Chapter XXXII: Section V

_Proceedings at St Catharines, and a Description of that Place, with a short Account of Brazil._

Our first care after mooring the ships was to get our sick men on shore; preparatory for which each ship was ordered by the commodore to erect two tents, one for the reception of the sick, and the other for the surgeon and his assistants. We sent eighty sick on shore from the Centurion, and I believe the other ships sent as many in proportion to the number of their hands. As soon as this necessary duty was performed, we scraped our decks, and gave our ship a thorough cleansing, then smoaked it between decks, and lastly washed every part with vinegar. These operations were extremely necessary for correcting the noisome stench on board, and destroying the vermin; for, from the number of our men and the heat of the climate, both these nuisances had increased upon us to a very loathsome degree, and, besides being most intolerably offensive, were doubtless in some sort productive of the sickness we had laboured under for a considerable time before our arrival at this island.[3]

[Footnote 3: This matter is now infinitely better regulated in the British navy, and with most admirable and infinitely important advantages. By the most minute, sedulous, and perpetual attention to cleanliness, all noisome stench and all vermin are prevented, by which doubtless diseases are in a great measure lessened.--E.]

Our next employment was wooding and watering the squadron, caulking the sides and decks of the ships, overhawling the rigging, and securing our masts against the tempestuous weather we were, in all probability, to meet with in going round Cape Horn at so advanced and inconvenient a season. Before proceeding in the narrative of our voyage, it may be proper to give some account of the present state of the island of St Catharines and the neighbouring country; both because the circumstances of the place have materially changed from what they were in the time of former writers, and as these changes laid us under many more difficulties and perplexities than we had reason to expect, or than other British ships, bound hereafter to the South Sea, may perhaps think it prudent to struggle with.

This island is nine leagues from N. to S. and two from E. to W. It extends from lat. 27° 35' to 28° both S. and is in long. 49° 45' W. from London.[4] Although of considerable height, it is scarcely discernible at the distance of ten leagues, being obscured under the continent of Brazil, the mountains of which are exceedingly high; but on a nearer approach is easily distinguished, and may be readily known by having a number of small islands at each end.[5] Frezier has given a draught of the island of St Catharines and the neighbouring coast, with the smaller adjacent isles; but has, by mistake, called the island of Alvoredo St Gal; whereas the true island of St Gal is seven or eight miles northward of Alvoredo, and much smaller. He has also called an island to the southward of St Catharines Alvoredo, and has omitted the island of Masaquara. In other respects his plan is sufficiently exact. The best entrance to the harbour is between the N.E. point of the island of St Catharines and the island of Alvoredo, where ships may pass under the guidance of the lead, without the least apprehensions of danger. The north entrance is about five miles broad, the distance from thence to the island of St Antonio is eight miles, and the coarse to that island is S.S.W. 1/2 W. About the middle of the island the harbour is contracted to a narrow channel by two points of land, not more than a quarter of a mile separate, and at this time a battery was erecting on the point on the island side to defend this passage. This seemed, however, a very useless work, as this channel had only two fathoms water, and is consequently only navigable for barks and boats, wherefore an enemy could have no inducement to attempt this passage, more especially as the northern one is so broad and safe that no squadron can be prevented from coming in by any fortifications whatever, when the sea-breeze makes. The brigadier Don Jose Sylva de Paz, who is governor of this settlement, has a different opinion; for, besides the above-mentioned battery, there were three other forts carrying on for the defence of the harbour, none of which were completed when we were there. The first of these, called St Joam, was building on a point of the island of St Catharines, near Parrot Island. The second, in form of a half-moon, was on the island of St Antonio; and the third, which seemed the chief, and had some appearance of a regular fortification, is on an island near the continent, where the governor resides. Don Jose Sylva de Paz was esteemed an expert engineer; and he doubtless understood one branch of his business very well, which is the advantages which new works bring to those who have charge of their erection.

[Footnote 4: This account of the matter is very erroneous. The latitudes are between 28° 5' and 28° 30' both S. and the longitude is 49° 10' W. from Greenwich.--E.]

[Footnote 5: The more elaborate nautical description of this island is necessarily omitted, as referring to two extensive views, without which the description would be unintelligible.--E.]

The soil of this island is truly luxuriant, producing many kinds of fruits spontaneously, and is covered over with one continued forest of trees, in perpetual verdure, and which, from the exuberant fertility of the soil, are so entangled with thorns, briars, and underwood, as to form an absolutely impenetrable thicket, except by some narrow paths which the inhabitants have opened for their own convenience; and these, with a few spots cleared for plantations, along that side of the island which faces the continent, are the only uncovered parts of the island. The woods are extremely fragrant, from the many aromatic trees and shrubs with which they abound, and here the fruits and vegetables of all climates thrive, almost without culture, and are to be had in great plenty, so that there is no want of pine-apples, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, apricots, and plantains; there is also abundance of onions and potatoes, two productions of no small consideration for sea-stores. The flesh provisions are, however, much inferior to the vegetables. There are, indeed, small wild cattle to be purchased, something like buffaloes, but these are very indifferent food, their flesh being of a loose texture, and generally of a disagreeable flavour, probably owing to their feeding on wild calabash. There are also abundance of pheasants, but they are not to be compared in taste to those we have in England. The other provisions of the place are monkeys, parrots, and, above all, fish of various sorts: These abound in the harbour, and are both exceedingly good and easily caught, as there are numerous sandy bays, very convenient for haling the seyne.

The water, both on the island and the opposite continent, is excellent, and preserves at sea as well as that of the Thames. After it has been a day or two in the cask, it begins to purge itself, stinks most abominably, and is soon covered over with a green scum, which subsides in a few days to the bottom, leaving the water perfectly sweet, and as clear as crystal. The French first brought this place into repute during their South-Sea trade in the reign of Queen Anne, and usually wooded and watered in Bon-port, on the continental side of the harbour, where they anchored in great safety in six fathoms, and this is doubtless the most commodious station for ships that are meant only for a short stay. We watered on the St Catharine's side, at a plantation opposite to the island of St Antonio.

Such are the advantages of this island; but it has its inconveniences also, partly proceeding from its climate, but more particularly from its new regulations and the form of its government, as lately established. In regard to the climate, it must be remembered that the woods and hills which surround the harbour prevent a free circulation of air, and the continual vigorous vegetation furnishes such a prodigious quantity of vapour, that a thick fog covers the whole country all night, and a great part of the morning, continuing till either the sun gathers strength to dissipate it, or it is dispersed by a brisk sea-breeze. This renders the place close and humid, and probably occasioned the many fevers and fluxes we were there afflicted with. I must not omit to add, that we were pestered all day by vast numbers of mosquetoes, which are not much unlike the gnats in England, but much more venomous in their stings. At sunset, when the musquetoes retired, they were succeeded by an infinity of sand-flies, which made a mighty buzzing, though scarcely discernable by the naked eye; wherever these bite, they raise a small lump attended by painful itching, like that arising from the bite of an English harvest bug. The only light in which this place deserves our consideration is its favourable situation for supplying and refreshing our cruizers bound for the South Sea, and in this view its greatest inconveniences remain to be related, to do which more distinctly, it may not be amiss to consider the changes which it has lately undergone, both in its inhabitants, its police, and its governor.

In the time of Frazier and Shelvocke, this place served only as a retreat to vagabonds and outlaws, who fled hither from all parts of Brazil. It is true, that they acknowledged their subjection to the crown of Portugal, and had a person among them whom they called their captain, and who was considered as a kind of governor; but both their allegiance to their king, and their obedience to the captain, were merely verbal; for, as they had plenty of provisions and no money, they were in a condition to support themselves without aid from any neighbouring settlements, and had nothing among them to tempt any neighbouring governor to interpose his authority among them. In this situation they were extremely hospitable and friendly to such foreign ships as came among them; for, as these ships wanted only provisions, of which the natives had great store, while the natives wanted clothes, for they often despised money, and refused to take it, the ships furnished them with apparel in exchange for their provisions, both sides finding their account in this traffic, and their captain had neither interest nor power to tax or restrain it.

Of late, for reasons which will afterwards appear, these honest vagabonds have been obliged to receive a new colony among them, and to submit to new laws and a new form of government. Instead of their former ragged and bare-legged captain, whom they took care, however, to keep innocent, they have now the honour of being governed by Don Jose Sylva de Paz, a brigadier of the armies of Portugal, who is accompanied by a garrison of soldiers, and has consequently a more extensive and better supported power than any of his predecessors: And as he wears better cloaths, lives more splendidly, and has a much better knowledge of the importance of money than any of them could ever pretend to, so he puts in practice certain methods for procuring it with which they were utterly unacquainted; yet it may be much doubted if the inhabitants consider these methods as tending to promote either their interests, or that of their sovereign, the king of Portugal. This much is certain, that his behaviour cannot but be extremely embarrassing to such British ships as touch here in their way to the South Seas.

One of his practices was, that he placed centinels at all the avenues, to prevent the people from selling us any refreshments, except at such exorbitant rates as we could not afford to give. His pretence for this extraordinary stretch of power was, that he was obliged to preserve their provisions for upwards of an hundred families, which were daily expected as a reinforcement to the colony. Thus he seems no novice in his profession, by his readiness at inventing a plausible pretence for his interested management. This circumstance, however, though sufficiently provoking, was far from being the most exceptionable part of his conduct; for, as by the neighbourhood of the Rio Plata, a considerable smuggling trade is carried on between the Portuguese and Spaniards, especially in exchanging gold for silver, by which both princes are defrauded of their fifths; and as Don Jose was deeply engaged in this prohibited commerce, in order to ingratiate himself with his Spanish correspondents, he treacherously dispatched an express to Buenos Ayres, where Pizarro then lay, with an account of our arrival, our strength, the number, of our ships, guns, men, and every circumstance he could suppose our enemy desirous of being acquainted with.

This much, and what we shall have to relate in the course of our own proceedings, may suffice as to the present state of St Catharines and the character of its governor. But as the reader may wish to know the reasons for the late new modelling of this settlement, it will require, to explain this circumstance, to give a short account of the adjacent continent of Brazil, and of the wonderful discoveries which have been made within the last forty years, which, from a country of but mean estimation, has rendered it now perhaps the most considerable colony on the face of the earth.

This country was first discovered by Americus Vesputio, a Florentine, who had the good fortune to be honoured by giving his name to the immense continent found out some time before by Columbus. As Vesputio was in the service of Portugal, this discovery was settled and planned by that nation, and afterwards devolved to the crown of Spain along with the rest of the Portuguese dominions. During the long war between Spain and the states of Holland, the Dutch possessed themselves of the northermost parts of Brazil, and kept it for some years; but, when the Portuguese revolted from the Spanish government, this country took part in the revolt, and the Dutch were soon driven out of their acquisitions; since which time it has continued without interruption under the crown of Portugal. Till the beginning of the present century, it was only productive of sugar and tobacco, and a few other commodities of very little importance; but has been lately discovered to abound in the two mineral productions, gold and diamonds, which mankind hold in the highest estimation, and which they exercise their utmost art and industry in acquiring.

Gold was first found in the mountains adjacent to the city of Rio Janeiro. The occasion of its discovery is variously related, but the most common account is, that the Indians dwelling on the back of the Portuguese settlements were observed, by the soldiers employed in an expedition against them, to use this metal for fish-hooks; and, on enquiry into their manner of procuring this precious metal, it appeared that great quantities of it were annually washed from the hills, and left among the sand and gravel which remained in the vallies after the running off or evaporation of the water. It is now [in 1740] little more than forty years since any quantities of gold, worth notice, have been imported from Brazil to Europe; but, since that time, the annual imports have been continually augmented by the discovery of places in other provinces, where it is to be met with as plentifully as at first about Rio Janeiro. It is alleged that a _slender vein_[3] of gold spread through all the country, at about twenty-four feet below the surface, but that this vein is too thin and poor to answer the expence of digging.[4] However, where the rivers or rains have had any course for a considerable time, there gold is always to be collected, the water having separated the metal from the earth, and deposited it in the sands, thereby saving the expence of digging; hence it is esteemed an infallible gain to be able to divert a stream from its channel, and ransack its bed. From this account of the manner of gathering gold, it should follow that there are no mines of this metal in Brazil, and this the governor of Rio Grande, who happened to be at St Catharines, and frequently visited Mr Anson, did most confidently affirm, assuring us that all the gold was collected from rivers, or from the beds of torrents after floods. It is indeed asserted that large rocks are found in the mountains abounding in gold, and I have seen a fragment of one of these rocks having a considerable lump of gold entangled in it; but, even in this case, the workmen only break off the rocks, and do not properly mine into them; and the great expence of subsisting among these mountains, and in afterwards separating the metal from the stone, occasions this method of procuring gold to be but rarely put in practice.

[Footnote 3: The author ought here to have said, _a thin layer_, or _stratum_, to express the obvious meaning intended in the text.--E.]

[Footnote 4: The editor was informed, many years ago, by an intelligent native of Rio Janeiro, that the search for gold is confined by law to certain districts, on purpose to secure the royal fifth; and that all over the country round Rio Janeiro, where the search is prohibited, gold, emeralds, and aqua-marines are found in small quantities, on every occasion of digging to any depth into the earth, as for the purpose of a pit-well.--E.]

The examining the bottom of rivers and beds of torrents, and the washing the gold there found, from the sand and dirt with which it is always mixed, are performed by slaves, who are principally negroes, kept in great numbers by the Portuguese for this purpose. The regulation of the duty of these slaves is singular, as they are each of them obliged to furnish their master with the eighth part of an ounce of gold daily.[5] If they are either so fortunate or industrious as to collect a greater quantity, the surplus becomes their own property, and they may dispose of it as they think fit; so that some negroes, who have accidentally fallen upon rich washing-places, are said to have themselves purchased slaves, and to have lived afterwards in great splendour, their original master having no other demand upon them than the daily supply of the before-mentioned eighths; which, as the Portuguese ounce is somewhat lighter than our troy ounce, may amount to about nine shillings sterling.

[Footnote 5: On the data of the text, and allowing sixty-five days in the year for Sundays and high festivals, the yearly profit of one slave to his master would be L. 135 sterling.--E.]

The quantity of gold thus collected in the Brazils and returned annually to Lisbon, may be estimated, in some degree, from the amount of the royal fifth. This has been of late computed, one year with another, at one hundred and fifty _aroues_, of thirty-two Portuguese pounds each, which, valued at L. 4 sterling the troy ounce, make very nearly three hundred thousand pounds sterling; and consequently the capital, of which this is the fifth, is about a million and a half sterling. It is obvious that the annual return of gold to Lisbon cannot be less than this, though it may be difficult to guess how much more it may be. Perhaps we may not be much mistaken in conjecturing that the gold exchanged with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres for silver, and what is privately brought to Europe without paying the duty, may amount to near half a million more, which will make the entire yearly produce of Brazilian gold nearly two millions sterling; a prodigious sum to be found in a country which only a few years since was not known to furnish a single grain.

Besides gold, this country also affords diamonds, as already mentioned. The discovery of these valuable stones is much more recent even than that of gold, as it is scarcely twenty years since the first were brought to Europe.[6] They are found in the same manner as gold, in the gullies of torrents and beds of rivers, but only in particular places, and by no means so universally spread throughout the country. They were often found while washing for gold, before they were known to be diamonds, and were consequently thrown away along with the sand and gravel; and it is well remembered that numbers of very large stones, which would have made the fortunes of the possessors, have passed unregarded through the hands of those who now impatiently support the mortifying reflection. However, about twenty years since, [that is, in 1720,] a person acquainted with the appearance of rough diamonds, conceived that these pebbles, as they were then called, were of the same kind; yet it is said there was a considerable interval between the first stating of this opinion and its confirmation, by proper examination, as it was difficult to persuade the inhabitants that what they had been long accustomed to despise, could be of such amazing importance; and in this interval, as I was told, a governor of one of these places procured a good number of these stones, which he pretended to make use of as markers at cards. The truth of the discovery was at last confirmed by skilful jewellers in Europe, who were consulted on the occasion, and who declared that these Brazilian pebbles were true diamonds, many of which were not inferior in lustre, or other qualities, to those of the East Indies. On this being made known, the Portuguese in the neighbourhood of the places where these had been first discovered, set themselves to search for diamonds with great assiduity, and were hopeful of discovering them in considerable quantities, as they found large rocks of crystal in many of the mountains whence the streams proceeded that washed down the diamonds.

[Footnote 6: The author writes as of the year 1740.--E.]

Soon after this discovery, it was represented to the king of Portugal, that if diamonds should be met with in such abundance as their sanguine expectations seemed to indicate, their value and estimation would be so debased as to ruin all the Europeans who had any quantity of East India diamonds in their possession, and would even render the discovery itself of no importance, and prevent his majesty from deriving any advantages from it. On these considerations, his majesty thought proper to restrain the general search for diamonds, and erected a diamond company, with an exclusive charter for this purpose; in which company, in consideration of a sum of money paid to the king, the property of all diamonds found in Brazil is vested: But, to hinder them from collecting too large quantities, and thereby reducing their value in the market, they are prohibited from employing above eight hundred slaves in this search. To prevent any of his other subjects from continuing the search, and to secure the company against interlopers, a large town, and considerable surrounding district, has been depopulated; and all the inhabitants, said to have amounted to six thousand, have been obliged to remove to another part of the country: For as this town and district were in the neighbourhood of the diamonds, it was thought impossible to prevent such a number of people from frequently smuggling, if allowed to reside on the spot.

In consequence of these important discoveries in Brazil, new laws, new governments, and new regulations, have been established in many parts of the country. Not long ago there was a considerable track of country possessed by a set of inhabitants called Paulists, from the name of their principal settlement, who were almost independent of the crown of Portugal, to which it scarcely ever acknowledged a nominal allegiance. These Paulists are said to be descendants from the Portuguese who retired from the northern part of Brazil when it was invaded and possessed by the Dutch. Being long neglected by their superiors, owing to the confusions of the times, and obliged to provide for their own security and defence, the necessity of their affairs produced a kind of government among themselves, which sufficed for their mode of life. Thus habituated to their own regulations, they became fond of independence, so that, rejecting the mandates of the court of Lisbon, they were often engaged in a state of downright rebellion; and, owing to the mountains surrounding their country, and the difficulty of clearing the few passes leading towards it, they were generally able to make their own terms before they submitted. But as gold was found in this country of the Paulists, the present king of Portugal, in whose reign almost all these great discoveries have been made, thought it necessary to reduce this province, now become of great importance, under the same dependence and obedience with the rest of the country, which was at length effected, though, as I was informed, with great difficulty.

The same motives which induced his majesty to reduce the Paulists, have also occasioned the changes which I have mentioned as having taken place at the island of St Catharines: For, as we were assured by the governor of Rio Grande, there are considerable rivers in this neighbourhood that are found to be extremely rich in gold, for which reason a military governor with a garrison have been placed here, along with a new colony; and, as the harbour at this island is by much the largest and most secure of any on the coast, it is not improbable, if the riches of the neighbourhood answer their present expectation, that it may become in time the principal settlement in Brazil, and the most considerable port in all South America.

This much I thought necessary to insert, in relation to the present state of Brazil and of the island of St Catharines; for, as this last place has been generally recommended as the most eligible place for our cruizers to refresh at when bound to the South Sea, I believed it to be my duty to instruct my countrymen in the hitherto unsuspected inconveniences which attend that place. And, as the Brazilian gold and diamonds are subjects of novelty, of which very few particulars have hitherto been published, I considered that the account I have been able to collect respecting them might not be regarded either a trifling or useless digression.

When we first arrived at St Catharines, we were employed in refreshing our sick on shore, in wooding and watering the squadron, in cleaning our ships, and in examining and securing our masts and rigging, as formerly mentioned. At the same time Mr Anson gave orders that the ships companies should be supplied with fresh meat, and have a full allowance of all kinds of provisions. In consequence of these orders we had fresh meat sent on board continually for our daily expenditure; and every thing else that was wanting to make up our allowances, was received from the Anna Pink, our victualler, in order to preserve the provisions on board the ships of the squadron as entire as possible for future service. As the season of the year grew every day less favourable for our passage round Cape Horn, Mr Anson was very anxious to leave St Catharines as soon as possible, and we were at first in hopes that all our business would be concluded, and we should be in readiness to sail, in about a fortnight from our arrival; but, on examining the masts of the Tryal, we found, to our no small vexation, inevitable employment for twice that time; for, on a survey, her main-mast was sprung at the upper woulding, though that was thought capable of being secured by means of two fishes; but the fore-mast was reported entirely unfit for service, on which the carpenters were sent into the woods in search of a stick proper for a new foremast. After a search of four days, nothing could be found fit for the purpose; wherefore, on a new consultation, it was agreed to endeavour to secure the mast by three fishes, in which work the carpenters were employed till within a day or two of our departure. In the meantime, thinking it necessary to have a clean vessel, on our arrival in the South Sea, the commodore ordered the Tryal to be hove down, which occasioned no loss of time, as it might be completed while the carpenters were refitting her masts on shore.

A sail being discovered in the offing on the 27th December, and not knowing but she might be Spanish, the eighteen-oared boat was manned and armed, and sent under the command of our second lieutenant, to examine her before she got within the protection of the forts. She proved to be a Portuguese brigantine from Rio Grande; and, though our officer behaved with the utmost civility to the master, and even refused to accept a calf which the master pressed him to accept, the governor took great offence at the sending our boat, talking of it in a high strain, as a violation of the peace subsisting between the crowns of Great Britain and Portugal. We thus attributed this blustering to no deeper cause than the natural insolence of Don Jose; but when he charged our officer with behaving rudely, and attempting to take by violence the calf which he had refused as a present, we had reason to suspect that he purposely sought this quarrel, and had more important objects in view than the mere captiousness of his temper. What these motives might be we had then no means of determining, or even guessing at; but we afterwards found, by letters which fell into our hands when in the South-Seas, that he had dispatched an express to Pizarro, who then lay in the Rio Plata, with an account of our arrival at St Catharines, together with a most ample and circumstantial account of our force and condition. We then conceived, that Don Jose had raised this groundless clamour on purpose to prevent us from visiting the brigantine when she should go away again, lest we might have found proofs of his perfidy, and perhaps have discovered the secret of his smuggling correspondence with his neighbouring governors, and with the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres.

It was near a month before the Tryal was refitted; for not only were her lower-masts defective, but her main-topmast and fore-yard were likewise found rotten. While this work was going on, the other ships of the squadron set up new standing-rigging, together with a sufficient number of preventer shrowds to each mast, to secure them in the most effectual manner. Also, in order to render the ships stiffer, to enable them to carry more sail abroad, and to prevent them from straining their upper works in hard gales of wind, the several captains were ordered to put some of their great guns into their holds. These precautions being complied with, and all the ships having taken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the Tryal was at last completed, and the whole squadron was ready for sea: On which the tents on shore were struck, and all the sick removed on board. We had here a melancholy proof how much the healthiness of this place was over-rated by former writers; for, though the Centurion had alone buried no less than twenty-eight of her men since our arrival, yet, in the same interval, the number of her sick had increased from eighty to ninety-six.

All being embarked, and every thing prepared for our departure, the commodore made the signal for all captains, and delivered them their orders, containing the successive places of rendezvous from hence to the coast of Chili. Next day, being the 18th of January, 1741, the signal was made for weighing, and the squadron put to sea; leaving this island of St Catharines without regret, as we had been extremely disappointed in our accommodations and expectatations of refreshment, and in the humane and friendly offices we had been taught to look for, in a place so much celebrated for its hospitality, freedom, and convenience.