320 THE LOWER AMAZONS. 



the entire duty received at the custom-liouse of Pura, dur- 

 ing the year 1868, u})on wood exported, including fire- 

 wood for ships, was only three hundred and fifty dollars ! 

 Were duty upon this last article removed, Great Britain 

 alone would ship hundreds of cargoes of the massaran- 

 diiba, or "cow-tree" {Brosimum galactodendron), for 

 railway ties and sleepers, in damp situations, where this 

 timber would last for decades. For situations ex])osed 

 to the weather, the deapil is unsurpassed in durability ; 

 palisades in Para, built of this wood, stand at present 

 in as good condition as when constructed forty years 

 ago ! 



We learn, through James Henderson of Parti, to whom 

 we are indebted for the facts already given, that a Mr. 

 Morrison has recently established a saw-mill and planing- 

 inachine on the Amazons, There are two or three other 

 mills of the first character in the valley ; so that the 

 valuable woods can be readily put in available form for 

 home use or exportation. There has hitherto been a great 

 scarcity of lumber ; boxes in which we transported our 

 collections from Para to l^ew York were made of boards 

 imported from the States ! In order that capital may be 

 led to engage in develo^^ing and giving to the world the 

 valuable and inexhaustible natural and cultivated prod- 

 ucts of the Amazonian Valley, two things are needed : 

 first, that Brazil remove all restrictions to trade, by at 

 once abolishing the absurd tarifii" upon exports ; secondly, 

 that she shall render the waters of the valley virtually, as 

 tliey are now nominally, open to free competition, by 

 ceasing to subsidize the established lines of steamers, 

 which act, in its practical workings, as effectually dis- 

 courages competition as though the waters of the river 

 were closed against foreign vessels. With these restric- 

 tions removed, the trade of the Amazons would necessarily 

 spring into gigantic proportions. That tropical valley is 



