18 PARA, Cuap. I. 
mated with the white and negro immigrants :* many still exist, however, 
in their original state on the Upper Amazons and most of the branch 
rivers. On this account Indians in this province are far more numerous 
than elsewhere in Brazil, and the Indian element may be said to prevail in 
the mongrel population, the negro proportion being much smaller than 
in South Brazil. 
The city is built on the best available site for a port of entry to the 
Amazons region, and must in time become a vast emporium; for 
the northern shore of the main river, where alone a rival capital could 
be founded, is much more difficult of access to vessels, and is besides 
extremely unhealthy. Although lying so near the equator (1° 28’ S. lat.) 
the climate is not excessively hot. ‘The temperature during three years 
only once reached 95° of Fahrenheit. The greatest heat of the day, 
about 2 p.m., ranges generally between 89° and 94° ; but, on the other 
hand, the air is never cooler than 73°, so that a uniformly high tempera- 
ture exists, and the mean of the year is 81°. North American residents 
say that the heat is not so oppressive as it is in summer in New York 
and Philadelphia. The humidity is, of course, excessive, but the 
rains are not so heavy and continuous in the wet season as in many 
other tropical climates. ‘The country had for a long time a reputation 
for extreme salubrity. Since the small-pox in 1819, which attacked 
chiefly the Indians, no serious epidemic had visited the province. We 
were agreeably surprised to find no danger from exposure to the night 
air or residence in the low swampy lands. A few English residents, 
who had been established here for twenty or thirty years, looked almost 
as fresh in colour as if they had never left their native country. The 
native women, too, seemed to preserve their good looks and plump 
condition until late in life. I nowhere observed that early decay of 
appearance in Brazilian ladies which is said to be so general in the 
women of North America. Up to 1848 the salubrity of Para was quite 
remarkable for a city lying in the delta of a great river in the middle of 
the tropics and half surrounded by swamps. It did not much longer 
enjoy its immunity from epidemics. In 1850 the yellow fever visited 
the province for the first time, and carried off in a few weeks more than 
4 per cent. of the population.t One disease after another succeeded, 
until in 1855 the cholera swept through the country and caused fearful 
havoc. Since then, the healthfulness of the climate has been gradually 
restored, and it is now fast recovering its former good reputation. 
Para is free from serious endemic disorders, and was once a resort of 
invalids from New York and Massachusetts. ‘The equable temperature, 
* The mixed breeds, which now form, probably, the greater part of the population, 
have each a distinguishing name. Mameluco denotes the offspring of White with 
Indian ; Mulatto, that of White with Negro; Cafuzo, the mixture of the Indian and 
Negro; Curiboco, the cross between the Cafuzo and the Indian ; Xibaro, that 
between the Cafuzo and Negro. These are seldom, however, well demarcated, and 
all shades of colour exist ; the names are generally applied only approximatively. The 
term Creolois confined to negroes born in the country. The civilised Indian is called 
Tapuyo or Caboclo. 
t Relatorio of the President, Jeronymo Francisco Coelho, 1850. From January 1 to 
July 31, 1850, 12,000 persons, in the city of Para alone, fell ill out of a population of 
16,000, but only 506 died. 

