第5章

PARA

Arrival--Aspect of the Country--The Para River--First Walk in the Suburbs of Para--Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the Suburbs--Leaf-carrying Ant--Sketch of the Climate, History, and present Condition of Para.

I embarked at Liverpool, with Mr.Wallace, in a small trading vessel, on the 26th of April, 1848; and, after a swift passage from the Irish Channel to the equator, arrived, on the 26th of May, off Salinas.This is the pilot-station for vessels bound to Para, the only port of entry to the vast region watered by the Amazons.It is a small village, formerly a missionary settlement of the Jesuits, situated a few miles to the eastward of the Para River.Here the ship anchored in the open sea at a distance of six miles from the shore, the shallowness of the water far out around the mouth of the great river not permitting, in safety, a nearer approach; and, the signal was hoisted for a pilot.

It was with deep interest that my companion and myself, both now about to see and examine the beauties of a tropical country for the first time, gazed on the land where I, at least, eventually spent eleven of the best years of my life.To the eastward the country was not remarkable in appearance, being slightly undulating, with bare sandhills and scattered trees; but to the westward, stretching towards the mouth of the river, we could see through the captain's glass a long line of forest, rising apparently out of the water; a densely-packed mass of tall trees, broken into groups, and finally into single trees, as it dwindled away in the distance.This was the frontier, in this direction, of the great primaeval forest characteristic of this region, which contains so many wonders in its recesses, and clothes the whole surface of the country for two thousand miles from this point to the foot of the Andes.

On the following day and night we sailed, with a light wind, partly aided by the tide, up the Para river.Towards evening we passed Vigia and Colares, two fishing villages, and saw many native canoes, which seemed like toys beneath the lofty walls of dark forest.The air was excessively close, the sky overcast, and sheet lightning played almost incessantly around the horizon-- an appropriate greeting on the threshold of a country lying close under the equator! The evening was calm, this being the season when the winds are not strong, so we glided along in a noiseless manner, which contrasted pleasantly with the unceasing turmoil to which we had been lately accustomed on the Atlantic.The immensity of the river struck us greatly, for although sailing sometimes at a distance of eight or nine miles from the eastern bank, the opposite shore was at no time visible.Indeed, the Para river is thirty-six miles in breadth at its mouth; and at the city of Para, nearly seventy miles from the sea, it is twenty miles wide; but at that point, a series of islands commences which contracts the riverview in front of the port.

On the morning of the 28th of May, we arrived at our destination.

The appearance of the city at sunrise was pleasing in the highest degree.It is built on a low tract of land, having only one small rocky elevation at its southern extremity; it, therefore, affords no amphitheatral view from the river; but the white buildings roofed with red tiles, the numerous towers and cupolas of churches and convents, the crowns of palm trees reared above the buildings, all sharply defined against the clear blue sky, give an appearance of lightness and cheerfulness which is most exhilarating.The perpetual forest hems the city in on all sides landwards; and towards the suburbs, picturesque country houses are seen scattered about, half buried in luxuriant foliage.The port was full of native canoes and other vessels, large and small; and the ringing of bells and firing of rockets, announcing the dawn of some Roman Catholic festival day, showed that the population was astir at that early hour.

We went ashore in due time, and were kindly received by Mr.

Miller, the consignee of the vessel, who invited us to make his house our home until we could obtain a suitable residence.On landing, the hot moist mouldy air, which seemed to strike from the ground and walls, reminded me of the atmosphere of tropical stoves at Kew.In the course of the afternoon a heavy shower fell, and in the evening, the atmosphere having been cooled by the rain, we walked about a mile out of town to the residence of an American gentleman to whom our host wished to introduce us.

The impressions received during this first walk can never wholly fade from my mind.After traversing the few streets of tall, gloomy, convent-looking buildings near the port, inhabited chiefly by merchants and shopkeepers, along which idle soldiers, dressed in shabby uniforms carrying their muskets carelessly over their arms, priests, negresses with red water-jars on their heads, sad-looking Indian women carrying their naked children astride on their hips, and other samples of the motley life of the place, we passed down a long narrow street leading to the suburbs.Beyond this, our road lay across a grassy common into a picturesque lane leading to the virgin forest.The long street was inhabited by the poorer class of the population.The houses were of one story only, and had an irregular and mean appearance.

The windows were without glass, having, instead, projecting lattice casements.The street was unpaved, and inches deep in loose sand.Groups of people were cooling themselves outside their doors-- people of all shades in colour of skin, European, Negro and Indian, but chiefly an uncertain mixture of the three.