1850.] THE CITY OF BARRA. 113 



high-water level, and there are two small streams or gullies 

 running through it, where during the wet season the water 

 rises to a considerable height, and across which are two 

 wooden bridges. The streets are regularly laid out, but quite 

 unpaved, much undulating, and full of holes, so that walking 

 about at night is very unpleasant. The houses are generally 

 of one story, with red-tiled roofs, brick floors, white- and yellow- 

 washed walls, and green doors and shutters ; and, when the 

 sun shines, are pretty enough. The " Barra," or fort, is now 

 represented by a fragment of wall and a mound of earth, and 

 there are two churches, but both very poor and far inferior to 

 that of Santarem. The population is five or six thousand, of 

 which the greater part are Indians and half-breeds ; in fact, 

 there is probably not a single person born in the place of pure 

 European blood, so completely have the Portuguese amalga- 

 mated with the Indians. The trade is chiefly in Brazil-nuts, 

 salsaparilha, and fish ; and the imports are European cotton- 

 goods of inferior quality, and quantities of coarse cutlery, 

 beads, mirrors, and other trinkets for the trade with the Indian 

 tribes, of which this is the head-quarters. The distance from 

 Para" is about a thousand miles, and the voyage up in the wet 

 season often takes from two to three months, so that flour, 

 cheese, wine, and other necessaries, are always very dear, and 

 often not to be obtained. The more civilised inhabitants of 

 Barra are all engaged in trade, and have literally no amuse- 

 ments whatever, unless drinking and gambling on a small 

 scale can be so considered : most of them never open a book, 

 or have any mental occupation. 



As might be expected, therefore, etiquette in dress is much 

 attended to, and on Sunday at mass all are in full costume. 

 The ladies dress very elegantly in a variety of French muslins 

 and gauzes ; they all have fine hair, which they arrange care- 

 fully, and ornament with flowers, and never hide it or their 

 faces under caps or bonnets. The gentlemen, who pass all 

 the week in dirty warehouses, in their shirt-sleeves and slippers, 

 are then seen in suits of the finest black, with beaver hats, 

 satin cravats, and patent-leather boots of the smallest dimen- 

 sions ; and then is the fashionable visiting time, when every 

 one goes to see everybody, to talk over the accumulated 

 scandal of the week. Morals in Barra are perhaps at the 

 lowest ebb possible in any civilised community : you will every 



