PROVINCE OF PARA. 



451 



tracts they make with them, finding themselves frequently abandoned in situa- 

 tions of intricate navigation, where they are, in consequence, subjected to great 

 difficulties. 



In 1755 the Portuguese language began to be generally used here with the 

 introduction of negroes, the freedom of the Indians, and the creation of the 

 company already alluded to, up to which period the Tupinamba language was 

 universally spoken ; even the orators in the pulpit did not use any other. 



This province is bounded on the north by the ocean and the river Maranham, 

 or Amazons, which separates it from Guianna ; on the west by the river Madei- 

 ra ; on the south by the provinces of Goyaz and Matto-Grosso ; and on the 

 east by that of Maranham. It extends from the equator to seven degrees of 

 south latitude, with near eight hundred miles in length from east to west, and 

 upwards of four hundred miles in its greatest width. The climate is invariably 

 hot, even when it rains ; the days and nights are nearly equal all the year, and 

 the seasons almost prevail together. At the same time that some trees announce 

 the autumn, by a profuse exhibition of fruits in a state of maturity, others are 

 flourishing in their primitive bloom. The face of the country is generally flat, 

 almost universally presenting an agreeable aspect, covered with extensive woods, 

 where trees grow of a considerable height and prodigious girth. The soil in 

 most parts is humid, substantial, and of great fertility, affording an abundance 

 of various productions, which, in the other provinces, either do not exist or but 

 in very small quantities. It also far surpasses all the others in the number and 

 consequence of its rivers. 



Mineralogy. — Crystals, emeralds, granite, silver, but not yet found in any 

 quantity, argils, red lead, yellow ochre, from which is extracted ochre tinged 

 with green. 



Phytology.— In no other province are trees of such size produced ; many 

 of the most excellent building timber, some for cabinet work, various kinds 

 affording tow for caulking, or flax for cordage ; and the great Author of Nature 

 has created others whose alimentary fruits afford sustenance to the living crea- 

 ture, the superabundance of which, for the most part, is of no utility, in conse- 

 quence of the diminutive state of population. Amongst the oil and balsamic trees 

 are to be noted the cumaru and cupahyba, ovcapiri, those ofgum-storax are known 

 here only by the name of omiry. The satin-wood is very valuable ; the mera- 

 pinima is compact and heavy, appearing like tortoiseshell when polished ; there 

 is the violet wood, the sncuha, which distils by incision a liquor, and taken 



3 M 2 



