NEW BRAZILIAN RIVER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 39, 6 July 1914, Page 8

NEW BRAZILIAN RIVER.

OOUBTS AS TO DISCOVERY.

Sir {'. M:u-J<l!ji.ii, tin. distinguished explorer and <•-, ographcr, is somewhat in;credulous of Mr Roosevelt's discovery of a ne wriver in Brazil."The details Riven do n..t seem to fit in with tile known aspect of tt.e> country," said Sir Clement, as. with the aid of a pair ol compasses, he proceeded to examine a special survey may of the region indicated. "The new river, according to -Mr Roosevelt's particulars of the latitude and longitude, apparently is made to rise on the other side of 'the .rreat ; Cordillera del Xorte Range, at a point in i the valley of the Trapajos River. Then i the river would, according to this ti n. ! count, take a northerly direction, and ! would then apparently have to cross a dozen other rivers before flowing j„t,', the .Madiera. I am afraid, that the river discovered is not a new one. because the region where it is stated to flow into the .Madiera is frequented by the -Mumruca Indians, a well-known tribe who must be familiar with the territory, apart from the fact that the rivers in that region have already, ] feel sure, been geographically located. Ag to the doublings and twists of the river which Mr Roosevelt must have countefl in order to approximate anything like OOUO miles in lemuh, it 'is noteworthy that the Rjv.-r l'nnis, in the Amazon river, somewhat further to the noith-west, is all turnings and windings." A correspondent of the Daily Xews who recently travelled from the Rio Madiera to its junction with the Rio Mamora, says:— "I am certain that it will presently be found that Mr Roosevelt's party have been vovaging down the Rio Tapajos. If they have not, then they have discovered far more than a new river-they have discovered water which flows uphill as Wv-11 as down dale. His part;.", he says, embarked in ]■> I south and (50.15 west in Matlo (,'rasso that places them on the Rio Camararo a headwater of the. T'jpajos (one of the great tributaries of the Amazon), a blackwater stream, which enters the parent river by Santaem. Jn latitude 10.08 they say they struck a bi<r affluent llowinn from the right. That Could he tiie Avmos. Tn <Uf) £hev found another flowing , ! rom the left. That could he' the F.araratz. The ravines they passed through, accuvding to a previous message, were those of Sierra Moreno. The last ra lids, in 7 south, were probably the well known Cachoriras das Oapociras. But tbev entered the Madiera in about 5 (I,gives south, and here comes til? puzzle, for that would bring them out between 1 and Tabacol, 'both large and important villages, (which 1 visited) on the lower Madiera. My suggestion is that they crossed the watershed by means of 'the Gapo, a «oori<>d forest, for they were there in the rainy season; and they would not be the first exploring party in Braz.il to get on to the wrong river by mistake. The lovTcr Maditra country, iii the rainy season, is a region of inundated and almost uninhabitable juiigie, and strangers could easily miss a river and get across country to the next river and thef were making no mistake about, it." still retain the delinite impression that