Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-11-20
NATIONAL NTELLIGENCER.
THE AMAZON AND THE ATLANTIC SLOPES OF
SOUTH ANERICA.-No H.

=
The apolicy of commerce" and not the "policy
of conquest" is the policy Of the United States.
The spirit of the age, animated by private enter
prise, Is every day seeking new fields for its peace
full triumphs, and commerce can accoplish4 4hroughs
- 1hs wuu 80 ae'sieasaAeak lke 1hoG
await its coming and it, marches up 6Ad down the
Amazon and other great rivers Of that greatest Of
watersheds, the Atlantic slopes Of South America
Men may talk about Cuba and Japan, but, Of all
the diplomatic questions of the day, the free nav-
CATION of those majestic water-courses and their tr
butaries this country the most valuable and mpor
tant. 1t surpasses them ALL 1t is paramount.
The country that is drained by the Amazon if reclaim
ed from the savage, the wild beast and the reptile and
reduced to cultivation now would be capable Of support
ing with its produce the population of the whole world
1t is rice country The yield of rice is forty
for one 1t is reaped five months after planting andmay
be planted at any time of the year. Thus the farmer
may plant bushe of rice to-day in five months hence
he viii gather forty from it. Planting these forty, he
may in another five months gather sixteen hundred BUSH
els In months the earth yields increase there of
thousand-fold and more.
Corn too, may be planted at any time, and in three
months is fit for gathering Thus the husbandman there
may gather four crops of year Its seasons are
everlasting summer, with perpetual round of haryess
of these United States open that river to steam and
its valley settlement and cultivation and its EARTH air
and waters the business and of trade and traffic
There upon the Atlantic slope of South America in the
valley Of the La Plata and in the valley of the Amazon,
nature in oil her ways has been most bountifu There
the vegetable kingdom displays its forces in their most
perfect grandeur and in oil their might and there too
the mineral kingdom is most dazzling with its wealth
opened to navigation its forests to settlement its pampas
to cultivation What has done for South Ame
RIGA is nothing what it viii do 1t has fringed only the
of that continent with settlement and cutva-
ton The great interior has never been touched the
heart Of the country is commercial blank is it to
be reached except through the powers of steam and the
free use of its majestic water-courses.
is of this country, of the Importance of settling it
up, of sending there the immigrants the steamboat the
axe and the plough with the messengers Of commerce.
that wish to speak.
Let us, therefore, first see where it is how far off it is,
and what its actual condition. and then will be enabled
the better Judge to the true of policy which
it would be best for the commercial nations Of the earth
to take with regard to it. The semicontinen of South
America is very nearly in shape that of rghtangled
triangle. Its hypothenuse rests the Pacific one Of
its legs extends from Cape Horn Cape St Rogue Here
the right angle formed with the other leg which extends
from Cape ST. Rogue in latitude 80 SOUTH Cabo La yea
of the Caribbean sea- in latitude 12o north.
The longer leg is that between Capes Horn and St.
Rogue it is $500 geographical miles in length The
other leg has only $500; but the hypothenuse which
stands on the Andes and the Pacific than
1900 miles long.
This confguraton exercises powerful influence upon
the climates of South America especially regards its
photography.
The great rivers Of that country the mighty Amazon
and the majestic La Plata resultants Of this confgu
ration In consequence of having the front which
rests upon the long leg in the southern hemisphere to
look southeast the northeast and the southeast trade
Winds they actess the Atlantic filed with mois-
ture 20 ful-charged ints the interior dropping it in
showers they 60, until they reach the snowcapped
SUBMITS the Andes when the last drop that hatyey
temperature wiring from them is deposited, to melt
and feed the sources of the Amazon and the La Plata with
their tributaries.
The northeast tradewnds commence to blow about the
tropc of Cancer and coming from the quarter they do
they blow obiquely the Atlantic They evaporate
from the they go, and impnging at right angles
upon the South American shoreine that extends from
Cape St. Rogue Cabo La vela they carry into the in
terror the vapor that forms the clouds that give the rar
which supplies with water the Magdaena, the 0ronoco
and the northern tributaries of the Amazon.
The volume Of discharged by these rivers into
the sea expressive Of the quantity which those north
east trade winds take up from the sea- and carrying in
the Clouds precptate upon the watershed that is drain
cd by these They are but pipes and gutter,
which nature has placed under the of the great
watershed that has the Andes for rdgepoe the Carb
bean sea and North Atlantic for a cstern.
The trade wind region Of the north Atlantic affords the
water-surace when the evaporation is carried on that
supplies with rains dews, and moisture New Granada,
Venezuela the three Guyanas and the Atlantic slopes Of
Ecuador.
On the other hand the southeast winds commence
to blow about the parallel of 800 $50 south They
come, too, obquely the Atlantic and strike per-
pendcuary upon the South American coast line, which
extends from Cape st. Rogue towards Cape Horn They
pass into the interior with their whole load Of moisture
every drop Of which wrung from them before they
the Andes The quantity Of moisture which is taken up
from the and raned down upon this wonderfully fruit
full country may be in what the La Plata and the
Amazon discharge back into the sea-
Now there is no tropical country in the world which
has TO windward, and exactly windward Of It. such
an extent Of in the trade region
there is no nterropca country in the world that Is 40
finely watcred this great Amazon country Of South
America
Along the Atlantic coast Of the United States alono
the coast Of China and the Of New Holland the land
trends along with the direction Of the Of those
regions These Winds with their moisture travel along
parallel with the land they do not blow perpendcuary
upon it. nor push their vapors right II into the in
terror As they do JIM South America. The consequence