June i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



303 



Para, Manaos and the Amazon. 



By the Editor of ''The India Rubber IVorld." 



THIRD LETTER. 



Para Agreeably Disappointing. — Comfortable Though in the Tropics. — Excel- 

 lence of the Public Services — Visits to the Governor, the Mayor, and the 

 Clubs, — Views of the People and Interviews with Some of Them. — Para as a 

 Rubber Center. — Methods of Conducting the Trade. 



1MUST confess that I was agreeably disappointed in Para. 

 The steamer gossips had said much about the city, and 

 little that was good. I paid 12 milreis a day at the hotel and 

 found both service and food excellent. My bedroom, with 

 its lofty bare walls, 12-foot double casement, and narrow 

 bed with mosquito net draped over a white parasol and 

 hanging in graceful folds to the floor, was just my idea of a 

 tropical apartment. To be sure, if one lighted a lamp and 

 put it in the open casement at night it was possible to coax 

 mosquitoes in. Some visitors do this and then kick. I did 

 not. I had my cheerful little brown chamber man look 

 through the net in mid afternoon for mosquitoes, then tuck 

 it securely under the mattress, and what few bites I got did 

 no harm. 



As long as we are talking about mosquitoes, there are two 

 kinds that work mischief — the little black ones that carry 

 malaria, and the larger striped ones that may or may not 

 provide yellow fever. We recognized both kinds and they 

 recognized us, but nothing came of it. 



The day of my arrival a Portuguese physician, who was a 

 friend of a friend of mine in Rio, called and left a packet of pow- 

 ders with directions to "take one every morning," and I would 

 not have yellow fever. His medicine was all right. I took 

 it three days and escaped; then somebody stole the box and 

 so I couldn't experiment further. Speaking of yellow fever, 

 it would be foolish for any one to disregard ordinary pre- 

 cautions. But to my mind the pneumonia of our northern 

 clime is much more easy to get and just about as fatal. 

 Yellow fever is endemic 111 Para. There were several deaths 

 a week while I was there, but it was a question if they were 

 all yellow fever. Most of those who died from it were from 

 the lowest classes, who weaken their stomachs by drinking 

 "cachaca" and then get what may 

 be a low malarial fever or almost 

 any kind of bilious fever; it all 

 goes down as "amarilho." 



A BEAUTIFUL CITY. 



The city itself is exceedingly 

 beautiful. Near the water front it 

 develops some smells other than 

 those produced by rubber, but up 

 in the city proper it is fine and 

 clean. The cafes, with tiny round 

 tables out on the sidewalks, remind 

 one very much of Paris. In the 

 residence section — for example, the 

 Avenida Nazareth— the elegant 

 homes, luxuriant tropical gardens, 

 the well-paved streets, and the 

 shaded sidewalks are worth com- 

 ing a long distance to see. Before 

 daylight every morning an army of 

 laborers sweeps every city street, 

 using broad palm branches, one of 

 which does the work of a dozen 

 brooms. The litter is then carted 

 away in huge covered tip carts, 



each drawn by a single well-fed, patient-eyed steer. Then 

 in the afternoon the heavy showers come and help notably 111 

 this street cleaning. The city in many respects is very mod- 

 ern. Automobiles are there in plenty, and as there are no 

 speed limits, the drivers scorch up and down any and all streets 

 at 35 to 40 miles an hour, but with no accidents as far as 1 

 could observe. 



The police service is excellent, and one cannot go any- 

 where after dark without seeing a policeman at almost every 

 corner. 



The parks, both in the city proper and beyond the city 

 limits, as well as the magnificent Botanical Gardens, are 

 beautiful beyond compare. 



It is, to be sure, a tropical city; that is, it has its hours of 

 relaxation every day, and its days almost every week. Certain 

 of the offices, for example, open at 9 in the morning, close be- 

 tween 11 and 1, and close again at 3. They also keep the bars 

 up Sunday and feast days, which latter are many. While the 

 lesser officials watch the clock and kill time, the Intendente, or 

 mayor, works day and night, so 'tis said, and it is to his energy 

 and foresight that many of the beautiful buildings and parks, 

 as well as public utilities, are due. 



There is an excellent fire department, with the best tropical 

 equipment I have seen. Accustomed to the freedom of 

 American cities, I started to walk into one of the central sta- 

 tions one day to look it over, and was promptly held up by 

 a businesslike young chap with a Mauser rifle, who called 

 for the Corporal, who reported to the Captain, who in turn 

 got the Commandante. He very politely detailed an officer 

 to show me through the yards, stables, gymnasium, dormi- 

 tories, and munition room, and to examine the engines, hose 

 carts and ladder trucks. It was the first combination of 

 barracks and engine house that I had seen, and I was much 

 interested, and said so to the Commandante, the Captain and 

 the Corporal, each of whom saluted politely with outstretched 

 hand and raised hat as I left. To the sentinel I gave a big 



Praca da Independence, Para. 



