The daily gazette., 1878-10-26
iNEwooMmERoIABrNrrrpp,.r--

~'-" oom ommDn0iALENTE ISB.
sfronTINe THE rRoDucrs OF NORTH.
PARA. "f
The Madeira aud Mamore Railroad
,nng ueftaklng haa been followed by an en-
benefit to the United States nv fsc;,i,n ~,
ting commercial intercourse with ali the,
part OF northwestern South America thai
drained by b Branches of the Amazon
~ 10 now proposed to run steamers on
Two OF three OF the principal rivers that
rise In the Andes and flow through Ecnae
dor and the United States of Columb bia
emptying into the Amazon. This would
open newer and cheaper route for tbe
transportation of Peruvian Bark. rubber
anu otner articles, enabling them to be
nlought oy way OF Para instead of hav-
,,a., ,ns .nem carried at so much greater ex-
pense over the Andes and then Skinned
around the Horn or by way of Panama
Inc PERUVIAN bark imported by the
United States grows chiefly on the east
ern slope Of the Andes and beretofnre
that commodity has not only been carried
on rule-back across the mountains. but.
has also been taken to England before
oelng shipped to this country To saw
nothing of other objectio to this route
the passage Of the Andes cap snly be &C.
comphshed during six months of the
year. On the western slope ofthe noun
tains the supply OF the bark from which
quinine is made has been almo-t exhaust
ed by destructive manner of gather
ing. e'A-
The founder Of the new enterprise is
Don haiaelle Reyes. a wealthy Colum-
bian. Having obtained liberal conces-
sions from the United States of Colum-
Dla Tor transportation On the Putumayo
river Ia fine stream, twelve hundred
miles long, rising in Columbia, flowing
through Ecuador and Brazil and empty
Ing into the Amazon he started his pio-
neer steamer, the Apihi, built by Pusey,
Jones & Co., of Wilmington, Delaware,
from Para on the 29th of last April.
Thomas w. Fredercks, who was chief
engineer of that vessel and is now n this
CITY, gives an interesting account Of what
he learned from the trip.
he says that the steamer went all the
way up to Cu.mbi, an Indian village,
about sixty or seventy miles from the
Andes, and got back to Para on the 2eth
of August, after voyage of nearly, il
not quite, four thousand miles. "The
value Of the Peruvian bark that we
brought back" says Mr.. Fredericks.
twas between S4O0, 900 and $500 900. The
Putumayo is very tortuous, but deep
enough to allow vessel drawing FIVE
feet of water to go all the way up to
Point Cantanera, which is thirty miles or
more above Cuembi. Between the Point
and the mouth Of the river there is not
one settlement of whites. The region
drained by the river is very fertile, pro-
duoing, in addition to the products abeve
mentioned, a great abundance of the
ivory palm. Th remarkable tree resem-
a mt h..s Ia l.
nut about the size of an egg, which pos
sesses the hardness, whiteness and near
ly all the other properties of the ele-
plants task. In the arts it would serve
the purpose of the ordinary ivory, and it
is much cheaper. 1t is also found in
abundance on the other side of the
Andes. and ship-loads of it are sent from
Guayaquil to England. One fact, how
ever, that renders the tusk ivory the
more desirable of the two kinds is that
articles Of large size can be made from
1t.
"There are many other benefits to be
derived from the utilization of the Putu-
mayo. Indications of mineral wealth ap-
pear along its banks, aud | think that
iron abounds there. Don Rafaelle pro-
poses also to navigate other branch, of
the Amazon thereabouts. The Morono,
for instance, which flows through Ecua-
dor, and about which little Is known to
whites, he intends to explore with the
object of tapping new region, abound
Ing In Peruvian bark. His Putnmayo
line will run between Cuembi and San
Antonio. AT the latter place, which Is
on the Amazon, above tue mouth of the
Putumayo, Don Rafaelles vessels will
connect with the Para and Iquitos line.
Ever since p. & T. Collins began their
great enterprise the United States has
been rapidly gaining upon England in
the quantity Of exports received at Para.
When ! first went to that city, in May,
1877, there was but one American COM
mission house there, but now there are
two. The first established is a New
York firm; the other is Reed, Crane &
Co. of Philadelphia