The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-11-23

Others again like amber, hard brittle, and iuso
liable in water. Some eedan yield gum equal to
gum arabic others . natural glue, which. when
once dried u unaffected BY vet or dampuoss"
Hero, too, N these wilds, flourish eide By side the
India rubber, the Vanilla, with its sweet scented
bean, and the Pdfo santo, from which the gum guia-
cum Of eur commerce is gathered.
Wild. too, in those wonderful forests grow, ma
ture, aud decay. annually and in large quap titles
two or three kinds of hemp, nnr sopN,icd or sosl
nut. the cocoa, yerba matte of superior quality two
kinds Of cotton, With vegetable ellis and in vast
quantities.
The psmpas are grazed by immense herds of cat
tie ana horses snd great quantities of " hides
hair, horns bones, tsllsw, SC are lost for want Of
transportation "
Upon the fertile sluvsl banks Of 20 sny large streams
fuosr cane cotton, tobacco az supsror qusiy RIGS
msndooa lHssn corn and thousand other productions
vtGetstc with psofuion; whilst seven varieties OF the
bsmboo line the river banks aud dot the equent lakes
with ieiets OF Touching beauty.
In short this traveller thus SUI up his account
of this glorious valley
We have found the forests spontaneously producing
everything necessary for the comfort and luxury OF
Kind rom thu BEAUTIFUL cotton tree that affords hln
clothing TO the colors which ut his fancy dye and
from the woods that furnish his ship aud house or orna
ment hiseSctoe TO the herb that his sickness
the incense that delights his olfsctories It is only
TO add that the cmate "a fasorabs TO all the
fnl grains sud table vegetables with delicious fruits
support the fiame and crafty the palate.
But from tho republic Of Paraguay, where Hop.
kins wss 10 the mouth Of the La Plaza there vera
only some 500 mile. of river navigation Let us
therefore, ascend higher up tho beautiful Paraguay
cross over into Brazil ascend this river Through
the district 9 Dos Diamsntes," to tho CITY o.
: DG0mGattno," and thence trace its sources M
over their beds Of bright jewels and golden sands
to their very fountain head az they leap spangled
and sparkling from the g Dirmond mountains /"
Standing on thess, we may contemplate the great
Divide" which separates the wsters-if they bs
separated--of the Rio de La Plata from the waters
of tao Auszoa.
This ridge extends from east to west over the
distance in strash line Of more than 900 Statute
miles On ono side the streams run south: on the
other they come NORTH and ON both sides they wash
down from this ridge gold, diamodns and other pre-.
oous stones. This auriferous aud rich mineral no.
sion embraces many degrees Of latitude, and ex.
tends through 30 degrees of longitude. l propose
to speak oft at another time,
IL is question whether the waters Of the La
Plata ard the Amazon do not unite through q ma
tural canal, as those of the Amazon and the Orc
noco do through the Casiquiar, and thus afford an
inland navigation from Buenos Ayres in 30 degrees
south, to the mouth Of the Oron0co, where it mp
ties in III degrees north into the Caribbean sea
Truly such navigation would be bringing the
commercial drainage of the Atlantic slopes Of South
America not only at our feet, but it would DO cup
tying its treasures into the very lay into which our
own Mississippi poursis waters, its surplus produce
ard its wealth.
At any rate, whether there be natural canal
there now or not, we may look forward to the time
whom settlement steam, and civilization shall have
taken root upon the great Amazon water shed, Ia
see canals and channel, which, if nature have not
completed art viii, by which the La Plata will be
turned uptide down, and its mouth placed, for al
the practical purposes Of commerce. under tho eqsa-
tor where the Amazon discharges itself into the
sea.
CAstelnau, = French savant, who was sent BY
Louis Philippe, in 1913, to explore tho interior Of the
country, and who went from Rio along this Divide
to Bolivia thence to Lims and then across the
Andes and down tho Amazon to its mouth, gives
much new and valuable information concerning this
whole country. He was gone four or Eve years,
and the first part Of his travels has just been pub
Isbed.
The principal object of his expedition, he says,
was to study in all its bearings the vast basin OF
the Amazon, which is destined to play grand part
in the future history Of America ;for,'' he adds,
the utter neglect of this river basin BY the natons
and comm ercial worlds
An excursion In the northern parts Of the Province
Of Matte Crosse" says Csstlenau afforded an OPP
Iortunty Of determining the position the sources Of
the Paraguay well of the Tapsjos and we could
contemplate at the time the OF the great
est rivers In the world the La Plata and the Amazon
they esped from the bowels Of the earth feet and
interocked one with the other Again, asf to render
nature has placed her mines of diamonds in region OF
country where their value is small in comparison with the
great advantages which commerce Is day to reap
from this mar, elous junction Of waters
IL was in this region that the intrepid old Ser
geant Jeao de Souza found natural tunnel through
which the Sumidouro-so called because it runs for
about the quarter Of league under mountain
carries its waters to pay tribute to the Amazon.
Setting out ftom Csyaba, in l7i6, he descended
the river of that rame to the Paraguay, which no
asoended to the mouth of the Seputuba. Following
this to its sources, he then cut with hatchet way
through the forest for three leagues over which be
transported his vessels, and embarked them upon
the Sumidouro. Following this river until il disap-
peared under mountain, he then disembarked and
sent his yessels through. Then going across the
mountain to the place where the river comes out
again. he had the good luck TO find his vessels had
passed through without damage.
ReembarkiDg, he then descended tho Arinas and
Amazon to Para, where he was put in prison on &C
count Of his discoveries, for it was the policy oil
Portugal. and has since been that Of Brazil, to be
as exclusive as Japan, with regard to these grsa:
river basins, and the treasures they contain.