CHAPTER III

Summary

The popular name of this city, Pará, is derived from the river, its proper designation being Belem, or Bethlehem. Caldeira, in 1615, entered what he supposed to be the main Amazon, and learning from the natives that this was, in their language, the King of “Waters, called it, appropriately, Pará; or rather, to hallow it by a Christian baptism, the Gram Para. Continuing up the river, this adventurer at last fixed upon a site, near the junction of several streams, now known as the Guamá, the Acará, and the Mojú, for a city that should thereafter be a glory to our Lady of Belem. Our Lady is still the patron saint, but the name of her city is almost entirely forgotten in that of Pará.

We will not recount the long series of events that have transpired since Caldeira here first planted the cross. They would be of little interest to the general reader, and we prefer to look at the city as it now is, merely making such allusions to the past as shall serve to render description more intelligible.

The only event that requires particular mention is the Revolution of 1835 and the following year. The President of the province was assassinated, as were very many private individuals of respectability, and the city was in possession of the insurgent troops, assisted by designing whites and Indians.