654 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



of the lower part of the Tocantins, which 

 is the most thickly populated part of the 

 province of Para. The productions of 

 the district are cacao, india-rubber, and 

 Brazil nuts. The most remarkable fea- 

 ture in the social aspect of the place is the 

 hybrid nature of the whole population, the 

 amalgamation of the white and Indian races 

 being here complete. The aborigines were 

 originally very numerous on the western 

 bank of the Tocantins, the principal tribe 

 having been the Camutas, from which the 

 city takes its name. They were a superior 

 nation, settled, and attached tj agriculture, 

 and received with open arms the white immi- 

 grants who were attracted to the district by 

 its fertility, natural beauty, and the healthful- 

 ness 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 hav- 

 ing been introduced during the last seventy 

 years. The few whites are chiefly Portu- 

 guese, but there are also two or three Brazil- 

 ian families of pure European descent. The 

 town consists of three Ions streets, running 

 parallel to the river, with a few shorter ones 

 crossing them at right angles. Tue houses 

 are very plain, being built, as usual in this 

 country, simply of a strong fiamework, filled 

 up with mud, and coated witk white plaster. 

 A few of them are of two or three stories. 

 There ">re 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 

 aWlity. The people have a reputation all 

 over the province for energy and persever- 

 ance ; 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, commu- 

 nicative, arnd hospitable. I found here a na- 

 tive poet, who had written some pretty verses, 

 sbo\viug an appreciation of the natural beau- 

 ties of the country, and was told that the 

 Archbishop of Bahia, the Primate of Brazil, 

 was a native of Cameta. It is interesting to 

 find the mamelucos displaying talent and en- 

 terprise, for it shows that degeneracy does 

 npt 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 suc- 

 cessfully the anarchists in the great rebellion 

 of 1835-6. While the whites of Para were 

 submitting to the rule of half-savage revolu- 

 tionists, the nifimelucos of Cameta placed 

 themselves under the leadership of a coura- 

 geous priest, named Prudencio, armed 

 themselves, fortified the place, and repulsed 

 the large forces which the iusurge.ytf - f ^ara 



sent to attack the place. The town not only 

 becauie the refuge for all loyal subjects, but 

 was a centre whence large parties of volun- 

 teers sallied forth repeatedly to attack the- 

 anarchists in their various strongholds. 



The forest behind Cameta is traversed by 

 several broad roads, which lead over undu- 

 lating 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 r 

 and tracts of second-growth woods. The nar- 

 row brook-watered valleys, with which the- 

 land is inteisected, 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 establishments, and these* 

 have seldom more than a dozen slaves. Be- 

 sides the main roads, there are endless by- 

 paths which thread the forest and communi- 

 cate with isolated houses. Along these the* 

 traveller may wander day after day without 

 leaving the shade, and everywhere meet with, 

 cheerful, simple, and hospitable people. 



Soon after lauding I was introduced to the 

 most distinguished citizen of the place, Dr. 

 Angelo Custodio Correia, whom I have 

 already mentioned. This excellent man was 

 a favorable specimen of the highest class of 

 native Brazilians. He had been educated iiii 

 Europe, was now a member of the Biazilian 

 Parliament, and had been twice president of 

 his native province. His manners were less; 

 formal, and his goodness more thoroughly 

 genuine, perhaps, than is the rule gtneially 

 with Brazilians. He was admirecUnd loved, 

 as I had ample opportunity of obseiving, 

 throughout all Amazonia. He saciificed his. 

 life in 1855, for the good of his fellow towns- 

 men, when Cameta was devastated by the= 

 cholera ; having stayed behind with a few 

 heroic spirits to succor invalids and direct 

 the burying of the dead, when Dearly all the 

 chief citiztns had fled fiom the place After 

 he had done what he could he t-mbtirktd for 

 Para, but was himself then attacked with 

 cholera, and died on board the steamer before- 

 he reached the capital. Dr. Angelo received 

 me with the usual kindness which he showed 

 to all strangers. He procured me, unso- 

 licited, a clmiming country house, free of 

 rent, hired a nniatto servant for me, and thus. 

 relieved me of the many annoyances and de- 

 lays attendant on a first ai rival in a country 

 town where even the name of an inn is un- 

 known. The rociuha thus given up for my 

 residence belonged to a friend of his, Senhor 

 Jose Raimundo Furtado, a stout florid-corn- 

 plexioned gentleman, such a one as might be- 

 met with any day in a country town in Eng- 

 land. To him also I was indebted for many 

 acts of kindness. 



The rociuha was situated near a broad, 

 grassy road bordered by lofty woods, which 

 leads from Cameta to the Ald( ia. a village 

 two miles distant. My first walks wtre along; 

 tiri3 road. Fiom it blanches another similar 



