Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/19

THE
NATURALIST ON THE AMAZONS.

 

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CHAPTER I.

PARÁ.

Arrival—Aspect of the country—the Pará River—First walk in the Suburbs of Pará—Free Negroes—Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the Suburbs—Leaf-carrying Ant—Sketch of the climate, history, and present condition of Pará.

I embarked at Liverpool, with Mr. Wallace, in a small trading vessel, on the 26th of April, 1848; and, after a swift passage from the Irish Channel to the equator, arrived, on the 26th of May, off Salinas. This is the pilot-station for vessels bound to Pará, the only port of entry to the vast region watered by the Amazons. It is a small village, formerly a missionary settlement of the Jesuits, situated a few miles to the eastward of the Pará river. Here the ship anchored in the open sea, at a distance of six miles from the shore, the shallowness of the water far out around the mouth of the great river not permitting in safety a nearer approach; and the signal was hoisted for a pilot. It was with deep interest that my