Brazil, the Amazons and the coast .. . ough of clay-stained water to tinge the sea a little,outside of Braganca. It is deep, and unobstructed in the main channel. Thetide sweeps in and out, four miles an hour in some places;sailing vessels must wait for it, rolling about beyond thebar. There is a queer little tub-like light-ship ; for the rest,nothing but red-sailed fishing vessels or pilot-boats, andthe forest line, growing more distinct as we near it. Afterawhile we can distinguish a few tile-roofed buildings on theshore—brick-works, many of them, or farm-houses, with rowsof cocoanut palms a
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast .. . ough of clay-stained water to tinge the sea a little,outside of Braganca. It is deep, and unobstructed in the main channel. Thetide sweeps in and out, four miles an hour in some places;sailing vessels must wait for it, rolling about beyond thebar. There is a queer little tub-like light-ship ; for the rest,nothing but red-sailed fishing vessels or pilot-boats, andthe forest line, growing more distinct as we near it. Afterawhile we can distinguish a few tile-roofed buildings on theshore—brick-works, many of them, or farm-houses, with rowsof cocoanut palms and bright green banana plants, andorange groves behind. The larger houses have little whitechapels before them, and a cross by the water-side ; thethatched huts may belong to Indian or mulatto the city the channel is narrowed by islands—and suchislands ! All glorious they are with regal palms and tangledvines and tall forest trees. Then there is the little roundcheese-box fort, in seeing which we speculate curiously. The Fort, Para. whether the big gun on the parapet would be more danger-ous to a hostile ship or to the walls themselves : and wecome to anchor three miles below Para. A city, this is, with a manifest destiny : a city of thefuture, that shall yet enrich the world with its time—who knows—it may be the true metropolis ofBrazil. I can suppose that. Rio de Janeiro is far removed 36 BRAZIL. from the commercial world, a good five thousand miles frontNew York, and farther from Europe. Para is nearer byalmost half that distance ; if it has not the harbor of Rio, ithas what the southern city lacks—splendid water-communi-cation straight througli the heart of the continent ; and thisvalley, if people did but know it, is the richest part of SouthAmerica. Para has her title of nobility : by her situationshe is queen of the Amazons. The city looks unimportant enough from the river ; a rowof white- and yellow-washed warehouses along the wate
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbrazild, bookyear1879
