296 



OBIDOS. 



to the merchants below. Should the thousand trees give fifty arrobas, 

 and the price of the arroba run up to one dollar and twenty-five cents, 

 and one dollar and fifty cents, as it does sometimes in Para, it would 

 then be a very profitable business. 



Obidos is situated upon a high, bold point, and has all the river 

 (about a mile and a half in width) in front of it. The shores are bold, 

 and the current very rapid. I had heard it stated that bottom could 

 not be obtained in the river off Obidos, and I bought six hundred feet 

 of line and a seven-pound lead to test it. In what was pointed out as 

 the deepest part, I sounded in one hundred and fifty, one hundred and 

 eighty, and two hundred and ten feet, with, generally, a pebbly bottom. 

 In another place I judged I had bottom in two hundred and forty feet ; 

 but the lead came up clean. I may not have had bottom, or this may 

 have been of soft mud, and washed off from the arming of soap that I 

 used. It is a very difficult thing to get correct soundings in so rapid a 

 current, and in such deep water. 



The land on which Obidos is situated may be called mountainous, in 

 comparison to the general low land of the Amazon ; and far back in the 

 direction of the course of the Trombetas were seen some very respect- 

 able mountains. 



The coast, from the mouth of the Trombetas to Obidos, is about one 

 hundred and fifty feet in height ; is of red earth ; and is supported upon 

 red rock, of the same nature as that at Barra. This rock is very hard 

 at bottom, but softer above, and many king-fishers build their nests in 

 it. The general height is broken in one or two places, where there are 

 small lakes. One of these, called Tiger lake, would afford a good mill- 

 seat, which might grind for six or seven months in the year. 



The town of Obidos proper contains only about five hundred inhab- 

 itants ; but the district is populous, and is said to number about four- 

 teen thousand. There is quite a large church in the town, built of 

 stone and mud, with some pretensions to architecture ; but, though only 

 built in 1826, it seems already falling into ruins, and requires extensive 

 repairs. 



There are several shops, apparently well stocked with English and 

 American cloths, and French fripperies. I heard a complaint that the 

 trade was monopolized by a few who charged their own prices ; but I 

 judged, from the number of shops, that there was quite competition 

 enough to keep the prices down to small profits. The value of the 

 imports of the district of Obidos is nearly double that of the exports, 

 the staple articles of which are cacao and cattle. 



I have my information from Senhor Antonio Monteiro Tapajos, who 



