1849.] AN AGREEABLE PICNIC. 141 
used generally to meet in front of Captain Hislop’s house, 
which was in an airy situation overlooking the river, where 
they would sit and smoke, take snuff, and talk politics 
and law for an hour or two. 
Besides the Captain, there were two Englishmen in 
Santarem, who had resided there many years, and were 
married to Brazilian women. A day or two after our 
arrival they invited us to take a trip up to a pretty stream 
which forms a small lake a mile or two above the town. 
We went in a neat canoe, with several Indians and 
Negroes, and plenty of provisions, to make an agreeable 
picnic. The place was very picturesque, with dry sands, 
old trees, and shady thickets, where we amused ourselves 
shooting birds, catching insects, and examining the new 
forms of vegetation which were everywhere abundant. 
The clear, cool water invited us to a refreshing bathe, 
after which we dined, and returned home by moonlight 
in the evening. 
I was acquainted with the “ Juiz de direito,’’ having 
met him in Para, and he now very kindly offered to lend 
me an excellent canoe to go to Montealegre, and to give 
me introductions to his friends there; but he had no 
men to spare, so these I had to obtain as I could. This 
was, as is always the case here, a difficult matter. Cap- 
tain H. went with me to the Commandante, who pro- 
mised to give me three Indians, but after waiting a 
whole week we got only two ; the Juiz however kindly 
lent me one with his canoe, and with these we started. 
The first night we staid at a cacao -plantation, where we 
got some excellent fresh fish. In the morning we took 
a walk among the cacao-trees, and caught numbers of a 
