Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-11-20

Il
eorn of drugs, woods DYES and Spices and Of almost all
the agricultural staples Of the earth.
| The Rio de La Plata lies wholly within the Southern
hemisphere and it is the greatest river that does lie
consequently it has opposite with those of the
Northern When the husbandman is sowing in the North
then he who s the earth in this beautiful river
will be gathering his CROP and consequently the planter
and the farmer and the merchant of the La Plata will
control Of the Northern markets for six months
every year without competitor. @
The Rio de La Plata, properly speaking is that of
the between the parallels of $50 and 36o of south
latitude It's breadth is hundred miles or more accord
ing to the place of and it is formed by the
junction of the Parana and the Uruguay treat Of all
the country drained by these rivers and their tributaries
| as the Valley Of the La Plata t
The Uruguay is beautiful stream. 1t takes its rise
in the Brazilian province of Santa Catarina on the west
ern slopes Of the Sierra do MAR or the sea range Of
mountains It's 10 first westwarly and then SOUTH
wsrdy; II Is abous ssvon Hundred miles long drains
rich fertile and toleby wellscttled country For part
Of tho way it Is the boundary between Brazil with the
Banda Oriental side and the Argentine Confede-
| ration the other g sa Fsts l3 M
The Parana is majestic river 1t is formed by the
junction of the two Brazilian streams the Rio Grande
the Paranahba The former takes its rise near the
parallel of zoe SOUTH not far from the Shore and in
! the wealthy province of Minas Geraes The valley in
which the headwater of this river gathered into the
main stream is most magnificent lis about two hun
dred miles broad in the widest part by four hundred
miles long The of the Rio Grande through it is
due wes and for about five hundred miles, until meets
the Paranahiba coming from the norhward, where its
nterap and almost ntermngle with those of the
Amazon.
The population of the two interior provinces of Mnas
Geraes and Goaz in which these two tributaries of the
Parana take their rise and in which they le is for the
former million, for the latter hundred and fifty
thousand.
The Japaneseike policy which has been observed with
regard to scientific explorations of the La Plata and its
tributaries has kept the world in the dark to many
parts of that Valley.
DR. FRANcIA established in Paraguay many years ago.
government founded upon the Japanese system RosAs
attempted imitation of this policy long he in
power and Brazil has always practised it. So that geo
graphers really know very little to the Brazilian tr
buaries Of the La Plata their navigabity, and the
mercal resources of the countries which they drain
According to the map Do Imperio do Brazil" pub
lshed in 1846 under the auspices of the Geographical
Society Rio de Janero and which is before me- the
Parana for the frst FIVE hundred miles below the junction
of the Rio Grande and the Paranahba through
inhabited parts of the provinces of Gayaz ato Crosse
runs through and among the Spanish republics of that
region for about twelve hundred miles its entrance
into the Plata Along this part of its the country
is pretty well settled, and, according to Montgomery
Martini whose authority j. recent than that Of
ma. tho Geographical Society Of Brazil must be
in high state Of cultivation. Writing last ysar pan
this river, he says:
During the six or eight months that the Parana, or
Plate river was recently opened to European commerce.
upwards Of sixteen millions dollars worth of goods
exchanged for produce, and this without any previously
organized mercantile establishments system. Two
conveys ef merchant ships of no. and the other Of
rs vessels down the river with full cargoes 1t is
true that this extent Of trade partly attributable to
the accumulation of property owing to the previous in
erdcton Of commerce by General Rosas, whose exclu
sve policy is imitation Of that Of DR.. Prancia he
has himself boased He is therefore entirely hostile
mercantile indeed to any intercourse especially with
Europeans. Were Rosas to succeed he would form a
State such Japan has been for the last two centuries
The Of this river, know, is valuable but
whether it be very valuable at this time the above
extract from Martin would make it, doubt.
But suppose il million instead Of sixteen that
brought down through this unexpected free navga
ton for six eight months what would it not be under
regular steam and free navigation at the end Of six
eight years, when the steamboat and commerce shall
have stimulated the productions Of the country up to the
capacity Of its industrial capitals
Leaving the Parana, and travelling still further west
next to the Paraguay the magnificent tr-
butary in this watershed Following il in it's windngs
il is navgable to the distance Of about thousand
miles from the 1t is the Missouri Of the La Plata
valley.
friend who has been residing in the capital Of the
Republic of Paraguay for years returned thence
few months ago. SHALL therefore draw upon him for
information touching this interesting river and region Of
country: also, Francis del Castelnau, who travelled
through that country in 1s4S-9, is quite full.
According to Hopkins Paraguay is but another para
diset or this country and its commercial resources,
says he:
81 can speak with the greatest certainty from my own
personal knowledge Almost divided by the tropic Of
Capricorn its surface is like chess board checkered
here and there with beautiful pastures and magnificent
forests Unlike all other lands with which acauain
ed il destined especially for the habtaon Of
Here in the eastern portion Of land the first
settlers found the whole country covered with woods
west of the Mississippi the other extreme exists in the
of prairie destitute Of timber On the north
Of Brazil in similar manner unbroken forests; in
southern parts, and throughout the
Entire Rios, Corrientes, and the Argentine Republic we
find continuous pampas, like praries, in many in
stances without bearing the necessary fuel house
hold purposes. Not so in Paraguay where added TO
suficency for building fleets Of thousand steamers
its forests TEEN with every description Of ornamental and
useful woods
beginning with the headwaters Of the river Para
quay, find the productions upon the Brazilian side
be gold and precious stones, sugar. moasses hides Of
extraordinary size hair, taow, wax deer and tiger
skins with rice corn and the different manufactures Of
the mandioca root in Bolivia gold and precious stones
silver, coeeconsdered by good judges to be equal
lMOcha-and har