chiefly Portuguese, but there are also two or three Brazilian
families of pure European descent. The town consists of three
long streets, running parallel to the river, with a few shorter
ones crossing them at right angles. The houses are very plain,
being built, as usual in this country, simply of a strong
framework, filled up with mud, and coated with white plaster. A
few of them are of two or three stories. There are three
churches, and also a small theatre, where a company of native
actors at the time of my visit were representing light Portuguese
plays with considerable taste and ability. The people have a
reputation all over the province for energy and perseverance; and
it is often said that they are as keen in trade as the
Portuguese. The lower classes are as indolent and sensual here as
in other parts of the province, a moral condition not to be
wondered at in a country where perpetual summer reigns, and where
the necessities of life are so easily obtained. But they are
light-hearted, quick-witted, communicative, and hospitable. I
found here a native poet, who had written some pretty verses,
showing an appreciation of the natural beauties of the country,
and was told that the Archbishop of Bahia, the primate of Brazil,
was a native of Cameta. It is interesting to find the mamelucos
displaying talent and enterprise, for it shows that degeneracy
does not necessarily result from the mixture of white and Indian
blood. The Cametaenses boast, as they have a right to do, of
theirs being the only large town which resisted successfully the
anarchists in the great rebellion of 1835-6. While the whites of
Para were submitting to the rule of half-savage revolutionists,
the mamelucos of Cameta placed themselves under the leadership of
a courageous priest, named Prudencio. They armed themselves,
fortified the place, and repulsed the large forces which the