124 LOWER AMAZONS—PARA TO OBYDOS.  Cuap. V1. 
to spend an hour or two in the woods. When I came back I found the 
Major with his friends seated in hammocks, two by two, slung in the 
four corners of the room, and all engaged in a lively discussion on 
political questions. They had a demijohn of cashaca in their midst, 
and were helping themselves freely, drinking out of little teacups. 
One of the company was a dark-skinned Cametaense, named Senhor 
Calisto Pantoja, a very agreeable fellow, and as full of talk as the 
Major. Like most of his townsmen, he was a Santa Luzia, or Liberal, 
whilst the old gentleman was a rabid Tory. Pantoja rather nettled the 
old man by saying that the Cameta people had held their town against 
the rebels in 1835, whilst the whites of Obydos abandoned theirs to be 
pillaged by them. ‘The Major then launched out into a denunciation 
of the Cametaenses and the Liberals in general. He said he was a pure 
white, a ‘“ Massagonista”;* the blood of the Fidalguia of Portugal 
flowed in his veins, whilst the people of Cameta were a mixed breed of 
whites and Indians. I noticed that this boasting was ill received by 
the rest ; it is generally, in fact, considered bad taste in Brazil to boast of 
purity of descent. Soon afterwards most of the visitors departed, and 
we dined in quiet. A few days afterwards I crossed the river to the 
Major’s place, and spent two days with him. The house was a very 
large two-story building, having a large verandah to the upper floor. 
There was an appearance of disorder and cheerlessness about the place 
which was very dispiriting. ‘The old gentleman was a, widower. His 
only son had been brutally massacred by the rebels in 1835, whilst he 
was crossing the river in a small boat ; and his two daughters were now 
completing their education at a seminary in Parad. The household 
affairs appeared to be managed by a middle-aged mulatto woman ; 
and a number of dirty negro children were playing about the rooms. 
Amongst the outbuildings there were several large sheds, containing the 
cane-mill and sugar factory, and beyond these a curral, or enclosure for 
cattle. The mill for grinding the sugar-cane was a rude affair, worked 
by bullocks. The cane was pressed between wooden cylinders, and 
the juice received in troughs formed of hollowed logs. Sugar-cane here 
grows to a height of 18 to 20 feet, the sugar-yielding part of the stem 
being about 8 feet in length and 3 inches in diameter. ‘The land for 
miles around the establishment is rich alluvial soil, and as level asa 
bowling-green. Beyond the belt of forest which runs along the banks 
of the river, there is a large tract of soft green meadow with patches of 
woodland and scattered trees, combining to form a landscape like that 
of an English park. But a meadow on the banks of the Amazons is a 
very different thing from what it is in a temperate climate : the vegetation 
is rank and monotonous, and there are absolutely no flowers. The old 
gentleman had built a pretty little chapel on his estate, on the occasion 
of a visit from the Bishop of Para, who sometimes travels through his 
diocese, and I slept in the Bishop’s room attached to the building. 
The abundance of mosquitoes is a great drawback to the rich agri- 
cultural country on this side of the river. A little before night sets in 
* The Massagonistas are the descendants of the Portuguese colonists of Massagao, 
in Morocco, who forsook this place in a body in 1869, and migrated to the banks of 
the Amazons. 
