l62 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



then launched out into a denunciation of the Cameta- 

 enses and the Liberals in general. He said he was a pure 

 white, a ' Massagonista ' ^ ; the blood of the Fidalguia 

 of Portugal flowed in his veins, whilst the people of 

 Cameta were a mixed breed of whites and Indians. I 

 noticed that this boasting was ill received by the rest ; 

 it is generally, in fact, considered bad taste in Brazil to 

 boast of purity of descent. Soon afterwards most of the 

 visitors departed, and we dined in quiet. A few days 

 afterwards I crossed the river to the Major's place, and 

 spent two days with him. The house was a very large 

 two-story building, having a large verandah to the upper 

 floor. There was an appearance of disorder and cheer- 

 lessness about the place which was very dispiriting 

 The old gentleman was a widower. His only son had 

 been brutally massacred by the rebels in 1835, whilst he 

 was crossing the river in a small boat, and his two 

 daughters were now completing their education at a 

 seminary in Para. The household affairs appeared to 

 be managed by a middle-aged mulatto woman ; and a 

 number of dirty negro children were playing about the 

 rooms. Amongst the outbuildings there were several 

 large sheds, containing the cane-mill and sugar factory, 

 and beyond these a curral, or enclosure for cattle. The 

 mill for grinding the sugar-cane was a rude affair, worked 

 by bullocks. The cane was pressed between wooden 

 cylinders, and the juice received in troughs formed of 

 hollowed logs. Sugar-cane here grows to a height of 18 

 to 20 feet, the sugar-yielding part of the stem being 

 about 8 feet in length and 3 inches in diameter. The 

 land for miles around the establishment is rich alluvial 

 soil, and as level as a bowling-green. Beyond the belt 

 of forest which runs along the banks of the river, there 

 is a large tract of soft green meadow with patches of 

 woodland and scattered trees, combining to form a land- 

 scape like that of an English park. But a meadow on 

 the banks of the Amazons is a very different thing from 

 what it is in a temperate climate : the vegetation is rank 

 and monotonous, and there are absolutely no flowers. 

 The old gentleman had built a pretty little chapel on 



^ The Massagonistas are the descendants of the Portuguese 

 colonists of Massagao, in Morocco, who forsook this place 

 in a body in 1769, and migrated to the banks of the Amazons. 



