U SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



America, can appreciate the advantages of Santarem in 

 this respect. Everything, however, except meat, was 

 dear, and becoming every year more so. Sugar, coffee, 

 and rice, which ought to be produced in surplus in the 

 neighbourhood, are imported from other provinces, and 

 are high in price ; sugar indeed, is a little dearer here 

 than in England. There were two or three butchers' 

 shops, where excellent beef could he had daily at two- 

 pence or twopence-halfpenny per pound. The cattle have 

 not to be brought from a long distance as at Para, being 

 bred on the campos, which border the Lago Grande, only 

 one or two days' journey from the town. , Fresh fish 

 could be bought in the port on most evenings, but, as 

 the supply did not equal the demand, there was always 

 a race amongst purchasers to the water-side when the 

 canoe of a fisherman hove in sight. Very good bread 

 was hawked around the town every morning, with milk, 

 and a great variety of fruits and vegetables. Amongst 

 the fruits, there was a kind called atta, which I did not 

 see in any other part of the country. It belongs to the 

 Anonaceous order, and the tree which produces it grows 

 apparently wild in the neighbourhood of Santarem. It 

 is a little larger than a good-sized orange, and the rind, 

 which encloses a mass of rich custardy pulp, is scaled 

 like the pine-apple, but green when ripe, and encrusted 

 on the inside with sugar. To finish this account of the 

 advantages of Santarem, the delicious bathing in the 

 clear waters of the Tapajos may be mentioned. There 

 is here no fear of alligators ; when the east wind blows, 

 a long swell rolls in on the clean sandy beach, and the 

 bath is most exhilarating. 



