Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-05-22
SOUTH AMERICA.
Ample Facilities Afforded for It's Future
Exploration.

Ample Facilities Afforded for It's Future
Exploration.
There are portions of South America
which are unknown and inaccessible,
but explorers of unquestionable ability
and veracity have let in floods of light
upon regions which the public is prone
TO believe have never been trodden by
any save the savage Indian. Stieler's
maps of South America show at
glance what is known, and what un-
known. The continuous lines of rivers,
for example, are plated from the mathe-
NAUTICAL observations of competent trav-
elers. The dotted lines indicate suppo--
sitional courses. The accuracy of these
maps is astonishing. In distance of
thousand miles on the upper Amazon,
there exist only about a dozen triHing
errors, such as little town placed
on the wrong side of a rivar,s a
secondary nchannel mistaken for the
main channel around an island, and a
river emptying into the Amazon at the
middle of a big bend instead of at its
end. The town had once stood where
once represented on the map, but being
burned had been rebuilt across the
river; and as the river is subject to rapid
changes owing to the erosion of its
| banks, it is possible that the other err
rors would, upon investigation, prove
correct according to the latest observa-
| tions available at the date of publica-
| ton of the map. A few suggestions will
show where and how the love of ex.
| ploration and adventure may be graft
fed with profit to the explorer and to
1 the world. Eastern, western and south.
ern Peru are well known. So is western,
middle, and the more important portionE
| of eastern Ecuador; all of Bolivia, ex.
cept the extreme northern part; all OF
| Colombia, except the southeastern por-
ton, all of Venezuela, except the south
western and southeastern corners; the
whole of British and French Guiana; all
| of Brazil, except that portion north OF
the Amazon between the Rio Negro and
the Rio Paru.~ While there are many
extensive areas In the other portions OF
| these countries which are only indiffer-
emily known, the information at hand
concerning them is sufficient to render
| possible very accurate reasoning re-
| garding the means Of developing their
resources. Their general physical as.
poets are comprehended; we know their
natural products, the number and
extent of their navigable rivers,
the ordinary facilities for com
munication, the character of their
inhabitants, and the presence
or absence of organized government.
I Southern Colombia and northern Ecua-
dor,ahowever, offer a rare field for in
telligent exploration. Although q
mule road has been in use between
Popayan and Quito for over two hun.
dred years, our knowledge of this
region is most obscure. It has lain out
of the route of ordinary Travellers
landloclzed, it has preserved its secrets
of open passes, of mineral riches, and
romantic landscapes unbroken to the
present day. 1t is destined to assume
Importance as the encroaching links in
that system of railroads, which will
eventually make the dream of the Pan
American railroad fact shall have left
only this space traversed. A knowl
edge of it's topography and resources
would be of the utmost value. 1t is 6
journey which could be made in single
summer. The route lies" by way o.
Panama, and Buenaventura on the
western coast of Colombia; thence by
rail toward the mountains, and acros:
the western range to Cali, in the valley
of the Rio Cauca. Mule trains are con
stantly passing back and forth from
Cali to Popayan, which latter town il
near the head of the Cauca valley, IL
the extreme south of Colombia. 1t i.
the capital of the great state of Cauca
has long been city of no little com
mercial consequence. and boasts of ;
cathedral and such other public build
ings as are inseparable from Soutl
American town of twenty thousand in
s.-Goldthwaite's Geographical
Magazine.