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    true , as the reviewer sayis , that the doctrina of the phenomenal and relative character of our knowledge is as old as Kant—he might have said , as old its . Greek speculation—that many , elements of Positivism axe to be found not only in Kant anxl Heqrl , but "in Abistotlk and his Scholiasts , in the tenets of the Epicureans , in Rogeb Bacoit , and in BxBNARDtiro TBi ^ stoi" but surely such agreement with antecedent Eneories ^ 1 is rather the necessary characteristic of a comprehensive system

    tMn an objection , to be urged against it . The reviewer becomes puerile when he goes out of las way to say that " subjective and objective" are terms ^ rup ^ idiely fcortowed from Kant , " aad that Comte ' s admission , that scientifio observation requires hypothesis , is " after Kaott . " We notice this poiiii less with reference to Oomtb , than for the sake of making a general protest ^ g ^ onst the treatment of idea 3 in the cataloguing spirit , wtich thinks it enough to ticket them with a name and date , without entering heart and Moul into the one momentous consideration of their truth or falsity .

    The TT ^ ihr American Review contains , amongst other things , an article on Literary Inipdstures in general * and those of Aubxakdbe Dumas in parl ^ cular ; , sui interestingand _ . wetti-written article on Italy ; one on the ^ RestorationdfHieText of Shakespeare ; and one on Russia and the Porte , We shall probably recur . to some of these next week .

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    the Equator ) the climate , according to our author , is an everlasting summer and the harvest perennial . TJhere is every reason to believe that the valley of the Amazon is upon the whole healthy . We shall not attempt to eaumerate th « various productions of this 'favoured land , but some of them , deserve mention from their rarity in other countries , such as Sarsaparilla ^ which grows on the banks of the Amazon and its tributaries , and is the chief article of commerce with the natives , and India-rubber ( here called Seringa } which is gathered by making incisions in the tree , and the

    preparation of which is carried on in establishments owned and managed by foreign or Brazilian settlers , but by means of native labourers . Peruvian Bark is also a product of the Upper Amazon- Baisatn copaiba , gum copal , drugs of rare virtue , spices , variegated woods , arrowroot , tapioca , &c , are found in abundance , and coffee , cocoa , the sugar-cane , tobacco , rice , and corn * of all kinds require little from , the hand of man to bring them to perfection , and to yield in such abundance as to sound hyperbolical if put in the form of a statistical calculation . The forests are filled with game ( reckoning monkeys among the most tender and delicate } , and all the rivers are stocked with Ash and turtle The endless wealth of the Lower Amazon may well tempt & citizen of the United States to feel as Lieutenant Hexndon does when he finds how little

    the Brazilian Government is willing , or indeed able , to forward the interest of the whole world , by itself alone . * ' Up the tributaries , midway between their mouth and source , on each sige are wide savannahs , where feed herds of cattle , furni shing a trade in tides ; and at the sources « f the southern tributaries are ranges of mountains , vouch' yield immense treasures of diamonds and other precious stones . ' _ . . " It ia again ( as | n th « case of the country at the foot of the Andes ) sad to think that , excluding the savage tribes , who for any present purposes cf good may be ranked with the T > easts that perish , this country has not more than one inhabitant for every ten square miles of l and ; that it is almost a wilderness ; that b « ing capable , as it is , of yielding support , comfort , ani luxury to many millions of civilized people who have superfluous wants , it should DeJbiit the dwelling -place of the savage , and the wild least . toe 01 is in toe

    • oucnis tne countary wnose aestiny ana oeveiopmeai ; wnose resources hands of Brazil . It seems ; a pity that she should undertake the work alone ; she is not strong enough ; she should do what we axe not too proud to 4 o , stretch out her hands to the World at large , and say , Gome and help us to sabauetiie wilderness : here are homes , and broad lands , and protection for all who choose io come . * She should break np her steamboat monopoly , and say to the sea-faring and commercial people of the world , * We are not a maritime people j we have no skill or practice iai steam navigation ; come and do our carrying , while w work the * lands j brine your steamers laden with your manufactures , and take from the banks of onr rivers the rich productions of our vast regions . ' "With such a policy , and taking means to preserve her nationality , for which she is now abundantly strong , I have no hesitatioa in say ing , that I believe in fifty years Bio Janeiro , without losing a tittle of her wealth and ereatness . will be but a village to Para , and Para will be what New Orleans

    would long ago have been but for the actmtjr . of New York and her own fatal climate , the greatest city of the New World ; Santarem Will 1 » St . Louis , and Barra , Cincinnati . ** The citizens of the United States are , of all foreign people , most interested in the free navigation of the Amazon . We . as ) in comparison with ether foreigners , would reap the Son ' s Bhare of the advantages to be derived from it . We would fear no competition . Our geographical position , tha winds of Heaven , and . the currents of the ocean , are our potential auxiliaries . Thanks to Maury's investigations of the winds and currents , we know that a chip flung into the sea at the mouth of the Amazon will float close by Cape Hatteras . We know that ships sailing from the month of the Amazon , fox whatever port of the world are forced to etlr very doors b y the SE . and NE . trade winds ; that New York is the half-way house between Para and Europe .

    - ¦ ' ¦ - HEBKDQN « S ^ VTA . tiLEY OF THE AMAZON . Eaplondion 6 f the faJlet / ofihe Amazon . By Lieutenant William Lewis Hrfrndon , U . S . - : Navy . Wfy Map and Plait * . Taylor and Maury , Washington . Triibaer , London . Xilcu ^ jii iAyT HgagipoM ^ long , and periloiis journey from Lima-to Para , at jibe mouth of $ heAmazon ,-ytoa Wder ^ en at the comnmnd of the United ¦ States GKoyernmeiit for it ^ e piirpose of obtaining a full ; and -particular < £ c ^;(] i % ' the . iJoiuizdii . 5 ^ ioui ^ # ?| J *^ ^ b ni ^ n 8 tr ^^ # ai ^ but : a ' 'p ^ t |^' iii ^ - ^ jnent of Bis eiri « nfliVeji ^ on ; be en his lieutenant or asflistant , the ei ^ loration of ^ regions through which 4 fie $ ] £ i ^^ their way to a junction ^ tii * the } A ^ expedition we have as yet no

    '^ : ^ new . Portions of the country traversed ^ travellers , and Sinyths ^ Descent of the Anutzon " in 1835 carries the reader irom Lima £ tpvP « ni , 't > y aroutenearly ^ ide ^ cal with that pursued by Herndon . But ^ e pi ^ en ^ volume js full of novel interest , and will obtain deserved attention from all , peraoiifl curious about physical geography , commerce , animal Ji ^ i ^ giU ^ ilie . : p 1 ^ n ^^ g ^ t ; yw ^ ea of the human species , and tie facilities fo % spr « 8 > duii ^ ciyafisira river in the world . Other •^ jjeriioiiSj atlsp ^ ido ^ cf ^ &inerican ambition , may detect designs of conquest or aimexsiiiiqil in this exploration of the valley of the Amazon . It may not llfiayl ^ fears o £ : Mtu ^ , ' 6 i 30 &hiein to mention the fact that the conquest or it tor umtea

    annexauon oi a torra ot soutn America , a possioie tmng , une SteteS v W ^ idd be ^ ^ unprofitable . one ; while the estabushment-of free and-reguhw trading with this richly productive regionwould beia great advantage for the United States and all the rest of the world . The advantage-wafi well worth an official survey of tie country , and considerable diplomatic exertions to press -the importance of the steam navigation of the Amazon , and its tributaries on the notice of the Governments of Brazil , Bolivia , and Peru . We shall therefore consider . Lieutenant HerndonVbook simply Hn the light of a report on the present condition and future capabilities ot this vast water-course . ' All the rivers or the Old World , the Danube and the Don , the Nile and the Ganges , shrink into insignificant streams before the rivers of the New

    World ; and . of these , from the Mackenzie to the Rio de la Plata , none rivals in length , breadth , and all great attributes that may become a river , the subject of the present survey . " Swelled by a thousand streams ., impetuous hurled From all the roaring Andes , huge descends The mighty Orellana . " From its rise at Lauricocha in Peru , to Tabatinga on the confines of Brazil , it bears its Peruvian name of Maranon ; thence to Barra , where it receives its great northern tributary , the Bio Negro , it is called the Solimoens ; and from Barra to the Atlantic it is called the Amazon . Mr . Herndon is enthusiastic on the subject of this gigantic stream ; but his mind is more strongly impressed by its commercial value than by ita scenery . Upon embarking at Nanta , where the Ucayali joins the Maranon , he writes thus :

    " The march of tie great river in its silent grandeur was sublime ; but in the untamed might of its turbid waters as they out away its banks , tore down the gigantic denizens of the forest , and built up islands , it was awful . It rolled through the wilderness with a stately and solemn air . Its waters looked angry , sullen , and relentless ; and the whoBa scene awoke emotions of awe and dread—such as- are caused by the funeral solemnities , tlie minute gun , the howl of the wind , and the angry tossing of tfce waves , when all hands are called to bury the dead in a troubled sea . " I was reminded of our Mississippi at its topmost flood ; the waters are quite as muddy and quite as turbid ; but this stream , lacked the charm and the fasoination winch the plantation upon the bank , the city upon the bluff , and the steamboat upon its watora , lend to ita

    fellow of the North ; nevertheless , I felt pleased at its sight . I had already travelled seven hundred miles by wator ^ and fancied that this powerful stream would soon carry me to th « ocean ; but the water-travel was comparatively just begun ; many a weary month was t « elapse ere I should again look upon the familiar face of the sea ; and many a time , when worn and wearied with the canoe life , did I exclaim , ' This river seems interminable 1 ' " Its capacities for trade and commerce are inconceivably great . Its industrial future La the most dazzling ; and to the touch of steam , settlement , and cultivatiortii , this rolling ? stream and its magnificent water-shed would startup into a display of industrial resnlts that would indicate the Valley of the Amazon as one of the most enchanting regions on tho face of the earth .

    " From its mounUiaa you may dig silver , iron , coal , copper , quicksilver , zinc , and tin ; from the sandi of its tributaries you may wash gold , diamouda , and prccioas stones ; from its foreote you may gather drugs of virtues tho most rare , spices of aromii tlie most oxgutaite , guinea and resins off the most va * i « d and uaef ul properties , dyes of hues tin most brilhamt with cabinet and building-woods of tJio iiiiest polish and moat enduring texture . " Throughout the course of tlio Amazon ( which is in no part 20 dog . from

    " We are now Brazil's best customer and most natural all / . President Aranha knew Una . At a dinnex party given by him at Barra , his first toast was , ' To the nation of America most closely allied with Brazil—the United States . ' And he frequently expressed to ma his strong desire to have a thousand of my active countrymen to help him to subdue the wilderness , and show the natives how to "work . " Lieutenant Herndon's mission has excited tie Brazilian and Peruvian Governments to some activity in the matter of navigating the river , but the spirit of the negotiation is narrow and selfish , and whatever system it produces cannot last . But Heradon ' s Report will l > riiig about greater results in a political and commercial point of view , when it is rendered complete by the addition of Mr . Gibbon's account .

    In compliance with the orders of his Government , Mr . Herndon made collections of strange birds , beasts , vegetables , and minerals , and noted down any remarkable fact concerning the people or the places that came under his notice . His collection of zoological specimens gave him considerable trouble , 1 he monkeys and the birds especially , but he seems to have a natural fondness for animals , and to have endured much in this journey on their account . Among the animals , native to the valley of the Amazon , are the Auta , or , wild cow , the Peixiboi , or fish-ox , the sloth , the ; ant-eater , the beautiful black tiger , the electric eel , the boa constrictor , tie anaconda , the deadly coTal snake , the voracious alligator , monkeys in endless variety , birds of the most brilliant plumage , and insects of the strangest forms and gayest colours .

    Many marvellous stories are told by the Indians and by early travellers in Peru and Brazil of natural and supernatural history , but Mr . Herndon gives plain and simple statements of all that he saw and heard , and in no way taxos his readers * power of believing . # , Humanity in the valley of the Amazon does not shine forth with , divine attributes . The various tribes of savages seem to be very lazy , given t 0 lying and . stealing , fond of smoking tobacco—hunting and fishing they love no more than is necessary . The tribes of Indians on the Ucayali seem to

    be somewhat more warlike , and one among them is deserving of especial attention from Mr . Carlyle . Whether an apostle of the gospel of labour ever rose among this remote tribe of Indians , we do not learn either from Mr . Herndon , Mr . Smyth , or their predecessors , but they record these astounding facts of the Seucu on the Ucayali . — " They are a very industrious people who cultivate the land in common and kill those who are idle and are indisposed to do their fair share of tho work . "—Would that the Seucia could become liko the leaven of Scripture , and turn into useful working members of society all the lazy Indians of the Ajnazon !

    Although the commercial and statistical tables , and the diplomatic documents of this volume , detract somewhat from its merit as a book of travels for general readers , yet we can assure them they will find abundant amu A " ment , ami ( if they be not frightened at the words ) instruction too in Mr-Herndon ' s narrative . The varieties in the aspect of the gTeat river itselt its inundations—its currents —and rapid ebb and flow—its alluvial islands its rocks—its dangerous and changeable navigation—its vast plains ano lofty mountain ranges form tho theme of a running accompaniment to every

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    * fe THE LEADER . [ Saturda y ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 13, 1854, page 448, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2038/page/14/