THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



grandeur far beyond the present require- 

 ments of the city. Streets full of extensive 

 private residences, built in the Italian style 

 of architecture, were in a neglected condition, 

 weeds and flourishing young trees growing 

 from large cracks in the masonry. The large 

 public squares were overgrown with weeds, 

 and impassable on account of the swampy 

 places which occupied portions of their areas. 

 Commerce, however, was now beginning to 

 revive, and before I left the country I saw 

 great improvements, as I shall have to relate 

 toward the conclusion of this narrative. 



The province of which Para is the capital 

 was, at the time I allude to, the most exten- 

 sive in the Brazilian Empire, being about 

 1560 miles in length from east to west, and 

 about 600 in breadth. Since that date 

 namely, in 1853 it has been divided into 

 two by the separation of the Upper Amazons 

 as a distinct province. It formerly consti- 

 tuted a section, capitania, or governorship 

 of the Portuguese colony. Originally it was 

 well peopled by Indians, varying much in 

 social condition according to their tribe, but 

 all exhibiting the same general physical char- 

 acters, which are those of the American red 

 man, somewhat modified by long residence 

 in an equatorial forest country. Most of 

 the tribes are now extinct or forgotten, at 

 least those which originally peopled the 

 banks of the main river, their descendants 

 having amalgamated with the white and 

 negro immigrants ; * many still exist, how- 

 ever, in their original state 011 the Upper Am- 

 azons and most of the branch rivers. On 

 this account Indians in this province are far 

 more numerous than else w here in Brazil, 

 and the Indian element may be said to pre- 

 vail in the mongrel population, the negro 

 proportion being much smaller than in South 

 Brazil. 



The city is built on the best available site 

 for a port of entry to the Amazons region, 

 and must in time become a vast emporium ; 

 for the northern shore of the main river, 

 where alone a rival capital could be founded, 

 is much more difficult of access to vessels, 

 and is besides extremely unhealthy. Al- 

 though lying so near the equator (1 28' S. 

 lat.) the climate is not excessively hot. The 

 temperature during three years only once 

 reached 95 of Fahrenheit. The greatest 

 heat of the day, about 2 P.M., ranges generally 

 between 89 and 94 ; but on the other hand, 

 the air is never cooler than 73, so that a uni- 

 formly high temperature exists, and the 

 mean of the year is 81. North American 

 residents say that the heat is not so oppress-. 



* The mixed breeds which now form, probably, the 

 greater part of the population have each a distinguish- 

 ing name. Mameluco denotes the offspring of White 

 with Indian ; Mulatto, that of White with Negro ; 

 Cafuzo, the mixture of the Indian and Negro ; Curi- 

 boco, the cross between the Cafuzo and the Indian ; 

 Xibaro, that between the Cafuzo and Negro. These 

 are seldom, however, well-demarcated, and all shades 

 of color exist ; the names are generally applied only 

 approximative^. The term Creole is confined to 

 negroes born in the country. The civilized Indian is 

 called Tapuyo or Caboclo. 



ive as it is in summer in New York 

 Philadelphia. The humidity is, of course,, 

 excessive, but the rains are not so heavy antl 

 continuous in the wet season as in many other- 

 tropical climates. The country had for a. 

 long time a reputation for extreme salubrity. 

 Since the small-pox in 1819, which attacked 

 chiefly the Indians, no serious epidemic had. 

 visited the province. We were agreeably 

 surprised to find no danger from exposure 

 to the night air or residence in the low 

 swampy lands. A few English residents, 

 who had been established here for twenty or 

 thirty years, looked almost as fresh in color 

 as if they had never left their native country. 

 The native women, too, seemed to preserve 

 their good looks and plump condition untik. 

 late in life. I nowhere observed that early- 

 decay of appearance in Brazilian ladies, 

 which is said to be so general in the women 

 of North America. Up to 1848 the salubrity- 

 of Para was quite remarkable for a city lying: 

 in the delta of a great river in the middle of 

 the tropics and half surrounded by swamps. 

 It did not much longer enjoy its immunity 

 from epidemics. In 1850 the yellow fever 

 visited the province for the first time, and 

 carried off in a few weeks more than four 

 per cent of the population. 



The province of Para, or as we may now 

 say, the two provinces of Para and the Am- 

 azous, contain an area of 800,000 square 

 miles, the population of which is only about 

 230,000, or in the ratio of one person to four 

 square miles ! The country is covered with 

 forests, and the soil fertile in the extreme, 

 even for a tropical country. It is intersected, 

 throughout by broad and deep navigable riv- 

 ers. It is the pride of the Paraenses to call 

 the Amazons the Mediterranean of South. 

 America. The colossal stream perhaps de- 

 serves the name, for not only have the main 

 river and its principal tributaries an immense- 

 expanse of water, bathing the shores of ex- 

 tensive and varied regions, but there is also- 

 throughout a system of back channels, con- 

 nected with the main rivers by narrow out- 

 lets, and linking together a series of lakes, 

 some of which are fifteen, twenty, and thirty 

 miles in length. The whole Amazons valley 

 is thus covered by a network of navigable 

 waters, forming a vast inland fresh- water sea. 

 with endless ramifications, rather than a* 

 river. 



I resided at Para nearly a year and a hal f al- 

 together, i eturning thither and making a stay 

 of a few months after each of my shorter ex- 

 cursions into the interior ; until the f>th of 

 November, 1851, when I started on my long- 

 voyage to the Tapajos and the Upper Ama- 

 zons, which occupied me seven years and a, 

 half. 



CHAPTER II. 



PARA. 



The swampy forests of Para A Portuguese landed 

 proprietor Country house at Nazareth Life of a. 

 Naturalist under the equator The drier virgin for- 

 ests Magoary Retired creeks Aborigines. 



.AFTER having resided about a fortnight at, 



