Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (22)

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Antonio Moniz Barreiros succeeded to this government in 1622, to whom the senate, in the name of the people, presented a requisition that he would not consent to the establishment of the Jesuits there, as it was thought the introduction of their principles among the Indians would not be favourable to the colonists. He established two sugar works, in accomplishment of the obligation his father, of the same name, was under from being appointed provedor-mor of the treasury at Bahia.

Some time before Barreiros began his government the court of Madrid (in 1621) resolved to form the conquests of Maranham into a new state of the same name, and for its governor was nominated D. Diogo de Carcoma, whose refusal occasioned the appointment of D. Francisco de Moura. This individual not going, Francisco Coelho de Carvalho was elected, who sailed from the Tagus in March, 1624, and disembarked at Pernambuco, where the irruptions of the Dutch detained him nearly two years, so that he did not arrive at the capital of Maranham till 1626, having previously taken possession of the fort of Siara, which then formed a part of this province. In the following year he visited the province of Grand Para and entered the bay of Gurupy, where he established a povoaçao, which he called Vera Cruz, and died in the twelfth year of his government.

In 1641, when John IV. again had an ambassador at the Dutch court, which had recognised him as the legitimate sovereign of Portugal, a Dutch vessel arrived at Maranham, under the pretence of having been driven there by a violent tempest, and requested that assistance which in such cases is customary for friendly nations to afford to each other. The credulous friendship of the governor was taken advantage of by the Dutch, who suddenly possessed themselves of the capital, and with facility subjugated the rest of the province; from whence, however, they were expelled by the Portuguese in 1643.

All the governors of this province had not the titles of captains-general of the state; occasionally Grand Para enjoyed this pre-eminence. All proceedings that admitted of appeal after the sentence of the magistrates, in all the provinces, were always referred to the court, and their bishops immediately upon creation became suffragans of the metropolitan of Lisbon.

The subjection of the Portuguese nation to a foreign sceptre, the pretensions of the Dutch to the Brazil, afterwards the prolonged war preceding the reversion of the crown, and, finally, the alleged long existing destructive abuses of the Braganza family, are adduced as plausible reasons for the unflourishing state of the Brazil for nearly a century and a half.

With the change of hemisphere the first colonists are also said to have changed their customs, entering into the pursuits of agriculture with no spirit, alike regarding improvement and instruction with indifference, and preferring the idiom of the barbarous Tupinambas to their own. The various Jesuitical missionaries, however, made great progress in the conversion of the Indians, and in which they would have been more successful had not the colonists degenerated so much and relaxed in their obedience to the laws. The Portuguese language began to be generally used in the year 1755, and at this epoch agriculture assumed a more flourishing aspect, in consequence of the creation of a public company, which included the province of Para. Its capital amounted to one million two hundred thousand crusades, which was raised by twelve hundred shares; the possession of ten shares rendered each individual eligible to the administration of the affairs of the company, which was decried by some as introductory of ignorance and a system of destruction.

This province is bounded on the north by the ocean, on the west by the province of Para, on the south by those of Goyaz and Piauhy, and on the east by the latter. It is of a triangular form, extending nearly four hundred miles from north to south on its western side, and about three hundred and fifty miles from west to east along the coast, lying between 1° and 7½° south latitude. Its vicinity to the equator renders the climate hot. The thunderstorms introduce the winter season, which begin in the southern districts about the month of October, where the longest day is twelve hours and a half. In the northern part of the province there is scarcely any difference between the day and night all the year. The country is mostly uneven, but without any mountains of considerable elevation. It has large and numerous rivers, and is mainly covered with woods, affording a variety and abundance of excellent timber.

RIVERS, PORTS, AND ISLANDS.--About two miles within the bar of the channel of Tutoya, (the western branch of the river Parnahyba and the eastern limits of this province,) the river of the same name is discharged, after a short course, being only of note as far as the tide ascends. In front of its mouth is a small island, which forms an anchorage place.

Fifteen miles to the west of Tutoya bar is the Perguicas, which is large, and affords good anchorage for small vessels within the eastern point. Following a handsome beach of white sand for about thirty miles, denominated the Lancoes, and at its termination another of about twelve miles, covered with mangroves, is the river Marim, which flows through a fertile soil and is discharged by three mouths. Passing the western mouth of this river the coast changes its direction to the south-west, and forms a gulf or bay of about thirty-five miles in extent, in which is situated the island of Maranham, (twenty miles long from north-east to south-west, and fifteen at its greatest width,) forming, with the continent, two bays, one to the east, called St. Joze, and the other to the west, St. Marcos, each about six miles in width, communicating by a narrow strait, denominated the river Mosquito, fifteen miles long, and separating the island from the continent: this island, almost covered with woods, has some eminences and fifteen perennial streams.

Seven miles beyond the Marim the Perea discharges itself, and is navigable for a considerable distance. Almost in front of it is an island of the same name, near to which is another, called Raza, and not far distant that of St. Anna. The river Moconandiva follows, and after it the Mamuna, which is discharged by two mouths, the western one being called Aragatuba; the interval between it and the Perea, about twelve miles, is an archipelago. Twenty-eight miles further is discharged the large river Mony, which originates about twenty-five miles from the margin of the Parnahyba, and six miles above its mouth receives the Iguara, which waters a country where the necessaries of life are only partially cultivated. Three miles west of the Mony is the vast embouchure of the large river Itapicuru, being the most considerable of the province. It originates in the district of Balsas, the most southern portion of Maranham, where it already assumes the appearance of a large river, running north-east to Cachias, one hundred miles above which it receives on the left the Alpercatas, of equal size, and which comes from the territory of the Tymbyra Indians, whither it affords navigation to canoes. In Cachias it changes its direction to the north-west, and passes by two parishes of the same name, where the tide and the navigation of large barks with the sail terminate. Its current is rapid and the course winding, generally through extensive woods. The fishermen who use the line about the heads of this river, occasionally catch a species of small eel whose electric powers are greater than the _torpedo_, conveying its influence up the line and rod, and benumbing the arm, so that it cannot be moved; this electrical effect is attributed to a stone the fish has in its head, and which is much esteemed by the superstitious, who attach many virtues to it. Humboldt tried many interesting experiments with this fish, whose electric fire is exhausted after many discharges; amongst other trials of its power were the driving horses into a pond and compelling them to withstand the gradually decreasing shocks of a great many of them. The two last rivers enter the bay of St. Joze.

About twenty miles further west, at the bottom of the bay of St. Marcos and the same distance south-west of the capital is the mouth of the large river Meary, or Mearim, sometimes called Maranham, which originates also in the southern part of the province, describing numerous windings, and increasing by the addition of various streams, among which is the Grajehu. Its bed is deep and wide, and the current so rapid that it suspends the progress of the tide for a considerable period, and produces by this opposition an extraordinary agitation of the waters, which is called _Pororocas_; when the tide has vanquished its opponent it flows up for three hours with astonishing rapidity. This phenomenon occupies a space of nearly fifteen miles, occasioning a loud noise, and there are situations, called _esperas_, where canoes wait until the tide re-advances, and then continue their voyage without danger. This large river, which has the least depth at its extended mouth where vessels can only enter with the tide, affords navigation to the centre of the province, where a large fall interrupts it. It traverses the territories of the Gamella Indians and other barbarous nations. In the vicinity of the sea it flows through fine campinhas of fertile land, where cattle are raised, a diversity of the necessaries of life, and cotton. One of its principal and last confluents is the Pinnare, up which small craft proceed to the town of Vianna. The coast beyond the Mearim inclines to the north, forming a bay ten miles in extent, about fifteen miles beyond which is the bay of Cuma, nine miles long and three wide, open to the east, and receiving the river Piracunan.

Twenty miles further is the bay called Cabello da Velha, six miles wide, nearly of equal length, and receiving the river Cururupu. Its entrance is between two small islands surrounded with dangerous shoals. In the proximity of the shore, half way between the two last bays, is a file of five islands, thickly covered with woods; the largest is about four miles in length. About twenty miles further, the coast being bordered by the same number of islands, is the embouchure of the Turynana, which has an extensive course and here affords good anchorage for small vessels. In front of this is the island of St. Joam, the most westerly of those alluded to; it is ten miles long from north-east to south-west, flat, covered with woods, and occupied by birds and wild quadrupeds. A profound channel, three miles in width, separates it from the continent; near its north-eastern point there is safe anchorage.

Further westward is the vast bay of Turyvassu, the limits of the province on the side of Para. It receives a river of the same name, after flowing a great distance through extensive woods. The Indians, who, under various appellations had the dominion of the island of Maranham and the adjoining continent, were Tupinambas, and divided into small tribes.

MINERALOGY.--Calcareous stone, copperas, alum, iron, lead, and silver, antimony, amianthus, saltpetre, mineral salt, crystals, grindstone, and quarries or rocks of granite.

PHYTOLOGY.--The Asiatic cocoa-nut tree grows sparingly, and only along the coast. The pine is common, and fructifies in perfection. From the fruit of the _mamona_ is extracted almost all the oil which is used for lights. Here are trees of gum copal, storax, mastick, bensoin, dragons’ blood, the oil of cupahyba, or capivi, the _arariba_, from whose bark is extracted a beautiful crimson colour, the _barbatimoe_, cajue-nut _ambuzo_, cocoa, _jabuticaba_, _mangaba_, _aracaza_, _babonilha_, _butua_, ginger, jalap, ipecacuanha, and the palm. The cane prospers in many situations, but its culture has been supplanted by that of cotton, which constitutes the main article of exportation, and the principal wealth of the country. Amongst resinous trees is also the _sucuba_, the gum of which passes for the ammoniac of the Levant. The deity who presides over grain, the lifesustaining Ceres, has here but little influence, and rice only is cultivated, but to a very great extent; the soil is equally well adapted to the produce of Indian corn. The irregularity of the seasons does not permit the cultivation of wheat, rye, or barley. Water-melons, melons, and pine-apples are excellent. The indigenous banana tree produces fruit in immense profusion and of the best quality.

ZOOLOGY.--Cattle, sheep, and goats multiply here better than in the countries from which they were imported, but do not improve in size nor in the flavour of their meat, neither are they very numerous, with the exception of the first. Mules are bred here, also hogs, equal to the consumption of the country. All the species of wild animals are met with, peculiar to the eastern provinces. The _moco_ is numerous in all parts. The birds of the plains, woods, and lakes, known in the other districts, are common here; and the handsome _guara_ abound in the proximity of the sea. There is in this part of South America a particular species of silk worm, more prolific than the ordinary kinds of Bombay or Persia. The colour of the silk is a dark yellow, and might be rendered a considerable branch of commerce, in consequence of the facility which would attend its abundant cultivation, if any adequate attention was afforded to it. The insect receives its nourishment from leaves of the orange and the pine tree, or _atta_, which is common in its native country.

All the territory lying between the rivers Itapicuru and the Parnahyba has been for many years evacuated by the Indians, as well as the northern part of that to the west of the first river, and is more or less inhabited by whites, and Christianized Indians, mainly occupied in the cultivation of mandioca, Indian corn, and legumes, and above all in the two vegetable articles of exportation, rice and cotton, almost all the labour being performed by the hands of negroes, who exceed by many times the number of the others. Families live for the most part dispersed. A certain proportion of land, where each cultivator dwells, generally with all his family and slaves, is of itself considered an aldeia. There are few aldeias compared with the extent of the province, having any considerable number of families, with the exception of those which have been created parishes, many comprising sixty miles or more of district. Excellent nets used for sleeping, and some coarse cottons, made into dresses, generally for slaves, are manufactured here.

The southern portion of the western district of this province is still in the possession of the Indians, as well as a great extent of the central part. The most northern tribe, bordering upon the Portuguese, are called by them the _Gamel__las_, in consequence of their prevailing custom of perforating and distending the under lip, with a sort of calabash, or round piece of wood, which produces some resemblance to a small gamella, or wooden bowl. They cultivate various necessaries of life, and live in cabanas, when they are not out upon their hunting excursions, or gathering wild fruits. Their arms are the bow and arrow, and a club of hard wood, denominated a _mataranna_, cornered at the thicker end and pointed at the other.

The Timbyras occupy the country to the south of them, and are divided into two hordes, one denominated Timbyras da Matta, (of the wood,) from living in the interior of forests; the other, Timbyras de Canella Fina, from the delicate form of their legs. They rove in the desert plains, and are of such amazing velocity, that they equal the swiftness of the horse. All use a bow made of a species of small club, and another large one of violet wood, and flat. Those of the woods have in their territory a large lake, and mines of salt, which they use, and cultivate mandioca and other necessaries, also some cotton, of which they make their hammocks. They distil various beverages, more or less inebriating, which last only for a short time, arising as much from the quality as the excess with which they use them. From the period they begin to drink them, till they are finished, are days of folly, dedicated to tumultuous dancing and dissension.

Proceeding southward, the Manajos are met with, who are of a white complexion, and occupy a country to the west of Balsas, extending themselves to the margin of the Tucantins, where they receive the name of Temembos. In their vicinity dwell the Bus and Cupinharos. The territory bounding this province and Para is inhabited by the Gê Indians, who are divided into five tribes, distinguished by the appellations of Auge, Crange, Cannacatage, Poncatage, and Paycoge, and almost without any difference of language or customs.

The towns of this province are--

Alcantara
Guimarens
St. Joam de Cortes
Vianna
Moncao
Hycatu
Cachias
Tury
Vinhaes
Passo do Lumiar
Maranham.

Alcantara, about ten miles north-west of the capital is a large town, with good houses, and agreeably situated upon elevated ground, having four hermitages, a convent of slippered Carmalites, another of Mercenaries, and a fort, seated upon the site where a Jesuitical hospicio existed. It was for some time the capital of the capitania of Cuma, which terminated in the bay of Turyvassu, and its port is capable of receiving sumacas. The cotton raised in its district is esteemed the best of the province. This article and rice constitute the principal productions of the inhabitants. The salterns, three miles north of it, are capable of furnishing excellent salt to many provinces, if they were administered, as in the time of the Jesuits, to whom they belonged.

Guimarens is a flourishing town, situated upon the northern side of the bay of Cuma, thirty miles north-north-west of Alcantara, with a church of St. Joze. From its port are exported cotton, rice, and a considerable quantity of farinha.

St. Joam de Cortes is a small and insignificant town, eighteen miles south of Guimarens, on the southern margin of the bay of Cuma, producing farinha, with some cotton and rice.

Vianna is a middling town, and well situated upon the margin of the Maracu, a branch of the Pinnare, in the vicinity of a large lake, about one hundred miles from the capital. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Conceiçao; and its inhabitants raise cotton, mandioca, and other necessaries of life common to the country. They breed cattle and collect timber. In its district there is one of the best sugar works of the province, and formerly belonging to the Jesuits.

Moncao, eighteen miles south of Vianna, is a small Indian town, with a church, upon the banks of the Pinnare. Its inhabitants raise the provisions of life, some cotton, and follow fishing and hunting.

Hycatu, (good water,) an ancient town, and formerly considerable and flourishing, is situated near the confluence of the Hyguara with the Mony, and has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao. It was the first residence of the governors of the province, and conceded many privileges to its senate. An excellent quality of cotton constitutes the chief production of its inhabitants.

Cachias, a considerable and flourishing town upon the eastern margin of the Itapicuru, is two hundred miles south-east of the capital, and nearly the same distance north-north-west of Oeyras. It has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and a hermitage of Razario; Aldeias Altas was its primitive name. A Juiz de Fora has presided over its senate since the year 1809. The propensity to gambling amongst its inhabitants has occasioned the ruin of many merchants of the capital. Within its extensive district a very great quantity of cotton and rice is grown, for whose transmission to the parish of Rozario barks of considerable burden are constructed for navigating in shoal water.

Upon the other side of the river is the parish of Trezidellas, whose parishioners are descended from the Aborigines. They have a church of Our Lady of Razario.

One hundred miles above Cachias, and upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the small arraial of Principe Regente, commenced in June, 1807. The fertility of its surrounding country and the advantage arising from canoes of considerable burden being able to navigate hither augur favourably for the future prosperity of this new colony, where a hermitage already exists.

In the district of Balsas is the parish of St. Felis, whose inhabitants are farmers of cotton and common necessaries.

Thirty miles south-south-west of Principe Regente is the arraial of St. Bento Pastos Bons, situated amongst small hills, ten miles from the Parnahyba, and twenty-eight from the Itapicuru. Cattle and cotton constitute the main property of its inhabitants.

Three miles north of Pastos Bons is the aldeia of St. Antonio, whose dwellers are a tribe of Christianized Manago Indians, who live by hunting, and some agriculture.

Thirty-five miles from the sea, upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the parish of Rozario, better known by the name of Itapicuru Grande, whose inhabitants raise cattle and a considerable quantity of rice. Here large canoes arrive from the capital, and are laden with the productions of this district, and those that descend from the High Itapicuru and Balsas.

Twenty-eight miles further, and upon the margin of the same river, is the considerable povoaçao of Itapicuru Mirim, with a church of Our Lady of Griefs, its inhabitants producing large quantities of cotton, and the necessaries of life. Between the two preceding parishes is that of Lapa, in the site of St. Miguel.

Upon the margin of the Mearim, fifty miles from the sea, is the parish of N. Senhora of Nazareth, whose inhabitants raise cattle, cotton, rice, &c. without gaining much wealth.

Tury is a villota, or small town, with only the appearance of an aldeia, but which may become more considerable from its situation upon the large bay of the same name, and the fertility of its adjacent territory, particularly after the pacification of the central Indians. The church is dedicated to St. Francisco Xavier.

Near the mouth of the Tutoya, in an advantageous situation, is the parish of Conceiçao, well supplied with fish and the necessaries of life, having a port capable of receiving sumacas, and possessing greater depth than any other of the Parnahyba.

Considerably to the southward, and two miles from the Parnahyba, is the parish of St. Bernardo d’ Annapuru, cotton being the production of its diversified population.

Vinhaes is a small town, three miles to the east of the capital, situated in the same island, upon a stream of its name, with a church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista. The houses are constructed of wood, and covered with straw, and its inhabitants are Indians, who fish, and cultivate various necessaries of life; they also make mats of miassava for trimming ships and cords of imbe.

Passo do Lumiar is the most populous town of Indians in the whole province, and is in the centre of the island, upon the river St. Joam. The church is of stone, dedicated to Our Lady of Luz, and its inhabitants are of divers nations, cultivating excellent tobacco, rice, mandioca, &c.; they are also woodcutters and fishermen.

In the eastern extremity of the island there is a considerable aldeia, pleasantly situated, with a hermitage of St. Joze, from which the bay already mentioned takes the name.

This island is of medium altitude, the soil in general fertile, and appropriated to different branches of agriculture.

MARANHAM, or St. Luiz, the capital of the province, is a city advanced to rather more than a state of mediocrity, having about thirty thousand inhabitants; and, although it may be said to rank the lowest among four great commercial cities of the Brazil, yet its amount of commerce is not far short of Pernambuco, and it certainly has maintained a progression of improvement with the latter city, as well as Bahia, since the removal of the Royal Family to this region. It is situated upon the western part of the island of the same name, between the mouth of two streams, rendered important rivers by the addition of the tide, which advances nearly to their origins, and swells them considerably. The one north of the city is called the St. Francisco, as far as the confluence of the Anil with that of Vinhaes, neither of which are more than six miles in extent. The other, on the south, denominated the Maranham, is a handsome current, and receives by its northern margin the Baccanga.

This town was created a bishopric in the year 1676, and is ornamented with a house of Misericordia, convents of slippered Carmelites, of Mercenarios, and of Franciscans; a recolhimento for women, and a hospital. The ci-devant Jesuitical college is converted into the episcopal palace, and its church into the cathedral. The houses have verandas and do not differ from the general style of Portuguese buildings. The streets are paved, and disagreeably crowded with slaves, producing the same ungracious feelings in this respect as are peculiar to all towns of the Brazil. It is divided into two parishes, one of them being attached to the cathedral dedicated to Nossa Senhora of Victoria, and the other to Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao. It has a court of Relacam, which Pernambuco does not yet possess, created in the year 1812, and having a jurisdiction over an extensive district, comprehending not only the comarcas of Maranham, Piauhy, Para, and Rio Negro, but also of Siara, as well as all the other comarcas and judicatures, which, in the provinces referred to, may be created _de novo_. The members of this Relacam are composed of the governor, the chancellor, and at most of nine dezembargadors, which latter is a title given to those eligible to or holding posts of judicature, ouvidorships, &c. Here is also a tribunal of the Real Fazenda, a Port Admiral, and Royal Professors of the Primitive Letters, Latin, Rhetorick, and Philosophy, similar in their import and effect to those of other places. It is scarcely necessary to observe, after the description of the province, that cotton and rice are the principal exportations from this city. Its cotton has required the repute of being next in quality to that of Pernambuco, and obtains in the British market a price within 1½d per lb. of that cotton, and 1d. per lb. above that of Bahia. The export of cotton from Maranham, the year after the arrival of the Royal Family in the Brazil, was upwards of seventy thousand bags; it fell the two following years to fifty thousand, and the next year to forty thousand, but rose again to sixty thousand in the year 1813, from which period to 1817 its average may be estimated at sixty thousand bags. The following is a correct statement of the exports in 1818 and 1819.

For the year 1818.

=========+==============+===============+===============+======+
Number of|Destination. | Cotton. | Rice. |Hides.|
vessels. | | | | |
| | | | |
---------+--------------+------+--------+------+--------+------+
| | Bags.|Arrobas.| Bags.|Arrobas.| No.|
25 |Lisbon |16,294| 88,488|43,212| 224,263| 5131|
16 |Oporto | 3,251| 18,595|25,037| 132,167| 1027|
1 |Cape de Verds | 14| 73| ----| ----| ----|
1 |Antwerp | 500| 3,040| 305| 1,666| 418|
1 |Surinam | 25| 157| ----| ----| 712|
1 |Boston | 8| 48| ----| ----| 1659|
1 |Gibraltar | 156| 780| ----| ----| ----|
2 |St. Maloes | 511| 2,976| ----| ----| 420|
5 |Havre de Grace| 3,888| 21,472| 372| 1,997| 30|
2 |London | 1,687| 8,835| ----| ----| ----|
49 |Liverpool |47,396| 258,329| ----| ----| ----|
---------+ +------+--------+------+--------+------+
104 | |73,730| 402,793|68,926| 360,095| 9433|
=========+==============+===============+===============+======+

=========+==============+========+====+===========+======+
Number of|Destination. | Tanned |Gum.| Farhina, |Indian|
vessels. | |Leather.| |or Flour of| Corn.|
| | | | Mandioca. | |
---------+--------------+--------+----+-----------+------+
| | Pieces.|lbs.| Sacks. |Sacks.|
25 |Lisbon | 32,503|1501| 250 | ----|
16 |Oporto | 6,116| 202| -- | 1389|
1 |Cape de Verds | ----|----| -- | ----|
1 |Antwerp | ----|----| -- | ----|
1 |Surinam | ----|----| -- | ----|
1 |Boston | ----|----| -- | ----|
1 |Gibraltar | ----|----| -- | ----|
2 |St. Maloes | ----|----| -- | ----|
5 |Havre de Grace| ----|----| -- | ----|
2 |London | ----|----| -- | ----|
49 |Liverpool | ----|----| -- | ----|
---------+ +--------+----+-----------+------+
104 | | 38,619|1703| 250 | 1389|
=========+==============+========+====+===========+======+

=========+==============+=============+==============+
Number of|Destination. |Total freight|Total value |
vessels. | |to each Port.|at each Port. |
| | | |
---------+--------------+-------------+--------------+
| | |Milreas. Reas.|
25 |Lisbon | 137,692 250|1,092,498 151 |
16 |Oporto | 65,281 854| 319,697 590 |
1 |Cape de Verds | ---- | 500 400 |
1 |Antwerp | 4,062 800| 28,653 200 |
1 |Surinam | 441 800| 1,936 600 |
1 |Boston | 435 800| 2,013 400 |
1 |Gibraltar | 780 000| 6,084 000 |
2 |St. Maloes | 2,823 200| 24,236 200 |
5 |Havre de Grace| 21,438 200| 167,402 100 |
2 |London | 5,985 200| 70,046 300 |
49 |Liverpool | 220,576 200|2,069,903 000 |
---------+ +-------------+--------------+
104 | | 459,517 304|3,783,020 941 |
=========+==============+=============+==============+

Total value, 3,783,020 941, at 5s. the Milrea, is £945,755 4s. 2d. sterling; one-third deducted will be about the present value.

For the year 1819.

==========================+===============+
Ports. | Cotton. | Cost. |
----------+------+--------+---------------+
| Bags.|Arrobas.| Milreas. Reas.|
Lisbon |16,625| 91,074| 517,821 500 |
Oporto | 2,629| 14,212| 81,745 500 |
Cape Verde| 8| 45| 238 833 |
Havre | 5,900| 31,326| 203,052 350 |
Liverpool |40,291| 222,623| 1,333,142 354 |
+------+--------+---------------+
Total |65,453| 359,280| 2,136,000 537 |
==========+======+========+===============+

It appears to be uncertain whether this city or Pernambuco will in future take the lead in the exportation of cotton. Two-thirds of this article from Maranham is sent principally to the port of Liverpool, from whence the greatest portion of manufactured goods for the consumption of the province are shipped, and our merchants labour under the same disadvantage here as at Bahia and Pernambuco, in having no alternative but taking produce for the whole of their importations, which necessarily keeps up the price much above the proportionable par of the British market. There is a singular coincidence in the commercial intercourse of the two countries, relative to cotton. Nearly the amount of the annual Brazilian exports to England of this article is returned to that country in a manufactured state in the course of the following year; and, notwithstanding all the ingenuity of machinery, talent, and superior intelligence brought into the scale on the part of the British manufacturer and merchant, the Brazilians have decidedly the advantage over them in the progression of continued gain and enrichment. The illiterate and uncultivated planter derives his wealth from the refined state of British manufactures and commerce, while their votaries have for sometime, and are yet sustaining serious injury by this portion at least of their transatlantic intercourse.

It is probable that the exports from this city, as well as Pernambuco, may be lessened so far as regards the Fora cottons, or those coming from the adjoining provinces, which are acquiring by degrees a direct intercourse with Europe, and not as hitherto through the medium of those ports. In the provinces where establishments are forming, the governors are desirous of concentrating the whole of its productions through the medium of the head town, in order to increase the revenues of their jurisdictions. It may be observed again, that it is English establishments branching from this city and Pernambuco principally that afford these advantages to the rising provinces of Para, Parahiba, Rio Grande de Norte, and Siara.

This city is well supplied with fish, water, meat, and fine fruits. Three fortifications defend its port, which is diminishing in depth of water. The tide rises here twenty-eight palms, but there is considerable intricacy, attended with danger, in vessels approaching the anchorage place. Amongst the English merchants established here, the Consul ranks as one. There is an English hospital amply provided with means from the contribution fund. The governors of the provinces are usually changed every three years. General Silveira is here the present governor.

A provisional constitutional government was formed here in April, 1821, to continue in force till the basis of the Portuguese constitution should be fixed. The popular feeling was in favour of a government to consist of five or six members; but, after some contention, the first was adopted, General Silveira declining to remain at the head of the council upon any other condition.

CHAP. XXIII.

PROVINCE OF PARA.

_First Settlement--Contests with Indians--Slavery of the
Indians--Their Liberation--Boundaries--Mineralogy--Phytology
--Zoology--Ports and Rivers--Igaruana Indians.--District of
Para-Proper--Capital--Buildings--Exports--English
Establishments--Adoption of a New Constitution--Towns.--
District of Xingutania--Limits--In Possession of Indians--
Rivers--Towns.--District of Tapajonia--Limits--Rivers--
Indians--Towns.--District of Mundrucania--Rivers--Principally
possessed by the Indians--Their different Customs--Towns._

Subsequent to the restoration of the island of Maranham, Francisco Caldeyra sailed from that port with two hundred soldiers, in three caravels, at the end of the year 1615, to him being confided the important project of selecting an eligible situation for the establishment of another colony, more immediately in the vicinity of the Amazons; equally with a view of promoting the navigation of that great river, and of frustrating the attempts of any other nation, that might be made in prejudice to the rights assumed by the Lusitanian crown to its adjacent territory.

After various observations on different parts of the coast, he anchored in the port near which now stands the city of Belem, commonly called Para, to which he immediately gave a commencement, by the erection of a wooden fort, in the beginning of the year 1616, denominating the territory Gram-Para, and imagining that he was founding his colony upon the margin of the great river.

This archipelago soon presented, and was for many years the theatre of a cruel and inveterate warfare. Various Indian nations opposed the establishment of this colony, principally the Tupinambazes, the remains and descendants of various hordes of the numerous Tupinamba tribe, under whose dominion the sertams of Pernambuco were, when the Portuguese extended their conquests into the interior of that province. Not being able to resist the progress of their invaders, they fled from them to the margins of the Tucantins and the Amazons.

The attacks of the Indians upon the new settlers increased with the pretensions of the Dutch to the country, who inspired them with enthusiasm for conquest; the ardour of which was augmented, by the attempts of some small parties of English and French upon the Amazons. Caldeira was regarded by the Portuguese as an intrepid commander, but was wanting in equity, and the necessary qualifications to found a colony amongst these savage tribes.

The barbarous assassination, by a near relation of his, of a Captain esteemed by the whole colony, led to the termination of his government. He pretended to expiate the atrocity of his relative by a few days imprisonment; and rigorously treated two honourable men who boldly required from him a punishment adequate to the crime of the murderer. The circumstances attending it produced a considerable tumult, from which resulted his imprisonment in 1618.

In the intermediate short government of Captain Balthazar Rodrigues de Mello, the colony was assaulted with such intrepidity, by the Tupinambazes, that the issue would have been doubtful, if the chief of the Indians, denominated by the Portuguese, Cabello da Velha, had not fallen dead soon after the commencement of the attack.

In the year 1619, shortly after the Indians had retired, Jeronimo Fragozo d’Albuquerque arrived from Pernambuco, being appointed by Don Luiz de Souza to transmit the prisoner Caldeira to the Court, and to succeed him in the government, which he commenced with various success, by means of an armament, of which he took the direction, having for his Admiral the celebrated Pedro Teyxeyra. At the moment of exultation after these advantages, Captain Bento Maciel arrived, from Pernambuco, with an auxiliary force of eighty Portuguese, and four hundred disciplined Indians, to assist in the prosecution of the war against the Tupinambazes.

In the same year, the death of the governor occurred, which was followed by the installation of Mathias d’Albuquerque, who was deposed, under some pretext, in the course of twenty days. He was succeeded by Captain Custodio Valente, Frey Antonio, guardian of the Capuchins, and Captain Pedro Teyxeyra, who governed alone after the departure of the first for Lisbon, and the resignation of the second.

His government was short, the before-mentioned Bento Maciel succeeding him in the year 1621. He expelled the Dutch, already established upon both margins of the Amazons; destroyed some hordes of the most courageous savages, obliged others to fly, and induced many to come and offer peace and sincere friendship to the colony; thereby acquiring the title of the conqueror of Maranham, by which name the river Amazons was also designated. In his government the Jesuitical Missionaries made great progress.

In 1624, Manuel de Souza d’Eca succeeded him, by royal patent, an honour which was not conferred upon any of those who followed him, in the course of a century. By the active and diligent operations of the Missionaries the population became more numerous than that of the eastern province.

After this, some governors had the title of Captain Genera! of the State of Maranham, as were Joam d’Abreu Castello Branco, who governed in 1743, and Francisco Xavier de Mendonca, who arrived here in 1751, also appointed Plenipotentiary of Demarcation of the high Amazons.

The captivity of the Indians, customary in almost all the other provinces, and adopted in this since its first foundation, was continued. All labour was performed by the hands of the captive Indians, of which each colony prided itself in possessing the greatest number: riches were calculated by the quantity of these unfortunates. The injustice which was practised in this pretend right over their lives and liberty, the consequent prevailing disposition to indolence, avarice, and an indifference to vicious practices, engendered crimes amongst the colonists, tending to destroy every good and moral sentiment. The laws of the state and the sacred obligations of religion became odious to them, as restraints upon their vicious propensities. The Jesuit Antonio Viegra was the first, who, in the new state, declaimed with energy against the captivity of the aboriginal natives, and repaired to the metropolis expressly to solicit the adoption of more effectual measures for their liberty; and his colleagues, who entertained the same sentiments, were expelled at all points from both provinces in 1671.

The colonists of Para and Maranham were turbulent, and afforded considerable difficulties to the governors on this subject, until King Joseph issued a salutary law in 1755, which compelled them to observe the numerous edicts his ancestors had promulgated without effect in favour of the freedom of the Indians. The liberated Indians now passed under the inspection of administrators, who made them work generally on certain lands, the produce of which they were paid for out of the treasury, until the whole, in the regency of his present Majesty, were left to their free will. It is, however, to be remarked that many have since resumed the original state of nature, and the others have not advanced a step beyond their Indian brethren. The traders of Matto-Grosso and the high Maranham experience frequent injuries from the non-performance of contracts they make with them, finding themselves frequently abandoned in situations of intricate navigation, where they are, in consequence, subjected to great difficulties.

In 1755 the Portuguese language began to be generally used here with the introduction of negroes, the freedom of the Indians, and the creation of the company already alluded to, up to which period the Tupinamba language was universally spoken; even the orators in the pulpit did not use any other.

This province is bounded on the north by the ocean and the river Maranham, or Amazons, which separates it from Guianna; on the west by the river Madeira; on the south by the provinces of Goyaz and Matto-Grosso; and on the east by that of Maranham. It extends from the equator to seven degrees of south latitude, with near eight hundred miles in length from east to west, and upwards of four hundred miles in its greatest width. The climate is invariably hot, even when it rains; the days and nights are nearly equal all the year, and the seasons almost prevail together. At the same time that some trees announce the autumn, by a profuse exhibition of fruits in a state of maturity, others are flourishing in their primitive bloom. The face of the country is generally flat, almost universally presenting an agreeable aspect, covered with extensive woods, where trees grow of a considerable height and prodigious girth. The soil in most parts is humid, substantial, and of great fertility, affording an abundance of various productions, which, in the other provinces, either do not exist or but in very small quantities. It also far surpasses all the others in the number and consequence of its rivers.

MINERALOGY.--Crystals, emeralds, granite, silver, but not yet found in any quantity, argils, red lead, yellow ochre, from which is extracted ochre tinged with green.

PHYTOLOGY.--In no other province are trees of such size produced; many of the most excellent building timber, some for cabinet work, various kinds affording tow for caulking, or flax for cordage; and the great Author of Nature has created others whose alimentary fruits afford sustenance to the living creature, the superabundance of which, for the most part, is of no utility, in consequence of the diminutive state of population. Amongst the oil and balsamic trees are to be noted the _cumaru_ and _cupahyba_, or _capiri_, those of gum-storax are known here only by the name of _omiry_. The satin-wood is very valuable; the _merapinima_ is compact and heavy, appearing like tortoiseshell when polished; there is the violet wood, the _sucuba_, which distils by incision a liquor, and taken in certain doses, is an efficacious remedy against the maw-worm; the _massaranduba_ distils another liquor, which occasionally makes fine gum; the juice of the _assacu_ is one of the most subtle venoms; the resin of the _getaicica_ is applied to the varnishing of earthern ware; the ashes of the _chiriuba_ are esteemed the best known for the manufacture of soap. Among fruit trees are the orange, _mangaba_, _saracaza_, _cajue_-nut; the _atta_, or pine, is common, and the fruit very fine; the fig and vine are rare and do not fructify well; there are, also, the fruits of _abiu_, _inga_, _assiahy_, _bacaba_, _inaja_, _cotitiriba_, _cupuassu_, _aguru_. The cocoa-nut trees are seen only in the neighbourhood of the sea; the cedar is very large and numerous, also the _sapucaya_; the plants of _vanilla_ and indigo grow spontaneously. The chesnut, that is the tree to whose fruit is commonly given the name of _castanha do Maranham_, differs from the _sapucaya_, with which it is sometimes confounded. The _cautecuc_ passes, and with justice, for one of the most useful trees of this province, where it is common; it is of the _euphorbium_ species, and from its trunk is extracted, by incision, a liquid, which condenses and turns into an elastic gum, with which, through the medium of moulds, are made seringes of various kinds, and when its juice is applied to dress renders it impenetrable to water. The cocoa shrub, or tree, are of two kinds, one produced by nature, the other by cultivation. Here is, likewise, sarsaparilla, ipecacuenha, _butua_, jallap, _ginger_; also, the _pechurum_-tree and that affording the clove, denominated _cravo do Maranham_ and _cucheri_ among the Indians.

The cultivation has here commenced of the laurel, or bay-tree, similar to that of the _Mollucas_. The latter is an aromatic drug of such particular flavour that nothing could be substituted for it, until the seventeenth century, when that of Maranham was discovered, which, though different in the form, is otherwise so similar and so adapted to all the uses of the first that it has caused not only a considerable reduction in the price, but in the consumption of it among European nations. The trees that produce it the best, grow in the same latitudes of Gram Para as the others do in the Mollucca islands, and there is no doubt that the soil and climate of this province is capable, with proper management, of producing any thing that any other part of the world can afford. The bread fruit tree has been recently introduced and prospers as in its native soil. The very small portion, indeed, of this part of the Brazil that is cultivated is appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, coffee, cotton, the sugar cane, of which the engenhos at present are not numerous, and rice, which is very abundant; these, with cocoa and other minor productions, principally engage the attention of agriculturists, who, with the population and industry, are at a very low ebb, compared to the advantages so pre-eminently offered by a country of such unexampled fertility.

ZOOLOGY.--All the species of domestic and wild quadrupeds peculiar to the surrounding provinces are common here, as likewise the most remarkable birds, such as the parrot, _arrara_, _tucano_, _jacu_, emu-ostrich, _soco_, _araponga_, _mutun_, _troquaze_ pigeon, partridge, _jaburu_, divers sorts of geese, _macaricos_, _colhereiras_, _sabias_, and _colibris_; the _guara_, only met with in the vicinity of salt water, is very numerous. Various species of small birds, with a variety of beautiful plumage, are observed here, totally unknown in the other provinces; also, all the kinds of bees common to the Brazil, affording a profusion of honey, in the extensive woods, for the supply of the Indian.

PORTS AND RIVERS.--Between the bay of Turyuassu and Point Tigioca there are upwards of twenty abundant rivers, each with its anchorage place for vessels of small burden, more or less commodious, either within or near their embouchures, the main part being within bays or spacious gulfs, commonly surrounded with mangroves, abounding in the _guara_, _macarico_, and other birds that exist upon shell-fish.

As almost all the rivers in this province run into the Amazons, we will speak of them in the order in which they enter that great recipient.

The river of the Amazons, also called Maranham by the Portuguese, and Guienna by some Indians, was discovered, after Pinson had passed its spacious outlet, in the interior of the continent, by his countryman Francisco Orellana, who descended by it from the mouth of the Napo to the ocean, in the year 1539, and, like the wondrous and fabulous statements of some of the first discoverers of new countries, he promulgated a story, that its margins were inhabited by warlike women, armed with bows, from which it improperly acquired the name by which it is universally known. In the year 1637, the Portuguese Captain Pedro Teyxeyra before mentioned, conducted a fleet of forty-seven canoes from Para up the Amazons, to the mouth of the Napo, and advanced up the latter as far as it was navigable. On his return, in the following year, he gave a circumstantial relation of both rivers, as did the Jesuit Christoval da Cunha, who returned with Teyxeyra from Quito, but neither of them met with any of the Amazons Orellana pretended to have seen. This river is, without exception, the largest in the world, having a course of upwards of four thousand miles. It is not designated in the whole of its extent by the names already mentioned. The Portuguese more frequently call it the Amazons as far as the embouchure of Rio Negro; from thence upwards the Solimoes, and, at the famous confluence of the Ucayale with the Tanguragua, it takes the appellation of Maranham. It was doubtful for some time which of these was its principal head. The first, unquestionably, has the more extensive course, and is wider at their union than the latter.

The Tanguragua issues from lake Hyauricocha, situated in ten and a half degrees of south latitude, in the district of Huanaco, about one hundred miles north-north-east of Lima. It runs north-north-west for the space of three hundred and fifty miles between the two cordilleiras of the Andes as far as the town of Jaen de Bracamoras, commencing with the name of the lake in which it originates. At Bracamoras, where it begins to be navigable, it receives the Chinchipe on the left, which comes from the north-west; and on the right the Chachapoyas, which flows from the south-east, both navigable. Here it inclines to the north-east till it receives the Santiago, formed by various torrents, precipitated from the mountains of Loxa. In this interval of one hundred and forty miles, nearly midway, the Tanguragua receives the Chuchunga on the right, navigable for ten miles. It should have been observed, that the port of Bracamoras is on its left bank, and that immediately below the town its waters are contracted between two mountains, and, running furiously, descend by various falls. Below the Chuchunga it flows through the narrow strait of Cumbinama, and afterwards by that of Escorregabragas, neither of which are very dangerous.

At the confluence of the Santiago, the Tanguragua is five hundred yards in width, and three miles further, running eastward, it begins to straighten, traversing the interior cordilleira of the Andes, and is reduced in the narrowest part to fifty yards. The current descends this contracted channel of six miles, denominated Pongo, in the space of one hour. At its termination is situated the city of Borja.

Seventy miles below Borja it receives on the left the Marona, which is not inferior to the Santiago, descending from the volcano of Sangay, and forty miles further, on the same side, the considerable Pastaca, which originates also in the cordillera.

Thirty-five miles below, the large Guallaga enters it, originating a little to the north of lake Chiquiacoba in 11° of latitude, in the district of Huanaco, which name it takes for a considerable space, describing numerous small windings. After it follows the river Chambyra, and then the Tigre, both flowing from the north-west, the latter having a course of three hundred miles.

Sixty miles below the embouchure of the Tigre, is the magnificent confluence of the Tanguragua, with the Ucayale. The Ucayale originates in the latitude of 18° south-east of the large lake Chucuito, otherwise Titicaca, and one hundred and twenty miles east-north-east of the city of Arica. It runs to the north and north-west, under the name of Benni, to its junction with the Apurimaco, in the latitude of 11°, where both their names are lost in that of the Ucayale.

The Apurimaco rises a few leagues north of the city of Arequipa, between the lake Chucuito and the Pacific Ocean, from which it is only distant about fifty miles; and runs northward, describing considerable windings, and gathering various other streams, amongst which the most important are the Pampas, on the left, in 13° 10′; the Urubamba, on the right, in 12° 15′; and the Montaro in 12° 6′, where it changes the direction towards the north-east. Previously to mingling its waters with the Benni it receives on the left the Perene, and on the right, ten miles above its mouth, the Pancartamba.

The Montaro issues from the lake Chinchayocha, in the district of Huanaco, in 11°, and flows for a considerable space to the south-east along the cordillera, describing extensive windings to its embouchure.

The largest tributary of the Ucayale, after it takes this name, is the Pachitea, which joins it on the left, in the latitude of 8° 30′, being more handsome in its appearance than considerable, its course not exceeding two hundred miles.

The Maranham, at the confluence where it takes this name, directs its course to the north-east for one hundred miles, receiving, on the left, the Napo, which originates in divers parts of the interior cordillera of the Andes, in the vicinity of Quito, from whence it flows to the south-east, collecting various others, and, after a course of five hundred and fifty miles, discharges itself by different channels, formed by several islands, above which it is twelve hundred yards in width.

With this river the Maranham becomes eighteen hundred yards wide, yet having acquired only a small portion of the volume of water with which it enters the ocean, from whence it is here distant thirteen hundred miles in a direct line. At this part it inclines to the east, and, after fifty miles of course, receives by the right the Cassiquin, which comes from the south, with three hundred and fifty miles of extent.

Seventy miles lower the Hyabary enters, which has its source in the territories of the Torromonas in 11° 30′.

Upwards of one hundred miles further is the mouth of the large Iça, which originates in the skirts of the said cordillera to the north-east of the Napo, and in the vicinity of St. Joam de Pasto, with the name of Putumajo.

The Hyutahy and the Hyurba follow; they are less than the preceding, being about three hundred and sixty fathoms in width, and next to the Teffe, the Coary, and the Purus, which are discharged by many mouths.

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A history of the BrazilChapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (22)

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