THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS. 
:-!2 
pro.'^cnts itself as a waste of saudy beach, ever swept by tli(^ winds and 
the waves, thongli the latter province is said to offer rich and pictnresqne 
districts in its interior. 
Til the port, or rather in the open harbour that serves as anchoring- 
ground for the increasing commerce of the capital, Fortaleza or Ceara,* 
are seen sweeping along like arrows those jangadas wo had first seen at 
rernambuco. They are small rafts made of five planks of light timber, 
upon which daring fishermen, mostly half-bred Indians and mnlattoes, 
venture fer out to sea. lie who Avonld go ashore at Ccara must trust 
himself on one of these frail and unstable vehicles, at the risk of having 
it turned upside down, or, at the best, of being wetted to the skin by 
the raging surf. 
Of MaranhIo, which, like Parahyba do Horte, gives an impression 
of decay, there is little to mention beyond the extraordinary number of 
sharks in the jiort, attracted thither by the slaughter-houses on shoi-e, 
and rendering bathing there impossible. 
At length, on November 29th, 1867, Ave reached P.vr.v, at the mouth 
of the Para River. The port was full of vessels of all sea-going nations, 
and among them Ai'as the elegantly shaped Brazilian steam-corvette 
NUherotj. The church-towers and convent-turrets, and the far horizon, 
with the llha das Oncas, make it a very pleasant picture, although the 
absence of any commanding height reminds one forcibly of the flat Dutch 
landscapes. 
The commerce of this city has been rapidly increasing since the year 
1 850, owing to the improved communication Avith the immense Amazon j 
basin, Avhich extends from this favourably situated place to the foot of | 
tlie Cordilleras in the ^Vest. Steam has been the poAverful lever of the 
commercial devolopraent of Pard ; and the supporting point of this lover 
has, until now, been found only in the immense exuberance of the 
vegetation, tlie fruits, the resins, and the timber of those colossal forests 
Avhich extend over nearly SO dogree.s of longitude and 20 of latitude. 
“A ludu.stria do Amazonas e quasi toda extraetiAU,” that is, based on a | 
sort of robbery, say the Brazilians themselves. Bountiful Hature d(jes I 
almost everything there, while man scarcely helps her. 
The upper parts of the Amazon, the Solimoes, and their miglrty 
* An article of export peculiar to Ceara is tlie hard hrown naix of the carnauha 
palm, with which the Rrasdlians make a soil of dull-hm-ning cnudlos. 
