1852.] 
RETURN TO BARRA. 
373 
rain every night, making the journey very disagreeable ; 
and at length, on the 17 th, reached Barra do Rio Negro, 
now the capital of the new Province of Amazonas. 
I was here kindly received by my friend Henrique 
Antony ; and I spent all the day in searching for some 
house or lodging, which was very hard to be procured, 
every house being occupied, and rents having much 
risen, from the influx of strangers and traders consequent 
on the arrival of the new Government. However, by the 
evening I succeeded in getting a small mud-floored, 
leaky-roofed room, which I was glad to hire, as I did not 
know how long I might be obliged to remain in Barra, 
before I could obtain a passage to Para. The next morn- 
ing I could not disembark my things till the new Cus- 
tom-house opened, at nine o’clock ; when I had to pay 
duties on every article, even on my bird-skins, insects, 
stuffed alligators, etc., and so it was night before I got 
everything on shore. The next day I paid off my In- 
dians, and settled myself to wait patiently and attend to 
my menagerie, till I could get a passage to Para. 
For three weeks I had been nearly lame, with a sore 
and inflamed toe, into which the chegoes had burrowed 
under the nail, and rendered wearing a shoe, or walking, 
exceedingly painful ; having been compelled to move 
about the last few days, it had inflamed and swelled, and 
I was now therefore glad to remain quietly at home, and 
by poultices and plaisters endeavour to cure it. During 
the short time the Indians had remained in charge of my 
canoe, while I was looking after a house, they had lost 
three of my birds ; but I soon found I had quite enough 
left to keep me constantly employed attending to them. 
