The city is divided into the freguezias, or parishes, of Sé and Campina. Nine other freguezias are included in the municipio of the capital; but many of these are leagues distant, and should not geographically be considered as belonging to the city, or their population be numbered in connexion with it.
The population of the city proper numbered, in 1848, (the last statistical account I have, and which I think would differ very little from a census taken at this time,) nine thousand two hundred and eighty-four free persons, and four thousand seven hundred and twenty-six slaves. The number of inhabited houses was two thousand four hundred and eighteen; of births, seven hundred and eighty-five; of marriages, ninety-eight; of deaths, three hundred and seventy-five; and of resident foreigners, seven hundred and eighty-four.
Pará was a remarkably healthy place, and entirely free from epidemics of any kind, until February, 1850, when the yellow fever was taken there by a vessel from Pernambuco. It was originally brought from the coast of Africa to Bahia, and spread thence along the coast. The greatest malignancy of the disease was during the month of April, when it carried off from twenty to twenty-five a day.
About the same time the next year, (the fever being much diminished,) the small pox broke out with great violence. About twenty-five per cent. of the population died from the two diseases. 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.
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.
Pará, however, is an agreeable place of residence, and has a delightful climate. The sun is hot till about noon, when the sea breeze comes in, bringing clouds with rain, thunder, and lightning, which cool and purify the atmosphere, and wash the streets of the city. The afternoon and evening are then delicious. This was invariable during my stay of a month.
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. The rapidity of vegetable growth here is wonderful. Streets opened six months ago in the suburbs of the city, are now filled up with bushes of the stramonium, or Jamestown weed, of full six feet in height. There are a number of almond trees in various parts of the town, which are very ornamental. These trees throw out horizontal branches, encircling the trunk at intervals of five or six feet, the lowest circle being the largest, so that they resemble in shape a Norfolk pine. Mr. Norris and I thought it remarkable that, in a row of these trees planted before a house or line of houses, those nearest the door were invariably the farthest advanced in growth. This we particularly remarked in the case of a row planted before the barracks, in two parts of the city. The tree under which the sentinel stood, in both cases, was the largest of the row.
We saw, in a walk in the suburbs of the town, what we thought to be a palm tree growing out of the crotch of a tree of a different species; but, upon examination, it appeared that the tree, out of which the palm seemed growing, was a creeper, which, embracing the palm near the ground, covered its trunk entirely for fifteen or twenty feet, and then threw off large branches on each side. It may seem strange to call that a creeper, which had branches of at least ten inches in diameter; but so it was. It is called in Cuba the parricide tree, because it invariably kills the tree that supports it. (Har. Mag. January, 1853.)
The most picturesque object, however, in Pará was the ruins of an old opera house near the palace. The luxuriant vegetation of the country has seized upon it, and it presents pillar, arch, and cornice of the most vivid and beautiful green.
The society of Pará is also agreeable. The men, I am sorry to say, seem to be above work. Most of them are Hidalgos, or gentlemen; and nearly all are in the employ of the government, with exceedingly small salaries. 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. I attended a ball, which is given monthly by a society of gentlemen, and was much pleased at the good taste exhibited in its management. Full dress was forbidden. No one was permitted to appear in diamonds; and the consequence was, that all the pretty girls of the merely respectable classes, as well as of the rich, were gathered together, and had a merry time of it.