Besides the millions of mules, horses and other animals, there are,
in the republic, twenty-five millions of cattle.
Brazil is rich in having 50,000 miles of navigable waterways. Three
of the largest rivers of the world flow through its territory. The
Orinoco attains a width of four miles, and is navigable for 1,400
miles. The Amazon alone drains a basin of 2,500,000 square miles.
Out of this mighty stream there flows every day three times the
volume of water that flows from the Mississippi. Many a sea-captain
has thought himself in the ocean while riding its stormy bosom. That
most majestic of all rivers, with its estuary 180 miles wide, is the
great highway of Brazil. Steamboats frequently leave the sea and sail
up its winding channels into the far interior of Ecuador - a distance
of nearly 4,000 miles. All the world knows that both British and
American men-of-war have visited the city of Iquitos in Peru, 2,400
miles up the Amazon River. The sailor on taking soundings has found a
depth of 170 feet of water at 2,000 miles from the mouth. Stretches
of water and impenetrable forest as far as the eye can reach are all
the traveller sees.
Prof. Orton says: "The valley of the Amazon is probably the most
sparsely populated region on the globe," and yet Agassiz predicted
that "the future centre of civilization of the world will be in the
Amazon Valley." I doubt if there are now 500 acres of tilled land in
the millions of square miles the mighty river drains.
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![Through Five Republics On Horseback Being An Account Of Many Wanderings In South America By G. Whitfield Ray
- Bishop Neely's
South America.]
Besides the millions of mules, horses and other animals, there are,
in the republic, twenty-five - Page 241](../images/travel.jpg)
