Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-11-10
Foreign.
AN AMERICAN In CAMETA.

strange Scenes In Brazilian Town.
A correspondent of the Cleveland Herald
writes as follows, under date Of Septem-
her LIST, from Cameta, Brazil:
"Cameta is the largest place on the To-
cantius river, below the rapids. 1t has
population of about twenty five hundred,
though the township of Cameta, as it may
be called, contains something like five
thousand persons. The town is very COM
pactly built, and lies, as it were, in a nook
in the forest, that is to say. there is but
little cleared land on the edges OF the town,
except an indispensable square behind it,
which is fast returning to its original state.
The buildings are, to a very large extent,
OF brick, rooted with tiles, while several
have porcelain fronts There seems to be
more enterprise among the Inhabitants
than would be expected, bat this is pro-
badly owing largely to the fact that = large
proportion of the people are Portuguese,
and not Brazllians.
'For long time after the instruction
of 1885 at Para, at which time the Portu.
ruese residents were driven from the city,
they did not dare to return, and il is very
probable that many of them permanently
located themselves at Cameta. Be this as
it may, they are there now, and their shops
are well stored With domestic ana foreign
products, at reasonable prices For so
small town, the stores are quite numer-
Gus, the residences being mostly in the
upper story OF the buildings. The streets
are wider than the majority Of these OF
Para, but the roads are very uneven, and
we did not see cart or carriage at either
visit, though on two occasions several of
the party claim to have seen two packages
~<,t oh III
that of diminutive horse. Neither OF
these were seen to move, and, as one-half
of each package was placed inside of a
corner grocery, it is presumed that they
were merely used rs sign boards. We
were informed. however, that one of the
leading gentlemen of the town was the
happy owner of two or three specimens of
the animal under consideration, in the
latter stages Of consumption. We certainly
nope SO.
''Camela can scarcely be said to be noted
for anything In particular, unless it should
BIO the readiness with which it adopts new
customs, If they ever reach il, and the
general good feeling which seems to exist
among the people.
The town is certainly very pleasantly
situated. and it is capable of being made "a
is located ON the first spot of high land
above the mouth OF the river, and it is
within easy reach of the outside world by
water. Nature has bountifully supplied
the surrounding country with good things,
and ere long the harvest will bagin to be
reaped.
Zone thing which made US quite sensi-
BILE of the fact that we are in q foreign
country is the great curiosity with which
We we're here regarded by the population
Men women and children followed us
wherever we went, crowding by dozens
into the stores at which We stopped, max
ing comments upon our actions, offering
their advice in making purchases, and at.
ter bestowipg compliments, and otherwise
aiding us, kindly taking pity upon us in
our forlorn condition.
1.-The products of Cameta are neither
many nor extensive. The seeds CT cacao,
for the manufacture of chocolate. are
exported to considerable extent, and
Jelly from the pulp OF the same fruit is
made in small quantity. This Is expensive
here, and consequently is little exported
from this town.
at was very amusing to see the excite
ment around billiard table, which is evil
IDENTIFY an importation OF q recent date.
One evening we passed before the door OF
a small roo IN one OF the principal streets,
about which we noticed a gathering, some
what similar to country caucus in thin
~ settled district at home Here were
gathered, apparently, representatives in
every walk OF life from the town official
down to the smallest slave. Two men
were engaged in the game, which seemed
to be to them novelty, for the shots,
caroms, &C., were wonderfully intermixed
with scratches and all sorts of mistakes.
An old gentleman with spectacles seemed
to have faculty of poing what Was not In
tended the result often turning cut not ex-
actly to his advantage.
There are no Americans at this place.
as far as I could learn; hence the curiosity
displayed. We were frequently asked
whether we were English or French, Many
of the people distinguish in some unac-
counta de manner between our language
and that of the English people. While at
Para we were sometimes asked4wbether we
spoke English or American, and one ma
tive. who claimed to speak some English,
declared that ne could not understand Us
because we spoke American"