PARA, or BELE.)I. The capital of the State of l'arn. Brazil, situated on the southeast shore of the Para estuary (q.v.), 83 miles from the I and I' 27' south of the fltlatOr (Map: Brazil, II 4). Viewed from the harbor it present- a picturesque appearance with its numerous churches and white Louses half hidden :mild luxuriant tropical foliage. The streets are in general narrow and ill-paved, but some of them are wide and straight. and there are -everal spaeioits avenues lined with trees. The principal building is the cathedral, slating from 1720. There are a lyceum and other schools, a 'midic library, a iiiii.enni, a large botanical garden, ansl many scientific, literary, and charitable institu• Lions. The Government building, are plant struc tures. The harbor ha, 211 feet of water, and. being, situated at the principal entrance for ships into the .1mazon and in the northern part of the country, where it is comparatively near to the commercial countries of Europe, Paris ha- be come an important trade centre. its chief ex ports are rubber, cacao. and colonial wares. The rubber export exceeds that of any other part of the world. having in 1s96 amounted to 31.ss2.ss3
psnind-. with a value of about The total value of the exports in the ,a111?• year was about which en iners-a-e of 100 per ef•Ilt. during the preceding live years. The population has increased six-fold during the last half century, the inhabitants numbering 90, 132 in 1S90. l'ara is the seat of a [Mies) !states consul.
Par5 was fonmded in 1015. hot was an unim portant place until the middle of the nineteenth century. Duriter the raei.il and social strifes of 1s35-4s the population 1,11 from 25,0o0 to 15.000, and it wa- -till further reduced by the epidemic of yellow fever in 1s50. Since that year, however, it has gross», rapidly.
PARA (Pers, ysys, piece, portion). A coin of copper, silver, or mixed though most generally of copper. in it-e in Turkey and Egypt it is the fortieth part of a ida,tre. i, divided into three a?1li.r•:. and Vario: Much in ossiucg the debased and 1.0111phOated e0111110011 of the Turki-11 coinage. Pieces of five paras are al-o in use. The pare is equal to about one mill 1.1mericatil in Turkey, and a little niers. in Egypt.