SANTAREM 



157 



here replaced the muddy current against which we had 

 so long been saihng. Although this is a river of great 

 extent — 1000 miles in length, and, for the last eighty 

 miles of its course, four to ten in breadth — its contri- 

 bution to the Amazons is not perceptible in the middle 

 of the stream. The white turbid current of the main 

 river flows disdainfully by, occupying nearly the whole 

 breadth of the channel, whilst the darker water of its 

 tributary seems to creep along the shore, and is no longer 

 distinguishable four or five miles from its mouth. 



We reached Santarem at 11 a.m. The town has a 

 clean and cheerful appearance from the river. It con- 

 sists of three long streets, with a few short ones crossing 

 them at right angles, and contains about 2500 inhabitants. 

 It lies just within the mouth of Tapajos, and is divided 

 into two parts, the town and the aldeia or village. The 

 houses of the white and trading classes are substantially 

 built, many being of two and three stories, and all white- 

 washed and tiled. The aldeia, which contains the Indian 

 portion of the population, or did so formerly, consists 

 mostly of mud huts, thatched with palm leaves. The 

 situation of the town is very beautiful. The land, al- 

 though but slightly elevated, does not form, strictly 

 speaking, a portion of the alluvial river plains of the 

 Amazons, but is rather a northern prolongation of the 

 Brazilian continental land. It is scantily wooded, and 

 towards the interior consists of undulating campos, which 

 are connected with a series of hills extending southward 

 as far as the eye can reach. I subsequently made this 

 place my head-quarters for three years ; an account of 

 its neighbourhood is therefore reserved for another 

 chapter. At the first sight of Santarem, one cannot help 

 being struck with the advantages of its situation. Al- 

 though 400 miles from the sea, it is accessible to vessels 

 of heavy tonnage coming straight from the Atlantic. 

 The river has only two slight bends between this port 

 and the sea, and for five or six months in the year the 

 Amazonian trade wind blows with very little interruption, 

 so that sailing ships coming from foreign countries could 

 reach the place with little difficulty. We ourselves had 

 accomplished 200 miles, or about half the distance from 

 the sea, in an ill-rigged vessel, in three days and a half. 

 Although the land in the immediate neighbourhood is 

 perhaps ill adapted for agriculture, an immense tract of 



