Chap. L 
EDUCATIOK 
11 
in small canoes to trade on the rivers and collect the 
produce, and the cargoes are shipped to the capital in 
large cubertas and schooners, of from twenty to eighty 
tons burthen. The risk and profits must be great, or 
capital scarce, for the rate of interest on lent money or 
overdue accounts is two-and-a-half to three per cent, per 
month ; this is the same, however, as that which rules at 
Para. The shops are numerous, and well-stocked with 
English, French, German, and North American wares ; 
the retail prices of which are very little above those of 
the capital. There is much competition amongst the 
traders and shopkeepers, yet they all seem to thrive, if 
one may judge from external appearances; but it is 
said, that most of them are over head and ears in debt 
to rich Portuguese merchants of Para, who act as their 
correspondents. 
The people seem to be thoroughly alive to the advan- 
tages of education for their children. Besides the usual 
primary schools, one for girls, and another for boys, 
there is a third of a higher class, where Latin and 
French, amongst other accomplishments, are taught by 
professors, who, like the common schoolmasters, are paid 
by the provincial government. This is used as a pre- 
paratory school to the Lyceum and Bishop's seminary, 
well-endowed institutions at Para, whither it is the 
ambition of traders and planters to send their sons to 
finish their studies. The rudiments of education only 
are taught in the primary schools, and it is surprising 
how quickly and well the little lads, both coloured and 
white, learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. But the 
simplicity of the Portuguese language, which is written 
