LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS 17 



rapid development of the Amazon Valley, especially in 

 connection with properties held under the three first 

 headings enumerated. In the case of lands conceded 

 for a nominal consideration by the Brazilian State 

 Governments, the accompanying conditions, as a rule, 

 are not easy to fulfil in the exact terms of the wording 

 of the grant ; hence the title is open to dispute in nearly 

 all such concessions whenever political considerations 

 are strong enough to provoke a hostile attitude on the 

 part of the authorities. 



The soil in the Amazon Valley varies to some extent 

 in the different districts, but speaking broadly it may 

 be described as a red or yellow clay subsoil covered 

 with a considerable depth of vegetable mould, this layer 

 of humus being particularly rich in organic matter. On 

 the foreshore of all the principal rivers, after the 

 subsidence of the annual inundations, a deposit of silt 

 from two to three feet in depth is left by the falling 

 waters, and this is of surprising fertility. If a com- 

 parison be made of the river-banks of the waterways of 

 the Amazon Valley and those of the Nile, the con- 

 ditions for cultivation are distinctly in favour of the 

 former. The lack of population is the only reason why 

 advantage is not taken of the extraordinarily productive 

 qualities of these deposits to cultivate many classes of 

 tropical cereals and other suitable crops. If at some 

 future period adequate methods are established for 

 controlling the waters of these rivers for irrigation 

 purposes, and securing the riparian lands from inunda- 

 tion, the Amazon Valley may develop into one of the 

 greatest centres of tropical agriculture throughout the 

 world, and it may become the outlet for the surplus 



