The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-09
QBy FRANK q. CARPENTER

(By FRAN q.
Washington. ID. g., Dec. 6.-By the
time this letter is published eX-PreSi-
dent Roosevelt will % about starting
upon mis- expedition into the tropical
interior of South America. He will
ave already visited the civilized Sec
tions Of the three greatest countries
Of our sister continent, and will have
delivered addresses in Argentine. Chile
and Brazil. He will have Travelled
over the vast coffee plantations about
"A Paulo, will have ridden with the
bauChos or cowboys over the pampas
of Argentina, and will have hunted the
wild American ostriches in the desert
OF Patagonia. He will have Climbed
the Andes, have crossed over into the
progressive bull moose country of
Chile, and have made his way by rail
north and south through that shoe
string republic. He will, in short,
have seen the best in modern pro-
gress that South America has to Of
fer. n will be ready for that part
of the continent which today is prac-
ticaily as wild as it was when Juan
dc Soils first mad his way up the
Rio de Ia Plata. and when PinZOn
discovered the mouth of the Amazon.
South America has the greatest riv-
81 basins on earth, and it is in the
basins OF the two largest of them
that Mr.. Roosevelt is to travel. The
whole eastern and central half Of the
continent is composed Of enormous
river valleys and plains and plateauS.
The Orinoco river, beginning in Vene-
zuela, is longer than from New York
TO Omaha. 1t flows north and it's
head waters are in Brazil so near
those Of the Rio Negro that You can
carry a canoe across from one stream
to~the other, md starting in at the
y ~ ~ 49, So
Brazil and come out into the Atlantic
ocean. The Rio Negro enters the
Amazon q thousand miles from the
mouth. 1t flows in just below the
city Of Manaos, and its black waters
may there be seen moving along side
Ivy side with the yellow waters Of the
Amazon. They flow together fol
some miles before they mix, and ther
the black disappears. 1t is now fiji
teen years since L went a thousand
miles up the Amazon and entered the
mouth of the Rio Negro. The latter
is an immense stream, and at it
mouth it seems as large as the ANA
zon itself.
There are high bluffs lining tn,
banks and a little farther up tn
stream is q succession of lakes, som,
of which are from twenty to thirt,
miles wide. The waters of the Ri
Negro are as black as your hat. Will
lnoSe O. the AIIidLOE are us yellow Il
those Of the muddy Missouri. I re
member that our steamer cut tn
joining of the waters. so that 70
could look down over one side of tn
vessel into "a stream of pitch and o
the other into one of pale gold.
1t is not far from the mouth of tn
Rio Negro that the Madeira flows int
the Amazon, and one can go up ths
river during the rainy season about
far as from New Orleans to ST. LOui
This is to the falls of San Antonio. f
taking a boa around the falls
could so into the Benz and Manor
two of the branches which reach
Bolivia, and by a short portage fro
the Mamore get into the Pilcomay
which flows into the Parana syster
have seen the Pilcomayo where
enters the Paraguay river in the Gre
Chaco, some distance above the A
gentine boundary, and have travel
up the Paraguay almost to the plate;
of Matte Crosse, where rises {
Tapajos river, another tributary
the Amazon. which is about ID
miles long. / passed the mouth of [
Tapajos when j travelled up the Am
zon in 1898. 1t is about 500 mil
from Para and about an equal d
lance from Manaos and the MOT
Of the Rio Negro.
1t has not been reported as
which of these courses eX-Preside
Roosevelt will take in making his "
from the Panama system to that
the Amazon. He might go up
Panama and Paraguay and enter
Pilcomayo, but it is more prOba
that he will travel up the ParagI
river to its source and thence Il
across country and go into Tapa
n float down that stream for L..
miles into the mighty Mother Of v
ters.' He can go almost to the sou
of the Tapajos by the Panama syst
and can reach Cuyaba. Brazil. VIII
is not far from there. by steam. T
town is just about as high above
level as is the surface of Lake Su
rior. and there are comforta