RESUME. 



367 



river steam navigation that De Souza will run his boats at great cost ; 

 the conditions of the contract are also stringent and oppressive, and 

 under such circumstances, even with the bonus of $100,000, I doubt if 

 the trade of the river for several years to come will support the six 

 steamers that he contracts to keep on the line. 



Brazil, too, will soon see that in this matter she is standing in her 

 own light. The efforts of this company, though partly supported by the 

 government, will make little beneficial impression upon so vast a country, 

 in comparison with that which would be made by the active competi- 

 tion of the commercial nations of the world. 



Were she to adopt a liberal instead of an exclusive policy, throw open 

 the Amazon to foreign commerce and competition, invite settlement upon 

 its banks, and encourage emigration by liberal grants of lands, and 

 efficient protection to person and property, backed as she is by such 

 natural advantages, imagination could scarcely follow her giant strides 

 towards wealth and greatness. 



She, together with the five Spanish American republics above named, 

 owns in the valley of the Amazon more than two millions of square 

 miles of land, intersected in every direction by many thousand miles of 

 what might be called canal navigation. As a general rule, large ships 

 may sail thousands of miles to the foot of the falls of the gigantic rivers 

 of this country ; and in Brazil particularly, a few hundred miles of 

 artificial canal would open to the steamboat, and render available, thou- 

 sands of miles more. 



This land is of unrivalled fertility; on account of its geographical 

 situation and topographical and geological formation, it produces nearly 

 everything essential to the comfort and well-being of man. On the top 

 and eastern slope of the Andes lie hid unimaginable quantities of silver, 

 iron, coal, copper, and quicksilver, waiting but the application of science 

 and the hand of industry for their development. The successful working 

 of the quicksilver mines of Huancavelica would add several millions of 

 silver to the annual product of Cerro Pasco alone. Many of the streams 

 that dash from the summits of the Cordilleras wash gold from the 

 mountain-side, and deposit it in the hollows and gulches as they pass. 

 Barley, quinua, and potatoes, best grown in a cold, with wheat, rye, 

 maize, clover, and tobacco, products of a temperate region, deck the 

 mountain- side, and beautify the valley; while immense herds of sheep, 

 llamas, alpacas, and vicunas feed upon those elevated plains, and yield 

 wool of the finest and longest staple. 



Descending towards the plain, and only for a few miles, the eye of 

 the traveller from the temperate zone is held with wonder and delight 



