34 PARA. Chap. L 



public peace had not been broken for twelve years before 

 the date of our visit, confidence was not yet completely 

 restored, and the Portuguese merchants and tradesmen 

 would not trust themselves to live at their beautiful 

 country-houses or rocinhas which lie embosomed in the 

 luxuriant shady gardens around the city. No progress 

 had been made in clearing the second-gi'owth forest 

 which had grown over the once cultivated gi'ounds and 

 now reached the end of all the suburban streets. The 

 place had the aspect of one which had seen better 

 days ; the public buildings, including the palaces of the 

 President and Bishop, the cathedral, the principal 

 churches and convents, all seemed constructed on a 

 scale of 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 over-grown 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 towards the conclusion of this 

 narrative. 



The province of which Para is the capital, was, at 

 the time I allude to, the most extensive 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 



