6 SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



ing a flood of new ideas and fashions into the country. 

 The old, bigoted, Portuguese system of treating women, 

 which stifled social intercourse and wrought endless 

 evils in the private life of the Brazilians, is now being 

 gradually, although slowly, abandoned. 



When a stranger arrives at an interior town in Brazil, 

 with the intention of making some stay, he is obliged 

 within three days to present himself at the Police office, 

 to show his passport. He is then expected to call on 

 the different magistrates, the military commander, and 

 the principal private residents. This done, he has to 

 remain at home a day or two to receive return visits, 

 after which he is considered to be admitted into the 

 best society. Santarem being the head of a comarca or 

 county, as well as a borough, has a resident high judge 

 (Juiz de Direito), besides a municipal judge (Juiz Muni- 

 cipal) and recorder (Promoter publico). The head of 

 the police is also a magistrate, having jurisdiction in 

 minor cases ; he is called the delegado or delegate of 

 police, from being appointed by and subordinate to the 

 chief of police in the capital : all these officers are nomi- 

 nated by the Central Government. In a pretentious 

 place like Santarem, the people attach great importance 

 to these matters, and I had to go a round of visiting 

 before I finally settled down to work. Notwithstanding 

 the ceremonious manners of the principal inhabitants, I 

 found several most worthy and agreeable people amongst 

 them. Some of the older families, who spend most of 

 their time on their plantations or cattle estates, were as 

 kind-hearted and simple in their ways as the Obydos 

 townsfolk. But these are rarely in town, coming only for 



