8 TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. \June, 
with halta- dozen doors and windows in each, look at 
first comfortless, but are nevertheless exactly adapted to 
a tropical country, in which a carpeted, curtained, and 
cushioned room would be unbearable. 
The inhabitants of Para present a most varied and 
interesting mixture of races. There is the fresh-coloured 
Englishman, who seems to thrive as well here as in the 
cooler climate of his native country, the sallow American, 
the swarthy Portuguese, the more corpulent Brazilian, 
the^erry Negro, and the apathetic but finely formed In- 
dian ; and between these a hundred shades and mixtures, 
which it requires an experienced eye to detect. The white 
inhabitants generally dress with great neatness in linen 
clothes of spotless purity. Some adhere to the black 
cloth coat and cravat, and look most uncomfortably clad 
with the thermometer from 85° to 90° in the shade. 
The men’s dress, whether Negro or Indian, is simply a 
pair of striped or white cotton trowsers, to which they 
sometimes add a shirt of the same material. The women 
and girls on most gala occasions dress in pure white, which, 
contrasting with their glossy black or brown skins, has 
a very pleasing effect ; and it is then that the stranger 
is astonished to behold the massy gold chains and orna- 
ments worn by these women, many of whom are slaves. 
Children are seen in every degree of clothing, down to 
perfect nudity, which is the general condition of all the 
male coloured population under eight or ten years of 
age. Indians fresh from the interior are sometimes seen 
looking very mild and mannerly, and, except for holes in 
their ears large enough to put a cart-rope through, and 
a peculiar wildness with which they gaze at all around 
