Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (20)

The Christmas holidays are deemed by the merchants a great interruption to commerce, as no shipments can be made or business transacted during that period. The English establishments here amount to sixteen, and through their medium this province is supplied with every species of English manufactures. They labour, as has been previously stated, under considerable difficulties, in consequence of the mal-operation of the pauta. The produce shipped from hence, consists principally of cotton and sugar; of the latter, about twenty-five thousand cases annually, nearly one-half to England, and the remainder to Lisbon: the quantity of the former averages about eighty thousand bags, sixty thousand being sent to Great Britain, and the remainder principally to Lisbon. The Pernambuco cotton is the best in the Brazil, arising in part from the rigid inspection which it undergoes. A new inspection house was erected here, upon the beach, called the Forte do Matto, in the year 1815. The cotton is bought by the merchant at a certain price, when it is submitted to inspection and divided into three qualities; for the second quality, which is permitted to pass with the first, the merchant receives an allowance of five hundred reas per arrobe, from the planter; the third quality is totally rejected. The bags are then weighed for the merchant to pay the export duty, and as one bag is only weighed at a time, there has been considerable delay in getting the cotton through the inspection house for shipment. The present governor attended here, and attempted to make arrangements for weighing the cotton quicker, but matters shortly afterwards reverted to their anterior state. Sugar is classed into nine different qualities, and distinguished by the following marks, commencing with the finest and continuing by gradations downwards.

B F _Branco Fino_. }
R F _Ridondo Fino_. }
B R _Branco Ridondo_. } Paying a shipping duty of sixty
R B _Ridondo Branco_. } reas per arrobe.
B B _Branco Baixo_. }
B I _Baixo Inferior_. }

MM _Muscovado Macho_. }
MR _Muscovado Retame_. } Ditto of thirty reas per arrobe.
MB _Muscovado Brame_. }

The sugar engenhos are some of them very considerable, and the two accompanying plates are representations of the exterior and interior of the Engenho de Torre not far from the right margin of the Capibaribe. The owner, who has amassed a respectable property, very politely allowed four gentlemen with myself to see this establishment. The juice is extracted by the compressure of the cane between three upright rollers, the centre one moving the other two, and being itself constantly carried round by relays of mares, which have a singular appearance from their ears being closely cropped. The juice flows along a channel to a lower apartment in the building, where it goes through the different processes of boiling, and when completed is much inferior to the West-Indian sugar, and generally in a very dirty state.

The English merchants were desirous of getting a clergyman from England, having been without the performance of divine service for a considerable period; and, besides the want of an opportunity to fulfil one of the most essential and important duties in life, an unfavourable impression could not but operate against them in the minds of the inhabitants, from their having no public observance of religion. The contribution fund, in the hands of the committee, amounts to upwards of five thousand pounds, which those gentlemen have been anxious to apply to the purposes for which it is intended, that of building a church and an hospital, and the payment of a clergyman and a medical man, which latter appointment is filled by Dr. Ramsay, a gentleman of great acquirements in his profession, and deservedly and universally beloved and esteemed.

I accompanied him and some of the merchants, upon one occasion, amongst many others in which they had been endeavouring to obtain suitable buildings for a church, hospital, and residences for the doctor and a clergyman. The building which we saw had been recently erected, was very spacious, surrounded with some grounds, and well adapted for the purpose; the reason it was not rented or purchased arose from the proprietor demanding an exorbitant price.[42]

We, at the same time, paid a visit to Mr. Koster, (a gentleman known to the literary world by the publication of his travels in the northern part of the Brazil,) who had just arrived at Recife from Goyanna, from whence, in consequence of his indifferent state of health, he travelled in a net suspended between two horses, which was rendered, he said, a less disagreeable mode of conveyance, by the ambling pace of the horses. Mr. Koster had removed his residence to Goyanna, in hopes that the climate would be more suitable to his health and constitution; but his very delicate appearance indicated a rapid decline, and I regret to say that he did not long survive.

_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Ja^s Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

THE SUGAR ENGENHO DE TORRE, AND A PLAN OF ITS INTERIOR.]

The population of Pernambuco is estimated at about sixty-five thousand persons, St. Antonio containing much the greatest proportion. I endeavoured to discover the site and remains of Fribourg House, the first edifice built upon it by Prince Maurice of Nassau; and was finally assured that its remains constitute the present Casa de Fazenda Real, which, though exhibiting some antiquity in its aspect, in consequence of being white-washed, could not be identified with positive certainty. But its appearance, (pretty correctly represented in the plate,) combined with the tradition that it is actually the remains of Fribourg House, does not leave much room to doubt the fact. The convent fronting it has a great many cocoa-nut trees, which no doubt are the fruits of those he so copiously planted upon the island. A Prince who did so much for Pernambuco, in so short a time, and who here built the first two bridges that were known in the Brazil, is not undeserving of some monument in this place to his memory. There is a theatre in St. Antonio; but the performances are exceedingly indifferent, and the house, which is small, but thinly attended, no spirit existing for the encouragement of such an establishment.

CHAP. XVIII.

PROVINCE OF PARAHIBA.

_Extent--Capitania of Itamaraca--Slow Advancement--Taken by
the Dutch--Restoration--Capes and Ports--Rivers--Mountains--
Zoology--Phytology--Povoaçoes--Capital--British Establishments
--Produce._

This province was originally the capitania of Itamaraca, or rather it comprehends almost two-thirds of it, not comprising at the present day more than sixty miles of coast, computing from the river Goyanna to the bay of Marcos, which is three miles to the north of the river Camaratiba; the province of Pernambuco having taken twenty to twenty-five miles from it on the southern side, and Rio Grande fifteen to twenty on the northern.

The capitania of Itamaraca was never more than a portion of that which John III. gave to Pedro Lopez de Souza in 1534. The other portion of this donation selected in the immediate vicinity of his brother’s capitania of St. Vincente, was denominated St. Amaro; and Itamaraca, being situated at so great a distance from it, experienced less attention, and was so much neglected that, forty years afterwards, there was not an establishment except in the island of Itamaraca, where the colonists did not exceed two hundred families, with three sugar works; and the French entered without interruption the ports of the continent in search of Brazil wood.

It is affirmed that the parish of Nossa Senhora of Conceiçao, in the island of Itamaraca, was the first povoaçao, and also for a considerable period the capital of the capitania; but, as the year of its foundation is not known, we are left in ignorance as to the precise epoch of the disembarkation of the first colonists.

In the short reign of King Henry, in consequence of the incapacity of the donatory to promote its colonization, Joam Tavarez was ordered by the governor-general, Lourenco da Veyga, to proceed to this capitania, for the purpose of founding a prezidio in the island of Camboa, situated in the river Parahiba; which was removed by Captain Fructicozo Barboza to the situation of Cabedello, where being greatly annoyed by the Indians, Manuel Telles, governor of Bahia, despatched Diogo Baldez, in the year 1583, to afford him the necessary succour. The Indians and the French, who were their auxiliars, sustained a defeat; and Francisco Castrejon, commandant of a fort, which he had then constructed, would not recognise Fructicozo Barboza as superior, which induced the latter to retire, and the result was an invasion by the Indians, who compelled Castrejon to desert this post.

On his arrival at Pernambuco, Barboza returned with some companies, and having restored all the fortifications, he gave the origin to a povoaçao, which in the year 1585 was ennobled with the title of city, and called Fillippea. Its population had already arrived at seven hundred families, with twenty sugar works, when the Dutch, who had obtained possession of Pernambuco and Itamaraca, determined to conquer it.

After various attempts, during two years, which were always frustrated, it fell into the hands of General Segismundo Escup, in consequence of the capitulation of the fort of Cabedello, on the 19th of December, 1634, who substituted for it the appellation of Margarida, in honour of a Dutch matron. With its reduction, and the surrender of the fort of St. Antonio four days after, the whole province passed under the dominion of the Dutch, till their evacuation of this part of the Brazil in the year 1654.

It lies between 6° 15′ and 7° 15′ south latitude, and extends two hundred and ten miles at its greatest width from east to west.

The longest day in the year does not exceed twelve hours and a half. The winter commences at the equinox of March, and continues till July, and is never severe. The climate is warm, but refreshed by the delightful breezes with which it is visited from the sea. More than two-thirds of the face of the country, generally uneven, consists of catingas, the remainder is of strong substantial and fertile soils, covered with extensive woods, principally upon serras of the greatest elevation, and in the vicinities of some rivers; and it is only in those latter districts, partially divested of their primitive sylvan shades, that cultivation is to be seen, comprised in plantations of the cotton tree, sugar cane, mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, tobacco, with some rice; and also the hortulans and fruits peculiar to the climate, including the pine-apple, water-melon, banana, and the orange, which are of excellent flavour.

CAPES AND ISLANDS.--Point Cabedello, south of the embouchure of the river Parahiba; Point Lucena, six miles north of the preceding; and Cape Branco, fifteen miles south of the first, are the principal.

There are no islands upon the coast of this province but in the mouths of rivers or the entrances of bays, and they are generally small.

PORTS.--That within the river Parahiba is the most frequented. The bay of Traicao, originally Acejutibiro, in the form of a half moon, with three entrances formed by two small islands, almost eight miles in width, having a small river at the extremity, is deemed the best port of the province, and capable of receiving a considerable number of small vessels. The northern entrance is almost two miles in width. From this bay a reef extends nearly eighteen miles to Cape Branco, between which and the beach there are nine and ten fathoms of depth, where vessels anchor in smooth water, protected from the agitation of the ocean by this recife, which is a portion of the celebrated chain extending along the coast, elevating its head occasionally above the water, as at Pernambuco, and in other latitudes.

The bay of Lucena, on the northern side of the point of the same name, is large, with a good anchorage, but is exposed to winds prevailing from north to east.

RIVERS.--The Parahiba, from which the province takes its name, originates in the district of the Cayriris Velhos, in the skirts of the serra of Jabitaca, near the source of the Capibaribe, runs to the east-north-east, and is considerable only in the vicinity of the ocean, into which it is discharged by two mouths, separated by the island of St. Bento, which is about three miles in extent. As the territory in which it rises is of a sandy nature, it becomes a stream in that district only during the period of the rains, nor does it receive till after half its course, any of those tributary currents which render it navigable for a considerable space. Ships advance up only a few miles, sumacas to the capital, and canoes as far as the town of Pilar. From hence upwards, its bed is stony, with many falls and currents rendering difficult or entirely impeding navigation. It does not abound in any part with fish. In the proximity of the sea it is wide and handsome, the margins being adorned with mangroves.

The Guarahu, which is the largest of its confluents, unites it on the left, not far from the capital.

The Mamanguape, which is handsome, and affords an advantageous navigation to the planters upon its adjacent lands, enters the ocean by two mouths, divided by a flat island covered with mangroves, between which and the chain of reefs, which arrests all the fury of the sea, there is an excellent anchorage place, where vessels lie in dead water, to which a narrow aperture amongst the reefs affords a passage, with three fathoms of depth, and is little more than ten miles to the north of Point Lucena.

The Grammame, originally Guaramama, which discharges itself between Port Francez and Cape Branco, has a large wooden bridge over it, on the road from Goyanna to the city of Parahiba. It is only navigable as far as the tide advances.

The Cammaratiba, which enters the sea ten miles north of the bay of Traicao, and the Popoca, which discharges itself six miles to the north of the Goyanna, are also navigable with the tide.

In the western part is the Piranhas, which has acquired the name of the fish with which it abounds. Its source is at the base of the serra of Cayriris, and after seventy miles of course to the north, it gathers on the left the river Peixe, which comes from the serra of Luiz Gomez, with fifty miles of extent, always flowing through campinhas, where there are a great many emu-ostriches, and in its vicinity have been found gold and silver. Twenty-five miles below this confluence, it receives on the right the Pinhanco, which is little inferior to it, also flowing from the serra of Cayriris, in a serpentine course through an extensive district, abounding with cattle belonging to various fazendeiros, or breeders, who live dispersed about in different situations. After a long course, having become considerable by other streams, it enters the province of Rio Grande in its way to the ocean.

MOUNTAINS.--Almost all the mountains with which this province is interspersed, are arms of the serra Borborema, commencing near the sea, within the province of Rio Grande, which traverse it from north-east to south-west, dividing it into two parts, east and west. The latter, denominated Cayriris Novas, is an elevated country, and being refreshed with winds is wholesome, and also considerably wider than the eastern portion. January, February, March, and April, are here the most rainy months.

In the serra of Teyxeira, which is a portion of the Borborema, there are some inscriptions with green ink, in characters unknown to the adjacent inhabitants, but which are reputed to be the work of the Dutch, or the Flamengos, as they are yet called here.

ZOOLOGY.--All the domestic animals of the Portuguese peninsula, multiply here without degenerating much. In the woods are seen the _anta_, deer, ounce, boar, monkey, _quaxinin_, _preguica_, or sloth, _paca_, _quaty_, and other quadrupeds common to the neighbouring provinces. There is here a species of ferret, the size of a cat, and resembling the _quaty_, with which the hunters draw from their burrows the _moco_ and the _preha_. If the animal perceive a snake in the hole it will not enter. It does not appear to be known southward of the St. Francisco. Amongst the birds are observed the emu-ostrich, _seriema_, _jacu_, _zabele_, quail, parrot, _rolla_, _sabia_, troquaze pigeon, canary, _cardal_, wild duck, _colhereira_, heron, _jaburu_, _socco_, a diversity of the _macarico_, and the sparrowhawk. The _arraponga_ has the feathers black upon the back. The _puppeyro_, which is the size of a blackbird, with the bill of a pigeon, blue back, the breast red, and the tail when opened of beautiful colours, is only met with in the woods of the serras. Two Indian nations were the possessors of this country. The _Cahetes_, from the river Parahiba to the south, and the _Potyguaras_ to the north; each tribe is divided into various hordes, and the whole have been christianized many years since.

PHYTOLOGY.--Cedar, Brazil wood, _aroeira_, _pereira_, _batinga_, which is yellow, iron and violet wood, _fava-de-cheiro_, (a species of pulse,) which grows in pods, and whose bean is deemed excellent for removing hoarseness; _sipipira_, bow-wood, heart of negro, _anjico_, _angellim_, _jatuba_, the cupahyba oil, and gum-mastick trees. In the woods where these trees grow, and where there are others for building, are also met with fruit trees growing without any human aid, such as the _jabuticaba_, _pitomba_, _goyaba_, _cajue_, _ambuzo_, and _aracaza_. The _mangaba_ is very abundant in some parts. The cocoa-nut tree abounds along the coast, which in parts is sandy, in others rocky, or covered with mangroves. The _catulez_ is a sort of large palm tree, the fruit of which affords aliment to cattle. The _piki_ is a middling sized tree, its fruit round, of the size of an apple, with a green rind, and a large prickly stone, the almond of which is eaten roasted or raw; the pulp is white and soft, and is also eaten; an oil is likewise extracted from it, and used for seasoning.

This province produced formerly much excellent sugar, the culture of which has diminished considerably in consequence of the great droughts which are frequently experienced; but in its place cotton has greatly increased, as it resists the heat better, and at the present time does not leave a less profit to the cultivator.

In the eastern part of this province are the following towns:

Parahiba
Pilar
Alhandra
Villa Real
Villa do Conde
Villa da Rainba
St. Miguel
Montemor.

In the western part are Pombal and Villa Nova de Souza.

Parahiba, denominated a city, in a state of mediocrity and populous, is situated upon the right bank, ten miles above the embouchure of the river of its name, near the confluence of the small river Unhaby. It is ornamented with a house of misericordia and its hospital; a convent of Franciscans, another of slippered Carmelites, and a third of Benedictines; five hermitages, that of Bom Jesus for the soldiers, Santo Cruz, St. Pedro Gonsalves, Our Lady of Rozario for the blacks, and May dos Homens for the mulattoes; also two handsome fountains of good water. It is the capital of the province, the residence of its governor, and of the ouvidor, whose jurisdiction extends also to the province of Rio Grande. It has its high-sounding royal professors of the primitive letters and Latin, and a junta of real fazenda, (the treasury.) Its only mother church is dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Neves. The Jesuits had a college here, which serves at the present day for the palace of the governors; they possessed another for recreation, at a distance of five miles on the beach of Tambahu, where there is an entertaining house of Franciscans. The principal streets are paved, and there are some good houses. The river, whose entrance is defended by two frontier forts, a league distant, is here a mile in width, forming a good port for sumacas. Ships can only advance a little higher up than the forts. A Juiz de Fora was granted to this city in the year 1813.

The Dutch exchanged its primitive name for that of Friderica, in honour of the Prince of Orange, and presented it with a sugar-loaf for arms, in allusion to the excellent quality of that article, which was made in this district, and in pursuance of the plan they had adopted of granting similar armorial emblems of some leading object or production peculiar to the districts or capitanias then under their dominion.

An Englishman, a Scotchman, and an Irishman have recently settled in this city, and it is to be hoped, that an union will exist in their commercial operations, and that they will be induced to go hand-in-hand, thereby precluding that competition, which has been already alluded to as militating so seriously in other places against the interest of the merchant and manufacturer. These establishments were formed in conjunction with the merchants of Pernambuco, and from hence they receive supplies of manufactured goods, the returns for which are transmitted direct to England in sugar and cotton principally. Besides, additional sums of specie sent from Pernambuco to those merchants for the purchase of produce, give this city the advantage of disposing of a greater portion of the productions of the province than the amount of British commodities consumed in it. During my stay at Pernambuco two or three vessels were sent from thence in ballast to Parahiba to take in produce, the major part of which was purchased with specie remitted for the purpose, and not with the proceeds of goods sold here. The balance of specie in favour of this city, in its interchange of commodities with the British merchant, may arise from various causes. The two or three merchants at Rio de Janeiro, who supply the government with naval and military stores, receive bills in payment upon the Provincial or fora treasuries, and the specie thus and by other remittances coming into the Pernambuco market beyond the returns for goods sold, create an extra demand for produce, arising from the impossibility of transmitting those funds to England in any other way; and thus part of the specie finds its way to this city, from an expectation of its being disposed of to better advantage. Two circumstances concur in producing this result;--in the first place, a considerable part of the produce of the province of Parahiba, till very recently, was brought to the market of Pernambuco; but the measures of the governor to confine the productions of the district under his jurisdiction to an exit by the head town, in order that the treasury may not be deprived of its revenue, has led to a concentration of the objects of exportation in this city, a direct transit to England being opened for them by the establishments mentioned, and whose object, in forwarding them at a lower rate than from Pernambuco, is at all events in the second place accomplished by an exemption from consulage duties.

One of the merchants settled here visited Pernambuco in the early part of 1820, whilst I was there, and purchased a cargo of _bacalhao_, or salt fish, from Newfoundland, being the sixth vessel which had arrived at Recife so laden in the course of two months, and this was the first entire cargo that had sailed from Pernambuco to Parahiba, demonstrating that this city is in a progressive state of commercial improvement.

In its environs the necessaries of life are cultivated, and the sugar cane, for which there are various engenhos, principally going by water. Towards the interior plantations of the cotton tree are to be seen, especially in the certam of Crumatahu.

Previous to the revolution at Pernambuco, which is said to have extended its baneful consequences to this province, particularly to the vicinity of this city, where the sugar is principally grown, the export of that article exceeded nine hundred chests annually, each containing fifty arrobas, or sixteen hundred pounds; but in 1819 the amount did not reach much above four hundred chests.

Notwithstanding sugar has diminished, the production of cotton is increasing rapidly. In 1816 it was nine thousand bags; in 1819 it reached seventeen thousand bags of five to five and a half arrobas each; and in the year 1820 it was confidently anticipated to reach twenty to twenty-four thousand bags.

The campinhas of this province, which afford cattle to the capital, and in part to Pernambuco and Bahia, when visited by two or three succeeding seasons of drought, entirely lose their vegetation, and the streams disappear, so that a mortality ensues amongst the cattle, carrying them off in great numbers.

The governor of this city is endeavouring to effect some improvement in the roads, or rather tracks, through the province, which are in the same lamentable condition as in all other districts, and it is sincerely to be wished that his efforts may not be fruitless. He has issued orders for all individuals to make roads through their lands.

Ten miles from this city, and upon the margin of the same river, is the considerable arraial of St. Rita, with a hermitage so called.

Pilar do Taypu, forty miles above the capital upon the left bank of the Parahiba, is ornamented with a church of N. Senhora of Pilar. Cariri was its primitive name, when an aldeia of Indians, its first inhabitants, and who even at this day form, with their descendants, the principal portion of its population, cultivating in its environs a good quantity of cotton, mandioca, &c.

Nine miles from it is the arraial and parish of Tayabanna, upon the margin of the same river; and ten miles to the north is that of Cannufistula, with a hermitage; both grow much cotton. Gurunhem is upon a small river of the same name, with a chapel of N. Senhora of Rozario.

Near the Parahiba, and two miles from the town of Pilar, is the parish of St. Miguel; cotton is the wealth of its parishioners.

Alhandra, originally Urathauhy, is a middling town, and well situated near the river Capibary, nine miles north-east of Goyanna, and seven from the sea; it has a church dedicated to N. Senhora of Assumpçao. Its inhabitants are composed of Indians and whites, pure and intermixed, and are agriculturists and fishermen.

Villa do Conde, formerly Japoca, is yet small and without any thing remarkable. It has a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, and is about eighteen miles south of the capital, and near fifteen from the sea. Its inhabitants, Indians, whites, and mesticos, cultivate divers necessaries of life, and draw their water from a good fountain.

The town of St. Miguel, situated near a lake in the proximity of the bay of Trabicao, has the aspect of a small aldeia. Its church is dedicated to the archangel whose name it takes. Its inhabitants are Indians, and draw their subsistence from the same occupations as the preceding places.

Montemor is a vilota, or small town of the descendants of the aborigines, one mile from the northern margin of the Mamanguape, and fifteen from the sea. It had its commencement six miles more distant, where the parish of St. Pedro and St. Paulo is situated, for the habitation of the ancestors of its present inhabitants. The number of whites having greatly increased, and in order to avoid the dissensions which originated with the two hierarchies, it became expedient to separate them; for which purpose a new aldeia was founded with the name of Preguica, for the establishment of the first, in the situation where the town is. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of Prazeres. The senate of this town resides in the parish of St. Pedro and St. Paulo, better known by the name of Mamanguape, in consequence of being near that river. In the year 1813, when its population and that of its extensive district, had nearly reached fifteen thousand adults, it was dismembered of its western portion for the creation of the parish of N. Senhora of Conceiçao do Brejo d’Area.

Villa Real. By a law of the 17th of June, 1815, the above new parish of Conceiçao, was created a town, with the name of Villa Real do Brejo d’Area, its civil government being assisted by two ordinary judges and three _vereadores_, or aldermen, with other officers common to towns of the same order. It is seventy miles from Montemor, and cotton is its principal production.

Villa da Rainha, vulgarly called Campinha Grande, (Large Plain), in consequence of being a solitary place, in an extensive plain, one hundred and twenty miles west of the capital, is yet a small town, much frequented, however, in consequence of the royal road, (estrada-real) as it is ludicrously called, of the certam. Paupinna was its name previously to its becoming a town. Its inhabitants drink of a contiguous lake, which failing of water in the years of great drought, obliges them to fetch it upwards of six miles. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of Conceiçao.

Pombal, a considerable town, speaking comparatively with others of the country, is well situated upon the river Pinhanco, four miles above its mouth, and one hundred and fifty miles south of Villa Nova da Princeza, a town of Rio Grande. It has for nominal patroness the Lady of Bom Successo (good success.) Its inhabitants, mostly whites, live upon the produce of agriculture, and of cattle, which are not numerous.

Villa Nova de Souza is situated upon the margin of the river Peixe, ten miles above its mouth, thirty-five from Pombal, and has a church of the Lady of Remedios. The inhabitants cultivate legumes, sugar, water-melons, and melons, in the vicinity of the rivers; and on the serras, mandioca, cotton, and Indian corn; in the catingas cattle pasture, and abound with a diversity of game. In the year 1806, there was scarcely an orange tree in the districts of the last two towns, where all the trees are bent to the west, in consequence of the constant and sometimes impetuous east wind that prevails here.

CHAP. XIX.

PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE.[43]

_Contests with Indians--Conquest--Taken by the Dutch--
Restored--Extent--Sterility of Soil--Capes and Ports--
Mineralogy--Mountains--Zoology--Phytology--Rivers and
Lakes--Povoações--Island of Fernando de Noronha._

The conquest of this province, which is a portion of the capitania of Joam de Barros, was commenced in the year 1597, by order of Philip II. with the intention of impeding the exportation of Brazil wood by the French, and of overcoming the Potyguaras, who destroyed the plantations of the colonists of Parahiba, and interrupted the progress of that colony.

D. Francisco de Souza, governor of the state, by orders which he received, supplied what was requisite from the royal treasury. The squadron which was prepared at Pernambuco, and carried with it a Jesuit for an engineer, and a Franciscan to interpret the language of the Indians, directed its course to the mouth of Rio Grande, which was the port most visited by the Corsairs. The enterprise had its commencement by the construction of a wooden fort, near the place where the Fort dos Reys is now situated, and the first commandant of which, Jeronimo d’ Albuquerque, had many obstinate combats with the aborigines for more than a year, until the friendship which he established with Sorobabe, (Great Island,) chief of the Indians, through the mediation of a friendly one of the same tribe, afforded him an opportunity of laying the foundation of the city of Natal, which received this name in consequence of the inauguration of its mother church, in 1599, happening on the same day as the festivity of the birth of our Saviour. The want of better ports, the quality of the land, which did not encourage its colonization, and the Portuguese nation being then under the dominion of the Castilian crown, as well as the inconstancy of the Indians, equally unserviceable as friends, as they were fatal when enemies, concurred to prevent this colony from acquiring any considerable augmentation during thirty years.

The Dutch, after being established in Pernambuco, presented themselves several times before the Fort dos Reys, (of Kings,) which always resisted their attacks, until it was ultimately delivered to them by the treason of a sergeant, a deserter from Bahia, who stole the keys of the fort by night, the commandant being seriously wounded, and communicated to Admiral Ceulio, that the garrison would deliver itself up, according to the conditions offered to the commandant and rejected by him. Ceulio perceiving at day-break a white flag hoisted, proceeded immediately towards the fort, which made very little resistance, in consequence of this traitor, and one Orteguera, also an enemy to the commandant, vigorously counselling him to give it up. With the possession of this fort, the Dutch became masters of the province, which was restored with the others in the year 1654.

In the same year John IV. gave part of this province to Manuel Jurdao, who perished by shipwreck at the point of disembarkation, and in consequence of whose death the country reverted to the crown. This province had for some time the title of countship, created in 1689, in favour of Lopo Furtado de Mendonca. It is confined on the north and east by the ocean, on the south by the province of Parahiba, and on the west by that of Siara, from which it is separated by the serra of Appody, which is about a league to the west of the river so called. It lies between 4° 10′ and 6° 15′ south latitude; the days and nights differ very little in length all the year. The climate is hot and healthy. The winter, commonly not abundant in rain, continues from April to June in the eastern part; in the western scarcely any other rains fall, but those which accompany thunder, beginning usually in January or February. It comprises one hundred and seventy miles from east to west, in the greatest width, and one hundred from north to south, on the western side. The face of the country is generally uneven, and presents some mountains of considerable altitude, and also woods, but they are rare, and of no great extent, the greatest portion consisting of parched catingas. Notwithstanding the soil in various parts is adapted to the plantation of the cane, its culture was never considerable, and it gradually diminishes; cotton being substituted for it almost in all parts, with less expense and equal profit to the planter. Mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, and hortulans of the country, are generally cultivated, as well as some rice and tobacco in sufficient quantity for the population.

Negroes are not numerous in this province; the Indians, who were very ferocious, have all been reduced many years, and their descendants, through the medium of alliances with the Europeans and Africans, have augmented the classes of whites and mulattoes, who for the most part indulge in idleness, and improperly deem it a degradation to apply their personal labour, with instruments of agriculture, for the improvement of their country.

CAPES AND PORTS.--Cape St. Roque forms the angle of this region to the north-east.

Point Pipa took its name from a stone, in a degree resembling a tunnel, caused by the sea continually beating against it. A little to the south of this point there are four abundant fountains of soft water upon the beach.

Point Negra is seven miles to the north of the preceding, and almost as far south of the river Tareyri.

Point Petetinga, Point Toiro, Point Tres Irmaos, Point Tubarao, between the rivers Aguamare and the Amargoso, and Point Mel, which is between the Appody and the Conchas, are all upon the northern coast of the province. It has neither ports nor bays capable of receiving a squadron of ships of much burden; there is, however, the Bay Formoza upon the eastern coast, with seven miles of mouth, three of bay, and four fathoms in depth at low water, but it is overspread with stones and unsheltered.

MINERALOGY.--It has gold, minerals of iron and silver, flint stones, calcareous stone, granite, amethysts, crystals, and argils of various colours and quality.

MOUNTAINS.--The serra Estrella is in nothing comparable with that of the same name in the province of Beyra.

The serra St. Cosme, with a hermitage, St. Domingos, St. Joze, Camelo, with eighteen miles of length, and Pannaty, at the heads of the Pinhanco; Bonito, from whence a small torrent descends, denominated Aguaboa, (Good Water;) Camara, Pattu, with a hermitage of the Lady of Impossibilities, and in its skirts another of the Lady of Griefs; Luiz Gomez, covered with large woods, and where the best necessaries of life and cotton are raised; that of Cabello-naotem, so called in consequence of being entirely bare, having gold; Regente, now called Portalegre, since a town of that name was founded upon it; Campo Grande in the vicinity of the preceding, and whose inhabitants belong to the parish of Pau dos Ferros, two miles distant; Martins, which has ten miles of length, and a hermitage on the summit, near a lake, that overflows its margins with the thunder showers. It is affirmed, that at the end of the last century there was already upon the serra four thousand persons belonging to the communion. Serra Borborema is in the eastern part of the province.

ZOOLOGY.--Cattle are bred, and some mules; also sheep and goats. Hogs are not so numerous as in the adjacent provinces. In the woods the same quadrupeds are met with as in the surrounding districts. The emu ostrich, _seriema_, _guiraponga_, _tucano_, _zabele_, torquaze-pigeon, and parrot, are well known; also the _beija-flor_, or humming bird, _sabia_, _cardal_, canary, _cabore_, _carrica_, and _papeyro_. On the margins of the rivers and lakes are the heron, _jaburu_, _colhereira_, _galleiroe_, _socco_, and various sorts of the _macarico_. The _jucurutu_ and the _macauhan_ are destroyers of snakes.

PHYTOLOGY.--The cocoa-nut tree is abundant in many situations near the beach. In the interior there are many species of the palm. In the woods are divers trees of excellent timber, and some resinous. The cedar is not unknown in all the districts. Amongst fruits are the cajue, _jabuticaba_, _ambuzo_, _aracaza_, and occasionally groves, almost entirely of the _mangaba_ tree, are met with; there is also the cupahyba tree, and a variety of other vegetation used in pharmacy. Lights are universally made from the oil of mamona and bees-wax.

RIVERS AND LAKES.--Rio Grande, originally Pottengy, comes from the centre of the province, increasing with the waters of various others, generally inconsiderable, and discharges itself fifteen miles to the south of Cape St. Roque. The margins are in great part covered with handsome mangroves as far as the tide advances. Large barks proceed up for the space of near forty miles, from thence upwards only canoes.

The Appody has one hundred and thirty miles of course, formerly denominated Upanema, a name which at present is appropriated to another smaller river that unites it, on the right, ten miles above its mouth. It runs almost wholly through a flat country, where there are various lakes, which by degrees restore to it the waters introduced into them by its floods.

The waters of those lakes, amongst which are the Apanhapeixe, (Catch Fish,) about four miles in circuit; Pacco, a little less, and Varges, six miles long and narrow, totally disappear in years of drought. Large canoes advance up this river to the arraial of St. Luzia, situated upon the left margin, twenty miles from the sea. From this situation downwards the famous salterns of Mossoro are met with, the salt of which is as white as snow; they have tended to the increase of population, as well as occasioned the river to be visited by a great number of small craft, which convey it to different parts.

The Aguamare runs northward, like the preceding, and is discharged twenty miles to the west of Point Tres Irmaos by two mouths, formed by a small island that produces salt; large canoes proceed up it some leagues. Its entrance is pointed out by two mountains, called Cambujys, of unequal elevation, both in the form of a sugar-loaf, and seven miles distant from the sea.

The Gunepabu, also called Siara Mirim, after having irrigated an extensive country, with many small aldeias, is discharged three miles north of the Rio Grande, with considerable width and two fathoms in depth.

The river Cunhahu, otherwise Crumatahy, which enters the ocean five miles south of Point Pipa, waters the establishments of many fazendeiros, gathers various small rivers, and affords navigation to canoes for some leagues.

The Tareyry, which is the outlet of Lake Groahyras, discharges itself twenty miles south of the Rio Grande. This lake, ten miles long, communicates with two smaller ones, is well stored with fish, and at a certain point is only one mile from the sea. The Guajehy empties itself four miles to the north of the bay of Marcos.

The Piranhas (spoken of in the province of Parahiba) is here the most considerable river, and its largest floods are in March and April. It is discharged by five mouths, the principal of which are the eastern, called Amargozo, the Conchas the western, and the Cavallos the central, being the most voluminous, and twenty miles to the west of the Aguamare; large barks proceed up to Villa Nova da Princeza. Upon its margins are the abundant salterns of Assu, the primitive name of the river. A great portion of the salt is consumed for salting fish, the main part of which is sent to Pernambuco.

The Serido, which has one hundred miles of course, and the largest confluent of the Piranhas in this province, enters on the right eighty miles above its embouchure. An imaginary line drawn north and south from the point of Tres Irmaos divides this province into two parts, a little unequal.

In the eastern part there are the following towns:--

Natal
Arez
Estremoz
St. Joze
Villaflor.

In the western part:--Villa Nova da Princesa, Portalegre, and Villa Nova do Principe.

Natal, which has been sometimes called Cidade dos Reys, (City of the Kings,) with a church dedicated to the Lady of Apresentaçao, and the capital, does not surpass any of the largest towns of the province: it consists of a square; the streets are of deep sand; and it is dignified with the title of a city, which it received at its foundation by the Philips. It has, as usual, various places of worship, a palace for the governors, a town-house, and a prison. It is advantageously situated upon the right margin of the Rio Grande, near two miles above its mouth, which is defended by the fort of Reys Majos, seated upon the southern point, and becoming an island with the high tides. The Dutch possessed themselves of this city in 1633, and gave it an ostrich for arms, in allusion to the multiplicity of those birds with which the province at that time abounded. In its environs cotton, Indian corn, feijao, and mandioca are cultivated, with some rice and sugar.

Arez, originally Groahyras, is a small town, with a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and about thirty-five miles south of the capital, near a lake of its primitive name, and twenty miles distant from the sea. The inhabitants are almost all fishermen and respire a salubrious air. The channel which the Dutch projected opening from this lake to the beach of Tibau, only distant two miles, and which would save a navigation of fifteen or eighteen miles by the Tareyry, is yet unexecuted. In the district of Arez is the povoaçao of Goyaninha, (Little Goyanna,) larger than the town, from which it is distant ten miles. It is inhabited by whites, and has a church of Nossa Senhora of Prazeres.

Villaflor, at first called Grammacio, is an indifferent town, inhabited by agricultural Indians and whites, with a church of the Lady of Desterro. It is forty miles to the south of the capital and three from the sea, near the river Cunhau, which supplies it with water.

Estremoz, formerly Guajiru, is a town of the same class as the preceding, well situated near a lake ten miles long and two wide. It is ten miles from the sea and as far north-west of the capital, with a mother church, having for patrons St. Michael and the Lady of Pleasures. The inhabitants are composed of whites, Indians, and mesticos. In the district of Estremoz, upon the northern coast, near the mouth of a small river, is the flourishing povoaçao of Toiros, occupied by whites, and ornamented with a chapel of Lord Jesus of the Navigators. From its port, where small vessels arrive, cotton is exported.

Villa Nova da Princeza, primarily Assu, is well situated on the left bank of the river Parinhas, twenty-five miles above its mouth, and is the most considerable and trading town of the western part; hyates frequent its port. Besides a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist there is a hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate the same productions as are raised in the vicinity of the capital. The salt-pits employ many people, and their proceeds form a considerable branch of commerce. Villa Nova do Principe, formerly Cayco, is a middling town, and well situated upon the river Serido, twenty-five miles above its mouth. St. Anna is patroness of the church, and the inhabitants of various complexions drink the water of the river, upon the margins of which feijao, hortulans, Indian corn, and tobacco are cultivated. In its district there are the hermitages of St. Anna do Pe da Serra, of St. Anna do Campo Grande, and of St. Luzia, which are expected to become parishes with the increase of population.

Portalegre is a considerable town, situated upon the serra of its name, near seventy miles from the sea and eight to the west of the Appody. St. Joam Baptista is the nominal patron of its church, and its inhabitants, composed of Europeans, whites of the country, and Indians, respire fresh and salubrious air, and derive excellent water from two perennial founts. The Indians, whose numbers are much inferior to the whites, are descendants principally of three colonies, which their conquerors established here, namely the _Payacus_, who possessed the margins of the Appody, the _Icos_, who were masters of those of the river Peixe, and the _Pannaties_, who inhabited the serra of their name. Cotton and mandioca are its exports.

The eastern limits of the district of this town are common with those of the parish of St. John the Baptist of Appody. In its vicinity, near a stream, below a tree, there is a small spring of tepid water, called Agua do Milho, It is necessary to draw it out with a small vessel into a larger one, when any person wishes to bathe.

The town of St. Joze, which took the Lady of O. for its patroness, is in a state of mediocrity, agreeably and well situated. Mipibu was its first name, and it is nearly thirty miles south of the capital, fifteen from the ocean, and three from the lake Groahyras. The inhabitants are agricultural Indians and whites.

About four miles from it is the small povoaçao of Papary, near the lake of Groahyras, with a chapel of Our Lady of O. and inhabited by whites, who are employed in fishing.

About two hundred and fifty miles to the east-north-east of Cape St. Roque is the island of Fernando de Noronha, discovered by a Portuguese of that name, being ten miles long, of proportionate width, generally mountainous and stony, with so few and such small portions of land susceptible of cultivation, that it could not maintain a diminutive colony. In order to impede a contraband trade with foreign nations, a detachment is maintained here, supplied and annually exchanged from Pernambuco. Some criminals are sent here to pass the period of their degradation, who cultivate a small portion of mandioca, with some fruits from the continent, and breed some cattle, sheep, and goats. The rigid prohibition by the government of the entrance, till recently, of any female to this island with the colony, is a circumstance highly discreditable to their policy. A brother-in-law of General Rego returned from the government of this island when I was at Pernambuco, and from him I understood that females were now admitted into the colony. Rats are here exceedingly numerous, also the rolla bird. There are a great number of wild mountain cats, descended from those which had fled from the houses; they carry on a continued warfare against the rolla. It has good water, and eight or ten small forts, destined to defend those places where a disembarkation might be effected. In the year 1738 King John V. ordered these fortifications to be constructed, after the expulsion of the pirates who had established themselves here. Ships falling short of water occasionally visit this place for a supply.

To the north, and separated from it by a narrow channel, is the island of Ratos, (Rats,) three miles long, less stony, and more woody than the other, and where the degradados have formed plantations of the cotton tree. It is remarked that the animals from which this island derives its name did not exist here some few years ago. In the channel there is a hollow stone, where the sea bursts forth with a loud noise.

CHAP. XX.

PROVINCE OF SIARA.

_Colonization--Boundaries--Indians--Taken by the Dutch--
Restored--Mountains--Mineralogy--Zoology--Phytology--Rivers
and Lakes--Povoaçoes._

It is not recorded whether the territory of this province had any other donatories besides the unfortunate Joam de Barros and Luis de Mello, nor is the precise epoch known of the foundation of the prezidios, or garrisons, from which commenced the colonization that existed upon the coast in 1603, when Captain Pedro Coelho de Souza, arrived there by orders of the governor of the state, with eighty Portuguese and eight hundred Indians, in various caravels, for the purpose of destroying the alliance Mons. Bombille, a Frenchman, had formed with the celebrated Mel Redondo, principal chief of the Serra Hibiapaba, from which considerable injury resulted to the prezidios. He received some people from them to enable him the better to execute the project, which he accomplished by subjecting this Indian to the Portuguese crown. On his return, Pedro Coelho entered the river Jaguaribe, merely with the intention of making some observations; but discovering a great number of advantages which it presented, he determined to commence a city there with his party: and having ordered his family to join him from Parahiba, he continued occupied in the foundation of the colony with the name of Nova Lisboa, (New Lisbon;) but shortly afterwards he was obliged by the Indians to desist from the undertaking, and returned to Parahiba.

Duarthe d’Albuquerque Coelho, writer of the war of Pernambuco, where he was donatory, affirms from ocular testimony, that Martim Soares Moreno, who belonged to the principal _prezidio_ of Siara, came in the year 1631, to succour him against the Dutch, with an auxiliary force of Indians, in whose language he was well versed, and was named the first governor of that prezidio by the King: it being also certain that he commanded it in 1613, when, leaving in his place Estevam de Campos, he accompanied Jeronymo d’Albuquerque in the first attempt against the French who were established in the island of Maranham; but it does not appear whether he was the commandant or not at the period when Capt. Pedro Coelho arrived there. The district, however, was colonized very slowly, in consequence of the deficiency of good ports, and those advantages calculated to attract a numerous colony.

This province, which took the name of one of its small rivers, in consequence of the first establishment being founded near its embouchure, is confined on the north by the ocean, on the south by the cordillera of Ararippe or Cayriris, which divides it from that of Pernambuco, on the east by the provinces of Rio Grande and Parahiba, and on the west by that of Piauhy, from which it is separated by the Hibiapaba serra. It is computed to be about three hundred miles at its greatest length and width.

The whole was principally in the power of the numerous nation of _Potiguaras_, (although there were the _Guanacas_ and _Jaguaruannas_,) divided into various hordes. The main part of them were Christianized by the exertions of the Jesuits, for which purpose they had an hospicio in Aquiraz, whose ruins are now called Collegio. The first catechists of this people were two Capuchin missionaries left here by Frey Christovam, from Lisbon, the first friar of Para, at the entreaties of Martim Soares Moreno.

The face of the country is almost generally uneven, without any deep valleys, and with few mountains of considerable elevation, if we except the branches of the Great Cordillera, with which it is in great part surrounded. The territory principally consists of a sandy, arid, and sterile soil, partially wooded. Upon the serras alone are to be discovered extensive woods, the soil being substantial and fertile, and there the best plantations of produce are formed, the remainder of the country serving as pasturage for large quantities of cattle bred there.

The winters are irregular, and commonly dry, some years passing without any rain, the consequences of which are many fatalities. This scourge upon the country is said to be repeated about every ten years, with some exceptions. The heat is intense in the flat parts of the central districts. In 1792, a drought commenced, which lasted four years, during which time all domestic animals perished, and many people. Honey was for a long time the only aliment, which produced various epidemics, and swept off many thousand persons throughout the province. Seven parishes were completely deserted, without there remaining a single soul.