The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-10 00:00:00

THE VA/LEY OF THE AMAZON.

In London, on Saturday evening, Mr. John Landes-
man delivered an address at the residence of Captain
Evans' on the fertility of the Valley of the Amazon
and its suitableness as a place of emigration. The
chair was occupied by Col. J. W. Forney, Commis-
sioner from the United States to Europe from the
Philadelphia Exposition.

In opening the proceedings the chairman observed
that he was very gratified in meeting so many of his
friends in connection with a subject of unsual interest
and of peculiar importance in the civilisation of the
present age—namely, the development of that fertile
and almost unknown region the Valley of the Amazon,
on which Mr. Landesman would give them an ad-
dress.
Mr. Landesman then addressed the meeting, and
gave a most glowing account of the fertility and re-
sources of the Amazon Valley and the surrounding
regions. Its adaptability for production deserved not
only the attention of those present, but through them
of far larger circles—in fact, not only of the British
public, but of the whole of Europe. Having described
the mode of reaching the region referred to, commenc-
ing with Liverpool as the starting-point, and reaching
Para, a ttwn of some 30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants under
the Line, and which had been called the Liverpool of
the Tropics, he proceeded to describe in detail the
wonderful natural capabilities of the soil, which only
required the energies of the northern race and a little
organization, to develop them. At present agriculture
was dead, and the commerce was small, the male
population being mostly engaged in gathering rubber,
which was a lucrative occupation. The great want of
the country was labour, Intelligence, and a little
capital, for the natural wealth of the country was
practically unbounded, whilst the climate was that of
a perpetual summer, the temperature varying from 73
to 90 degrees. Epidemic diseases were not more fre-
quent than in other countries.
After the address a brief discussion of a conversa-
tional character ensued. _ _ _

On a side table were several specimens of the timber
grown in the Valley of the Amazon, almost wholly
unknown in the markets of Europe.

THE SULTAN ,OF ZANZIBAR AT
LIVERPOOL.
At the banquet by the Mayor of Liverpool to the
Sultan of Zanzibar on Tuesday, Dr. Badger interpreted
for the Sultan in reply to the toast of his health. The
Seyyid said he was deeply impressed with the warmth
and enthusiasm of his welcome. He did not wonder,
after what he had seen, that Englishmen were proud
of their country and their institutions, and he only
wished that with equal cause he could be as proud of
his own. But the present glory of England was the
Outcome of ages of. civilization' whereas Zanzibar was
still in its infancy. Under the fosteringcare, however,
of the government , and the commercial community
of England, he hoped his country would in time
vie with England in the race of human progress.
He had listened with the greatest satisfaction
to the encomiums passed upon his efforts to
put down an institution which had been sanc-
tioned and sustained for ages, and which was, in
one sense, lucrative to its supporters. By the help of
God (without which nothing could prosper) he was de-
termined to persevere in the same course. (Loud
cheers.) After some complimentary allusions to
Liverpool and its great commercial resources, with
which the Seyyid was particularly impressed, the rev.
interpreter said his Highness wished it to be known
that his dominion would be as open to the enterprise
of the merchants of Liverpool and of this country at
large as it was to himself. His supreme desire was
that the friendship of the past might be perpetuated
and cemented by the interchanges of courtesy and
goodwill which had characterised his visit to the illus-
trious and never-to-be-forgotten town of Liverpool.
(Loud cheers.)