The Madera runs through a beautiful valley, clothed with verdure, and abounding in scenery the most striking and picturesque. It is among the upper tributaries of this river that the traditions of the country place the lost mines of Urucumaguam, the riches of which equalled those of Potosi. When Lieutenant Gibbon, who was sent by the United States government to explore the valley of the Madera, was at Cochabamba, the attention of the Bolivian government was called to the establishment, on the navigable waters of that river, of ports of entry to foreign commerce, and of steam communication with the Amazon. Belzu, the President of Bolivia, received him in the most gracious manner, and is said to have promised to grant privileges to a company for that purpose, if application were made to him in due form. The course of the Madera is interrupted by cataracts and rapids, but the former only commence 450 miles from its mouth, and the latter may be passed by canoes. The cataracts passed, the river is navigable into the heart of Bolivia by its tributaries, the Beni and the Mamoré, and quite through the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso by the Guaporé. Mr. Clay, the United States chargé d’affaires at Lima, was told that a Brazilian war-schooner had ascended the Madera above the rapids as far as Exaltacion, which is in Bolivia, above the junction of the Beni.
About one-half of Bolivia, two-thirds of Peru, three-fourths of Equador, and one-half of New Grenada are drained by the Amazon and its tributaries. For the want of steam communication, the trade of all these parts of those countries goes west over the Andes to Callao. There it is shipped, and after doubling Cape Horn, and sailing eight or ten thousand miles, it is then only off the mouth of the Amazon, on its way to Europe or the United States; whereas, if the navigation of the Amazon were free, and steam-vessels placed on its waters, the produce of the interior could be landed at Pará for what it costs to convey it across the Andes to the ports of the Pacific.
Lieutenant Herndon embarked on the Huallaga at Tinga-Maria, the head of canoe navigation, and 335 miles from the city of Lima, and descended to its junction with the Amazon, and thence to the mouth of the latter, a distance of not less than 3,500 miles. The first place he came to was Tarapoto, situated in a beautiful plain, watered by many rivulets, and producing cotton, coffee, sugar, cocoa, and drugs in great abundance. The district is very healthy, and free from annoying insects. Indigo grows wild, and storax, cinnamon, and gums may be procured of the Indians in any quantity, and at prices merely nominal. A great deal of good cotton cloth is made here by the women, and exchanged at Egas for straw hats and English prints brought from Pará. There is very little money in circulation, cotton cloth, wax, and balls of sewing cotton being used instead. English goods brought over the Andes sell in Tarapoto for four times their value in Lima. All the land carriage is performed by Indians, for want of roads: an Indian will carry 75 lbs. of goods on his shoulders from Tarapoto to Juan Guerra, whence he paddles in a canoe to Tinga-Maria, and there shoulders his burthen again, and carries it to Huanaco, the distance of which town from Tarapoto is 390 miles. The population of the place in 1848 was 3,500. Concerning its natural advantages and future prospects, Lieutenant Herndon thus speaks:—
‘I spoke with an active and intelligent young Spanish trader, named Morey, about the feasibility of a steamboat enterprise upon these rivers, bringing American goods and taking return-cargoes of coffee, tobacco, straw-hats, hammocks, and sarsaparilla to the ports of Brazil on the river. He thought that it could not fail to enrich any one who would attempt it; but that the difficulty lay in the fact that my proposed steamer would never get as far as this, for that my goods would be bought up and paid for in return-cargoes long before she reached Peru. He thought, too, that the Brazilians along the river had money which they would be glad to exchange for comforts and luxuries. Were I to engage in any scheme of colonization for the purpose of evolving the resources of the Valley of the Amazon, I think I should direct the attention of settlers to this district of Tarapoto. It combines more advantages than any other I know; it is healthy, fertile, and free from the torment of musquitoes and sand-flies. Wheat may be had from the high lands above it; cattle thrive well; and its coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, and maize are of fine quality. It is true that vessels cannot come up to Shapaja, the port of the town of Tarapoto; but a good road may be made from this town eighteen miles to Chasuta, to which vessels of five feet draught may come at the lowest stage of the river, and any draught at high water. Tarapoto is situated on an elevated plain twenty miles in diameter; is seventy miles from Moyobamba, the capital of the province, a city of seven thousand inhabitants; and has close around it the villages of Lamas, Tabalosas, Juan Guerra, and Shapaja. The Ucayali is navigable higher up than this point, and the quality of cotton and coffee seems better, within certain limits further from the equator. But the settler at the head-waters of the Ucayali has to place himself in a profound wilderness, with the forest and the savage to subdue, and entirely dependent upon his own resources. I think he would be better placed near where he can get provisions and assistance whilst he is clearing the forest and planting his fields. I am told that the governors of the districts in all the province of Mainas have authority to give titles to land to any one who desires to cultivate it.’
Six leagues below Tarapoto is Chasuta, with a population of 1,200. The annual value of the trade between this place and the ports below is 1,500 dollars; but all articles which can be carried on the backs of Indians or mules come from Lima. Implements of iron, copper kettles, guns, earthenware, and glass, come from Pará, and obtain prices which afford very large profits. Though the distance from this place to the mouth of the Amazon is above 3,000 miles, a 74-gun ship would find water enough, during the greater part of the year, to reach it from the sea. The villages of Yurimaguas, Santa Cruz, and Chamizuras, respectively 24, 35, and 89 leagues below Chasuta, have each a population of about 320, and in the woods around the last, valuable resins and gums abound. Half a mile below Yurimaguas is the mouth of the Cachiyacu, which is navigable for large canoes, from January to June, as far as Balza Puerto, a considerable village, five days’ journey from Moyobamba, between which and the ports of the Amazon this river is the general route. It also serves as a means of communication with the many villages which dot the fine country between the Marañon and the Huallaga, so that Yurimaguas is probably destined to become an important place in the future. Laguna, 44 leagues below Chasuta, and four above the mouth of the Huallaga, has a population of 1,044. Urarinas, a village on the Amazon, five leagues from the mouth of the Huallaga, contains only 80 inhabitants, but the immense number in the vicinity of the trees which produce gum copal mark it as an important place in the future. Nauta, on the right bank of the Amazon, 46 leagues below the junction of the Huallaga, has a population of 1,000. It is to this place that Brazil, by treaty with Peru, has engaged to run steamers, under the Brazilian flag, from Pará, the contractors to have the monopoly of steam-boat navigation on the Amazon for thirty years, with an annual bonus of 100,000 dollars for the first fifteen. The voyage is to be performed by two steamers, one ascending the Amazon from Pará, the other descending it from Nauta, and meeting the up boat at Barra. Passing Omaguas, with its 240 inhabitants, Iquitos with its 227, and Arau with its 80, the mouth of the Napo is reached; and thirteen leagues lower down is Pebas, with a population of 387. This place is embosomed in the immense forest, producing in abundance sarsaparilla, vanilla, storax, copal, caoutchouc, and wax, which may be obtained from the Indians in exchange for cotton goods, needles, beads, &c. Thirty-four pounds of sarsaparilla may be bought for 24 yards of common cotton, and other articles at a like proportionate price; but the great sarsaparilla country is along the banks of the Ucayali and the Ahuaytia, where 100 lbs. of the drug, which are worth fully £5 at Pará, and twice as much in Europe, may be bought for eight yards of cotton.
As an illustration of the circumambulatory manner in which the commerce of this extensive region is carried on, let us trace the progress of the cotton goods from the warehouse in Liverpool to the banks of the Ucayali. The goods have to be carried round Cape Horn to Callao, where duty is charged upon them, and whence it is conveyed to Lima, and across the Andes, on the backs of mules. Freight, land carriage, and commission cost more than the goods, and in about twelve months from the time of their leaving Liverpool they reach the mouth of the Ucayali, whence they are sent up by boat to Sarayacu, the centre of the sarsaparilla country, a distance of 300 miles. It is now exchanged for 100 lbs. of sarsaparilla, the value of which is 9 dollars at Nauta, 10½ at Tabatinga, 25 at Pará, and from 40 to 60, according to the markets, in Liverpool. The voyage is long, tedious, and circumgyratory, but the profits are enormous. Now, if the navigation of the Amazon were free, and ports of entry, open to all nations, were established at such places as Chasuta and Nauta, not only would the trade be considerably increased, to the benefit of both parties, but the people of Peru and Brazil instead of eight yards of cotton for 100 lbs. of sarsaparilla, would get three or four hundred yards. Such will soon be the case.
Concerning the cost and profit of steam vessels on the Amazon, and the arrangements that would have to be made, Lieut. Herndon says:—
‘I have estimated the annual cost of running a small steamer between Loreto, the frontier port of Peru and Chasuta, a distance of eight hundred miles, entirely within the Peruvian territory, at twenty thousand dollars, including the establishment of blacksmiths’ and carpenters’ shops at Nauta for her repairs. According to the estimate of Arebalo, (and I judge that he is very nearly correct,) the value of the imports and exports to and from Brazil is twenty thousand dollars annually. I have no doubt that the appearance of a steamer in these waters would at once double the value; for it would, in the first place, convert the thousand men who are now employed in the fetching and carrying of the articles of trade into producers, and would give a great impulse to trade by facilitating it. A loaded canoe takes eighty days to ascend these eight hundred miles. A steamer will do it in twelve, giving ample time to take in wood, to land and receive cargo at the various villages on the river, and to lay by at night.’
Nearly midway between Loreto and Barra, and near the mouths of the Jurua, the Yapurá, and the Teffé, is Egas, with a population of about 800, which is the most thriving place above Barra. It has eight or ten commercial houses that carry on a brisk trade between Peru and Pará, besides employing agents to ascend the neighbouring rivers, and collect from the Indians the produce of the country. Schooners of between 30 and 40 tons average five months in the round trip between Egas and Pará, a distance of 1250 miles, the expenses being 150 dollars, including wages and rations of crew, and a tax of 13 per cent. Sarsaparilla and salt-fish are the principal exports, which are sold at Pará for double what they cost at Egas, to which the vessels return with cotton goods, earthenware, and hardware, all of the commonest description, to be sold at an advance of 20 per cent. on Pará prices. There are five vessels engaged in this trade, making two trips a year, so that the annual value of the trade between Egas and Pará may be estimated at 38,000 dollars. Between Egas and Peru it is about 20,000 dollars. The vessels engaged in this trade are not well adapted to it; they are too broad in the beam, and their sails are two small, so that the voyage occupies a great deal more time than it might be performed in by clipper-built and properly rigged vessels.
The Comarca of the Rio Negro, one of the territorial divisions of the immense province of Pará, has, within the last year, been erected into a province, with the title of Amazonas. A custom-house will probably soon be established at Barra, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, for the collection of the duties now paid at Pará, and there can be no doubt that commercial enterprise will, in a few years, bring the manufactures of Europe from Demerara by the Essequibo and the Rio Branco. The president of the new province, Senhor Joâo B. de F. T. Aranha, is labouring for the good of the district, and has had many conferences with the chiefs of the Indian tribes with the view of inducing them to settle and engage in systematic agricultural labour. Lieutenant Herndon was told that Brazil would give titles to vacant lands to any foreigners who would settle there, and the President expressed a wish that he would bring out a thousand Americans to set an example of energy and industry to the natives.[63] The value in dollars of the exports of the entire Comarca in 1840 was as follows:—Sarsaparilla, 12,000; oil of turtle-eggs, 6,000; salt fish, 4,250; coffee, 1,000; copaiba, 1,000; tobacco, 720; cocoa, 600; heavy boards, 600; hammocks, 500; Brazil nuts, 350; pitch, tow, hides, tapioca, &c., 1,203; total, 28,323. That the trade is increasing will be seen by the exports of the town of Barra alone for the year 1850, the value of which in dollars was as follows: Salt-fish, 7,001; Brazil nuts, 5,203; sarsaparilla, 3,144; oil of turtle-eggs, 1,818; piasaba, 1,802[64]; ropes, 896; cocoa, 631; hammocks, 785; coffee, 474; tobacco, 616; planks, 250; Brazilian nutmegs, 100[65]; copaiba, hides, tow, &c., 304; total, 22,975. It will be seen that the exports of Barra alone in 1850 were not in value far below those of the whole province in 1840. It is probable that the value of the imports is nearly double that of the exports, so that the trade of Barra with Pará may fairly be estimated at £15,000 per annum.