NAVIGATION. 



191 



have territorial possessions upon this great water-shed; and to whom 

 belongs the honor of originating the mission upon which I have been 

 engaged. 



This gentleman in Lima, whose comprehensive mind and ripe judg- 

 ment had been attracted to the subject by Maury's pen, says to the 

 Lieutenant, under date of July, 1852 : 



"Since I last wrote to you, I have made the acquaintance of Don 



, a native of Chili, and whom Gibbon saw at Cochabamba, in 



Bolivia. This is undoubtedly a clever man ; but I suspect that he has 

 also come to act as a secret agent of Belzu, the President of Bolivia. 

 However that may be, he pretends that Belzu is favorably disposed 

 towards us, and would grant privileges to a steam navigation company 

 were application made to him in due form. As I know of no other 

 individual in Bolivia with whom I could communicate on the subject 

 of Amazonian navigation, I did not hesitate to make use of him ; for, 

 in my opinion, there is no time to be lost if the United States intend 

 to secure the interior trade of South America for its citizens. 



"Don declares that the Mamore is navigable for steamers from 



a point near Cochabamba to its confluence with the Guapore" or Itenez, 

 and so onward to the junction of the latter with the Beni — forming 

 together the Rio Madeira; that the * Cachuelas,' or falls of the Ma- 

 deira, are neither impassable nor formidable, and may be easily ascended 

 by steamers, as there is plenty of water and no rocks. To prove this, 

 he asserts that a Brazilian schooner ascended the Mamore to Trinidad, 

 and fired a salute at that place, about two years ago. After passing the 

 falls, the river is, of course, navigable to the Amazon. Admitting this 



statement of Don to be true, (and I am inclined to believe it, 



as the Brazilians constantly ascend the Itenez to Matto Grosso,) there 

 is open navigation from Para to within a few leagues of Cochabamba, 

 at least two thousand miles; and this is not so incredible when we con- 

 sider the length of navigation on the Missouri river. The accessibility 

 of the Bolivian rivers will, however, be ascertained with greater cer- 

 tainty after Gibbon has passed through the Cachuelas of the Madeira, 

 as it is to be hoped that he will sound, and otherwise minutely examine, 

 the different rapids of that river, and correct the errors which Don 



says are in the chart made by , a copy of which I sent 



you by Mr. O'Brian for Herndon. 



"The account Don gives of the products of the country 



lying on the banks of the Mamore is very glowing. He says that the 

 richest cocoa and coffee grow almost wild, and that the greatest part of 

 the former is consumed by the monkeys and birds, for the want of means 



