ARRIVAL AT BARRA. 



267 



upon the sparkling ripples of the black water, with its noble expanse, 

 gave us one of the fairest scenes upon our entrance into this river that 

 I ever recollect to have looked upon. 



The mouth of the river is about fifty miles below Pesquera. I found 

 one hundred and five feet of depth in the middle, with a muddy bottom, 

 and little or no current. We pulled across and camped at half-past six, 

 on a small sand-beach on the left bank. 



January 6. — Started at 1 a. m. Moderate breeze from the eastward, 

 blowing in squalls, with light rain. The left bank of the river is bold, 

 and occasionally rocky. At 5 a. m. we arrived at Barra. My country- 

 man, Mr. Marcus Williams, and Senhor Enrique Antonii, an Italian, 

 (merchants of the place,) came on board to see me. Williams was fit- 

 ting out for an expedition of six months up the river ; but Antonii took 

 me at once to his house, and established me there snugly and comfort- 

 ably. The greatest treat I met here, however, was a file of New York 

 papers. They were not very late, it is true, but still six months later 

 than anything I had seen from home ; and I conned them with great 

 interest and no small anxiety. 



The Comarca of the Rio Negro, one of the territorial divisions of the 

 great province of Para, has, within the last year, been erected into a 

 province, with the title of Amazonas. The President, Senhor Jodo 

 Baptista de Figuierero Tenreiro Aranha, arrived at the capital (Barra) 

 on the first of the month, in a government steamer, now lying abreast 

 of the town. He brought most of the officers of the new government, 

 and the sum of two hundred contos of reis, (one hundred and four 

 thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars,) drawn from the custom- 

 house at Para, to pay the expenses of establishing the new order of 

 things until the collection of customs shall begin to yield. 



This territory, whilst a Comarca, was a mere burden upon the public 

 treasury, and will probably continue to be so for some time to come. 

 1 have not seen yet any laws regulating its trade, but presume that a 

 custom-house will be established at Barra, where the exportation duties 

 of seven per cent., and the meio dezimo, a duty of five per cent, for the 

 support of the church, now paid at Para, will be collected. Goods also 

 pay a provincial tax of one and a half per cent, on foreign articles, and 

 a half per cent, on articles of domestic produce. The income of the 

 province would be much increased by making Barra a port of entry for 

 the trade with Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and New Grenada; 

 and I have no doubt that industry and enterprise will, in the course 

 of time, bring goods of European manufacture from Demarara, by the 



