One will readily perceive, from these estimates, that diamond-hunting, as a business, is unprofitable. But this, like all mining operations, is a lottery. A man in the diamond region may stumble upon a fortune at an instant of time, and without a dollar of outlay; but the chances are fearfully against him. I would rather depend upon the supplying of the miners with the necessaries and luxuries of life, even by the long land-travel from Rio Janeiro, or by the tedious and difficult ascent of the Tapajos.
M. Castelnau, speaking of this trade, says that, taking one article of merchandise with another, the difference of their value at Pará and Diamantino is eight hundred and fifty per cent., the round trip between the two places occupying eight months; but that the profits to the trader are not to be estimated by the enormous difference of the value of the merchandise at the place of purchase and the place of sale. He estimates the expenses of a boat of nine tons (the largest that can ascend the river) at eight hundred and eighty dollars. Her cargo, bought at Pará, cost there but three hundred and fifty-five dollars: so that when it arrives at Diamantino it has cost twelve hundred and thirty-five dollars; thus diminishing the profits to the trader to about two hundred and forty-four per cent.
I do not find in Castelnau's estimate of the expenses of a canoe the labor and time employed in shifting the cargo at Santarem from the large vessel to the boats. This would probably take off the extra forty-four per cent., leaving a clear profit of two hundred. This is on the upward voyage. His return-cargo of hides, with what gold dust and diamonds he has been able to purchase, will also pay the trader one hundred per cent. on his original outlay, increased by his profits.
Let us suppose a man sends a cargo from Pará, which costs him there three hundred and fifty dollars. His two hundred per cent. of clear profit in Diamantino has increased this sum to one thousand and fifty. One hundred per cent. on this, the return-cargo, has made it two thousand one hundred dollars; so that he has pocketed a clear gain of seventeen hundred and fifty dollars, making a profit of five hundred per cent. in eight months.
Although there seems, from the accounts we have of the Tapajos, no chance of a steamer's reaching the diamond region by that river, yet I have very little doubt but that she may reach it by the rivers Plata, Paraná, and Paraguay. Should this be the case, and should Brazil have the magnanimity to throw open the diamond region to all comers, and encourage them to come by promises of protection and privileges, I imagine that this would be one of the richest places in the world, and that Brazil would reap enormous advantages from such a measure.
The place at present is too thinly settled, and the wants of the people too few, to make this trade (profitable as it appears to be on the small scale) of any great importance.
Captain Hislop monopolized at one time nearly all the trade of the Tapajos. He told me that some years ago he sent annually to Cuiabá goods to the value of fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, and supposes that all other commerciantes together did not send as much more. He complains, as all do, of the credit system, and says that the Cuiabanos now owe him twenty thousand dollars.
The trade now is almost nothing. The Cuiabanos themselves come down to get their supplies, which they pay for principally in hides.
I made several pleasant acquaintances in Santarem. One of the most agreeable was a young French engineer and architect, M. Alphonse Maugin De Lincourt, to whom I am indebted for some valuable presents, much interesting conversation, and the following notes of a voyage on the Tapajos, which, as describing the manners and customs of the Indian tribes occupying the borders of that river, I am persuaded will not be uninteresting.