EDWARDS ' S VOYAGE UP THE AMAZON AND RESI- DENCE AT PARA.
Mn. EDWARDS is a young American, who last year accompanied his re- lative, "Amory Edwards, Esq., late II. S. Consul to Buenos Ayres," on a visit to Para. What was the precise object in the view of the lateCon- sul, or Mr. Edwards, or two young gentlemen who formed an addition to the party, does not appear, except that they were "in quest of adventures." What Mr. Edwards did was to vary a few months' residence at Para by excursions in the neighbourhood, much as a visiter to London might go to Brighton, Windsor, or Gravesend ; with certain differences. The embouchures of the Amazon are so numerous, that what with them and their tributaries, and the lakes formed by the overflowing of the waters, terra firma roads are very few ; from the inaptitude of the Southern people for colonization, and the fierce revolutions that have distracted the country, settlement is very backward. A mill, a plantation, or a village, is as much in the delta of the Amazon as a palace or a city in European countries; and the access to them is by boats that differ in shape, size, and accommodation, but are all of the genus canoe. Having gazed his fill at Para, and shot birds, gathered flowers, or observed landscapes in its neighbourhood, Mr. Edwards took advantage of the offer of a gentle- man who was going up to Barra, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, (about 60 degrees of West longitude,) and spent some three months in ascending the river, amusing himself at Barra, and coming down again. Soon after his return to Para, he sailed for New York, and printed this account of what he saw and did ; which Mr. Murray has republished in his Home and Colonial Library.
The paucity of settlement and of people upon this mighty river—in Indian language the Para-na-tinga, the King of Waters—deprives the voyage of much prospect of incident. The necessity of taking advan- tage of every puff of wind that assists the struggle against the current, renders a business voyager indisposed to lose time in explorations, even if the Tropical forests and extensive swamps did not offer almost insuper- able obstacles. Beyond the rarity of the ascent by bookmakers, there is not so much matter to be looked for in a voyage up the Amazon as its magnitude and almost mystery would lead us to expect. When human subjects and adventures are scanty, one of two qualities is necessary to give effect and value to a book of travels, in which description must of
course predominate. The first is the rare faculty of seizing the essential characteristics of things, so that the spirit of the original, the feeling that the reality itself would convey, is impressed upon the reader. The other is learned or professional, to a great extent the result of training, which gives exactness to description, and imparts interesting information, if technicalities are avoided. The geologist, engineer, or agricultural im- prover, in journeying on the Amason, would survey its bed and its banks with a critical eye, and convey definite and distinct ideas to the reader— not picturesque, perhaps, but with that precision of form and par- pose which accompanies the geometrical drawing as opposed to the painting. In like manner, a botanist would examine its vegeta- tion or a naturalist its animals ; and if we missed the vast mag- nificence of the forest, or the boundless solitude of the swamps, and did not see the birds, beasts, reptiles, or fishes, we should know the peculiarities of their form, flight, and habits. Young Mr. Edwards has no scientific knowledge of this kind. As a sportsman, he has picked up a few names, and has some general notions of structure; but beyond this all is vague. The novelty of the region gives him some advantage; but in himself he does not essentially differ from the horde of fluent and rapid American travellers, who have so often thrown off their superficial sketches upon the much-enduring public, since Willis, in his Peneillings by the Way, first set the example of Making a tour pay its own expenses. Almost everything that Mr. Edwards " claps eyes upon" he describes, and with a sort of animal vivacity and untiring activity; but little is characteristic, or even distinct, unless some action of man or animal enforces particularity, or some precise information is to be im- parted. From these exceptional parts we take a couple of extracts.
FEATHER DRESSES AND DRESSED HEADS.
At a distance of several hundred miles above Santarem is a large settlement of Indians, and from them come the feather dresses seen sometimes in Peri. These are worn by the tenches. A cap, tightly fitting the head, is woven of wild cotton, and this is corered with the smaller feathers of macaws. To this is at- tached a gaudy cape reaching far down the back, and formed by the long tail- feathers of the same birds; of which they also make sceptres that are borne in the hand. Besides these, are pieces for the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, neck, and knees; and often a richly-worked sash is thrown round the body. These dresses are the result of prodigious labour, and far surpass, in richness and effect, those sometimes brought from the South Sea Islands. From the Tapajos Indians come also the embalmed heads frequently seen at Para. These are the heads of enemies killed in war, and retain wonderfully their natural appearance. The hair is well preserved, and the eye-sockets are filled with clay and painted. The Indians are said to guard these heads with great care, being obliged by some superstition to carry them upon any important ex- pedition, and even when clearing ground for a new sitio. In this case, the head, stuck upon a pole in one corner of the field, watches benignly the proceedings, and may be supposed to distil over the whole a shower of blessings.
COCOA CULTIVATION.
We were now in the great cacao region, which for an extent of several hundred square miles borders the river. The cacao-trees are low, not rising above fifteen or twenty feet; and are distinguishable from a distance by the yellowish great of their leaves, so different from aught else around them. They are planted at ia• tervals of about twelve feet; and at first are protected from the sun's fierceness by banana-palms, which, with their broad leaves, form a complete shelter. Three years after planting, the trees yield; and thereafter require little attention' or rather receive not any. From an idea that the sun is injurious to the berry, the tree-tops are suffered to mat together until the whole becomes dense as thatch= work. The sun never penetrates this, and the ground below is constantly wet. The trunk of the tree grows irregularly, without beauty, although perhaps by careful training it might be made as graceful as an apple-tree. The leaf is thini much resembling our beech, excepting that it is smooth-edged. The flower is very small, and the berry grows directly from the trunk or branches. It is eight inches in length, five in diameter, and shaped much like a rounded double cone. When ripe, it turns from light green to a deep yellow, and at that time ornaments the tree finely. Within the berry is a white acid pulp, and embedded in this are from thirty to forty seeds, an inch in length, narrow, and flat. These seeds are the cacao of commerce. When the berries are ripe, they are collected into great piles near the house; are cut open with a tresido; and the seeds, squeezed carelessly from the pulp, are spread upon mats to dry in the sun. Before being half dried, they are loaded into canoes in bulk, and transmitted to Para. Some of these ves- sels will carry four thousand arrobas of thirty-two pounds each; and, as if such a bulk of damp produce would not sufficiently spoil itself by its own steaming du- ring a twenty days' voyage, the captains are in the habit of throwing upon it great quantities of water, to prevent its loss of weight. As might be expected, when arrived at Path it is little more than a heap of mould; and it is then little wonder that Para cacao is considered the most inferior in foreign markets. Cacao is very little drank throughout the province, and in the city we never saw it except at the cafés. It is a delicious drink when properly prepared; and one soon loses relish for that nasty compound known in the States as chocolate, whom main ingredients are damaged rice and soap-fat.
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