14 
SANTAEEM. 
Chap. I. 
America, can appreciate the advantages of Santarem in 
this respect. Everjrthing, however, except meat, was 
dear, and becoming every year more so. Sugar, coffee, 
and rice, which ought to be produced in surplus in the 
neighbourhood, are imported from other provinces, and 
are high in price ; sugar indeed, is a little dearer here 
than in England. There were two or three butchers' 
shops, where excellent beef could he had daily at two- 
pence or twopence-halfpenny per pound. The cattle have 
not to be brought from a long distance as at Para, being 
bred on the campos, which border the Lago Grande, only 
one or two days' journey from the town. Fresh fish 
could be bought in the port on most evenings, but, as 
the supply did not equal the demand, there was always 
a race amongst purchasers to the water-side when the 
canoe of a fisherman hove in sight. Very good bread 
was hawked around the town every morning, with milk, 
and a great variety of fruits and vegetables. Amongst 
the fruits, there was a kind called atta, which I did not 
see in any other part of the country. It belongs to the 
Anonaceous order, and the tree which produces it grows 
apparently wild in the neighbourhood of Santarem. It 
is a little larger than a good-sized orange, and the rind, 
which encloses a mass of rich custardy pulp, is scaled 
like the pine-apple, but green when ripe, and encrusted 
on the inside with sugar. To finish this account of the 
advantages of Santarem, the delicious bathing in the 
clear waters of the Tapajos may be mentioned. There 
is here no fear of alligators ; when the east wind blows, 
a long swell rolls in on the clean sandy beach, and the 
bath is most exhilarating. 
