Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1892 — THE YOUNG REPUBLIC. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE YOUNG REPUBLIC.

BRAZIL, ITS RIVERS, FORESTS, PEOPLE AND PRODUCTS. -i ___________ A Country Larger than the United States —The Immense Amazon Valley and Its Trackless Woods— Vegetable and Mineral Wealth. A Mighty State. Recent stirring events in Brazil, the overthrow of an old and wel -c tablished government, the foun ation ot a republic, and the pnsuccessful attempt of Its subversion, have given to this faraway country an interest which otherwise it could never have acquired. In shape Brazil closely resembles a heart—a heart of enormous extent, by the way, being near.y 2,700 miles from north to south, nearly the same from east to west, and comprising within its territorial limits about 8,200,000 square miles. Great Britain has more territory, but the dominions of Great Britain are scattered over ail the globe; the Czar lias under his control a greater number of square miles, but they arc contained in two continents; in Brazil alone can it b i said that in one political and geographical division is comprised a greater extent of territory than in any other country on the globe Excluding Alaska Brazil has 800,000 squire miles more of area than has the United States, or, to use a familiar expression, is as large as the United States and one-ha f of Mexico. It is nearly as far from the most northern point in Brazi. to the most southern as from New 1 ork to San Francisco, or from the frontier of Mexico to the Arctic circ e. We are accustomed to think of Brazil as a tropica l country, but as a matter of fact the most northern province of that vast country is almost as far from the equator as the State of Missouri. The coast line is nearly 4, not) miles in length, and a vessel that would sail from Cape Orange to the State of Sao Pedro do Sul must mako a voyage equal in length to that from New York to Liverpool. It is difficult to grasp the Idea of so enormous a country, nor is the i difficulty lessened by a contemplation of j the fact that of this va-t territory more than two-thirds are drained by one river ' system, the greatest m the world Some |

Idea of the size of the Amazon may bo gained from she statement that over 350 rivers, any once of which would elsewhere be deemed a cons'derabie stream, unite to make up this giant anions; rivers. For nearly 4,000 miles, according to Herndon, does the Amazon flow in Brazil and the countries to the west, and some conception of its magnitude may be gained from the fact that 900 miles from its mouth it receives a tributary itself 2,010 miles in length. At Kabta, 2,300 miles from the Atlantic,the Amazon is nearly a mile wide, at the entrance to the Madeira it is three miles, at Santarem it is ten miles, and if the Para River be included in its mouth, it empties into the sea in a gigantic stream 180 miles in width. At frequent points in its lower course it is an inland sea, the low shores of which are not visible from either side, and so eff ctual a barrier is it that until the advent of steam power the peopl ' on the opposite banks had little more intercourse with each other than if they iived on different sides of an ocean.

Brazil is thus the most thoroughly watered country on the globe. So numerous are Its water courses, and so closely do they interlock, that only a few short canals are necessary to enable vessels of considerable size to traverse the interior of the country from end to end- Nor is this all; the magnifi ent Rio Negro, the greatest northern tributary, itself 1,200 miles long, is conn< cted by natural cana s with the Orinoco, so that river or canal transportation is a possibility from the southern extremity of Brazil to t,he north < oast of bouth America. The Amazon is always full; there is no annual rise as in other rivers'; its waters are gathered from every part of a great co itinent, so that when in one region the dry t< rm prevails, In another the annual rains are failing, and Its banks are a,ways ovei flowing. The tide of the ocean is perceptible 450 miles from the mouth and a curious feature of the river is its system of side channels, joining the main river at intervals, so that one may travel for 1.000 milo< from the mouth without ever entering the main stream. It is safer not to do so, for at certain seasons the “bore” or

tidal swell in the river rises in tremendous waves fifteen to thirty feet in height, which sweep everything before them, uprooting tbo stoutest trees and endangering the strongest ship--. The Amazon is the river of a cont nent. it rises within seventy miles of the Pacific, and drains most of South America, and although only partial steam communication ha 3 been established over 10,000 ■tiles of inland water travel have been thus opened up to the world. The whole of the Amazon Valley; which, as already stated, comprises two thirds of Brazil, is one \ast forest of tropical vegetation. A recent traveler says that from the plains of Venezuela to the pampas of the Argentine Confederation there is abewddering dl*ersitypf grand and beautiful trees, at every point intertwined with vines of such prodigious size as elsewhere to be deemed trees, while the matted and creeping plants, draped, festooned; eorded, matted, and ribboned in every dteection, form an almost impassable bar to the progressof the traveler. Long ago Buckle pointed out that the exuberance of nature in a tropical climate, under a burning sun, with water in abundance, was almost as great a barrier to the progress of civilization as the rainless deserts of the Sahara or Arabia. Nature la too abundant When a piece of land, with infinite pains and labor, I has been cleared of the indigenous plants, a thousand species of gra-ses spring up, and by the utmost exertion the husbandman Is unable to save his etop from the weeds. A road must be c eared through fbe forest with the hatchet and machete to enable the traveler and his company to pass, and a few 4*ys later It Is impossible to detect where

the path has b o en made. On one occasion, in the Province of Amazonas, a road was made bv the Government. These, however, are rich beyond ail computation. The world has litt e idea of the vegetable wealth of this mighty

country. The variet'es of timber are a’most w'tbout number, and tho supp.y is inexhaustible. I rof. Agassiz counted on ono piece of land not half a m !e square 117 var.etics of valuable timber, <0

many of which were dark, heavy woods, : s beautiful as rosewood or mahogany, and susceptible of as high a polish. Over j sOO dilloront species of ornamental woods were exhibited at the lastNation- | al E .position he'd in Brazil, and even i this exhibition was believed not to ox-

haust the number. Nor is tho forest wealth of Brazil exhausted with the list of solid and ornamental woods. Medicinal plants are numerous, and their products are of immeriso value. The sireat macharandui a, which towers above the other trees of the forest like toe dome of

a cathedral above the houses of a city, when tapped, supplies a whlt'sh liquor whioh, fresh from the tree, is drunk like milk; allowed to remain unt 1 coagulated, it provides an excellent article of rubber. Woods, fruits, rezins, dyes, oils, essences are in exhaustless profusion, and had Brazil no other source of wealth than her forests, these would be sufficient to insure her untold wealth. From the forests of the Amazon tho houses of the world could be built, and filled with

the most elegant of furniture; its vegetable wealth would clothe the world's people in garments of cotton or flax; its fruits would supply all Europe; and the fish of its waters would keep from famine the millions of Asia. The wonderful abundance has prevented settlement Time and again have efforts been made to establish colonies on the banks of the Amazon, but in vain, and the only inhabitants of the great State of Amazonas, the largest in

the Republic of Brazil, are a few wandering tribes of Indians. They will not work. Why should thoy, when on ac- | count of the heat of the climate even the lightost clothing Is almost unendurable, when the nearost shelter is suffi-

cient to protect them from the weather, and when the neighboring forest and the stream before the door supply every want. T.ils Immense province, therefore, ot 700.000 squaro miles has but 70,000 pipq’ation Gran Para, wi h 40('.(0) square miles of area, has but 320,000, and Maranhao, with 108,00 U, has only 385,000, the three Amazon provinces, with an area larger than that of the United Mates c ast of the Mississippi, having a total of 775,000. Most of those aborigines are as yet unconquored; they are savages in the wildest sense of tlio word; v/arl.ko, revongef,ul; ma iv of them are cannibals, and alfcaro dreaded by the whites, who srevvly and with great difficulty, have been able to drive them back, but never ty civilize them. Politically, Brazil i 9 divided into twenty States an I offer■■“neutral municipality,” the boundaries following those of tlio provinces which constituted the Empire. There is an enormous discrepancy both in the size and in the population of the States, however, from the enormous State of Amazonas, with its sparse population, to the petty State of Lergipe, which lias only 39.000 sjuaro miles, though its population, 375,000, compares favorably with that of several which aro, in geographical extent, greatly its superior. The total population of the republic is 9,913,000. which, considering its size, is very scanty, and to bo accounted for by the extent and uninhabitabllity of the forests which constitute the valley of the Amazon. Besides the capital there are several cities of much commercial importance At the mouth of the River Amazon, the alluvium of the stream, deposited for age after age, has gradually built up an i-land. whose size may be imagined from the statement that it exceeds the combined area of the Azores, Maleira, Heligoland, Malta and Gibraltar, and opposite to the southern shore of this island, from which it is separated by the 1 ara River, lies the flou'ishing City of Para, the metropolis of tlio Amazon Valley. I ara, though with a population of only 70.000, is an exceedingly important city, since all the trado of the Amazon passes through tlio hands of its merchants, and though its manufactures are insignificant, its exports aro enormous. In the yoar 1888 the exports of rubber alone amounted to 33,000,000 lbs., at a valuation of $0,402,000, while the ex ports of precious woo ls, hides, coffee, sugar and other art c!es rendered the rubber export insignificant by comparison The Mate of Pernambuco, also a maritime State, has a capital of the same name, generally called the Venice of America, on account of the numerous canals which run through it in every direction From Peri ambuco the principal export is sugar, and no small sharo

of the business of its ITO.OOQ inhabitants consists in handling this and the eoffe?, whicli is the next most important article. Among tho important seaports the city of Bahia must take place in the first row. It is located in the State of tho same name, whi h is tho second in pop ulation in the republic, has a popu'ation estimated at IS ',OO , and an enormous trade with Europe. It is singularly favored by nature, having no less than eight spadous harbora, anyone of which will admit ships of twenty feet draught Like most tropical cities, Bahia is not impressive to the sight, at loast so far as the buildings are concerned Few of them exceed one story in height; mest are of slight construction, the materials beirg easily available and very cheap. A few poles, a few walls of interlaced palm leaves, a roof of palm or tiles, and the tropical house in Bahia is complete The city is spread o er a wide extent of ground, since plerty of room is very essent.al.in the tropics, and no dwelling so poor as to be without its shade trees Tho soil of the State is especially well adapted to the growth of the sugar cane, and from one planting five or six crops may be cut before a replanting becomes necessary. It is said that were the price of sugar sufficiently remunerative to justify tho clearing of the ground Bahia could supply the world with sweetness and have some to spare for home consumption. Commercially, the State of Rio do Janeiro is of more importance than any other in the republic. Its lower extremity is on the Tropic of Capricorn, so that the city has a climate almost exactly that of Haiana, which lies under the Tropic of Cancer; ihe State has 300 miles of coast line, an area of 68.000 square miles and a population of 1,164,000, the city itself, the “neutral municipality” already mentioned, having a population of 406,000. Nearly twothirds of the sugar and coffee exports of Brazil find their wav to the outside world through the magnificent harbor of Rio, and in sight of the wonderful Sugar Loaf Mountain, a remarkable natural formation, may be seen at one time the flags of every maritime nation in the world. In 1888 3,320,185 bags of coffee were exported from Rio alone, each bag weighing 132 pounds, and more than two-thirds of the entire export coming to this country. Reciprocity with such a country would pay well, and the sound po.icy which has dictated a commercial

treaty wii! doubtless bear rich fruits in the near future. The city of Rio de Janeiro does not differ greatly from other cities save in such respects as aro incidental to its situation and climate. It is fairly well built, well ligated, and has good communications in the shape of street cars and other conveniences, but the drainage is imperfect, and yellow fever is almost constantly present, though rarely assuming a malignant form. Fevera! natural e’evations in the city give it an extiemoly picturesque appearance, and the abundance of tropical vegetation imparts a luxuriance to the scene w.tnesscd nowhere save under a tropical sky. Besides various nubile institutions founded under the eiqplre and fostered by the liberal polierh.' the rulers, the city can boast of ono of the finest libraries in the world. When the ruling laniily of Portugal emigrated to Brazil tho royal library was taken along, and so the Brazilians have a collection of over 100,000 volumes and manuscripts mostly relating to tho early Portuguese travels and settlements, and, historically considered, of immen.-e value.

A ERAZILIAN GOLD MINE.

A HOME ON THE AMAZON.

THE “SUGAR-LOAF” AT RIO JANEIRO.

THE AMENITIES OF TRAVEL IN THE AMAZON VALLEY.

A BRAZILIAN MIXER.