Chapter VII: Part 7

The opening of the Amazon, which occurred on the 7th of September,
1867, and by which the great river is free to the flags of all
nations from the Atlantic to Peru, and the abrogation of the
monopoly of the coast trade from the Amazon to the Rio Grande do
Sul, whereby 4,000 miles of Brazilian sea coast are open to the
vessels of every country, cannot fail not only to develop the
resources of Brazil, but will prove of great benefit to the
bordering Hispano-American Republics and to the maritime nations of
the earth. The opening of the Amazon is the most significant
indication that the leven of the narrow monopolistic Portuguese
conservatism has at last worked out. Portugal would not allow
Humboldt to enter the Amazon valley in Brazil. The result of the new
policy is beyond the most sanguine expectation. The exports and
imports for Para for October and November, 1867 were double those of
1866. This is but the beginning. Soon it will be found that it is
cheaper for Bolivia, Peru, Equador, and New Granada east of the
Andes to receive their goods from and to export their indiarubber,
chincona, &c., to the United States and Europe _via_ the great water
highway which discharges into the Atlantic than by the long,
circuitous route of Cape Horn, or the Trans-Isthmian route of
Panama. The Purus and the Madeira are hereafter to be navigated by
steamers. The valley of the Amazon in Brazil is as large as the area
of the United States east of Colorado, while the valley of the
Amazon in and out of Brazil is equal to all the United States east
of California, Oregon, and Washington territory, and yet the
population is not equal to the single city of Rio de Janeiro or the
combined inhabitants of Boston and Chicago. It is estimated that a
larger population can be sustained in the valley of the Amazon than
elsewhere on the globe.

Explorations have already been commenced by enterprising men from the Southern States of America, who have no doubt of the adaptability of the soil and of the climate on the banks of this noble stream for all the productions of the torrid zone. One of these pioneers, Mr. John W. Dowsing, has lately presented a most interesting report, with respect to the resources of Para, to his Excellency the President of that important province:—

May it please your Excellency, I herewith have the honour to submit
a succinct Report of a recent exploration of a portion of the valley
of the Amazon, and some of the tributaries of the Amazon river, by
me, accompanied by Captain John B. Jones, George M. Sandidge,
Charles H. Mallory, and Charles M. Broom, and all under the
patronage of the Imperial Government of Brazil.

In accordance with instructions from the Minister of Agriculture to
your Excellency, I was furnished with transportation, and one conto
of reis to defray incidental expenses, and letters to various
officials within the Province of Para to facilitate my explorations
and secure as far as practicable every information I might desire in
regard to the country, in order that I might more fully report to
those of my countrymen in the United States who are now deeply
interested in emigration.

Myself and party, consisting of the four above-named gentlemen, left
Belem on the 9th of November, 1867, on board the steamer Soure for
Cameta on the Rio Tocantins. After several days' preparation we
ascended that river nearly to the falls; returning we ascended the
Amazon and Tapajoz rivers to the town of Santarem and surrounding
country, thence to the contiguous islands and up the Tapajoz, thence
up the Amazon river to its junction with the Rio Negro to the city
of Manaos.

From Manaos we made several excursions into the country. It was my
purpose to go to Rio Branco, but utterly failing to obtain
transportation, after remaining twenty-two days, I changed my course
to Rio Matary and the lakes into which it leads.

The information I obtained at the various places visited would
doubtless be of great utility to the commercial world. It would open
up a new market for the various productions, and new fields for the
employment of industry.

The trade up the valley of the Amazon, upon the great river and its
numerous tributaries, is very considerable. Its full extent and
value does not appear in the published statistics of your commerce.

The trade up this magnificent valley is susceptible of almost
unlimited expansion. It stands alone in the inconceivable grandeur
of its capabilities and the wonderful sublimity of its future
destinies.

This magnificent valley, with its wonderful and inexhaustible
resources, will form a great avenue of commercial communication
between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. It is an immense
prolific theatre for the formation of colonies. There is no doubt
but that the best route for many manufactures from Europe and North
America to Peru is through the valley of the Amazon. The productions
of this wonderful valley are necessarily very diversified. They
include all the tropical vegetables and fruits, many kinds of
furniture and dyewoods, many medicinal drugs, and in the elevated
lands it is peculiarly rich in minerals. The great staples exported
in which the commercial world is interested are indiarubber, cacao,
sarsaparilla, tobacco, hides salted and green, various vegetable
oils, cotton, deer skins, isinglass, urucu, rice, &c., &c.

The general surface of a great portion of the Province of Para is
even and undulating while it is diversified with many rich campos
and numerous beautiful lakes and streams, filled with every variety
of fish and turtle. Elevated lands, rising here and there, impart
variety, grandeur, and picturesque beauty to its scenery.

To expatiate upon the beauty, capabilities, and resources of the
numerous streams tributary to the great basin of the Amazon, the
country margining these streams, the general characteristics of the
inhabitants, &c., would invite and justify a voluminous report. I
will content myself, however, with a few reflections upon the
brilliant future that awaits this favoured country.

My investigations disclose that the valley of the Amazon is one
immense forest of valuable timber, woods of the finest grain, and
susceptible of the highest polish: adapted to cabinet purposes. For
building vessels there is no woods on the earth equal to those grown
in the valley of the Amazon.

This is the country for indiarubber, sarsaparilla, balsam, copaiba,
gum copal, animal and vegetable wax, cocoa, castanha nuts, sapucaia
nuts, tonka beans, ginger, black pepper, arrowroot, annetto, indigo,
dyes of the gayest colours, and drugs of rarest medicinal virtues.

These immense forests are filled with game, and all the rivers and
lakes are filled with fish and turtle.

The climate of this country is salubrious and the temperature most
agreeable. The direct rays of the sun are tempered by a constant
east wind, laden with moisture from the ocean, so that one never
suffers from either heat or cold. I found the nights invariably cool
enough to use blankets. With the succulent tropical fruits, the
great variety of game, and the salubrious climate, this country is a
paradise for the indolent man; for here he can maintain life almost
without an effort.

The geographical position of Belem gives it many advantages. It is
in the direct route of vessels to or from European and North
American ports and the Pacific and Indian oceans. Therefore this
city could be made a half way station for vessels thus bound to
receive orders.

With an interior river navigation of many thousands of miles, with a
soil of great fertility, and a climate which allows tropical
vegetation to develop itself in all its luxuriance, with varied and
inexhaustible mineral wealth, the Provinces of Para and Amazonas are
specially marked out by nature to become the most wealthy country on
the globe.

Belem possesses the requisites for carrying on commerce on an
extensive scale. The right steps have been adopted in inaugurating
and securing a general commercial system for Belem by the
establishment of the Amazon Steamship Company.

In order to build up this city and country, and make it what the
future determines it to be, the mineral and agricultural resources
must be developed.

The slave population is being rapidly diminished by the war with
Paraguay and self-emancipation. How is this labour to be
re-supplied? It can only be done by the immigration of the hard
working, industrious yeomanry of the United States and Europe. The
surplus population of Europe and the disaffected citizens in the
Southern portion of the United States will find their way to this
immediate section of the country.

The great exodus will as naturally flow into the vast arable area of
the valley of the Amazon as did the tribes of Asia flow into Europe
through the passes of the Caucausus.

Every advancing wave of population will lift higher and higher the
gathering flood of human life, which the moment it commences to
press upon the means of subsistence in their respective countries
must pour all of its vast tide of human beings into the great valley
of the Amazon, and will eventually unite in one living chain of
industrial life the waters of the Atlantic with the Pacific.

This country as yet is but a wilderness, but the inexorable laws of
civilisation will at no distant day thread the labyrinthian mazes of
this immensely fertile valley, and when teeming with industrious
life it will pour into the coffers of this Empire untold wealth,
thereby giving this portion of the Imperial Government a
significance second to no portion of the earth.

The rich natural and agricultural productions of this valley must be
poured out to the balance of the world. Upon the banks of each of
the tributaries of the mighty Amazon city after city will as by
enchantment arise to export the productions of the soil of this
favoured country. The valley of the Amazon is yet to exercise a
powerful influence on the political destinies of this Empire.

The future destiny of this valley is to be a glorious one; and
fortunate the descendants of those who may now obtain a foothold and
interest upon this soil. As already indicated the true elements of
future greatness lie in the substratum of industry. The valley of
the Amazon must have labour to develop its resources. The cities of
North America and Europe are crowded with young men seeking
employment.

The offices of European Consuls in the United States are crowded
with foreigners, who have exhausted their last cent and are seeking
for any kind of work.

Let them come to the valley of the Amazon with agricultural
implements and obtain a home upon these fertile lands. Those who are
lingering around the crowded seaports of poverty and vice, having no
chance with others in the great world, should turn their attention
to the valley of the Amazon, where a free homestead upon rich lands
and with salubrious climate can be obtained.

The prosperity of this country is the future welfare of all
civilised nations. This country has everything to hope for; nature
has not been unmindful of its most precious gifts to this land.

In the selection of lands, upon which it is my purpose to establish
a colony, I will be governed by the advantages offered by the lands
at Brigança over those explored. If the lands at Brigança are well
watered and rich its accessibility will decide me.

The migration to Brazil of energetic and agricultural population from the former Confederate States of North America is still going on, and may produce hereafter a most beneficial effect on the destinies of the Empire. On this topic General Hawthorn and Mr. W. T. Moore have addressed some interesting remarks to the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture. The following is the concluding paragraphs of the communication to which I refer:—

The people of the South must emigrate but how, and where to? These
are questions that may well engage the earnest attention of every
Government that desires to increase the number of its good and loyal
citizens. Though there may be a few unworthy persons claiming to be
from the late Confederate States who have imposed and forced their
lazy carcases and worthless habits upon this kind and liberal
Government, we desire to say in the most emphatic and unequivocal
terms that the great body of the Southern people are not
professional emigrants, who systematically cringe the knee and
hypocritically kiss the feet of every monarch that will scatter
among them the crumbs of charity; on the contrary, they are the
remnants of a gallant race, who, having struggled in vain to save
their country from destruction and themselves from slavery, will
like Æneas and his Trojan followers gather round them their aged
fathers and mothers, their wives, their children, their household
gods, and, emigrating to some foreign land, lend their powerful aid
in building up the country of their adoption and pushing it forward
to a conspicuous place in the front rank of nations.

They will carry with them their statesmen, their orators, and their
men of science, and though they may carry little gold and silver,
and but a few of this world's goods, yet they will carry with them
rich stores of great and active thought, vast mines of unflagging
energy and industry, immense treasures of practical and scientific
knowledge in planting, navigation, commerce, and the fine arts. They
will carry with them stout hearts, untarnished honour, and
unconquered manhood; but above all, for that Government which shall
now extend its liberal hand and relieve them in this their hour of
need, they will cherish that unshaken fidelity and loyalty that will
uphold and maintain it in its prosperity and rally around and die
for it whenever its day of trial and danger comes. They are a race
that have won imperishable honours in every walk of life, and upon
every field of action that has ever been opened to human enterprise,
and wherever they go in large bodies they cannot fail to add wealth
to the coffers and prosperity to the land of their adoption.

Having adopted Brazil as our future home, and believing as we do
that it is better adapted to the wants of our people than any other
country upon earth, we should rejoice to see the good and true
people of the South emigrate in masses to this wonderful country.
Hence our anxiety that this Government should fully understand the
character, the capacities, and the habits of the Southern people.
Since we have been in Brazil we have reflected deeply upon this
subject, and the result of our observations and reflections is that
the people of the late Confederate States, being, as they are,
strangers to the language, habits, and customs of this country,
cannot be completely prosperous or contented here unless they settle
in colonies by themselves, and that too upon a scale sufficiently
large to carry on successfully all the various trades and
professions, to have their own schools and churches, in short, to
relieve them from the necessity of learning a foreign language
before obtaining complete success in their agricultural,
manufacturing, or mercantile operations. We are also deeply
impressed with the belief that in order to a full development of
their energies as a people and a successful renewal of those
glorious triumphs in every art and science that once rendered them
so illustrious, it is necessary they should be left as free and
untrammelled in their action as the safety and dignity of an
enlightened and liberal Government will admit. We therefore
respectfully suggest that (as an inducement for this heroic people
to emigrate to Brazil in one vast body, bringing with them their
greatest, their wisest, and their best men; bringing with them their
household goods, their customs, their manners, their indomitable
energy and unflinching courage; but above all, bringing in their
bosoms the bright hope that their race is not yet run, but that a
brilliant and a glorious future awaits them here) the Government
cause to be set apart and reserved for their settlement and use
large bodies of the public lands, which may be selected by judicious
and intelligent men; that these lands be surveyed as occasion may
require, and sold in limited quantities, at fixed uniform rates, to
that people alone, or to such as they may desire to settle in their
midst; and that they be allowed full and complete religious
toleration, as also the full rights of citizenship, whenever they
shall take the oath of allegiance to the Government; that each of
these colonies, including such as are already established, as well
as those that may be established hereafter, be made a congressional,
military, and judicial district, which, when it shall have the
requisite number of inhabitants, shall be entitled to
representatives in the national and provincial assemblies, chosen
from among themselves; that so far as possible all their officers
placed immediately over them be men speaking their own language, and
familiar with their customs and manners; that all professional men
among them who shall produce satisfactory evidence of good character
and a reputable practice in the land from which they came be
permitted to practice their respective professions within the limits
of the said colonies, without having to undergo rigorous
examinations in a foreign language; in short, that every liberal
concession be made that a true and loyal people could ask, or a wise
and generous Government could grant.

Your Excellency need not fear the result. Ours is not a race that
breeds either traitors or cowards. When we have once plighted our
faith, dangers cannot weaken nor bayonets break its clasp. Every
liberal concession which a generous prince may grant, or an
enlightened people sanction, will but strengthen our loyalty and
increase our gratitude. We sincerely trust that your Excellency will
live to see the day when Brazil, renovated and strengthened by the
infusion of this great Southern element, will assume among the
nations of the earth the very first place in prosperity, glory, and
power, as she now holds the first in charity and true kindness to a
brave but unfortunate people.

That the policy of the Brazilian Government with regard to her territories on the Amazon is in the right direction no one can deny, and it is in striking contrast with the proceedings of the ruler of Paraguay, who could, in the erection of his formidable strongholds, have had no other object in view than that of impeding, if he did not absolutely obstruct, the passage of the River Paraguay. Paraguayan advocates have, indeed, endeavoured to show that the opening of the Amazon by Brazil was solely dictated by self-interested motives, but let the world look at the facts and judge accordingly.

Many years back the Government largely subsidised a steam company to navigate on the Amazon, which it continues to support notwithstanding the pressure of financial difficulties. This company goes on prospering, and adding to its fleet, and will now be still more useful in assisting foreigners to pioneer their way. Thus the country can be explored and settlements made. It is gratifying to hear the climate of the Amazon so favourably spoken of in the reports I have inserted, as at one time it was feared this would be a barrier to successful emigration. The emphatic language of the writers is not to be mistaken, and the Government of Brazil will do well to afford to the active and go-a-head Anglo-Saxon race every possible encouragement in their emigration work.

The city of Para is admirably placed and its trade has largely augmented of late. In fact, it promises ere long to become the emporium of the northern commerce of Brazil as Rio de Janeiro is of the southern, and when we glance over the map, and see the enormous tributaries of the Amazon extending as far as the waters of the great La Plata itself, it is difficult to say what new sources of wealth may not be opened up from the countries through which these rivers flow. There are natural obstructions to be overcome, and tribes of Indians to be encountered, but the strong arm and the willing heart can conquer these difficulties, clearing their pathway through the forests to the fertile plains beyond.

But little is yet known as to the Indian tribes scattered over the immense valley of the Amazon and its tributaries. That they are not numerous, however, is pretty certain, nor can they offer much resistance to the advance of the white man, when once the tide of emigration to that country is fairly set in. It would, of course, be politic to conciliate and make friends of the aborigines, but circumstances do not appear favourable to such an arrangement.

By a recent Rio paper it appears that a lightship is shortly to be placed at the entrance to Para, and that it had been successfully experimented upon outside the port of Santa Cruz in the presence of the Emperor.

Alluding again to Professor Agassiz, I have had the pleasure of perusing his valuable narrative, which, although containing much matter only of interest to naturalists and scientific people, conveys at the same time a wonderful amount of practical information, and from which a pretty correct idea may be formed of the probable or speculative future of the Amazon valley.

The Amazon, I may just observe, flows through the territory of the Empire for a distance of upwards of 500 leagues, and in its course towards the ocean receives no fewer than eighteen affluents of the first magnitude. The names are as follows: From the south, the Xingú, Tapajoz, Madeira, Purus, Coary, Teffé, Myuruá, Hyutuby, and Hyavary; and from the north, the Sary, Peru, Trombetas, Nhamunda, Uatuman, Uruba, Negro, Hyupurá, and Iça. These rivers, from above the falls which exist on the boundaries of the provinces of Para and Amazonas, are collectively navigable by steamers for 7,351 leagues, not going outside the Imperial territorial limits. In this total, navigation on the Amazon proper figures for 580 leagues; that on the basins of the principal affluents for 5,771 leagues; and that on the lesser tributaries, lakes, and canals for 1,000 leagues.

As I have already remarked the Amazonian network of navigable streams reaches to within a little of the La Plata riverine system. The sources of the Tapajoz, flowing into the Amazon, are only separated by an inconsiderable strip of land from those of the Paraguay, flowing into the River Plate, and were these two rivers connected by artificial means an immense section of the South American Continent would be insulated by ocean and fluvial waters. This great work may probably remain undone for many years to come, but that it will be eventually accomplished I do not at all doubt. The progress of commerce and the development of enterprise in these countries clearly point to the ultimate realisation of this magnificent result.

Before passing to other topics, I will briefly notice another noble river of Brazil—the San Francisco—which traverses the central portion of the Empire, and waters the extensive and important provinces of Minas Geraes, Bahia, Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Sergipe. The Rio das Velhas, Rio Verde, Rio Grande, and the Paracatu are amongst its tributaries, and are all of them streams which in Europe would be regarded as of very superior size. The San Francisco is notable for its famous falls of Paulo Affonso, which witnesses of both have pronounced to greatly excel those of Niagara in their imposing majesty and grandeur. Above these falls there is an uninterrupted navigation of about 230 leagues, and below to the mouth, nearly 50 leagues, there is not the slightest obstruction to vessels of respectable tonnage.

A large part of the immense basin of the Paraguay, in the River Plate, also belongs to Brazil, in whose territories most of the principal rivers of that system have their origin; and numerous other streams, of more or less consequence, permeate different parts of the Empire on their way to the sea. Several of these are capable of navigation by steamers for at least 100 leagues.

TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.

The North American Continent has now for some time past been linked to Europe by the electric wire, inaugurating what may almost be termed a new era of civilisation; and the fact of laying the cable will live in history as long as the name of the leviathan ship through whose medium this great result was accomplished.

South America has yet to depend solely upon steam communication, but doubtless the means of magnetic intercourse will soon be supplied. Already a rival company has been formed to lay down a cable from Brest to America under privileges obtained from the French and American Governments, and the great ship, with her gallant commander, Sir James Anderson, is again to be called into requisition. It is very desirable that extra cables should be laid in case of accident to those at present existing.

I had hoped on my arrival home to find a company organised and a cable about to be laid from Falmouth to Portugal and the Azores, for which a concession had been obtained by Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott; but it appears that the stupidity of the Cortes prevented this important line being carried out—important to the world and to Portugal in particular, as it would have rendered that country the great centre of telegraphic communication, not only with her own islands, but also with North and South America, to which it was intended the line should eventually be carried. There would also have been a large and lucrative business between England and Lisbon, in connection with the mail steamers to and from Brazil, which at present is carried on under great disadvantage through Spain. Portugal and Spain are sadly in arrear as regards commercial progress and advancement, and Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott experienced the same fate as the South Eastern of Portugal Railway, which, though the Government had agreed to take it over, on equitable terms, the Cortes refused to ratify the agreement. All Messrs. Rumball and Medlicott required was an alteration in the law which prevented the Government granting concessions for more than twenty years. The concessionaries asked for ninety-nine years, which ought to have been readily granted, seeing the manifest advantage to Portugal of establishing such a facility for communication; but no, these _pés de chumbo_ (leaden feet), as they are designated in other parts of the world, would not quicken their pace even to promote the best interests of their country. Sordid motives would also appear to be at the bottom of these acts of repudiation, with which both Spain and Portugal are too familiar.

I think a line might be stretched across the Isthmus of Panama, passing from the West Coast and over the Andes to Buenos Ayres, where a telegraphic cable can easily be laid along the seaboard to Rio de Janeiro. The Argentine Government is now laying down wires from Buenos Ayres to Rosario, whence the Central Argentine Railway carries them on to Cordova, so that a communication with Valparaiso or some port on the West Coast would not be a very formidable work.

Nothing would tend more to consolidate and bind the Argentine provinces together than railways and electric wires. It is true the latter might be exposed to temporary injury, from political agitators and others, but this is no argument against the introduction of so great a civiliser, which even savages soon learn to respect, and look upon with a certain degree of awe. The onward march of civilisation and progress in the Argentine, as well as the Chilian Republic, would most certainly, under every circumstance, greatly tend to secure and keep open an agency so useful to both.

I understand that General Webb, United States Minister at Rio de Janeiro, has lately been authorised to submit an important scheme for the laying of an ocean cable to place Brazil in telegraphic communication with both Europe and North America; and I am glad to learn that there is great probability of something practical resulting from the negotiations in progress in respect to this proposal.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.

Spain and Portugal as a matter of course introduced the Roman Catholic religion in their South American conquests. The aborigines, being imbued with a veneration for forms, or imagery of some kind, soon fell under the influence of the priesthood. Volumes have been written on the power and grandeur of the Jesuits, who were assuredly the pioneers of civilisation in South America, and they certainly accomplished what the sword could never have done. Papal and monarchial jealousy led to their expulsion, but many substantial buildings still remain as evidence of their activity and influence. The district called Missions, lying between Paraguay, Brazil, and the Banda Oriental, which has long been a bone of contention between the ruler of Paraguay and the Argentine Republic, abounds with their ancient edifices, mostly in ruins, and Paraguay itself retains to this day many of the characteristics of the Jesuit rule, which was exercised in a despotic manner—half sacerdotal, half military.

Any one visiting South America must be struck with the enormous size of the churches and convents, so utterly out of proportion to what must have been the wants of the population at the period of their erection, and even at this moment many of these buildings are unoccupied, as stated in my notice of the Brazilian city of San Paulo. These churches and convents were endowed with enormous tracts of land, which in process of time have become very valuable, and if appropriated to State purposes would go a long way towards paying off the national debt of Brazil. Some measure of this kind will inevitably be adopted at some future period, as in most instances the property itself is unproductive of any national benefit, nor is it utilised for any national object. The power of the priesthood still predominates and subjects the masses, if not a majority of the enlightened population, to its influence, and little short of a social revolution can wrest from the Church what is no longer required for religious observances, or distributed in any way towards the spread of religious knowledge. Mexico is an instance of the pernicious and fatal effects produced by a dominant priesthood, and although the more liberal views of Brazilians have weakened the priestly trammels in which some other parts of South America are still held, few have come forward to propose divesting the Church of her nonproductive property.

The Roman Catholic religion is the religion of the State in Brazil, though all others are tolerated by law and treaties, nor has any difficulty ever arisen in this respect. At the same time it cannot be denied that open attempts at proselytism would be attended with danger. So long as foreign communities carry on their own religious ceremonies quietly and without ostentation all will be well, but too much demonstration might be productive of mischievous results.

As a body it cannot be said the Roman Catholic priesthood of South America is held in much esteem by the laity. Their stronghold is in the subserviency of the more ignorant and narrow-minded of their flock, precisely as we find it all over the world, and even at home.

In the River Plate, owing in a great measure to the scattered nature of the population, the influence of the priesthood has been less felt or exercised than in Brazil, besides which the large introduction of the foreign element in its towns and cities has led to greater freedom of thought and action. Nevertheless the church has large possessions in land, to which the same objections may be urged as in the case of Brazil, and the sooner they are appropriated to national objects the better. Cordova may be termed a city of churches and convents, the greater number of which are useless. A recent writer on Cordova says:—“In telling anything of Cordova it is impossible to omit to speak of her churches: there are over thirty of them, besides the Cathedral. A description of them and their riches and institutions would make a large book. I have neither the requisite information, inclination, nor the time to go into the details of this painful theme—the Church in Cordova being so manifestly an incubus on the advancement of the country. Immense capitals are locked up in massive buildings and lands, which the clergy will neither sell nor cultivate, and a small army of friars and nuns—unproductive men and women in every sense—is detached from the world to manage these great properties, which yield nothing to the people moral or material.” The great Republic of the United States presents a good example to those of South America by permitting free admission of every religion its citizens may choose to adopt without allowing the predominance of any one in particular.

THE AFFLUENTS OF LA PLATA.

Here and there, in the progress of my work, I have casually referred to the Rio de la Plata and its affluents; but the fluvial system which they together constitute is certainly deserving of more than a merely cursory comment. I will, therefore, add to my remarks on the Amazon and its tributaries some more precise observations with respect to the numerous rivers which give access to the fertile regions of Paraguay and furnish the Argentine Confederation with an extensive littoral coast.

The rivers Parana, Uruguay, and Paraguay are, however, now too well known to necessitate any very minute description. The first originates at no great distance from the shores of the Atlantic in that part of the table land of Brazil which divides the watershed of the Amazon from the watershed of the River Plate. Its most distant branch is the Rio Grande, which it receives at the confluence of the latter with the Paranahyba; and after an interrupted course of about 1,000 miles it finally effects a junction with the Paraguay, its largest affluent. Thence its huge volume of water, further augmented by the Uruguay, rolls to the ocean, forming that wide fresh water sea known as the estuary of the Plate. The Parana runs for nearly 900 miles within the limits of the Argentine Republic, and of this distance quite 750 are navigable throughout the whole year for sailing vessels and steamers of 300 tons burden. It begins to rise owing to intertropical rains towards the end of December, and this continues up to the close of April. Below its confluence with the Paraguay the average rise is eleven to twelve feet. The only tributary the Parana receives between its confluence with the Paraguay and its absorption in the estuary of the La Plata is the Rio Salado, a river of great length, and having its source in the Andine regions of the Argentine Confederation.

The Paraguay, like the Parana, has its origin in Brazilian territory. After passing through the Estrecho of Sao Francisco, (lat. 20° S.) it flows southwards, dividing the Republic of Paraguay from the Gran Chaco; a few miles below Asuncion, at a point called Angostura, the channel is narrowed by rocks, and the current becomes very rapid in consequence, taking a bend west by south until it mingles with the Parana. The Paraguay is navigable by large craft, and steamers have for some years ascended to Asuncion and Matto Grosso. The Paraguay receives the Pilcomayo, a very large stream of over 1,000 miles, and which, taking its rise near the city of Chuquisaca, in Bolivia, traverses a vast portion of that Republic, finally issuing from the Chaco wilderness at a point a little above Asuncion. Of course the Paraguay is augmented by numerous tributaries previous to its junction with the Pilcomayo, but these need not be specially mentioned. The Araguarmini empties itself into it at Oliva, and further down is the mouth of the Vermejo, a very considerable river, the navigation of which opens to commerce a territory of almost unrivalled fertility, and affords an easy access to Bolivia, in which State, like the Pilcomayo, it has its sources. Efforts have been made to facilitate the navigation of this fluvial highway, in connection with which the name of Sor. Arce is deserving of special allusion. This gentleman was the first to traverse the entire length of this previously unexplored river, his first descent having been effected in 1856. He followed its windings on a raft for a distance of 1,200 miles, penetrating in his course dense forests, and braving exposure to the rays of a tropical sun, not to speak of the danger incurred from wild beasts, and the yet more formidable Indian savages. The Vermejo will yet prove of incalculable advantage in conveying to the ocean the valuable products of the Argentine and Bolivian interior.

The Uruguay and the Parana partially enclose the Provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, and the former is only navigable from the sea as far as Salto, where rapids and falls occur; but above this point its waters are adapted to small steamers and sailing craft. Its source is in Brazil. On its banks are situated the towns of San Borja, Salto, Pysandu, Concepcion, Fray Bentos, and Soriano. It passes through a well wooded and picturesque country. Up to Salto it is constantly navigated by steamers trading between that place and the lower communities, especially Buenos Ayres and Monte Video.

THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY.

The long and sanguinary conflict which the despotic ruler of this country has been enabled, from various causes, to maintain against the allied arms of Brazil and the other Platine States has naturally excited considerable curiosity in Europe to know something of its past history, people, and form of government.

In order to arrive at a correct judgment in respect of this singular people, and of their political and social condition, it is absolutely necessary to go back to the time when the Jesuits exercised so potential an influence in the River Plate, as in other parts of South America where the members of this remarkable order were permitted to carry out their questionable designs for the religious subjection and social domination of the aboriginal inhabitants.

The Jesuits first arrived in Paraguay at the beginning of the 17th century, when they obtained from Spain the concession of a vast territory of their own choosing, traversed by the Parana and Uruguay rivers, and capable of growing a great variety of products, including the sugar cane, indigo, cotton, tropical fruits of every description, and almost every kind of edible root and vegetable. The forests contained woods of the most valuable character, and the region in question also possessed great mineral wealth. The Fathers, having established themselves in their conceded territory, forthwith set about devising schemes for its population by civilised, or, at least, subjected Indians. The means adopted were characteristic. Azara describes the ingenious, if not very ingenuous, system adopted for this purpose. Having failed in their attempts to subdue the wilder Indian tribes, the Fathers soon directed their efforts to the reduction of the Guaranis, who were of a milder and more tractable temperament. By great industry, and by dint of patience, a small community was formed, over whom the Jesuits possessed the most entire control, and whose members were used for the reduction of savages in much the same fashion as the fowler uses his “call-birds” for the capture of others. The following is a brief description of the method usually adopted:—

They sent to a savage community some small presents by two Indians
speaking the same language, and who had been chosen in their oldest
communities. They repeated these embassies and presents at different
times, the messengers always stating that they were sent by a Jesuit
who loved them tenderly, who desired to come and live in their
midst, and to procure for them other objects of greater value,
including herds of cows, in order that they might have food to eat
without exposing themselves to fatigue. The Indians accepted these
offers, and the Jesuit started with what he had promised,
accompanied by a considerable number of Indians selected from
amongst those of their early redacciones. These Indians remained
with the Jesuit, as they were needed to build a house for the curate
and to take care of the cows. These were very soon destroyed, for
the Indians only thought of eating them. The savages asked for more
cows and they were brought by additional Indians chosen like the
first; and the whole of them remained on the spot, under the pretext
of building a church and other edifices, and of cultivating maize,
the yucca root, &c., for the Jesuit and for all the others. Food,
the affability of the priest, the good conduct of the Indians who
had brought the cattle, festivals and music, the absence of every
appearance of subjection, attracted to this settlement all the
savage Indians in the neighbourhood. When the priest saw that his
selected Indians greatly exceeded the savages in numbers, he caused
the latter to be surrounded on a determined day by his people, and
mildly told them, in a few words, that it was not just their
brethren should work for them, that it was therefore necessary they
should cultivate the earth and learn trades, and that the women
should spin. A few appeared dissatisfied, but they perceived the
superiority of the Indians of the curate, and as the latter was
careful to caress some and punish others with moderation, while
exercising a surveillance over all for a time, the new mission was
at length entirely and successfully formed.

The internal government of the Jesuits was quite as peculiar as the proceedings by which they widened their influence and brought the outlaying savage populations under control. From the Indians an unquestioning and absolute submission was exacted, and the hours and the nature of their labours were fixed without appeal by their clerical masters. M. Quentin, in his very interesting work, translated from the French by Mr. Dunlop, thus depicts the interior life in these _redaccions_, the name given to their establishments by the Jesuits themselves:—

The Indians knew no other authority than that of the Father. The
Father fed and clothed them, and promised the joys of Paradise as
the reward of their submission and assiduity in labour. They lived
in common, they worked in common, they prayed in common, under the
direction of the Father, who was the representative of God. The
Indian laboured, but nothing belonged to him individually;
everything was the property of the whole community. The Father
distributed amongst the different families the things necessary for
their sustenance, and the remainder was carefully stored and guarded
in immense warehouses. The Indians had nothing to do with the
traffic; the Father it was who sold in distant markets the precious
woods cut in the forests, the Paraguayan tea, the tobacco, and the
hides: he it was who brought back fine garments, the most beautiful
of which were given to the most docile and submissive, and returned
with implements of agriculture, looms for the weaving of cotton, and
splendid stuffs for the adornment of the chapel on holidays, when
work was suspended and the bells sent forth jubilant peals. These
days were days of high festival in the redacción. The Fathers of the
neighbouring missions assembled. They invested themselves in copes
resplendent with gold; children, clothed in white robes, carried
censers, which they waved to and fro; and the whole population, in
good order, and to the sound of music, slowly advanced, singing
canticles as they went under the shade of the orange trees which
fringed their path.

The Indians were, it will be seen, entirely deprived of liberty. They were not allowed to do anything of their own motion. They could engage in no private pursuits, and there was, therefore, wanting every stimulus to individual elevation. A dead level was created, above which none rose save by grace and selection of the priests themselves. But in return for their confiscated freedom of action, the Indians were relieved of all care for the morrow; and otherwise the Jesuit Fathers, it must be confessed, were at pains to make despotism sweet and not bitter. The labour tasks imposed were in no sort onerous, and, as Azara remarks, they were amused “by a great number of balls, fêtes, and tournaments,” on which occasions the actors were invariably clothed in the most costly and magnificent vestments to be had in Europe. To the aspiring, cultured, exalted spirit slavery in a gilded cage would be simply intolerable; but in the case of the Guarani Indians it was very different. They were slaves, and they were perfectly contented with their slavery.

The Fathers were very careful to prevent their neophytes from acquiring the Spanish language; only a few, who occupied certain subordinate offices, were trusted with this knowledge, for the Fathers were well aware that the only basis on which their system could possibly rest secure was that of universal ignorance. Every channel of information or of communication was in consequence rigorously closed and barricaded by the institution of the most exclusive regulations. Education was summed up in the oral teaching (they were not taught to read or write) of certain church prayers and the ten commandments; and the time not monopolised by labour, or in the childish games provided for their relaxation, was devoted to exercises of piety and worship according to the pompous ritual of the Romish Church.

When, therefore, for reasons and under circumstances which I will not now stay to particularise, the Jesuits were expelled from the River Plate, and were compelled to abandon their missions, the pretentious fabric they had raised, possessing in itself no sustaining power, collapsed almost immediately. The withdrawal of the Fathers was an inexorable call to their former disciples to self-thought and self-action. They were, however, unequal to the demands of the situation; everything fell into disorder, and “villages in ruins, fields untilled, yerbales destroyed, at once demonstrate the grandeur and the fragility of the work undertaken by the learned ambition of the Jesuits.” But the labours of the Fathers were far from fruitless. They had sedulously cultivated amongst the Guarani populations of Paraguay sentiments of obedience and fanaticism, and, incapable of managing their own affairs, they have always reposed their destinies in the hands of some authority, invested with the power, as with the title, of _El Supremo_.

The history of this people, since the expulsion of the Jesuits, is, therefore, that of a succession of tyrannies. When all the neighbouring countries were engaged in a bloody war for the attainment of their independence no throb for liberty disturbed the popular heart of Paraguay. The Metropolitan supremacy was exposed to no tumultuous assault, and was subverted only when its official guardians betrayed their trust. The nation allowed itself to pass from one master to another, just like a herd of cattle, without protest and without the manifestation of any special interest, but to the new authority as to the old they rendered the same homage of unreasoning and unreflecting obedience. It is true that some forms of popular ratification were given, but only given because they were asked.

I cannot pause to specify the intrigues which resulted in placing Francia in the seat of power. Suffice it to say that in 1817 this terrible man caused himself to be proclaimed Supreme and Perpetual Dictator, and never surely did tyrant exercise absolute rule with a more ruthless and cruel rigour. Even the humblest ceased to find safety in their obscurity. For the most trifling reasons men and women were thrown into prisons and there tortured often to the death. Espionage was general; mutual confidence was destroyed; the members of society “moved as in a desert,” scarcely daring to address their dearest friends lest some thoughtless word might be reported to their detriment.

Francia lived in the most complete seclusion:—

He was as unapproachable as a divinity. Hidden in the recesses of
his palace, nobody could penetrate to his presence. He only went out
in the evening, and his progress was marked by a solitude. At the
moment he quitted his palace the clock of the Cathedral sounded, and
all the inhabitants, seized with affright, hastily retreated within
doors. If one of them, by chance too late, was encountered by the
_cortège_ of the Dictator, he cast himself upon his knees, with his
face to the earth, never daring to contemplate the features of _El
Supremo_, and awaiting the chastisement he had incurred in an agony
of fear. Sometimes he was carried to prison; more frequently he was
let off with a few blows with the flat of a sabre, heartily applied
by the soldiers of the escort.

Under such a Government neither agricultural nor trading industry could do other than languish, and the country was cut off from all commercial communication with the outer world.

The following extract will show how the Dictator was in the habit of accomplishing his ends:—

Only a few stuffs and clumsy implements were with difficulty
produced in the country. But, in times of urgent necessity, the
Dictator knew how to improvise workmen and teach them those arts of
which they were ignorant. The means he employed are worthy of
notice. He required belts for his soldiers: no one could make them.
“Having prepared a gallows, he threatened to hang thereon a
shoemaker who had failed to fashion the belts according to his
desire.” By this process blacksmiths were converted into locksmiths,
armourers, and cutlers, shoemakers into saddlers, goldsmiths into
founders, and masons into architects. That their zeal might not be
permitted to cool, he condemned a blacksmith to penal servitude who
had badly constructed the sight-piece of a cannon. Everything was
done by rule. The citizens were divested of all power of initiation.
If they became proprietors, even their goods were subject to the
arbitrary caprices of the Dictator. Under pretext of embellishing
the capital, Francia “pulled down several hundred houses without
compensating the owners, or troubling himself as to their fate or
that of their families. Each was compelled to demolish his own
house, and if he lacked the means, convicts were employed to do the
work, and afterwards carried away what they thought proper.”

On the 19th of September, 1840, Francia died. But unhappily his death did not prove the dawn of freedom for the Paraguayans. After a brief interregnum Don Carlos Lopez, a lawyer, finally took up the sceptre of his terrible predecessor, and wielded it with a hand equally relentless. He professed, it is true, to rule in conformity with the constitution of 1844, if this name can be given to an act which merely legalised despotism; but if any difference existed between the position of Lopez and Francia, it was simply that the iron rod of the latter was gilded and painted in the grasp of the former.

Without repudiating the exclusive policy of Francia, Lopez the elder permitted some partial commerce with foreign nations. But this licence was hampered by the most absurd restrictions, and he continued to exhibit the greatest dislike for foreigners, upon whom extreme barbarities were inflicted. If the isolation of the state was a little relaxed it was because the “trading” interests of the Dictator would else have suffered:—

The modifications effected in the commercial and economic system
were of such a nature as to secure for the State a monopoly in the
majority of mercantile transactions. Paraguay was and is a great
firm under the management of the President. Lopez authorised the
people to work in the yerbales, but it was necessary to ask and
obtain a licence. The yerba thus produced was purchased by the
State, which exported it on its own account. The Government paid for
it five piastres per arroba, and resold it for fifteen in the
interior, and for so much as forty piastres to export. In
consequence of the monopoly in the sale of this important product,
an exorbitant price was maintained, which enabled the Brazilians to
give a great development to its production in the province of
Parana. The yerba there grown, though of inferior quality,
nevertheless found an immense consumption in the Plate, on account
of its more moderate price. The utilisation of the forests of
Paraguay was also permitted; but the State imposed a duty of 20 per
cent.; and as the value was fixed by itself, this pretended liberty
of commerce in timber was simply a device to extort money, and ruin
the individuals who might engage in it.

With regard to the raising of cattle and the commerce in hides, the
State possessed farms and tanneries, and did not allow private
persons to offer any serious competition. The State could, in
addition, command labourers without payment; for the citizens were
still subject, as under the colonial administration, to be pressed
into the public service. At every requisition of authority they are
bound to work without receiving either reward or nourishment; and it
was by means of these _auxilios_ that roads have been made and
repaired, churches built, and both the fortress of Humaita and the
arsenal of Villa Rica erected. The _Guardias Auxiliares_—to-day
soldiers, to-morrow labourers—are employed in the cultivation of the
lands of the State. These soldiers carry the posts, gather the maté
harvest, and fell timber; but receive no remuneration, being only
fed like the rest of the army. These labourers cost so little, that,
thanks to them, the State defies all private competition in the
produce of its yerbales, forests, and farms.