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THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



already given a short account of 

 the size, situation, and general appearance of 

 Santarem. Although containing not more 

 than 2500 inhabitants, it is the most civilized 

 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 whitewashed 

 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 Ama- 

 zons. A small eminence on which a fort has 

 been erected, but which is now in a dilapidat- 

 ed condition, overlooks the streets, and forms 

 the eastern limit of the mouth of the tribu- 

 tary. The Tapajos at Santarem is contract- 

 tut to a breadth of about a mile and a half by 

 un accretion of low alluvial land, which 

 f ,rms a kind of delta on the western side ; 

 fifteen miles further 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 laud, 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 

 us the soil, vegetation, and animal tenants of 

 this region, are widely different from those 

 of the^flat and uniform country which bor- 

 ders 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 

 lorest, affords an agreeable surprise. On the 

 main Amazons the prospect is monotonous 

 unless the vessel runs near the shore, when 

 Ihe 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 jour- 

 ney into the interior, in November, 1851, 

 and made it my head-quarters for a period, 

 as it tuined out, of three years and a half . 

 During this time I made, in pursuance of 

 the plan I bad fiamed, many excursions up 

 the Tapajos, p.-nd to other places of interest 

 in the surioundmg region. On landing, I 

 found no d fflculty in hiring a suitable house 

 on the outskirts of the place. It was pleas- 

 antly situated near the beach, going toward 

 the aldeia or Indian part of the town. The 

 ground sloped from the back premises down 

 to the waterside, and my little raised veran- 

 da overlooked a beautiful flower-garden, a 

 great rarity in this country, which belonged 

 to the neighbors. The house contained only 

 three rooms, one with brick and two with 

 boarded floors. It was substantially built, 

 like all the belter sort of houses in 'Santa- 



rem, and had a stuccoed front. The kitch- 

 en, as is usual, formed an outhouse placed a 

 few yards distant from the other rooms. 

 The rent was 12,000 reis, or about twenty- 

 seven shillings a month. In this country a 

 tenant has no extra payments to make ; the 

 owners of house property pay a diziino or 

 tithe, to the " collectoria geral," or general 

 treasury, but with this the occupier of course 

 has nothing to do. In engaging servants I 

 had the good fortune to meet with a free 

 mulatto, an industrious and trustworthy 

 young fellow, named Jose, willing to arrange 

 with me ; the people of his family cooking 

 for us, while he assisted me in collecting ; he 

 proved of the greatest service in the different 

 excursions we subsequently made. Servants 

 of any kind were almost impossible to be ob- 

 tained at Santarem, free people being too 

 proud to hire themselves, and slaves too few 

 and valuable to their masters, to be let out 

 to others. These mat ters arranged, the house 

 put in order, and a rude table, with a few 

 chairs, bought or borrowed to furnish the 

 house with, I was ready in three or four 

 days to commence my natural-htetory explor- 

 ations in the neighborhood. 



Santarem is a pleasant place to live in, irre- 

 spective of its society. There are no insect 

 pests, mosquito, pium, sand-fly, or motuca. 

 The climate is glorious ; during six months 

 of the year, from August to February, very 

 little rain falls, and the sky is cloudless for 

 weeks together, the fresh breezes from the 

 sea, nearly 400 miles distant, moderating the 

 great heat of the sun. The wind is some- 

 times so strong for days together that it is 

 difficult to make way against it in walking 

 along the streets, and it enters the open win- 

 dows and doors of houses, scattering loose 

 clothing and papers in all directions. The 

 place is considered healthy, but at the 

 changes of season severe colds and ophthal- 

 mia are prevalent. I found three English- 

 men living here, who had resided many 

 years in the town or its neighborhood, and 

 who still retained their florid complexions ; 

 the plump and fresh appearance of many of 

 the middle-aged Santurem ladies also bore 

 testimony to the healthf illness of the climate. 

 The streets are always clean and dry, even 

 in the height of the wet season ; good order 

 is always kept, and the place pretty well 

 supplied with provisions. Very good bread 

 was hawked round the town every morning, 

 with milk, and a great variety of fruits and 

 vegetables. Among the fruits there was a 

 kind called atta, which I did not see in any 

 other part of the country. It belongs to the 

 Anonaceous order, and the tree which pro 

 duces it grows apparently wild in the neigh- 

 borhood of Santarem. It is a little larger 

 than a good-sized orange, and the rind, 

 which incloses a mass of rich custardy pulp, 

 is scaled like the pineapple, but green when 

 ripe, and mcrusted on the inside with sugar. 

 To finish this account of the advantages of 

 Santarem, the delicious bathing in the clear 

 waters of the Tapajos may be mentioned. 



