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y alley- or • If 4 TI"Pïl> l" 1 r { ïîmM"iïr•ia»®f» Wrtlf Till N VÏIO-S.U.. ÄÄJ/flAX X/iJlwJJÄÄ*. \Aa1Hâ!4Jí<s MADE IN THE VALLEY OF TEE mm MADEIRA, FIlOM 1749 to ISS8. PUBLISHED FOE THE NATIONAL BOLIVIAN NAVIGATION COMPANY. 1875. í X ]} E X PAGE, I vn:'>!>:vn<>x. Report U< the Imperial (Joveniment of Brazil, by José and Francisco Keller ........... 1 Exploration of the Rivers, etc., of the Department of the Beni by J use Atijíustin I'alariiis ........ 77 Paper on the Bolivian HUers by Thaddeus llaenke . 122 The Rapids of the River Madeira. by Lieut. Gibbon, U. S. Navy . 139 The Madeira and its Head Waters, by General Qnintiii Quevedo . 167 Fluvial Outlet fur Bolivia, by Ygnacio Aranz ..... 189 The Portuguese Exploring Expedition of 1749, from Pará to Mato Grosso, riu the River Madeira • "208 1NTK0DUCTI0N. THE falls and rapids of the River Madeira, as the only barrier which exists between commercial nations and a direct access to the richest slope of the Andes, are worthy of the study of the geographer, the traveller, the lover of progress, and especially of those ambitious to develop commercial intercourse among nations. Those interested in defeating the efforts of Bolivia to open a trade avenue to the Atlantic have sought for and accepted in- ^ formation from many sources relative to the country traversed by the river Madeira. Whether the mfonrumt was from Soudan, Sumatra, Chili, China, Patagonia or Peru, was immaterial, provided he possessed the primary qualification of never having been within a thousand miles of the district he professed to describe. With the hope of contributing to the knowledge of those who desire to impartially examine the geographical and engineering features of the problem Bolivia is endeavouring to solve 1 have collected, translated, and caused to be translated the following works. These are the results of scientific and other voyages given to the world long previous to the time when the Government of Bolivia invited me to undertake the task of constructing a railway to connect the 3,000 miles of navigable upper waters of the Madeira with a point on the lower river° called San Antonio, accessible to sea-going steamers. The first efforts to penetrate the valley of the Madeira were " from its head waters, near Cuzco, upon the accession of the tenth King, the Ynca Yupanqui, to the throne of the Empire of the Yncas. He invaded Musu, now called Moxos, with an army of 10,000 men in a vast fleet of canoes, built for the vi purpose. Vpon the conquest of Peru by Spain, several ex- peditions were sent to make discoveries in the region drained by the Beni, the Mamore, and oilier tributaries ot' the Madeira. The first was dispatched by Pi/.arro in 15:?!), and numbered 200 men, under Captain Candia. It penetrated to a populous town called Opotari, only 30 leagues to the east of ('u/.co. The ex- pedition, again reorganised under a new commander, lYranzures, explored much of the country towards the Beni and Moxus, penetrating 00 leagues from Cu/.eo over a well-cleared, Inca road. In 1 -">01. two different expeditions were organised by the Viceroy Count de Xieva, the only tangible result of which was the founding of the town of Apolobamba. In 15(32, Anton de Gastos, with a small party, entered Moxos from Cochabamba and discovered the great river Mamore. In 1503, under authority from the Viceroy, Die^o Aleman reached a point 00 leagues north of Cochabamba. Ill 1505, Luxan led a party of eight men in -earch of gold to a point 20 league.-- north of ('ochabamba, where they ueieall killed. The great.expedition of Juan Alvarez Maldonado, of Cuzco, inyaded the Moxos district in iolij, and did not return until 1509, making many valuable discoveries, and tracing the "east and west" course of the great Mayu-tata branch of the Belli riyer for a longO distance. In 1509, a small expedition of 00 men performed a journey on their own account north of Cochabamba into the yalley of the Mamore, but were ordered back by the Audiencia de los C'harcas. Numerous other exploring and warlike parties continued to penetrate Moxos and Chiipiitos during the settlement of the present Boliyia by the Spaniards. The eastern part of Bolivia, drained by the head waters of the Madeira, was settled by Spanish expeditions from Paraguay, the first important point populated being Santa Cruz de la Siena. During the 10th and 17th runtimes, the Jesuits and Fran- ciscans made numerous reductions of the Indians of the Beui, Moxos and Chiquitos, establishing many flourishing towns. t vu The first expedition which ipended Hie Madeira into Bolivia of which I have bo. MI able to any knowledge was made by the Portuguese from the city of Pará in 1723, under Francisco Mello Palheta. No definite account of it has fallen into mvhmh. If any exists it is probably to be found m the Brazilian archives. The party reached the present Bolivian town of Exaltaeion on the river Mamoré. The first descent of the rapids of the Madeira of which I have found any account was made by a small party from Mato Grosso in 1742. In 1749, bv command of the King of Portugal, a large expedi- tion ascended the Amazon, Madeira, and Itinez rivers to Mato Grosso in Western Brazil. A full history of the exploration is found herein. Its lack of mathematical and scientific data renders it of little real value ; and it can only serve as a rough description of the country traversed. The sixteenth rapid which tliev found, and which is described on page 282, no longer exists. The river lias cut away the small obstacles which caused the violent current, then existing at that point. Next came Senor Josd Augustin Palacios, a .Bolivian engineer of much talent and painstaking observation, who, m 1844», was instructed by his Government to examine the Bern Department and explore also the rapids of the Madeira He did this as well as the feeble means at his command would permit The result is herein published, and his report is replete with valuable information. I found Senor Palacios still livin°" at La Paz in 1872. In 1853, the United State, Government took a great mteres in the problem of opening Bolivia to tl.e œmmereml TOIAI nave therefore thought it desirable to give e.trae s from th>J rt of Lieut, Gibbon relative to his exploration of the falls ot the 1£THE mn.phlet of Soflov Aran, reproduced gives a tew valuable J Reservations from an energetic Bohv.au who has seen much of the country of which he speaks. I „1881 the celebrated General Qumtm Quevedo of Bol.ua dJlÏa'tiu, rapid* of the Madeira, and became So convinced viii that this was the natural outlet of Jim country, that ho wrote the pamphlet found in these pages, describing the falls of the great river and the best method of surmounting them. When the boundary line treaty was made in 1867-8 between Brazil and Bolivia, the former Government sent the Keller expedition to make a thorough examination of the rapids ot the Madeira, and report upon the best method of avoiding these obstacles to commercial communication. The report ot the Messrs. Keller wilt bo found of scientific interest, and for accurate and valuable data it is of great importance. My own journals kept in my descent of the Piray, the Mamor<5, and Madeira I have never published. The object of the present volume is to give in a compact form other evidence than my own relative to the river Madeira and the rich country which it drains, and to call greater attention to the vast system of natural canals which are destined to play a oreat role in the commercial and political history of %>uth America. Very truly, • GEORGE EARL CHURCH. í êípbratbiT of % Tyún patóra. REPORT OF iOSÉ AND FRANCISCO KELLER, MADE TO THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL, '."JLSHED IN THE GO YERNMENT " RELATORIO" OF 1870. Translated from Portuguese by GEORGE EARL CHURCH; LONDOHs .-; LOW & SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT WINCHESTER STREET 1873. RELATION OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER MADEIRA: * OF THE PART INCLUDED BETWEEN THE RAPID OF • SANTO-ANTONIO AND THE MOUTH OF THE MAMORíL A.—Introduction. B.—Slxort description of the voyage of tlie expedition, O.—Climatic and geologic ideas. J),—Results of hydrographic measurements. E, Projects for the improvement of the actual route, as much. with refereiico to facilitating* navigation as to tlie con- struction of a marginal road. j»t—Statistical data relative to commerce and the productions of the valley of the Madeira, Ghiapore, Mamore, and branches, G.—Comparative calculation of freights by the different routes, H.—Conclusion, A—INTRODUCTION. BY orders of the 10th October, 1867, we were charged by the Imperial Government to explore the River Madeira, in the part filled with rapids from Santo-Antonio to the mouth of the River Mamoré, and to elaborate the most appropriate projects for the improvement of this important line of communication with the province of Mato-Grosso and the Republic of Bolivia. We embarked with this object the 15th day of November, 1867, on board the steamer Paraná, of the line of steam-packets for the northern provinces, in which we arrived December lfet at Paxá; and afterwards, taking the river-steamer Belem, wo landed at the port of Manàos the 10th December. The then President of the Province of Amazonas, Dr. José Coelho da Gama e Abreu, who knows portWtly tlm climatic character of those regions, informed us that the season of the year was least favourable to undertake such an exploration, the ascending of the rapids and the study of the river in the time of floods being difficult and arduous.