Chap. YI. 
CHANGES AT PARA. 
411 
it in 1848. The population had been increased (to 
20,000) by an influx of Portuguese, Madeiran, and Ger- 
man immigrants, and for many years past the provincial 
government had spent their considerable surplus re- 
venue in beautifying the city.* The streets, formerly 
unpaved or strewn with loose stones and sand, were now 
laid with concrete in a most complete manner ; all the 
projecting masonry of the irregularly-built houses had 
been cleared away, and the buildings made more uniform. 
Most of the dilapidated houses were replaced by hand- 
some new edifices, having long and elegant balconies 
fronting the first floors, at an elevation of several feet 
above the roadway. The large, swampy squares had 
been drained, weeded, and planted with rows of almond 
and casuarina trees, so that they were now 'a great 
ornament to the city, instead of an eyesore as they 
* The revenue of the province of Par^, derived almost wholly from 
high custom-house duties, had averaged for some years past about 
£1000,000 sterling. The import duties vary from 18 to 80 per cent, 
ad valorem ; export duties from 5 to 10 per cent., the most productive 
article being india-rubber. 
The total value of exports for 1858 was £355,905 45. Od., employing 
104 vessels of 29,493 total tonnage. More than half the foreign trade 
was done with Great Britain ; the principal nations in order of amount 
of import trade ranking as follows : — 
1. Great Britain. 
2. United States. 
3. France. 
4. Portugal. 
5. Hanse Towns. 
As most of the articles of consumption are imported and most of 
those produced exported, the foreign trade of Para is larger, compared 
with the internal trade, than it is in most countries. The insignifi- 
cance of the trade of a country of such vast extent and resources 
becomes very apparent from the totals here quoted. . 
