"Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain results from an electrical eel that had been brought to us alive, but much enfeebled, we repaired to the caño de Bera to make our experiments, in the open air, on the borders of the water itself. To catch the gymnoti with nets is very difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the fish, which bury themselves in the mud like serpents. We would not employ the barbasco. These means would have enfeebled the gymnoti. The Indians, therefore, told us that they would 'fish with horses,' 'embarbascar con cavallos.' We found it difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw our guides return from the Savannah, which they had been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the pool.
"The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. 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.
"By their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of their electric batteries. During a long time they seem to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible strokes, which they receive from all sides, in organs the most essential to life; and, stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, they disappear under the water. Others, panting, with mane erect, and haggard eyes, expressing anguish, raise themselves, and endeavor to flee from the storm by which they are overtaken. They are driven back by the Indians into the middle of the water; but a small number succeed in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shocks of the gymnoti.
"In less than five minutes two horses were drowned. The eel, being five feet long, and pressing itself against the belly of the horse, makes a discharge along the whole extent of its electric organ. It attacks, at once, the breast, the intestines, and the plexus cœliacus of the abdominal nerves. 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.
"We had little doubt that the fishing would terminate by killing, successively, all the animals engaged; but, by degrees, the impetuosity of this unequal combat diminished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed. They require a long rest and abundant nourishment, to repair what they have lost of galvanic force. The mules and horses appear less frightened. Their manes are no longer bristled, and their eyes express less dread. The gymnoti approach timidly the edge of the marsh, when they are taken, by means of small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the cords are very dry, the Indians feel no shock in raising the fish into the air. 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 bur, which grows on a bush called urucu in Brazil, and achote in Peru. In the latter country it grows wild, in great abundance; in the former, it is cultivated.
The seed is planted in January. 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. 3, shot, but irregular in shape. They are contained in a prickly bur, about the size and shape of that of the chincapin.
The burs are gathered just before they open, and laid in the sun to dry, when the seed are trodden or beaten out. 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. The pulp is placed in a sieve, called gurupema, made of cotton cloth; water is poured on, and strains through. This operation is repeated twice more, and the pulp is thrown away. The liquor strained off is boiled till it takes the consistence of putty. A little salt is added, and it is packed in baskets of about forty pounds, lined and covered with leaves. It is frequently much adulterated with boiled rice, tapioca, or sand, to increase the weight. The price in Pará is from three to five dollars the arroba, of thirty-two pounds.
An examination of the following tables will give the best idea of the commerce of Pará. The first is an official report furnished to the provincial assembly by the President of the province.
| Years. | Places. | Importation—Value. | Exportation—Value. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relative to each place. | Relative to each year. | Relative to each place. | Relative to each year. | ||
| 1846 | Great Britain | $160,050 | . . . | $117,813 | . . . |
| France | 52,924 | . . . | 107,791 | . . . | |
| Portugal | 87,608 | . . . | 123,156 | . . . | |
| Hanse Towns | 19,993 | . . . | 42,693 | . . . | |
| United States | 235,105 | . . . | 182,742 | . . . | |
| Trieste | . . . | . . . | 3,818 | . . . | |
| Genoa | . . . | . . . | 26,202 | . . . | |
| Spain | 2,627 | . . . | . . . | . . . | |
| Baltic ports | . . . | 12,188 | . . . | . . . | |
| Belgium | 1,995 | $560,302 | 5,649 | $622,052 | |
| 1847 | Great Britain | 211,442 | . . . | 116,881 | . . . |
| France | 131,347 | . . . | 162,546 | . . . | |
| Portugal | 108,431 | . . . | 128,548 | . . . | |
| Hanse Towns | 20,519 | . . . | 18,959 | . . . | |
| United States | 230,531 | . . . | 171,577 | . . . | |
| Trieste | . . . | . . . | 17,182 | . . . | |
| Genoa | 2,577 | . . . | 22,705 | . . . | |
| Belgium | 6,032 | 710,879 | 8,551 | 646,949 | |
| 1848 | Great Britain | 149,774 | . . . | 93,508 | . . . |
| France | 85,856 | . . . | 114,701 | . . . | |
| Portugal | 113,496 | . . . | 146,933 | . . . | |
| Hanse Towns | 9,576 | . . . | 30,012 | . . . | |
| United States | 219,777 | . . . | 145,366 | . . . | |
| Austrian dominions. . . | 2,686 | . . . | . . . | . . . | |
| Genoa | . . . | . . . | 11,609 | . . . | |
| Denmark | 7,638 | . . . | 10,205 | . . . | |
| Belgium | 483 | 589,286 | 12,547 | 564,881 | |