distance
is much too great to render such expeditions profitable; this is
brought by drovers who go there yearly with cattle for sale. Sometimes
a solitary launch of twenty tons burden, laden with salt, arrives in
the Rio Caninde, opposite Oeiras, from the Villa da Parnahiba, a
flourishing town near the coast on the east bank of a large river of
the same name, which divides the Provinces of Maranham and Piauhy, and
up which the navigation takes place. One such arrived during my visit,
but it took nearly three months to perform the distance, which is about
one hundred leagues. It is only during the rainy season, when the river
is flooded, that this voyage can be undertaken, and the current is then
so strong that the vessel has to be pushed up by poles all they way.
Owing to the length of time, and the number of men required, it is
seldom that such a speculation terminates profitably. It has been
recently proposed by Mr. Sturz, the Consul-General for Brazil, in
Prussia, to navigate this stream by a small steam-boat, but there are
many reasons for concluding that this will never be successfully put
into execution. It is not probable that the middle and southern
portions of the Province will ever be much more populous than they are
at present, as from the great yearly droughts to which they are liable,
the cultivation of cotton or sugar can never be carried on. The only
articles of export are cattle and hides, and the latter is all that a
steamer would get as cargo downwards. As regards the import of European
goods, it is not likely that the traffic would soon be changed from
Maranham to Parnahiba. The river, moreover, would only be navigable
during the rainy season, at which period the force of the current, and
the numerous shifting sandbanks which its bed is said to contain,
would render the transit both slow and difficult.
The
city contains three churches, two of which though now of considerable
age are unfinished. There are also several other public buildings, such
as a jail, military barracks, the provincial house of assembly,
theTkinara Municipal, and hospital, but none of these are deserving of
notice excepting the jail, which was then just completed; it was
erected under the superintendence of a German engineer, who has resided
in the province several years in
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