Entrance into the Amazon—Nauta—Upper and Lower
Missions of Mainas—Conversions of the Ucayali—Trade in
sarsaparilla—Advantages of trade with this country.
The river upon which we now entered is the main trunk of the Amazon,
which carries its Peruvian name of Marañon as far as Tabatinga, at the
Brazilian frontier; below which, and as far as the junction of the Rio
Negro, it takes the name of Solimoens; and thence to the ocean is called
Amazon. It is the same stream throughout, and to avoid confusion I shall
call it Amazon from this point to the sea.
The march of the great river in its silent grandeur was sublime; but
in the untamed might of its turbid waters, as they cut away its banks,
tore down the gigantic denizens of the forest, and built up islands, it
was awful. It rolled through the wilderness with a stately and solemn
air. Its waters looked angry, sullen, and relentless; and the whole
scene awoke emotions of awe and dread—such as are caused by the funeral
solemnities, the minute gun, the howl of the wind, and the angry tossing
of the waves, when all hands are called to bury the dead in a troubled
sea.
I was reminded of our Mississippi at its topmost flood; the waters are
quite as muddy and quite as turbid; but this stream lacked the charm
and the fascination which the plantation upon the bank, the city upon
the bluff, and the steamboat upon its waters, lends to its fellow of
the North; nevertheless, I felt pleased at its sight. I had already
travelled seven hundred miles by water, and fancied that this powerful
stream would soon carry me to the ocean; but the water-travel was
comparatively just begun; many a weary month was to elapse ere I should
again look upon the familiar face of the sea; and many a time, when
worn and wearied with the canoe life, did I exclaim, "This river seems
interminable!"
Its capacities for trade and commerce are inconceivably great. Its
industrial future is the most dazzling; and to the touch of steam,
settlement, and cultivation, this rolling stream and its magnificent
water-shed would start up into a display of industrial results that
would indicate the Valley of the Amazon as one of the most enchanting
regions on the face of the earth.
[Illustration: GIVARO.
Pl. 13.
Pr. Vernazzi del.
Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.]
From its mountains you may dig silver, iron, coal, copper, quicksilver,
zinc, and tin; from the sands of its tributaries you may wash gold,
diamonds, and precious stones; from its forests you may gather drugs
of virtues the most rare, spices of aroma the most exquisite, gums and
resins of the most varied and useful properties, dyes of hues the most
brilliant, with cabinet and building-woods of the finest polish and most
enduring texture.
Its climate is an everlasting summer, and its harvest perennial. I
translate from a book of travels in these countries, by Count Castelnau,
(received since my return to the United States,) an account of the
capacities of some of the southern portions of this vast water-shed:
"The productions of the country are exceedingly various. The sugar-cane,
of which the crop is gathered at the end of eight months from the
time of planting, forms the chief source of wealth of the province of
_Cercado_.
"Coffee is cultivated also with success in this province, and in that
of _Chiquitos_ yields its fruit two years after having been planted,
and requires scarcely any attention. Cocoa, recently introduced into
these two provinces, gives its fruit at the end of three or four years
at most. The tamarind, which thrives in the same localities, produces
its harvest in five years. Cotton gives annual crops; there are two
varieties—the one white, the other yellow. Tobacco grows, so to speak,
without cultivation in the province of _Valle Grande_, where it forms
the principal article of commerce. Indigo, of which there are three
cultivated kinds and one wild, is equally abundant. Maize yields at
the end of three months all the year round; it is also cultivated in
the province of Cercado. The cassave produces in eight months after
planting; there are two kinds of it—one sweet, and the other bitter;
the first can replace the potato, and even bread; the second is only
good for starch. There is an enormous amount of kinds or varieties
of bananas, which produce in the year from seed; they are specially
cultivated in the province of Cercado. Two kinds of rice—one white,
the other colored—are cultivated in the two provinces of Cercado and
Chiquitos. They produce every five or six months; they say it is found
wild in the region of Chiquitos.
"The grape, which grows well everywhere, and especially in the province
of _Cordilleras_, where it was cultivated in the Missions up to the
time of the Independence, is nevertheless made no article of profit.
It will some day, perhaps, form one of the principal sources of wealth
of this country. Wheat, barley, and the potato might be cultivated
with advantage in the provinces of Chiquitos and Cordilleras; but
till now results have been obtained only in that of Valle Grande. The
cultivation of cocoa has commenced in the province of Cercado, and it
is also found in a wild state, as well as the Peruvian bark, on the
mountains of _Samaripata_. As we have already said, fruits abound in
this region. They cultivate there principally oranges, lemons, citrons,
figs, papaws, pomegranates, melons, watermelons, chirimoyas, (which the
Brazilians call _fruto de conde_,) pine apples, &c. The last of these
fruits grow wild, and in great abundance, in the woods of Chiquitos.
We met it, particularly the evening of our arrival, at Santa Ana. Its
taste is excellent; but it leaves in the mouth such a burning sensation
that I bitterly repented having tasted it. They cultivate in sufficient
abundance, in the province, jalap, Peruvian bark, sarsaparilla, vanilla,
rocou, copahu, ipecacuanha, caoutchouc, copal, &c. Woods for dyeing,
cabinet making, and building, abound; and the people of the country
collect carefully a multitude of gums, roots, and barks, to which
they attribute medicinal virtues the most varied. In many points in
the departments, and especially in the provinces of Valle Grande and
Cordilleras, iron is found, and traces of quicksilver. Gold is found in
the province of Cercado, near the village of _San Xavier_. The Jesuits
wrought mines of silver in the mountains of _Colchis_. Don Sebastian
Rancas, while governor of Chiquitos, announced to the government that
diamonds, of very fine water, had been found in the streams in the
environs of _Santo Corazon_."
_September 4._—The shores of the river are low, but abrupt. The lower
strata next to the water's edge are of sand, hardening into rock from
the superincumbent pressure of the soil with its great trees. There
were a great many porpoises sporting in the river. At 3 p. m. we passed
the narrow arm of the river that runs by _Urarinas_, a small village
situated on the left bank. The channel inside the island seemed nearly
dry. Ijurra, however, passed through it in a small canoe, and bought
some fowls and a small monkey at the pueblo. The channel of the river
runs near the right bank. Population of Urarinas, eighty.
_September 5._—The _patos reales_, a large and beautiful species of duck
with which the river abounds, are now breeding. We saw numbers of pairs
conducting their broods over the water. Though the young ones could not
fly, they could dive so long and fast that we could not catch them. I
brought home a pair of these ducks, and find that they answer exactly
to the description of the Egyptian goose. They have small horns on their
wings.
We met canoes of Tarapoto from the Ucayali with salt fish; also one
belonging to Urarinas, returning from carrying sarsaparilla to _Nauta_.
_September 6._—Passed the mouth of the small river _Airico_ on the left.
One of our Indians says that the ascent of this river for a week brings
the traveller to a lake, and for another week, to mountains.
We have had quite heavy squalls of wind and rain every day since
entering the Amazon. The canoes are so low that they cannot ride the
waves of mid-river, and are compelled to haul in for the land, and wait
for the storm to pass. We saw alligators to-day, for the first time.
_September 7._—Arrived at _Parinari_. This is an Indian village of three
hundred and thirty inhabitants, situated on a hill on the right bank of
the river. It is about twenty feet above the present level of the river,
which rises, in the full, to within three feet of the houses. The people
live principally by fishing, and gathering sarsaparilla to sell at
Nauta. The lieutenant governor gave us some spirits made of plantains.
It was vile stuff; very strong; and is said to be unwholesome.
_September 8._—Saw Ronsocos; and the Fiscales killed six howling monkeys
with their pucunas. Passed the mouth of _Tigre Yacu_ on the left. It
is seventy yards broad, and looks deep and free from obstruction. Its
waters are much clearer than those of the Amazon. It is navigable for
canoes a long way up; and a considerable quantity of sarsaparilla is
gathered on its banks, though inhabited by savages, who are said to be
warlike and dangerous. We camped at night on an island near the middle
of the river. A narrow island lay between us and _San Regis_, a small
pueblo on the left bank, whence we could hear the sound of music and
merry-making all night. It has two hundred and ten inhabitants.
The Fiscales, cooking their big monkeys over a large fire on the beach,
presented a savage and most picturesque night scene. They looked more
like devils roasting human beings than like servants of the church.
_September 9._—Passed a channel called _Pucati_, which is a small mouth
of the Ucayali. It is now nearly dry. In the rainy season it is passable
for canoes; but spreads out so much in its course (forming small lakes)
that it leaves few places to kindle a fire on, or sleep; and is, for
this reason, little used. It takes three days to come through it from
the Ucayali to the Amazon; and six to traverse it the other way. Soon
after leaving this, we passed another small channel, said to communicate
with a large lake—a large one probably in the full, when this whole
country between the Ucayali, Amazon, and channel of Pucati, is nearly
overflowed. We arrived at Nauta at noon, having travelled two hundred
and ten miles from the mouth of the Huallaga.
We called on the governor general of the Missions of Mainas, Don
José Maria Arebalo, who received us with some formality, and gave us
lodgings in one of the houses of the village—I suspect, turning out
the inhabitants for that purpose. My companion, Ijurra, was not sure
of a cordial reception; for, when sub-prefect of the province, he had
caused Arebalo to be arrested and carried prisoner from Balza Puerto
to Moyobamba. But our friend was much too magnanimous to remember old
feuds, and he and Ijurra soon became boon companions.
Nauta is a fishing village of one thousand inhabitants, mostly Indians
of the _Cocama_ tribe, which is distinct from that of the Cocamillas
of Laguna. It has a few white residents engaged in trading with the
Indians for salt fish, wax, and sarsaparilla, which are obtained from
the Ucayali. Don Bernardino Cauper, an old Portuguese, does most of the
business of the place. He sends parties of Indians to fish or gather
sarsaparilla upon the Napo and Ucuyali; and he has two or three boats
(called in this part of the country garreteas) trading down the river
as far as Egas. He supplies all the country above with foreign articles
from Brazil, and receives consignments from the upper country, which he
sends to Egas.
Don Bernardino lives in a sort of comfort. He has plenty of meat,
(calling turtle, salt fish, and fowls meat,) with farinha from below,
and beans and onions from his little garden. There is good tobacco from
above to smoke, and wholesome, though fiery, Lisbon wine to drink. I
have been frequently struck during my journey with the comparative value
of things. The richest man of a village of one thousand inhabitants, in
the United States, would think Bernardino's table poorly supplied, and
would turn up his nose at a grass hammock slung between two hooks in
the shop for a bed-place. Yet these things were regal luxuries to us;
and, doubtless, being the best that are to be had, Don Bernardino is
perfectly contented, and desires nothing better.
The old gentleman is very pious. The Cura of Pebas was at this time
in Nauta, attending to the repairs of the church; and we celebrated
a nine-days' service (_Novena_) in honor of our Lady of Mercy, the
patroness of the arms of Peru. The expenses of the service (being a
fee for the padre and the lighting of the church with wax) were borne
by individuals. The padre gave the first day; then Senhor Cauper; then
his wife, his wife's sister, his son, his pretty Brazilian niece, Donna
Candida; then came Arebalo; then Ijurra and I; the priest winding up
on Sunday. But my old friend was not contented with this; and when I
shoved off on Monday for the Ucayali, I left him engaged in another
church service, setting off rockets, and firing, from time to time, an
old blunderbuss, loaded to the muzzle, in honor of a miracle that had
happened in Rimini, in Italy, some year and a half ago, of which we had
just received intelligence.
The governor general gave me some statistics, from which it appears
that the province of Mainas is divided into the province proper, (of
which the capital is Moyobamba,) the upper and lower Missions, and the
Conversions of the Ucayali.
The upper Mission has four districts—Balza Puerto, Xeberos, Laguna, and
Andoas; containing seventeen villages, and nine thousand nine hundred
and eleven inhabitants. The lower Mission has two districts—Nauta and
Loreto, with seventeen villages, and three thousand seven hundred and
eighty-nine inhabitants. The Conversions of the Ucayali are confined
to the villages of Sarayacu, Tierra Blanca, and Sta. Catalina, and
number one thousand three hundred and fifty inhabitants, mostly converts
of the Panos tribe. They are governed by priests of the College of
Ocopa, who are under the spiritual direction of its guardian; but hold
their temporal authority under the prefect of the department. Arebalo
estimates the number of whites in the Missions and Conversions—counting
men, women, and children—at four hundred and seven.
Both Missions are under the authority of a governor general, who holds
his commission from the sub-prefect of the province. Each district
has its governor, and each town its lieutenant governor. The other
authorities of a town are curacas, captains, lieutenants, adjutants,
ensigns, sergeants, alcaldes, and constables. (All these are Indians.)
The office of curaca is hereditary. The right of succession is
sometimes interfered with by the white governor; but this always gives
dissatisfaction, and is occasionally (added to other grievances) the
cause of rebellion and riot. The savages treat their curaca with great
respect, and submit to corporal punishment at his mandate.
I know of no legal establishment in the Missions—the law proceeding
out of the mouths of the governors. Indians are punished by flogging or
confinement in the stocks; whites are sometimes imprisoned; but if their
offence is of a grave nature, they are sent to be tried and judged by
the courts of the capital.
Arebalo estimates the value of the commerce of the Missions with Brazil
at twenty thousand dollars annually; and that with the Pacific coast,
through Chachapoyas and Truxillo, at twenty thousand more. The vegetable
productions of the Missions do not equal the value of the imports;
but the people get some money from the coast for their manufactures of
coarse cotton and straw-hats; and a little gold is occasionally obtained
from the sands of the Napo and Pastaza.
The Missions send to Chachapoyas and Truxillo tobacco, salt fish,
straw-hats, coarse cotton cloths, wax, incense for the churches, balsam
copaiba, and vanilla, and receive, in return, cattle, horses, goods of
Europe, and a little money. The Brazilians bring up heavy articles—such
as I described as composing the cargo of the traders we met at Laguna;
and take back straw-hats, hammocks of the Indians, sarsaparilla, and
money. The value of the sarsaparilla of the Missions is estimated at
two thousand dollars at the place of production, and six thousand at
its place of sale in Brazil; the value of the wax at the same at the
place of production; and at four thousand dollars at place of sale. The
greatest profit, however, is made on the fish, of which thirty thousand
pieces are taken annually in the Ucayali and Amazon. It costs there
about three cents the piece; and is worth in Tarapoto, Lamas, and other
places of the province, about twelve and a half cents the piece.
Estimate of the expenses and returns of a canoe-load of salt-fish from
Nauta to Balza Puerto.
Dr. A canoe-load of eight hundred pieces may be bought in
Nauta for one yard of English cotton cloth (valued at
twenty-five cents) for every eight pieces $25 00
Freight, or hire of canoe, for thirty-six days, from Nauta
to Balza Puerto, at 3⅛ cents per day 1 12½
Pay of seven peons, 12 yards of cotton cloth of Tarapoto,
valued at 12½ cents the yard 10 50
Maintenance of the seven men for thirty-six days, at 3
cents per day 7 56
------
44 18½
Cr. Eight hundred pieces in Balza Puerto, at 12½ cents 100 00
------
Profit 55 81½
or about one hundred and twenty-six per cent. in thirty-six days.
The return-cargo also yields a profit: so that my friend, the governor,
who by virtue of his office can get as many men to take fish for him as
he wants, will probably return to civilized parts in a few years with
a snug little sum in his pocket. Old Cauper is rich, and the priest in
comfortable circumstances.
Estimate of expenses and returns of an expedition from Nauta to the
Ucayali for the collection of sarsaparilla. (The expedition will occupy
four months of time.)
DR. Hire of two _garreteas_, that will carry seventy-five arrobas
each, at 3⅛ cents per day, (four months) $7 50
Eighteen peons from Nauta to Sarayacu, at ten yards of
English cotton cloth each, (twenty-five cents) 45 00
Support of these peons for twenty days, at 3⅛ cents per
man per day 11 25
Contract with fifty Pirros or Conibos Indians (who now
take the boats and go up the tributaries of the Ucayali)
for the delivery by each man of three arrobas of sarsaparilla,
at 75 cents the arroba 112 50
Hire and support of peons for the return from Sarayacu
to Nauta—being one-third of the amount for the trip
up 18 75
-------
195 00
Cr. One hundred and fifty arrobas, worth in Nauta two dollars
the arroba 300 00
-------
Profit in four months 105 00
or about thirteen and a half per cent. per month.
The people engaged in this occupation make, however, more profit,
by cheating the Indians in every possible mode. They also own the
garreteas; and, by management, support their peons for less than three
cents per day.
This is an estimate made up from information given by Arebalo. Hacket
makes a much better business of it. He says, "Eighty working hours above
Sarayacu, on the Ucayali, is the mouth of the river _Aguaytia_, on the
banks of which grows sarsaparilla in sufficient quantity not only to
enrich the province of Mainas, but all the department of Amazonas. Its
cost is eight varas of tocuyo the hundred pounds, undertaking the work
of gathering it with formality—that is to say, employing one hundred
persons under the direction of a man of talent, and paying them a
monthly salary of twenty-four varas of tocuyo each; quadruple the price
that is generally paid in Mainas.
"It sells in Nauta, Peruate, and Loreto for nine dollars the hundred
pounds, gold or silver coin; in Tabatinga, (frontier of Brazil,)
for ten dollars and fifty cents; in Pará, for twenty-five dollars;
and in Europe, for from forty to sixty dollars, in times of greatest
abundance."
Sarsaparilla is a vine of sufficient size to shoot up fifteen or twenty
feet from the root without support. It then embraces the surrounding
trees, and spreads to a great distance. The main root sends out many
tendrils, generally about two lines in diameter, and five feet long.
These are gathered and tied up in large bundles of about a Portuguese
arroba, or thirty-two pounds of weight. The main root, or _madre_,
should not be disturbed; but the Indians are little careful in this
matter, and frequently cut it off, by which much sarsaparilla is
destroyed. The digging up of the small roots out of the wet and marshy
soil is a laborious and unhealthy occupation.
It is to be found on the banks of almost every tributary of the great
streams of the Montaña; but a great many of these are not worked, on
account of the savages living on their banks, who frequently attack the
parties that come to gather it. On the "_Pangoa_" are the _Campas_; on
the "Pachitea," the "Aguaytia," and the "Pisque," are the "Cashibos;"
and the whole southern border of the Amazon, from the mouth of the
Ucayali to that of the _Yavari_, is inhabited by the "Mayorunas;" all
savages, and averse to intercourse with the white man. The same is the
case on the "Tigreyacu," where there is said to be much sarsaparilla.
Padre Calvo, the president of the Missions at Sarayacu, told me that,
although he has the exclusive right, by order of the prefect, of
collecting all the sarsaparilla on the Ucayali and its tributaries, he
could not, if I were willing to pay any price, supply me with more than
three hundred arrobas per annum, on account of the difficulty of getting
laborers who are willing to brave the attacks of the savages.
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. When the river becomes
better known she can run for a large part of the night, and thus shorten
her time nearly one-half. Men shrink at the eighty days in a canoe, when
they will jump at the twelve in a steamer.
The steamer will also increase commerce and trade by creating
artificial wants; men will travel who did not travel before; articles
of luxury—such as Yankee clocks, cheap musical instruments, &c.—will
be introduced, and the Indians will work to obtain them; and, in short,
when the wonders that the steamboat and railroad have accomplished are
taken into consideration, I shall not be thought rash in predicting that
in one year from the time of the appearance of the steamer, Arebalo's
twenty thousand dollars will be made forty thousand.
Thus we shall have twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods going up from
Loreto to Chasuta, paying at least one hundred per cent.; and twenty
thousand dollars going down, paying another hundred per cent.; giving
to the steamboat company (who would monopolize the trade) forty thousand
dollars a year, against twenty thousand dollars of expenses.
There would be no difficulty in getting a supply of fuel. My Peruvian
steamer would have to make her way slowly up, for the first time, by
collecting and cutting up the abundant drift-wood on the islands; but
she could readily contract with the governors of the thirty-six villages
between Pará and Chasuta for a regular supply. The Brazilian government
has an organized and enlisted corps of laborers, under the orders of
the military commandants, and I should suppose would be willing to
employ them in furnishing wood, on account of the great advantages to
be derived from the increase of trade. The Indians of the Peruvian
villages are entirely obedient to their governors; and a sufficient
number of them may always be had, at wages of twelve and a half cents
per day, with about three cents more for their maintenance. This amount
of wages may be reduced one-half by paying them in articles for their
consumption, bought at Pará or brought from the United States.
The only difficulty that I have in my calculations is that I know there
are not forty thousand dollars in the whole province; its productions
must find their way to the Pacific, on the one hand, and to the
Atlantic, on the other, before they can be converted into money. My
steamer, therefore, to be enabled to buy and sell, must communicate at
Loreto with a larger steamer, plying between that place and Barra, at
the mouth of the Rio Negro, a distance of eight hundred and forty miles;
and this with another still larger, between Barra and Pará, a distance
of a thousand miles.
These three steamers (however much I may be out of my calculations
regarding the one confined to the Peruvian territory) could not fail
to enrich their owners; for they would entirely monopolize the trade of
the river, which is fairly measured by the imports and exports of Pará,
which amounted in 1851 to two millions of dollars.
These two millions are now brought down to Pará, and carried away from
Pará, (with the exception of what is consumed in the city,) by clumsy,
inefficient river-craft, which would vanish from the main stream at the
first triumphant whistle of the engine. These would, however, until the
profits justified the putting on of more steamers, find ample employment
in bringing down and depositing upon the banks of the main stream the
productions of the great tributaries.
I can imagine the waking-up of the people on the event of the
establishment of steamboat navigation on the Amazon. I fancy I can hear
the crash of the forest falling to make room for the cultivation of
cotton, cocoa, rice, and sugar, and the sharp shriek of the saw, cutting
into boards the beautiful and valuable woods of the country; that I can
see the gatherers of India-rubber and copaiba redoubling their efforts,
to be enabled to purchase the new and convenient things that shall be
presented at the door of their huts in the wilderness; and even the wild
Indian finding the way from his pathless forest to the steamboat depôt
to exchange his collections of vanilla, spices, dyes, drugs, and gums,
for the things that would take his fancy—ribbons, beads, bells, mirrors,
and gay trinkets.
Brazil and Peru have entered into arrangements, and bound themselves
by treaty, to appropriate money towards the establishment of steamboat
navigation on the Amazon. This is well. It is doing something towards
progress; but it is the progress of a denizen of their own forests—the
sloth. Were they to follow the example lately set by the republics of
the La Plata, and throw open their rivers to the commerce of the world,
then the march of improvement would be commensurate with the importance
of the act; and these countries would grow in riches and power with the
rapidity of the vegetation of their own most fertile lands.
We, more than any other people, are interested in the opening of this
navigation. As has been before stated, the trade of this region _must_
pass by _our_ doors, and mingle and exchange with the products of _our_
Mississippi valley. I am permitted to take extracts bearing upon this
subject from a letter of an eminent American citizen residing in Lima
to the Superintendent of the National Observatory, whose papers upon
the Amazon, its resources and future importance, have attracted the
attention, not only of our own people, but that of those who dwell or
have territorial possessions upon this great water-shed; and to whom
belongs the honor of originating the mission upon which I have been
engaged.
This gentleman in Lima, whose comprehensive mind and ripe judgment had
been attracted to the subject by Maury's pen, says to the Lieutenant,
under date of July, 1852:
"Since I last wrote to you, I have made the acquaintance of Don ——, a
native of Chili, and whom Gibbon saw at Cochabamba, in Bolivia. This
is undoubtedly a clever man; but I suspect that he has also come to act
as a secret agent of Belzu, the President of Bolivia. However that may
be, he pretends that Belzu is favorably disposed towards us, and would
grant privileges to a steam navigation company, were application made
to him in due form. As I know of no other individual in Bolivia with
whom I could communicate on the subject of Amazonian navigation, I did
not hesitate to make use of him; for, in my opinion, there is no time
to be lost if the United States intend to secure the interior trade of
South America for its citizens.
"Don —— declares that the Mamoré is navigable for steamers from a point
near Cochabamba to its confluence with the Guaporé or Itenez, and so
onward to the junction of the latter with the Beni, forming together the
Rio Madeira; that the 'Cachuelas,' or falls of the Madeira, are neither
impassable nor formidable, and may be easily ascended by steamers, as
there is plenty of water and no rocks. To prove this, he asserts that a
Brazilian schooner ascended the Mamoré to Trinidad, and fired a salute
at that place, about two years ago. After passing the falls, the river
is, of course, navigable to the Amazon. Admitting this statement of
Don —— to be true, (and I am inclined to believe it, as the Brazilians
constantly ascend the Itenez to Matto Grosso,) there is open navigation
from Pará to within a few leagues of Cochabamba, at least two thousand
miles; and this is not so incredible when we consider the length of
navigation on the Missouri river. The accessibility of the Bolivian
rivers will, however, be ascertained with greater certainty after Gibbon
has passed through the Cachuelas of the Madeira, as it is to be hoped
that he will sound, and otherwise minutely examine, the different rapids
of that river, and correct the errors which Don —— says are in the chart
made by ——, a copy of which I sent you by Mr. O'Brian for Herndon.
"The account Don —— gives of the products of the country lying on the
banks of the Mamoré is very glowing. He says that the richest cocoa and
coffee grow almost wild, and that the greatest part of the former is
consumed by the monkeys and birds, for the want of means of transporting
it to a market. Sugar-cane of gigantic dimensions is found everywhere,
with white and yellow cotton of a staple equal to Sea island. Several
kinds of cascarilla grow in abundance, as also sarsaparilla and gums,
ornamental and other woods, and honey and wax, in immense quantities.
Crossing the Mamoré from Exaltacion to the southwest, you arrive at
the river Machuno, which, according to Don ——, is a small 'Pactolus;'
and he assures me that the whole country between the Mamoré and the
Itenez, from latitude 14° to the north, is a gold district as rich as
California.
"_My opinion_ decidedly is, that the whole country traversed by the
rivers issuing from the slope of the Eastern Cordillera, from Santa Cruz
de la Sierra, in Bolivia, to the mouth of the Ucayali, in Peru, is one
immense gold and silver region; gold being found in the flats near the
rivers, and silver in the mountains. I will venture to predict that the
same region contains diamonds and other precious stones, some of which
are probably unknown to the lapidary at present. The silver mines of
Carabaya were immensely productive when worked by Salcedo; so much so,
that the vice-regal government trumped up an accusation against him,
tried him, and ordered his execution, to obtain possession of the mines
by confiscation. The attempt failed, as the Indians, who were devoted
to Salcedo, refused to give any information to the government respecting
the mines; and they have remained unworked up to the present time.
"Gold is known to exist in considerable quantities at Carabaya, and in
the Pampa del Sacramento. I have seen specimens from the former place;
but gold is the least attraction for emigration to Bolivia; the soil
and its products are the source from which the wanderers from foreign
lands are to find plenty and happiness. The climate is said to be good,
and the Indians, except upon the lower part of the Beni, peaceable and
well disposed to the whites. In short, according to Don ——, the east of
Bolivia affords the greatest sphere for trade and colonization.
* * * * *
"For myself, I feel full of this vast subject; for I know that within
less than one hundred leagues of me is the margin of those great
solitudes: replete with riches, and occupying the wild space where
millions of the human race might dwell in plenty and happiness; where
nature annually wastes more than would support the population of China
in comfort; and where the most luxurious fruits and fairest flowers
grow and bloom unknown and unnoticed. When I reflect on this, and on
the miles of rivers rolling on in silence and neglect, I feel doubly
the want of power and money to accomplish their introduction to the
civilized world.
* * * * *
"I think that the energies and influence of all the friends of South
American internal navigation and colonization should be directed towards
forming a company, with a large capital, and to obtain the aid and
support of the Congress of the United States. I know how difficult
an undertaking it is to wring an appropriation out of our national
legislature, for any purpose; but if the subject could be fairly brought
before it, and some of the leading senators and representatives could
be excited to take a patriotic interest in it, perhaps something might
be done.
"We must, on our side, do all we can, and by dint of perseverance we may
succeed at last in accomplishing our object. Should we do so, it will be
a proud satisfaction to ourselves; though the public may, and probably
will, leave us to exclaim—
"'Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores!'
"I shall continue working on and writing to you whenever I have anything
of the least interest to communicate."
The greatest boon in the wide world of commerce is in the free
navigation of the Amazon, its confluents and neighboring streams. The
back-bone of South America is in sight of the Pacific. The slopes of
the continent look east; they are drained into the Atlantic, and their
rich productions, in vast variety and profusion, may be emptied into
the commercial lap of that ocean by the most majestic of water-courses.
The time will come when the free navigation of the Amazon and other
South American rivers will be regarded by the people of this country as
second only in importance to the acquisition of Louisiana.
Having traversed that water-shed from its highest ridge to its very
caves and gutters, I find my thoughts and reflections overwhelmed with
the immensity of this field for enterprise, commercial prosperity, and
human happiness.
I can bear witness to the truth of the sentiment expressed by my
friend, Mr. Maury, that the Valley of the Amazon and the Valley of
the Mississippi are commercial complements of each other—one supplying
what the other lacks in the great commercial round. They are sisters
which should not be separated. Had I the honor to be mustered among
the statesmen of my country, I would risk political fame and life in
the attempt to have the commerce of this noble river thrown open to the
world.