SANTAKEM. 



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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 round, 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 

 furnished, 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 dollars; 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. 



