# Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon/Volume 1/Chapter 19

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CHAPTER XIX.
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My report would be incomplete were I to fail to bring to the notice of the department circumstances concerning the free navigation of the river that have occurred since my return from the valley of the Amazon.
These circumstances are clearly the result of my mission, which appears to have opened the eyes of the nations who dwell upon the banks of the Amazon, and to have stirred into vigorous action interests which have hitherto lain dormant. They have an important and direct bearing upon the question, whether the United States may or may not enter into commercial relations, by the way of the Amazon, with the Spanish American republics, who own the headwaters of that noble stream.
The government of the United States had scarcely begun to entertain the idea of sending a commission to explore the valley of the Amazon, with a view to ascertain what benefits might accrue to its citizens by the establishment of commercial relations with the people who dwell upon its banks, when the fact became known to Brazil. That government, thus awakened to its own (more apparent, however, than real) interests, immediately cast about for means to secure for itself any advantages that might arise from a monopoly of the trade of the river.
She accordingly despatched to Lima an able envoy, Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro, with instructions to make a treaty with Peru concerning the navigation of the Amazon; and, this done, to proceed to Bolivia for the same purpose, while the Brazilian Resident Minister in Bolivia, Miguel Maria Lisboa, was sent to the republics of Ecuador, Venezuela, and New Granada, so as to secure for Brazil the navigation of all the confluents of the Amazon belonging to Spanish South America.
Da Ponte succeeded in making with Peru a treaty highly advantageous to his own government. It is styled “A treaty of fluvial commerce and navigation, and of boundary,” and has the following articles relating to steamboat navigation:
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“Article 1.
“The republic of Peru, and his Majesty, the Emperor of Brazil, desiring to encourage, respectively, the navigation of the river Amazon and its confluents by steamboat, which, by ensuring the exportation of the immense products of those vast regions, may contribute to increase the number of the inhabitants and civilize the savage tribes, agree, that the merchandise, produce, and craft, passing from Peru to Brazil, or from Brazil to Peru, across the frontier of both States, shall be exempt from all duty, imposts, or sale duty, (alcabala,) whatsoever, to which the same products are not subject in the territory where produced, to which they shall be wholly assimilated.
“Article 2.
“The high contracting parties, being aware of the great expense attending the establishment of steam navigation, and that it will not yield a profit during the first years to the shareholders of the company destined to navigate the Amazon from its source to its banks (“litoral”) in Peru, which should belong exclusively to the respective States, agree to give to the first company which shall be formed a sum of money, during five years, which shall not be less than $20,000 annually for each of the high contracting parties, either of whom may increase the said amount, if it suits its particular interests, without the other party being thereby obliged to contribute in the same ratio.
“The conditions to which the shareholders are to be subject, in consideration of the advantages to be conceded to them, shall be declared in separate articles.
“The other conterminous States which, adopting the same principles, may desire to take part in the enterprise upon the same conditions, shall likewise contribute a certain pecuniary quota to it.”
The 5th clause of the 1st of the separate articles alluded to above declares that the company to be formed shall arrange with both governments touching the respective points on the river Amazon, or Maraion, to which the steamboats shall navigate, &c., &c.
Article 3d, of the separate articles, declares that the agents of the Imperial Government, with those of the government of Peru, duly authorized, shall establish the enterprise (“contratarán la empresa”) upon the terms indicated in these articles.
The persons undertaking the enterprise shall agree with the said agents touching the mode and place in which they shall receive the stipulated sums.
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Both governments, in their respective territories, shall take care of the observance of the conditions agreed upon.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the treaty, and before the exchange of ratifications, Brazil gives a practical illustration of the wisdom of a remark attributed to her wily minister in Lima, which was probably intended only for Peruvian ears, and directed rather at another government than his own, viz: “that it was not expedient for a weak nation to treat with one more powerful than itself; because, in the interpretation of treaties, the stronger party always enforced its own construction, and the weaker, as invariably, went to the wall.”
By a decree of the Emperor, of date August 30th, 1852, Brazil gives to Ireneo Evangelista de Souza, one of her own citizens, the exclusive privilege of the navigation of the Amazon for thirty years, and arranges with him touching the respective points on the Amazon, or Marañon, to which the steamers shall navigate.
In the mean time, however, a new minister, Don Manuel Tirado, (more awake to the interests of his country than the framer of the treaty,) takes charge of the portfolio of foreign affairs of Peru. He thus writes to the Brazilian minister of foreign affairs:
“MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, LIMA,
“January 20, 1853.
“SIR: I have the honor, by direction of my government, to inform your Excellency that it has understood, by a communication from Don Evarista Gomez Sanchez, our Consul General, charged with the exchange of ratifications of the treaty celebrated in this capital on the 23d of October, 1851, with the Señor Da Ponte Ribeiro, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty, the Emperor, that said exchange probably took place in Rio Janeiro, on the ——.
“Said commissioner informs me, at the same time, that the government of his Majesty has conceded a privilege in favor of Don Juan (‘Ireneo’) Evangelista de Souza for the establishment of navigation by steam of the river Amazon, under the stipulations of a contract celebrated by authority of his Majesty, approved in his decree of the 30th of August of the preceding year.
“Said privilege defines the course of the lines which are to be established; the first to run from the city of Belen, capital of the province of Pará, to the town at the mouth of the Rio Negro, capital of the province of Amazonas; and the second to continue on from this last city to Nauta, a town situated on the Peruvian banks.
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“The establishment of said navigation by steam upon the Amazon is a point agreed upon in article 2nd of the treaty; as also the annual subsidy of $20,000 by each one of the governments for the space of five years in favor of the company that will undertake the enterprise; conditions to which this government is bound, and which it is desirous of fulfilling.
“This government, then, being aware of the contract celebrated with the above-mentioned Don Juan (‘Ireneo’) Evangelista de Souza, it is fit that I should say to your Excellency that, as according to article 3d of the separate articles of the treaty, the contracts for navigation should be made by agents duly authorized by both governments (the government of his Majesty having initiated the formation of an enterprise to this effect, and having also reference to that part of the course of the river belonging to Peru, moved, without doubt, by the desire of hastening the attainment of the great objects to which this navigation is destined,) this government cannot but hope that that of your Excellency will deign to inform the company organized in Rio Janeiro that, as respects the Peruvian shores, the conditions of navigation, its course and extent, and the obligations relative to Peru, cannot be considered as existing or efficacious, except for the five years agreed upon by the treaty, and by the celebration of an agreement or contract with the same government whence these obligations may arise.
“There being no evidence up to this time that our Consul General, Commissioner Don Evarista Gomez Sanchez, has been consulted in the agreement; and it being believed that, at the date of it, he was not in Rio Janeiro, your Excellency will see how proper it is to make to you this anticipation in furtherance of the realization of that internal navigation which, for so long a time, has yearned for a decided and efficacious protection on the part of the States who share these fruitful waters, destined to open to the world new objects of speculation and of traffic, and to give to commerce and civilization one more field for their efforts.
“In the mean time, as, according to the advices of the same Consul General, the first trip of the new steamers is to be made in the month of May next, this government — for the purpose of avoiding difficulties in their running, and to contribute to the important end which they are destined to accomplish, until the opportunity occurs to arrange the conditions obligatory in that navigation by a free contract on its part, as I have already expressed to your Excellency, and according to the mutual obligations contracted in the treaty — has thought proper to direct, as a facility spontaneously conceded in the mean time to the navigation, that the authorities who exercise jurisdiction on those shores should permit
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the running of the steamers on the corresponding waters of Peru, and assign them points where they may touch, until the establishment of an arrangement to which this navigation is to be definitively subjected, by means of a contract which this government is bound to make for five years according to stipulation, and which it hopes your Excellency will deign to cause to be offered for its free acceptance by the associates of the company created under the authority of his Majesty, the Emperor.
“With sentiments, &c., &c.
JOSÉ MANUEL TIRADO.
“To his Excellency, the MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF BRAZIL.”
But whilst Tirado is penning this courtly caveat in Lima, Gomez Sanchez, in Rio Janeiro, is giving his assent to the De Souza contract, extending it in all its force to Peru, and entering into an agreement with De Souza by which he gives him the right of exploring the Ucayali, and other rivers of the west, from Rio, besides other privileges, which, if acceded to by the Peruvian government, would give Brazil all power over the navigation of those rivers, as well as over that of the main stream.
Fortunately for the interests of commerce in general, and for the more speedy development of the great resources that lie hid in the valley of the Amazon, Tirado practically disavows the action of Gomez Sanchez, and obtains from the Council of State of Peru its assent (subject, of course, to the approval of the legislative power) to the appropriation of $200,000 towards the exploration by steamboat of the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, and the colonization and settlement of their fertile lands. He has already appropriated $75,000 of this sum for the purchase of two small steamers, which are now in the course of construction in the United States, and which will be delivered at Loreto (the frontier port of Peru on the Amazon) by the 1st of January, 1854.
The enlightened and patriotic President of Peru, Don José Rufino Echenique, approving and adopting the policy of Tirado, goes further, and issues a decree relative to the opening and settlement of the Amazon. It is dated April 5, 1853. I give a translation of some of its more important articles:
“Article 1.
In accordance with the treaty concluded with the empire of Brazil, on the 23d of October, 1851, navigation, trade, and commerce, on the part of Brazilian vessels and subjects, is allowed upon the waters of the
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Amazon, in all that part of its banks belonging to Peru as far as Nauta, at the mouth of the Ucayali.
“Article 2.
The subjects and citizens of other nations which have treaties with Peru, by virtue of which they may enjoy the rights of those of the most favored nation, or to whom those same rights, as regards commerce and navigation, in conformity with said treaties, may be communicable, shall, in case of obtaining entrance into the waters of the Amazon, enjoy, upon the Peruvian shores, the rights conceded to the vessels and subjects of Brazil by the foregoing article.
“Article 3.
To carry into effect the two preceding articles, and, in agreement with them, the ports of Nauta and Loreto are declared open to foreign commerce.
“Article 4.
In conformity to the law of November 20, 1852, no import or export duties shall be paid in said free ports on merchandise or produce which may be introduced or taken thence. This, however, does not extend to dues merely municipal, which the people themselves may impose for objects of local utility.
“Article 10.
The Governor-General (resident in Loreto) is empowered to concede gratuitously to all, whether Peruvians or foreigners, who wish to establish themselves in those countries under the national rule and in subordination to the laws and authorities, titles of possession to land (in conformity with the law of November 21, 1832,) from two to forty fanegadas, in proportion to the means and ability of cultivation, and number of individuals who may constitute the family of those who shall establish themselves. He will give an account of these concessions, so that the government may confirm them, and expedite titles of proprietorship.
“Article 11.
The governors of the districts may make concessions of lands from two to four fanegadas, informing the Governor-General, who shall also inform the government.
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“Article 12.
Larger grants of lands for founding colonies, towns, and estates, will be made by the government gratuitously, but by means of agreements with contractors, in which the conditions of this colonization shall be established.
“Article 13.
All concession of lands made to individuals or families, in conformity with articles 10 and 11, shall be void, if, at the end of eighteen months, no attempt has been made to cultivate or to build upon them.
“Article 15.
Over and above the reward which the law of the 17th of November, 1849, concedes to vessels or contractors who may introduce colonists, the government binds itself to give to those who may come with destination to the lands or valleys of the Amazon and its tributaries in Peru, a passage to the place, implements of husbandry, and seeds, all gratuitous; for which purpose sufficient deposits shall be placed in the hands of the Governor-General at Loreto.
“Article 16.
A national vessel shall be detailed for the service of carrying those who, whether citizens-born or emigrant foreigners, may desire to establish themselves in those countries; and, after being landed at Huanchaco, the Prefect of Libertad shall make provision for the transportation of the immigrants to said places, by the route of the Huallaga.
“Article 17.
In conformity with the law of November 21, 1832, the lands cultivated and houses built shall be exempt from all contributions, and shall enjoy the other privileges which the laws concede to the owners of uncleared lands.
“Article 18.
The new population shall pay no contribution for the space of twenty years; nor shall the Catholics pay obventional or parochial dues, the cures that shall be there established being at the expense of the State.
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The new population shall also be exempt from the impost on stamped paper, being permitted to use common paper for their petitions and contracts.
“Article 21.
It shall be permitted in the new settlements that the individuals who form them may unite themselves in municipal corporations, under the presidency of the governors of the respective districts or territories, for the purpose of making laws relative to the local administration, without giving the governors created by this decree any power to interfere with rights, of whatever nature, in respect to individual liberty; they only taking care for the preservation of public order, and of the national authority, in conformity with the laws.
“Article 22.
Because this territory is a new establishment, and has no judicial authorities, it shall be permitted, for the administration of justice, that the new settlers shall name their own judges, electing them in the form most convenient, until Congress shall legislate in relation to the administration of justice and in municipal affairs.
The other articles divide the territory proposed to be settled into districts: four on the Amazon, from Loreto upwards to Nauta; two on the Ucayali, from the mouth to Sarayacu; and four on the Huallaga, from the mouth to Tingo Maria — all under the direction of a governor general established at Loreto. The Intendente general of the missions of Pozuzu, which are near the sources of the Pachitea, a confluent of the Ucayali, is directed to observe the conditions of the decree; while the governors of the Upper Mission, which is all the country on both sides of the Amazon above the mouth of the Huallaga, are directed to exercise their authority as before, in dependence on the prefecture of Amazonas, until special decrees shall be issued for their guidance and government.
Article 25 appropriates the funds necessary to open roads from Cerro Pasco to Pozuzu, and from Pozuzu to Mayro, at the head of navigation on the Pachitea, under the direction of the intendente of Pozuzu. So that my old chatty acquaintance of Huanuco, whom Col. Lucar designated as the best animal magnetizer in the world, has at last carried his point and accomplished his long-cherished purpose. If the country between Cerro Pasco and Mayro be such as he described it,
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this certainly will be the best route of communication between Lima and the Atlantic; but earnest and enthusiastic men see no obstacles to their favorite schemes; and I must doubt if this road would, according to his account, run for the greater part of its distance over a pampa or plain.
The portions of land granted by this decree are not sufficiently large, a fanegada being only about two acres; but I have no doubt that a proper representation to the Peruvian government would set this matter right, and very much increase the size of the grants. No man would be willing to undergo the exposure, privations, and hardships of a dwelling in the wilderness whilst he was clearing his lands, unless with the prospect of having a large and valuable estate, if not available for himself, at least for his children. The government should make legal titles to each adult male settler of a tract of land at least a mile square.
The decree says nothing in relation to toleration of creeds in religion. The President could not grant toleration, for it would be contrary to the constitution of Peru; but he knows as well as I do that there will be very little trouble in that country from that cause. The country will afford room for every shade of opinion and every form of worship; and men will be too busy there for years to come to find leisure for quarrelling on such trifling yet mischievous subjects. The decree refers in several places particularly to Catholics, as if in contradistinction to, and tacit acknowledgment of, a Protestant interest.
In his letter to the council of state, asking its concurrence in the appropriation by the executive of the $200,000 towards the establishment of steam navigation and exploration on the Ucayali and Huallaga rivers, and the colonization and settlement of the lands upon their banks, Señor Tirado thus expresses himself:
“Amongst the most urgent national obligations is that of procuring the civilization of the savage tribes who dwell on the borders of the Ucayali and in other parts of Eastern Peru; and also that which binds the republic to lay the foundations of the prosperity which may be expected from commerce and communication with the rest of the world, by means of the navigation of the Amazon and its confluents.
“The Spanish government, and subsequently the independent, on account of divers circumstances, has applied but feeble means to the accomplishment of the first of these objects. The wants and spirit of the age now call for the full and immediate application of the care and resources of the nation towards these places, subject to the territorial sovereignty of Peru, which will soon see an influx of foreign merchandize,
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and in which, probably, an abundant emigration, and an extensive traffic, will create towns of important commerce and a field for the efforts of civilization and industry.”
These are patriotic and statesmanlike views, which give ample testimony to the truth of Ijurra’s estimate of the character of this wise minister, contained in a recent letter to me. He says:
“The minister Tirade is the man for the age in Peru. In nothing does he resemble his predecessors or his contemporaries. His travels in the United States, and in some parts of Europe, have not been barren of results. Endowed with an intellect that comprehends all at a glance, and full of knowledge, he is entirely worthy of the appellation of a true statesman. At the same time, possessed of a heart which is full of enthusiasm and patriotism, he desires to introduce into my unhappy country the institutions, laws, and manners, which have rendered happy other countries that I have known, and which, doubtless, will be adaptable to the necessities of our people, and conducive to the rapid progress of the republic.
“He will commence by calling over industrious men of all professions and creeds, of all ages, nations, and conditions, with the sole condition that they shall be moral and laborious; he will endow them with those fertile lands, with which you are familiar, to the eastward of the Andes; he will supply them with tools, seeds, and domestic animals, and will give them the necessary guarantees that they may live together like brothers, with absolute liberty of action and of conscience.”
All this, and more, has Tirade accomplished in the recent decree of the Peruvian government. I think that I can also trace Ijurra’s hand in this action of the government, and fancy that it is the result of many conversations we had on this subject during our long voyage. He is now in high favor with the government, and has been sent to Loreto in quality of sub-prefect and military commandant, (second in authority in the new province.) He writes me that he shall establish himself at Caballo-cocha, where he will labor with zeal and vigor in the great cause, till death overtakes him. Long and late may it be in coming to my faithful companion.
Fortunately for her own interests, the advancement of commerce and the progress of civilization, Bolivia refused to listen to the Brazilian envoy; she knew that, even with the assistance of Brazil, she was not able to undertake with any prospect of success the navigation of the rivers, and the development of the resources of her great territory. She preferred to entrust this enterprise to the energy and competition of the great commercial nations of the world, rather than take it on her own
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shoulders by a useless exclusiveness; and she therefore issued a decree on the 27th of January, 1853, declaring several ports on each and all of her rivers which communicate with the Atlantic, whether by the La Plata or the Amazon, free and open to the commerce of the world.
This was a very important document; it put the Northern republics on their guard, and excited a spirit of emulation in their governments. I have heard nothing of the result of Lisboa’s mission; but I know that some of the most distinguished citizens of those republics have declared themselves favorable to the project of opening their rivers and ports to foreign trade, and are disposed to urge their respective governments, if necessary, to demand of Brazil the right of way to the ocean.
Independently of the action of the Spanish American republics concerning the free navigation of their tributaries of the Amazon, we have a special treaty with Peru, negotiated by John Randolph Clay, our present minister, in July, 1851, which entitles us, under the present circumstances, to the navigation of the Peruvian Amazon. The second article of that treaty declares that, “The two high-contracting parties hereby bind and engage themselves not to grant any favor, privilege, or immunity whatever, in matters of commerce and navigation, to other nations, which shall not be also immediately extended to the citizens of the other contracting party, who shall enjoy the same gratuitously, or on giving a compensation as nearly as possible of proportionate value and effect, to be adjusted by mutual agreement, if the concession shall have been conditional.”
The concession to Brazil is conditional, but we shall find no difficulty in “giving a compensation as nearly as possible of proportionate value and effect;” that is a matter for Peru to decide, and there is little doubt but that she will consider the presence of our people and our vessels in her country, and upon her streams, as being of proportionate value.
It will be thus seen that our citizens have a legal right, by express grant and decree, to trade upon the interior waters of Peru and Bolivia, and it is presumed that Brazil will not attempt to dispute the now well settled doctrine, that no nation holding the mouth of a river has a right to bar the way to market of a nation holding higher up, or to prevent that nation’s trade and intercourse with whom she will, by a great highway common to both.
But Brazil has effectually closed the Amazon by her De Souza contract; she gives him the exclusive privilege for thirty years, with a bonus of $80,000 per annum, besides guaranteeing to him the $20,000 of Peru. This of course defies competition, though I very much doubt if the contract will endure; the Brazilians are so little acquainted with
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river steam navigation that De Souza will run his boats at great cost; the conditions of the contract are also stringent and oppressive, and under such circumstances, even with the bonus of $100,000, I doubt if the trade of the river for several years to come will support the six steamers that he contracts to keep on the line.
Brazil, too, will soon see that in this matter she is standing in her own light. The efforts of this company, though partly supported by the government, will make little beneficial impression upon so vast a country, in comparison with that which would be made by the active competition of the commercial nations of the world.
Were she to adopt a liberal instead of an exclusive policy, throw open the Amazon to foreign commerce and competition, invite settlement upon its banks, and encourage emigration by liberal grants of lands, and efficient protection to person and property, backed as she is by such natural advantages, imagination could scarcely follow her giant strides towards wealth and greatness.
She, together with the five Spanish American republics above named, owns in the valley of the Amazon more than two millions of square miles of land, intersected in every direction by many thousand miles of what might be called canal navigation. As a general rule, large ships may sail thousands of miles to the foot of the falls of the gigantic rivers of this country; and in Brazil particularly, a few hundred miles of artificial canal would open to the steamboat, and render available, thousands of miles more.
This land is of unrivalled fertility; on account of its geographical situation and topographical and geological formation, it produces nearly everything essential to the comfort and well-being of man. On the top and eastern slope of the Andes lie hid unimaginable quantities of silver, iron, coal, copper, and quicksilver, waiting but the application of science and the hand of industry for their development. The successful working of the quicksilver mines of Huancavelica would add several millions of silver to the annual product of Cerro Pasco alone. Many of the streams that dash from, the summits of the Cordilleras wash gold from the mountain-side, and deposit it in the hollows and gulches as they pass. Barley, quinua, and potatoes, best grown in a cold, with wheat, rye, maize, clover, and tobacco, products of a temperate region, deck the mountain-side, and beautify the valley; while immense herds of sheep, llamas, alpacas, and vicunas feed upon those elevated plains, and yield wool of the finest and longest staple.
Descending towards the plain, and only for a few miles, the eye of the traveller from the temperate zone is held with wonder and delight
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by the beautiful and strange productions of the torrid. He sees for the first time the symmetrical coffee-bush, rich with its dark-green leaves, its pure white blossoms, and its gay, red fruit. The prolific plantain, with its great waving fan-like leaf, and immense pendant branches of golden-looking fruit, enchains his attention. The sugar-cane waves in rank luxuriance before him, and if he be familiar with Southern plantations his heart swells with emotion as the gay yellow blossom and white boll of the cotton sets before his mind’s eye the familiar scenes of home.
Fruits, too, of the finest quality and most luscious flavor, grow here; oranges, lemons, bananas, pine-apples, melons, chirimoyas, granadillas, and many others which, unpleasant to the taste at first, become with use exceedingly grateful to the accustomed palate. The Indian gets here his indispensable coca, and the forests at certain seasons are redolent with the perfume of the vanilla.
It is sad to recollect that. in this beautiful country (I have before me the valley of the Chanchamayo) men should have offered me title deeds in gratuity to as much of this rich land as I wanted. Many of the inhabitants of Tarma hold grants of land in the Chanchamayo country from the government, but are so distrustful of its ability to protect them in their labors from the encroachments of the savages, that they do not cultivate them.
About half a dozen persons only have cleared and are cultivating haciendas. One of these, the brave old Catalan Zapatero, was building himself a fire-proof house, mounting swivels at his gate, and swearing in the jargon of his province that, protection or no protection, he would bide the brunt of the savages, and not give up what had cost him so much time and labor without a fight for it. It is a pity that there are not more like him. The Peruvian government, however, should assure the settlers of efficient protection. It should not only keep up the stockade of San Ramon, but should open a road down the valley of the Chanchamayo to some navigable point on that stream, or to the Ucayali itself, establishing other stockades along the route for the protection from the Indians of those whom liberal offers may attract to the settlement and cultivation of that delightful country. I feel confident that she will pierce the continent and open a communication with the Atlantic with more facility and advantage by this route than by any other.
The climate of this country is pleasant and healthy; it is entirely free from the annoyance of sand flies and musquitoes, which infest the lower part of the tributaries, and nearly the whole course of the Amazon. There is too much rain for agreeability from August to March; but
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nothing could be more pleasant than the weather when I was there in June.
The country everywhere in Peru, at the eastern foot of the Andes, is such as I have described above. Further down we find the soil, the peculiar condition, the productions of a country which is occasionally overflowed, and then subjected, with still occasional showers, to the influence of a tropical sun. From these causes we see a fecundity of soil and a rapidity of vegetation that is marvellous, and to which even Egypt, the ancient granary of Europe, affords no parallel, because, similar in some other respects, this country has the advantage of Egypt in that there is here no drought. Here trees, evidently young, shoot up to such a height that no fowling piece will reach the game seated on their top-most branches, and with such rapidity that the roots have not strength or sufficient hold upon the soil to support their weight, and they are continually falling, borne down by the slightest breeze, or by the mass of parasites and creepers that envelop them from root to top.
This is the country of rice, of sarsaparilla, of India-rubber, balsam copaiba, gum copal, animal and vegetable wax, cocoa, Brazilian nutmeg, Tonka beans, ginger, black pepper, arrow-root, tapioca, annatto, indigo, sapucaia, and Brazil nuts; dyes of the gayest colors, drugs of rare virtue, variegated cabinet woods of the finest grain, and susceptible of the highest polish. The forests are filled with game, and the rivers stocked with turtle and fish. Here dwell the anta or wild cow, the peixi-boi or fish-ox, the sloth, the ant-eater, the beautiful black tiger, the mysterious electric eel, the boa, constrictor, the anaconda, the deadly coral snake, the voracious alligator, monkeys in endless variety, birds of the most brilliant plumage, and insects of the strangest forms and gayest colors.
The climate of this country is salubrious and the temperature agreeable. The direct rays of the sun are tempered by an almost constant east wind, laden with moisture from the ocean, so that one never suffers either from heat or cold. The man accustomed to this climate is ever unwilling to give it up for a more bracing one, and will generally refuse to exchange the abandon and freedom from restraint that characterizes his life there, for the labor and struggle necessary even to maintain existence in a more rigorous climate or barren soil. The active, the industrious, and the enterprising, will be here, as elsewhere, in advance of his fellows; but this is the very paradise of the lazy and the careless. Here, and here only, such an one may maintain life almost without labor.
I met with no epidemics on my route; except at Pará, the country
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seemed a stranger to yellow fever, small-pox, or cholera. There seemed to be a narrow belt of country on each side of the Amazon where bilious fevers, called sezoens or maleitas were particularly prevalent. These fevers are of malignant type, and often terminate in fatal jaundice. I was told that six or eight days’ navigation on each tributary, from the mouth upwards, would bring me to this country, and three or four more would pass me through it; and that I ran little risk of taking the fever if I passed directly through. It appeared, also, to be confined to a particular region of country with regard to longitude. I heard nothing of it on the Huallaga, the Ucayali, or the Tapajos, while it was spoken of with dread on the Trombetas, the Madeira, the Negro, and the Purus. Filth and carelessness in this climate produce ugly cutaneous affections, with which the Indians are much afflicted, and I heard of cases of elephantiasis and leprosy.
I have been describing the country bordering on the Amazon. Up the tributaries, midway between their mouth and source, on each side are wide savannahs, where feed herds of cattle, furnishing a trade in hides; and at the sources of the southern tributaries are ranges of mountains, which yield immense treasures of diamonds and other precious stones.
It is again (as in the case of the country at the foot of the Andes) sad to think that, excluding the savage tribes, who for any present purposes of good may be ranked with the beasts that perish, this country has not more than one inhabitant for every ten square miles of land; that it is almost a wilderness; that being capable, as it is, of yielding support, comfort, and luxury to many millions of civilized people who have superfluous wants, it should be but the dwelling place of the savage and the wild beast.
Such is the country whose destiny and the development of whose resources is in the hands of Brazil. It seems a pity that she should undertake the work alone; she is not strong enough; she should do what we are not too proud to do, stretch out her hands to the world at large, and say, “Come and help us to subdue the wilderness; here are homes, and broad lands, and protection for all who choose to come.” She should break up her steamboat monopoly, and say to the sea-faring and commercial people of the world, “We are not a maritime people; we have no skill or practice in steam navigation; come and do our carrying, while we work the lands; bring your steamers laden with your manufactures, and take from the banks of our rivers the rich productions of our vast regions.” With such a policy, and taking means to preserve her nationality, for which she is now abundantly strong, I
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have no hesitation in saying, that I believe in fifty years rio Janeiro without losing a title of her wealth and greatness, will be but a village to Pará, and Pará will be what New Orleans would long ago have been but for thee activity of New York and her own fatal climate, the greatest city of the New World; Santarem will be St. Louis, and Barra, Cincinnati. The citizens of the United States are, of all foreign people, most: interested in the free navigation of the Amazon. We, as in comparison, with other foreigners, would reap the lion’s share of the advantages to be derived from it. We would fear no competition. Our geographical position, the winds of Heaven, and the currents of the ocean, are our potential auxiliaries.
Thanks to Maury’s investigations of the winds and currents, we know that a chip flung into the sea at the mouth of the Amazon will float close by Cape Hatteras. We know that ships sailing from the mouth of the Amazon, for whatever port of the world are forced to our very doors by the SE. and NE. trade winds; that New York is the half-way house between Pará and Europe. We are now Brazil’s best customer and most natural ally. President Aranha knew this. At a dinner-party given by him at Barra, his first toast was, “To the nation of America most closely allied with Brazil the United States.” And he frequently expressed to me his strong desire to have a thousand of my active countrymen to help him to subdue the wilderness, and show the natives how to work. I would that all Brazilians were influenced by similar sentiments. Then would the mighty river, now endeared to me by association, no longer roll its sullen waters through miles of unbroken solitude; no longer would the deep forests that line its banks afford but a shelter for the serpent, the tiger, and the Indian; but, furrowed by a thousand keels, and bearing upon its waters the mighty wealth that civilization and science would call from the depths of those dark forests, the Amazon would “rejoice as a strong man to run a race;” and in a few years we might, without great hyperbole, or doing much violence to fancy, apply to this river Byron’s beautiful lines: “The casteled crag of Drachenfels Frowns o’er the wide and winding Rhine, Whose breast of waters broadly swells Between the banks that bear the vine. And hills all rich with blossomed trees, And fields that promise corn and wine, With scattered cities crowning these, Whose fair white walls along, them shine.”
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Then might Brazil, pointing to the blossoming wilderness, the well cultivated farm, the busy city, the glancing steamboat, and listening to the hum of the voices of thousands of active and prosperous men, say, with pride and truth:
“Thus much have we done for the advancement of civilization and the happiness of the human race.”
In making out this report, I have been guided by the letter and spirit of my instructions, and have striven to present a clear and faithful picture of the subjects indicated by them. These were, in brief terms, the present condition of the country — its productions and resources — the navigability of its streams — its capacities for trade and commerce — and its future prospects.
This must be my excuse for my meagre contributions to general science. More, I fear, has been expected in this way than has been done; yet the expedition has collected some valuable specimens in each of the kingdoms of natural history, and I hope to obtain means and authority to have them properly described and illustrated. I have mentioned in various parts of my report the names of persons who have assisted me by counsel or information. I shall close it with the name of the last, the ablest, and the best. Whatever of interest and value may be found in the report, is mainly attributable to the guiding judgment and cheering heart of my friend and kinsman, M. F. Maury.