Cuap. IV. HYBRID POPULATION. 77 
were a superior nation, settled, and attached to agriculture, and received 
with open arms the white immigrants who were attracted to the district 
by its fertility, natural beauty, and the healthfulness of the climate. 
The Portuguese settlers were nearly all males, the Indian women were 
good-looking, and made excellent wives ; so the natural result has been, 
in the course of two centuries, a complete blending of the two races. 
There is now, however, a considerable infusion of negro blood in the 
mixture, several hundred African slaves having been introduced during 
the last seventy years. The few whites are chiefly Portuguese, but there 
are also two or three Brazilian families of pure European descent. The 
town consists of three long streets, running parallel to the river, with a 
few shorter ones crossing them at right angles. The houses are very 
plain, being built, as usual in this country, simply of a strong framework, 
filled up with mud, and coated with white plaster. A few of them are 
of two or three stories. There are three churches, and also a small 
theatre, where a company of native actors at the time of my visit were 
representing light Portuguese plays with considerable taste and ability. 
The people have a reputation all over the province for energy and 
perseverance ; and it is often said, that they are as keen in trade as the 
Portuguese. ‘The lower classes are as indolent and sensual here as in 
other parts of the province, a moral condition not to be wondered at in 
a country where perpetual summer reigns, and where the necessaries 
of life are so easily obtained. But they are light-hearted, quick-witted, 
communicative, and hospitable. I found here a native poet, who had 
written some pretty verses, showing an appreciation of the natural 
beauties of the country, and was told that the Archbishop of Bahia, the 
primate of Brazil, was a native of Cametd. It is interesting to find the 
mamelucos displaying talent and enterprise, for it shows that degeneracy 
does not necessarily result from the mixture of white and Indian blood 
The Cametaenses boast, as they have a right to do, of theirs being the 
only large town which resisted successfully the anarchists in the great 
rebellion of 1835-6. Whilst the whites of Parad were submitting to the 
rule of half-savage revolutionists, the mamelucos of Cameta placed them- 
selves under the leadership of a courageous priest, named Prudencio ; 
armed themselves, fortified the place, and repulsed the large forces 
which the insurgents of Para sent to attack the place. The town not 
only became the refuge for all loyal subjects, but was a centre whence 
large parties of volunteers sallied forth repeatedly to attack the anarch- 
ists in their various strongholds. 
The forest behind Cameta is traversed by several broad roads, which 
lead over undulating ground many miles into the interior. They pass 
generally under shade, and part of the way through groves of coffee and 
orange trees, fragrant plantations of cacao, and tracts of second-growth 
woods. The narrow brook-watered valleys, with which the land is inter- 
sected, alone have remained clothed with primeval forest, at least near 
the town. The houses along these beautiful roads belong chiefly to 
mameluco, mulatto, and Indian families, each of which has its own 
small plantation. There are only a few planters with larger establish- 
ments, and these have seldom more than a dozen slaves. Besides 
the main roads, there are endless by-paths which thread the forest and 
