SUBURBS OF PARA 



9 



taper rapidly from the ground upwards, and whose flowers 

 before opening look like red balls studding the branches. 

 This fine road was constructed under the governorship of 

 the Count dos Arcos, about the year 1812. At right 

 angles to it run a number of narrow green lanes, and the 

 whole district is drained by a system of small canals or 

 trenches through which the tide ebbs and flows, showing 

 the lowness of the site. Before I left the country, other 

 enterprising presidents had formed a number of avenues 

 lined with cocoa-nut palms, almond and other trees, in 

 continuation of the Monguba road, over the more ele- 

 vated and drier ground to the north-east of the city. 

 On the high ground the vegetation has an aspect quite 

 different from that which it presents in the swampy 

 parts. Indeed, with the exception of the palm trees, the 

 suburbs here have an aspect like that of a village green 

 at home. The soil is sandy, and the open commons are 

 covered with a short grassy and shrubby vegetation. 

 Beyond this, the land again descends to a marshy tract, 

 where, at the bottom of the moist hollows, the public 

 wells are situated. Here all the linen of the city is washed 

 by hosts of noisy negresses, and here also the water-carts 

 are filled — painted hogsheads on wheels, drawn by bul- 

 locks. In early morning, when the sun sometimes shines 

 through a light mist, and everything is dripping with 

 moisture, this part of the city is full of life : vociferous 

 negroes and wrangling Gallegos,^ the proprietors of the 

 water-carts, are gathered about, jabbering continually, 

 and taking their morning drams in dirty wine-shops at the 

 street corners. 



Along these beautiful roads we found much to interest 

 us during the first few days. Suburbs of towns, and 

 open, sunny, cultivated places in Brazil, are tenanted by 

 species of animals and plants which are mostly different 

 from those of the dense primeval forests. I will, there- 

 fore, give an account of what we observed of the animal 

 world during our explorations in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Para. 



The number and beauty of the birds and insects did 

 not at first equal our expectations. The majority of the 

 birds we saw were small and obscurely coloured ; they 



^ Natives of Galicia, in Spain, who follow this occupation in 

 Lisbon and Oporto, as well as at Para. 



