Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-04-09
THE AMAZON RIVER.
A Body of Water One Hundred Miles Wide
at It's Mouth.

Body of Water One Hundred Miles Wide
at Its Mouth.
The Amazon, if the Para river be in
cluded at the southern channel, is one
! hundred miles wide at it's mouth. Para
! itself, the northernmost city of Brazil,
lies at the gateway of the most won
derful river system of the world. 1t is
the commercial depot and distributing
point for 40, 600 miles of navigable wa
ter. The Amazon watershed embraces
twenty-five degrees of latitude and
| thirty-fve degrees of longitude. Its
western sources are in the Andes of
Peru and Ecuador, only few leagues
from the Pacific. It's northern tributa-
ries traverse the borders Of Guiana and
Colombia, while midway the head wa
ters of the Negro mingle with those of
the Orinoco in the western spurs of
the Sierra de Pacaraima.
On the south the Madeira has in
Vulnerable sources in the mountain
levels of Bolivia, while the Tapaios, the
Xingu and the Tocantins penetrate the
! central provinces of Brazil. If a COM
paratively small group of Southern
provinces be left out of the account the
Amazon, with it's tributaries, forms the
water system for an area larger than
the United States. 1t furnishes the only
means of communication between the
smaller centers Of population in fully
one-half of the vast territories of Brazil.
Between most of it's leading ributa
ries are broad stretches of impenetrable
forests which have never been explored
hyrxx 10 oil
that renders any form of government
possible in the heart of South America.
Within the range Of the 40, 600 miles of
navigable water settlements have been
made, rubber farms opened and magis-
trates empowered to conduct local ad
ministration Para, lying at the south
ernmost outlet of the Amazon, less than
a hundred miles from the sea, is the
metropolis of this wonderful valley. 1t
is city with perhaps so, 900 inhabi tants,
and with as much commercial enterprise
as is possible under the equator.
The commerce of the Amazon is
nominally carried on under the Brazil
ian flag. Foreigners are not allowed by
law to own steamers or sailing vessels
employed in inland navagation; and
hence it is necessary for the English
capitalists who control the carrying
trade of the river to assign their inter-
ests to Bazilians. There are forty
steamers owned by an English line,
which receives a large mail subsidy
from the Brazilian Government for ply
ing between various ports and villages
on the main tributaries; and in
return for this financial support it
is well satisfied to fly the national flag.
Another company has eight steamers
under similar conditions; and there are
as many as a dozen more on the river
and its tributaries which sail under the
Brazilian flag. These sixty steamers
are gradually opening up the Amazon
valley to commerce. Only the smaller
vessels are now running beyond Manaos,
at the junction of the Negro, but next
year the largest English vessels will
make regular trips to Yquitos, $3.50
miles from the coast.
Some of the tributaries are only
navigable for long distances at high wa
ter, during certain months of the year,
but the lower villages on their banks
are visited by steamers as often as once
or twice a month. This river trade is
almost completely in the hands of the
Portuguese merchants and the mer-
camille houses represented at Para.
Manaos, with population of $4,000, is
the most flourishing town west of Para.
The other settlements, with few excep-
tons, are struggling villages inhabited
mainly by negroes, Indians and half
breeds.
The forests of the Amazon, consisting
mainly of hard wood, are not available
for commercial requirements. The
finest of rosewood and mahogany are
used there for frewood. Even if there
were demand for the hardwood at Para
it could not be logged and brought to
market on large scale, owing to the
density of the woods and the lack of
roads and clearings. Only one tree
which is the source of wealth in
these immense forests is the rubber
tree. 1t is found everywhere, from the
low-lying delta opposite Para to the
Tapojos, the Madeira and the Negro,
and probably thousands of miles beyond
those great tributaries. In the interior
roads are mpracticable, and the rubber
trees that are MIXED lie along the
rivers where the farms can be ap-
preached. The milk can only be drawn
at certain levels of the river, for the
trunks of the trees are often fifteen or
twenty feet under water after the rainy
seaSOns.-Para Letter in n. Y. Tribune.