The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-11-10
life on an Amazonian Steamer.

lNOwN EXTENT. A REGION OF BEAUTY
MD ROMANCE CONCERNING WHOSE
NoNDERS THE EARLY NANIGATORS
LAVE NEVER EXAGGERATED, BECAUSE
MI l. NOT IN THE POWER OF PEN OR
rnNGUE TO DO THEN JUSTICE.
>pecial correspondence of The Journal
NANAos, Brazil, sept. u, 1892. 1t is
Nv Just forty years since steam naviga
ION on the Amazon had its beginning,
nd twenty-five years since Brazil formal
declared the river open to the ships of
nations Yet to this day its navaga-
u is practically under the Brazilian flag,
,d probably that accounts for the re-
rkablv slow growth of the commerce
the richest region on the globe. As
back as the year 1927, there was an
.>,tiation formed in New York City.
Md the South American Steam Naviga-
Ia { ompany. for the express purpose of
Mroting navigation on the Amazon.
Ing been melted thereto by sugges-
~ from the Brazilian government
0e through its charge 4 atiaireS resi-
IN The nited States. Great things
promised on the part oi His Majesty,
M Pedro |. father OF the late more en-
'ened Emperor, who was then the
ny potentate, and a steamboat was
out at great expenses by the com
aforesaid and despatched to Para.
Blazil. through greed and jealousy,
miy failed in every particular To keep
promises, but placed so many obsta-
in the way of the North American
-lprise, that the vessel vas compelled
utturn. and for long time afterwards
ms for indemntication to a large
.alnt were pending before the Brazilian
t1nment
IT, this day the traveller upon the ANA
Immediately after leaving Para, finds
,nself in wild, limitle>s, comparative
'noccupied region, to which the often
,u,ed term. ''primeval solitude is ap-
.lle. Having passed the great island
Narajo, he will hardly see fifty houses
tIliu five hundred miles, and they are
ec huts of palm and bamboo. There
Jew settlements directly on the river,
- most of the hamlets scattered over the
.,0tmous area known as the Amazon val
be hundreds OF miles apart, on the
batary streams and canals and the nrl
luus iquaripes. OF bayous, and though
pcrs of amy nationality may ascend
-al as Manaos thousand miles OF SO,
it all the rest that go beyond that
ui some fifty Ill number, are brazilian,
wing in size from less than twenty tons
.tvn to two thousand tons. Remember
the majestic river drains nearly two
MS Of South America 5 seven million
Ie miles. and that its vast basin would
silly hold fifty countries the size OF Eng
d with tritle OF margin to spare.
otter floating for a week upon it can
begin to form an idea of its inctlcu-
c mass of waters. Could the whole
-le Mississippi river be poured in, it
la not be raised SIN inches, and away
IN Bolivia and Peru, it is in some
VS. 10 feet deep. With its branches
tliucnts ii affords not less than fifteen
jSand miles OF steamboat navigation,
.rSScls drawing six feet of water may
..Ji under the shadows OF tie Andes
Alen first leaving Par; for 'lp the liN-
Eli is Impossible to believe that you
eally on the Amazon. Ion you expert
IN the sensations of being out on the
.a -ea-especially aiteI having lived a
weeks on the greasy gMlicy menu ct
lotel do Commerclo. The rolling
lows and long measured swelts are the
ar realizing the Miltonic phrase OF
.eall-stream. and soon there would be
Nl Of Marajo. half the size of Ireland
line theIi in twain near its mouth.
Z are two days in passing the island,
Upstream steamers leaving Para &C
s-Vardly around it. The river here
.soNIIS is never spoken OF as the Amazon,
s is waters at different points bean
ID names, such as the para river
.y Of Maraio. ''Rio Aturia. etc.
- beyond the point where the NingU
comes rushing in. By the way, II
li to the name Amazouas. many be
1t to have been derived from the IN
word Amassona. applied to the
" adertul phenomenon OF high tide which
Ms two days before and after the full
Htnd extends to the very confluence o1
Madeira. Being very Obstructive to
. craft, the natives call this tide Amas-
DIR boat breaker. Concerning the
le warriors which Friar Casper an(
n. early monkish chroniclers described
vivid imaginings in lieu Of facts
.Ns were not fan amiss in that statement.
cast SO far us appearances 20, tor tt
day the male warriors of the uppel
zon wear teathered skirts and othel
i, -1y usually ascribed to females.
ating passed the wide mouth of the
asst utins river, we come to anchor off The
inst night is spent. Arriving an hou
le nightfall. we find the landing
ted with men women and children
ia little but the blacklist OF skins Will