LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS 23 



access to the navigable waters of the Beni, Marmote", 

 and Guapore". An attempt was made also to build a 

 railway to open traffic from the Tocantins to the 

 Araguaya, but after some thirty miles of track had been 

 constructed the effort was abandoned. In some cases 

 channels could be cut through the rapids to allow the 

 passage of vessels, but broadly speaking the only prac- 

 tical means of overcoming these natural obstacles is by 

 the provision of railway communication to connect the 

 navigable sections of the rivers. It is a public work of 

 such great magnitude that its accomplishment is un- 

 likely in the present condition of the Brazilian finances. 

 In another direction much beneficial work could be 

 achieved without any very heavy expenditure by sys- 

 tematically clearing the principal waterways of the 

 dangerous snags and drift logs brought down by the 

 annual inundations. These form a constant menace 

 to the steamer traffic, and are the cause of much delay 

 in transit, owing to the fact that they render night 

 travelling on many of the rivers practically impossible 

 with any degree of comfort or safety. 



Telegraphic communication between the Amazon 

 Valley and the outside world is maintained by cable 

 connection between Para and Manaos, land lines linking 

 up Para and Rio de Janeiro by way of Matto Grosso, 

 and by wireless stations at Para, Manaos, Rio Branco, 

 Porto Velho, Senna Madureira, and Iquitos. The 

 cable is the property of a public company ; the wireless 

 installations and the land lines belong to the Federal 

 Government, and are controlled and operated by Federal 

 employes. By the cable an efficient service is available, 

 but over the wireless system and the land lines com- 



