WCP393

Santarein [Santarém]¹

Sep[tembe]^r [1849]²

Dear Fanny³

As Alfred has written to my Mother⁴ I thought I would address my letter to you, you will perceive by this, we have left Pará,⁵ and are now stopping at Santarein a city about a fortnights journey from Para situated at the mouth of the river Trombitus ^Tapajoz[^?] ^[Tapajós] a tributary stream to the mighty Amazon[.] The waters of this River are beautifully clear and contain and immense variety of fish among which is the Peucou[?],⁶ the largest and most useful fish in this country, forming the staple food of the inhabitants. [2] The city of Santarein is not quite a Modern Babalon [sic] as to size and appearance, it being about the size of Neath, although the grass growing in the streets might remind you of some deserted city of the ancients; most of the houses are of one story, the only remarkable building is the church with two square towers. We are now preparing to leave Santarein, for Montalagre [Monte Alegre], a small village situated about two days journey down the river Amazon — I will now make a few suppositions [3] about English affairs; I suppose by this time you have got lots of music and drawing pupils and that "Ollendorfs system of French Tuition"⁷ is the rage in Weston Super Mare,⁸ I also suppose Thommas[sic]⁹ has "put a good face upon the matter" or rather good faces, and that he comes out quite strong as well as the pictures he produces, you can tell him that when the sun is vertical here, by walking without a cap for a short time, we can get our heads done with a stroke of the Sun, the Activice[?] Power being very strong here.

Since I have been at Santarein, I have made a discovery a Zoological discovery — you remember the "Blue Pig"¹⁰ at Neath if you don’t Thommas does, it has always been considered a fabulous animal, an eccentric whim of the sign painter — it is no longer a fable — the sign painter may refute the charge of eccentricity — Let the people of Neath know I have seen in Brazil, a living breathing, live Blue Pig. — Give my love to Mother, and Thommas and accept the same from your

Affectionate Brother | Edward Wallace¹¹ [signature]