SERVANTS 



237 



dilapidated condition, overlooks the streets, and forms 

 the eastern limit of the mouth of the tributary. The 

 Tapajos at Santarem is contracted to a breadth of about 

 a mile-and-a-half by an accretion of low alluvial land, 

 which forms a kind of delta on the western side ; fifteen 

 miles further up the river is seen at its full width of ten 

 or a dozen miles, and the magnificent hilly country through 

 which it flows from the south, is then visible on both 

 shores. This high land, which appears to be a continua- 

 tion of the central tablelands of Brazil, stretches almost 

 without interruption on the eastern side of the river down 

 to its mouth at Santarem. The scenery as well as the 

 soil, vegetation and animal tenants of this region, are 

 widely different from those of the flat and uniform country 

 which borders the Amazons along most part of its course. 

 After travelling week after week on the main river, the 

 aspect of Santarem with its broad white sandy beach, 

 limpid dark-green waters, and line of picturesque hills 

 rising behind over the fringe of green forest, affords an 

 agreeable surprise. On the main Amazons, the prospect 

 is monotonous unless the vessel runs near the shore, when 

 the wonderful diversity and beauty of the vegetation 

 afford constant entertainment. Otherwise, the unvaried, 

 broad yellow stream, and the long low line of forest, 

 which dwindles away in a broken line of trees on the sea- 

 like horizon and is renewed, reach after reach, as the 

 voyager advances ; weary by their uniformity. 



I arrived at Santarem on my second journey into the 

 interior, in November, 185 1, and made it my headquarters 

 for a period, as it turned out, of three years and a half> 

 During this time I made, in pursuance of the plan I had 

 framed, many excursions up the Tapajos, and to other 

 places of interest in the surrounding region. On landing, 

 I found no difliculty in hiring a suitable house on the out- 

 skirts of the place. It was pleasantly situated near the 

 beach, going towards the aldeia or Indian part of the 

 town. The ground sloped from the back premises down to^ 

 the water-side, and my little raised verandah overlooked 

 a beautiful flower-garden, a great rarity in this country, 

 which belonged to the neighbours. The house contained 

 only three rooms, one with brick and two with boarded 

 floors. It was substantially built, like all the better sort 

 of houses in Santarem, and had a stuccoed front. The 

 kitchen, as is usual, formed an outhouse placed a few 



