Chap. I. FORMALITIES. 5 



very stiff and formal, and the absence of the hearty hospi- 

 tality met with in other places, produces a disagreeable 

 impression at first. Much ceremony is observed in the 

 intercourse of the principal people with each other, and 

 with strangers. The best room in each house is set 

 apart for receptions, and visitors are expected to present 

 themselves in black dress coats, regardless of the furious 

 heat which rages in the sandy streets of Santarem 

 towards mid-day, the hour when visits are generally 

 made. In the room a cane-bottomed sofa and chairs, 

 all lacquered and gilded, are arranged in quadrangular 

 form, and here the visitors are invited to seat them- 

 selves, whilst the compliments are passed, or the busi- 

 ness arranged. In taking leave, the host backs out his 

 guests with repeated bows, finishing at the front door. 

 Smoking is not in vogue amongst this class, but snuff- 

 taking is largely indulged in, and. great luxury is dis- 

 played in gold and silver snuff-boxes. All the gentle- 

 men, and indeed most of the ladies also, wear gold 

 watches and guard chains. Social parties are not very 

 frequent ; the principal men being fully occupied with 

 their business and families, and the rest spending their 

 leisure in billiard and gambling rooms, leaving wives 

 and daughters shut up at home. Occasionally, however, 

 one of the principal citizens gives a bail. In the first 

 that I attended, the gentlemen were seated all the even- 

 ing on one side of the room, and the ladies on the 

 other, and partners were allotted by means of num- 

 bered cards, distributed by a master of the ceremonies. 

 But the customs changed rapidly in these matters after 

 steamers began to run on the Amazons (in 1853), bring- 



