Barra is now
the principal station for the lines of steamers which were
established in 1853, and passengers and goods are transhipped
here for the Solimoens and Peru. A steamer runs once a fortnight
between Para and Barra, and a bi-monthly one plies between this
place and Nauta in the Peruvian territory. The steam-boat company
is supported by a large annual grant, about ?50,000 sterling,
from the imperial government. Barra was formerly a pleasant place
of residence, but it is now in a most wretched plight, suffering
from a chronic scarcity of the most necessary articles of food.
The attention of the settlers was formerly devoted almost
entirely to the collection of the spontaneous produce of the
forests and rivers; agriculture was consequently neglected, and
now the neighbourhood does not produce even mandioca-meal
sufficient for its own consumption. Many of the most necessary
articles of food, besides all luxuries, come from Portugal,
England, and North America. A few bullocks are brought now and
then from Obydos, 500 miles off, the nearest place where cattle
are reared in any numbers, and these furnish at long intervals a
supply of fresh beef, but this is generally monopolised by the
families of government officials.
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