226 Mr. A. Siemens on Cable Laying on the Amazon Biver. [May 15, 



anything new can be added to their description of the general 

 features of the Amazon valley; but the town of Manaos has com- 

 pletely changed its character since it was made the capital of that 

 region in 1853. A town quite European in its features has arisen in 

 the midst of the forest, and to the benefits of rapid transport — to 

 which it has owed so much — there is now added the characteristic 

 lever of modern progress, the annihilator of space and time — electrical 

 communication. 



[A. S.] 



