302 THE UPPER AMAZONS. 



Upon the afternoon of the IGth of December the 

 steamer " Morona " arrived from Iquitos, a thriving little 

 town about • one hundred and fifty miles above Pebas, 

 upon the left bank of the Maraiion. It was like bidding 

 farewell to an old friend, to part with our little "Ziiparo," 

 which had so long been our pleasant home, and that had 

 floated us safely through six hundred miles of the great 

 forest. We left it moored in the waters of the Ambiyacu, 

 with our Indians busily engaged in tearing it to pieces, in 

 order to disencumber their canoes. 



The first line of steamers upon the Amazons was es- 

 tablished between Para and Manaos, in 1853 ; the second, 

 from the latter town to Tabatinga, upon the Brazilian 

 frontier, in 1858 ; the third, in 18G2, whose vessels navi- 

 gate the head-waters of the river as high as Chosoba, in 

 Peru. The presence of steamers upon the Amazons, in 

 connection with the Pacific and Atlantic lines which gir- 

 dle the continent, have done, and are doing, more for the 

 development of that country than all other influences 

 combined. It has been the absence of means of inter- 

 communication that has rendered the progress of South- 

 American states so slow and unsatisfactory. Brazil has 

 at length awakened to the truth that rapid and cheap 

 transportation, the consequent outgrowth of untrammelled 

 competition, is the most effective agent in secui'ing na- 

 tional wealth and growth. On September 7, 1867, she 

 threw open the Amazons to the competitive commerce of 

 all nations. The steamers upon that river and its tribu- 

 taries are transforming the coimtry. Their shrill whistle 

 seems to awaken the slumbering natives. Quite a heavy 

 trade has ali-eady sprung iip in India-rubber, Brazil-nuts, 

 cacao, coffee, cotton, sarsajDarilla, tobacco, horses, cattle, 



further information relative to these interesting questions, we must refer 

 our readers to the work itself, which is a valuable and permanent contri- 

 bution to the geology of our southern continent. * 



