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the sombre and gigantic forests behind them. The value of the export and import trade of the whole valley in 1850 was but £500,000. On the 6th September 1850, the great emperor, Dom Pedro II., sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon, and confided to an illustrious Brazilian, Barao Maua (Irineu Evangilista de Sousa), the task of carrying it into effect. He organized the “ Compania de Navigacao e Commercio do Amazonas” at Ilio de Janeiro in 1852; and in the following year it commenced operations with three small steamers, the Monarch, the Marajo, and Rio Negro. At first, the navigation was principally confined to the main river; and even in 1857 a modification of the Government contract only obliged the company to a monthly service between Pard and Manaos, with steamers of 200 tons cargo capacity, a second line to make six round voyages a year between Manaos and Tabatinga, and a third, two trips a month between Para and Cameta. The Government paid the company a subvention of <£3935 monthly. Thus the first impulse of modern progress was given to the dormant valley. The success of the venture called attention to the unoccupied field; a second company soon opened commerce on the Madeira, Punis, and Negro; a third established a line between Para and Manaos; and a fourth found it profitable to navigate some of the smaller streams ; while, in the interval, the Amazonas Company had largely increased its fine fleet. Meanwhile private individuals were building and running small steam craft of their own, not only upon the main river but upon many of its affluents. The Government of Brazil, constantly pressed by the maritime powers and by the countries encircling the upper Amazon basin, decreed, on the 31st July 1867, the opening of the Amazon to all flags; but limited this to certain defined points—-Tabatinga, on the Amazon; Cameta, on the Tocantins; Santarem, on the Tapajos; Borba, on the Madeira; Manaos, on the Rio Negro; the decree to take effect on 7 th September of the same year. Par A is now a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, Manaos has about 40,000, and the Peruvian town of Iquitos, 10,000. In 1898 there entered the port of Para 503 ocean steamers and 123 sailing ships—a total of 610,597 tons; and in 1899 the entries of English ocean-going ships reached 314,646 tons register. The first direct foreign trade with Manaos was commenced about 1874. There is now a regular service of two English, one Italian, and one Portuguese line—a total of 35 steamships, representing 52,953 tons register. There is also a Brazilian line of seven ships, of 1999 tons each, running between Manaos and Ptio de Janeiro. The local trade of the river is carried on by the English successors to the Amazonas Company—the Amazon Steam Navigation Company—with 29 steamers, aggregating 9184 registered tons. In addition to its excellent fleet, there are 150 small river steamers belonging to companies and firms in the rubber trade, and 12 of from 150 to 300 tons each, navigating the Negro, Madeira, and Purus rivers. The principal exports of the valley are india-rubber, cacao, Brazil nuts, and a few other products of very minor importance. The india-rubber yield is now from 25,000 to 26,000 tons yearly. The finest quality comes from the Acre and Beni districts of Bolivia, especially from the valley of the Acre (or Aquiry) branch of the river Purus. The yield of these for 1898 was 3151 tons, of which 2000 tons was the official estimate of the product of the Acre district; for 1899, it was 1150 tons; and for the first eleven months of 1900 it was only 791 tons, the decrease being due to the recent unsuccessful attempt of the rubber collectors to segregate the region of the Acre from Bolivia and form a separate republic. Of the rubber production
AMBLESIDE of the Amazon basin, the State of Para gives about 40 per cent. The cocoa tree is not cultivated, but grows wild in great abundance. The quantity exported for 1899 was 4054 tons. There is but one railway in the whole valley. It runs from Parfi towards the coast and is 65 miles long. The cities of Para and Manaos have excellent tramways, many fine public buildings and private residences, gardens and public squares, all of which give evidence of artistic taste and great prosperity. The import dues collected at the port of Para in 1899 by the national Government amounted to £844,000. The revenues of the State of Amazonas for the same year were nearly £750,000, of which £476,000 were derived from export duties. The number of inhabitants in the Brazilian Amazon basin (the States of Amazonas and Para) is purely a matter of rough estimate. There may be 500,000 or 600,000, or more; for the immigration, during recent years, from the other parts of Brazil has been large, due to the rubber excitement. The influx from the State of Ceara alone, from 1892 to 1899 inclusive, reached 98,348. As Commander Todd, in his report to the United States Government, says : “ The crying need of the Amazon valley is food for the people. ... At the small towns along the river it is nearly impossible to obtain beef, vegetables, or fruit of any sort, and the inhabitants depend largely upon river fish, inandioc, and canned goods for their subsistence. . . . The ship’s company lived, the greater part of the time, upon the regular sea ration, and any ship ascending the Amazon should be well supplied with its own provisions, as it is impossible to live upon the country.” Although 400 years have passed since the discovery of the Amazon river, there are probably not 20 square miles of its basin under cultivation, excluding the limited and rudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters, which are inaccessible to commerce. The extensive exports of the mighty valley are entirely derived from the products of the forest. (g. e. c.) Amazonas, the largest state of Brazil, in the extreme west of the Republic, has an area of 732,250 square miles. The population in 1872 was 56,610, and in 1890 147,915, of whom nearly two-thirds were Indians. The capital, Manaos, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, has a population of 30,000. The chief towns are Teffe, Itacoatiara (or Serpa), Parintins, Codajaz, and San Gabriel. (See also under Amazon.) Amazonas, an interior department of northern Peru, with an area of 13,943 square miles and a population officially estimated at 70,676 in 1896. It is subdivided into three provinces, Bongara, Luya, and Chachapoyas; the principal town, Chachapoyas, has a population of 6000. Ambala. See Umballa. Am ba Mariam. See Abyssinia. Am berg, a town of Bavaria, Germany, district Upper Palatinate, 42 miles E. from Nuremberg by rail. The manufacture of stoneware, zinc goods, and colours is carried on. A former Jesuit monastery is now used for a grammar school and seminary. There are a pilgrimage church, on a hill 1621 ft. high, a large convict prison for men, an industrial and commercial school, &c. Population, 15,812 (1885); 20,200 (1895). Ambleside, a market-town in the Appleby parliamentary division of Westmoreland, England, a mile from the north end of Windermere. Recent erections are a preparatory school for the novitiate of St Norbert’s Home and assembly rooms. Bobbins are manufactured, and in the neighbourhood are slate quarries. Area of parish (an urban district), 4421 acres. Population in 1881, 1989; in 1891, 2360; in 1901, 2536.
