Manaos, a city of 60,000 population, is located just off the Amazon seven miles up the Rio Negro, on a large quiet bay. Port works have been constructed, a fine stone wall over 1500 feet long, with floating docks to fit the 50-foot rise and fall of the river, and 16 electrically equipped warehouses conveniently arranged. Considering its location, it is a wonderful city, well lighted, with a splendid opera house, expensive of course, a fine cathedral, schools, a public library, museum, and good sanitation. One thousand four hundred miles farther is the Peruvian city of Iquitos, near the limit of navigation for ocean vessels on the main stream. Some distance below Manaos the Amazon is entered by the Madeira River which gives access to the State of Matto Grosso and to Bolivia.
Matto Grosso is second in size, equal to the States mentioned above without Nevada and Colorado. Estimated population 275,000. This State has Amazonas and Pará on the north, Goyaz, Minas Geraes, São Paulo, and Paraná on the east, Paraguay and Bolivia are on the south, and Paraguay and Bolivia west. The State is much more open than Amazonas; its chief industry is cattle. Forest products however abound, with all kinds of rubber and magnificent timber. There are large agricultural possibilities and considerable matte is exported. Diamonds and auriferous sands are exploited though their origin is uncertain. The river systems north and south meet in the highlands, and connection might be made by a short canal, opening a way from Pará or Manaos to Buenos Aires.
Cuyabá, the capital, on a river of the same name, an affluent of the Paraguay, is quite a city, population 32,000, although 1045 miles above Asunción, while Corumbá, lower down, on the Paraguay, is of nearly equal size. The river at Corumbá is 1000 feet wide, and 6 feet deep at the docks at low water. Corumbá is regularly visited by steamers, though 1800 miles by river from Montevideo. Its export and import trade amounts to at least $4,000,000 annually.
Goyaz, the fourth State in size, following Pará, has Maranhão on the north, Maranhão, Bahia, and Minas Geraes are on the east, Minas and Matto Grosso are south, and Matto Grosso and Pará west. Three hundred thousand is the estimated population with a guess at the number of Indians of many tribes. The principal industry is stock raising and many cattle are exported to neighboring States. The forests have the maniçoba and the mangabeira rubber, also a vegetable silk, paina. There are great mineral riches, placer gold in many streams, and veins in the hills; many diamonds and rock crystal are also produced. Other metals as iron and copper exist. Navigable rivers are the means of communication as in the neighboring States, but a railroad is coming and more rapid development will follow.
The capital, Goyaz, is not much of a place, though of late evincing progress. Several other cities have from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants.
Minas Geraes, the fourth inland State and the fifth in size, has Bahia on the north, Bahia and Espirito Santo east, Rio de Janeiro southeast, São Paulo southwest, and Goyaz west, a small southwest corner about reaching Matto Grosso below. Although without a seaport and with no large city, Minas is the most populous of the States, with an active industrious population. The State leads in mineral riches of almost every kind; it is one of the foremost in agriculture of all varieties, being second to São Paulo in coffee; it has vast pasture lands, exporting 300,000 head of cattle a year, a sugar refinery, flour mills, and a great dairy industry. It has increasing railway service as well as river transportation. It is believed to have a mineral future rivaling that of the best region in the world. Its factories are important and there is a great store of water power.
Bello Horizonte, the present capital, was made to order in 1897, and is well laid out with broad streets, water supply, sewerage, everything of the best type: a Government Palace, the finest State building of Brazil, and a fine Agricultural School. Ouro Preto, the old capital, has a free Mining School, said to be one of the best in the world.
The Acre Territory, triangular in shape, has Amazonas north, Bolivia south, and Peru west. It is naturally similar to the neighboring sections. There are three Districts: Juruá, of which the capital is Cruzeiro do Sul, population 2000, 1351 miles from Manaos; Purús, capital, Senna Madureira, population 4000, 1320 miles from Manaos; and Acre, capital Rio Branco, population 2000, 1351 miles from Manaos.