Chap. I. CLIMATE. 13 



the Seine, but from the idea, that all the world was a 

 great river, and that the different places he had heard 

 of must lie on one shore or the other. The fact of the 

 Amazons being a limited stream, having its origin in 

 narrow rivulets, its beginning and its ending, has never 

 entered the heads of most of the people who have 

 passed their whole lives on its banks. 



Santarem is a pleasant place to live in, irrespective of 

 its society. There are no insect pests, mosquito, pium, 

 sand-fly, or motuca. The climate is glorious ; during six 

 moDths 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 

 sometimes so strong for days together, that it is diffi- 

 cult to make way against it in walking along the 

 streets, and it enters the open windows and doors of 

 houses, scattering loose clothing and papers in all direc- 

 tions. The place is considered healthy ; but at the 

 changes of season, severe colds and ophthalmia are 

 prevalent. I found three Englishmen living here, who 

 had resided many years in the town or its neighbour- 

 hood, and who still retained their florid complexions ; 

 the plump and fresh appearance of many of the middle- 

 aged Santarem ladies, also bore testimony to the health- 

 fulness 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. None but those who have suffered 

 from the difficulty of obtaining the necessaries of life at 

 any price in most of the interior settlements of South 



