Brazil and the Brazilians : portrayed in historical and descriptive sketches . ove Para,finds himself in a wild and uncultivated region. He will scarcely see fifty housesin three hundred miles. There are but few settlements directly on the river. Most ofthe villages are on the tributary streams and the Iguaripes, or bayous. The housesuniversally have mud floors and thatched roofs; and, though the population is in-creasing, I fear that for along time to comethe great majority of the inhabitants inthe immediate vicinity of the Lower Ama-zon will be such as are depicted in theengraving. Notwithst
Brazil and the Brazilians : portrayed in historical and descriptive sketches . ove Para,finds himself in a wild and uncultivated region. He will scarcely see fifty housesin three hundred miles. There are but few settlements directly on the river. Most ofthe villages are on the tributary streams and the Iguaripes, or bayous. The housesuniversally have mud floors and thatched roofs; and, though the population is in-creasing, I fear that for along time to comethe great majority of the inhabitants inthe immediate vicinity of the Lower Ama-zon will be such as are depicted in theengraving. Notwithstanding all the beautifultheories respecting steam-navigation onthe waters of the Amazon and its tribu-taries, nothing was accomplished deserv-ing the name until 1853. As far backas the year 1827, an association, calledthe South American Steamboat Com-pany, was organized in New York, withthe express design of promoting that navigation. It owed its origin to the suggestion of the Brazilian Governmentthrough its charge daffaires, Mr. Rebello, resident in the United States, who. 570 Brazil and the Brazilians. stipulated decided encouragements, and the grant of special privileges on the partof His Majesty Dom Pedro I. A steamboat was fitted out and sent to Para, andother heavy expenses were incurred by the company; but, through a lack of co-operation on the part of Brazil, the whole enterprise proved a failure. Claims forindemnification to a large amount were for a long time pending before the BrazilianGovernment. After 1838, small Government steamers were from time to time sent up theAmazon as far as the River Negro. Such voyages were repeated at intervals, andsufficed for steam-navigation on the Amazon until 1853. The globe does not else-where present such a splendid theatre for steam-enterprise. Not only is the Amazonnavigable for more than three thousand miles, but the Tocantins, the Chingu, theTapajos, the Madeira, the Negro, and other affluents, are unitedly navigable severalt
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidbrazilbrazilians00kidd
