GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OE BRAZIL. 511 



an instance of this, I may mention that, though living on 

 the banks 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 gneat 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 lias become an inland 

 stream. But suppose for a moment that the Amazons r 



