12 PARA. Chap. I. 



latter is a very hopeful state of things. It seems to be 

 encouraged by the governing class in Brazil ; and, by 

 drawing together the races and classes of the hetero- 

 geneous population, will doubtless lead to the most 

 happy results. I had afterwards, as I shall have to relate 

 in the course of my narrative, to number free negroes 

 amongst my most esteemed friends : men of temperate, 

 quiet habits, desirous of mental and moral improvement, 

 observant of the minor courtesies of life, and quite as 

 trustworthy, in more important matters, as the whites 

 and half-castes of the province. Isidore was not, per- 

 haps, scrupulously honest in small matters : scrupulous 

 honesty is a rare quality in casual servants anywhere. 

 He took j)ains to show that he knew he had made a 

 contract to perform certain duties, and he tried, evi- 

 dently, to perform them to the best of his ability. 



Our first walks were in the immediate suburbs of 

 Para. The city lies on a corner of land formed by 

 the junction of the river Guama with the Para. As I 

 have said before, the forest, which covers the whole 

 country, extends close up to the city streets ; indeed, 

 the town is built on a tract of cleared land, and is kept 

 free from the jungle only by the constant care of the 

 Government. The surface, though everywhere low, is 

 slightly undulating, so that areas of dry land alternate 

 throughout with areas of swampy ground, the vegetation 

 and animal tenants of the two being widely different. 

 Our residence lay on the side of the city nearest the 

 Guama, on the borders of one of the low and swampy 

 areas which here extend over a portion of the suburbs. 

 The tract of land is intersected by well-macadamized 



