Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-07-11
ALONG THR AMAZON.
Pen Pictures il q Brazilian Cisy


Pen Pictures In . Brazilian City.
Mrs. Frank Cowsn, writing for the New
York Evening Poet, from Para, thus
speaks OF some of the peculiar things in
that city Of peculiarities:
The scavenger OF Para is not an exile
from Erin nor recent importation from
the region Of the Rhine, but buzzard !;
black, bald-headed, beautiless, beast
like bird or bird-like beast Q variety of
vulture akin to that which daily devour.
cd the wonderfully recuperative viscera
Of Prometheus Of old, and as we'll of that
which WAKES fat and featherless on the
bodies Of the dead Parsees in the towers
of Silence Of Bombay to-day. 1t is call
ed tho Urubu by the vulgar herd of hu-
manity, and Cathartes Atrata by the &C.
lect few Of science.
So, the ratcatcher Of Para is not cat,
an owl, a ferret, compound of wire and
springs, a paste OF poison, terrier, nor
an ambitious boy with borrowed shot
gun and the fragments OF three fingers ON
his left hand and otherwise mutilated and
disAgured for life, but the boa of the
country, the Giboia. or boa constructor,
OF which l have spoken in connection
with Monkey Joe. The great serpent is
left at large in many Of the stores and
warehouses, and in several of the resi-
dences. During the day it coils itself in
the cellar into the likeness of a section of
hawser in the hold of vessel or lies
in the storeroom behind the bales and
boxes in the similitude OF a discarded
stovepipe; or it loops itself among the
girders and rafters Of the garret into the
aav hlon ut lin p1
a-sausage hung up to dry ; as harml ess
as the usual serpent Of monstrous size de-
picted in glowing colors on the swinging
show to a travelling circus in the United
Stvtea. At night, however, when all the
good people OF the city are suspended in
their hammocks, the ratter awakes and
takes possession Of the building from the
foundation to the rooftree and the ease
and expedition with which the legless in
carnation Of longitude goes up and down
the stairs, and under, around and about
the chairs and tables, in the pursuit Of
rats and mice and such small deer, is
something marvellous for the bats and
bombyIes and other nightseers and flyers
TO behold imagine, from all have
heard.
So, the hy-catcher OF Para is not the
bad boy Of the Sunday school book in
the capacity Of father to future felon,
nor . paper covered with an attractive and
destructive paste, nor q trap OF wire
gauxe with a funnel shaped mouth, but a
bird, called the pavao with til above
| the y, about the bigness of a woodoock,
i and with as long bill, but rather grayish
than reddish mottled in color. It can be
Eel \ az Tod IN,
day. In the pursuit Of hies-which,
BY the by. are not especially numerous
in Para it moves cautiously along the
the latest Amazonian opera, until 1t gets
within reaching distance Of its unsus-
peoting prey, whereupon it picks up with
the long pincsrs OF its bill the insect,
with an accuracy and slacrity a. surpris-
ing % its tactics are curious and anus
ing.
30, the pony Of Para, upon which the
Parasian in his youth acquires the rudi.
ments Of the art and accomplishment OF
horsemsnship, is not = abroomstick, hob.
by-horse, . velocipeda, nor stunted steed
from the Shetland Isles, but sheep. l
saw one yesterday. saddlsd. bridled, and
surmounted by a youngster OF siI or
eight, trotting along with the indiffer-
ence OF . donkey to the use to which 1t
was put.
The lord paramount OF the soil Of Para
lands within and without the limits OF the
city, nor His Imperial Majesty Dom Pc
dro H., as might be supposed. but the
six legged rival Of the two-legged man in
several Of its many specific forms, the
ant. Indeed, all Of the territory which
the biped population of this part Of Bra
Eli can assert even claim TO as their own
individually, or collectively as nation in
the person OF the Emperor, is that which
they have seized upon as armed invaders,
and built fortress upon, and which they
occupy and hold only by force OF arms,
against the incessant attacks OF the autoc-
thonous insect around, about, above and
beneath them by day and night. This
fact may be appreciated properly let mt
say in truth that every stone that is laio
in the streets and sidewalks of the city il
cemented TO its fellows to form continu
ous stratum OF solid stone over the whole
OF the area occupied. Otherwise, by the
constant sapping and mining Of the ubi
Iuitous and inveterste enemy to the in
truders, the fortress would be in stat,
OF chaos, similar to that in which l have
seen Fort Sumter after its bombardmen
and occupation by the boys in blue. Tt
the mossback from the wilds OF Pennsyl
vanis, who has seen perhaps but scor,
or two Of ants at time in sugar bow
or felt an occasional nip from the jaws OF
i. sting Of one while recumbent ON the grass
at Sunday-schosl or other picnic, it is
] constant wonder TO witness the works o
the myrmidons Of the Amazon. Albei
individually insignificant in size, the an
collectively is the allantosaurus Of Soutl
America.
The popularity OF Para, paramount t,
all others, is the dependence upon tn
world beyond the borders Of Brazil 70
tho bulk Of the necessaries OF its exist
ence, albeit the Mistress Of the Amazon
with the cornucopia at her side OF tn
largest and most productive valley Of tn
globe, the stones and cement OF tn
streets and sidewalks-the barrier to tn
. ubiquitous and even in the bowels Of til
a "a