Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (21)

In 1632, two Dutch vessels of war arrived upon the coast with the intention of making an easy conquest of it, through the medium of an intrigue with the Indians; and, for the accomplishment of this project, four Indians were ordered to penetrate into the interior, who, with many others, had been taken in the bay of Trahicao, and sent to Amsterdam, where they learned the Batavian language. Two of them being discovered, through the activity of Domingos da Veyga, commandant of the presidio, were immediately executed as an example to the others; and the Dutch, despairing, in consequence, of succeeding in their undertaking, set sail again for Pernambuco.

Five years afterwards, the Indians of this country, hearing of the great successes of the Dutch, on the arrival of Count Nassau at Pernambuco, deputed two messengers to offer submission and obedience to them in case they wished to make themselves masters of the presidio, the commandant of which had concluded his days, and the soldiery were in a sufficiently diminutive state. Four vessels were immediately despatched, with two hundred soldiers, and the Dutch, without difficulty, possessed themselves of this province in the year 1637, which they retained without any considerable advantage for some years, and, on giving it up, did not leave, as in some other places, any public works of utility. The Indians, who spontaneously united with them, undoubtedly expected to have met with that in the new conquerors which they could not find in the first; but it does not appear that they were quite so satisfied, as they retired to the southern lands in the vicinity of the cordillera. The missionaries of the Protestant religion, it would appear, did not please them so well as the spells, rosaries, ceremonies, and parade, accompanied with music, all so imposing on the imagination, and with which the Jesuits allured them from the savage life.

MOUNTAINS.--The serra of Jaguaribe, with many spiral heads, is to the east of the river of that name. The serra of Guammame, which commences near the Jaguaribe, ranges for thirty miles to the west, at a distance of about eighteen from the coast; that of Siara, with four heads, is between the river of its name on the east, and the Cahohyppe on the west. The serra of Mandahu is between the river of the same name on the west, and the bay of Curu on the east; that of Caracu, having the river of that name on the west, and the Aracaty-mirim on the east.

The serra Borytamma is behind the morro of Jericoacoara, situated at the bottom of the bay of this name. The whole serve for land-marks to the navigators coasting along these shores.

There is also the serra Uruburetama, running north and south between the rivers Curu and Acaracu; that of Botarite, in the centre of the province; and that of Merooca, seventy miles distant from the sea.

The serra of Hibiapaba, far from being a single cordon, is formed of various mountains, which succeed each other, and is in parts bare and stony; but the main portion is covered with forests of superb timber, nourished by a soil of much substantiality and fecundity. The _Tabbajara_ Indians possess the greatest part of it.

MINERALOGY.--Gold in small quantity; minerals of silver and iron, more or less; crystals, chrysolites, pumice stone, amethysts, magnet, calcareous stone, granite, saltpetre, white lead, potters’ earth, and stones of St. Anna, which are applied to females at child-birth.

ZOOLOGY.--There are the ferret, hedge-hog, here called _quandu_, as at Pernambuco, _praguica_, or sloth, ounce, deer, _coelho_, _guaxinin_, _quaty_, _pacca_, the wild boar, _capivara_, otter, and all other wild quadrupeds, peculiar to the neighbouring provinces. The _guariba_ monkeys assemble in large bands upon the thickest trees of the woods, and make a babbling noise like the loud grating of the Brazilian waggon. Among other species of birds are common the emu ostrich, _seriema_, _jaburu_, _colhereira_, _tucano_, _mutun_, _jacu_, torquaze pigeon, _guiraponga_, _nhambu_, _zabele_, parrot, _urubu_, _sabia_. In the lakes there are a diversity of ducks, geese, _galeiro_, a diving bird; and near their margins, the _saracura_, _macarico_, and _socco_. Bats are very numerous, particularly in years of great drought, and more fatal to the cattle than the wild beasts collectively, actually reducing rich farmers to indigence, extensive plains covered with many thousand head of cattle becoming totally deserted. This animal, worse than a pestilence, destroys most in the fazendas that have rocks, in whose caverns they breed, where they cluster together during the day in large piles, and where also they are better killed, either with fire or with the gun. Goats and sheep are sufficiently numerous, though not so much so as they were previously to the fatal drought alluded to; the latter resist the rainy seasons the best, and are more prolific, generally having two at a birth, many three, few one, and some four: goats commonly have two also, many one, but rarely afford three at a birth. In the vicinity of the river Jaguaribe, the most numerous flocks of both species are met with. Neither the flesh nor milk of those animals are held in much repute, and, what is equally singular, the people are imperfectly acquainted with the art of rendering their skins a branch of commerce.

PHYTOLOGY.--There are a diversity of trees which afford excellent timber for building, others for cabinet work, and dyes; also those which produce benzoin, gum copal and gum mastick; likewise various species of the palm, of which the _carnahuba_ is the most common and useful tree in the country; of it houses are formed without any other ingredient than clay, the trunk serving for the substantial part, and the leaves in the shape of a fan for the covering; the latter are also used for mats, hand-baskets, hats, and little panniers. They afford, besides, sustenance for cattle at the period of great droughts, for, whilst new, the pith of the trunk is soft, and given to animals in default of other aliment: a sort of farinha, or flour, is also made from it, which is a resource in times of famine. In the centre of the foliage there is a glutinous pod, which, when applied to the fire, acquires the consistency of wax, of which it has the smell. Its fruit, which is a bunch of a black colour, supplies sustenance to all living creatures; and beautiful walking canes are made of its timber, which become speckled on being polished.

The _oiticica_ is the largest, and has the most abundant foliage of any tree of the certam. Its cool shade is grateful to man, as well as all animals of the country, but only grows where its roots can find water. In the woods the _jabuticaba_ is common, and in the catingas the _ambuzo_.

The culture of cotton is in the progress of augmentation, and its produce is the principal branch of commerce, and introduces into the country the greatest part of foreign commodities, which the necessities of life or luxury may require. The cane prospers in many districts, but its juice is almost all distilled into spirit, or reduced into what are termed _rapaduras_, which are portions of muscovado sugar, in the form of a brick, which it receives after being put into wooden moulds. The produce of coffee, which with industry might become prodigious, is yet insignificant. The same may be said of the cocoa shrub. Indian corn is the only grain which prospers in the country.

The _atta_, which is the pine of the southern provinces, is here abundant, and the best of all in the Brazil, and perhaps in America. Melons, and water-melons are excellent in many situations, also the pine-apple. Orange trees are almost useless in some places, and the banana, or plantain, is rare in consequence of the occasional deficiency of rain. The _mangaba_ and _araca_ are common in all the districts, as well as the cajue-nut and the tobacco plant. Cattle, hides, cotton, and salt, are almost the only articles of exportation.

Formerly a considerable quantity of amber was collected, which the high tides deposited upon the beach. The bees produce a great abundance of honey in the cavities of trees. _Quinaquina_, or Jesuits’ bark, is rarely seen.

RIVERS AND LAKES.--Of the great number of rivers in this province the only large one is the Jaguaribe, which, in the idiom of the Indians, means the “river of ounces.” It has its origin in the serra of Boavista, which is a portion of the Cayriris, in the district of Inhamu, and runs, like all the others, to the north, passes the towns of St. Joam do Principe, St. Bernardo, and Aricaty, and discharges itself into the ocean fifty miles west of the Appody. Its course through the cattle plains is handsome and interesting; the tide runs thirty miles, and gives it a majestic appearance. It has a diversity of fish, a considerable part of which enter with the inundations into the adjacent lakes, where they are greatly diminished by the _jaburu_ and other ichthyophagous birds. Its principal tributaries are the river Salgado, which flows from the same cordillera, breaks through a mountain which it encounters, passes by the parishes of Lavras and Icco, and enters its superior by the right margin, having traversed the district of Mangabeira, where there is gold, the extraction of which was forbidden. The Banabuyhu, little inferior to the preceding, comes from the vicinity of the before-mentioned cordillera, joining its waters to the Jaguaribe a few leagues below the last confluence, having received, amongst other smaller streams, the Quixeramuby.

The river Caracu has its heads in the centre of the province, waters the town of Sobral, and is discharged by two mouths near forty miles to the east of the bay of Jericoacoara. The tide runs up some leagues, rendering it navigable for a considerable space.

The river Camucim, which in the interior of the country flows under the name of Croaihu, and which has one hundred miles of course, originates in the serra of Hibiapaba, refreshes the town of Granja, and empties itself twenty-five miles to the east of the last-mentioned bay. It is navigable for a considerable distance, and has at its embouchure a commodious anchorage for sumacas, which export from thence a large quantity of cotton, principally to Maranham.

The river Aricaty is extensive, and enters the sea by two unequal mouths, denominated Aricaty-Assu and Aricaty-Mirim; the first is the eastern. The intervening island is four miles in diameter and about twenty-five east of the Caracu.

The Cahohyppe, which flows into the ocean, fifteen miles to the west of the capital; the Cioppe, eighteen miles more to the west; the Curu, which discharges itself twenty miles further in the same direction; and the Mandahu, nearly fifty miles more, and eighteen to the east of Aricaty-Assu, are the only others worthy of notice.

In all the rivers of this province there is a species of fish resembling a skate, with a spur upon the tail, the painful sting of which, when it does not produce death, leaves the patient with a terrible wound: the only remedy known is burning with a hot iron or caustic, when the artery is not affected. The Author of Nature has beneficently ordained that they confine themselves to the bottom of dead water, and do no harm to those who bathe in running streams.

The lake of Velho is to the right of the Jaguaribe, with which it communicates by two channels in the parish of St. Joam, many leagues distant from the town of Aricaty. The lake of Jaguaracu lies between the rivers Cioppe and Siara, thirty-five miles from the sea, and the lake Camurupim, a short way from the eastern margin of the river Camucim, are the most considerable. Other periodical lakes are to be remarked, of little depth and considerable diameter, which only exist whilst it rains, and whose waters, on the return of heat and dry winds, crystallize into a white and excellent salt.

ISLANDS, CAPES, AND PORTS.--On the extensive coast of this province there are no promontories or remarkable capes, no ports for the reception of large vessels, nor islands, except in the embouchures or beds of the rivers. The shore in some parts is steep, in others flat and sandy, covered with mangroves, and having in some situations fine cocoa-nut trees.

The bay of Titoya, with seven miles of mouth and two of depth, is surrounded by handsome mangroves, full of divers species of crab-fish, and is situated between the mouth of the Camucim and the limit of the province. The bay of Jericoacoara, considerable, and pointed out by the morro of the same name, and the bay of Iguape, surrounded by high barriers, contracted into a point by a mount on the eastern side, are the only openings in the land meriting that denomination.

A line drawn north and south, from the river Curu to the southern limit, divides this province into two parts almost equal.

In the eastern part are the following towns:--

Nossa Senhora d’Assumpçao
Aricaty
Icco
Cratto
Bom Jardim
St. Bernardo
St. Joam do Principe
Campo Maior
Aquiraz
Montemor o Novo
Mecejanna
Soure
Arronches.

In the western division:--

Sobral
Villa Viçosa
Villa Nova d’el Rey.

Nossa Senhora d’Assumpçao, otherwise Villa do Forte, so named in consequence of a fort which defended it, but more commonly called Siara, is a very middling town, and the residence of the governor; the chapel, dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady, was the origin of its present name. It is the capital of the province, and has a church of St. Joze de Ribamar. It is situated near the beach, is surrounded with a sandy soil, and about seven miles to the north-west of the embouchure of the river Siara, where it was first commenced at the place now called Villavelha. It is the most ancient town in the province, and the reputed city of Siara of Vosgien, possessing however no advantages that would warrant the expectation of any great improvement of its present condition. The pine, or atta, is here very large, and its fruit delicious. In 1808 it received a Juiz de Fora, who is judge of all civil and criminal causes, also auditor of war, judge of the custom-house, attorney-general, and deputy of the junta of the treasury, which does not differ in its jurisdiction from any of the others. The governor of this province touched at Pernambuco during my stay there; the term of his government had expired, and he was on his way to Rio de Janeiro. This province cannot boast of any foreign commerce; the principal part of its produce has hitherto been sent by coasting vessels principally to Maranham; and in like manner its internal demands have been supplied. A respectable house of London have it in contemplation to form an establishment here: this house has had for many years establishments at Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco.

To the west of this town is the parish of Conceiçao d’Almofalla, whose parishioners are whites, with some Tramembe Indians; the whole cultivating mandioca, legumes, and rice. In its district there are salt-pits.

To the south of the preceding is the parish of Conceiçao d’Amontada, the population of which, for the main part whites, cultivate the same productions, and breed cattle.

Aricaty, the largest, most populous, commercial, and flourishing town and frequented port of the province, was created by John V. in 1723, and is situated on the eastern margin, eight miles above the mouth of the Jaguaribe, the large floods of which river incommode a portion of its inhabitants. It has a church dedicated to the Lady of Rozario, and four hermitages, with the titles of Lord Jesus of Bom Fim, of Navigators, of the Lady of Livramento, and of St. Gonçalo; a professor of Latin; good streets; and many houses of one story, with a great portion of them built of brick. Cotton and hides are its principal exportations.

Icco stands along the right margin of the river Salgado, a few leagues above its mouth, one hundred miles north of Cratto, and near one hundred and eighty south of Aricaty, is a considerable town, with a church dedicated to the Lady of Expectaçao, a hermitage of Rozario, another of the Lord Bom Fim, and a royal master of Latin. Its edifices are chiefly of wood, and its inhabitants are much incommoded by the heat, reflected from a morro, or rock, near it, and from whence a vast extent of the environs are viewed, abounding with cattle. The river is well stored with fish, and is subject to floods, which inundate a considerable space of territory, that produces rice, Indian corn, feijao, water-melons, and excellent melons; but neither the plantain, nor any fruit trees prosper in its vicinity. Farinha and sugar are brought here from Cratto, and salt from Assu.

Lavras da Mangabeira, a parish created in 1813, is thirty-five miles above Icco, of which it is a dismembered portion, and is upon the margin of the Salgado. Its church is dedicated to St. Vincente Ferreyra, and its inhabitants raise various necessaries of life, cotton, and cattle.

Cratto, a town in a state of mediocrity, situated in a plain near a small stream, that takes its name, being one of the heads of the Salgado, has a church of the Lady of Penha, and is the most abundant town of the province. Every fruit tree of the South American continent prospers in its fertile district, and it has the advantage of running streams to irrigate the plantations, not excepting those of mandioca, when the rains fail, and to which may be attributed the superabundance of the necessaries of life it always enjoys. The neighbouring districts have recourse to them when they experience years of drought, and the consequent deficiency of vegetation. Limes, citrons, bananas, and cabbages, are of an uncommon size. Diseases of the eyes and legs are here endemical. Thunder showers commence in its vast district, which is a portion of the Cayriris Novas, in October, and last till May. In certain months cold nights are experienced.

Thirty miles to the east-south-east is the parish of St. Joze, yet known by the name of Missao Velha, (Old Mission.) Its numerous parishioners, generally whites, cultivate mandioca, Indian corn, and the sugar cane.

Bom Jardim was created a town by a law of the 30th of August, 1814, and is a dismemberment of Missao Velha, made two years previously, which was then the most populous parish of the province. It is fifty miles distant from Cratto, and has a church of Bom Jesus. Sugar and cattle form the riches of the inhabitants.

The town of St. Bernardo, yet small, is situated near a small river, which two miles lower joins the Jaguaribe on the western margin, thirty-five miles above Aricaty, and one hundred and forty miles below Icco. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of Rozario, and cattle and cotton constitute the means of subsistence for the inhabitants.

St. Joam do Principe, originally Thauha, is a small town near the Jaguaribe, a few leagues below its source, in a fine and fertile district, enjoying salubrious air. The inhabitants are breeders of cattle, and produce cotton and the necessaries of life. In its environs there is an abundant mine of pumice stone.

Sobral, formerly Caracu, situated in a plain upon the margin of the river from which it derived its primitive name, is the second town in the province in point of size, commerce, and population. It is seventy miles distant from the sea, and ten from the serra of Merooca. Besides a parish church, dedicated to the Lady of Conceiçao, it has a chapel of Rozario; and within its district the chapels of St. Joze, St. Cruz, St. Anna, St. Quiteria, Rozario, upon the small stream of Guimareas, and Conceiçao, upon the serra of Merooca, where cultivation partially appears.

Granja stands in a plain upon the left bank of the Camucim, twenty miles from the sea. It is a middling and flourishing town, promising from its advantageous situation future augmentation. St. Joze is the nominal patron of its church. In its district there are the hermitages of St. Antonio do Olho d’Agua, St. Antonio d’Hyboassu, and Livramento. From its port, which is frequented, cotton and hides are exported.

Villa Viçosa is a large town, and well situated upon the serra of Hibiapaba, on land selected by the Jesuits for the establishment of a colony of Indians, the descendants of whom constitute at this time the principal portion of its numerous population. It is near a lake, and forty miles to the south-south-west of Granja; the houses are of wood or bricks. The church, dedicated to the Lady of Assumpçao, is the ci-devant Jesuitical hospicio, and the residence at present of the vicars, who are administrators of a fazenda for breeding cattle, in the situation of Thyaya, established as a patrimony for the said church. The nights of summer are cooler here than those of winter. Amongst other springs of good water is to be remarked that which is denominated Agua do Inferno, (Infernal Water,) in consequence of being in a craggy and rugged place, the water of which is particularly excellent. The great fertility within its vast circumference, covered with handsome woods, where plantations of cotton and the various necessaries of life prosper, united with the salubrity of the air which refreshes it, attracts here numerous Europeans, who give a stimulus to its agriculture. The Indians of the town, with those who are distributed through its district, form eighteen companies of militia.

At a distance of about thirty miles is the parish of St. Pedro de Bayapinna, upon the same serra. Its inhabitants are whites and Indians, whose productions are the same as the preceding.

Villa Nova d’el Rey, (New Town of the King,) formerly Campo Grande, is situated upon the serra Cocos, which is a portion of the Hibiapaba, and near the origin of the small river Macambyra, and was founded for the habitation of a horde of Christianized Indians, of which there are few remaining. In consequence of the fertility of the country, the excellence of the waters, and the salubrity of the air, many whites are attracted here. It is seventy miles to the south-east of Villa Viçosa, has a church of the Lady of Prazeres, with environs rich in plantations of mandioca, the cane, and cotton. About twenty-five miles from it is the church of St. Gonçalo, whose parishioners live dispersed upon the same serra, and cultivate the same productions.

Campo Maior de Quixeramoby is a considerable and abundant town, with a handsome church of St. Antonio, and situated one hundred and thirty miles to the south of Aricaty, on the margin of the river which affords its name, with large numbers of cattle in its vicinity, constituting the principal property of the inhabitants.

Aquiraz, which is about four miles distant from the sea, and eighteen from the capital to the south-east, upon the eastern margin of the Pacoty, and a mile from the lake which affords it the name, is a middling town with some commerce, and a church dedicated to St. Joze.

Montemor o Novo is situated upon the serra of Botarite, having a church of the Lady of Palma, and is about one hundred and thirty miles to the south of the capital. The inhabitants respire a salubrious air, have the advantage of good water, and form plantations of the mandioca and the cane. A few leagues north of the preceding is the parish of the Lady of Conceiçao of Montemor o Velho, the inhabitants of which are whites and Indians, which latter are diminishing, as in other places, with the augmentation of the first.

Mecejanna is ten miles to the south-east of the capital, near a lake, having a church of the Lady of Conceiçao.

Soure, situated near the eastern margin of the river Siara, fifteen miles from the sea, and the same distance from the capital, has a church dedicated to May de Deos.

Arronches, which has for titular patroness the Lady of Humildes, is distant seven miles from the capital, towards the south.

The three last are Indian towns, with some whites and mesticos, who cultivate mandioca, cotton, rice, legumes, &c. The whole were founded in places selected for the establishments of Christianized Indians. They are all small but capable of becoming considerable, if their inhabitants were possessed of more activity and intelligence.

In the vicinity of the sources of the river Jaguaribe, are the parishes of St. Mattheus, in the district of Inhamuz; of the Lady of Paz, in the district of Arneyros, formerly a Christianized Indian town. Cattle and the necessaries of life are their principal productions.

CHAP. XXI.

PROVINCE OF PIAUHY.

_Boundaries--First Settlers--Cattle Fazendas--Mountains--
Mineralogy--Rivers--Towns._

This province derives its name from one of the rivers which water it, and was created in the year 1718, being till that period a comarca of Maranham, but did not begin to have governors before 1758. It is computed to comprise four hundred miles from north to south, and one hundred and seventy of medium width. Its form is almost triangular, having more than three hundred and forty miles on the southern side, where it is confined by the province of Pernambuco, and about sixty on the northern side, where it is washed by the ocean. On the east it is bounded by the province of Siara, from which it is separated by the serra of Hibiapaba, on the west by the river Parnahiba, which divides it from Maranham. The country is almost generally low and flat, interspersed with small hills and extensive plains, principally sandy, in great part destitute of trees, and also in places of shrubs. It exhibits herbage during the period of rains, or whilst the soil preserves any humidity, but it is soon shrivelled up on the return of the sun’s parching rays. This province has various streams all tributary to the important river Parnahiba. The winter commences in October, and lasts till April, accompanied with thunder and rain. The wind prevails at the beginning from the north, and afterwards passes round to the south. The climate is hot, and fevers reign in some districts. In the northern part, the days and nights are equal all the year, and in the southern districts of the province there is only a difference of half an hour. This territory was possessed by various nations, generally not numerous, whose reduction or repulsion did not consume much time or expenditure of lives, differing in this respect from many other provinces of much less extent, and arising from the concurring circumstances of the great deficiency of woods and serras, which in almost all the other districts served the savages for retreat and refuge. Those who afforded the greatest difficulty in subduing them, were a tribe living in the vicinity of the river Poty, commanded by a domestic Indian, who had fled from an aldeia of Pernambuco, and who animated them to a desperate resistance, until he perished in swimming across the Parnahiba. Mandu Ladino was the common name by which this chieftain was designated.

More than fifty years had elapsed without any intelligence of the existence of wild Indians within the precincts of the province, when, about the year 1760, on its southern side, a band appeared, who from that period have annoyed the colonists very much, and have compelled them to abandon a great number of fazendas for breeding cattle. The whites give this tribe the appellation of _Pimenteiras_, in consequence of there being a situation so denominated in the district which they occupy. They have their dwelling places between the heads of the rivers Piauhy and Gurguea, near the boundary of the province, being surrounded by the establishments of the Portuguese. Within their territory there is a large lake abounding with fish, near which they take up their residence for a considerable period of the year. It is conjectured that they were, or at least in part, descendants of various families who lived domesticated with the whites in the vicinity of Quebrobo, and from whom they deserted about the year 1685, in order to avoid marching under the banners of the forces equipped against their Indian brethren. Their hostilities commenced in consequence of a dog being killed in the vicinity of Gurguea, whither they had proceeded upon an occasion of hunting. In a frustrated assault which they made, eighty bows were found, from which it was inferred they had a considerably greater number of men capable of using that weapon. Domingos Jorge, a Paulista, and Domingos Affonso, from Maffra, in Portugal, were the first persons who began the conquest of this province. Towards the year 1674, the latter possessed a fazenda for breeding cattle on the northern side of the river St. Francisco. The great injury which he there sustained from the central Indians, and the desire of augmenting his fortune with similar possessions, urged him to undertake the conquest of the northern country, for which object he assembled all the people he could accumulate, and having passed the serra of Dois Irmaos, (Two Brothers,) towards the north, he, fortunately for himself, encountered the Paulista before mentioned, who was in the progress of reducing Indians to captivity, and they afforded mutual succour to each other. Having ultimately captured a considerable number, and caused the remainder to retire, the Paulista returned to his country with the greater part of the captive Indians, and the European remained master of the territory. Other companies made similar entries into this district, the said Affonso always remaining supreme captain of the whole, and the vast possessions thus acquired by the entrance of various parties, received the denomination of Certam. It is said that he established above fifty fazendas for the breeding of large cattle, and that he gave away and sold many during his life. It is however certain, that at his death, he left thirty, and appointed the Jesuits of the College of Bahia administrators of them, ordering the revenues of eleven to be appropriated for dowries to young virgins, to the clothing of widows, and to succour other necessities of the poor. With the rest they were to augment the number of fazendas, but it is said that they only established three more. With the extinction of this sect, the whole passed under the administration of the crown, and are preserved in the same state by the inspection of three administrators, each having eleven fazendas in his jurisdiction, with three hundred milreas of salary. They occupy the territory through which the rivers Piauhy and Caninde flow, from the boundary of the province to the north of the capital, in the vicinity of which there are some principal ones. The privilege of forming establishments within their lands is not granted to any one, where the slaves of the fazendas work alone for their subsistence and clothing. The cattle arriving at a certain age are conducted by the purchasers principally to Bahia and its reconcave. Those of the northern district descend to Maranham, others are driven to Pernambuco.

MOUNTAINS.--This province has no serras of any consequence, if we except the cordillera which limits it on the east, and that from whence emanate the divers branches of the Parnahiba. In the interior alone there are trifling hills, and some small morros, which even in the country have not acquired any names.

The serra denominated Dois Irmaos consists of two small mounts in the southern confines, between which the road passes from the capital to the river St. Francisco.

MINERALOGY.--Gold, iron, lead, copperas, pumice stone, saltpetre, mineral salt, magnete, talc, grindstone, red lead, parget, potters’ earth, and abundance of calcareous stone.

RIVERS.--The river Parnahiba is formed of three currents of the same name, the origins of which are in the skirts or proximity of the serra which limits the province on the south-west. Its first tributary is the river Balsas, the only one which joins it by the left margin. A short distance below this confluence, the river Urussuhy enters it on the right, and comes from the same serra. Eighty miles lower, the Gurguea is incorporated with it; one hundred miles further it receives the Caninde, and twenty more, the Poty. After one hundred and thirty miles, the mouth of the river Longa is met with, a little lower than which a small arm issues from the Parnahiba to the east, which traverses a large lake called Encantada, and forms an island of about five miles in length, of proportionate width, flat, and in the form of half a circle. Twenty miles further, this river divides itself into two rather unequal currents, and ultimately enters the ocean by six mouths, formed by five islands of various sizes, which are never submerged, and some of them afford pasture for cattle. The eastern branch and the most considerable is denominated Hyguarassu, the next Barravelha, that which follows is called Barra do Meio; the fourth, Barra do Caju; the fifth, Barra das Cannarias, the most western Tutoya, by which the small river of the same name is discharged. Thirty miles is reckoned between the two extreme embouchures. This river, by which barks of considerable burden proceed up to the confluence of the Balsas, affords navigation very nearly to its origin to canoes, which use the sail for eight days, the remainder always the oar and the vara, rendering the voyage long and tedious. This river has no falls, only currents, the largest of which render it necessary to relieve the barks of half their cargoes. Its bed is winding, and generally wide and handsome. Amongst many other fish which it affords the most esteemed are the _sorubin_, _camurupin_, _piratinga_, _fidalgo_, _mandin_, _pirapemba_, _piranha_, and _trahira_.

The river Poty, to which was given the name of the people who inhabited the country through which it flows at its commencement, originates on the western side of the mountain from whence the Jaguaribe before described issues, in the district of St. Joze. After a course of about fifty miles, traversing plains which abound with cattle, and fifteen miles below the arraial of the Piranhas, where there is a hermitage of the Lord Bom Jesus, it opens a narrow passage across the cordillera, forming various interesting cascades. Issuing from thence, it receives by the right margin the considerable stream Macambira, that flows from the Serra Cocos. Thirty-five miles below this confluence, it is united on the left by the small river Marvao; and about the same distance further, it receives by the same side the river St. Victor, which comes from the plains of Lagoa, with more than seventy miles of course, and brings with it the small rivers St. Nicolau and Berlengas. Upwards of seventy miles below this point, it discharges itself into the ocean. Its bed is for the most part wide, and its current tranquil. Canoes advance up some leagues; and upon its margins is cultivated good tobacco.

The river Gurguea issues from a stony part of the skirts of the serra of its name, which is a portion of that before mentioned, where the river Urussuhy has its origin. After flowing seventy miles north, it gathers on the right the Pirahim, and, continuing in the same direction for one hundred and seventy miles more, it falls into the Parnahiba. Its current is rapid, and almost universally through a flat country, abounding with cattle. It affords navigation only during the winter, has one fall a few leagues above its mouth, and its waters are of a greenish colour.

The river Pirahim originates nine leagues to the east of the preceding, at the base of the same serra, which forms the boundary on the side of Pernambuco, and, after seventy miles of course northward, it traverses the lake Pernagua, and fifty miles lower enters the Parnahiba. It runs almost generally between narrow banks, and with considerable depth through a solid soil.

The Caninde has its source near Serra Dois Irmaos, runs northward, and passes within two miles of Oeyras; and seventy miles further its waters are absorbed by the Parnahiba, after a course of one hundred and eighty miles, through a flat country rich in cattle; it runs at first only as a current during the period of rains. In the angle of its confluence there is an extensive plain, well adapted for the foundation of a town, and within its precincts every branch of agriculture would not fail to flourish.

The Itahim rises near the southern boundary of the province, passes near the serra Vermelha, flowing for a considerable space parallel with the Caninde, which it joins on the right eighteen miles above Oeyras, after having traversed an extensive country abounding with cattle. Its largest confluent is the small river Guaribis, which has a considerable course, and joins it, by the right margin, eight miles above its mouth.

The Piauhy, from which the province derives its name, originates near the boundary, runs north, and enters the Caninde fifty miles below the capital, after a course of one hundred and forty miles, through lands affording pasturage for cattle.

The river Longa rises in the campos of the town of Campo Maior, passing it within eight miles, and taking a northerly direction. Among other small rivers which enlarge it, are the Sorubim, the Maratahoan, running through a bed of amolar stone, and the Piracruca, which comes from the Serra Hibiapaba. It is only considerable during rains, and navigable for the space of twenty miles to the situation of Victoria. Near its margins, which abound with cattle and capibaras, there are many lakes: some are considerable, and have small islands, but the whole are dried up immediately the river begins to be impoverished by drought.

PHYTOLOGY.--This province has few woods, and those of little extent; but possesses trees of good timber for building. The _carnahuba_ and _piassaba_ trees are very numerous in some districts. Cocoa-nut trees appear only in the vicinity of the sea. _Quinaquina_, or Jesuits’ bark, is said to grow here. The soil is in parts substantial, and appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, rice, the cane, and tobacco, producing sufficient of all for the consumption of the country. The tobacco upon the margins of the Parnahiba passes in the opinion of many for the best in the Brazil; at least it is dearer, and preferred to the approved quality of Bahia. There are large plantations of the cotton tree, the produce of which furnishes a considerable branch of commerce. Jalap and ipecacuanha are not unknown; as also, among other fruit trees of the plains, the _ambuzo_, the _jabuticaba_, and the _mangaba_; the _jaca_ and mango trees are rare. The orange and banana trees are not common to all places; but the atta, or pine tree, prospers almost in all parts, and produces fruit in perfection. European fruit trees scarcely appear. The fig and the vine acquire little size and fructify in small quantity.

ZOOLOGY.--The abundance and good quality of pasturage which is met with in all the districts, and generally without many portions appropriated to agriculture, has caused the lands, almost in all parts, to be destined for breeding cattle, which are prodigiously numerous, and constitute the main property in the country; and this province may be considered the great mart for the supply of beef to Maranham, Pernambuco, and Bahia, at which places the cattle arrive in much better condition than at Rio de Janeiro. Horses are not bred beyond the wants of the country. Sheep are numerous, and goats much less so; but if the inhabitants were industrious, and well acquainted with cutting and tanning the skins, they would form a considerable branch of commerce. All the wild animals of the neighbouring provinces are well known here; deer are the most numerous. In the short extent of the coast of this province there are no islands, capes, nor points; and the only port is that of the river Hyguarassu, capable of receiving sumacas, which formerly navigated to the town of St. Joao, but at present remain eight miles below it, in consequence of the river diminishing in depth. The entrance, besides, is dangerous.

The towns of this province are the following:--

Oeyras
Parnahiba
Marvao
Campo Maior
Vallenca
Jerumenha
Pernagua.

Oeyras, to which King Joseph gave the title of city, with this appellation, in honour of his celebrated secretary, the first count of that name, was denominated until then the town of Mocha, having been so created in the reign of John V. about the year 1718; and, although it has been from this period the capital of the province, it does not yet surpass a small town; but is well enough supplied, and well situated near the right margin of a stream, which, three miles lower, falls into the Caninde. It is two hundred and fifty miles to the south of St. Joam de Parnahiba, and upwards of three hundred to the south-south-east of St. Luiz of Maranham; one hundred and forty in the same direction from Cachias; and between six and seven hundred miles to the west of the town of Pernambuco. The church is dedicated to the Lady of Victory, and it has also the hermitages of Conceiçao and Rozario. The houses are generally of clay and timber, whitened with potters’ earth; and the greater part of its inhabitants are Europeans.

Parnahiba, a middling town, and the principal in the province, is advantageously situated upon a point on the right margin of the eastern branch of the river from which its name is borrowed, in sandy ground, fifteen miles from the sea. It has some houses of one story, which are not seen in any other towns of the province; and the streets are generally unpaved. It is the deposit of a great quantity of cotton and hides, and has a church dedicated to the Lady of Graca. The inhabitants draw their water from the river or from cacimbas, and are frequently attacked with fevers. In 1811, it became the residence of a Juiz de Fora, and a custom-house was at the same time established. Within its district large and excellent melons grow, also water-melons throughout the year.

Campo Maior is a town in a state of mediocrity, well situated upon the margin, and eight miles above the embouchure of the small river Sorubim, of which it formerly had the name. It is thirty miles distant from Parnahiba, near a profound lake, stored with fish and good water. Besides the church dedicated to St. Antonio, it has a hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The small river Maratahoan washes its district, from the bed of which are drawn excellent grindstones. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate cotton and the necessaries of life.

Vallenca, primitively Catinguinha, is a small town, situated upon an insignificant stream, which fifteen miles lower enters the river St. Victor. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of O. Within its district there is saltpetre, and good pasturage, where many cattle are bred. Twenty-five miles distant is the chapel of the Lady of Conceiçao, and in its environs are cultivated the necessaries of life peculiar to the country.

Marvao, whose first name was Rancho do Prato, is also a small place, situated in a plain twenty miles above the mouth of the small river so called, on the margin of which graze herds of large cattle, constituting the wealth of its dwellers. The Lady of Desterro is the patroness of its church, and within the district there is silver and pumice-stone.

Jerumenha is an insignificant town, upon the margin and fifteen miles above the embouchure of the Gurguea, of which it had originally the name. It has a church dedicated to St. Antonio; and the inhabitants breed cattle and cultivate the common necessaries of life. They are frequently attacked with fevers.

Pernagua is a small town and well situated upon the western margin of a lake fifteen miles in length, near eight in width, deep, well stored with fish, and traversed by the river Pirahim. It has a fine church of stone, dedicated to the Lady of Livramento; having flat environs, small hills only being seen at a distance. The inhabitants, amongst whom are some Europeans, raise cattle and horses; and besides other agricultural productions, the sugar cane, of which is made rapaduras, and an ardent spirit. It is above fifty miles distant from the southern limits of the province, about the same from the river Preto, and above one hundred and thirty miles from the town of St. Francisco das Chagas. In its district there are portions of ground appropriated to the culture of tobacco.

The lake of Pernagua which is reduced to eight miles of length, and four in width, during the dry season, was formed, it is said, by an extraordinary overflowing of the river, since the Portuguese were masters of the country.

The considerable arraial of Piracruca, well situated near the small river of its name, forty miles distant from the mouth of the Longa, has the best church of the province. In its district there are copperas and the real Jesuits’ bark. The inhabitants have large plantations of cotton, mandioca, and sugar; from the latter rum and rapaduras are made.

The aldeia and Indian parish of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante, is in a well selected and fertile district, where any other class of people would ere this have rendered agriculture flourishing, lived in abundance, and have become rich. It is eighteen miles from the mouth of the Caninde, and seventy north of the capital; and was founded about the year 1766, for the habitation of nine hundred _Guegues_, who occupied the country about the heads of the Parnahiba, and sixteen hundred _Acroas_, who lived more to the southward. Some time having elapsed, the whole deserted: they were, however, subsequently re-conquered, and re-established in the same place, which has ever since been going into a state of decay.

The parish of the Lady of Merces, whose first inhabitants were mainly Jahico Indians, lies between the Itahim, and the small river Guaribas. All the parishioners live dispersed, the vicar being the only resident near the church, which is about seventy miles from the capital.

The two last parishes were created a few years ago, and formerly belonged to that of the capital; in whose extensive district there are yet to be remarked the chapel of Our Lady of Humildes, not far removed from the heads of the Caninde; that of St. Ignacio, near the same river, and thirty-five miles from the capital; that of St. Joam, near the origin of the Piauhy; and the Lady of Nazareth, upon the margin of the said river, forty miles from Oeyras; also the Lady of Conceiçao, in the situation of Bocayna, near the small river Guaribas.

The considerable arraial of Poti, advantageously situated near the embouchure of the river which affords it the name, has already some commerce, and might easily become a considerable povoaçao. All the people are within the diocese of the bishop of Maranham, who has a vicar-general at Oeyras. The literary subsidy, as it is denominated, arising from an impost upon cattle in this province, is important enough. But there was not till within this few years a single royal professor, as they are so imposingly styled, in any part of it, for either the primitive letters or Latin; but instead of any knowledge of the classics being diffused amongst the population of the Brazil, by these titled masters, it is altogether unlettered; in fact, I have seen some of those royal preceptors unattended by a single pupil.

CHAP. XXII.

PROVINCE OF MARANHAM.

_First Donatory--Shipwreck of Persons intended for its
Colonization--Establishment of the French--Retaken--Foundation
of Capital--Taken by the Dutch--Retaken--Agricultural
Company--Boundaries--Rivers, Ports, and Islands--Mineralogy
--Phytology--Zoology--Indians--Povoaçoes--City of Maranham--
Commerce--Exports of Produce._

John III. was more peculiarly attentive to the prosperity and improvement of the Brazil, than any other of the Portuguese sovereigns, with the exception of the present monarch, John VI. whose salutary administration of power in the Transatlantic part of his dominions, may be regarded as the result of those important events in Europe, which led to the removal of the Royal Family to this region, and the consequent introduction of a more liberal intercourse with other nations. But these benefits are but the dawnings of future civilization and improvement.

John III. in pursuance of his good wishes towards the Brazil, determined to partition the coast into capitanias, and that denominated Maranhao, was presented by his Majesty to the historian Joam de Barros. It is probable that this part of the coast had acquired that name from the circumstance of V. Y. Pinson, after his discovery of Cape St. Augustin, having entered a gulf or the mouth of a great river, which was unquestionably the Amazons, and whose waters not possessing the saline qualities of the ocean, he called Mara-non, (not sea.) Hence followed the Portuguese denomination of this territory Maranhao, and Maranham by the English, resulting from the false notion which the Portuguese at first entertained that it was the great river. Its donatory, Joam de Barros, being a man of noble spirit, and determined to do the utmost for the colonization of this important donation, united with his own inadequate means those of the Cavalheiros Fernando Alvarez and Ayres da Cunha. It was unanimously agreed that Ayres da Cunha should be intrusted with the settlement of the colony, which sailed from Lisbon in 1535, consisting of nine hundred persons, including two sons of the donatory, with the important addition of one hundred and thirteen horses.

This armament, comprising ten vessels, and considered the most powerful that had sailed for a long period from the Tagus, was unfortunately wrecked upon the shoals which surround the island of Maranham. Some persons escaped to the island of Medi or Boqueirao at the entrance of the bay; but which not being adapted for the foundation of the colony, they abandoned and returned to Portugal by the first vessel that appeared, excepting one individual, a blacksmith, called Pedro, or Pero, who remained among the Indians, and rendered himself highly important and exceedingly useful to them, in consequence of the variety of instruments he constructed of the iron taken from the fragments of the wreck that were washed upon the beach. A daughter of a cacique, or prince, was bestowed upon him in marriage, by whom he had two sons, both called Pedros, or Peros, from which the Indians thought the Portuguese all had this name, and they usually gave that nation the appellation of Peros.

The severe disappointment which Barros sustained, not only in the loss of his property but of his two sons, by this terrible disaster, deterred him from making any further attempt. And the same monarch gave this territory to Luiz de Mello, and furnished him with three ships and two caravels, that he might the more effectually execute his project, which was to penetrate by the river Amazons as far as the eastern mines of Peru. He was not, however, much less unfortunate than Ayres da Cunha, the whole of the armament being lost near the same place, excepting one caravel that escaped, and with which he returned to Lisbon. These misfortunes attending the vessels that entered even the best anchorage place of this province discouraged all those persons who were capable of colonizing its fertile land, but did not prevent its being visited by other nations.

In the year 1594 M. Rifault, a Frenchman, entered the port of Maranham with three sail, where he left Charles Vaux and a small number of his crew. This weak colony was reinforced in the year 1612 by M. Ravardiere. Two years afterwards Jeronimo d’Albuquerque Coelho was despatched from Pernambuco by order of the governor, Gaspar de Souza, to expel those intruders, over whom, after some attacks, he gained very little advantage, by a capitulation which he entered into with them. Alexandre de Moura, who arrived there the following year with a strong force, proposed, instead of the capitulation, the evacuation of the place by the French, to which their commander, from the weak condition of the colony, was under the necessity of acceding. This event, occurring on the 1st of November, induced Moura to give the name of Todos os Santos to the island, which it did not however long retain.

Jeronimo d’Albuquerque was left here by Alexandre de Moura with the post of captao-mor, and was instructed to found a povoaçao and continue the conquest of this new province on account of the government. He preferred the situation which had been selected by the French, where he commenced the capital, in the increase and defence of which he was occupied till the year 1618, when he died, and was succeeded by his son, Antonio d’Albuquerque, as temporary governor for more than a year, when Domingos da Costa Machado was appointed to this situation. In the beginning of his government Jorge de Lemos arrived there with two hundred families from the Azores, in three vessels, at his own cost.

In 1621 there was a very great mortality amongst the domestic Indians, caused by the small pox. Part of this loss was remedied in the same year by the transmission of forty families, also from the islands of the Azores, by the provedor-mor, Antonio Ferraira Bitancourt, in pursuance of an arrangement made with the crown.