Show AGASSIZ ON THE AMAZON professor agassiz it has been known for some time thinks that the valley of the Amazon will one day support so many million people that the valley of the mississippi will be nothing to it although the latter lies in the temperate and the former in the torrid zone lately lie he gave some of his reasons for this view in a public lecture the facts he presented were most striking he set out on this journey with every advantage that wealth science and goodwill could afford his expenses and those of six assistants were paid by mr thayer of boston other assistants volunteered and thus sixteen persons farmed this most remarkable of scientific expeditions of two steamship companies one gave this expedition a free passage to rio eio and the other placed a steamer at his disposal for h a whole month the united states government sent a circular to all our naval officers on the station to render the expedition all the service in their power and the emperor of brazil treated them with an impartial hospit hospitality allty that arranged for the accomplishment of all their desires A ship of war was placed at the service of the professor for several months on the amazon he consumed 2500 gallons of alcohol in preserving the specimens brought away and was was even able to bring home a fossil palm tree to enable botanists to throw light upon the former vegetation and the climate of those american tropics humboldt when he attempted to enter brazil from the waters of the orinoco was stopped on the frontier and forbidden to enter as a man whose principles were pernicious to society and inimical to religion strange contrast the banks of the amazon form a peculiar e specimen of tropical nature aul quite te unlike similar regions in africa or A asia asla a there are no hills for 2000 miles clear away across the continent to the foot of the andes and the river is miles long running from west to east the valley being 1800 miles wide and of the most amazing fertility full of vegetable matter and irrigated by rivers where ships of war can sail for hundreds of miles the climate averages but 82 degrees though right under the line 72 degrees being the lowest and 95 degrees being the highest ever known the river runs just opposite to the trade winds and thus makes this one of the most mild and healthful of all tropical regions yet it has hasa bad name owing to the bad arrangements of the brazilian government which sends out to these regions young officers who misrepresent the climate to get away all his company went and returned with comfort and are now enjoying better health than usual the woods are full of timber of the most valuable varieties one hundred and seventy el eight 1 bt dif dlf different kinds of timber were co counted in a small re relon region lon ion the river is not open at present preset but soon will be there is not a sawmill saw mill in this noblest of rivers in au august and september the snows of the an andes es melt but the lower section does not feel the rise till the following march and the river is highest from june to october the rise is from thirty to sixty feet sometimes the whole basin is under water and the forests may be navigated this river has no delta like the nile the ganges or the mississippi not for want of mud for it is of a sort of half haip half eream cream color co lorand na tinges the ocean far out I 1 to sea instead I 1 of form i ing land the sea is constantly encroaching on the shore the river once extended three hundred miles beyond its present resent mouth and a belt beit bellof of that breadth aas has been swept away lV whether bether this is owing to the sinking of the coast or the he force of the fhe cur eur current rent undermining as at niagara falls is not certain but rivers now empty into the atlantic that used clearly to be tributary to the amazon As to the prospect of this river son soon being open to a profitable american commerce it must be borne in lis mind i that whatever maybe may be the mildness of the climate for the tropics yet fevers would appear certain to prevail fish are abundant in the river but so are alligators and serpents jagua jaguars rs bears panthers and other wild animals are equally abundant the tides at the full of the moon are more wonderful than in the bay of fundy they the do not nise rise so high but much more suddenly sweeping along like a mighty wave or tongue of water ten or twelve feet feat high uprooting trees and sweeping vessels most destructively still where money is to be made difficulties will be overcome and the interests both of the united states and the brazilian government are too closely connected with the opening up of this vast region to leave any doubt but that under the present enlightened emperor of those vast rich and important re regions ions the valley of the amazon will be opened to prolific commerce and settlement gold GoldHill News A THRILLING SCENE the academy of musie music was crowdell with ladies and children on saturday afternoon dec 15 to witness the performance odthe of the troupe of japanese jugglers and gymnasts Every everything thine went off admirably every trick of the juggler and movement or of the gymnast was wais done with wonderful neatness and preci precision sion slon till I 1 it came to the feat in which the little boy the most interesting and astonishing performer of the troupe had to climb a lofty bamboo rodi rod while it was balanced on the feet of another of the performers who lay on his back on a table in front of the footlights the little fellow barefooted and with no other contrivance than muscular strength and dexterity climbed to the top toi of the pole which bent and swayed under his weigh weight like a reed before the wind placing himself on his breast on the very apex of the pole at the highest point the proscenium would admit nearly thirty feet from the floor spreading out his handstand hands hand sand and feet he appeared like an impaled frog struggling ia in agony his movements causing the slender bamboo to bend and quiver to an extent that made it seem impossible that the man who supported it could maintain its equipoise the boy after berf performing orm ang a number of daring feats which vil vii ch kept ept the ladies and children in almost breathless astonishment finally fin a 11 attempted to stretch himself at full fuli fuel fuei length at right angles to the pole by placing his foot over a small cross bar and the other on the rod about a foot below the tte weight of the boy in such a position compelled the man balancing the pole to bring it so far out of the perpendicular that it formed a broad curve and kept the child swaying backward and forward ina in a manner so extraordinary tra ordinary that thatis it was a matter of doubt which most to admire the man who balanced the pole or the boy who performed upon it it was an exciting scene to witness the child swaying about but when by a moy moT movement ement of the rod the the man lost its balance and let it fall against the scenery everybody thought the boy would be killed hilled by the fall many of the ladies shrieked in horror and the sternest held their breath in fear not a word was said by the japanese but with the agility of cats they rushed to the fhe rescue of the bo boy y and caught him without sustaining any injury nothing daunted the little fellow who does not appear to be more than ten years of age again mounted the pole and performed a number of tricks more darlng daring thau than thau before amid the plaudits pl audits of the audience and a shower of small change from some of the more enthusiastic who probably thought the almighty dollar would be appreciated by the boy better than the clapping of hands cheering and shout shoni ng it was an exciting scenes seene scene AS S F times |