28 Gardiner G. Hubbard — South America. 



cross the immerous branches of the Amazon, and the precipitous 

 mountains between the valleys, and from the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing labor and material for construction. Mr. Orton, who crossed 

 from one branch of the Napo to another, says : 



" We crossed the stream and the intervening ridges, and their name 

 is legion ; sometimes we were climbing up an almost vertical ascent, 

 then descending into a deep dark ravine to find a furious river, while 

 on the lowlands the path seemed lost in the dense bamboos, until the 

 Indians opened a passage with their machetes and we crept under the 

 low arcade of foliage." 



Even if the railroad were built, almost all the produce of the 

 Amazon and montana country could be carried more cheaply by 

 water to Para than by rail to Cartagena ; while goods . from 

 England and America would be carried cheaper by steamer to 

 the Isthmus of Panama, and thence to all ports on the Pacific 

 ocean, than by steamer to Cartagena and up the Magdalena across 

 the Andes to the valley of the Amazon, and then a second time 

 across the Andes to the Pacific ocean. The greater part of the 

 business to and from the mines would be by the railroad. 



At present, as there could not be sufl[icient business to pay the 

 operating expenses of such a road, it must rely on government 

 subsidies to build and operate it. 



Those who have given the most consideration to the subject 

 say that the road need not be an expensive one to operate, and in 

 the important element of time it would have a great advantage 

 over the route via Para. As a means of promoting the settle- 

 ment of the country and developing commerce, which cannot 

 exist without population, the railroad would seem to be a neces- 

 sity, for navigation has neither opened the country nor brought 

 in emigrants and we may fairly assume that it will not suifice in 

 the future. 



CoNCLusioisr. 



In conclusion I will quote from two writers on tropical 

 America. Buckle says : 



" Amidst the pomp and splendor of nature, no place is left for man ; 

 he is reduced to insignificance by the majesty with wliich lie is sur- 

 rounded. The forces that oppose are so formidable that he has never 

 been able to make head against them. 



The energies of nature have hampered his spirit ; nowhere else is the 

 contrast so painful between the grandeur of the external world and 



