FROM THE MADEIRA TO THE RIO NEGRO.--OTHER TRIBUTARIES OF THE
AMAZON.--NOTES ON THE GREAT RIVER.--MANAOS.--DOWN THE AMAZON TO PARA.
Entering the Amazon from the Madeira, the steamer turned her prow to the
westward and ascended the great river for sixty miles, to the mouth of
the Rio Negro. The yellow waters of the Amazon and Madeira had reminded
Frank and Fred of the Mississippi; there was some dispute between them
as to which of the two streams was dirtier in color, but they finally
agreed that the Madeira was the worse of the two.
"We will compare the Madeira to the Missouri," said Fred, "and the
united stream to the Mississippi as we see it below the mouth of the
Ohio." Frank agreed to this distinction, and there the discussion ended.
The Amazon brings down a vast amount of alluvial matter which it
receives from its tributaries, in addition to what it breaks away from
the banks on its own account below the mouth of the Madeira. The
sediment is carried far into the sea, and there is no proper delta at
its mouth, as with the other great rivers of the world.
Frank made some notes concerning the great river, which we will now
introduce.
"The Amazon," said he, "is undoubtedly the largest river on the globe,
but it is not the longest. Lieutenant Herndon estimates its length,
considering the Huallaga as the head-stream, at three thousand nine
hundred and forty-four miles; another authority makes it three thousand
miles; another two thousand seven hundred and fifty, and other
travellers give various figures up to three thousand six hundred miles.
The differences arise from disputes as to which of the tributaries
should be called the head-stream.
"The Amazon is rather a vast system of rivers than a river by itself.
More than three hundred and fifty branches and tributaries unite to form
the Amazon; all the rivers flowing from the eastern slope of the Andes
from three degrees north latitude to nineteen degrees south latitude, a
distance of two thousand miles, as we follow the windings of the
mountain chain, pour into the Amazon and contribute to its immense
volume. It is three hundred and twelve feet deep at its mouth, and
where it crosses the Brazilian frontier at Tabatinga it is sixty-six
feet deep! The _Great Eastern_ steamship might navigate it for more than
a thousand miles from the sea.
[Illustration: NATIVES ON THE MIDDLE AMAZON.]
"Half a million cubic feet of water flow out of the Amazon every second,
or thirty million cubic feet in a minute. The ordinary current is three
miles an hour. Two thousand three hundred miles from the sea it is three
fourths of a mile wide, at the mouth of the Madeira it is three miles
wide, and below Santarem it is ten miles from side to side. Its mouth is
said to be one hundred and eighty miles wide, but this is hardly a fair
statement of the case, as the island of Marajo occupies a large portion
of the mouth, and the river reaches the ocean through many channels.
"The tide is perceptible five hundred miles from the sea; it does not
carry the salt water up with it, but there is simply a rise and fall of
the fresh water. So great is the volume of the Amazon where it enters
the sea that ships can dip up fresh water while yet out of sight of
land."
"In speaking of the tide," said the Doctor, "don't forget to mention the
_piroróco_ or 'bore' of the Amazon."
"I was just coming to it," replied the youth, "and cannot do better
than quote a description by La Condamine, written more than a hundred
years ago. Here it is:
"'During three days before the new and full moons, the period of the
highest tides, the sea, instead of occupying six hours to reach its
flood, swells to its highest limits in one or two minutes. The noise of
this terrible flood is heard five or six miles, and increases as it
approaches. Presently you see a liquid promontory, twelve or fifteen
feet high, followed by another and another, and sometimes by a fourth.
These watery mountains spread across the whole channel, and advance with
a prodigious rapidity, rending and crushing everything in their way.
Immense trees are instantly uprooted by it, and sometimes whole tracts
of land are swept away.'"
"It must be a terrible thing for boats to encounter, especially the
small ones," Fred remarked, as Frank concluded the above description.
"It is," Dr. Bronson answered, "and many of them are lost every year.
But those engaged in navigating the river know when to expect the bore,
and take precautions against it. They have _esperas_, or resting-places,
where they are sheltered from its force, and wait until it has passed.
"The bore is not confined to the Amazon," continued the Doctor; "it is
known in other rivers, especially in the Hoogly, below Calcutta, but the
bore of the Amazon is undoubtedly the largest."
[Illustration: IN AN IGARIPÉ.]
"Another curious feature of the Amazon," said Frank, resuming, "is the
great number of lateral channels, which are technically called
_igaripés_, or canoe-paths. Boats may go for hundreds of miles along the
lower Amazon in the _igaripés_ without once entering the main stream.
They remind us of the bayous of the lower part of the Mississippi
Valley."
"Don't forget," said Fred, "that the Amazon rises within sixty miles of
the Pacific Ocean, and touches every country of South America except
Chili and Patagonia. The Madeira rises close to the sources of the La
Plata, while the Negro, the great northern tributary of the Amazon, is
connected with the Orinoco by a navigable canal called the Cassiquari.
The navigation of this network of waters is favored by nature; the
current is eastward, while the trade wind blows west from the Atlantic,
so that ships going either way have the stream or the wind to help them
along."
"And another thing," said the Doctor, "that should be mentioned, is the
annual rise and fall. There is a succession of freshets in the
tributaries of the Amazon, so that the main stream can never run low.
Most of its affluents are in the southern hemisphere, and consequently
the river has its greatest flood when the sun is south of the equator.
The rise is gradual, beginning in September or October, and increasing
not more than one foot daily, and often less than that. The difference
between the highest and lowest levels is about forty-five feet, and at
the time of the flood vast areas of land are covered with water. Once in
every six years the flood is greater than usual."
"The Amazon is too large to be content with one name," said Frank. "From
its mouth to the junction with the Negro it is called the Amazon, or the
Amazons; from the Negro to the Peruvian frontier it is the Solimoens;
and the part in Peru is the Marañon. But these distinctions are passing
away since the river was opened to universal navigation; the Solimoens
is now generally called the Middle Amazon and the Marañon the Upper
Amazon. Probably another twenty years will see the old names disappear
altogether."
Manaos is on the Rio Negro, ten miles above the junction of the latter
stream with the Amazon. Frank and Fred observed with interest the change
from one river to the other, which was as marked as that from the
Mississippi to the Missouri, near Alton, Illinois. The Amazon is yellow,
while the Negro, as its name indicates, is black. For miles the line
between the two waters is sharply defined; they hold apart from each
other, as if unwilling to mingle, but the greater river at length
absorbs the smaller, and henceforth, to the sea, the yellow color is
retained.
The youths dipped some water from the two rivers and placed it in
glasses side by side. That of the Amazon was like milk, as sometimes
seen in boarding-houses or cheap restaurants, while the water of the
Negro was clear, with a tinge of red. The difference in the banks of the
rivers was as marked as that of their waters, those of the Amazon being
low and broken, as on the Mississippi. The banks of the Negro gave no
indication of alluvial washings, but presented many sandy beaches,
backed by low hills covered with dark forests, in which few palms or
similar trees were visible.
The steamer anchored in front of Manaos, and the little party went on
shore. They found a town resembling some of the river-landings in
Arkansas or Missouri, with the addition of tropical surroundings. It
straggled along the shore and back over the undulating hills for a
considerable distance, and at first glance resembled a city of no small
importance. It had about four thousand inhabitants, but there is room
for many times that number when all the "lots" are occupied with
well-filled dwellings. On an elevation in the centre is the cathedral,
which was unfinished at the time of Dr. Bronson's visit, and has been a
work of very slow growth since its foundation.
Facing the river is a large open square with a few palm-trees on its
borders, and near the water there are several buildings variously
occupied as custom-house, hotel, and steamboat offices. A long avenue
known as Brazil Street runs through the town, with its ends on two
_igaripés_, or canals; these canals run back from the river, so that
Manaos is surrounded on three sides by water. The houses are by no means
crowded, as in most European cities, but each has a comfortable area of
ground around it, affording good ventilation and plenty of moving space.
[Illustration: FRUIT-PEDLERS.]
Manaos is destined to be the St. Louis of the Amazon Valley, as it is
the diverging and converging point for a great deal of commerce. Freight
up or down the Amazon and its tributaries is generally transshipped
here, and at some seasons of the year the river front is a scene of much
activity. The population is a mixed one, and includes negroes, Indians,
Brazilians, Portuguese, Italians, and half a dozen nationalities of
Europe, together with a few Chinese and East Indians, and occasionally
Englishmen and North Americans. As the commerce of the Amazon Valley
develops, Manaos will grow in population and wealth, and the day may not
be far distant when ocean steamers will receive their cargoes at its
docks instead of at Para.
[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT MANAOS.]
Frank and Fred wished to make some purchases, and sallied out for that
purpose. They returned with the declaration that Manaos was like home in
one respect, according to the old song, as it was "The dearest spot on
earth." Hardly anything they saw was the product of the country;
everything was imported, and the importers held their goods at high
prices. An American whom they met said there was little agriculture in
the surrounding region; beef came up the Madeira; sheep, and other
meat-supplying animals were imported, and so were hams and all other
preserved edibles; while manufactured articles were from New York,
Liverpool, or other Atlantic ports.
[Illustration: GIANT FIG-TREE.]
Fred asked what were the industries of Manaos, and was told there were
none at all.
"Brazilians and Indians will not work," said his informant. "The
immigrants from Europe live by trading. Since their emancipation, the
negroes prefer fishing to any other mode of existence, and the Americans
that came here as colonists have mostly gone back disappointed. There is
really no laboring class here, and until there is we can have no
agriculture. The land would produce abundantly, but there is nobody to
cultivate it. I doubt if there are five hundred acres of tilled land on
the Amazon, between this point and the foot of the Andes."
The exports of Manaos are rubber, coffee, sarsaparilla, Brazil nuts,
pissaba, chinchona, fish, and turtles. The imports are cotton cloth,
beads, and other "Indian goods" for the natives, and various articles of
necessity or luxury for the European inhabitants. The surrounding
country is diversified with valleys, hills, and ravines, and not far
from the place is a pretty cascade ten feet high and fifty feet wide,
falling over a precipice of red sandstone. The sheet of water resembles
Minnehaha in its general outline, but its peculiarity is in its deep
orange color, obtained from the soil through which the streams flows.
The youths wished to ascend the Rio Negro, but circumstances did not
permit the excursion. The Negro rises in Colombia, and is twelve hundred
miles in length; at one place it is ten or twelve miles in width, and at
Manaos not less than two miles. During the flood of the Amazon the dark
waters of the Negro are dammed and held back, for hundreds of miles, by
the rise of the giant stream. The natural canal, the Cassiquari, which
connects the Negro with the Orinoco, is half a mile wide, and drains off
the superfluous waters which go to swell the lower part of the
last-named river.
[Illustration: NATIVES OF THE BANKS OF THE UCAYALI.]
Other great tributaries of the Amazon are the Huallaga and the Ucayali;
both rise on the Peruvian Andes, the latter near ancient Cuzco. Either
can be compared to the Ohio, and both are navigable for long distances.
Like the other streams that flow into the Amazon, they run through
regions with few inhabitants, and consequently there is little commerce
along their banks. There are many rivers as large as the Hudson or the
Connecticut, that are unknown to geographers, and not named on the maps.
Glad enough were our friends to leave Manaos, after a day's detention,
and descend the Amazon. The heat was severe, the thermometer mounting to
ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit, with a damp atmosphere, which made the
temperature very oppressive. Manaos has the reputation of being the
warmest spot on the Amazon; the mercury mounts very often to the
nineties, and can touch ninety-eight without apparent effort. There are
few amusements, and the most comfortable occupation is to do nothing.
The European residents indulge in balls and parties, but more as a
matter of form than for the sake of enjoyment.
Aided by the current, the steamer made the sixty miles between Manaos
and the mouth of the Madeira in a trifle over four hours. The boat
resembled the one on which they had descended the Madeira, but was more
than twice as large; the arrangement of the cabins and decks was the
same, and each traveller hung his hammock between the decks, and took
advantage of the cooling trade wind that blew up the river.
[Illustration: A BRAZILIAN LANDING-PLACE.]
Frank's inquiring mind led him among the boxes, bales, and bags which
comprised the freight of the steamer; he was accompanied by Manuel, who
answered the youth's questions to the best of his ability. Where he did
not know the correct answer he followed the custom of the country in
giving the first that his imagination suggested.
Frank's first question related to pissaba.
"Pissaba comes from the Pissaba palm," said the guide, "and is a fibre
which is manufactured into cables and ropes, and is exported to Europe
and America to be made into brushes and brooms. It is stronger than
hemp, and more elastic, and if the people were enterprising it could
drive hemp out of the market for many uses."
"Please tell me about Brazil nuts," was the next suggestion.
"Brazil nuts grow on one of the tallest trees of the forest," was the
reply. "There are eighteen or twenty nuts in a hard shell like a cannon
ball, and they are packed in so wonderfully that when once taken out no
man is ingenious enough to put them all back again. I have seen
Brazil-nut trees two hundred feet high, and fourteen feet through at the
base, and not a branch within a hundred feet of the ground."
Frank asked how the nuts were gathered.
"They are allowed to ripen and fall to the ground," answered the guide,
"partly because they will not keep if picked from the tree, and partly
because it is difficult and dangerous to climb for them."
"It must be equally dangerous to stand under the tree, and risk being
hit by one of the falling nuts."
"It is," was the reply. "The large shells or cases are five inches in
diameter, and weigh two or three pounds; in their descent they attain a
momentum resembling that of a cannon-ball, and often bury themselves out
of sight in the ground. A nut falling on a man's head will certainly
break the shell, and this has happened in many instances.
"The nut-gatherers build their huts among the trees, or more often a
little distance from them; if under the trees, they give the roof a
sharp incline, so that nuts falling upon it will slide off and do no
harm. The wind blows in the morning, and at that time the gatherers stay
at home, employing their time in breaking open the shells of the
previous day's collection, and getting the nuts ready for packing in
sacks. When the wind ceases they go out and collect what have been
shaken off by the breeze.
"It is a hard life," continued the guide, "and many of the people die in
consequence of the fatigue and exposure. They must tramp through the
forest, and bring in heavy loads of nuts; they have scanty food; and the
swamps and forests are full of malaria. They suffer from fevers and
rheumatism, and are without medicines; they receive very low wages, and
are constantly in debt to their employers; they lose their way, and
starve to death; and sometimes their canoes laden with nuts are
overturned, and the occupants drowned. But all these dangers combined
are less than the peril from the falling nuts, and not a year passes
without the death of nut-gatherers from this cause.
"The trade is conducted on the credit system, very much like that of the
rubber-collecting industry. The annual shipment of Brazil nuts from Para
is about eleven million pounds; and the nut trade is the third in
importance among foreign exports, rubber and cacao being the first and
second."
"Who eats the nuts?" was the next interrogatory.
"I don't exactly know," answered Manuel, "but am told that more than
half of the nuts sent from Brazil are eaten by schoolboys in England,
France, and the United States."
"Yes, I remember now," said Frank, "but had forgotten for the moment the
hard, black, triangular nuts we used to buy in our school-days. They are
favorites with boys, but the taste for them seems to disappear as we
grow older. Now, please tell me about cacao."
"Cacao is cultivated in Brazil and other lowland countries of South
America," replied Manuel, "but I can't tell you much about it. You must
ask Dr. Bronson."
At this moment the Doctor happened along, and Frank repeated his
question.
"Cacao is the substance from which chocolate is made," he explained,
"and it is the same as the French '_chocolat_' or '_coco_.' It is
cultivated in tropical countries, twenty-five degrees each way from the
equator, and sometimes the forests of cacao are miles and miles in
extent. It grows to a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, and
resembles a black-heart cherry-tree in size and shape. It is an
evergreen, and has a smooth, oblong leaf, terminating in a sharp point.
The fruit resembles a short, thick cucumber; it is from five to nine
inches long, and contains from twenty to forty, or even fifty, beans
which resemble the pit of an almond. From these beans the chocolate of
commerce is made."
"Do they make it here or export the bean to other countries?" Frank
inquired.
"The beans are separated from the pulp that surrounds them, and when
dried are ready for market. Sometimes they undergo a fermentation to
remove certain acrid qualities, but, except for local use, no attempt is
made to manufacture the chocolate here. The manufacturing is done in
England, France, and other countries, by means of delicate but powerful
machinery. The shells of the seeds are of a dark-brown color, quite thin
and brittle; they are the cocoa-shells which are sold in American
grocery-stores to be used in making 'cocoa' for our tables.
"A rich oil is made from the seeds, but its manufacture is less
profitable than the sale of the seeds for making chocolate or cocoa. The
trees begin to bear when four years old, and the harvest season is in
July and August; the industry is said to be profitable when properly
managed, as the expense of maintaining a plantation is not great, and
the harvest season occurs when other industries are at a standstill. The
pulp that surrounds the seeds is made into a refreshing drink for
immediate use, and some of the planters make from it a jelly which is
said to equal the famous guava jelly. The outer shell is burned, and its
ashes are the basis of a strong brown soap, like the home-made soap of
New England."
[Illustration: THE ANT-EATER ASLEEP.]
Fred interrupted the conversation by calling attention to an ant-eater,
the property of one of the passengers, which was secured in a cage
containing an upright branch of a tree for its accommodation. Manuel
said the beast made his home in the trees, and lived on the tree-ants,
which were numerous in Brazil. He sleeps by day, and roams at night,
and when he sleeps he gives his whole mind to it. He has strong claws
and a prehensile tail; by the use of these, and by placing his head in
the fork of a limb, he can slumber without any fear of falling out of
bed.
The fellow was taking his afternoon nap, and the youths did not disturb
him. Fred make a sketch of the ant-eater in repose, and pronounced him a
model drawing-model, as he did not move a muscle during the time
required for taking his portrait.
The first stopping-place of the steamer was at Serpa, thirty miles below
the mouth of the Madeira; it was a town of about one hundred houses,
with as mixed a population as that of Manaos, though not as numerous.
The proportion of negroes seemed larger than at Manaos, and Manuel said
they would find this the case in each of the river towns as they
approached Para. They took on board a considerable quantity of rubber,
and then steamed onward.
[Illustration: THE MOUTHS OF THE AMAZON.]
One hundred and fifty miles farther on they stopped at Villa Nova, the
twin brother of Serpa in size and general appearance. Here the Amazon
began to contract its banks, and the current increased in strength
until, at Obidos, one hundred miles beyond Villa Nova, they found it
narrowed to about a mile in width. The river is here two hundred and
fifty feet deep, and its velocity, according to Professor Orton, is 2.4
feet per second. All the water of the Amazon does not go through this
passage, as there are lateral channels which carry off a considerable
quantity. Obidos is on a high bank of hard clay, and presents a bold
front to the river. There are many cacao plantations in the vicinity;
from Villa Nova to Para these plantations are numerous, and the industry
is more important than anything else.
The river widened again as they moved on to Santarem, which is fifty
miles below Obidos, and occupies a healthy position at the mouth of the
Rio Tapajos, five hundred miles from the ocean. This river sends to
market rubber, sarsaparilla, Brazil nuts, farina, and copaiba, and there
are several cattle estates along its banks. Colonists from the southern
states of North America settled here after our civil war; some of them
established a prosperous business, but the greater number went away
disappointed. Those who remain cultivate the sugar-cane and make sugar;
some are engaged in commerce, and others have gone to rearing cattle and
making butter. The latter industry was formerly unknown here, all
butter used in Para, and elsewhere on the Amazon, being imported from
Europe or the United States.
Below Santarem the river increased in width so greatly that at times
both banks were not visible from the steamer. Several unimportant points
were visited; rubber, cacao, and other products were received at the
landings; and the horizon of tropical forest along the banks retained
its luxuriance and monotony. There were few signs of animal life beyond
an occasional hut of a rubber-maker, or a group of natives gazing idly
at the steamer.
After stopping a little while at Breves, on the southwest corner of the
island of Marajo, the steamer next entered the part of the Amazon known
as the Para River. Eighteen hours after her departure from Breves she
dropped her anchor in the harbor of Para, and ended the journey of our
friends across the South American continent.
[Illustration: PARA, FROM THE RIVER.]