Part 1

VOL. III. PP. 1-30, PL. 1, MARCH 28, 1891

THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

SOUTH AMERICA

ANNUAL ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT

GARDINER G. HUBBARD

WASHINGTON

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

Price, 25 Cents.

{1}

VOL. III, PP 1-30, PL 1., MARCH 28, 1891.

THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

SOUTH AMERICA.

ANNUAL ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT,

GARDINER G. HUBBARD.

(_Presented to the Society December 19, 1890._)

Two years ago I selected for my annual address _Africa, or the Dark Continent_; last year _Asia, the Land of Mountains and Deserts_; this year I have chosen _South America, the Land of Rivers and Pampas_.

* * * * *

The recent meeting of the Pan-American Congress has called attention to South America, a part of our continent under republican forms of government and rich in products which we lack, while it relies mainly on other foreign countries for goods which we manufacture. North America and South America should be more closely united, for the one is the complement of the other.

The prominent features of South America are its long ranges of mountains--next to the Himalayas the highest in the world,--its great valley, and its immense plateau extending from the Straits of Magellan to the Caribbean sea.

THE MOUNTAINS.

The Andes rise in the extreme south at Cape Horn, run in a northerly course through Patagonia and southern Chili; thence continuing in three nearly parallel ranges, the western chain called the Andes, the others known as the Cordilleras, through Peru, {2} Bolivia and Ecuador to Colombia. The Cordilleras and the Andes are connected in several places by knots or cross-chains of mountains. In Colombia the Andes turn to the northwest, reaching their lowest elevation at the Panama canal, and continue thence, through Central America and North America as the Rocky Mountains, to the Arctic ocean. Near the source of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers in Colombia, the eastern range is deflected to the east along the northern coast of South America. The central range disappears between the Magdalena and Cauca rivers.

The Andes form the water-shed of the continent. The waters on the western slope flow into the Pacific ocean. The rivers that rise on the eastern slope, in northern Peru and Ecuador, force their way through the Cordilleras and at their foot drain the montaña of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. In the southern part of Peru and upper Chili there is a broad sierra or plateau, at an elevation of from twelve to fourteen thousand feet. The streams that rise in this sierra either empty into salt or alkaline lakes or sink into the ground.

Unlike all other long ranges of mountains, the continental or eastern side of the Cordilleras is nearly as precipitous as that extending to the Pacific. Craters of extinct volcanoes and volcanoes now in eruption are found in all parts of the chain. In Ecuador there are fifty-two volcanoes, and twenty of these, covered with perpetual snow and presided over by Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, rise out of a group of mountains encircling the valley of Quito, and are all visible from a single point. Three are active and five others have been in eruption at one or more times since the conquest. One of these, Sangai, is the most active volcano on the globe: it sends forth a constant stream of fire, water, mud and ashes, and some assert that it has done so without intermission for 300 years; 267 explosions have been counted in one hour. This is also the land of earthquakes: in 1868, 50,000 lives, we are told, were lost in one day; the tremor was felt over four countries and from the Andes to the Sandwich Islands. The tidal wave washed a gunboat of the United States on shore at Arica in lower Peru, 1000 miles to the south, and sixteen hours later the wave was felt across the Pacific at New Zealand.

A range of mountains separates Eastern Venezuela and Guiana from the valley of the Amazon. Other ranges south of the Amazon run southwestwardly, following the Atlantic coast line from Cape St. Roque to the Rio de la Plata.

{3} RIVER SYSTEMS.

A great oceanic current flows along the western coast of Africa to the equator, where it is deflected across the Atlantic ocean and becomes the equatorial current. On reaching the coast of South America near Cape St. Roque, it is again deflected north and south. Trade winds blowing over the equatorial current reach the coast at Brazil surcharged with vapor; as they follow up the valley of the Amazon the vapors are partially condensed and frequent showers refresh the land; but when the clouds at the foot-hills of the Andes meet the colder winds from the south and strike the snow summits of the Cordilleras, all the moisture is condensed, and the rain falls in tropical showers for half the year and waters the largest and richest valley in the world.

In this valley, among the Cordilleras, three great rivers--the Orinoco, the Amazon and La Plata--rise. The mountain ranges north and south of the Amazon divide this great valley into three lesser valleys, down which the Orinoco, the Amazon and La Plata flow, watering three-fourths of South America.

_The Orinoco_.

The headwaters of the Orinoco rise in two ranges of mountains; the Cordilleras in the west, and the mountains of Venezuela many hundred miles to the east. Four hundred tributaries, abounding in beautiful falls and cataracts, unite to form this great river.

The whole valley for 1600 miles is filled with dense and tangled forests. Noble trees of unrivalled beauty blossom in endless prodigality. Birds of gorgeous plumage nestle in their lofty recesses. Tall ferns, vines, creeping plants and parasites form a dense tangle of undergrowth, swarming with life. Myriads of insects in great variety, reptiles of strange and singular form, lizards and venemous serpents find their homes and sustenance in the wild, dense mass of vegetation.

_The Amazon_.

The valley of the Amazon collects its waters from a region 1800 miles wide from north to south and 2500 miles long from the Andes to the Atlantic ocean. Even at the foot of the Andes the Amazon is a mighty river. The valley rapidly narrows to a width of 600 or 700 miles, and then more gradually to the ocean, {4} where it is only 150 miles wide. Its total fall from the foot-hills of the Andes to the Atlantic is very slight, not over three or four hundred feet, and probably considerably less.

The rims of the valley are formed of diorite and sandstone, and are raised only a little above the flood-plain, which is formed of mud and silt, the detritus brought down by the Amazon and its tributaries. The flood-plain is from fifty to one hundred miles wide, gradually narrowing as it approaches the ocean. Through this valley the Amazon cuts its way, separating often into channels which sometimes run parallel to each other for several hundred miles, frequently forming large islands, or expanding into lakes. Similar flood-plains are found on all its larger tributaries.

Up from the ocean into this valley an immense tidal wave rolls, with a bore, twice a day, forcing back the current of the Amazon 500 miles and inundating a portion of the flood-plain.

In the early autumn the equatorial rise commences in the headwaters of its tributaries, far south of the equator. The rains and melting snow raise the streams, and these the waters of the Amazon. As the sun crosses the equator and moves to the north the rain follows its course, and the branches that have their source in the east and northeast add their flood to the waters of the southerly branches. The flood in the Amazon is thus continued for nearly six months, raising its waters from 30 to 50 feet. The channels are filled, and the flood-plains are overflowed. The whole valley becomes a net-work of navigable waters, with islands and channels and lakes innumerable, forming a great inland sea, which the Brazilians call the Mediterranean of America. The upland, though only a little above the flood-plain, is rarely overflowed.

The plants and animals of the flood-plain were formerly considered as distinct from those of the upland as are the plants and animals of Europe from those of America; but later investigations show that there is but little difference between the species.

The sea breeze blows up the valley about a thousand miles. Then for 1500 miles the atmosphere is stagnant and sultry; the climate is that of a permanent vapor bath. The dense foliage forms dark, lofty vaults which the sunlight never penetrates, and over all hangs a perpetual mist. The abundance and beauty of vegetation increases, and the trees which at the mouth of the river blossom only once a year, here bloom and bear fruit all the year round.

{5} Many great rivers run into the Amazon from the north and the south, most of them navigable, for many hundred miles. The Madeira, its greatest tributary, after running 2000 miles, empties into the king of rivers, without making any perceptible difference in its width or depth.

This mighty current, rushing into the ocean, meets the equatorial current and for over one hundred miles keeps on nearly a straight course, when the stronger and mightier oceanic current deflects it to the north. At from 200 to 300 miles from land, the sea is strongly tinged, and in April and May has nearly the clay-yellow hue of the Amazon. And even further north, about 400 miles from its mouth, the naturalist on the Amazon tells us, "we passed numerous patches of floating grass mingled with tree trunks and withered foliage; among these I espied many fruits of the Amazonian palm. And this was the last I saw of the Amazon."

_The Rio de la Plata_.

The La Plata, the outlet of the waters of central South America, is formed by the union of the Uruguay and Parana, about 150 miles from the ocean; a little lower down, at Montevideo, it is 62 miles wide and widens rapidly to the Atlantic, where it discharges more water than all the rivers of Europe. The tributaries of the Parana are fan-shaped. Its most eastern branches rise in the mountains of Brazil, within seventy miles of the Atlantic ocean; and 1500 miles away, on the other side of the continent, its most western tributaries rise only 125 miles from the Pacific.

Steamers ascend the Parana, Paraguay and Cuyaba, 2100 miles to Cuyaba, and the river with its branches is navigable for 5000 miles.

_The San Francisco_.

The San Francisco, about 1800 miles long, rises near Rio de Janeiro and flows north about 1200 miles between parallel ranges of mountains, then turns east and forces its way through the coast range to the Atlantic ocean. It runs through the gold and diamond regions of Brazil, and has a considerable population along its banks. It has many falls and rapids, and considerable slack-water navigation.

{6} GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

In Asia, the different countries have natural boundaries; the people, soil and climate of one country are unlike those of others. In Europe there are few natural boundaries, though different races inhabit the several states.

In South America only one dominant race is found, and though natural boundaries exist, yet they do not serve as boundaries to the different states, other than Venezuela and Guiana. Venezuela and Guiana are watered by the Orinoco and by several rivers that flow from the Amazonian mountains to the ocean. The whole coast is low and fertile, but hot and unhealthy. The principal product is sugar, raised by negroes and coolies. The interior is sultry and thickly wooded; it is inhabited by Indian tribes, the principal of which are the cannibal Caribs, and by negroes as uncivilized as any of the tribes in Africa. Guiana is controlled by the English, French, and Dutch. Cayenne, the prison for French convicts, is the capital of French Guiana.

Colombia and Ecuador occupy the northwestern part of South America. They are situated on both sides of the Andes, and have every variety of climate. The country is well watered; fertile but unhealthy on the coast, fertile and healthy on the elevated plains, cold and barren on the mountains.

In Brazil, besides the Amazon, La Plata and San Francisco, there are several large rivers with fertile valleys; but occasional droughts, sometimes lasting for two years, will prevent portions of Brazil from becoming densely inhabited.

On the Pacific coast south of Ecuador, the rainfall becomes less and less. For three thousand miles along the coast of Peru and Chili there is no natural harbor; a plain from ten to fifty miles in width extends from the Pacific to the foot-hills of the Andes. The Antarctic current runs along this coast; the southeasterly winds blow over it on to the land and cool the air; but as the winds are of low temperature their scanty vapor is dissipated by the heat radiated from the land, and not a drop of rain refreshes the thirsty soil. Many mountain torrents run from the snow-clad summits of the Andes, and the beauty of their narrow valleys forms a grateful contrast to the dry and barren sands of the plain.

In the southern part of Chili and in that part formerly called Patagonia, rain is abundant and the country is fertile.

The longest stretch of low and comparatively level land to be {7} found in the world extends through the center of South America. A boat starting from the Caribbean sea could sail up the Orinoco over a thousand miles, then down the Casquiare, which runs from the Orinoco into the Rio Negro, down that river to the Amazon, up the Amazon to the Madeira, then up that river and one of its branches through Brazil and Bolivia, and with a short portage of six and a half miles to one of the branches of the Paraguay, down the Paraguay and La Plata to the ocean.

The level land crosses the La Plata and continues southward through the Argentine Republic and Patagonia to the Straits of Magellan. Within this plain lie all the interior of Venezuela and Brazil, a part of Bolivia, all Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic. The pampas resemble our prairies, but run from north to south, while the prairies run from east to west.

The streams in the plain south of the valley of the La Plata rise in the Andes and flow southeastward to the Atlantic.

THE ABORIGINES.

The aborigines of America, except the Esquimaux, are unlike the natives of other countries; the most marked difference is in their language. They are divided into a number of tribes differing from each other in some respects, yet with manners, customs and religious beliefs generally similar.

In South America there are more than one hundred distinct languages, and two thousand dialects. About five or six million Indians have as many dialects as are found among the 800,000,000 inhabitants of Europe and Asia. Their languages are polysynthetic, being of a higher type than the agglutinative languages. In the polysynthetic tongue the substantive, adjective and verb are joined or combined, and oftentimes a whole sentence will be comprised in a single word.

The natives in the valleys of the Orinoco and Amazon are forced to cultivate a little ground on the flood-plains, as the forests are thick and impenetrable. They live principally on the fruit of the palm (of which there are five hundred varieties), cocoa and bananas, fish and turtles. There are no roads or paths through the forests except the numerous channels of the rivers, called igarapes or furos. The tribes on the pampas live principally on game and wild cattle.

Humboldt tells us that the navigator on the Orinoco sees with surprise at night the palm trees illuminated by large fires. From {8} the trunks of these trees are suspended the habitations of a tribe of Indians, who make their fires on mats hung in the air and filled with moist clay. The same palm tree furnishes also food and wine and clothing, and thus supplies every want and even the luxuries of life.

The Indian race as a whole is believed to be superior to both the negro and the Malay, as neither of those races has ever attained to the civilization of the Incas of Peru or of the Indians of Mexico and the Aztecs of Central America. Many of their myths and folk tales are common, not only to the Indians of one part of the country, but also to other tribes in distant parts of the continent, and even to the negroes of Africa, and the Arabs of upper Egypt. All the tribes on the continent have substantially the same habits of life, the same methods of warfare, the same general characteristics, and a language built substantially on the same plan.

From these observations it might seem that the Indian tribes of South America were allied to those of Africa or to the Malays, but on further consideration the similarity seems due rather to a like stage of civilization than to identity of race.

THE INCAS OF PERU.

In crossing from Arequipa in Peru to La Paz in Bolivia, the road ascends the Andes, makes a slight descent into the barren, desolate valley between the Andes and Cordilleras, crosses Lake Titicaca, and then descends to La Paz. Lake Titicaca, the largest lake of South America, is on a plateau between twelve and thirteen thousand feet in height, the most elevated table land on the globe, excepting Thibet. This lake is surrounded by lofty, snow-clad mountains, the highest of which is Illampa, 22,300 feet in height.

On this lake are the remains of the most ancient civilization of South America. Cyclopean ruins of temples and fortresses stand as perpetual monuments of a vanished culture; when and by whom they were erected, we know not; their builders left no other record of their existence. The wandering Indians told the first Spaniards that they existed before the sun shone in the heavens. From one of the rocky islands of Lake Titicaca, about the year 1000 or 1100, the Sun, parent of mankind and giver of every good gift, taking compassion on the degraded condition of {9} the Indians, sent two of his children, Manco Capac and Mama Oello Huaco, to gather the wandering tribes into communities, to teach them the arts of civilized life and to inculcate the worship of the Sun. From Lake Titicaca, this brother and sister, husband and wife, went down the valley to Cuzco, where they were bidden to found an empire. Manco Capac was thus the first Inca. There were ten or twelve Incas before the conquest of Peru. Their conquests extended through the entire valley of the Cordilleras, until over four hundred tribes, with a population of many millions, became subject to their dominion.

The territory of the Incas extended from the southern part of Chili northward into Colombia, beyond Quito, a distance of two thousand miles, and west to the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern slope of the Cordilleras, toward the great plain of the Amazon, the Incas met a stronger and more savage people, with whom they were in constant warfare. In the several passes of the Cordilleras they constructed fortifications to protect their borders and prevent invasion.

The capital of the territory, Cuzco, was situated in a beautiful valley ten thousand feet above the sea. Amidst the Alps, such a valley would be buried in eternal snow, but within the tropics it enjoys a perpetual spring. Here the Incas loved to dwell, and remains of immense fortresses, palaces and temples, testify to their power and culture, and to the number of their subjects. Tens of thousands of laborers must have been required to construct such edifices. When we reflect that these people had no beasts of burden except the llama, which could only carry light loads, and no mechanical means for transporting the vast blocks of stone used in constructing these buildings, we are astonished at what they accomplished. The pyramids of Egypt are not more wonderful.

Great highways were built, running north, south and west, connecting different parts of the Empire. One followed the valley between the Cordilleras and Andes to Quito, another crossed the Andes and followed the sea-coast north and south to the extreme limits of their country. All traveling was on foot. Large and comfortable tambos, or inns, were erected every few miles, and larger ones at the end of a day's journey. Couriers were stationed at regular intervals, each of whom had his allotted station, between which and the next it was his duty to run at a certain pace bearing his message, and on his approach to the {10} next station he signalled to the next chasquir, as the couriers were called, to be ready to carry forward the message. In this way, it is said, about 150 miles a day were made.

These couriers traveled more quickly than the mail-carriers of Europe, and the means of communication were then, Squier tells us, far better than they are to-day. Many of these old tambos are still maintained. One in which Squier spent the night was 180 feet in length, with rooms forming three sides of a court.

The country of the Incas had every variety of climate, and the products were those of every part of the new world. On the coast, perpetual summer reigns, with all the variety and beauty of tropical vegetation. At a higher elevation, the trees are always green, and while one kind sheds its blossoms and ripens its fruit another is budding and unfolding its bloom. Meantime, on the top of the mountains is eternal winter. In some places, as at Potosi, the changes of temperature are frequent and extremes of heat and cold are experienced in a single day. The weather in the early morning is frosty; in the forenoon, mild and balmy; in the afternoon, scorching, and in the evening, cool and delicious.

On the Pacific slope of the Andes, reservoirs were constructed, from which irrigating canals watered the whole plain now lying desolate and barren.

The conquered tribes were incorporated into the nation and became the people of the Incas. If the conquered tribe was strong and warlike, some of its members were removed to distant parts of the country and were replaced by the inhabitants of those regions, to whom privileges and immunities were given as compensation for the change of home. The conquered tribes quickly realized the benefits of the rule of the Incas and became faithful and loyal subjects.

The government of the Incas was a paternal despotism controlling the most minute affairs of daily life. Knowledge, the Incas taught, "was not intended for the people, but for those of generous ability, for it would render persons of low degree vain and arrogant."

The Incas established a communal system similar to that of Russia. One-third of the land belonged to the Inca, one-third to the priests of the Sun, and the remainder to the people, who were required to cultivate the land of the Inca and of the priests, as well as their own. The land was divided among the families yearly, according to their number. Every newly {11} married couple received a stated portion which was increased as the family increased.

Their only means of writing was by a cord, called quippus, about two feet long, composed of threads of different colors twisted together, from which a quantity of smaller threads hung like a knotted fringe. The colors denoted sensible objects or sometimes abstract ideas, though the principal use of the quippus was for arithmetical purposes.

The civilization of the Incas appears to have been of a higher order than that of the Mexicans. It is not probable that hieroglyphics were in use among any of the South American Indians, though it is said that traces of a pictorial alphabet have been found. The people were contented and happy, although they were deprived of personal liberty, although their daily life was supervised by their rulers, and although they held only communal rights of property. They had neither ambition nor strong love of country.