A Rival for California and Australia.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 242, 30 June 1874, Page 7

A Rival for California and Australia.

The upper valley of the Madeira River contains, approximately, 400,000 square miles, marvellously rich in every product of value in South America. Its eastern and central parts—the Bolivian Provinces of Cordillera, Chiquitos, and the Beni —were first settled by the Jesuits, who penetrated northward from their settlements in the valley of the Rio de la Plata, and organised numerous “reductions” of the native tribes and founded many prosperous towns. These, however, were always on the banks of navigable streams or within easy reach of them. Lying in the extreme eastern part of the Madeira Valley is-the mineral Brazilian Province of Matto-Grosso, abounding in valuable agricultural products and gold and diamond washings. It is, owing to its inaccessibility, very thinly populated, but promises to be in the future one of the most prosperous States of the Empire of Brazil. It is also one of the, at the present, most unprotected frontiers of that country, being almost at the mercy of the Plata Valley in case of war. Ascending the upper central and western rivers of the Madeira Valley, we reach the richest of all the slopes of the Andes, well populated by the Spanish race, mixed with Qnichua and Aymara Indians ; the Indian element being probably the best that can be found on the Western Continent, and capable of a high degree of civilisation. Its power of increase is extraordinary, surpassing even that of the Mexican Indian races, which arc so fecund. The Bolivian part of the Madeira Valley contains about 2,500,000 people, the Indian blood slightly predominating. At the date of Bolivian independence, in 1825, the population was less than 1,000,000. Out of the present inhabitants, some 2,000,000 are in the valley of which we treat, living within comparatively easy reach of the navigable streams which swell the volume of the river Madeira. The country in which they live is, without exception, the richest on the globe, in everything that nature gives to man. Its mineral wealth cannot be equalled' within any equal area upon* the Western Continent. The number of silver mines opened there under the rule of Spain might appear fabulous, were they not registered in the archives of the State. They exceed ten thousand. From the banks of the little streams which feed the Beni branch of the Madeira, gold may be washed almost anywhere ; and we have little hesitation in stating that this auriferous district will yet rival, if not surpass, the fame of Australia and Calilornia combined. In fact, the whole slope of the Andes, in an immense sweep of one thousand miles, extending from Cuzco to Matto-Grosso, is a vast gold placer.