GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF BRAZIL. 511 
an instance of tin's, I may mention that, though livino- on 
* C o 
the hanks of rivers which abound in delicious fish, they 
make large use of salt cod, imported from other countries ! 
While travelling upon the Amazons, I have often asked 
myself what would be the best plan for developing the 
natural resources of that incomparable region. No doubt 
the opening of the great river to the commerce of all 
nations was a first step in the right direction ; and this 
measure in itself shows what extraordinary progress Bra- 
zil is making, for it is hardly more than half a century, 
since, owing to the narrow policy and jealous disposition 
of the Portuguese government, the greatest traveller of 
modern times was forbidden to enter the valley of the 
Amazons ; while to-day a scientific errand of a similar 
character is welcomed and fostered in every possible way 
by the government of a nation now independent of Eu- 
rope. But a free competition is a necessary complement 
to the freedom already granted, and competition is scarcely 
possible where monopolies are kept up. I hold, therefore, 
that all the exceptional facilities granted by the Brazilian 
government to private companies are detrimental to its 
best interests. There is, however, another direct obstacle 
to progress which ought at once to be removed, since the 
change could in no way injure the general welfare. The 
present limitation of the provinces of Para and of the Ama- 
zons is entirely unnatural. The whole valley is cut in two 
transversely, so that its lower half is of necessity a bar 
to the independent growth of the upper half. Para, being 
made the centre of everything, drains the whole country 
without vitalizing the interior. The great river which 
should be an international highway has become an inland 
stream. But suppose for a moment that the Amazons f 
