To the Amazon and Home 349 



first exercised it under the form of an authoritative em- 

 pire, then under the form of a Uberal empire. When the 

 republic came, the people were reasonably ripe for it. 

 The great progress of Brazil — ^and it has been an aston- 

 ishing progress — ^has been made under the republic. I 

 could give innumerable examples and illustrations of this. 

 The change that has converted Rio Janeiro from a pic- 

 turesque pest-hole into a singularly beautiful, healthy, 

 clean, and efficient modern great city is one of these. 

 Another is the work of the Telegraphic Commission. 



We put upon the map a river some fifteen hundred 

 kilometres in length, of which the upper course was not 

 merely utterly unknown to, but unguessed at by, any- 

 body ; while the lower course, although known for years 

 to a few rubber-men, was utterly unknown to cartograph- 

 ers. It is the chief affluent of the Madeira, which is 

 itself the chief affluent of the Amazon. 



The source of this river is between the 12th and 13th 

 parallels of latitude south and the 59th and 60th degrees 

 of longitude west from Greenwich. We embarked on it 

 at about latitude 12° 1' south, and about longitude 60° 

 IS' west. After that its entire course lay between the 

 60th and 61st degrees of longitude, approaching the latter 

 most closely about latitude 8° 15'. The first rapids we 

 encountered were in latitude 11° 44', and in uninterrupted 

 succession they continued for about a degree, without a 

 day's complete journey between any two of them. At 

 11° 23' the Rio Kermit entered from the left, at 11° 

 22' the Rio Marciano Avila from the right, at 11° 

 18' the Taunay from the left, at 10° 58' the Cardozo 

 from the right. In 10° 24' we encountered the first 



