The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-07 00:00:00

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fore us three sma /craitZ wit c coal . supply ne. Prot
far from the Pass of San Juan one evening near sun-down
we overtook one sailing. The sun ee ,t ;we anchored, be-
cause, drawing 10 feet water, we we re afraid of getting
ashore. Our collier ran by us, and s •an on all night, be-
cause, drawing six feet water, she was quite secure. Next
morning we weighed, and, steaming o n, overtook her in a
few hours ; but we found that, dravei) eg 10 feet water, we
were compelled to keep in the deepest channel, exposed to
. the fall force of the current, and fo II owing all its bends
- from bank to bank, while our collie r, drawing six feet,
kept out of the current and kept a Ear eight course along
the shore. Now, if we had both be ca sailing-vessels, in
24 hours she would have run full datable the distance.
Again, supposing two merchant vessels, one of 400 tons,
the other of 40 tons, got aground, whit
,:h is very common
on the rivers—what occurs ? Why the , 100-ton vessel takes
a fortnight to unload and lighten. The ) 40-ton vessel takes
24 hours, and is off again.
"Therefore, in my opinion, even if! large ships could
always ascend, they would not find it r .nswer, because they
would always be beaten in competitio n by the river craft.
The average of these vessels is from 36 tons to 50 tons.
" I come, therefore, generally, to tb te conclusion that, as
far as sailing vessels aro concerned, the opening of the
Parana will benefit us very little, but that the trade, with
the exception, perhaps, of Rosario,
still continue to be
transhipped at Buenos Ayres or Monte Video, and sent up
in river craft as before ; and, in proof -of the correctness of
this opinion, I may mention that 'eight months have
elapsed since the Parana was opened, and that I have not
heard of one of our vessels ascending it, nor seen our flag
on the river.
" I have never ascended the river Uruguay, and cannot,
therefore, speak from personal observation ; but from what
I have heard I think I can give a gen oral good idea of the
capabilities of this river.
" The entrance is through the Martin Garcia Channel,
therefore the river, as a general rule, i is closed to all vessels
drawing more than 14 feet water.
"In the navigation the same difflci cities of shoal water
are encountered. The navigation extends to 31 deg. 23
min. south latitude, where a ridge of mocks across the river
impedes it.
"The whole navigable distance is about 250 miles. I
cannot say where vessels of 12 feet, 10 feet, and 8 feet
draught are successively stopped, but the river in general
has the same characteristics as the Parana, and gives ves-
sels of small draught a very considerable advantage over
vessels built for sea voyages
"I now turn to the remaining consideration, whether
river steamers under our our flag or the flag of any other
nation can compete successfully, and ion any degree super-
sede the river craft at present employed. And here again
we have to consider the character of tl Jesse rivers.
" The former part of this memorandum referred chiefly to the depth of water, but I now enter upon the principal—
impediments to sailingevessels—namell-namely the strength of the
ahem and prevailing winds.
" The current down these rivers varies, according to the
IMAM of the year, from about 2 to 4 miles an hour. Hence
sailing-vessels cannot ascend, unless they have not only
favourable winds, but winds of such strength as to impel
them above 2 or 4 miles an hour.
" The Parana appears to form a natural channel for the
winds—for they almost always blow either directly up or
directly down. Meteorological observation at Buenos Ayres
in the year 1822 gives about two days northerly wind to
one day south the whole year round, or, to ships ascending
the river, two days' foul wind to one fair.
" The passage from Buenos Ayres to Ascension, a dis-
tance of upwards of 800 miles, is therefore very tedious
The average time is 70 days, or about 12 miles a-day. It
takes longer to get to Ascension from Buenos Ayres than
to England.
" Now, see what has been clone by steam. An American
merchant steamer, a slow boat, drawing 8 feet water,
reached Ascension in eight days, and returned to Buenos
Ayres in eight days. But vessels built on the plan of the
Mississippi boats, drawing 5 feet water, could, in my
opinion, reach Ascension in eight days, and return in five.
" Wood for fuel in the upper part of the river is abun-
dant, and of excellent quality. It could be floated down
in rafts to form depots where required, and saw-mills
erected, worked by the force of the current, to cut it to
convenient lengths.
" Reports say that two more American steamers are
coming out for this trade.

" To conclude, the -markets in the interior are over-
stocked already with British goods. No further increase
of any importance can be expected. The rivers of such a
character that, as a general rule, it will not answer for sea-
going ships to ascend them, but they are eminently adapted
to steam. But this business will, in all probability, get
into the hands of the Americans, partly because they have
much more experience in steam river navigation than we
have, and party because they have always as supply of
boats unequal to the competition on their own rivers, which
they will be glad to employ out here
It is immaterial to us what nation gets the transit
trade as long as they will carry our merchandise cheaply
and safely into the interior. A saving of time to us is a
saving of money.
" But sea-going ships from Europe will still have to un-
load and transfer their cargoes to steamers or river craft,
and the port where this important change should take
place is Montevideo.
" I annex a statement of the vast interior navigation of
these countries:

"RIO LA PLATA.
" From Monte Video toDE
Martin Garcia Channel, 100 ilex.
miles; open to vessels drawing 16 to 18 feet ... 100
" Rio PARANA.
" From Martin Garcia Channel to Corrientes, 540
miles ; open to vessels drawing from 14 to 74fect ;
becoming generally shallower as you ascend ... 540
" From.Corrientes to Candelaria, 150 miles ; open to
vessels drawing from 7i feet to feet, uncertain ;
rapids at Candelaria ... .
... 15
" RIO PARAQUAI).I. 111• •
" From, Corrientes to Ascension, 200 miles open to
vessels drawing 7 feet water ••• 201
rom Ascencion to Cuyaba and Matto Grosso, in
Brazil, 800 miles; no personal knowledge ;^believcd
to bo opened to vessels drawing from' 73 feet to 2
feet water, according to the season of the year, &c. BCO
" RIO VERMEJO.
From junction with Paraguay to latitude 23 S. 500
miles ; no personal knowledge ; from 7i feet of
water to 21 feet, according to the season of the
year, &..e.
..• •• • ... 500

" Rio URUGUAY.
" From Martin Garcia Channel to 31Q 23 S. lat., 250
miles; from vessels drawing 14 feet to probably
vessels drawing 5 or 6 feet 250

... 2,540
" A. T. HOTIIAM,
" Captain 75th Itegt."