15 
which, in many instances, has been found to be of a most objection¬ 
able and insanitary nature. 
Many of the streets are on a much higher level than the adjoining 
land. The market gardeners use the sloping land for the growing of 
vegetables; some of these gardens are situated in the heart of the 
city, a most objectionable feature, as the rain-water barrels and 
cisterns used by the gardeners for the storage of water are usually 
unscreened, and have often been found full of mosquito larvae. 
The municipality has filled up many of these low-lying areas and 
heads of creeks (igarapes) with the soil obtained from the excavations 
of new streets and the cutting down of the high banks of earth in 
various parts of the town. 
It is impossible to accomplish much with the means at their 
disposal. The soil has to be transported in small carts, so that the 
whole operation is very costly and tedious. A cheaper and far 
quicker method is by excavating with the steam shovel, combined 
with the use of a light railway and gravel cars as employed by the 
Manaos Harbour Company in the filling in of their works. This is 
well exemplified in the case of the new Alfandega, which is built 
entirely on filled-in land. 
The general plan of the laying out of the streets in the new part 
of Manaos, in the upper residential sections and in the outskirts of the 
city, allows of wide streets, with abundance of air space. 
Manaos resembles the majority of cities in which the old or original 
sections of the settlement consist of narrow streets and confined areas. 
In the old quarters and business section of the town the streets are 
narrow and the buildings closely packed together. All the available 
space has been built upon, and no thought has been given to venti a- 
tion or illumination. Many of the small shops and, in some cases, 
the offices of business firms are so crowded alongside and around one 
another as to preclude adequate ventilation and illumination. 1 here 
is generally a back-yard adjoining, but it is small, and too often 
encumbered with barrels of water or empty boxes. In some yards 
wooden structures have been erected contrary to the by-laws of the 
municipality. 
The type of house commonly seen in Manaos is of Portuguese 
architecture, and ill-adapted for a tropical climate. A small dwelling 
generally consists of a front room facing the street, an inner cham 
