ENVIRONS OF PARA.
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.
A TROPICAL PLANT.
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 Pará, but nobody in this busy nineteenth century thinks of stopping to pronounce it; it is called simply 'Pará,' 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.