The New York herald., 1878-09-27
THE AMAZON SURVEY.

The United States steamer Enterprise, Com.
mander sslfridse. arrived OF the Brooklyn Navy
Yard yesterday afternoon after n voyage OF i've
months exploring the Amazon and ns principal
ributares, more particularly the MADEIRA Captain.
officers and glad to get back, Tor however
noble river the Amazon may be, and however fertile
a country Brazil, there Is such painful abundance
insect life and such lack oil all the converiences
and Iuxures OF cvzation that the visitor TO that re-
gion hasteus home with feeling OF thankiulness at
leaving it. Most of the officers and men suffered
rom.a modilsd type Of maiarial fever, and some Of
them not yet quite recovered. Tho Enterprise
lett New York May 4, and arrived at Para May "a
She left that port June and bsgaa tho survey OF the
Amazon River proper June II. Captain Seifredse,
speaking TO HERALD reporter about the voyage,
said'-"rhe whole lning was perfect success
We obtained barometrlcal heights at dnsront points
OF the river and took soundings from The sea
10 tho tails every five minutes during the day, making
several thousand soundngs IN all At San Antonio we
fouud about three miles OF the railroad built The
first SIX miles are thought 10 DO the very worst oa
The entire route The engineers have been out ahead
aud report sixty miles OF stretch OF ground Eat as
table over which the road will no douoi be rapidly
constructed Tue great object OF oar survey MAS 10
lind how far the Madeira navigabe, and this
have satisfactorily discovered to be the case tor
900 miles. The depth OF water Is Irregular, but not
less than twenty ieet between July aud December.
We found the volume OF The Amazon 10
Mississippi were flowing into II IL wouldn't
raise ITS surface perceptioly. AT Serpa, near the
mouth OF MADEIRA. the Amazon rs milo vide ana
sixty feet deep We ran twentynv miles a day and
stopped ana took observations By the stars Ut night
ritY BROUGHT BACK
The occers were busy ia the wardroom when the
rcpo boarded the ship. Lieutenant Perkins WAS
engaged with "a condensed summary OF the positions
determined on the Amaz9n," Lieutenant Block
IiDgcr deep IN his diary, L,cuienan Spaldng
was playing with u dun-colored monkey, and Engl-
Laws WAS passing judgment on the relative
morits OF Brazilian and Havana cigars 10 the detri.
mcnt of the former.
the officers without being at all enthusiastic over
thor trip or IL was all hard work and under orrid
heat and with tropical Iuxurics rather liked Ia
dwell OF the Incidents OF their trip and the
lab0rs they went through, DOT allied account of which
appeared IN the HERALD Of yesterday. There was
littie gri on board, years OF age, named Alice
Stroope, born of American parents, ut SAM
tarem, the TapaJos River. 500 miles from Para.
Her father formerly doctor in Texas, and with
wife and others emgrated to Brazil after the War.
The doctor ana his wIie died. aud the little child was
thrown alone tho world. Sho was taken charge OF
by Kindly hearted couple, named Coles but
they nnaiiy became too poor TO do much
for her and Captain Seliredge hearing OF the case
took of their hands, and IL the intention send
some relatives OF hers in Texas, the officers OF
tho ship contributing tho means to deiray ner ex-
pcnses. She Is blonde haired, bright nttlc one,
speaking English and Portue uose the iorner with
shghtiy foreign accent The officers brought homo
with hem quite aumbey of curious Indian relics.
bows arrows, pipes and various kinds Of curious