William Lewis Herndon, Lieutenant, U.S.N.

“ The grain of New Grenada will be carried to the banks of the Rio Negro; boats will descend from the sources of the Napo and the Ucayali, from the Andes of Quito and upper Peru, to the mouths of the Oronoco — a distance which equals that from Timbuctoo to Marseilles. A country nine or ten times larger than Spain, and enriched with the most varied productions, is navigable in every direction by the medium of the natural canal of the Cassiquinri and the bifurcation of the rivers. ”

“ Though large vessels may not ascend these rapids, they descend without difficulty. Most of the vessels that ply both on the Rio Negro and Oronoco are built at or near San Carlos, the frontier port of Venezuela, situated above the rapids of the Negro, and are sent down those rapids, and also up the Cassiquiari and down the Oronoco to Angostura, passing the two great rapids of Atures and Maypures, where that river turns from its westerly course toward the north. They cannot again ascend these rapids. Antonii has a new vessel lying at Barra, built at San Carlos ”

“ Unlike most Brazilian ladies, whenever her household duties would permit, she always sat with the gentlemen and bore an intelligent part in the conversation, expressing her desire to speak foreign languages, and to visit foreign countries, that she might see and know what was in the world. ”

“ It is very thickly wooded below the first rapids; above these the trees disappear, and the river is bordered by immense plains, which would afford pasturage to large numbers of cattle. Barra is supplied with beef from the Rio Branco, where it must cost very little, as it is sold in Barra at five cents the pound.
Strong northeasterly winds make the ascent of the river tedious. A boat will come down from San Joachim, near the sources of the river, to Barra, a distance of five hundred miles, and passing many rapids, in twelve days. ”

“ The plant averages four feet in height. Good Borba tobacco is worth in Barra seven dollars the arroba, of thirty-two pounds; it does not keep well, and therefore the price in Pará varies very much.
The tree that gives the Brazil nut is not more than two or three feet in diameter, but very tall; the nuts, in number about twenty, are enclosed in a very hard, round shell, of about six inches in diameter. The crop is gathered in May and June. It is quite a dangerous operation to collect it ”

“ Norris told me that a young American, dreadfullly afflicted with the effects of mercury, and despairing of cure, had come to Pará to linger out what was left of life in the enjoyment of a tropical climate. ”

“ The bark of the nut is fragile; easily broken by the teeth; and its substance is far superior in delicacy of flavor to that of the Brazil nut. This nut as yet must be scarce, or it would have been known to commerce. The tree is a very large one; the flowers yellow and pretty, but destitute of smell. The wood is one of those employed in nautical construction.
Shell lime, which is made in Pará, sells in Barra for one dollar and
288 RAIN AT BARRA.
twenty-five cents the alquier, of sixty-four pounds; stone lime is double in price. ”

“ I saw fowling-pieces, of English manufacture, in Barra, that had been bought by the traders on the Rio Branco from Indians, who had purchased them from traders on the Essequibo. They were of very good quality, but bad generally been damaged, and were repaired by the blacksmiths of Barra. Beautiful specimens of rock crystal are brought from the highlands that divide the Branco and Essequibo. The tertianas are said to be very malignant on the Rio Branco.
PRODUCTIONES. 285
There is scarcely any attempt at the regular cultivation of the earth in all the province of Amazonas ”

“ We have here a continent divided into many islands, (for most of its great streams inosculate,) whose shores produce, or may be made to produce, all that the earth gives for the maintenance of more people than the earth now holds. ”

“ There is a vagabond tribe of Indians living in this country called Magu. They use no canoes, and when they cannot travel on the land, for the depth of water, they are said to make astonishing progress from tree to
280 COMMUNICATION WITH THE ORONOCO.
tree, like monkeys; the men laden with their arms and the women with their children.
Just above San Isabel are found great quantities of the Brazil nut ; and a little further up is the mouth of the river Cababuri, where sarsaparilla, estimated at Pará as being better in quality than that of any other in the Valley of the Amazon, is gathered ”

“ The Huimba of Peru — a sort of wild cotton, with a delicate and glossy fibre, like silk, and called in Brazil sumauma — abounds in the province. It grows in balls on a very large tree, which is nearly leafless ”

“ Potter, a daguerreotypist and watchmaker, who came up in the steamer, and my good friend Enrique Antonii, the Italian, with his father-in-law, Senhor Brandão, a Portuguese, make up the list of the foreigners of Barra, as far as I know them. Senhor Brandão, however, has lived many years in the country; has identified himself with it; and all his interests are Brazilian. He is a very intelligent man ”

“ He died on the 29th of April, 1850, at San Joachim, the frontier port of Brazil, on the Rio Branco.
I heard some muttered suspicions that the poor man had possibly met with foul play, if not in relation to his death, at least in relation to his property; and understanding that the soldier in whose house he died was then in prison in Barra, I directed a communication to the President, requesting an interview with this soldier. ”

“ His last voyage occupied eighteen months, and lie brought down two hundred and twenty-five pots of copaiba and one hundred and fifty arrobas of sarsaparilla.
The Catauxis and the Indians generally of the Purus build their houses exactly as I have described those of the Yaguas. (modern Yaguas) There is rarely ever more than one house at a settlement; it is called Calocca, and ten or fifteen families reside in it. Children are contracted in marriage at birth, and are suffered to come together at ten or twelve years of age. ”

“ Let us now suppose the banks of these streams settled by an active and industrious population, desirous to exchange the rich products of their lands for the commodities and luxuries of foreign countries ”

“ Baker’s death, but enough in regard to his property to induce him to send for the commandant of the port of San Joachim and bring the whole matter before a proper tribunal, which he should do at the earliest opportunity, and communicate the result to the American minister at Rio. ”

“ They are thorough savages, and kill a number of their children from indisposition to take care of them. My good hostess told me that her father, returning from a walk to his house in the country, heard a noise in the woods ”