The Amazon, as is pretty well known, is a river of great length and
more wonderful for its breadth in South America, entering the Atlantic
between Brazil and Guiana. I am going to speak of Pará, a Brazilian
port not far from the sea, to which I paid a visit, by what is known
as the Pará estuary. The blue ocean had been left the day before.
Passing some islands bearing clumps of palms, anchor was dropped in
front of the city of Pará, a gun fired from the bridge, and immediately
a fleet of shore-boats came off, keeping at a respectable distance,
however, until the board of health, customs, and other formalities
usual upon entering a Brazilian port had been observed; but no sooner
had permission been given, than the deck was swarming with men seeking
fares.
'You wan a boat go ashore, sir?' inquired a demure swarthy man about
fifty, who stood twirling his cap in hand; 'cos I take you for five
shillins, carry what you got to hotel; an if you like to give me
anything afterwards, much obliged.'
'That will do!' I returned. And in a few minutes we were speeding
towards the landing-place--a flight of wooden steps, crowded with men
and boys, anxious to know the latest home prices of india-rubber and
other products. The heat was excessive. Not a breath of air stirred
on shore; and although longing to ramble through the town, I felt it
advisable to rest a while first; so we went direct to the Hotel de
Commercio in the Rua da Industria, kept by M. Leduc, an enterprising
Frenchman. Here, single rooms with food run from ten to fifteen
shillings per diem. The food is excellent, everything considered;
but the rooms are dirty and unfurnished, having each but one
chair--invariably broken--a hammock slung in a corner, and a hard bed
and straw bolster covered with but one sheet. The sanitary arrangements
too are far from perfect.
Most places are celebrated for something; Pará is celebrated amongst
other things for its bats. Enormous specimens, a foot or two across the
wings, may be seen banging to and fro about the veranda and bedrooms;
beetles and cockroaches abound too; but there are places up the river
where these are an infinitely greater plague.
The town of Pará is situated about seventy miles from the Atlantic.
It has several spacious squares, such as the Praças do Cuartel,
marine arsenal, government palace, and Mercado. If clangour of bells
and cracking of rockets above steeples at high mass are indicative
of religious enthusiasm, the Paraenses ought to be very devout.
They certainly are not badly off for churches, of which I counted a
considerable number.
The streets in this Brazilian town are laid out at right angles,
upon the American block plan; half-a-dozen are paved with limestone
from Lisbon--brought as ballast, which is cheaper than getting it
from Rio Janeiro; and facing the river are a number of houses three
stories high, some with staffs from upper balconies, from which droop
consular flags. Elsewhere, dwelling-houses are usually one and two
stories only. The favourite colour of Brazilians is green, and doors
and windows, in fact every kind of wood-work, are as verdant as the
forests that surround the town. Few shops boast of glass windows, on
account of the deteriorative action of the sun upon goods exposed; but
some wholesale firms exhibit a considerable variety of merchandise in
their tunnel-shaped stores, where clerks are seen poring over ledgers
in their shirt-sleeves. A seawall running the whole length of the
river-frontage is in course of construction; and when finished, and
the intervening space between it and the shore is filled up and built
upon or paved, the appearance of the city will be decidedly enhanced,
and its sanitary condition improved; for until recently, every kind
of filth and rubbish was shot into the river, where at low-tide it
generated a miasma enough to breed a pestilence.
Brazilians of social position rarely bring up their sons to trade,
but strive to gain them government employ or entrance into one of the
learned professions. It happens, however, that a university career is
essential for the acquisition of a diploma; and as a large percentage
of Brazilian youth entertain a hearty detestation for books, indulgent
parents openly resort to influence, patronage, and intrigue, to enable
their high-spirited though wonderfully delicate sons to live on the
imperial exchequer. Paraense tradesmen are chiefly Portuguese; and it
really is astonishing how rapidly one of these worthies gets on after
his arrival in Pará; for he usually leaves the steerage of an English
vessel with nothing but the clothes on his back, a strong constitution,
and a bag of consecrated charms suspended from a string round his neck.
Accustomed to hard work and poor fare at home, he considers himself
well off with two mil reis or four shillings per diem; and as shibé
or farinha and water is very filling, and goes down with a gusto if
seasoned with an onion, he soon saves enough to purchase a horse and
cart, or maybe send to Lisbon for a stout boat painted green and red.
By thrift and economy his pile of mil rei notes steadily increases
in dimensions; and one fine morning he opens a provision store and
taberna, and begins to see his way to fortune. How complacently he
smiles as he pours out vintems-worth of cashaça to negro labourers!
How carefully he weighs bacalhão and farinha for stout Cafuza women
(half Indian and negro), who balance basins upon the head, smoke short
wooden-stemmed black-bowled pipes, and walk about bare-footed with
light print skirts and no body! He knows the reckless native has no
thought for the morrow, but spends his money as fast as it is received.
Shortly after my arrival in Pará I was invited by Mr Henderson, a
Scotch merchant, to take up my quarters in his charming roçinha at the
outskirts of Nazaré, where I remained a little over three months. Our
house was large and roomy, with immense wooden window-shutters, which
were kept open from early morning till we retired at night, so as to
admit as much fresh air as possible. The rainy season had set in, and
every day we were favoured with a tropical thunderstorm of more or
less violence. I often watched the approach of these storms from the
dining-room balconies of Leduc's hotel, which command a splendid view
of the river. Distant peals of thunder herald the coming storm, and
gusts of wind that rattle shrunken doors and whistle through crazy
windows, impart a welcome freshness to the sweltering stagnant air.
Steamships at anchor have their funnels covered with snowy conical
caps, to keep out the deluge; barges taking in or giving out cargo are
hastily covered with tarpaulin; streets become deserted, except by
vehicles drawn by miserable horses, that firmly compose themselves for
a doze till the down-pour passes over; while clouds of vultures fly
against the gale, to inhale as much fresh air as possible after their
ghastly repast. A steady approaching line of dense gray clouds with a
ragged blue fringe diminishes the horizon; thunder-claps grow louder
and more frequent; big drops patter upon the red-tiled roofs; and then
falls a deluge upon house-tops, that rolls into the streets below in a
perfect cascade. Anything beyond ejaculatory conversation is quite out
of the question, for the noise is simply deafening; and although, from
the vivid flashes of lightning, we know it is thundering big-guns, we
hear nothing beyond the crash of rain.
While the tempest lasts we tumble into our hammocks and endeavour to
escape drops that trickle between the tiles; and in half an hour
proceed to the balcony to see how matters look outside. The storm has
passed over, and the horizon grows clearer; the islands in front are
lit up with rays of golden sunshine, that stream through rifts in the
leaden clouds upon the emerald expanse of forest; sleepy horses are
awoke by drivers, who hit them over the nose with a stick and inquire
what is ailing; foot-passengers with coloured umbrellas pick their way
tiptoe amid miniature lakes, seas, and channels that flood the road;
steamboats are the cleaner for their washing; vultures stand upon
houses, palacios, and churches, with wings outstretched to dry; and
by-and-by in the azure heavens float mountains of fleecy clouds that
playfully emit flashes of lightning as they collide, until night draws
near; and as the sun sinks beneath the western forests, pale stars peep
forth, proclaiming the close of another day.
Mr Henderson's house was so far distant from Pará that no noise reached
us from the city excepting the occasional crack of a rocket, a faint
bugle-call, or gun-fire of a boat announcing the arrival of a foreign
mail. The noise of insect life, especially during the middle watches
of the night, imparted a sense of loneliness, of being shut out from
the world. There was an incessant hum, chirp, burr, and whir, and every
now and then a bull-frog would 'Woof, woof!' smaller frogs shout 'Hoy,
hoy, hoy!' night-birds fly over the roof, emitting weird shrill cries;
and what with the kissing conversation of bats, bites of sanguinary
carpanás or mosquitoes, the tickling sensation of jiggers in my toes,
and the fear of being wound up by a scorpion, centipede, tarantula, or
maybe poisonous snake, I frequently kept awake till towards morning,
when thoroughly overcome with watching and fatigue, I would fall into a
profound and refreshing sleep.
At daybreak we always had a cup of delicious fragrant black coffee;
and while the heavy dew spangled every leaf and blade of grass, I
frequently went for a walk down the newly cut roads into the forest,
when I would be sure to be overtaken by the early train going out with
female slaves and batches of children of all shades of black, white,
and copper colour, to breathe the cooler air of the forest glades. In
anticipation of the probable extension of the city, an immense area of
forest has been divided into blocks by spacious parallel avenues, to be
intersected by streets at equidistant right angles. The open spaces are
covered with short capim or grass; but however much one may delight to
stroll about in the shade, he is sure to have his legs covered with an
almost invisible mite called moquim, that causes an itch almost enough
to drive one frantic, especially at night; and very likely a number of
carrapatos into the bargain. It is dangerous to scratch where moquim
have settled, for running sores difficult to heal usually follow. I
have seen Europeans and North Americans from the States with legs in
a frightful condition, in fact lamed through scratching the skin till
sore. An immediate, agreeable, and effectual remedy against moquim,
though they be ever so numerous, is to sponge the body with cashaça,
the common white rum of the country. Carrapatos differ in size. These
tiny pests are about as large as a pin's head; and the horse tick about
three or four times larger still. Both settle upon the clothes, or
crawl up the legs, laying hold of the flesh with serrated fangs, and
adhering so tenaciously that it is impossible to remove them entire;
and to leave a portion sticking to the skin is certain to produce
an ugly sore. The best way to get rid of this loathsome acaride is
to sponge it well with spirits of any kind, when it will soon drop
off; a hint which may be useful to Europeans who are pestered with
harvest-bugs.
The forest round Pará naturally strikes a European as superlatively
grand. It is only, however, upon interior high lands that vegetation
attains the height, dimensions, and luxuriance that captivate and
bewilder the senses. It wholly differs from anything found in temperate
climes; and the stranger never tires of new forms of life and beauty
that momentarily meet his gaze, and indicate an exuberance and
prodigality surpassing his grandest ideal home conceptions. Accustomed
only to individual forms as seen in home conservatories, the mind
becomes bewildered when countless specimens of equatorial growth are
massed together. Instead of gnarled and knotted oaks whose venerable
appearance denote centuries of battle against fierce autumn storms and
icy northern blasts, there is a lithe youthfulness even about veritable
giants; and though a tree may be dead and hollow within, luxuriance
of verdant parasitical plants lends a charming illusion, and hides
the fact from view. Light, heat, air, and moisture are essential for
the proper development of the richer forms of parasitical life; hence
on water frontage and in some of the quiet avenues where I loved
to stroll, I observed exhibitions of lavish profusion which rather
resembled the dreams of fairyland than the realities of actual life. In
one spot, a compact mass of tiny foliage would drape a number of lofty
trees to the ground; in another, eccentrically arranged festoons and
garlands sprinkled with occasional scarlet and violet passion-flowers
decorated some hundreds of feet without a single break; while further
on, endless picturesque, artistic, and graceful combinations ravished
the sight, and awoke reverential and exquisitely happy emotions.
On both sides of avenues near the trees the ground is closely covered
with beautiful lycopodium moss. Its favourite place of growth is on
shady clearings, though it seems to grow best where timber has been
burned on the ground. A foreigner desirous of learning how to take
forest bearings without a compass cannot do better than cut his way
into one of the furthest blocks in the district beyond Nazaré. He knows
he cannot be lost, from the fact of roads existing on every side;
hence he may go to work deliberately, and be under no apprehension
as to result. In these spots where undergrowth has not been touched
will be found solitary specimens of the curuá, a pretty ground-palm
that shoots a number of long fronds from the centre, in which stands
a smooth slender spathe, employed in thatching. The broken stems of
slim palms shew where young assaís have been cut down for the sake
of bunches of cherry-looking fruit employed in the manufacture of a
refresco. Assaí is drunk by everybody in Amazonia when they can get it,
at all hours of the day and before and after meals. Five or six gallons
of the fruit, each about the size of a marble, are usually piled in
a large iron basin containing a requisite proportion of water; the
mass is then worked over and over till the outer pulpy skin is worked
off; the bare kernels are taken out, and at the bottom remains a rich
violet-coloured liquid, that may be imbibed _ad lib._ It is best mixed
with farinha seca and sugar, and eaten with a spoon. A liking for it is
soon acquired, and it is not considered good taste to refuse a cuya or
calabash of assaí when offered by a lady.
Every shrub, plant, and tree, and almost every blade and leaf of grass,
is covered with insect life. Ants are the most common, and meet the eye
everywhere. It is impossible to go far without coming across tumuli of
hard mud four feet high; and huge coffee-coloured excrescences standing
out upon the trunks of trees indicate where copim or white ants have
taken up their abode. A few days after my arrival at Mr Henderson's,
I noticed the front of our house was covered with what appeared to me
to be streaks of mud; and feeling convinced they had not been there
the day before, I proceeded to examine them, and found the lines were
neatly constructed covered-ways. Myriads of white ants were travelling
backwards and forwards; and no doubt a colony had made up its mind to
devour as much of the wood-work as possible, and by way of change,
shew students how to rapidly get through and digest good books. I saw
two volumes of _Chambers's Information_ which had been drilled by
these indefatigable workers as neatly as though the holes had been
punched by an awl. The covered-way hides the workers from quick-sighted
insectivorous birds, especially woodpeckers. Domestic fowls, lizards,
toads, armadillos, and tamanduas destroy vast numbers. The largest and
most numerous ants I have seen were in the Campos between the Xingú
and Tapajóz. Near the hill-slopes a few miles from Santarem, it is
simply impossible to preserve a house from attack, and very frequently
a huge nest actually hangs from the ridge-pole. The ant, however, which
attracts most attention is the saúba. It marches in columns, each
member carrying a triangular or circular section of a leaf larger than
itself. The only way to turn them from a garden is by sweeping the
track with a flaming branch for a distance of forty or fifty yards;
but as new excursions will probably be made during the night, one
often finds that they have paid a visit and departed, leaving perhaps
a favourite orange tree entirely denuded of foliage. A big ant called
the tucandera is very common just outside Pará; indeed it is hardly
possible to walk many yards in the forest without meeting it: the bite
inflicts excruciating agony. I have never been stung by a scorpion
or bitten by a centipede; but I have been nipped by a tucandera, and
can quite believe that the pain inflicted is more severe than that of
either of the two former.
What with the uproar of çicadas, chirping of grasshoppers, screaming
of parrots, cawing of aráras or macaws (the cry of this splendidly
plumaged bird closely resembles ára, arára, hence its name), plaintive
notes of japím and toucans, and numerous other indescribable sounds,
the attention of the new-comer is kept continually upon the _qui vive_
until eleven o'clock, when the intense oven-like heat warns him it is
time to return. Emerging from the forest into one of the avenues the
sun will be found nearly overhead; lizards of all sizes--that is to
say from three inches to four feet in length--dart across the path and
scuttle into the bush; and here and there a snake has to be guarded
against, and if need be killed, with the short sapling which every
pedestrian ought to carry. Upon reaching home I usually took a bath,
had a substantial breakfast, and rested till the unfailing thunderstorm
cooled the atmosphere.