÁ has fully recovered its former prosperity.

The province of ParÁ, though naturally the richest portion of the immense empire of Brazil, of which it is the most northern part, is little known, and at present of but little commercial importance.[62] ParÁ, the capital, contains about 15,000 inhabitants, and has a pretty appearance from the river. Most of the houses are white, which, against the dark green of the forest that surrounds it on the land side, and with the clear blue sky above, give it a pleasing aspect. The small islands in the river are wooded to the water’s edge, and canoes are constantly passing, paddled by negroes or Indians. The custom-house, formerly a convent, is a large and handsome building, and there are several churches that will bear comparison with those of Europe. The squares are more like village greens, being covered with a rank growth of weeds, but the graceful-looking palms which are planted in their midst impart a picturesque appearance in the eyes of a stranger. The principal street is the Rua dos Mercadores (street of merchants), which contains the only good shops in the town, and this, or rather a part of it, is the only portion that is paved. The other streets are very narrow, and some not free from holes.

What most strikes the observer is the number and size of the public buildings of ParÁ, which are far beyond the present wants of the place, but form a good foundation for its future requirements as the great depÔt of the Amazon. The palace is large and massive, but has no pretensions to architectural beauty. In its rear is the theatre, unfinished, and overgrown with vines and climbing shrubs. Near these buildings is the cathedral, the largest in Brazil, the bells of whose two steeples, with those of the numerous churches, seem to be continually ringing. Near the arsenal, and sufficiently removed from the city to be no nuisance to the inhabitants, is the public slaughter-house, in the neighbourhood of which many vultures are always to be seen.

Most of the towns and villages of the extensive country watered by the Amazon, are situated on that river and its tributaries; and the rest is an impenetrable forest, trodden only by the Indian and the jaguar. Very little is known of the greater portion of the interior, but M. Castlenau, who explored the valley of the Amazon in 1843, and Lieutenant Herndon, of the United States Navy, who descended the ‘King of Rivers’ in 1852, have supplied considerable information respecting the Tocantins, the Madera, and Huallaga. The first-named flows through a fertile and healthy country, and has many flourishing settlements on its banks. Among them is Salinas, famous for its salt works, near which is the Lake of Pearls, surrounded by beautiful scenery, and inhabited by numbers of aquatic birds. The town of Goyaz, with a population of about 7,500, is situated on the Vermelho, a branch of the Tocantins, and can be reached by vessels from ParÁ. The voyage occupies five months, the up freight being about 20s., and the down one fourth, per 100 lbs. Large canoes are paddled up the river as far as Porto Imperial, and take down hides, which at Goyaz are worth fifty cents, and at ParÁ are sold for a dollar and a half. ParÁ also trades with the inland town of Diamantino, by means of the Tapajos, the voyage up and down occupying eight months. The foreign merchandise that reaches Diamantino by this route is sold at an advance, on the average, of 850 per cent. on its price at ParÁ, which is from 50 to 100 per cent. on New York prices. When steam-boats are introduced on these waters trade will be largely increased, and prices reduced by competition and the facility of transit, so that both producer and consumer will be greatly benefitted.

It is a matter which gives a promising aspect to the question of future commercial intercourse with the interior that the elements of a large and profitable trade already exist in abundance. Cinchona to the value of two millions of dollars is annually exported from the eastern slopes of Bolivia, but, at present, for the want of steam-boats on the Amazon and its tributaries, it is carried over the Andes on the backs of llamas and mules to the ports of Peru. Large quantities of wool, clipped on the banks of the Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon, instead of going down the river to ParÁ, for shipment to England or the United States, are carried over the Andes in the same manner, and have then to make the voyage round Cape Horn.

The Madera runs through a beautiful valley, clothed with verdure, and abounding in scenery the most striking and picturesque. It is among the upper tributaries of this river that the traditions of the country place the lost mines of Urucumaguam, the riches of which equalled those of Potosi. When Lieutenant Gibbon, who was sent by the United States government to explore the valley of the Madera, was at Cochabamba, the attention of the Bolivian government was called to the establishment, on the navigable waters of that river, of ports of entry to foreign commerce, and of steam communication with the Amazon. Belzu, the President of Bolivia, received him in the most gracious manner, and is said to have promised to grant privileges to a company for that purpose, if application were made to him in due form. The course of the Madera is interrupted by cataracts and rapids, but the former only commence 450 miles from its mouth, and the latter may be passed by canoes. The cataracts passed, the river is navigable into the heart of Bolivia by its tributaries, the Beni and the MamorÉ, and quite through the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso by the GuaporÉ. Mr. Clay, the United States chargÉ d’affaires at Lima, was told that a Brazilian war-schooner had ascended the Madera above the rapids as far as Exaltacion, which is in Bolivia, above the junction of the Beni.

About one-half of Bolivia, two-thirds of Peru, three-fourths of Equador, and one-half of New Grenada are drained by the Amazon and its tributaries. For the want of steam communication, the trade of all these parts of those countries goes west over the Andes to Callao. There it is shipped, and after doubling Cape Horn, and sailing eight or ten thousand miles, it is then only off the mouth of the Amazon, on its way to Europe or the United States; whereas, if the navigation of the Amazon were free, and steam-vessels placed on its waters, the produce of the interior could be landed at ParÁ for what it costs to convey it across the Andes to the ports of the Pacific.

Lieutenant Herndon embarked on the Huallaga at Tinga-Maria, the head of canoe navigation, and 335 miles from the city of Lima, and descended to its junction with the Amazon, and thence to the mouth of the latter, a distance of not less than 3,500 miles. The first place he came to was Tarapoto, situated in a beautiful plain, watered by many rivulets, and producing cotton, coffee, sugar, cocoa, and drugs in great abundance. The district is very healthy, and free from annoying insects. Indigo grows wild, and storax, cinnamon, and gums may be procured of the Indians in any quantity, and at prices merely nominal. A great deal of good cotton cloth is made here by the women, and exchanged at Egas for straw hats and English prints brought from ParÁ. There is very little money in circulation, cotton cloth, wax, and balls of sewing cotton being used instead. English goods brought over the Andes sell in Tarapoto for four times their value in Lima. All the land carriage is performed by Indians, for want of roads: an Indian will carry 75 lbs. of goods on his shoulders from Tarapoto to Juan Guerra, whence he paddles in a canoe to Tinga-Maria, and there shoulders his burthen again, and carries it to Huanaco, the distance of which town from Tarapoto is 390 miles. The population of the place in 1848 was 3,500. Concerning its natural advantages and future prospects, Lieutenant Herndon thus speaks:—

‘I spoke with an active and intelligent young Spanish trader, named Morey, about the feasibility of a steamboat enterprise upon these rivers, bringing American goods and taking return-cargoes of coffee, tobacco, straw-hats, hammocks, and sarsaparilla to the ports of Brazil on the river. He thought that it could not fail to enrich any one who would attempt it; but that the difficulty lay in the fact that my proposed steamer would never get as far as this, for that my goods would be bought up and paid for in return-cargoes long before she reached Peru. He thought, too, that the Brazilians along the river had money which they would be glad to exchange for comforts and luxuries. Were I to engage in any scheme of colonization for the purpose of evolving the resources of the Valley of the Amazon, I think I should direct the attention of settlers to this district of Tarapoto. It combines more advantages than any other I know; it is healthy, fertile, and free from the torment of musquitoes and sand-flies. Wheat may be had from the high lands above it; cattle thrive well; and its coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, and maize are of fine quality. It is true that vessels cannot come up to Shapaja, the port of the town of Tarapoto; but a good road may be made from this town eighteen miles to Chasuta, to which vessels of five feet draught may come at the lowest stage of the river, and any draught at high water. Tarapoto is situated on an elevated plain twenty miles in diameter; is seventy miles from Moyobamba, the capital of the province, a city of seven thousand inhabitants; and has close around it the villages of Lamas, Tabalosas, Juan Guerra, and Shapaja. The Ucayali is navigable higher up than this point, and the quality of cotton and coffee seems better, within certain limits further from the equator. But the settler at the head-waters of the Ucayali has to place himself in a profound wilderness, with the forest and the savage to subdue, and entirely dependent upon his own resources. I think he would be better placed near where he can get provisions and assistance whilst he is clearing the forest and planting his fields. I am told that the governors of the districts in all the province of Mainas have authority to give titles to land to any one who desires to cultivate it.’

Six leagues below Tarapoto is Chasuta, with a population of 1,200. The annual value of the trade between this place and the ports below is 1,500 dollars; but all articles which can be carried on the backs of Indians or mules come from Lima. Implements of iron, copper kettles, guns, earthenware, and glass, come from ParÁ, and obtain prices which afford very large profits. Though the distance from this place to the mouth of the Amazon is above 3,000 miles, a 74-gun ship would find water enough, during the greater part of the year, to reach it from the sea. The villages of Yurimaguas, Santa Cruz, and Chamizuras, respectively 24, 35, and 89 leagues below Chasuta, have each a population of about 320, and in the woods around the last, valuable resins and gums abound. Half a mile below Yurimaguas is the mouth of the Cachiyacu, which is navigable for large canoes, from January to June, as far as Balza Puerto, a considerable village, five days’ journey from Moyobamba, between which and the ports of the Amazon this river is the general route. It also serves as a means of communication with the many villages which dot the fine country between the MaraÑon and the Huallaga, so that Yurimaguas is probably destined to become an important place in the future. Laguna, 44 leagues below Chasuta, and four above the mouth of the Huallaga, has a population of 1,044. Urarinas, a village on the Amazon, five leagues from the mouth of the Huallaga, contains only 80 inhabitants, but the immense number in the vicinity of the trees which produce gum copal mark it as an important place in the future. Nauta, on the right bank of the Amazon, 46 leagues below the junction of the Huallaga, has a population of 1,000. It is to this place that Brazil, by treaty with Peru, has engaged to run steamers, under the Brazilian flag, from ParÁ, the contractors to have the monopoly of steam-boat navigation on the Amazon for thirty years, with an annual bonus of 100,000 dollars for the first fifteen. The voyage is to be performed by two steamers, one ascending the Amazon from ParÁ, the other descending it from Nauta, and meeting the up boat at Barra. Passing Omaguas, with its 240 inhabitants, Iquitos with its 227, and Arau with its 80, the mouth of the Napo is reached; and thirteen leagues lower down is Pebas, with a population of 387. This place is embosomed in the immense forest, producing in abundance sarsaparilla, vanilla, storax, copal, caoutchouc, and wax, which may be obtained from the Indians in exchange for cotton goods, needles, beads, &c. Thirty-four pounds of sarsaparilla may be bought for 24 yards of common cotton, and other articles at a like proportionate price; but the great sarsaparilla country is along the banks of the Ucayali and the Ahuaytia, where 100 lbs. of the drug, which are worth fully £5 at ParÁ, and twice as much in Europe, may be bought for eight yards of cotton.

As an illustration of the circumambulatory manner in which the commerce of this extensive region is carried on, let us trace the progress of the cotton goods from the warehouse in Liverpool to the banks of the Ucayali. The goods have to be carried round Cape Horn to Callao, where duty is charged upon them, and whence it is conveyed to Lima, and across the Andes, on the backs of mules. Freight, land carriage, and commission cost more than the goods, and in about twelve months from the time of their leaving Liverpool they reach the mouth of the Ucayali, whence they are sent up by boat to Sarayacu, the centre of the sarsaparilla country, a distance of 300 miles. It is now exchanged for 100 lbs. of sarsaparilla, the value of which is 9 dollars at Nauta, 10½ at Tabatinga, 25 at ParÁ, and from 40 to 60, according to the markets, in Liverpool. The voyage is long, tedious, and circumgyratory, but the profits are enormous. Now, if the navigation of the Amazon were free, and ports of entry, open to all nations, were established at such places as Chasuta and Nauta, not only would the trade be considerably increased, to the benefit of both parties, but the people of Peru and Brazil instead of eight yards of cotton for 100 lbs. of sarsaparilla, would get three or four hundred yards. Such will soon be the case.

Concerning the cost and profit of steam vessels on the Amazon, and the arrangements that would have to be made, Lieut. Herndon says:—

‘I have estimated the annual cost of running a small steamer between Loreto, the frontier port of Peru and Chasuta, a distance of eight hundred miles, entirely within the Peruvian territory, at twenty thousand dollars, including the establishment of blacksmiths’ and carpenters’ shops at Nauta for her repairs. According to the estimate of Arebalo, (and I judge that he is very nearly correct,) the value of the imports and exports to and from Brazil is twenty thousand dollars annually. I have no doubt that the appearance of a steamer in these waters would at once double the value; for it would, in the first place, convert the thousand men who are now employed in the fetching and carrying of the articles of trade into producers, and would give a great impulse to trade by facilitating it. A loaded canoe takes eighty days to ascend these eight hundred miles. A steamer will do it in twelve, giving ample time to take in wood, to land and receive cargo at the various villages on the river, and to lay by at night.’

Nearly midway between Loreto and Barra, and near the mouths of the Jurua, the YapurÁ, and the TeffÉ, is Egas, with a population of about 800, which is the most thriving place above Barra. It has eight or ten commercial houses that carry on a brisk trade between Peru and ParÁ, besides employing agents to ascend the neighbouring rivers, and collect from the Indians the produce of the country. Schooners of between 30 and 40 tons average five months in the round trip between Egas and ParÁ, a distance of 1250 miles, the expenses being 150 dollars, including wages and rations of crew, and a tax of 13 per cent. Sarsaparilla and salt-fish are the principal exports, which are sold at ParÁ for double what they cost at Egas, to which the vessels return with cotton goods, earthenware, and hardware, all of the commonest description, to be sold at an advance of 20 per cent. on ParÁ prices. There are five vessels engaged in this trade, making two trips a year, so that the annual value of the trade between Egas and ParÁ may be estimated at 38,000 dollars. Between Egas and Peru it is about 20,000 dollars. The vessels engaged in this trade are not well adapted to it; they are too broad in the beam, and their sails are two small, so that the voyage occupies a great deal more time than it might be performed in by clipper-built and properly rigged vessels.

The Comarca of the Rio Negro, one of the territorial divisions of the immense province of ParÁ, has, within the last year, been erected into a province, with the title of Amazonas. A custom-house will probably soon be established at Barra, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, for the collection of the duties now paid at ParÁ, and there can be no doubt that commercial enterprise will, in a few years, bring the manufactures of Europe from Demerara by the Essequibo and the Rio Branco. The president of the new province, Senhor JoÂo B. de F. T. Aranha, is labouring for the good of the district, and has had many conferences with the chiefs of the Indian tribes with the view of inducing them to settle and engage in systematic agricultural labour. Lieutenant Herndon was told that Brazil would give titles to vacant lands to any foreigners who would settle there, and the President expressed a wish that he would bring out a thousand Americans to set an example of energy and industry to the natives.[63] The value in dollars of the exports of the entire Comarca in 1840 was as follows:—Sarsaparilla, 12,000; oil of turtle-eggs, 6,000; salt fish, 4,250; coffee, 1,000; copaiba, 1,000; tobacco, 720; cocoa, 600; heavy boards, 600; hammocks, 500; Brazil nuts, 350; pitch, tow, hides, tapioca, &c., 1,203; total, 28,323. That the trade is increasing will be seen by the exports of the town of Barra alone for the year 1850, the value of which in dollars was as follows: Salt-fish, 7,001; Brazil nuts, 5,203; sarsaparilla, 3,144; oil of turtle-eggs, 1,818; piasaba, 1,802[64]; ropes, 896; cocoa, 631; hammocks, 785; coffee, 474; tobacco, 616; planks, 250; Brazilian nutmegs, 100[65]; copaiba, hides, tow, &c., 304; total, 22,975. It will be seen that the exports of Barra alone in 1850 were not in value far below those of the whole province in 1840. It is probable that the value of the imports is nearly double that of the exports, so that the trade of Barra with ParÁ may fairly be estimated at £15,000 per annum.

The population of Barra in 1848 was 3,848 persons; the marriages in the year had been 115, the births 250, and the deaths 25. The number of inhabited houses was 470, so that upon an average of five persons to each family, there must be nearly two families to every house; but 234 of the population were slaves, and probably the children exceed the adults in a greater proportion than the usual ratio of three to two. The Rio Negro, opposite the town, is a mile and a half wide, and very beautiful. It is navigable for almost any draught as far as Rio Maraya, a distance of about 400 miles; there the rapids commence, and the further ascent must be made in canoes. A few miles above Barcellos is the mouth of the river Quiuni, which is known to run nearly up to the YapurÁ; and nearly opposite to San Isabel, two days journey from Barcellos, is the mouth of the Jurubashea, which also runs up to within a very short distance of the same river. Between these rivers the country is very low, and is often inundated; it is from this place that the Brazilian nutmegs are brought. Just above San Isabel great quantities of Brazil nuts are grown, and a little further up is the mouth of the Cababuri, where the finest sarsaparilla is produced. Cocoa of very superior quality is produced in abundance about San Carlos, at the mouth of the Cassiquiari, which is the frontier port of Venezuela. Most of the vessels which ply both on the Rio Negro and the Orinoco are built at this place, the Cassiquiari forming a natural canal connecting those two rivers. Lieutenant Herndon calculates that a flat-bottomed iron-steamer, constructed to pass the rapids, would make seventy-five miles a day against the current on the Rio Negro, and 125 miles a day with the current on the Orinoco. The distance from Barra to San Carlos is about 660 miles, from thence to the Orinoco 180 miles, from the junction of the Cassiquiari and the Orinoco to Angostura 780 miles, and from Angostura to the mouth of the Orinoco 250 miles. The voyage between Barra and the mouth of the last-named river might thus be made by such a vessel in 19½ days, allowing time to take in wood and receive and discharge cargo; and a canal cut through the isthmus of Tuamini would shorten the voyage by five days.[66]

The Rio Branco, the principal tributary of the Negro, is navigable for large craft for about 300 miles from its mouth, but from thence it is interrupted by rapids, only passable by flat-bottomed boats. Its banks are very thickly wooded below the rapids, but above them the country is a wide plain, which affords pasturage to immense herds of cattle. The downward passage from San Joachim, near the sources of the river, to Barra, a distance of 500 miles, may be made in twelve days; but the ascent is very tedious, owing to the rapids and the strong north-easterly winds.

Scarcely any attempt at regular cultivation has yet been made in any part of Amazonas; but the natural productions of its teeming soil are numerous as they are varied and valuable. The forests contain many trees which afford solid and durable timber, and others that furnish excellent cabinet woods, among which may be mentioned the beautiful muirapinima, or tortoise-shell wood. There are numerous plants, unknown in Europe, famous for their medicinal uses; and others which produce valuable resins and oils. Wild cotton, with a fine glossy fibre, like silk, grows abundantly, and is used at Guayaquil to stuff mattresses. Some silk manufacturers in France, to whom specimens of this cotton were sent by Mr. Clay, the United States chargÉ d’affaires at Lima, thought that, mixed with silk, a cheap and pretty fabric might be wove from it.

Santarem, a mile above the mouth of the Tapajos, which is there a mile and a half wide, is the largest town in the province after ParÁ. In 1849 the population was 6,768, the number of marriages 32, of births 289, of deaths 42; but in this return is included the inhabitants of a large surrounding district. Lieut. Herndon estimated the population of the town alone at about 2,000. There is a church, and two or three primary schools. The situation is picturesque, and there are many agreeable rides in the environs. It is a thriving town, as is shown by the increase in the exports between 1843 and 1846. For three months of the former year the quantity of cocoa exported was 12,808 arrobas, and in the same period of 1846 it was 19,940 arrobas. Sarsaparilla increased from 665 to 4,836 arrobas, pitch from 64 to 933, tobacco from 499 to 3,352, cloves from 226 to 998, cotton from 24 to 226, oil of copaiba from 427 pots to 3,056 pots, and oil of turtle-eggs from 420 to 1,628 pots. Hides and piasaba rope appear in the list for the first time in 1846, the number of the former exported being 664. The trade in farina had considerably decreased, probably owing to the increased importation of flour from the United States. The trade between Santarem and ParÁ is carried on in schooners of about a hundred tons, of which there were five or six lying off the town when Mr. Herndon was there. The average passage downward is thirteen, and upward twenty-five days.

From Santarem to Itaituba, a distance of about 200 miles, the Tapajos is navigable for large vessels, though the current is very strong; but above the latter place the ascent can be made only by boats, as there are fifteen or twenty rapids to pass, where the boats have to be unloaded, and the cargoes carried round on the backs of the crew. At one or two of the rapids the boat itself has to be hauled over the land. The voyage to the head of navigation on the Rio Preto occupies about two months. From this point the cargoes are carried on the backs of mules to Diamantino, a distance of fifteen miles, and from thence to Cuiaba, the capital of the rich province of Matto Grosso, a further distance of ninety miles. In 1850 a nearer route was discovered, by ascending the Arinos, below the mouth of the Preto, and employing oxen to drag the boat eighteen miles to the river Cuiaba, which is navigable thence to the town of that name; but, for some reason or other, the trade is still carried on by the old route. Cuiaba receives from Santarem salt, iron, wines, arms, and earthenware, which it pays for with diamonds, gold-dust, and hides. M. Alphonse M. de Lincourt, who ascended the Tapajos a few years since, says that the forests, which extend from its banks far away on both sides, are inhabited by hostile Indians, who paint and tattoo themselves, and wear caps of feathers, and collars and bracelets of beads, shells, and jaguars’ teeth. The Mundrucus, the most warlike tribe of the Amazon, number from fifteen to twenty thousand warriors, and are the terror of all the other tribes.

Ninety miles below Santarem is the village of Prainha, situate on a green eminence on the left bank of the Amazon, with a population of about 500. Fifty-five miles below this place is the mouth of the little river ParÚ, our only knowledge of which is derived from the Indians, who report that the country through which it flows produces sarsaparilla and cloves, but that its current is very strong, its course broken by rapids, and the Indians who live on its banks are hostile. Seventy miles below the mouth of the river, and on the right bank, is the village of GurupÁ, with a population of 300, and a small trade in caoutchouc. Near this place is the mouth of the XingÙ, of which very little is known; but the municipal judge of Porto de Moz, near its mouth, who met Mr. Herndon at the house of the military commandant of GurupÁ, informed that gentleman that it was obstructed by rapids within four days’ journey from its mouth, and that boats could not ascend far up on account of the hostility of the Indian tribes on its banks.

Thirty-five miles below GurupÁ the Amazon spreads out to a width of nearly 150 miles, but it is divided into numerous channels by a multitude of islands, the principal of which is MarajÓ, which contains about 10,000 square miles, and occupies about the middle of the river. The village of Breves, on this island, exports annually to ParÁ about 3,000 arrobas of caoutchouc: it has a church and several shops, and has a thriving appearance. Three days’ sailing lower down is the mouth of the Tocantins, which falls into the Bay of Limoeiro, a deep and wide indentation of the right bank of the Amazon. The Tocantins, according to M. Castelnau, who descended it in 1846, is an almost continuous succession of cataracts and rapids; but by unloading the boats at three places, and dragging them with ropes, it can be ascended as high as Porto Imperial, the voyage to which place from ParÁ occupies from four to five months, but, owing to the fall in the river, the downward voyage may be performed in from twenty-five to thirty days.

The opening of new markets to commercial enterprise must always tend to increase the prosperity of the countries concerned, and the free navigation of the Amazon has become a question of the greatest importance. According to General Villamil, the Secretary of State of the republic of Equador, the PastaÇa is navigable nearly up to Quito, and nothing is wanting but the removal of the restrictions which have unwisely been placed upon the navigation of the Amazon to enable the merchants of Europe and the United States to send the manufactured goods of their respective countries to the very foot of the Andes, and take back in exchange the raw produce with which the Atlantic slopes of those mountains so largely abound. But because the mouth of the river is within Brazil, she once persisted in shutting out New Grenada, Equador, Bolivia,[67] and Peru from the advantages which the Creator, in rolling its broad stream through their fertile plains and teeming valleys, intended they should enjoy. The reciprocal interests of all nations now imperatively demand that the barrier which these restrictions present to the progress of civilization in the interior of South America should be removed. One of the first results of the opening up of the vast regions watered by the Amazon and its tributaries to Anglo-Saxon enterprise would be a large influx of immigrants, and this is precisely what is wanted to develope the boundless natural resources of those countries.[68] Brazil is alive to the necessity. Persons unacquainted with the country, forming their opinion from other tropical regions, are apt to conclude that the climate is unhealthy, but this is very far from being the case. Similarity of latitude by no means produces similarity of climate; for England and Labrador are under the same parallel, but how different the climates of the two countries. The elevation of a country is a better means of estimating its climate than its latitude, and the extent of wood and water have also to be taken into account. The province of Caxamarca which is watered by the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, is one of the most healthy portions of the globe. Mr. Edwards, who, as already observed, ascended the Amazon in 1846, and resided some time at ParÁ, says:—

‘It seems singular that, directly under the equator, where, through a clear atmosphere, the sun strikes vertically upon the earth, the heat should be less oppressive than in the latitude of New York; this is owing to several causes. The days are but twelve hours long, and the earth does not become so intensely heated as where they are sixteen. The vast surface of water constantly cools the air by its evaporation, and removes the irksome dryness that, in temperate regions, renders a less degree of heat insupportable. And, finally, the constant winds blowing from the sea refresh and invigorate the system.’

He adds that the temperature is so equable, that the climate is peculiarly favourable to health, that no form of epidemic disease is known, and that the average duration of life is probably as high as in New York. The salubrity of the climate,[69] therefore, the fertility of the soil, its mineral riches, and the number and length of its navigable rivers, combine to render the region watered by the Amazon and its tributaries a most eligible field for the emigrant.[70] All that the country wants is increased facilities for commerce and for developing its immense natural resources, and these would be given to it by the opening of the Amazon and immigration.[71]

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