otel, where the
best room I could get was not unlike a coal-cellar. We will not speak of
the food.

Those aspiring efforts at semi-civilization were to my mind ten times
worse than no civilization at all. Had it not been for the extreme
kindness of my friend Commandante Macedo, of Mr. Ross, the manager of the
London and Brazilian Bank, and of the British Consul, I would have left
the place that same day.

At Belem I dismissed Alcides, Antonio, and white Filippe, paying their
full passage by sea and railway and full wages up to the day of their
arrival at their respective homes. They had certainly many faults, and
had not behaved well to me; but I am given to weigh matters justly, and
there was no doubt that those men had endured terrific hardships and,
willingly or unwillingly, had carried through quite a herculean task. I
therefore not only paid them the high wages upon which I had agreed, but
I gave each a handsome present of money.

The three men duly signed receipts and unsolicited certificates, in which
they declared that during the entire journey they had been treated by me
in a generous manner and with every possible thoughtfulness and
consideration.

As they had not been able to spend a single penny since we had left
Diamantino they had accumulated a considerable sum of cash. I warned
them, as I had done with Benedicto, to be careful and not waste their
money. They went out for a walk. Some hours later they returned, dressed
up in wonderful costumes with fancy silk ties, patent leather shoes, gold
chains and watches, and gaudy scarf-pins. In a few hours they had wasted
away nearly the entire sum I had paid out to them. Everything was
extremely expensive in Para--certainly three or four times the price
which things would fetch in London or New York.

Two days later white Filippe and Antonio embarked for Rio de Janeiro,
with hardly a word of farewell to me. Alcides refused to travel on the
same steamer with his companions, and left by a later one.

The city of Para is much too well known for me to enter into a long
description of it. Since its discovery in the year 1500, when Vincente
Yanes Pinzon cast anchor in the Maranon or Amazon, Belem has become a
beautiful city. As everybody knows, it is the capital of the Para
province, which has an area of 1,149,712 sq. kil. Geographically, Belem
could not be situated in a better position, and is bound some day to
become the most flourishing city of the Brazilian R