CHAPTER XX.

PARA.--ITS BUSINESS AND CHARACTERISTICS.--THE ISLAND OF MARAJO.--DOWN THE COAST.--PERNAMBUCO.--THE SUGAR INDUSTRY.

Para is an important seaport, and has regular communication with Europe and America by several lines of steamers. Naturally, the trade of the Amazon Valley centres here; Para is nearer to Europe and North America than is Rio Janeiro, and therefore it possesses great commercial advantages over the capital. It has a population of little less than fifty thousand, and but for the political troubles which have fallen upon it at different times, and the laws which hamper commerce, it would have more than double that number of inhabitants.

We will read what Frank and Fred had to say of their visit to this _entrepot_ of the Amazon.

"It was a great pleasure to us to reach this place, the first real city we had seen since we left Lima months ago, and thousands of miles away. Here we find gas and street railways; theatres and hotels; paved streets, and markets with roofs; houses elegantly furnished, and built as though intended for something more enduring than the thatched huts of the interior; public and private carriages, though not many of the latter; well-dressed men and women; churches and schools; prosperous merchants and extensive commercial houses, together with many other attributes of a permanent city. Several visitors have remarked that it was founded in the year that saw the death of Shakespeare, and we will follow their example. Its history dates from 1616, when Francesco Caldeira laid the foundations of a fort which was intended to close the Amazon River to foreigners who had begun trading with the Indians. Its full name is Santa Maria do Belem do Gram Para, but nobody in this busy nineteenth century thinks of stopping to pronounce it; it is called simply 'Para,' with the accent on the last syllable.

"It has had several insurrections, which have retarded its prosperity and caused the death of many of its citizens. In one of these insurrections two hundred and fifty of the most prominent participants were carried on board a ship in the harbor, and confined in the hold. There was no ventilation, and the prisoners struggled and fought for air; those who came near the hatches were shot, and finally the hatches were nailed up. They remained closed until the next morning, when only four persons were found alive! It was the Black Hole of Calcutta of the western hemisphere!

"In a later revolt, thirteen war-ships that had been sent from Rio Janeiro were sunk by the guns of the fort, but a land force of soldiers succeeded in restoring the national authority and suppressing the insurrection. Since that time the city treasury has been plundered by successive 'rings,' resembling the Tweed organization in New York, and altogether Para has had a hard experience. At present it is said to be in honest hands, and we hope it may always remain so.

"Our first walk was through the commercial quarter, where we found most of the buildings solidly constructed, and generally two stories high; they are of brick or stone, plastered on the outside, and either painted or whitewashed so that the exact nature of their material is not readily ascertained. Formerly most of the merchants lived above their offices, but of late years they have established residences in other parts of the city, and the old fashion of living is generally abandoned.

"We entered the first tram or street-railway car that we saw, and rode out nearly five miles along the beautiful Rua de Nazareth, or Nazareth Avenue, to Marco da Legua, the terminus of the line. Here we found the public wells of the city, and a great crowd of negro laundresses, besides the water-carriers, with their water-hogsheads mounted on wheels. They were as noisy as they were numerous, and so loud and animated was the conversation that we looked around every moment, expecting a fight with a free use of knives. Happily they confined themselves to words and gesticulations, and we have no scene of bloodshed to record.

"The water-carriers are generally known as _Gallegos_; the term is a contemptuous one, applied by the Portuguese to the Spanish emigrants from Galicia, who go to the cities of Portugal and embrace the occupation of carrying water. The Brazilians have adopted the word, and apply it to the Portuguese; a good deal of enmity is kept alive by its use, which is as offensive to an inhabitant of Para as the term 'Paddy' applied to an emigrant from the Emerald Isle, in an American city.

"For the first two miles of its course the Rua de Nazareth is lined with pretty dwelling-houses, and every year there is an addition to the number. Few avenues that we have seen are more picturesque than this. The sidewalks are shaded with tropical trees, and the air is filled with the odor of lemon and orange blossoms, together with similar floral perfumes. In our morning's ride we saw, on this avenue, and on some of the streets leading from it, not less than a dozen varieties of trees peculiar to the region of the equator, and we needed to shut our eyes only for a moment to imagine ourselves again in Singapore or beneath the tropical sky of Ceylon.

"Orange and lemon trees alternated with traveller's palms and silk-cotton trees, and these again with the producers of the almond and cocoa-nut. One of the most attractive of the arboreal ornaments is the silk-cotton tree; it has a broad base, tapering rapidly towards the top, where it spreads out into a leafy tuft like that of the palm. It is an evergreen, and the changes of the seasons make no difference in its foliage. The product that gives the name to the tree is a species of cotton, as soft as silk; it can be spun and woven, and is used by the Indians for wrapping the arrows of their blow-guns to prevent the escape of air when the weapon is discharged.

"We came to the Largo de Nazareth, or Nazareth Square, which must have been named by a Hibernian, as it is round, and not rectangular. It contains the church and chapel where Our Lady of Nazareth is worshipped; on our return from the end of the railway we stopped at the square and visited the revered place. What struck us particularly was the great number of votive offerings on the walls of the church and chapel; they represent heads and limbs of the faithful who have been cured of diseases through the interposition of the patron saint of the edifice. We had seen the same sort of things in European churches, but the large number at Para seems to indicate that the cures have been as numerous as they are miraculous.

"The festival of Our Lady of Nazareth occurs in October, and the event draws great numbers of people to Para from all the provinces of the Amazon. It lasts for two weeks, and during that time the square is crowded, especially at night, and many of the scenes that are witnessed at that period are anything but pious. There are many festivals during the course of the year, somewhat to the inconvenience of visitors, as it is the rule to close the government offices on these days, and no business of an official character can be transacted. Many of the laboring classes refuse to work on saints' days, and only those who are in debt to their employers can be required to do so.

"It is proper to remark here that our street-car was drawn by a mule, this animal being generally preferred to the horse. He is said to endure the heat better than the nobler beast, and certainly he has a good deal of it to endure. The average temperature of Para is not far from eighty degrees, and there is very little variation. Overcoats, except for rain, are of no use here, and thick clothing is at a discount. We find ourselves entirely comfortable in blue serge by day, and do not require blankets at night.

"It is hottest about two o'clock in the afternoon, but the heat is always tempered by the breeze from the ocean. Five days out of six there is an afternoon shower, and as the air is laden with moisture taken up from the sea the streets of Para are never dry and dusty. The paved ones are not the best in the world; they are full of ruts and hollows, and any one who rides in a carriage is pretty certain to be shaken violently in every joint before reaching his journey's end. As for the unpaved streets, they are often deep with sandy mud which makes very disagreeable walking.

"We have voted unanimously that most of the ladies of Para that we have seen are pretty, but unfortunately they are not many. The women of the upper classes are quite secluded; they rarely appear on the street except on their way to or from church, and they do not often receive company. Their features are Portuguese, with black hair, and a decidedly brunette tinge to their complexions. We have bought a photograph of one of the belles of Para and enclose it in this letter.

"But though we have seen few of the ladies of Para, we have not been deprived of a sight of the people of the lower classes. The wealthy and commercial population includes Portuguese and native Brazilians, together with English, German, French, Italians, and a few North Americans from the United States. The great mass of the inhabitants are Indians, negroes, Chinese, and some others who cannot be readily classified.

"The best place to study the lower classes is at the market, which is an active place in the early hours of the day. We went there on our second morning, and our attention was at once drawn to the piles of bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons, and all other tropical fruits you could think of, besides a great number you could not possibly name. Then there were garden vegetables and tobacco, baskets of flowers, heaps of fish, cages of chickens and other fowls, and a lot of monkeys and parrots that made noise enough for a menagerie. We have a suspicion that the parrots are disposed of as chickens to the restaurants, while the monkeys are useful as a substitute for spring lamb.

"The Indian and negro women sat or stood in the vicinity of their stalls, and chatted freely with each other in the intervals of waiting on their customers. Most of the chatting was done by the negresses; the Indian women manifested a good deal of the taciturnity for which Indians are famous through both North and South America. Two or three priests wandered through the market, occasionally stopping to say a word to the peasant women, whose bright garments made a marked contrast to the ecclesiastical black robes. The market is held in a large building which surrounds an open square; the centre of the square is devoted to the sale of meat and fish, while the roofed portion contains the stalls where other edibles are displayed.

"It is an easy step from the market to the theatre, and it may surprise you to know that this city of fifty thousand inhabitants has one of the finest theatres on the American continent. The interior reminds us of the Scala at Milan, or the San Carlo at Naples; it has five tiers of boxes, and each box has a little anteroom where the occupants receive and entertain their friends between the acts. And if no friends are calling, the ladies and gentlemen promenade in the corridors and through a large ball-room which fills the front of the building. Everybody likes this part of the entertainment better than the performance on the stage, and in order to accommodate them the waits between the acts are very long.

"The outside of the theatre has deep alcoves on three sides supported by massive pillars, affording shelter from the rain and furnishing a delightful promenade. When performances are given the square in front of the theatre is crowded with people and carriages, and the lights flashing from the interior illumine the scene with a brilliant glow. The building was erected just after the close of the war with Paraguay; to commemorate that event it was named "The Theatre of Our Lady of The Peace." That the city can afford such a theatre and support it is an indication of the commercial prosperity of Para.

"There are six large churches in Para, and there are a post-office and a custom-house, together with the other public buildings of a first-class seaport. The government palace would do honor to any city in the world, and it has a marble staircase which is the perfection of architectural beauty. Then comes the Portuguese Hospital, which has few superiors anywhere; Dr. Bronson says it is a model of neatness and order, and bears every indication that it is admirably managed. A student of skin diseases would find a good field for observation in Para. The hot and damp air of the Amazon causes numerous sores, and they are very difficult to heal; the hospital is full of cases of this kind, and they tax to the utmost the skill of the physicians in charge.

"So much for Para, and now for its environs.

"Para is at the edge of a swamp, and so luxuriant is the vegetation in the rear of the city that it is said to be necessary to keep a sergeant and a squad of police constantly on guard to prevent encroachments. We are seventy-five miles from the sea, and the way thither is through the great estuary, or Para River, which is so wide that both banks are not visible at the same time.

"Para is on the southern side of this estuary; opposite is the island of Marajo, one hundred and fifty miles in length, and about one hundred miles wide in its broadest part. Half of it is covered with forest, and the other, the northeastern half, with an extensive _campos_ or prairie, dotted here and there with clumps of trees. The forests are the haunt of rubber collectors, as the rubber-trees are abundant; the campos is an immense grazing land, with a curious history, which is told in this wise:

"The advantages of the island for raising cattle and horses were recognized by the early settlers, who founded _estancias_, or ranches, there, some of them of immense extent. At the end of the last century there were a million horses, and half as many oxen and cows, on the island; the horses were nearly or quite wild, and drove the cattle to the swamps where many of them died. About the year 1825, the settlers complained so much about the ravages of the horses that the government gave licenses permitting enterprising men to slaughter these animals for their hides, and the work of destruction went on rapidly. In a few years hundreds of thousands of horses had been killed off; the bodies were left to rot on the ground, and bred a pestilence which destroyed most of the remaining horses and cattle. Its effects still continue, and the farmers have sought the assistance of government to protect the remaining animals, and stop the ravages of the disease.

"We were not able to visit any of the estancias, but confined our inspection of Marajo to the villages of Sourre and Salvaterra, on the southern side of the island, at the entrance of the Igarape Grande. They are picturesquely situated on opposite banks of the igarape, Sourre being a little farther inland than its sister place with the longer name. We crossed the Para River on a steamer that rolled viciously under the effect of the wind blowing in from the Atlantic, and long before we reached the other shore more than half the passengers were overcome with sea-sickness and unable to move.

"The accommodations were not of the best, but we were accustomed to rough life, and had no reason to complain. Both these places are filled from August to January by many people from Para, to whom Sourre and Salvaterra are as Newport or Long Branch to New-Yorkers. The tide brings in a fine flow of sea-water, and the breezes are stronger and cooler than at the capital city. There is a good beach for bathing, and when it is not occupied by the fashionables it is the scene of a great deal of activity on the part of the natives. We hired a boat and a couple of Indians to paddle us two or three miles up the igarape and back again. The banks are lined with gardens, from which many vegetables are sent to the market of Para.

"In the interior of the island there are farms and plantations where sugar-cane, cacao, cotton, rice, and mandioca are grown, but the greatest industry of Marajo is in the exportation of cattle. The trade is said to reach about ten thousand head every year; horses are scarce, and a good riding animal brings a high price.

"We returned from Sourre by the way we went, and reached Para one day before the steamer was due which would carry us down the coast. This letter will go to New York by the next steamer, and so for the present we will say good-bye.

"FRANK AND FRED.

"P. S.--Our account of Para would be incomplete without an allusion to snakes. In many houses they have snakes of the boa-constrictor family--of the kind we saw on the Amazon--to keep the place clear of rats and mice. They do their work very well, and live on terms of quiet friendship with the biped inhabitants. At Sourre we saw the household snake coiled up in a corner very much as we might see a cat in a New England dwelling; when we manifested a curiosity to look at it one of the servants took the reptile by the neck and held it up to full view until we declared ourselves satisfied with the inspection. The creature did not seem at all angry at his treatment, for as soon as he was released he returned to his corner and resumed his nap.

"We have just visited Monkey Joe's establishment, which is devoted to the sale of monkeys, parrots, snakes, and other Amazonian live-stock. We made no purchases, in spite of the tempting offers at low prices, as we have found one monkey quite as much as we wish to carry in our travels. Outside of the shop a man was standing with a barrel by his side; when we left the place he followed us a short distance and emptied his barrel on the ground. He was a snake-merchant, with a choice selection of rat-killers that he vainly urged us to buy. We left him and his wares; as he was perfectly at home among the wriggling serpents, and had no fear of them, he was unable to understand why we departed so suddenly.

"F. AND F."

Before leaving Para our friends had an experience at the custom-house which was the reverse of pleasing. They had bought some curiosities they wished to send to New York; the formalities of the tariff required them to pay an export duty of seventeen per cent. on the cost of the goods at Para prices, and they learned that on some articles the duties were much larger. This is particularly the case with fine cabinet woods, which are abundant in Brazil, but are very little in demand for shipment to foreign countries, in consequence of the high export tariff.

"Foreign trade can never be prosperous in Brazil," said Dr. Bronson, "until these export duties are removed. In addition to the custom-house tariff at Para, there is a duty on goods carried from one province to another, so that all articles of Brazilian manufacture or production are heavily burdened before they get out of the country. Brazil may become enlightened one of these days, and adopt the practices of other nations in this respect, but for the present she ranks with Turkey and other semi-barbarous countries in keeping a burden upon her home industries."

Frank asked about the import duties on foreign goods.

"They are from five to eighty per cent. on the valuation," replied the Doctor, "and a general average of the duties on importations is about forty per cent. They vary according to the caprice of the official through whose hands the articles may pass, so that one importer may pay twice as much as another on the same kind of goods. Bribery is said to be practised with very little effort at concealment, and an importer may be highly favored in his business by an 'arrangement' with an officer. As long as this state of things continues there will be no great increase in business.

"The Brazilian plan of collecting the revenues is full of absurdities. For example, shoes pay according to the length of the sole, and ready-made clothing is taxed by its weight. The people who came here from the United States to settle in Brazil were required to pay enormous duties on their wagons, farming implements, and other personal property, and in some cases the duties amounted to more than the original cost of the articles they brought. Many of them had invested all their means in farming implements, and found on arrival that they could not remove their property from the custom-house until every cent of the heavy duty had been paid. This was one cause of the discouragements of the emigrants at the beginning, and has deterred others from coming."

From the latest reports at hand Frank ascertained that, of the import trade into the whole of Brazil, England had forty-five per cent., France seventeen per cent., Buenos Ayres seven per cent., the United States five per cent., and Portugal three and one half per cent. Of all the exports from Brazil the United States took forty-five per cent. and Great Britain nine per cent., the rest going principally to France, Germany, and Portugal. England and the United States each take about two thousand five hundred tons of rubber annually, France has most of the cacao, and the other products are about equally divided among the various nations, the United States having probably the largest share. Brazil supplies more than half of the coffee consumed by the rest of the world; it is well known that thousands of tons of Brazilian coffee are sold every year as "Government Java," while Java coffee in its turn is sold as "best Mocha."

In due time the little party embarked on one of the English steamers bound to the southward; in a few hours they had passed out of the estuary of the Para River and were floating on the broad Atlantic. Their first stopping-place was Pernambuco, a distance of fifteen hundred miles, and for much of the way there they were in sight of the coast. A few towns were visible with the aid of glasses, but for the most part there were no more signs of human activity than on the banks of the Amazon.

They had a day at Pernambuco, which has a harbor inside of a long reef affording secure anchorage for small ships. Large steamers anchor outside, and transfer their cargoes by means of lighters. A steam tender came alongside, but as the wind was fair to the shore, and there was likely to be some delay in transferring the mails and express freight, Manuel negotiated for a _jaganda_, which seemed to the youths a twin brother of the _balsa_, whose acquaintance they made on the western coast.

It is a raft with a sail, and the most of the jagandas have a cabin, where a passenger is sheltered from the spray. Frank and Fred greatly enjoyed the sail to the shore, and had the satisfaction of landing at least half an hour in advance of their companion travellers who waited for the tender.

The _recife_ or reef which forms the front of Pernambuco is connected with the city by an iron bridge; at its upper end it is joined to the land by a sand-spit, and the principal business of the place is centred there. As their time was limited, the youths confined their attentions to the old city and the sights of the streets of the newer portion.

Pernambuco stands in an enclosure of mountains that sweep in a semi-circle around a fertile plain. _Recife_ is the business part; _San Antonio_ is the middle district; and _Boa Vista_ may be called the suburb. The city has about one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, and is the third in commercial importance in Brazil. It is the greatest sugar-market of South America, its exportation often reaching twelve hundred thousand tons in a single year. Most of the sugar sent from Pernambuco is of a low grade, and must be refined in the United States or England before going into the market for consumption.

Frank and Fred were not long in finding by observation the chief industry of the city. At every step they saw sugar; it was on the lighters going to the ships in the harbor; it was in the warehouses, where the negro porters were handling sacks filled with it; it was on the backs of pack-horses, coming from the country in great droves; it was heaped on ox-wagons, which filled the streets; in fact, it was here, there, and everywhere. The very atmosphere was redolent with sugar, and the pavements were sticky with molasses. Pernambuco without sugar would be Hamlet without Hamlet.

The streets of the business portion are narrow, and there are traces of Flemish architecture in the buildings erected during the time when Count Moritz of Nassau and his followers were domiciled in Pernambuco. There are houses of many stories, such as we see in cities of Holland, but rarely find in the tropics, where the effort of ascending a stairway is one of the trials of existence. Farther on the streets are wide, and run in straight lines, and they have broad sidewalks, tracks for street cars, and handsome dwellings that might have come from Philadelphia or Baltimore. There are several public edifices that would be creditable anywhere; the market is a model of beauty and good arrangement, and the squares and gardens are handsome and spacious. Time did not permit an excursion into the country nor a visit to one of the sugar plantations in the neighborhood.

Frank learned that within the last few years the most enterprising of the sugar-planters have gone to refining the product of their plantations by means of machinery, much to the consternation of the refiners of England and the United States. The sugar, after being boiled to crystallization, but containing a good deal of molasses, is placed in a cylinder perforated with thousands of small holes that seem to have been made with a pin. The cylinder is whirled around two thousand times a minute; the molasses is thrown off by centrifugal force and the sugar remains. Then a jet of water is introduced, and afterwards a jet of steam; water and steam wash the sugar perfectly clean, and it is then dried and broken into coarse powder. The whole work with the cylinder occupies only a few minutes; the molasses that is thrown off is boiled to make brown sugar, and the second molasses which comes from it is utilized for distillation.