6 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, 



in each, look at first comfortless, but are nevertheless exactly 

 adapted to a tropical country, in which a carpeted, curtained, 

 and cushioned room would be unbearable. 



The inhabitants of Para present a most varied and interesting 

 mixture of races. There is the fresh-coloured Englishman, 

 who seems to thrive as well here as in the cooler climate of 

 his native country, the sallow American, the swarthy Portuguese, 

 the more corpulent Brazilian, the merry Negro, and the 

 apathetic but finely formed Indian ; and between these a 

 hundred shades and mixtures, which it requires an experienced 

 eye to detect. The white inhabitants generally dress with 

 great neatness in linen clothes of spotless purity. Some adhere 

 to the black cloth coat and cravat, and look most uncom- 

 fortably clad with the thermometer from 85"^ to 90^ in the 

 shade. The men's dress, whether Negro or Indian, is simply 

 a pair of striped or white cotton trousers, to which they some- 

 times add a shirt of the same material. The women and girls 

 on most gala occasions dress in pure white, which, contrasting 

 with their glossy black or brown skins, has a very pleasing 

 effect ; and it is then that the stranger is astonished to behold 

 the massy gold chains and ornaments worn by these women, 

 many of whom are slaves. Children are seen in every degree 

 of clothing, down to perfect nudity, which is the general 

 condition of all the male coloured population under eight or 

 ten years of age. Indians fresh from the interior are sometimes 

 seen looking very mild and mannerly, and, except for holes 

 in their ears large enough to put a cart-rope through, and a 

 peculiar wildness with which they gaze at all around them, 

 they would hardly be noticed among the motley crowd of 

 regular inhabitants. 



I have already stated that the natural productions of the 

 tropics did not at first realise my expectations. This is princi- 

 pally owing to the accounts of picture-drawing travellers, who, 

 by only describing the beautiful, the picturesque, and the 

 magnificent, would almost lead a person to believe that nothing 

 of a different character could exist under a tropical sun. Our 

 having arrived at Para at the end of the wet season, may also 

 explain why we did not at first see all the glories of the vegeta- 

 tion. The beauty of the palm-trees can scarcely be too highly \ 

 drawn ; they are peculiarly characteristic of the tropics, and 

 their varied and elegant forms, their beautiful foliage, and 



