CHAPTER: VIII. 
SANTAREM. 
Situation of Santarem—Manners and customs of the inhabitants—Trade—Climate — 
Leprosy— Historical Sketch—Grassy campos and woods—Excursions to Mapiri, 
Mahica, and Irura, with sketches of their Natural History; Palms, wild fruit- 
trees, Mining Wasps, Mason Wasps, Bees, Sloths and Marmoset Monkeys— 
Natural History of Termites or White Ants. 
I HAVE already given a short account of the size, situation and general 
appearance of Santarem. Although containing not more than 2,500 
inhabitants, it is the most civilised and important settlement on the 
banks of the main river from Peru to the Atlantic. The pretty little 
town, or city as it is called, with its rows of tolerably uniform white- 
washed and red-tiled houses, surrounded by green gardens and woods, 
stands on gently sloping ground on the eastern side of the Tapajos, close 
to its point of junction with the Amazons. A small eminence on which 
a fort has been erected, but which is now in a dilapidated condition, 
overlooks the streets, and forms the eastern limit of the mouth of the 
tributary. The Tapajos at Santarem is contracted to a breadth of about 
a mile and a half by an accretion of low alluvial land, which forms a 
kind of delta on the western side ; fifteen miles farther up, the river is 
seen at its full width of ten or a dozen miles, and the magnificent 
hilly country, through which it flows from the south, is then visible on 
both shores. This high land, which appears to be a continuation of the 
central table-lands of Brazil, stretches almost without interruption on the 
eastern side of the river down to its mouth at Santarem. ‘The scenery, 
as well as the soil, vegetation, and animal tenants of, this region, are 
widely different from those of the flat and uniform country which borders 
the Amazons along most part of its course. After travelling week after 
week on the main river, the aspect of Santarem, with its broad white 
sandy beach, limpid dark green waters, and line of picturesque hills 
rising behind over the fringe of green forest, affords an agreeable surprise. 
On the main Amazons, the prospect is monotonous unless the vessel 
runs near the shore, when the wonderful diversity and beauty of the 
vegetation afford constant entertainment. Otherwise, the unvaried, 
broad yellow stream, and the long low line of forest, which dwindles 
away in a broken line of trees on the sea-like horizon, and is renewed 
reach after reach, as the voyager advances, weary by their uniformity. 
I arrived at Santarem on my second journey into the interior, in 
November, 1851, and made it my headquarters for a period, as it 
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