Though the Brazilian mission of the writer in connection with the original object of this volume virtually terminates at the close of the preceding chapter, his desire to communicate, however cursorily, an adequate idea of the immensity of extent and natural resources of the Brazilian empire would be altogether unfulfilled if some additional data were not offered respecting the illimitable and inexhaustible region of the Amazon. In conversing with enlightened inhabitants of Brazil, natives of the capital or elsewhere, on the vastness and fertility of their country, and on the magnificent destiny it is certain to attain, they concur with you, as a matter of course, but conclude with an intimation that you estimate but half of the reality, and a fourth of the probability of what is in store; for you leave out of your calculation the wondrous but almost unknown district of the Amazon. There, indeed, they imply, are the germs of marvellous and unmatched natural greatness to be sought; for, prodigal as nature has everywhere been to the country in every possible respect, it is there that she has been most profuse; and there are her bounties most accessible to man, if he would only make the slightest exertion to secure them. These views are entertained in a like degree by many of the most intelligent citizens of the United States, the attention of which country is being drawn in an increasingly marked degree to the commercial capabilities of the Amazon; and the frequency of the publications respecting it, and the wide and general circulation they obtain throughout the Union, attest the interest wherewith North America regards the locale of what one of their writers describes as the future inevitably greatest mercantile entrepot (Pará) in the world. With what justice this anticipation is formed it is the design of the annexed few pages to exhibit, consisting, as they do, in a great degree, of a digest of the more influential of the publications alluded to. Considering the magnitude of the existing relations between England and Brazil, and how large a share Great Britain will derive from the enterprises that are now being directed to the opening up of the Amazon, it is conceived that a summary of the most recent circumstances connected with the countries and peoples bordering on that mighty stream will not fail to be acceptable, the more so as, with the exception of Mr. Wallace’s volume already alluded to, and which is not a commercial, nor yet geographical, nor descriptive work, there has been in this country no recent publication of an analogous nature to those of the United States’ writers we shall presently enumerate.

The Amazon, the largest river in the world, traverses the tropical regions of South America from west to east, discharging its immense volume of water into the Atlantic, nearly under the equator. The Tanguragua, or Upper Marañon, is regarded as its principal head-stream, and rises in the Lake of Llanricocha, 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the region of nearly perpetual snow. For about 120 miles from its source it flows through a ravine, and is full of rapids and cataracts, having a fall in that distance of more than 11,000 feet. Near Huary the ravine opens into a wide valley, through which the river flows gently for about 380 miles, and is navigable for canoes. Its course is then interrupted by the rapids of the Pongo Rentema, and turns eastward, in which direction it runs nearly 180 miles, leaving the mountain region by the Pongo de Manseriche, a rapid seven miles long. In this part of its course the current is so strong that it can be descended only by floats; but from the rapids of Manseriche the river passes through an extensive plain, its entire length exceeding 3,000 miles.

A great number of tributaries pour their waters into the Amazon in the lower part of its course. On the north side the first from the west, below the rapids of Manseriche, is the Morona, and then come in succession the Pastaça, Tigre, Napo, Iça, Yapurà, Rio Negro, and Oximina. From the south it receives, proceeding from west to east, the Huallaga, Ucayali, Yavari, Jutai, Jurua, Teffé, Coavy, Purus, Madera, Tapajos, Xingù, and Tocantins. Most of these affluents discharge their waters into the Amazon by more than one mouth, which frequently are widely apart. Thus the two most distant of the four mouths of the Yapurà are more than 200 miles asunder, and the outer embouchures of the Purus are about 100 miles from each other. In the upper portion of its course the Amazon divides Equador from Peru, between which its width varies from half a mile to a mile; beyond the limits of Equador it increases to two miles, and below the Madera (its most considerable tributary, having a course little less than 2,000 miles in length) it is nearly three miles. Between Faro and Obydos, to which place the tide reaches, it decreases to less than a mile; but below Obydos it widens again, and after the junction of the Tapajos it is nearly seven miles across. The width of the channel of Braganza do Norte, the northern mouth of this vast river, is 30 miles opposite the island Marajó, and 50 at its embouchure; that of the Tangipurà channel is 18 miles at the junction of the Tocantins, and 30 at its mouth. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Amazon is the immense volume of water which it discharges into the ocean, which is ascribable to the forests which cover so large an extent of the immense region which it flows through, and attract a much greater quantity of rain than the scorched Llanos of the Orinoco, and the treeless pampas of the Rio Plata. While the principal branch of the Ganges discharges 80,000 cubic feet of water per second, and the Brahmapootra pours forth 176,188 cubic feet per second, the volume of water which flows through the Narrow of Obydos per second is calculated at 550,000 cubic feet.

Next in importance to the Madera among the tributaries of the Amazon, is the Rio Negro, which, after a course of 1400 miles, falls into the Father of Waters twelve miles below the town of Barra, where it is a mile and a half wide. The Xingù has a course of 1000 miles, the Tapajos and the Yapurà each 900 miles, and the Napo and Iça each of 700.[61]

According to the best writers, the first expedition up the Amazon occurred in 1500, when a Portuguese named Pinzon discovered the mouth of the river, and took possession of its left bank. In 1540, Francisco Orellana descended the Napo and the Amazon to its mouth, and finding the native women in arms to oppose him, gave the name of Amazonia to the country, and conferred his own upon the river, by which it is still called by some geographers. In 1560, Pedro de Orsua, commissioned to explore the country in search of gold, descended the Jutai and Jurua, but was prevented by a mutiny from proceeding farther. In 1615 the governor of Maranham, Alexandro de Moura, in order to establish the sovereignty of Portugal, sent an expedition to the Amazon under Francisco Caldeira, who sailed up the Tocantins, and formed a settlement where Pará now stands. In 1648 a party of Portuguese discovered the Rio Negro, and reached Quito overland, which was regarded as a remarkable feat. Shortly afterwards, the Jesuits commenced their settlements on the banks of the Marañon; and during the reign of Philip III., when Portugal was united to Spain, it was seriously contemplated to make the Amazon the means of transit for the treasures of Peru and Chili, by which the sea-voyage would be much shortened, and the dangers from English and French cruisers more than proportionately lessened.

The Jesuits warmly espoused the cause of the cruelly treated Indians, but, unfortunately, their zeal outran their discretion, and, in 1604, they were expelled. Several settlements were made about this time on the Marañon and the Rio Negro, among others that of San José, now the town of Barra; and in the expeditions which took place between 1726 and 1730, the communication between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco was discovered. During the next twenty or thirty years, colonization appears to have made rapid strides, so much so that, in 1784, a commission was despatched from Portugal to explore the country for botanical and other scientific objects. Settlements continued to be formed, but no event worthy of record occurred until the change of dynasty in 1823. Since then the only occurrence of consequence has been the revolution of 1835, when the president of the province was assassinated, the citizens of Pará fled, and the whole of the province, with the exception of the town of Cametá, on the Tocantins, fell under the power of the insurgents, who sacked the towns, and carried off the slaves and the cattle. Quarrels between the insurgent leaders increased the miseries of the country, and several presidents succeeded each other. At length, (see memoir of Admiral Grenfell), President Andrea arrived from Rio Janeiro with a sufficient force, and succeeded in recovering possession of Pará. The inland places gradually returned to their allegiance, and though the effects of these disturbances are still felt in some districts, Pará has fully recovered its former prosperity.

The province of Pará, though naturally the richest portion of the immense empire of Brazil, of which it is the most northern part, is little known, and at present of but little commercial importance.[62] Pará, the capital, contains about 15,000 inhabitants, and has a pretty appearance from the river. Most of the houses are white, which, against the dark green of the forest that surrounds it on the land side, and with the clear blue sky above, give it a pleasing aspect. The small islands in the river are wooded to the water’s edge, and canoes are constantly passing, paddled by negroes or Indians. The custom-house, formerly a convent, is a large and handsome building, and there are several churches that will bear comparison with those of Europe. The squares are more like village greens, being covered with a rank growth of weeds, but the graceful-looking palms which are planted in their midst impart a picturesque appearance in the eyes of a stranger. The principal street is the Rua dos Mercadores (street of merchants), which contains the only good shops in the town, and this, or rather a part of it, is the only portion that is paved. The other streets are very narrow, and some not free from holes.

What most strikes the observer is the number and size of the public buildings of Pará, which are far beyond the present wants of the place, but form a good foundation for its future requirements as the great depôt of the Amazon. The palace is large and massive, but has no pretensions to architectural beauty. In its rear is the theatre, unfinished, and overgrown with vines and climbing shrubs. Near these buildings is the cathedral, the largest in Brazil, the bells of whose two steeples, with those of the numerous churches, seem to be continually ringing. Near the arsenal, and sufficiently removed from the city to be no nuisance to the inhabitants, is the public slaughter-house, in the neighbourhood of which many vultures are always to be seen.

Most of the towns and villages of the extensive country watered by the Amazon, are situated on that river and its tributaries; and the rest is an impenetrable forest, trodden only by the Indian and the jaguar. Very little is known of the greater portion of the interior, but M. Castlenau, who explored the valley of the Amazon in 1843, and Lieutenant Herndon, of the United States Navy, who descended the ‘King of Rivers’ in 1852, have supplied considerable information respecting the Tocantins, the Madera, and Huallaga. The first-named flows through a fertile and healthy country, and has many flourishing settlements on its banks. Among them is Salinas, famous for its salt works, near which is the Lake of Pearls, surrounded by beautiful scenery, and inhabited by numbers of aquatic birds. The town of Goyaz, with a population of about 7,500, is situated on the Vermelho, a branch of the Tocantins, and can be reached by vessels from Pará. The voyage occupies five months, the up freight being about 20s., and the down one fourth, per 100 lbs. Large canoes are paddled up the river as far as Porto Imperial, and take down hides, which at Goyaz are worth fifty cents, and at Pará are sold for a dollar and a half. Pará also trades with the inland town of Diamantino, by means of the Tapajos, the voyage up and down occupying eight months. The foreign merchandise that reaches Diamantino by this route is sold at an advance, on the average, of 850 per cent. on its price at Pará, which is from 50 to 100 per cent. on New York prices. When steam-boats are introduced on these waters trade will be largely increased, and prices reduced by competition and the facility of transit, so that both producer and consumer will be greatly benefitted.

It is a matter which gives a promising aspect to the question of future commercial intercourse with the interior that the elements of a large and profitable trade already exist in abundance. Cinchona to the value of two millions of dollars is annually exported from the eastern slopes of Bolivia, but, at present, for the want of steam-boats on the Amazon and its tributaries, it is carried over the Andes on the backs of llamas and mules to the ports of Peru. Large quantities of wool, clipped on the banks of the Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon, instead of going down the river to Pará, for shipment to England or the United States, are carried over the Andes in the same manner, and have then to make the voyage round Cape Horn.