VOYAGE TO SANTAREM 63 
to the trade with Para. He was a devoted reader 
of newspapers, of which he kept large files, to be 
perused and reperused ; indeed, he assured me that 
he read a newspaper that had been laid by six 
months with greater zest than when recent. ... Of 
books he read but two — Volney's R2dns of Empires 
and the Bible ; and by combining their contents 
had framed for himself a creed of very motley com- 
plexion. Whenever he indulged in a few extra 
glasses of port after dinner, he was certain to favour 
his guests with a dissertation on the character of 
Moses, whom he affirmed to have been ''a great 
general, and a great lawgiver, but a great im- 
postor " ! Combine with these oddities the frank 
and hearty bearing of a sailor, and it will be under- 
stood how I found in the old captain an amusing 
companion and a valuable friend during my sojourn 
at Santarem. 
A house having been obtained, we removed to 
it the same night, and Mr. Hislop lent us one of 
his slaves to cook for us until we could get a cook 
of our own. The house, which was a fair sample of 
the average at Santarem, was of only a single 
story, but the rooms were airy, the roof tiled, and 
the floor of bricks, instead of mother earth as in 
houses of inferior class ; and there was a small yard 
at the back, with kitchen and other necessary offices.. 
True, it did not contain a single article of furniture, 
but there were rings in the walls wherefrom to 
suspend our hammocks ; Mr. Hislop lent us a few 
chairs, and some cedar-planks, out of which with 
the aid of piles of bricks we extemporised shelves 
for our parcels of plants and other effects ; and we 
obtained the loan of a large table from Mr. Jeffries, 
