354 The Andes and the Amazons. 



oldest aud most powerful line i^'' Companhia de N'avaga- 

 cdo a vapor do Amazonas ") is owned in London, but is 

 under the management of the distinguished and energetic 

 Sr. Pimenta Bueno, of Para. This company is endeavor- 

 ing to swallow up the other two, having just purchased the 

 Paraense line, and nearly completed negotiations for the 

 Fluvial, in order to monopolize the carrying-trade on the 

 river. 



OfBcially made free to the world in 1867, the navigation 

 of the Amazons is virtually restricted to the Brazilian flag. 

 Foreign vessels may go up the main river as far as Ma- 

 naos ; up the Tapajos to Santarein ; and up the Madeira 

 to Borba. On the Maraiiou the Peruvian government has 

 two large steamers, doing nionthly service, besides several 

 small ones for the tributaries ; and a firm at Iquitos has 

 recently inaugurated a private line between that point and 

 Para. Goods for Peru pass Para free of duty. Two reg- 

 ular steamers leave Para for Manaos and intermediate 

 points on the 2d and 18th of each mouth, and a monthly 

 steamer plies between Manaos and Loreto, on the Bi*azilian 

 frontier, connecting with the Peruvian " Morona" for Yu- 

 rimaguas, on the Huallaga. The other steamers run from 

 Para and Manaos to numerous villages along the main 

 river and the tributaries. The navigation of these tributa- 

 ries, but just commenced, is most important, for they are 

 the real sources of the characteristic products of the coun- 

 try; the region bordering the main trunk yields scarcely 

 any thing. On the Tocantins a steamer goes once a month 

 to Cameta ; once a month (during high water) to Baiao 

 and to the first falls. Almost the only trade on this river 

 is in Brazil-nnts. The Xingii has one occasional steamer 

 going just above Souzil for rubber, of which the annual 

 product is five or six thousand arrobas. It also brings 

 down estopa and nuts. The Tapajos has a monthly steam- 



