"Our first walk was through the commercial quarter, where we found most of the buildings solidly constructed, and generally two stories high; they are of brick or stone, plastered on the outside, and either painted or whitewashed so that the exact nature of their material is not readily ascertained. Formerly most of the merchants lived above their offices, but of late years they have established residences in other parts of the city, and the old fashion of living is generally abandoned. "We entered the first tram or street-railway car that we saw, and rode out nearly five miles along the beautiful Rua de Nazareth, or Nazareth Avenue, to Marco da Legua, the terminus of the line. Here we found the public wells of the city, and a great crowd of negro laundresses, besides the water-carriers, with their water-hogsheads mounted on wheels. They were as noisy as they were numerous, and so loud and animated was the conversation that we looked around every moment, expecting a fight with a free use of knives. Happily they confined themselves to words and gesticulations, and we have no scene of bloodshed to record. "The water-carriers are generally known as _Gallegos_; the term is a contemptuous one, applied by the Portuguese to the Spanish emigrants from Galicia, who go to the cities of Portugal and embrace the occupation of carrying water. The Brazilians have adopted the word, and apply it to the Portuguese; a good deal of enmity is kept alive by its use, which is as offensive to an inhabitant of Para as the term 'Paddy' applied to an emigrant from the Emerald Isle, in an American city. "For the first two miles of its course the Rua de Nazareth is lined with pretty dwelling-houses, and every year there is an addition to the number. Few avenues that we have seen are more picturesque than this. The sidewalks are shaded with tropical trees, and the air is filled with the odor of lemon and orange blossoms, together with similar floral perfumes. In our morning's ride we saw, on this avenue, and on some of the streets leading from it, not less than a dozen varieties of trees peculiar to the region of the equator, and we needed to shut our eyes only for a moment to imagine ourselves again in Singapore or beneath the tropical sky of Ceylon. [Illustration: STREET IN PARA WITH SILK-COTTON TREES.] "Orange and lemon trees alternated with traveller's palms and silk-cotton trees, and these again with the producers of the almond and cocoa-nut. One of the most attractive of the arboreal ornaments is the silk-cotton tree; it has a broad base, tapering rapidly towards the top, where it spreads out into a leafy tuft like that of the palm. It is an evergreen, and the changes of the seasons make no difference in its foliage. The product that gives the name to the tree is a species of cotton, as soft as silk; it can be spun and woven, and is used by the Indians for wrapping the arrows of their blow-guns to prevent the escape of air when the weapon is discharged.