Alluding again to Professor Agassiz, I have had the pleasure of perusing his valuable narrative, which, although containing much matter only of interest to naturalists and scientific people, conveys at the same time a wonderful amount of practical information, and from which a pretty correct idea may be formed of the probable or speculative future of the Amazon valley.
The Amazon, I may just observe, flows through the territory of the Empire for a distance of upwards of 500 leagues, and in its course towards the ocean receives no fewer than eighteen affluents of the first magnitude. The names are as follows: From the south, the Xingú, Tapajoz, Madeira, Purus, Coary, Teffé, Myuruá, Hyutuby, and Hyavary; and from the north, the Sary, Peru, Trombetas, Nhamunda, Uatuman, Uruba, Negro, Hyupurá, and Iça. These rivers, from above the falls which exist on the boundaries of the provinces of Para and Amazonas, are collectively navigable by steamers for 7,351 leagues, not going outside the Imperial territorial limits. In this total, navigation on the Amazon proper figures for 580 leagues; that on the basins of the principal affluents for 5,771 leagues; and that on the lesser tributaries, lakes, and canals for 1,000 leagues.
As I have already remarked the Amazonian network of navigable streams reaches to within a little of the La Plata riverine system. The sources of the Tapajoz, flowing into the Amazon, are only separated by an inconsiderable strip of land from those of the Paraguay, flowing into the River Plate, and were these two rivers connected by artificial means an immense section of the South American Continent would be insulated by ocean and fluvial waters. This great work may probably remain undone for many years to come, but that it will be eventually accomplished I do not at all doubt. The progress of commerce and the development of enterprise in these countries clearly point to the ultimate realisation of this magnificent result.
Before passing to other topics, I will briefly notice another noble river of Brazil—the San Francisco—which traverses the central portion of the Empire, and waters the extensive and important provinces of Minas Geraes, Bahia, Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Sergipe. The Rio das Velhas, Rio Verde, Rio Grande, and the Paracatu are amongst its tributaries, and are all of them streams which in Europe would be regarded as of very superior size. The San Francisco is notable for its famous falls of Paulo Affonso, which witnesses of both have pronounced to greatly excel those of Niagara in their imposing majesty and grandeur. Above these falls there is an uninterrupted navigation of about 230 leagues, and below to the mouth, nearly 50 leagues, there is not the slightest obstruction to vessels of respectable tonnage.
A large part of the immense basin of the Paraguay, in the River Plate, also belongs to Brazil, in whose territories most of the principal rivers of that system have their origin; and numerous other streams, of more or less consequence, permeate different parts of the Empire on their way to the sea. Several of these are capable of navigation by steamers for at least 100 leagues.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.
The North American Continent has now for some time past been linked to Europe by the electric wire, inaugurating what may almost be termed a new era of civilisation; and the fact of laying the cable will live in history as long as the name of the leviathan ship through whose medium this great result was accomplished.
South America has yet to depend solely upon steam communication, but doubtless the means of magnetic intercourse will soon be supplied. Already a rival company has been formed to lay down a cable from Brest to America under privileges obtained from the French and American Governments, and the great ship, with her gallant commander, Sir James Anderson, is again to be called into requisition. It is very desirable that extra cables should be laid in case of accident to those at present existing.
I had hoped on my arrival home to find a company organised and a cable about to be laid from Falmouth to Portugal and the Azores, for which a concession had been obtained by Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott; but it appears that the stupidity of the Cortes prevented this important line being carried out—important to the world and to Portugal in particular, as it would have rendered that country the great centre of telegraphic communication, not only with her own islands, but also with North and South America, to which it was intended the line should eventually be carried. There would also have been a large and lucrative business between England and Lisbon, in connection with the mail steamers to and from Brazil, which at present is carried on under great disadvantage through Spain. Portugal and Spain are sadly in arrear as regards commercial progress and advancement, and Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott experienced the same fate as the South Eastern of Portugal Railway, which, though the Government had agreed to take it over, on equitable terms, the Cortes refused to ratify the agreement. All Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott required was an alteration in the law which prevented the Government granting concessions for more than twenty years. The concessionaries asked for ninety-nine years, which ought to have been readily granted, seeing the manifest advantage to Portugal of establishing such a facility for communication; but no, these pés de chumbo (leaden feet), as they are designated in other parts of the world, would not quicken their pace even to promote the best interests of their country. Sordid motives would also appear to be at the bottom of these acts of repudiation, with which both Spain and Portugal are too familiar.
I think a line might be stretched across the Isthmus of Panama, passing from the West Coast and over the Andes to Buenos Ayres, where a telegraphic cable can easily be laid along the seaboard to Rio de Janeiro. The Argentine Government is now laying down wires from Buenos Ayres to Rosario, whence the Central Argentine Railway carries them on to Cordova, so that a communication with Valparaiso or some port on the West Coast would not be a very formidable work.