The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-08-24
BRAzIL'S GREAT RIVER AMAZON, I
MICHTIEST OF INLAND WATERS.
NAvICATEO BY LINERS FROM SEA

The first of the important seaports
of Brazil that are accessible from New
York is Belem, the capital Of the
State of Para. It ranks the fifth in
size. but to the tourist it is Of surpass-
Ing interest because it is situated on
the Para River, the southern or COM
mercial mouth of the Amazon, that
mightiest and most majestic of all
the rivers of the world" writes Har-
~ Weston Van Dyke in his Through
South America
Imagine! a river more than three
thousand four hundred miles long,
with its source in the Peruvian Andes,
sixteen thousand feet above the level
of the sea- river which with its
vast tributaries, many of them from
thousand to two thousand miles in
length, drains territory Of two mill
lion three hundred thousand square
miles, two-thirds as large as our Uni-
ted States, and so rich in Indigenous
resources. and so fertile, that Won
Humboldt said of it that st is here
that one day will concentrate the ci-
vilization of the globe;' a river that
is a mile and a half wide at Taba-
tinga, the last Brazilian port to the
west, and gradually broadens on it's
way to the sea untiltit attains a width
of a hundred and fifty miles at its
northern mouth alone, and dis
charges into the Atlantic q volume of
water more than four times as great
as the outpour of the Mississippi
a river that is navigab1e, that is now
actually being navigated by. ocean
liners, for two thousand miles, clear
across Brazil to Iquitos in the from
tire of Peru.
.fYet, although as early as 1541
Francisco de Oreliana, one of Piar-
ro's little band of conquerors, who
had crossed the Andes In quest Of the
fabulous country Of Ell Dorado, and
and having traversed the whole course
of the river through Brazil with 9
few companions in canoe had made
his way back to Spain and told amaz-
Ing stories OF the wealth Of the re-
gion he had discovered, and although
a century later the astronomer La
Condamine, and still later Baron vor
Humboldt, Castelnau, and others had
successfully pushed alluring account:
Of their explorations in the same re.
gion,- it was not until 1857 that the
river was opened to free navigation
cit is gratifying to reflect that prob
ably more than to any outside influ
ence, 1t was due to the publication o.
! the report of an expedition under
! taken in 1881 by William Lewis Hern
don, lieutenant in the United State,
| Navy, and to the explorations of Loui
| Agassiz, that the interest was aroused
which finally brought this about
| Lieutenant Herndon, like Orellana
started from Lima, and Drawing tn
| passes of the Andes, entered the Anna
| zon from one Of its western affluent
| and made the journey in a canoe, witt
/ only a Peruvian guide and a few In
| dian rowers all the waysto its mouth
/ Professor Agassiz whose exploration
| were begun fifteen years later, start
ed from Belem and travelled in
/ steamboat, such as 1T was, accompan
led by his wife and a corps of scien
/ lists, and was given every assistanc
possible by the Emperor Dom Pedro
who took lively interest in the ex
petition"
i More than forty years Of progress
i and Improvement have passed sine
1 Dom Pedro decreed that the rive
/ should be open to International trade
!, yet all these wonders may still b
seen there-the vast expanses of wa
ter, the shore lines varied by loft
bluffs and low plains of sand, rugge
rocks and dense masses Of foliage. tn
river surface dotted by islands larg
4 and snall-the magnificent forest
still crowding to the banks and TEEN
ing with all the exuberant life an
brilliant hues of the tropics-giar
sumaumeras, their crests towerin
high above all other trees, their hug
| ~ ,lxr Nd he ST a n
| ing out in striking relief from tn
masses of green; tall coconut palm
| tufted at the top with fan-shape
J leaves cut into ribbons and bedecke
) with creamy blossoms; slender, grace
} full assai palms, tall and clean-sten
3 med like the coconuts, but with fluff
feathery crowns; wine palms frol
which the flowers hang in long, GRIN
;. SON tassels, studded with berries I
bright green; jupati palms wit
4 plume-like leaves forty to fifty fei
long that start near the base of tt
8 trunk and cure upward on all sid
Il in the form of a vase; the familis
= fan palm, and legion Of others
J. "And there are rubber trees. whie
9 resemble in that region our northel
: ash; stately castanhas. the trees {
Q which the Brazil nuts grow, and c.
2 caos, that look like our cherry tree
only they give us chocolate and coc'
beans instead and have blossoms
saffron tint; mahogany, rosewood
!, and satinwoods, and great sheaves
whispering bamboo; myriads of fer
: and exquisitely tinted orchids, &C
: cias, scarlet passion-flowers, begoni
= yellow. and b1ue-flowers tnnumerat
y in the widest profusion. Not lit
= ones like our violets hiding modest
. among the MOSES and grass. but /
Il blossoms growing luxurfantly
bushes and upon the parasite win
It that Irvine about the trunks of t
: trees and hang in festoons from thu
IL branches. until the whole river be
der seems ablaze with their VII