ADMIRAL GRENFELL.

Ten years ago the Brazilian navy was small: it is now rising into importance; its courage and capacity were lately seen in the Plate; many of its younger officers have been reared in the British service, and from British yards it is yearly adding to its steam flotilla. It now consists of 1 frigate of 50 guns, 5 corvettes, 5 brigs, and 9 schooners, carrying together 188 guns; and 4 smaller vessels, carrying together 27 guns; 10 steamers, mounting 36 guns; with various unarmed ships and steamers, and several others are building. The Brazilian army has established its reputation at once for success, bravery, and humanity. Ten years ago Brazil had little external influence; now Brazil is obviously at the head of South American states, and has a distinct and separate part assigned to her in the destinies of the human race. Then she had but slow and dilatory intercourse with Europe; now she has two monthly steam services from England—another is being established from Lisbon; and Rio Janeiro is now only a month’s distance from London and Paris.

Whilst London, Liverpool, and Lisbon are thus sweeping its coasts with steam, Manchester is lighting Brazilian cities with gas. Messrs. Peto and Jackson, (the members for Norwich and Newcastle-under-Lyne,) whose capital and connections are interlacing Canada and the British North American provinces with a magnificent net-work of railways, are also with other capitalists about to bring their vast resources and long practised experience to bear in alike manner in several of the Brazilian provinces, and doubtless with a like result within as brief a period as the circumstances of the country and the obstacles to be overcome will possibly permit. The Government is opening up new roads, clearing away impediments in rivers, and is arranging the internal improvement of the empire on a large and comprehensive system. A great and a happier future is opening on Brazil—one calculated to advance and extend moral improvement and political freedom, as well as to promote material comfort.

In thus recording the material prosperity and anticipating the progressive greatness of this magnificent empire, it affords me infinite gratification to be able to attribute to my distinguished fellow-townsman, Admiral Grenfell, the Brazilian consul-general[59]for England, a large and conspicuous share in consolidating the strength, and enhancing the reputation of Brazil, as eminent among the nations alike for the valour of its arms, the clemencyof its counsels, and the magnanimity it has evinced in eschewing territorial aggrandisement which its bravery and sagacity might so readily have secured it. A more befitting preliminary to the subsequent chapter on the Amazon there could not be than a memoir of the gallant seaman to whose skill and bravery the retention of the principal Amazonian province is due, and to whose equally admirable conduct on a scarcely less trying occasion is also due an acceleration of the settlement of the affairs of the Plate, to a correct understanding of which, in their latter phases at least, a perusal of the annexed biographical data, gleaned from the most reliable sources, will greatly contribute.

WATERFALL OF ITAMARITY. DISTANT TWO DAYS’ JOURNEY FROM RIO JANEIRO.

NOTE TO THE ILLUSTRATION.The cataract shown in the foregoing page consists, says Sir W. G. Ouseley, from whose portfolio it is copied, of a succession of three waterfalls, subsiding into rapids, and then continuing its course as a turbulent rocky brook, working its way among the hills of the Serra de Estrella. The falls of Itamarity are not near any high road, and have been seldom visited by Europeans. It is not possible to obtain a general view of all the falls. That in the Plate is taken from an insulated rock, standing opposite the second fall. The first fall has worked a basin in the rock, as in other similar sites, and, as usual, it is asserted by the natives to be of vast or fathomless depth. Below the isolated rock is a third fall of considerable size; but the rich and thick vegetation prevents much of it from being seen. On the morning that this sketch was taken, when a party visited the Falls, some negroes were sent on beforehand to cut away the underwood and parasites, and to fell trees in order toimprovisera bridge for the nonce. The ligatures used in fastening the trees, and the sort of parapet railing, were made of the lianes or parasitical plants from the surrounding trees. They hang from the highest branches like ropes of various sizes, some little larger than whipcord, others of the circumference of a large cable; indeed, they are often thicker than a man’s body, and frequently form spiral and intricate knots, like the writhings of gigantic serpents, à la Laocoon. The profuse variety of growth and rapid vegetation in this part of Brazil is scarcely credible to Europeans. A very few weeks, or rather days, after this path had been opened, and the bridge constructed to enable the party to visit these Falls, strangers might have passed close to them, only made aware of their proximity by the loud roar of the falling waters, the hoarse sound of which, deadened and rendered deceptive by the close growth of the forest, would be but an indifferent guide, and hardly enable them to find any approach by which to obtain a view of the Falls. The negroes and country people have alarming stories or traditions respecting vast crocodiles, differing from the common sort in their nature and habits, and unlike the alligators of the rivers emptying themselves directly into the bay of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of these mountains. They are said to be infinitely larger and more voracious than their relations near the salt water. These monsters, they affirm, inhabit the deep pools formed occasionally in the course of the mountain rivers. Poisonous snakes are asserted to be often found in these waters. The present existence of these crocodiles seems very apocryphal; nor are serpents so often met with, even by naturalists anxious to enrich their collections, as is generally supposed. The name of these Falls, ‘Itamariti,’ or ‘Itamarity,’ signifies in the Indian language (probably that of the Guarani tribe) ‘the shining stones,’ or ‘the rock that shines,’ doubtless so called from the glittering appearance of the large mass of rock, the face of which is worn smooth by the water. ‘Ita’ means stone or rock.The old road over the Serra de Estrella, constructed when Brazil was a colony of Portugal, was, although much too steep according to modern ideas of engineering, infinitely better than the track dignified with the name of road, formerly leading to the Serra dos Orgaos. Being paved, it was at least safe and practicable. But the road recently opened to these heights is on vastly improved principles, and on a scale thought even unnecessarily large. The foundation and progress, however, of the new city of Petropolis, situated at the height of about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, on this route, has doubtless called for the construction of a road wider and more convenient than those hitherto made in this part of the country. The Emperor has built a summer residence here, near the highest part of the road, and the court and many of the wealthier citizens of Rio Janeiro have followed the example, encouraged by his Imperial Majesty’s liberal allotment of land for dwelling-houses, hotels, &c. The idea of founding this mountain city as a retreat during the great heats originated with the late Emperor, Don Pedro I., who made grants of land, absolutely or conditionally, to different noblemen of his Court. He was not enabled, however, to carry into effect either his plan for a city, or the construction of a new road to and through the mountains. To the reigning Emperor belongs the credit of practically calling into existence this thriving and healthy settlement, of which the success is now beyond a doubt. Petropolis may now be regarded as like the Royal Sitios in Spain,—Aranjuez, La Granja, &c., to which the Court regularly removes at certain seasons. The temperature and climate are delightful, and the annual removal to this and the other Serras is sufficient to restore to health those who have suffered from the enervating heats of the summer in the low lands around the capital. European invalids especially derive great benefit during convalescence from a few weeks’ stay in these picturesque mountains. Many foreigners, particularly Germans, have settled at or near this city. To the naturalist, and more particularly to the entomologist and botanist, a sojourn in these Serras affords endless interest and employment. A railroad is now opened from Rio Janeiro to the foot of the hills, which promises great advantages to the new settlement.

NOTE TO THE ILLUSTRATION.

The cataract shown in the foregoing page consists, says Sir W. G. Ouseley, from whose portfolio it is copied, of a succession of three waterfalls, subsiding into rapids, and then continuing its course as a turbulent rocky brook, working its way among the hills of the Serra de Estrella. The falls of Itamarity are not near any high road, and have been seldom visited by Europeans. It is not possible to obtain a general view of all the falls. That in the Plate is taken from an insulated rock, standing opposite the second fall. The first fall has worked a basin in the rock, as in other similar sites, and, as usual, it is asserted by the natives to be of vast or fathomless depth. Below the isolated rock is a third fall of considerable size; but the rich and thick vegetation prevents much of it from being seen. On the morning that this sketch was taken, when a party visited the Falls, some negroes were sent on beforehand to cut away the underwood and parasites, and to fell trees in order toimprovisera bridge for the nonce. The ligatures used in fastening the trees, and the sort of parapet railing, were made of the lianes or parasitical plants from the surrounding trees. They hang from the highest branches like ropes of various sizes, some little larger than whipcord, others of the circumference of a large cable; indeed, they are often thicker than a man’s body, and frequently form spiral and intricate knots, like the writhings of gigantic serpents, à la Laocoon. The profuse variety of growth and rapid vegetation in this part of Brazil is scarcely credible to Europeans. A very few weeks, or rather days, after this path had been opened, and the bridge constructed to enable the party to visit these Falls, strangers might have passed close to them, only made aware of their proximity by the loud roar of the falling waters, the hoarse sound of which, deadened and rendered deceptive by the close growth of the forest, would be but an indifferent guide, and hardly enable them to find any approach by which to obtain a view of the Falls. The negroes and country people have alarming stories or traditions respecting vast crocodiles, differing from the common sort in their nature and habits, and unlike the alligators of the rivers emptying themselves directly into the bay of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of these mountains. They are said to be infinitely larger and more voracious than their relations near the salt water. These monsters, they affirm, inhabit the deep pools formed occasionally in the course of the mountain rivers. Poisonous snakes are asserted to be often found in these waters. The present existence of these crocodiles seems very apocryphal; nor are serpents so often met with, even by naturalists anxious to enrich their collections, as is generally supposed. The name of these Falls, ‘Itamariti,’ or ‘Itamarity,’ signifies in the Indian language (probably that of the Guarani tribe) ‘the shining stones,’ or ‘the rock that shines,’ doubtless so called from the glittering appearance of the large mass of rock, the face of which is worn smooth by the water. ‘Ita’ means stone or rock.

The old road over the Serra de Estrella, constructed when Brazil was a colony of Portugal, was, although much too steep according to modern ideas of engineering, infinitely better than the track dignified with the name of road, formerly leading to the Serra dos Orgaos. Being paved, it was at least safe and practicable. But the road recently opened to these heights is on vastly improved principles, and on a scale thought even unnecessarily large. The foundation and progress, however, of the new city of Petropolis, situated at the height of about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, on this route, has doubtless called for the construction of a road wider and more convenient than those hitherto made in this part of the country. The Emperor has built a summer residence here, near the highest part of the road, and the court and many of the wealthier citizens of Rio Janeiro have followed the example, encouraged by his Imperial Majesty’s liberal allotment of land for dwelling-houses, hotels, &c. The idea of founding this mountain city as a retreat during the great heats originated with the late Emperor, Don Pedro I., who made grants of land, absolutely or conditionally, to different noblemen of his Court. He was not enabled, however, to carry into effect either his plan for a city, or the construction of a new road to and through the mountains. To the reigning Emperor belongs the credit of practically calling into existence this thriving and healthy settlement, of which the success is now beyond a doubt. Petropolis may now be regarded as like the Royal Sitios in Spain,—Aranjuez, La Granja, &c., to which the Court regularly removes at certain seasons. The temperature and climate are delightful, and the annual removal to this and the other Serras is sufficient to restore to health those who have suffered from the enervating heats of the summer in the low lands around the capital. European invalids especially derive great benefit during convalescence from a few weeks’ stay in these picturesque mountains. Many foreigners, particularly Germans, have settled at or near this city. To the naturalist, and more particularly to the entomologist and botanist, a sojourn in these Serras affords endless interest and employment. A railroad is now opened from Rio Janeiro to the foot of the hills, which promises great advantages to the new settlement.

ADMIRAL GRENFELL, CONSUL GENERAL FOR BRAZIL

Vice-Admiral John Pascol Grenfell, of the Imperial Brazilian Navy, is son of the late Mr. J. Granville Grenfell, of the city of London, and was born at Battersea, in 1800. At eleven years of age, he embarked in the maritime service of the Honourable East India Company, and made several voyages to India in the capacity of midshipman and mate in the Company’s ships. In the year 1819, he left the Company’s service, and joined the naval service of the Republic of Chili, with the rank of lieutenant, under the command of the present Admiral Earl of Dundonald, then Lord Cochrane, Admiral of the Chilian Naval Forces, engaged in the contest with Spain for the independence of the Spanish colonies on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. On the night of the 5th of Nov., 1820, Lieutenant Grenfell commanded one of the boats of the Chilian squadron, which, under the personal direction of Lord Cochrane, boarded and cut out from under the Castles of Callao de Lima, and from the midst of a squadron of armed vessels and gunboats, the Spanish Admiral’s ship, the Esmeralda, a frigate of 40 guns, fully manned, and perfectly prepared for the attack. This gallant exploit was performed by 240 volunteers, chiefly Englishmen, embarked in 14 boats, five of which were gigs. About 50 of the assailants fell killed or wounded in the attack, amongst the latter Lieutenant Grenfell; and 200 Spaniards, stretched on the decks of the frigate next morning, showed how sharply the contest had been maintained. The following order, issued by Lord Cochrane previous to the attack, will be interesting to naval men:—

On Board the Chilian States’ Ship O’Higgins, Nov. 1., 1820.—First Division: O’Higgins—1st launch, 2nd launch, barge, cutter, green gig, black gig, small gig. Second Division: Lautaro and Independencia—1st launch, 2nd launch, barge, cutter, cutter, gig, gig. The boats will proceed, towing the launches in two lines, parallel to each other, which lines are to be at the distance of three boats’ lengths asunder. The first line will be under the charge of Capt. Crosbie, the second under the charge of Capt. Guise; each boat will be under the charge of a volunteer commissioned officer, so far as circumstances will permit, and the whole under the command of the Admiral. The officers and men are to be dressed in white jackets, frocks or skirts, and are to be armed with pistols, sabres, knives, tomahawks or pikes. Two boat-keepers are to be appointed to each boat, who, on no pretence, shall quit their respective boats, but are to remain therein, and take care that the boats do not get adrift. Each boat is to be provided with one or more axes, or sharp hatchets, which are to be kept slung to the girdles of the boat keepers. The frigate Esmeralda being the chief object of the expedition, the whole force is first to attack that ship, which, when carried, is not to be cut adrift, but is to remain in possession of the Patriot Seamen to ensure the capture of the rest. On securing the frigate, the Chilian seamen and marines are not to cheer, as if they were Chilians, but in order to deceive the enemy, and give time for completing the work, are to cheer, ‘Viva el Rey.’ The two brigs of war are to be fired on by musketry from the Esmeralda, and are to be taken possession of by Lieutenants Esmond and Morgell,in the boats they command, which being done they are to cut adrift, and run out into the offing as soon as possible. The boats of the Independencia are to busy themselves in turning adrift all the outward Spanish merchantmen; and the boats of the Lautaro, under Lieutenants Bell and Roberton, are to set fire to one or more of the headmost hulks; but these are not to be cut adrift, so as to fall down on the rest. The watchword, (or parole and countersign,) should the white dress not be sufficient distinction in the dark, is, ‘Gloria,’ to be answered by ‘Victoria.’—Signed,Cochrane.

Note.—After the first attempt on the night of the 4th of Nov., it was found inconvenient to tow the launches; and, on the night of the 5th, orders were given by the Admiral, on shoving-off from his flagship, for the boats to pull in two lines, and for all officers to report themselves to him on the quarter-deck of the enemy’s frigate.

Lieutenant Grenfell continued to serve with Lord Cochrane till, by the surrender of the remainder of the Spanish naval forces, the war in the Pacific was concluded; and in the beginning of 1823 he left Chili, and accompanied Lord Cochrane to Brazil, whose newly emancipated government solicited the aid of that distinguished nobleman to expel the Portuguese forces from its territory and shores. This was effected by Lord Cochrane at the head of the Brazilian squadron, by a series of able manœuvres on the coast of Brazil, extending from Bahia to Pará, during the latter part of 1823, when upwards of one hundred of the enemy’s vessels, and three thousand troops, were sent prisoners into the Brazilian ports; and the Portuguese squadron, of superior force to the Brazilian, was driven with loss and in confusion across the Atlantic.

Lieutenant Grenfell, now promoted to the rank of commander, had the good fortune of terminating the naval campaign, by effecting alone, in a captured brig of war, manned from the flagship, the surrender of the Portuguese force in the city of Pará, and the adhesion of that immense and rich province to the cause of the empire, and rejoined his admiral at Rio de Janeiro in 1824, in a new frigate of 50 guns, which he found in the Port of Pará. In the execution of this service, while quelling an insurrection of the newly subjugated Portuguese, Commander Grenfell received a dangerous wound with a poignard in the back. For these services, Commander Grenfell was subsequently made an officer of the Order of the Southern Cross.

The acknowledgment of the independence of Brazil by Portugal the following year terminated the services of Lord Cochrane, who retired to England. At this period the aggressions of the Argentine Confederation on the Southern frontier of Brazil called the naval forces of the empire to the River Plate, where Captain Grenfell, now promoted to the post rank, proceeded in command of a brig of 18 guns, under the Brazilian Admiral, Baron do Rio da Prata.

The naval forces of Buenos Ayres, very inferior to those of Brazil, were commanded by Admiral William Brown, an Irishman,—one of those singular characters whose indomitable bravery, converting weakness into strength, for a long time baffled all the efforts of the Brazilian Admiral. A decisive action at last occurred off Buenos Ayres, in July 1826, in which Admiral Brown’s ship, with two-thirds of her men killed and wounded, was driven ashore a complete wreck, in front of that city. On this occasion Captain Grenfell,whilst in close action with Admiral Brown, and attacked by a fresh ship of the enemy, had his right arm shattered by a grape-shot as he stood on the hammock-nettings of his brig, encouraging his men to do their duty. Captain Grenfell’s wound was very severe, requiring amputation of the right arm, at the shoulder-joint, which was performed three weeks afterwards at Monte Video. On his partial recovery, he came on leave to England, but returned to the River Plate again in 1828, in command of a corvette, just in time to witness the termination of the war. For his services therein, Captain Grenfell was made a Dignitary of the Order of the Southern Cross, received a pension for the loss of his arm, and other marks of friendship and consideration from H.I.M. Don Pedro I. In 1829, Captain Grenfell married Donna Maria Dolores, second daughter of the late Don Antonio Masini, of the city of Monte Video, by whom he has had a family of six sons and four daughters. In the same year, he was appointed one of the escort of H.I.M. the Empress Amelia and H.M. the late Queen of Portugal, Donna Maria II., in their voyage from Europe to Brazil; and afterwards, in the year 1830, he conveyed the Duchess of Goyaz, a natural daughter of Don Pedro I., from Brazil to Europe, in the Isabel, a frigate of 60 guns.

On the occasion of the Revolution of 1831, and the abdication of Don Pedro I., Captain Grenfell was absent from Brazil, but was recalled again to employment by the Regency in 1835. In 1835, he was sent to the province of Rio Grande de Sul, in command of the naval force on the lakes of that province, then in rebellion against the Imperial Government. Success at first attended the Imperial arms; the rebels in various encounters were driven from their positions on the lakes and rivers; their flotilla captured, and their principal chiefs, with all their artillery, a considerable force of infantry and cavalry, reduced to surrender on the River Jacuhy, in a fruitless attempt to force its passage. In all these operations, the naval force under Captain Grenfell had a principal share, for which services, in 1833, he was promoted to the rank of commodore. The scene, however, soon changed: the loyal forces penetrating into the interior were, in 1837, completely routed by the rebels at Rio Pardo, and Casapava, the president of the province, taken prisoner, and the Imperial authority again restricted to the capital, the port, and the lakes; and both the former were closely besieged, and in great danger of falling into the hands of the rebels. At this critical juncture, the Commodore, through his personal influence with the rebels, originating simply from the humanity with which he had treated the prisoners that on various occasions had fallen into his hands, effected at great personal risk a suspension of arms with the rebel chiefs, with reference to the Imperial Government at Rio de Janeiro, which gained important time, checked the rebel career of success, and saved the province to the empire.

The Imperial Government profited by the opportunity afforded for remedying past errors: troops were poured into the province, a new army was organized, the naval forces were augmented with several steamers, and, at length, in 1842, under the able direction of General the Count of Caxias, the army took the field, routed the rebels in various engagements, and finally, in 1844, effected their complete submission to the Imperial Government. In attention(as expressed in his commission) to the distinguished services rendered with so much intelligence, zeal, and activity in the Province of Rio Grande de San Pedro de Sul, towards the pacification of the same province and integrity of the empire, the Commodore was raised to the rank of Rear-Admiral, and made a Grand Dignitary of the Imperial Order of the Rose; and shortly afterwards received the permission of Her Britannic Majesty to hold his rank, and continue in the service of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Brazil.

In the year 1844, Rear-Admiral Grenfell was appointed to command the Imperial squadron in the River Plate, where the contest between Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, affecting the commercial interests of neutral states, called the naval forces of most of the maritime powers to the spot, where he supported with firmness the rights of Brazilian subjects. The following year the Rear Admiral received the most marked proof of the estimation of the Imperial Government, in being appointed to command the squadron that carried their Imperial Majesties to the southern provinces of the empire, and hoisted his flag in the frigate Constitution of 50 guns. With the Imperial squadron, were incorporated Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Grecian, Her Most Faithful Majesty’s ship Don John, and the United States’ ship Raritan. The Rear Admiral had the honour of accompanying their Imperial Majesties during their tour, and in the course thereof received many notable proofs of the estimation and regard of the inhabitants of those provinces, who took this opportunity of shewing their grateful sense of his conduct during the civil war. Shortly after the return of the court to Rio Janeiro the Rear Admiral proceeded in the Constitution to England, with his family, and resigning his naval command at Plymouth, in Sept. 1846, assumed his civil appointment of Consul General of Brazil, in the United Kingdom. In the spring following, he was presented at St. James’s. During the years 1847-48, he built and fitted out at Liverpool, for the Imperial Government, the steam frigate ‘Alfonso.’

In August, 1848, Rear Admiral Grenfell received the thanks of the town of Liverpool, and the gold medal of the Liverpool Seamens Shipwreck Society, for his exertions in saving the lives of the passengers and crew of the emigrant ship Ocean Monarch,[60]burnt off that port, and which was promptly succouredby the Alfonso under Captain Marques Lisboa, then on her trial trip. The following letter from H.R. Highness the Prince de Joinville, who was present, shews the sense H.R. Highness entertained of the Rear-Admiral’s behaviour on that trying occasion.

Claremont, 28 Aôut, 1848.—Monsieur,—J’ai reçu la lettre que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de m’écrire au sujet du sauvetage des passagers de l’Ocean Monarch. Je ne mérite point les éloges que vous voulez bien m’addresser. Passager seulement abord de l’Alfonzo je n’ai été malheureusement que le témoin impuissant de la plus douloureuse des catastrophes, mais j’ai vu tenter les plus noble efforts d’arracher à une mort horrible des femmes et des enfans. Qu’il me soit permis de signaler à la reconnaissance publique les Officiers et l’equipage de l’Alfonzo, le matelot Jerome, et surtout Monsieur l’Admiral Grenfell, dont le noble devouement m’a pénétré d’admiration. Ma femme me charge de vous exprimer toute sa reconnaissance pour les sentimens que vous avez bien voulu lui exprimer. Recevez, Monsieur, l’assurance de ma haute considération.—(Signé) F. d’Orleans.—His Worship the Mayor of Liverpool.

The serious misunderstanding which occurred in 1850 between the governments of Brazil and Buenos Ayres, on the subject of the occupation of the territory of Monte Video by the latter power, induced the Imperial Government to augment its forces by sea and by land; and Rear-Admiral Grenfell was selected to command the squadron in the River Plate; and, leaving England in the beginning of 1851, he hoisted his flag at Rio Janeiro again on board the frigate Constitution, and proceeded with several corvettes and steamers to his destination. The Buenos Ayrean army, under General Oribe, was found cantonned round the city of Monte Video: the Buenos Ayrean flotilla, under Commodore Coe, lay in the inner roads of Buenos Ayres.

The Rear-Admiral, after concerting measures with the Governor of Entre Rios, General Don Justo Urquiza and the Count of Caxias, who again was at the head of the Brazilian army on the frontier of Monte Video, proceeded to occupy the rivers Uruguay and Parana, so as to impede the communication of General Oribe with Buenos Ayres. This measure entirely disconcerted the plans of the Governor of Buenos Ayres, Don Juan Manuel Rosas, who, not confiding in his own resources, counted on the assistance of Great Britain and France. These powers, however, preserved their neutrality, and in November the simultaneous advance of the forces of Entre Rios and Brazil, together with the position maintained by the Brazilian squadron, compelled General Oribe to surrender himself and his army to terms dictated by General Urquiza. Monte Video, thus freed from its enemies, the Argentine troops lost to General Rosas, and incorporated with the allies, nothing remained but to cross the river, and march on Buenos Ayres, where General Rosas was doing his utmost to levy and organize a new army. The vanguard of this army, under General Mansilla, occupied a position on the River Parana, at the Pass of Tonelero, which was fortified and armed with 16 pieces of cannon, provided with furnaces for hot shot. This passage was forced on the 17th Dec, by the Rear-Admiral, at the head of a division of steamers and corvettes, with trifling loss; and on the following days the allied army, 24,000 strong, under General Urquiza, crossed the Parana, and marched on Buenos Ayres. The battle of Monte Caseros, on the 3rd of February, 1852, the flight of General Rosas, and the conclusion of a treaty between Brazil, Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and Paraguay,guaranteeing their respective rights, and opening the navigation of the Rivers Parana, Uruguay, and Paraguay, put an end to this short and glorious campaign. Rewards and promotion were liberally bestowed by the Brazilian Government on the victors. The Count of Caxias was made a Marquis; the Imperial Plenipotentiary Honorio Carnero Leon was created Viscount Parana, and Rear-Admiral Grenfell was made a Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Rose, and promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral. In August, 1852, he resigned his command of the imperial squadron, and returned to his civil appointment in England.

Westward the course of empire takes its way,The four first acts already past;A fifth shall close the drama with the day:Time’s noblest offspring is the last.

Westward the course of empire takes its way,

The four first acts already past;

A fifth shall close the drama with the day:

Time’s noblest offspring is the last.

Each year we open upon new prospects in an increasing ratio, and among those which now present themselves as calculated to develope fresh fields for adventure and for an extension of traffic, are the navigation, just consummated, of 1,200 miles of the River Murray, and the expedition that is commencing to explore the Amazon.—Times’ Commercial Retrospect of 1853.

Wide o’er his isles the branching OrinoqueRolls a brown deluge; and the native drivesTo dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees;At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.Swell’d by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl’dFrom all the roaring Andes, huge descendsThe mighty Orellana.—Thomson.

Wide o’er his isles the branching Orinoque

Rolls a brown deluge; and the native drives

To dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees;

At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms.

Swell’d by a thousand streams, impetuous hurl’d

From all the roaring Andes, huge descends

The mighty Orellana.—Thomson.

Sources of the Marañon.—Rapids and cataracts.—Embouchures of the Amazon.—Its volume, compared with the Ganges and the Brahmapootra.—Its discovery by Pinzon.—Expedition of Orellana.—Gold-seeking expedition of Pedro de Orsua.—Settlement of Pará, and discovery of the Rio Negro.—The Missions of the Jesuits, and their expulsion.—Discovery of the communication between the Amazon and the Orinoco.—Revolution of 1835.—Pará: its streets and public buildings.—Explorations of M. Castelnau and Lieutenant Herndon.—Tributaries and settlements of the Tocantins.—Lieutenant Gibbon’s exploration of the Madera.—His interview with General Belzu.—What is wanted to turn the stream of tropical South American commerce eastward.—Herndon’s descent of the Huallaga.—Tarapoto, and its future prospects.—Chasuta; its trade with Lima and Pará.—Yurimaguas, and the Cachiyacu.—Steam-boat communication between Nauta and Pará.—Progress of a piece of cotton from Liverpool to Sarayacu.—Estimated cost and profit of steam vessels on the Amazon.—Trade of Egas.—The new province of Amazonas.—Exports of Barra.—The Rio Negro, and its tributaries.—Communication by the Cassiquiari between the Amazon and the Orinoco.—Productions of Amazonas.—Santarem.—The Tapajos, and its tributaries.—Rapids of the Parú, and the Xingù.—Climate and products of Pará.—Benefits to be expected from the opening of the Amazon and European immigration.

Though the Brazilian mission of the writer in connection with the original object of this volume virtually terminates at the close of the preceding chapter, his desire to communicate, however cursorily, an adequate idea of the immensity of extent and natural resources of the Brazilian empire would be altogether unfulfilled if some additional data were not offered respecting the illimitable and inexhaustible region of the Amazon. In conversing with enlightened inhabitants of Brazil, natives of the capital or elsewhere, on the vastness and fertility of their country, and on the magnificent destiny it is certain to attain, they concur with you, as a matter of course, but conclude with an intimation that you estimate but half of the reality, and a fourth of the probability of what is in store; for you leave out of your calculation the wondrous but almost unknowndistrict of the Amazon.There, indeed, they imply, are the germs of marvellous and unmatched natural greatness to be sought; for, prodigal as nature has everywhere been to the country in every possible respect, it is there that she has been most profuse; and there are her bounties most accessible to man, if he would only make the slightest exertion to secure them. These views are entertained in a like degree by many of the most intelligent citizens of the United States, the attention of which country is being drawn in an increasingly marked degree to the commercial capabilities of the Amazon; and the frequency of the publications respecting it, and the wide and general circulation they obtain throughout the Union, attest the interest wherewith North America regards the locale of what one of their writers describes as the future inevitably greatest mercantile entrepot (Pará) in the world. With what justice this anticipation is formed it is the design of the annexed few pages to exhibit, consisting, as they do, in a great degree, of a digest of the more influential of the publications alluded to. Considering the magnitude of the existing relations between England and Brazil, and how large a share Great Britain will derive from the enterprises that are now being directed to the opening up of the Amazon, it is conceived that a summary of the most recent circumstances connected with the countries and peoples bordering on that mighty stream will not fail to be acceptable, the more so as, with the exception of Mr. Wallace’s volume already alluded to, and which is not a commercial, nor yet geographical, nor descriptive work, there has been in this country no recent publication of an analogous nature to those of the United States’ writers we shall presently enumerate.

The Amazon, the largest river in the world, traverses the tropical regions of South America from west to east, discharging its immense volume of water into the Atlantic, nearly under the equator. The Tanguragua, or Upper Marañon, is regarded as its principal head-stream, and rises in the Lake of Llanricocha, 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the region of nearly perpetual snow. For about 120 miles from its source it flows through a ravine, andis full of rapids and cataracts, having a fall in that distance of more than 11,000 feet. Near Huary the ravine opens into a wide valley, through which the river flows gently for about 380 miles, and is navigable for canoes. Its course is then interrupted by the rapids of the Pongo Rentema, and turns eastward, in which direction it runs nearly 180 miles, leaving the mountain region by the Pongo de Manseriche, a rapid seven miles long. In this part of its course the current is so strong that it can be descended only by floats; but from the rapids of Manseriche the river passes through an extensive plain, its entire length exceeding 3,000 miles.

A great number of tributaries pour their waters into the Amazon in the lower part of its course. On the north side the first from the west, below the rapids of Manseriche, is the Morona, and then come in succession the Pastaça, Tigre, Napo, Iça, Yapurà, Rio Negro, and Oximina. From the south it receives, proceeding from west to east, the Huallaga, Ucayali, Yavari, Jutai, Jurua, Teffé, Coavy, Purus, Madera, Tapajos, Xingù, and Tocantins. Most of these affluents discharge their waters into the Amazon by more than one mouth, which frequently are widely apart. Thus the two most distant of the four mouths of the Yapurà are more than 200 miles asunder, and the outer embouchures of the Purus are about 100 miles from each other. In the upper portion of its course the Amazon divides Equador from Peru, between which its width varies from half a mile to a mile; beyond the limits of Equador it increases to two miles, and below the Madera (its most considerable tributary, having a course little less than 2,000 miles in length) it is nearly three miles. Between Faro and Obydos, to which place the tide reaches, it decreases to less than a mile; but below Obydos it widens again, and after the junction of the Tapajos it is nearly seven miles across. The width of the channel of Braganza do Norte, the northern mouth of this vast river, is 30 miles opposite the island Marajó, and 50 at its embouchure; that of the Tangipurà channel is 18 miles at the junction of the Tocantins, and 30 at its mouth. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Amazon is the immense volume of water which it discharges intothe ocean, which is ascribable to the forests which cover so large an extent of the immense region which it flows through, and attract a much greater quantity of rain than the scorchedLlanosof the Orinoco, and the treelesspampasof the Rio Plata. While the principal branch of the Ganges discharges 80,000 cubic feet of water per second, and the Brahmapootra pours forth 176,188 cubic feet per second, the volume of water which flows through the Narrow of Obydos per second is calculated at 550,000 cubic feet.

Next in importance to the Madera among the tributaries of the Amazon, is the Rio Negro, which, after a course of 1400 miles, falls into the Father of Waters twelve miles below the town of Barra, where it is a mile and a half wide. The Xingù has a course of 1000 miles, the Tapajos and the Yapurà each 900 miles, and the Napo and Iça each of 700.[61]

According to the best writers, the first expedition up the Amazon occurred in 1500, when a Portuguese named Pinzon discovered the mouth of the river, and took possession of its left bank. In 1540, Francisco Orellana descended the Napo and the Amazon to its mouth, and finding the native women in arms to oppose him, gave the name of Amazonia to the country, and conferred his own upon the river, by which it is still called by some geographers. In 1560, Pedro de Orsua, commissioned to explore the country in search of gold, descended the Jutai and Jurua, but was prevented by a mutiny from proceeding farther. In 1615 the governor of Maranham, Alexandro de Moura, in order to establish the sovereignty of Portugal, sent an expedition to the Amazon under Francisco Caldeira, who sailed up the Tocantins, and formed a settlement where Pará now stands. In 1648 aparty of Portuguese discovered the Rio Negro, and reached Quito overland, which was regarded as a remarkable feat. Shortly afterwards, the Jesuits commenced their settlements on the banks of the Marañon; and during the reign of Philip III., when Portugal was united to Spain, it was seriously contemplated to make the Amazon the means of transit for the treasures of Peru and Chili, by which the sea-voyage would be much shortened, and the dangers from English and French cruisers more than proportionately lessened.

The Jesuits warmly espoused the cause of the cruelly treated Indians, but, unfortunately, their zeal outran their discretion, and, in 1604, they were expelled. Several settlements were made about this time on the Marañon and the Rio Negro, among others that of San José, now the town of Barra; and in the expeditions which took place between 1726 and 1730, the communication between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco was discovered. During the next twenty or thirty years, colonization appears to have made rapid strides, so much so that, in 1784, a commission was despatched from Portugal to explore the country for botanical and other scientific objects. Settlements continued to be formed, but no event worthy of record occurred until the change of dynasty in 1823. Since then the only occurrence of consequence has been the revolution of 1835, when the president of the province was assassinated, the citizens of Pará fled, and the whole of the province, with the exception of the town of Cametá, on the Tocantins, fell under the power of the insurgents, who sacked the towns, and carried off the slaves and the cattle. Quarrels between the insurgent leaders increased the miseries of the country, and several presidents succeeded each other. At length, (see memoir of Admiral Grenfell), President Andrea arrived from Rio Janeiro with a sufficient force, and succeeded in recovering possession of Pará. The inland places gradually returned to their allegiance, and though the effects of these disturbances are still felt in some districts, Pará has fully recovered its former prosperity.

The province of Pará, though naturally the richest portion ofthe immense empire of Brazil, of which it is the most northern part, is little known, and at present of but little commercial importance.[62]Pará, the capital, contains about 15,000 inhabitants, and has a pretty appearance from the river. Most of the houses are white, which, against the dark green of the forest that surrounds it on the land side, and with the clear blue sky above, give it a pleasing aspect. The small islands in the river are wooded to the water’s edge, and canoes are constantly passing, paddled by negroes or Indians. The custom-house, formerly a convent, is a large and handsome building, and there are several churches that will bear comparison with those of Europe. Thesquares are more like village greens, being covered with a rank growth of weeds, but the graceful-looking palms which are planted in their midst impart a picturesque appearance in the eyes of a stranger. The principal street is the Rua dos Mercadores (street of merchants), which contains the only good shops in the town, and this, or rather a part of it, is the only portion that is paved. The other streets are very narrow, and some not free from holes.

What most strikes the observer is the number and size of the public buildings of Pará, which are far beyond the present wants of the place, but form a good foundation for its future requirements as the great depôt of the Amazon. The palace is large and massive, but has no pretensions to architectural beauty. In its rear is the theatre, unfinished, and overgrown with vines and climbing shrubs. Near these buildings is the cathedral, the largest in Brazil, the bells of whose two steeples, with those of the numerous churches, seem to be continually ringing. Near the arsenal, and sufficiently removed from the city to be no nuisance to the inhabitants, is the public slaughter-house, in the neighbourhood of which many vultures are always to be seen.

Most of the towns and villages of the extensive country watered by the Amazon, are situated on that river and its tributaries; and the rest is an impenetrable forest, trodden only by the Indian and the jaguar. Very little is known of the greater portion of the interior, but M. Castlenau, who explored the valley of the Amazon in 1843, and Lieutenant Herndon, of the United States Navy, who descended the ‘King of Rivers’ in 1852, have supplied considerable information respecting the Tocantins, the Madera, and Huallaga. The first-named flows through a fertile and healthy country, and has many flourishing settlements on its banks. Among them is Salinas, famous for its salt works, near which is the Lake of Pearls, surrounded by beautiful scenery, and inhabited by numbers of aquatic birds. The town of Goyaz, with a population of about 7,500, is situated on the Vermelho, a branch of the Tocantins, and can be reached by vessels from Pará. The voyage occupies five months, the up freight being about 20s., and thedown one fourth, per 100 lbs. Large canoes are paddled up the river as far as Porto Imperial, and take down hides, which at Goyaz are worth fifty cents, and at Pará are sold for a dollar and a half. Pará also trades with the inland town of Diamantino, by means of the Tapajos, the voyage up and down occupying eight months. The foreign merchandise that reaches Diamantino by this route is sold at an advance, on the average, of 850 per cent. on its price at Pará, which is from 50 to 100 per cent. on New York prices. When steam-boats are introduced on these waters trade will be largely increased, and prices reduced by competition and the facility of transit, so that both producer and consumer will be greatly benefitted.

It is a matter which gives a promising aspect to the question of future commercial intercourse with the interior that the elements of a large and profitable trade already exist in abundance. Cinchona to the value of two millions of dollars is annually exported from the eastern slopes of Bolivia, but, at present, for the want of steam-boats on the Amazon and its tributaries, it is carried over the Andes on the backs of llamas and mules to the ports of Peru. Large quantities of wool, clipped on the banks of the Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon, instead of going down the river to Pará, for shipment to England or the United States, are carried over the Andes in the same manner, and have then to make the voyage round Cape Horn.

The Madera runs through a beautiful valley, clothed with verdure, and abounding in scenery the most striking and picturesque. It is among the upper tributaries of this river that the traditions of the country place the lost mines of Urucumaguam, the riches of which equalled those of Potosi. When Lieutenant Gibbon, who was sent by the United States government to explore the valley of the Madera, was at Cochabamba, the attention of the Bolivian government was called to the establishment, on the navigable waters of that river, of ports of entry to foreign commerce, and of steam communication with the Amazon. Belzu, the President of Bolivia, received him in the most gracious manner, and issaid to have promised to grant privileges to a company for that purpose, if application were made to him in due form. The course of the Madera is interrupted by cataracts and rapids, but the former only commence 450 miles from its mouth, and the latter may be passed by canoes. The cataracts passed, the river is navigable into the heart of Bolivia by its tributaries, the Beni and the Mamoré, and quite through the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso by the Guaporé. Mr. Clay, the United States chargé d’affaires at Lima, was told that a Brazilian war-schooner had ascended the Madera above the rapids as far as Exaltacion, which is in Bolivia, above the junction of the Beni.

About one-half of Bolivia, two-thirds of Peru, three-fourths of Equador, and one-half of New Grenada are drained by the Amazon and its tributaries. For the want of steam communication, the trade of all these parts of those countries goes west over the Andes to Callao. There it is shipped, and after doubling Cape Horn, and sailing eight or ten thousand miles, it is then only off the mouth of the Amazon, on its way to Europe or the United States; whereas, if the navigation of the Amazon were free, and steam-vessels placed on its waters, the produce of the interior could be landed at Pará for what it costs to convey it across the Andes to the ports of the Pacific.

Lieutenant Herndon embarked on the Huallaga at Tinga-Maria, the head of canoe navigation, and 335 miles from the city of Lima, and descended to its junction with the Amazon, and thence to the mouth of the latter, a distance of not less than 3,500 miles. The first place he came to was Tarapoto, situated in a beautiful plain, watered by many rivulets, and producing cotton, coffee, sugar, cocoa, and drugs in great abundance. The district is very healthy, and free from annoying insects. Indigo grows wild, and storax, cinnamon, and gums may be procured of the Indians in any quantity, and at prices merely nominal. A great deal of good cotton cloth is made here by the women, and exchanged at Egas for straw hats and English prints brought from Pará. There is very little money in circulation, cotton cloth, wax, and balls of sewingcotton being used instead. English goods brought over the Andes sell in Tarapoto for four times their value in Lima. All the land carriage is performed by Indians, for want of roads: an Indian will carry 75 lbs. of goods on his shoulders from Tarapoto to Juan Guerra, whence he paddles in a canoe to Tinga-Maria, and there shoulders his burthen again, and carries it to Huanaco, the distance of which town from Tarapoto is 390 miles. The population of the place in 1848 was 3,500. Concerning its natural advantages and future prospects, Lieutenant Herndon thus speaks:—

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