The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1867-09-14
aEl Brazil. ags 1851
Letter from Capt. Geo. II. Samdidge,
to has father, Col j. N. Sandidge.
Brazil.
Rio JANEIRo, June 81, 1867.

OF over one thousand miles, on
mules, we have just got back to
this city, where we have found
some most welcome letters from
home, dated in April We re-
ceived, whilst at Campinas, the
letters sent by Gen. Rowley-writ-
ten soon after we left New Or
leans. Before giving an account
ofthis last trip, and that you may
the better comprehend the reason
Of certain peculiarities of the sea-
sons along this coast, itmay not
be amiss to state that the trade
winds coming perpetually from
the southeast, across the Atlantic,
causes a degree of GOODNESS not
usually found in like degrees of
latitude elsewhere. Parallel with,
and from five to forty miles from
the shore line of the Ocean, rises
to the height of three or four
thousand feet, the mountains call.
ed the CerTo do Mar. The trade
winds striking these mountains
are pressed up their sides, where,
in greater altitude the moisture
is condensed, and frequent show
ers of rain fall ON the slope be-
tween the sea and the summit of
this range of mountains
Divested thus, of great part of
its moisture, the winds pass be-
| yond these coast mountains and,
in the country beyond, less rain is
precipitated, until crossing the
entire continent, the east vestige
of water is wrung out by the great
Cordilleras, and rain never falls
along much of the coast of Peru
and Chill on the Pacific Ocean.
When L last wrote, we were at
Iguape, in the Ribeira country, I
believe, after which, we spent
two or three weeks more explor-
ing that river and its tributaries !;
we went up the Una, the Carneiro,
the Juquia, the San Lourenco-
besides going up the Rebeira to
the head of safe canoe navigation
at Yporanga. James and Capt.
Jones both came emphatically to
the conclusion that, if the whole
section was offered to them as a
present, on acondition they should
live there, they would not accept
it. Mr.. Dunn, particularly, has
made a most unfortunate selec-
ton. Besides seeing some of the
land itself-quite as much as he
saw-we had access to the books
of the surveyors, who took a sort
of typographical survey of the
country, as well as 1ineal. They
describe it as being a succession
of high steep mountains, with
marshy bottoms of small extent
between, which agreed perfectly
| with what little we saw of it. The
people there say he was fooled by
an old hunter (the samehe speaks
of in his book who took him up
the valley of "Brook Cornelia,0 .
| where he could not see forty feet
on each side, for the mat-or jun.
/ gle-and told him that the balance
was all like that. In fact, that
whole section had, to me, an ap.
pearance of incompleteness: the
profiles of the mountains had moi
! been softened down, or the valleys
filled up. Colonel McMulIen has
made a better selection of land
but it is and will be always diff
cult of access. You go within
some ten miles of the best of his
land in canoes, when the naviga
tion fails, and you have to take il
afoot the balance of the way, i
must be at least two days trave
by canoes, above steam naviga
ton. The difficulty of building {
J, wagon road out would be yer,
great, and expensive in proper
ton. . .'A '34 ~. '.'' .s-2 g. g..
DIR. Gaston's tract is about ON
par with Mr.. Dunn's; little bette
land, but no way of getting ou
except along trail. All of thos'
gentlemen have been very. mucl
humbugged, I think, in thei
country. They went there in tn
driest and coolest part of the yea
didn't stay long, and accepted
!, information from the natives, VIII,
are, by the way, the most inconti
3 nent pack Of liars in the world
: We were there seven weeks, dur
: ing all Of which time we kept al
account of the weather, it rainet
one OF more times every day duI
!, ing our stay, except five, and
! was the beginning of the dry sea
II r q \