COMMANDER PAGE'S LA PLATA.*
Tuas volume narrates some four years' exploration of the Plata and its greater tributaries, with tentative passages up some of the smaller streams, and occasional excursions by land. La Plata itself being considered as an embouchure, whose great sources of supply are the Parana, the Paraguay, and the Uruguay, a first object of Commander Page was an examination of these rivers to produce an accurate survey, more especially of the Parana and Paraguay. He had also diplomatic purposes with reference to Buenos Ayres, for which he was associated with the resident Ame- rican envoy, and he had to conclude a treaty of commerce with Lopez, successor to Frroicia, President of Paraguay, Lopez being quite as powerful though not so cruel as his singular predecessor. The objects of the expedition were not fully carried out, owing to a dispute with Lopez, originating it would seem in the intemperate language of a Mr. Hopkins, the American consul at Asuncion, and agent to an American company settled there. The conse- quence was the expulsion of Hopkins and the Americans from Asuncion—the stoppage of Commander Page's explorations when be had only surveyed the Parana so far as its reception of the Paraguay, and up the latter stream to Coimbra in latitude 18° 59' 43" south, longitude 57° 44' 36" west—the firing upon his vessel while in charge of his lieutenant during an attempt to ascend the upper branch of the Parana. These complications the Commodore on the station refused to meddle with, and apparently the home government too, until President Buchanan took the matter up in his last address to Congress ; and he has despatched a squadron to the Parana to obtain redress. The volume contains a good deal of information respecting the country and its rivers, as well as notices of the pleasing but very primitive state of society which exists there : there is also some account of its natural productions. There are moreover particulars, of course from the American point of view, of the origin and na- ture of the quarrel between the United States and Paraguay; which now that the President has proceeded to action, have a practical interest, and may have considerable practical results in opening the country watered by the Parana and Paraguay to commerce if not to settlement ; or in throwing it back to a state of nature. These points of interest, however, the reader must pick out for himself from amid a mass of formal or secondary par-
La Plata, the Argentine Confederation, and Paraguay. Being a narrative of the Exploration of the Tributaries of the River La Plata and adjacent countries during the years 1853, '54, '55, and 56, under the orders of the United States Government. By 'Thomas J. Page, U.S.N. Commander of the Expedition. Published by Trabner.
tionhirs. A more inartistical work we have rarely met with, either as regards skill in rejecting or arranging matter. The reader is detained by preliminary accounts with no kind of inte- rest for more than sixty pages before the expedition really starts. The narrative is often rendered confused by blending a summary account with extracts from the journal, and by treating too many topics at once. The great disadvantage of the book, however, is the deficiency of the author in narrative and descriptive powers. He fritters away the general effect in a mass of details, taking an inventory of a landscape rather than describing it. It should, however, be borne in mind that this fulness and these details may have greater interest for an American public which the author is addressing, than for the British, to which his work is im- ported. We have books, which give as full an account of the Parana and Paraguay, and the Argentine Republic, as Comman- der Page, though not of so late a date. The Americans also feel a practical interest in the region from the expedition they have despatched to Paraguay. Of the immediate future of the countries .permeated by the waters which eventually reach the Atlantic as La Plata, our anti- cipations are less sanguine than those of the author. No doubt their natural riches, or at least capabilities, are very great ; and the climate probably, as our author affirms, more adapted to the natives of the temperate zone than the regions of either the Ori- noco or the Amazon ; but capability is not production ; for that you require population, skill, and capital. Up the rivers, im- ported goods may bear a high profit and what native commodities there are, may be very cheap ; but this is always the case in iso- lated and thinly peopled districts. They sell cheap, because such surplus produce is a drug from the want of markets ; they pay high, because there is no established trade to supply them in a regular way. They pay a species of monopoly price to adven- turers; who, however, are obliged to carry on their trade in an expensive mode. No doubt, if fully settled, the country is as ca- pable as the 'valley of the Mississippi of producing largely. But it is not settled ; and at present not likely to be. If the ',resent American expedition coerces Paraguay into greater liberality, she will only force that state to do what the Argentine Confederation and Brazil have done already, facilitate immigration. That part of the territory of Bolivia, which borders the right bulk of the Paraguay is absolutely uninhabited, and the territories of Brazil on the upper parts of the left bank are nearly in the same condition. Before you can create a trade you must create peoples. Neither is it clear that there is any available water access into Bolivia ; though we agree with our explorer in thinking that this grassy stream the Water Witch ascended, was a true river, and not a mere backwater.
"November 25th.—Ascending the Bahia, or Rio Negro. I call ita river, because, until lost in a sea of grass, it has every appearance and character- istic of one.
"After proceeding twenty-five miles' the crank strap broke for the fourth time since leaving Asuncion. Anchored in fourteen feet water. Banks low, covered with a scattered and inferior growth of trees ; grass vigorous and green ; width of river at anchorage, six hundred yards ; temperature of air at six p. m., 92°; water, 85°; wind N.E. Greatest depth since entering this water, thirty feet ; least, twelve. Position of anchorage on the night of the 26th, latitude 19° 52' 42" south, longitude 58° 16' 34" west.
"To the north-east, mountains of Coimbra and Albuquerque,. in every other direction grass and water as boundless as the ocean. Horizon so clearly defined the altitude of a heavenly body might be taken during the day with the same accuracy as by observation made with a sea horizon.
"November 27th.—Under way at an early hour. The river contracted rapidly in width, so much so as to make it difficult to round the points with- oat running the bows of the steamer into the grass. Continued to advance for two hours, when the channel was so narrowed by grass that both wheels were in it, and yet we had a depth of twelve feet water. Anchored and took to a boat, determined, if possible, to see whither the stream would lead or from whence it came. Ascended six miles above the position of the Water Witch. Here the river was entirely closed by cameletes and grass, and yet we still had nine feet water. A solitary dwarfed tree, of the mi- mosa family, was standing six feet above the water level, where its depth was -five feet.
"We suspended to one of its branches a bottle by copper wire ; it con- tained the name of the steamer, .her position, and names of officers. We had still to the east the blue outlines of the Brazilian mountains, the near- est, in a right line distant twenty-two miles. North-west, the direction whence I supposed this river to flow, grass, water, and sky. We pulled up some of this grass ; it measured in length twelve feet, and from a quarter to half an inch in diameter. The point reached was in latitude 19° 60' 58" south, longitude 58' 15' 29" west, thirty-one miles from its confluence with the Paraguay ; general direction thus far north. The distance in a right line between these two points, it will be seen, is about twenty miles. Tem- perature, maximum meridian, 95°, wind N.N.E. ; at three p. m. 94°, wind I■T.N.W.; minimum, at three a. m., 80°; water at meridian, 88r. "It is with deep regret that I am obliged to leave this 'Bahia' without having satisfied myself whence come its waters. I am convinced that it is not the backing-up of the Paraguay. The current forbids that idea, and the colour, even at its junction, is in strange contrast with that of the lat- ter. Between the seasons of high and low water I cannot believe that the waters of the Paraguay could hack into this bay, deposit detritus and re- ceive a colour unvarying from its mouth to the point of ascent, black, and yet in a glass perfectly limpid, more so than the water of the Parana, while that of the Paraguay is uniformly turbid. This alone would convince me that it flows from the high lands of Bolivia, and may be a navigable stream into the interior of that country. If this fact could be established, it would prove of inestimable value, not only to the mediterranean state but to the whole civilized world. So far as my observation enables me to judge, I perceive no insurmountable obstacle to the navigation of this river. I am convinced that a steamer properly constructed could skim over or cut through this sea of grass. " We retraced our steps, after some difficulty, in getting the steamer's bows down stream. She was at last pointed in the right direction, and, cutting through the grass which surrounded her, first on one side then on the other, we descended, and again entered the Paraguay."
The conclusions drawn as to trade are theories founded upon the nature of things. They may be contradicted by practical facts, as they seem to be by the particular ease of the city of Parana, the capital of the Argentine Confederation. But that is only a few hundred miles from the embouchure, and we fancy will for years to come serve as a dOpot for all the interior, just as if the Thames arose in the Highlands, and London were the only port of Great Britain.
"We could scarcely realize the change in the aspect of the town between 1853 and 1855, the period of the arrival and departure of the expedition. When we first visited it, a noiseless inertion seemed to pervade all things ; before our departure, the construction, not only of government
but of fine private dwellings, gave it an air of bustle and life quite American.' The saw and hammer were busily plied in every street, and they were preparing for use, not only the hard woods of the country, but American pine. Even in the short period which had elapsed since the opening of the rivers, this lumber had worked its way 600 miles in the in- terior, not only against the currents of the river, but the prejudices of the people who previously imagined no woods for any purpose equal to their own. Pine was not only extensively applied for doors and window-sashes, but, as flooring, was actually superseding tile and brick.
"It must be remembered that only three years had elapsed since the opening of these waters to commerce, and as yet there was no direct trade with the United States. This lumber had paid not only import-duty at Parana, but both import and export-duty at Buenos Ayres or Montevideo, and yet was sold hero with profit. It can, therefore, be well understood how much our merchants would gain by a direct trade, in their own ships, with Rosario or Parana, where their cargoes will be subject to but one im- port-duty before they get into the hands of the consumer. I hazard no- thing in saying that I believe the trade in lumber to those interior provin- ces of La Plata will be one of considerable importance to this country. "The growth of Rosario and Parana in three years is not surpassed by the strides of some of our western cities. The rise in the value of real estate, the demand for houses caused by the increased population, seem to promise a permanent prosperity, which will make their trade of great value to those who may secure it."
Previous page
