Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-01-20
.r,,,o,.,,o, Of the valley Of III. Amazon :,


We are indebted to the author, Lieut. Hcrndon Of the
Navy Tor copy Of this work. The newspaper articles
the basin OF the Amazon by Lieut. Maury have excl
ted the public curiosity-and this book viii have many
readers We perrsed 1t with great interest It presents
very vivid picture of the county, and the mighty
rivers between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean The
writer Is quite minute in his descriptions He tells us
everything he saw and did, and everything he heard
He crossed the Andes at elevation Of 10000 et-no
far from Lima, in Pcru-eIplored all the famous silver
mines Of those dscts-and then his party, which
small, dvided-he taking the Northern by
the river Hualsga-and detaching mdshipman Gbbon by
the Madeirs aud the Southern tributaries OF the
Amazon. He descended the Huallaga in canoes prope-
ed by udians who assigned him by the Peruvian
authorities We have pretty full account of the natives
OF the forest Who lazy and drunken creatures and feed
upon fruits and bowling monkeys They go clad in natures
costume. with the exception of palm belt around the
loinsare filthy and beastly, both and women, and
very much afflicted with cutaneous diseases. They
almost indifferent money, and will sell anything
they have nj any price. There is very little money in all
the upper portion of the country and not much Of
thing else The Lieut.. and his party often reduced
great straehts for something eat and deemed them
selves happy when lhey could get bowling monkey.
The vegetation OF every kind possesses the uxursnce
ble-the altitude of the trees is almost ndefne-and
the parasitic plants cover them from to top. The
woods full of wild animals OF great variety snakes
Of supendous magnitude birds of the richest pumage
vampires mukeoe sand flies and every species OF PCS
tiferous insect that human existence greatly
abound. Mr. Herndon gives good many statistics to
show the present product ion of the country and its future
capacities. But he did go far from the river bar
and of the country is covered with mpenetrabe
forests, we have rtan knowledge Of the gene al
fertility OF the SOIL His opinion however, is that it ia
very Gch, and capable of supporting all the people
present in the world Upon the strength of this convc
tion he warmly advocates the policy of having the
ron thrown open to the oil the word-beie,-
ing that country will reap immense advantages from
IT, He would have planters thther with
their negroes with the full persuasion that they will gail
immense riches. Ia this opinion however we cannot CO =.
cur. We have land enough at home to occupy all our
labor for hundreds OF years. After the lapse OF ages
aud when shall become crowded here il may be cxpe.
dent TO look the Amazon for the means Of livelihood
and elbowroom But this should prevent US in
the meantime from extending commerce in that ii.
rection, and making whatever be made By it.
Lieut.. Hcrndon nearly 10 months engaged H. his
tonr Of exploration. He left Lima in June, '5l and
reached Para the last Of May So lie TO have me,
his associate Mdshipmap GbbOp, the mouth Of the
Madeira, which empties into The Amazon some thousand
miles below lIualaga. But when lie reached that point
ne neither heard anything Of him. and continued
his voyage Para. We believe Mr. Gbbon has not vet
returned.
We had marked several passages for insertion to give
the reader idea Of the work, but some kind friend
has borrowed copy, and are therefore forced to
omit them.