386 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Cuap. XIII. 
again, to gather the yet unseen treasures of the marvellous countries 
lying between Tabatinga and the slopes of the Andes ; but although, 
after a short rest at Ega, the ague left me, my general health remained 
in a state too weak to justify the undertaking of further journeys. At 
length I left Ega, on the 3rd of February, 1859, ex route for England. 
I arrived at Pard on the 17th of March, after an absence in the 
interior of seven yearsand ahalf. My old friends, English, American, and 
Brazilian, scarcely knew me again, but all gave mea very warm welcome, 
especially Mr. George R. Brocklehurst (of the firm of R. Singlehurst 
and Co., the chief foreign merchants, who had been my correspondents), 
who received me into his house, and treated me with the utmost 
kindness. I was rather surprised at the warm appreciation shown by 
many of the principal people of my labours ; but, in fact, the interior of 
the country is still the ‘“sertad” (wilderness),—a terra incognita to 
most residents of the seaport,—and a man who had spent seven years 
and a half in exploring it solely with scientific aims was somewhat of 
a curiosity. I found Parad greatly changed and improved. It was no 
longer the weedy, ruinous, village-looking place that it appeared when I 
first knew it in 1848. The population had been increased (to 20,000) 
by an influx of Portuguese, Madeiran, and German immigrants, and for 
many years past the provincial government had spent their considerable 
surplus revenue in beautifying the city.* The streets, formerly un- 
paved or strewn with loose stones and sand, were now laid with concrete 
in a most complete manner ; all the projecting masonry of the irregularly- 
built houses had been cleared away, and the buildings made more uni- 
form. Most of the dilapidated houses were replaced by handsome new 
edifices, having long and elegant balconies fronting the first floors, at an 
elevation of several feet above the roadway. ‘The large swampy squares 
had been drained, weeded, and planted with rows of almond and 
casuarina trees, so that they were now a great ornament to the city, 
instead of an eyesore as they formerly were. My old favourite road, 
the Monguba avenue, had been renovated and joined to many other 
magnificent rides lined with trees, which in a very few years had grown to 
a height sufficient to afford agreeable shade ; one of these, the Estrada de 
Sad José, had been planted with cocoa-nut palms. Sixty public vehicles, 
light cabriolets (some of them built in Parad), now plied in the streets, 
increasing much the animation of the beautiful squares, streets, and 
avenues. 
* The revenue of the province of Para, derived almost wholly from high custom- 
house duties, had averaged for some years past about 41,000,000 sterling. The 
import duties vary from 18 to Io per cent. ad valorem; export duties from 5 to 10 per 
cent., the most productive article being india-rubber. 
The total value of exports for 1858 was £355,905 45. Od., employing 104 vessels of 
29,493 total tonnage. More than half the foreign trade was done with Great Britain ; 
the principal nations in order of amount of import trade ranking as follows :— 
1. Great Britain. 2. United States. 
3. France. 4. Portugal. 
5. Hanse Towns. 
As most of the articles of consumption are imported, and most of those produced 
exported, the foreign trade of Para is larger, compared with the internal trade, than it is 
in most countries. The insignificance of the trade of a country of such vast extent 
and resources becomes very apparent from the totals here quoted. 
