354 



COMMERCE. 



goods are sold at auction, the commission paid is one per cent, on dry 

 goods, and one and a half on groceries. 



"Merchandise is brought to market altogether by water, and is usually 

 delivered into the storehouses of the purchaser or on board the shipping. 



"Export duties are as follows: 

 "Meio dezimo, (for the church) - - - - - 5 per cent. 

 "Exportacao, (for the government) - - - - -7 per cent. 

 "Vero pezo, (weighing) - - - - - - - £ per cent. 



"Capitazia (paid for labor) quarter of a cent the arroba, on all kinds 

 of merchandise. 



"These duties are levied on the custom-house valuation, which is made 

 at the beginning of each week, and not on the cost of the produce ; as 

 in that cost is included a duty of five per cent, which is paid on some 

 articles when they are landed at the port of exportation. This last is a 

 provincial tax, which is levied on India-rubber, tapioca, and farinha. 



"Produce coming from an interior province — such as dry hides — does 

 not pay the meio dezimo of five per cent., as it is paid at the time of 

 embarking at the place of production ; and this duty, together with 

 freight, labor, &c, enters into the cost price of the merchandise at this 

 port, which is the only shipping port for the provinces of Para and 

 Amazonas. 



"There are no dock, trade, nor city dues to be paid at this port. 

 "Lighters are hired at two dollars per day; they carry from forty to 

 fifty tons. 



"Porterage is done by blacks, who place the cargo in the lighters at 

 prices varying, according to the distance carried, from three to four cents 

 per bag, for cocoa, India-rubber, &c, and from six to eight cents each 

 for barrels and boxes. 



"Nuts and rice in husk are delivered alongside the vessel at the 

 expense of the seller. 



"Packages — such as boxes, barrels, and bags — are imported from the 

 United States, and with the exception of barrels, which come filled with 

 flour, pay a duty of thirty per cent. 



"The cost of cooperage is eight cents per barrel. All local imports 

 or taxes are paid by the producer, and are included in the selling price 

 of the article. The purchaser receives with the merchandise a receipt 

 that the provincial duty has been paid, which receipt is demanded at 

 the time of exportation to a foreign country or to another province. 



"There is so little intercourse with the States bordering on this 

 province, that there are no laws in forc« regulating the transit of mer- 



