Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/30

 latter is a very hopeful state of things. It seems to be encouraged by the governing class in Brazil; and, by drawing together the races and classes of the heterogeneous population, will doubtless lead to the most happy results. I had afterwards, as I shall have to relate in the course of my narrative, to number free negroes amongst my most esteemed friends: men of temperate, quiet habits, desirous of mental and moral improvement, observant of the minor courtesies of life, and quite as trustworthy, in more important matters, as the whites and half-castes of the province. Isidore was not, perhaps, scrupulously honest in small matters: scrupulous honesty is a rare quality in casual servants anywhere. He took pains to show that he knew he had made a contract to perform certain duties, and he tried, evidently, to perform them to the best of his ability.

Our first walks were in the immediate suburbs of Pará. The city lies on a corner of land formed by the junction of the river Guamá with the Pará. As I have said before, the forest, which covers the whole country, extends close up to the city streets; indeed, the town is built on a tract of cleared land, and is kept free from the jungle only by the constant care of the Government. The surface, though everywhere low, is slightly undulating, so that areas of dry land alternate throughout with areas of swampy ground, the vegetation and animal tenants of the two being widely different. Our residence lay on the side of the city nearest the Guamá, on the borders of one of the low and swampy areas which here extend over a portion of the suburbs. The tract of land is intersected by well-macadamized