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mony  of  an  eye-witness  qualified  to  observe  ;  meanwhile  the  letters  of  Lieut. 
Maury  have  called  attention  to  the  vast  resources  of  the  forest,  the  fields, 
and  the  rivers,  which  the  magnificent  wilderness  of  the  Amazon  is  ready  to 
pour  forth  at  the  demand  of  commerce,  just  as  the  La  Plata  is  commenc- 
ing to  do  since  the  exclusive  policy  of  Rosas  has  ceased  to  bar  access 
through  it  to  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  Parana  and  Paraguay,  which  more 
than  a  thousand  miles  from  the  ocean  are  navigable  to  the  craft  of  the  en- 
terprising trader.  The  following  extract  from  the  work,  in  reference  to  the 
Ipecacuanha  country,  will  be  read  with  interest : 
"Villa  Maria  is  in  the  midst  of  the  great  ipecacuanha  region  of  Matto 
Grosso.  In  1814,  Francisco  Real  was  sent  to  explore  the  diamond  region 
of  this  province.  But  it  turned  out  with  him  as  I  apprehend  it  would  turn 
out  with  the  pioneers  of  commerce  now  :  as  rich  in  diamonds  as  are  the 
streams  and  gravel  beds  of  this  province,  the  riches  of  the  vegetable  were 
found  greatly  to  exceed  those  of  the  mineral  kingdom. 
"  This  immmense  natural  plantation  includes  within  one  field,  3000  square 
miles.  The  crop  is  perennial,  and  may  be  gathered  the  year  round.  One 
expert  hand  may  collect  fifteen  pounds  of  this  root  in  a  day,  which  brought 
in  Rio  one  dollar  the  pound.  The  work  of  an  ordinary  hand  is  five  pounds 
the  day,  and  the  cost  of  laborers  from  $3.40  to  $4  per  month. 
"  Castelnau  estimates  that,  from  1830  to  1837,  not  less  than  800,000  pounds 
of  this  drug  were  exported  from  this  province  to  Rio.  This  abundant  sup- 
ply brought  down  its  price.  But  here  is  the  singular  feature  of  this  trade  : 
the  produce  is  taken  from  the  very  banks  of  one  of  the  noblest  rivers  in 
the  world,  and  transported  by  mules  for  the  distance  of  1,200  miles  to  the 
sea  coast,  in  spite  of  Nature's  great  highway. 
"  The  ipecacuanha  delights  in  flat  or  sandy  soil,  and  is  found  also  in  great 
abundance  on  the  banks  of  the  Vermilho,  the  Seputuba  and  the  Cabacal, 
Vanilla  is  also  abundant.  Its  price,  when  Castelnau  was  at  Villa  Maria, 
was  sixty  cents  the  pound. 
"  But  I  intend  to  follow  this  interesting  traveller  up  into  the  diamond 
country,  and  with  him  to  visit  the  '  divide'  between  the  waters  of  the  Par- 
aguay and  theTapajos. 
"  Ascending  the  Cuyaba,  which  is  the  principal  Brazilian  tributary  to  the 
Paraguay,  about  150  miles  from  its  mouth,  you  come  to  the  flourishing 
city  of  Cuyaba,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Matto  Grosso.  It  has  a  popu- 
lation of  about  7000.  It  carries  on  a  brisk  commerce  with  Rio  by  caravans, 
numbering  from  200  to  300  mules  each.  This  commerce  consists  of  hides, 
jaguar  and  deer-skins,  gold  dust,  diamonds,  ipecacuanha,  and  the  like. 
The  freight  to  Rio  is  $15  the  100  pounds. 
"  Here,  perhaps,  among  all  the  wonderful  things  that  are  found  in  these 
great  river-basins  of  South  America,  is  the  most  wonderful  of  them  all — 
a  city,  the  capital  of  a  province  larger  than  all  of  the  <  old  thirteen  States' 
of  this  confederacy  put  together,  and  occupying  on  the  banks  of  [a  tribu- 
tary of]  the  La  Plata  very  nearly  the  relative  position  which  St.  Louis  oc- 
