William Lewis Herndon, Lieutenant, U.S.N.

“ The common sentiment of the civilized world is against the renewal of the African slave trade; therefore must Brazil turn elsewhere for the compulsory labor necessary to cultivate her lands. Her Indians will not work. Like the llama of Peru, they will die sooner than do more than is necessary for the support of their being. ”

“ But the principal charm of Pará, as of all other tropical places, is the Dolce far niente (carefree idleness) . Men, in these countries, are not ambitious. They are not annoyed, as the more masculine people of colder climates are, to see their neighbors going ahead of them. They are contented to live, and to enjoy, without labor, the fruits which the earth spontaneously offers ”

“ I imagine that the city will now never be entirely free from either; and the filthy condition in which the low tide leaves the slips, in which lie the small trading craft, must be a fruitful source of malaria, and an ever-exciting cause of epidemic. ”

“ By a law of Brazil, the estate of any foreigner who may die in this country is subject to the jurisdiction of the Juiz dos Ausentes e difuntos. A will is no protection to the property, but it must be ‘recovered, availed, and deposited in the public depository by a juiz competente.’ The getting hold of the property by the heirs to an estate is a tedious and expensive process; and when the inheritance consists of real estate, about twenty per cent. ”

“ In the whole city of Pará, I am told, there are not a dozen Brazilians engaged in trade of any kind. The women are simple, frank, and engaging in their manners, and very fond of evening parties and dancing. ”

“ Gentlemen maintain horses and milch cows in Pará, or its neighborhood. These are fed generally on American hay. Some small quantity of grass is to be had from the rocinhacs, or small farms, in the environs of the city; and a tolerably good food for cattle is had from a fine flour, found between the chaff and grain of rice. This is called muinha, (qumi, in Maranham,) and is very extensively used, mixed with the chaff.
The island of Marajó is very much cut up with creeks, which, in the rainy season, overflow the low land, and form marshes, which are the graves of a great number of cattle. ”

“ The Brazilians have what I conceive to be a very proper horror of taking life judicially. They do not shrink in battle; and sudden anger and jealousy will readily induce them to kill; but I imagine the instances of capital punishment are very rare in Brazil. ”

“ To make, then, the rich and varied productions of this country available for commercial purposes, and to satisfy the artificial wants of man, it is necessary that labor should be compulsory. To Brazil and her political economists belongs the task of investigation, and of deciding how, and by what method, this shall be brought about. ”

“ These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organization furnishes a very striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons and long, slender reeds, surround the pool closely, and some climb upon the trees, the branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. ”

“ Produce coming from an interior province — such as dry hides — does not pay the meio dezimno of five per cent., as it is paid at the time of embarking at the place of production; and this duty, together with freight, labor, &c., enters into the cost price of the merchandise at this port, which is the only shipping port for the provinces of Pará and Amazonas.
“There are no dock, trade, nor city dues to be paid at this port.
“Lighters are hired at two dollars per day; they carry from forty to fifty tons. ”

“ The cattle, at this season, are also crowded together on the knolls of land that are above the waters in the inundation, and many of them fall a prey to the ounces, which abound on the island. These creeks are also filled with alligators. Mr. Smith, former consul at Pará, told me that he had seen the carcass of one there which was thirty feet long.
I saw a number of curious and beautiful animals in Pará. Mr. Norris had some electric eels, and a pair of large and beautiful anacondas. ”

“ The crews of these vessels, with their families, generally live in them. They are consequently crowded; and, when the tide is out, they lie on their sides, imbedded in a mass of refuse animal and vegetable matter, rotting and festering under a burning sun. ”

“ Electric eels are found in great numbers in the creeks and ditches about Pará. The largest I have seen was about four inches in diameter, and five feet in length. Their shock, to me, was unpleasant, but not painful. Some persons, however, are much more susceptible than others. Captain Lee, of the Dolphin, could not feel at all the shock of an eel, which affected a lady so strongly as to cause her to reel, and nearly fall. Animals seem more powerfully affected than men. ”

“ The rich vegetable productions of the country enhance much the beauty of the city. In nearly all the gardens grow the beautiful miriti palm, the cabbage palm, the cocoa-nut, the cinnamon, the bread-fruit tree, and rich green vines of black pepper. ”

“ An appeal lies from his court, both by himself and the defendant, to a higher court, called the Court of Relacao, which sits in Maranham and has jurisdiction over the two provinces of Maranham and Pará. There are three or four such courts in the empire, and an appeal lies from them to the Supreme Court at Rio de Janeiro.
Persons complain bitterly of the delay and vexations in the administration of justice. I have heard of cases of criminals confined in jail for years, both in Peru and Brazil, waiting for trial. ”

“ Cash usually has the advantage over barter on the price of produce to the amount of from five to ten per cent. The American business is done chiefly for cash, while English, French, and Portuguese, is chiefly for barter ”

“ The coloring matter is a red powder covering the seed, the principal of which is obtained by soaking the seed in water for twenty-four hours, then passing them between revolving cylinders, and grinding them to a pulp. ”

“ They held, however, most of the towns on the river above Pará till late in the year 1837. They did immense mischief, putting many whites to death with unheard-of barbarity, and destroying their crops and cattle. The province was thus put back many years. I think that the causes which gave rise to that insurrection still exist; and I believe that a designing and able man could readily induce the tapuios to rise upon their patrons. ”

“ It is natural that the effect felt by the horses should be more powerful than that produced upon man, by the touch of the same fish at only one of his extremities. The horses are probably not killed, but only stunned. They are drowned, from the impossibility of rising, amid the prolonged struggle between the other horses and the eels. ”

“ A large convent of the Jesuits, near the cathedral, having a very ornate and pretty chapel attached, is now used as a bishop’s palace, and a theological seminary. The officers of the seminary are a rector, a vice-rector, and six professors; its students number one hundred and fifteen; its rental is about five thousand dollars, of which one thousand is given from the provincial treasury; and it teaches Latin, the languages, philosophy, theology, history, geography, and vocal and instrumental music.
There are but two convents in Pará — one of the order of St. ”

“ The usual commission for the purchase and shipment of goods is two and a half per centum, and is the same on all description of produce.
“The American trade, with few exceptions, is conducted either by partners or agents of houses at home; consequently brokers are never employed to buy produce, and no brokerage is paid. When foreign.
354 COMMERCE.
goods are sold at auction, the commission paid is one per cent. ”

“ In a few minutes we had five large eels, the greater part of which were but slightly wounded.”
The shops of Pará are well supplied with English, French, and American goods. The groceries generally come from Portugal. The warehouses are piled with heaps of India-rubber, nuts, hides, and baskets of annatto. This pigment is made from the seed of a burr, which grows on a bush, called urucu in Brazil, and achote in Peru. In the latter country, it grows wild, in great abundance ”

“ It is necessary that the ground should be kept clean, the suckers pulled up, and the tree trimmed, to prevent too luxuriant a growth, and to give room, so that the branches shall not interlock. The tree grows to ten or fifteen feet in height, and gives its first crop in a year and a half. It afterwards gives two crops a year. Each tree will give three or four pounds of seed in the year, which are about the size of No. ”

“ Crime — such as violence, wrong, stealing, drunkenness, &c. — is very rare in Pará. Probably the people are too lazy to be bad.
The province covers an area of about 360,000 square miles, and has a population of 129,828 free persons, with 33,552 slaves.
Much as it needs population, it has suffered, from time to time, considerable drainage. It is calculated that from ten to twelve thousand persons were killed by the insurrection of the [] Cabanos, in 1835. Since that time ten thousand have been drawn from it as soldiers for the
THE WAR OF THE CABANOS. 345
southern wars ”