Chap. I. 
SERVANTS. 
3 
other places of interest in the surrounding region. On 
landing, I found no difficulty in hiring a suitable house 
on the outskirts of the place. It was pleasantly situated 
near the beach, going towards the aldeia or Indian part 
of the town. The ground sloped from the back premises 
down to the waterside, and my little raised verandah 
overlooked a beautiful flower-garden, a great rarity in 
this country, which belonged to the neighbours. The 
house contained only three rooms, one with brick and 
two with boarded floors. It was substantially built, like 
all the better sort of houses in Santarem, and had a 
stuccoed front. The kitchen, as is usual, formed an out- 
house placed a few yards distant from the other rooms. ^ 
The rent was 12,000 reis, or about twenty-seven shillings 
a month. In this country, a tenant has no extra pay- 
ments to make ; the owners of house property pay a 
dizimo or tithe, to the coUectoria geral," or general trea- 
sury, but with this the occupier of course has nothing 
to do. In engaging servants, I had the good fortune f ^'y^ 
to meet with a free mulatto, an industrious and trust- 
worthy young fellow, named J ose, willing to arrange with 
me ; the people of his family cooking for us, whilst he 
assisted me in collecting; he proved of the greatest 
service in the different excursions we subsequently 
made. Servants of any kind were almost impossi- 
ble to be obtained at Santarem, free people being too 
proud to hire themselves, and slaves too few and 
valuable to their masters, to be let out to others. 
These matters arranged, the house put in order, and a 
rude table, with a few chairs, bought or borrowed to 
furnish the house with, I was ready in three or four 
B 2 
