New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-06-11
SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE IL, 1858
THE AMAZO.N.

world--broader than the Mississippi, larger
than the Oregon and St. Lawrence combined,
more navigable than the Hudson or Thames.
flowing through country richer than that
drained by the Nile or the Ganges, and q ford
ing such facilities to commerce as no other
stream in the world is possessed OF. For up
wards Of four thousand miles it sweeps through
plains fertile in every product of a tropical
cline with branches and tributares-like the
Negro and Ucayale-that exhaust the resources
of an almost fabulous tract of land, teeming
with riches and undeveloped resources. Its
mouth. which gives fitting premonition of its
vast magnitude, stretches for an hundred and
eighty miles from bank to bank, seeming like
the perfect and harmonious portico to an olden
temple Its depth is stated to be from thirty to
forty fathoms fifteen hundred miles from the
mouth, and vessels of from four to FIVE hundred
tons can navigate nearly its whole extent The
tide is perceptible for six hundred miles up its
current, and the descent of its waters is only
about six inches to the mile. Two hundred
different streams, with numberless branches,
flow into it, intersecting the country that lies
along its course like veins and arteries in the
human body.
The imagination fails at the first effort to
comprehend and take in the idea of q river
whose outlet is on the Atlantic, but whose
sources are thickened with the ashes of Coto-
pax and riled with the filth of Bogota, Quito
and La Plata; that from one ocean almost
reaches to the other, and while sending some of
its branches far into the north of Ecuador and
New Grenada, pushes others still more dis
family towards the south of Brazil and the
lowest boundaries of Bolivia stream that
skirts another shore and robs another coast
more than three thousand miles distant from
thst which is rightfully its own, and which
promises, in the fulness of time, to bear on its
bosom riches vaster than those of Ormus and |
Of Ind
The grandeur and capacity of the Amazon is |
little known. The countries in which it takes |
its rise and through which its waters flow, |
are but dimly and ind istincty described
Some Of them have been closed by despotism |
like that of Francia and others have attracted |
the notice Of only few travellers, and that |
notice nothing more than casual and shadowy |
But still we know enough of the river and of the |
lands that line its banks to feel assured that |
great and uncomputed inland trade is about be. |
ing opened to the world; trade more varied |
and valuable than that of the Ganges or the |
Danube, or the Nile, or the st. Lawrence; a |
trade only inferior in magnitude and import.
ance to that of the Mississippi Brazil New |
Grenada, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, are most |
directly and desirably approached by the tribu-
taries Of the Amazon. Commerce on the Pacific
is confined to the limited products of the West
o1o of Al. a.. T. l
are with difficulty transported across them de-
tract little from the riches of the Eastern as
they add little to the wealth of the Western side
Already those countries that lie along the
Amason, beyond the territories of Brazil, have
solicited the commerce of the world, freed their
ports, and even offered large premiums to those
steamers that should first visit them The spirit
OF enterprise which they have displayed cannot
prove other than contagious, and we expect be-
fore long to see the rich products of their terri
tories swept down the waters of the Amazon for
transhipment to our own and foreign shores
thereby increasing, not only the wealth of South
America, but also adding to that of tho world
Cinnamon, cacao, vanilla, pines, coffee, rice
maize, plantains, lemons, lines, oranges, with
many precious woods and articles of value
abound there. But manufactures and the pro-
ducts Of high civilization do not abound. Who
shall make the exchange for which our South
American friends are SO anxious, and which
cannot but prove immensely profitable
New Orleans is nearer to the mouth of the {
Amazon than any other city of magnitude, and
It Is In that respect better qualified to avail !
herself OF the privileges that only wait to be {
plucked, and the fortunes that need only to be /
accepted, than any other city. If her merchants
have only the foresight, and her capitalists the
enterprise to avail themselves of the opportu- r
NIFTY, they may more than compensate her and h
themselves for other opportunities overlooked
and other occasions sighted 70
We do not assume knowledge of the intri- :
cacies Of trade, nor a close acquaintance with i
the needs of commerce. but we do see a golden |
held In the distance and hear voices calling upon q
us for aid and assistance. We see and hear and {
long to witness the initiation of measures meet I
ior the occasion Our steam marine is increas- t
ing why not still further increase il by one 4
vessel running to the mouth of the Amazon, and '
there meeting the Ell Paraguay" that has al
ready gone to pillow its waters with the pad
die, startle its forests with the shrill whistle,
and at every puff of the engine add something
to the civilization and wealth of the world
Might not one profitable stoppage be found al
havana or Kingston, another at st. Domingo.
ana third at the mouth of the Oronoco 4; I
mouid not the commerce of these places defray
the preliminary expenses, until trade was made
TO grow by the means afforded iii
1t seems to US that New Orleans hoe an Inn
mediate and direct interest in these mstters
that she is the one to take the initiative and
inaugurate good as grand as it is destined TO
be profitable. And with these views we shall
not feel content until the enterprise of our city
has begun to war with the waves of the Spanisb
Main, and forge new links of communication he.
tween the Amazon, the 0ronoco, the Windward
Isles and the mouth of the Balize
The conundrum with which we have been
favored concerning " monopolies is very good,
a ha |