"Lighters are hired at two dollars per day; they carry from forty to fifty tons.
"Porterage is done by blacks, who place the cargo in the lighters at prices varying, according to the distance carried, from three to four cents per bag of cocoa, India-rubber, &c., and from six to eight cents each for barrels and boxes.
"Nuts and rice in husk are delivered alongside the vessel at the expense of the seller.
"Packages—such as boxes, barrels, and bags—are imported from the United States, and with the exception of barrels, which come filled with flour, pay a duty of thirty per cent.
"The cost of cooperage is eight cents per barrel. All local imports or taxes are paid by the producer, and are included in the selling price of the article. The purchaser receives with the merchandise a receipt that the provincial duty has been paid, which receipt is demanded at the time of exportation to a foreign country or to another province.
"There is so little intercourse with the States bordering on this province, that there are no laws in force regulating the transit of merchandise from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, &c., but all merchandise coming down the Amazon is considered as the produce or manufacture of Brazil.
"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. is consumed by taxes of various kinds, and in some cases, by the collusion of the officers entrusted with settlement, it has disappeared entirely. The French by treaty are exempted from this.
"Not long since, at Maranham, a guard of soldiers was placed around the dwelling of a foreigner about to die, and who was supposed to be possessed of a large amount of personal property. A similar case also occurred here, which has created alarm amongst those of our countrymen who have property invested in this country; for should it be made to appear that, upon the death of one or more of the partners of any of our large mercantile houses, the affairs of the concern must pass into the hands of a 'juiz competente,' it would have a serious effect upon the credit and standing of all the citizens or subjects of those nations which have no treaty with Brazil on this subject."
It remains for me but to express my grateful acknowledgments for personal kindness and information afforded by many gentlemen of Pará, particularly by Mr. Norris, the consul, and by Henry Bond Dewey, esq., now acting consul. These gentlemen were unwearied in their courtesy, and to them I owe the information I am enabled to give concerning the history and present condition of the province and the city.
On May 12th, by kind invitation of Captain Lee, I embarked in the United States surveying brig Dolphin, having previously shipped my collections on board of Norris's clipper barque the Peerless.