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

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cause, drawing 10 feet-water,
ashore. Our collier ran by us/
cause, drawing six feet water, the was quite secure. eat
morning we weighed, and, steaming on, ovottook her in a
few hours ; but we found that, drawing 10 feet water, we
were compelled to keep in the deepest channel, exposed to
the full force of the current, and following all its bends
from bank to bank, while our collier, drawing six feet,
kept out of the current- and kept a straight course along
the shore. Now, if we had both been sailing-vessels, in
24 hours she would have run full double the distance.
Again, supposing two merchant vessels, one of 400 tons,
the other of 40 tons, got aground, which is very common
on the rivers—what ? Why the 400-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 answer, because they
would always be beaten iu competition by the river craft.
The average of these vessels is from 36 tons to 50 tons.
" I come, therefore, generally, to the conclusion that, as
far as sailing vessels are concerned, the opening of the
Parana will benefit us very-little; but that the trade, with
the exception, perhaps, of Rosario, will 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.

[PRICE SD.

days are sufficient to get all that is wanted. Here
nothing can be had but water."
A letter dated Tahiti, from the same source as
the above, says
"Tahiti is a lovely place, and, without dispute, the
gem of the Pacific. You can stroll for hours through
the beautiful orange groves, and the delicious perfumes
that are wafted on every breeze remind one strongly of
the Paradise described in Scripture. The natives of the
islands, both male and female, are much given to dissi-
pation. The stringent laws of the French bear heavily
on the poor natives, who at present entertain a feeling
of bitter animosity against their foreign rulers. This
may at no distant day result in an outbreak. The
French have erected a good fort commanding the en-
trance to the harbour, and have a frigate of 48 guns,
and one war steamer, now anchored here with a military
force of about 300 on the island. The French officers
are very gentlemanly in their demeanour towards Ame-
ricans generally. Since my arrival here I have dined
with all the civil and military functionaries of the island,
and to-morrow have an invitation to dine with Queen
Pomare and his Royal Highness, her husband. He is a
fine-looking old fellow, but appears somewhat careworn,
and evidently feels his degradation. There are about
15 vessels in this porgy at present, most of them French."

" -

" 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 general good idea of the
capabilities of this river.
" The entrance is through the Martin Garcia Channel,
therefore the river, as a general rule, is closed to all vessels
drawing more than 14 feet water.
"In the navigation the same difficulties of shoal water
are encountered. The navigation extends to 31 deg. 23
min. south latitude, where a ridge of rocks 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 in any degree super-
sede the river craft at present employed. And here again
we have to consider the character of these rivers.
"The former part of this memorandum referred chiefly
to the depth of water, but I now enter upon the principal
impediments to sailing vessels—namely, the strength of the
stream and prevailing winds.
" The current down these rivers varies, according to the
season 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 done 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 hero
" It is immaterial to us what nation gets the transit
trade as king as they will carry our merchandise cheaply
and safely into the interior. A sav lug of time to us is a
saving of money.
" But sea-going ships from Europe will still have to nil•
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 DE LA PLAT A. Miles.
" From Monte Video to Martin Garcia Channel, 100
miles ; open to vessels drawing 16 to 18 feet ... 100
" RIO PAIL ANA.
" From Martin Garcia Channel to Corrientes' 540
miles ; open to vessels drawing from 14 to 7 feet ;
becoming generally shallower as you ascend ... 540
" From Corrientes to Candelaria, 150 miles ; open to
vessels drawing from 7j feet to feet, uncertain ;
rapids at Candelaria, ... ... 15
" RIO PARAQUAY.
•

" From Corrientes to Ascension, 200 miles ; open to
vessels drawing 7 feet water ..• _CO
" From Aseencion to Cuyaba and Matto Grosso, in
Brazil, 800 miles ; no personal knowledge; believed
to be opened to vessels drawing from 7 feet to 2
feet water, according to the season of the year, &c.
800
" Rio VERMEJO.
" From junction with Paraguay to latitude 23 S., 500
miles ;no personal knowledge ; from feet of
water to 2 A feet, according to the season of the
year, &c. ••• ... 500
- - -

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

2,540

" A. T. HOTHAhI,'
" Captain 75th ltegt."