SANTAREM. 



299 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Santarem— Population — Trade — River Tapajos — Cuiaba — Diamond region — 

 Account of the Indians of the Tapajos. 



Santarem, four hundred and sixty miles from the mouth of the Rio 

 Negro, and six hundred and fifty miles from the sea, is the largest town 

 of the province, after Para. By official returns it numbers four thou- 

 sand nine hundred and seventy-seven free, (eighty-seven being foreign- 

 ers,) and one thousand five hundred and ninety-one slave inhabitants. 

 There were two hundred and eighty-nine births, forty-two deaths, and 

 thirty-two marriages in the year 1849. 



I would estimate the population of the town of Santarem at about 

 two thousand souls. In the official returns, all the settlers on the cocoa 

 plantations for miles around, and all the tapuios engaged in the naviga- 

 tion of the river, are reckoned in the estimate. This, I believe, is the 

 case with all the towns ; and thus the traveller is continually surprised 

 to find population rated so high in places where he encounters but few 

 people. 



There is said to be a good deal of elephantiasis and leprosy among 

 the poorer class of its inhabitants. I did not visit their residences, which 

 are generally on the beach above the town, and therefore saw nothing 

 of them ; nor did I see much poverty or misery. 



There are tokens of an increased civilization in a marble monument 

 in the cemetery, and a billiard table. The houses are comfortably fur- 

 nished, though I believe every one still sleeps in a hammock. The rides 

 in the environs are agreeable, the views picturesque, and the horses good. 

 A tolerably good and well-bitted horse may be had for seventy-five dol- 

 lars ; they graze in the streets and outskirts of the town, and are fed 

 with Indian corn. 



There is a church (one of the towers has lately tumbled down) and 

 two or three primary schools. The gentlemen all wear gold watches, 

 and take an immoderate quantity of snuff. I failed to get statistics of 

 the present trade of Santarem; but an examination of the following 

 tables furnished by Mr. Gouzennes, the intelligent and gentlemanly vice- 

 consul of France, will show the increase in the exports of the place in 

 the three years between 1843 and 1846. 



