GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



381 



ralist of Paranagua, communicated in the 

 spring of 1865, to the French Department of 

 Foreign Affairs, a paper giving interesting in- 

 formation respecting the province of Parana 

 in the Brazilian empire. The province possess- 

 es a very fertile soil, and the finest climate in 

 South America, uniting the advantages of the 

 intertropical regions with those of the south of 

 France and Italy, and it produces in abundance 

 the vegetables and fruits common to the tropics 

 and the south of Europe. It might easily fur- 

 nish abundant exports from these products, but 

 at present its exports are confined to ship- 

 timber and fire-wood and Paraguay tea (yerba 

 mate"). The last-named plant is grown only in 

 Paraguay, Parana, and a few points in the 

 province of Rio Grande de Sul. It is in great 

 demand all over South America, being used 

 instead of Chinese tea, and often of coffee. The 

 province of Parana is adapted beyond any other 

 portion of South America for profitable silk 

 culture. The common silk-worm there (the 

 Bonibyx arrindia) feeds upon the leaves of the 

 ricinus, or castor-oil plant, and yields five or 

 six annual crops of cocoons. The soil and cli- 

 mate are also well adapted to the cultivation of 

 coffee and sugar-cane and tobacco. The coffee 

 is reckoned superior to that of Rio. The Bra- 

 zilian sugar has a good reputation, and the to- 

 bacco is not inferior to the best Vuelta Abajo. 



Vanilla grows wild in all parts of the prov- 

 ince, and in perfume is equal to the best 

 Mexican or Venezuela article. Cotton yields 

 two good crops in a year. All the leguminous 

 plants, as well as rice and maize, are cultivated 

 with success. The forests abound with valua- 

 ble timber, both for ship-building and cabinet 

 purposes. Among these are the Arariva, 

 whose wood is red, yellow, or black; the 

 Carulla, yellow and black ; the Corindila ; the 

 Tujuba, a sort of iron- wood; the Jinquitiba; 

 the red Peroba; and the white, red, and black 

 sassafras. The country is rich in medicinal 

 plants, shrubs, and gums. Among these are 

 the ipecacuanha, a very superior sarsaparilla, 

 the Cambara, and the Carroba, both possessing 

 the highest reputation in scrofulous and syphi- 

 litic affections ; the balsam of copaiba, the JaTio- 

 phacurcas; the Quassia amara, aniiiheAnguro, 

 whose resin and bark are reputed in the coun- 

 try an antidote to phthisis. 



The province is also very rich in minerals. 

 Its marble and porphyries are of excellent qual- 

 ity and in abundant quantity. Gold is found 

 imbedded in quartz and mingled with the sands 

 of the rivers, and iron and argentiferous galena 

 are plentiful. Near the city of Paranagua is a 

 mine of cinnabar, and it yields, though very 

 rudely worked, a large supply of quicksilver. 

 The Tybagy River and some other streams con- 

 tain diamonds of considerable size, emeralds, 

 topazes, amethysts, turquoises, and rubies. 

 The Bay of Paranagua abounds in fish of excel- 

 lent quality and large size. 



In the early part of the year, Professor Louis 

 Agassiz, with a large staff of assistants, sailed 



from Boston for Rio Janeiro, on a scientific ex- 

 ploration, appertaining rather to natural history 

 and palaeontology than to geography, but still 

 having some reference to geographical science. 

 He commenced his labors at Para, early in Au- 

 gust, and soon found the necessity of distribut- 

 ing his force so as to cover the greatest possi- 

 ble extent of territory in the shortest possible 

 time. He discovered very early that each sep- 

 arate region of the great basin of the Amazon 

 had its separate collection of different species 

 of fish. On the 8th of September he wrote 

 that he had obtained more than three hundred 

 species of fish, about three-fourths of them new, 

 although he had then examined only one-third 

 of the Amazon without touching its affluents. 

 At Para alone he found sixty-three species, 

 forty-nine of them hitherto unknown, and 

 which would require the establishment of 

 eighteen new genera to give them place in the 

 system of fishes. The other fauna of the Ama- 

 zon basin presented numerous novelties of 

 species. On the 10th of September the Pro- 

 fessor left Manaos in Araazonas for Tabatinga 

 in Peru. 



The war now raging, and which has been in 

 progress for some months, between the Bra- 

 zilian Government and the Argentine Confed- 

 eration on the one side, and the Paraguayan 

 Government on the other, can hardly fail to 

 result in opening to commerce and the world 

 the rich and fertile region which has so long 

 been ruled by those who have maintained a 

 policy as exclusive as that of China. 



Herr Waldemar Schultz, a German geogra- 

 pher and antiquarian, published in August, 

 1865, in the Zeitschrift fur Allgemeine Erd- 

 Tcunde of Berlin, a very elaborate essay " On the 

 usual manner of Life, Civilization, Rites, and 

 Customs of the Aborigines of Central South 

 America," including under this term the sub- 

 jects of the Incas. The essay exhibits exten- 

 sive and patient research, and brings to light 

 many new facts relative to that interesting 

 people. 



Several discussions have been held in the 

 foreign geographical societies, and communi- 

 cations read on the causes of the rapid decrease 

 of the Indian tribes in both North and South 

 America. In North America the unwillingness 

 of the Indian races to assimilate to the customs 

 and mode of life of the whites, their frequent 

 wars and raids, excessive intemperance, and ex- 

 posure, often with insufficient food, and tho 

 prevalence of small-pox and other severe epi- 

 demic and contagious diseases, are undoubted- 

 ly the principal causes of the decay and rapid 

 extinction of the aboriginal tribes. In South 

 America and Mexico there are to be added to 

 these, according to the testimony of travellers, 

 the amalgamation of races, the very general 

 habit of producing abortion in the case of 

 first children, that the Indian may not be de- 

 prived of the menial services of his squaw, and 

 the prevalence of suicide, especially in any 

 severe illness. 



