6 
SANTAKEM. 
Chap. 1. 
ing a flood of new ideas and fashions into the country. 
The old, bigoted, Portuguese system of treating women, 
which stifled social intercourse and wrought endless 
evils in the private life of the Brazilians, is now being 
gradually, although slowly, abandoned. 
When a stranger arrives at an interior town in Brazil, 
with the intention of making some stay, he is obliged 
within three days to present himself at the Police office, 
to show his passport. He is then expected to call on 
the diff'erent magistrates, the military commander, and 
the principal private residents. This done, he has to 
remain at home a day or two to receive return visits, 
after which he is considered to be admitted into the 
best society. Santarem being the head of a comarca or 
county, as well as a borough, has a resident high judge 
(Juiz de Direito), besides a municipal judge (Juiz Muni- 
cipal) and recorder (Promoter publico). The head of 
the police is also a magistrate, having jurisdiction in 
minor cases ; he is called the delegado or delegate of 
police, from being appointed by and subordinate to the 
chief of police in the capital : all these officers are nomi- 
nated by the Central Government. In a pretentious 
place like Santarem, the people attach great importance 
to these matters, and I had to go a round of visiting 
before I finally settled down to work. Notwithstanding 
the ceremonious manners of the principal inhabitants, I 
found several most worthy and agreeable people amongst 
them. Some of the older families, who spend most of 
their time on their plantations or cattle estates, were as 
kind-hearted and simple in their ways as the Obydos 
townsfolk. But these are rarely in town, coming only for 
