Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (2)

Assuming that G. Coelho was the admiral of these caravels, on traversing the Atlantic they were driven by a severe gale to 3° south latitude, where a loss of four was sustained upon some rocks in the proximity of an island, which beyond a doubt was Fernando de Noronha, situated in 3° 50′ south latitude. The two remaining vessels continued their course to the coast of Vera or St. Cruz, and made land near a magnificent bay (Bahia), which they entered, and gave the appellation of _Todos os Santos_, (being All Saints Day.) They coasted on southward, constantly approximating to the land, where the shore presented no obstacles, minutely inspecting all its remarkable rivers, ports, capes, and headlands, the adjacent islands, and the coast generally, as far as Cape Virgins, near the Straits of Magellan. They erected stone pillars, bearing the arms of Portugal, in some of the most conspicuous situations. They left at Porto Seguro, a colony consisting of a part of the persons who had escaped from the shipwrecked vessels, with two Franciscan missionaries, and returned to Portugal laden with Brazil wood. This wood had now acquired such reputation in Europe, that the name of St. Cruz, otherwise Vera Cruz, given to the country by Cabral, was lost in the denomination which it universally received of the Brazil, (or Brazil wood country.)

In the same year, 1503, before the explorer Coelho reached the land of Vera Cruz, Don Affonso d’Albuquerque arrived upon the coast, having left Lisbon, on the 6th of April, with a squadron under his command for India: the latitude or part of the Brazil that he saw is not stated, but he observed the cassia and verniz trees. (“_Buona somma di cassia et di vernizo, altro di momenti non abiamo compreso_”--Ramuzio.) Shortly after Coelho’s return, a contract was granted for the Brazil wood, and the colony began to be frequently visited by the caravels of the contractors.

The King of Castile despatched Juan Dias de Solis, in the year 1509; and it is said the celebrated pilot Vincente Yanez Pinson accompanied him, to take possession of a part of the newly-discovered country, and in pursuance of this project they erected crosses upon different parts of the coast. The King of Portugal remonstrated against this proceeding as an intrusion upon his share of the division of undiscovered countries, which Alexander VI. had very artfully assigned to those two nations. Feelings of bitter regret cannot but arise in the mind, on contemplating, at the present day, this fine and fairest portion of the new world, placed in such hands by an imaginary partition of unknown lands. Had this best and richest region of America fallen to the share of the English, French, or Dutch, it would no doubt have assumed a very different appearance, compared with its actual state. That this would have been the case is evident, from the present immensely superior condition of the Anglo-American states, the territory of which was colonized at a later period than Brazil, and whose soil is in general so inferior to the latter country. The occasion of the difference may be mainly attributed to the very opposite genius of the governments and religion under the English and Portuguese; the free and wise character of the former giving every facility to talent and industry of all descriptions, while the ignorant and oppressive nature of the latter, especially in relation to the commercial restrictions, which, till the arrival of the King, had unfortunately existed, and in the domination of the priesthood over the consciences and property of the people, operating as a paralysis on agricultural, commercial, and scientific enterprise, and upon all the beneficial pursuits of the mind. It is now, however, pleasing to observe, that a very striking change has and is taking place in these matters, the views of his present Majesty being favourable to the amelioration of the country.

In 1510, a Portuguese ship was wrecked at the entrance of the Bay of All Saints. The greater part of the crew escaped, and twenty-five years afterwards nine sailors were found living amongst the Indians. Another account affirms that they were all seized by the natives and devoured excepting Diogo Alvarez, a man of distinguished family, who contrived to make himself useful to those cannibals; and acquired the name of “Caramura”--“a man of fire,” on his first discharging a gun, which he had saved from the wreck.

In 1513, George Lopez Bixorda presented to King Emanuel three Brazilian Indians, whom he had brought home in a contract vessel. They were dressed with feathers, according to the fashion of their tribe.

The King of Castile ordered Solis upon a second expedition, in the year 1515, with a view of discovering a western passage to India. In the prosecution of this voyage he discovered a large river, which he called the River _Solis_. This name was very improperly superseded by the appellation of Prata, or Plate, (the Silver River.) He lost his life upon its banks by the hands of the Indians, who slew him with their clubs, and roasted and devoured him within sight of his countrymen. In justice, the river ought to have retained his name. His death frustrated the object of the voyage, and the ships put back, took in Brazil wood near the island of Itamaraca, and returned to Spain. The Portuguese again demanded satisfaction for this infringement, which was at last amicably adjusted.

Christovam Jacques, in the year 1516, entered the bay of All Saints with a squadron of caravels, and in the course of exploring its extensive limits, its rivers, and creeks, he fell in with two French ships, which had previously entered the bay, and were loading with Brazil wood, of which they had a considerable quantity on board, as well as parrots and monkeys. He engaged the vessels, and after a spirited defence they were destroyed. Subsequently, it would appear from the testimony of a letter of donation to Pedro Lopez de Souza, (who chose Itamaraca for part of his grant,) and by one which John III. ordered to be written to Martim Affonso de Souza, that Christovam Jacques was employed in establishing a factory upon the channel which separates the island of Itamaraca from the continent, destined to facilitate the exportation of Brazil wood, and to impede the attempts of other nations who might visit that quarter in quest of it.

Diogo Garciam, a Portuguese pilot in the service of the Castilian court, arrived near the mouth of the river Paraguay, in the year 1527, and found there the ships with which Sebastian Caboto had sailed from Cadiz, with the intention of proceeding to the Moluccas by the straits of All Saints, now Magellan’s. He learned that the captain had gone up the Paraguay, then River Solis, and proceeded with two launches much above the confluence of the Parana in pursuit of him. He found him engaged in the construction of the fort of St. Anna, where they mutually agreed to give to the river Solis the name of the river Prata, in consequence of seeing small pieces of that metal in the possession of the Indians. Herrera states, that Diogo Garciam, on his way to the river Solis, entered the bay of St. Vincente, (then the River Innocentes,) where a Portuguese, who had been shipwrecked, provided him with refreshments; also, that Garciam anchored off the island of Patos, at the present day St. Catherine’s, where the Indians furnished him with some provisions. He carried with him sixty men, in two brigantines, to the fort of St. Anna; and before his departure he despatched one of the largest vessels of his squadron to St. Vincente, to take in a cargo, which he had agreed with the Portuguese mentioned, to be sent to Portugal. It is probable that this individual was either Joam Ramalho or Antonio Rodriguez, whom Martim Affonso de Souza found there five years afterwards. It would appear that some Portuguese had been established at St. Vincente some years; and the evidence of Herrera, that some Indians had been shipped from thence to Portugal in 1527, would tend to demonstrate that a factory had existed there previous to the arrival of Martin A. de Souza, (the first donatory,) and which factory had conceded to Pedro Goes the power of shipping to Portugal a certain number of aboriginal Indians, free from all the duties which it was customary to pay. (_Forros de todos os dereitos, que custamavam pagar._) If this factory existed, neither the period of its commencement is evident, nor by whom it was established.

The intelligence which the ship of Garciam brought to Portugal, in the year 1528, that the Spaniards had formed an establishment upon the river Plate, induced King John III. who wished that river to become the divisionary line, to despatch an armament, in the year 1531, under the command of Martim Affonso de Souza, with orders to erect fortifications and to distribute lands to those who wished to establish themselves in the country. The fleet, after having made and recognised Cape St. Augustin, navigated along the coast and entered the bay of All Saints, where they discovered and captured two French vessels. Joam de Souza, captain of one of the ships composing the armament, was sent to announce to the King this circumstance. Martim Affonso continued his voyage to the south, and after refreshing at Porto Seguro, he found out and entered the bay of St. Luzia, to which he gave the name of Rio de Janeiro, in consequence of discovering it on the 1st of January, 1532. Prosecuting the voyage, and always keeping as near land as possible, he gave to the most remarkable and important places, the names of the saints on whose days he discovered them. Having passed the island of St. Sebastian, on the 20th of the same month, he proceeded to that part of the port where it is supposed the factory was situated, and of which no doubt he was previously informed. It appears, however, after various operations upon the northern bar of the port to establish there the colonists, who wished to remain in the land, he changed his plan and removed them to the southern bar. He spent eleven months in the execution of various measures upon the coast, and it was the month of December before he arrived at the river Plate; for the sun, say the Portuguese, was on the tropical line of Capricorn. (_O sol chegou ao tropico de Capricornio._) Not meeting with any Spanish settlements upon any part of the coast, he returned to the colony at the southern bar of the bay of Santos, augmenting it considerably, by giving lands to all individuals who determined to settle there, in pursuance of the orders he had received. He sent eighty men into the interior, for the purpose of discovering or making a conquest of the mines of Cannanea. The entire party were murdered by the _Carijos_ Indians.

In the same year that Martim Affonso sailed from the Tagus, a Portuguese squadron captured and conducted to Lisbon a ship of Marseilles, which had been laden with Brazil wood, at Pernambuco, where they demolished the Portuguese factory of Itamaraca, founded by C. Jacques, and left sixty Frenchmen in their place. This information induced the King to send Duarthe Coelho Pereyra to expel the French, which he accomplished, and removed the factory to the margin of the river Hyguaraçu, a few miles distant from the first situation. This new establishment was the origin of the town of Hyguaraçu, to whose mother-church the same D. C. Pereyra, being then the donatory of the captaincy of Pernambuco, gave for patrons the saints Cosme and Damian, in gratitude for the expulsion of the French on the day of those saints, in the year 1531. It may be here remarked, that very little progress, up to this period, would appear to have been made by the Portuguese for the colonization of this country, now known to them thirty-two years, and which they had assumed the right of calling and considering their own.

King John III. at last roused by the attempts which the French merchants were making to form establishments near the places now called Pernambuco and Bahia, also by the formation of colonies, which the Spaniards were promoting on the banks of the Paraguay, determined to people this continent; and, in order to facilitate the colonization, he divided the coast into certain large portions of fifty leagues, which, under the denomination of capitanias, (captaincies,) were to be bestowed on individuals distinguished by their services to the crown; and who were to go personally, or to send colonists, in ships, at their own cost, receiving an uncontrolled jurisdiction over these royal donations. The historian, Joam de Barros, who was one of the donatories, and was presented with the district of Maranham, affirms that the country was partitioned into twelve captaincies; but there were actually only nine, as five portions which he probably took into his account, were divided betwixt Martim Affonso de Souza and his brother Pedro Lopez de Souza, who were the two first donatories that settled in the Brazil. Martim Affonso, who has been previously mentioned, received a considerable tract of country contiguous to St. Vincente, where we left him endeavouring to form a colony. Pedro Lopez chose his quantum of territory in two lots, one near his brother’s, called St. Amaro, and the other denominated Itamaraca, at a very inconvenient distance from the first, situated not far from Pernambuco, which latter capitania, as has been already stated, became the portion of Duarthe Coelho Pereyra. The lands adjacent to the southern Parahiba river were conceded to Pedro de Goes. The country betwixt the great river St. Francisco, which was the southern boundary of Pernambuco, and Bahia, was allotted to Francisco Pereira Coutinho. The next portion of territory, proceeding southward, was denominated the Capitania dos Ilheos, running north and south from the Rio dos Ilheos, (River of Islands,) and granted to Jorge Figueiredo Correa. Cabral’s Porto Seguro was included in the range of coast which formed the capitania of the same name, and was a donation to Pedro Campo Tourinha. Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit) was the appellation given to the next in rotation, and obtained by Vasco Fernandez Coutinho. Rio de Janeiro was not colonized for some time afterwards. This mode of allotment was not calculated to maintain a long duration. The captains possessed despotic jurisdiction over the colonists, many of whom were degradados, or criminals, consequently less adapted to live in harmony, and the whole being at the mercy of the former, complaints were frequent; so that, after a lapse of about seventeen years from its commencement, this system was terminated by a royal revocation of the power of the captains, followed by the appointment of Thomé de Souza, a fidalgo, as governor-general of the Brazil, who arrived at Bahia, the bay of All Saints, in April 1549, with instructions to build a city, which was to be called St. Salvador. The fleet was accompanied by some Jesuits, who thus obtained in the Brazilian regions, those means of improving the condition of the Indians, and of the country in other respects, which has been so honourable to their Trans-Atlantic character, and which presents so pleasing and striking a contrast to their conduct in Europe, filled as that conduct was with “treasons, stratagems, and spoils.” With the mother-country, this colony passed under the dominion of the Spanish crown, in the year 1580, for a period of nearly sixty years. The Dutch possessed themselves of Pernambuco in the year 1630, and ultimately of the whole country from the great river St. Francisco to Maranham, which they retained till the year 1654. The last Philip, just before the Brazil reverted to the Portuguese, conferred the title of Viceroy upon the governor-general at Bahia, who then was the Marquis of Montalvam, and which honour all his successors enjoyed. The seat of the vice-regal government was transferred by Don Joseph I. from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro, in 1773, which expired on the arrival of the royal family in that country, in the year 1808. Don John IV. gave the title of Prince of Brazil to his eldest son, Prince Don Theodosio, which descended to all the hereditary princes of the house of Braganza, till the 17th of December, 1815, when the Prince Regent, (now Don John VI.) raised that country into a kingdom.

The Brazil is of such prodigious extent, that it will be impossible for it to arrive even at a medium state of perfection under the dominion of one government. Its prominent boundaries, now that Monte Video is in the possession of the Portuguese, may be geographically considered the river Amazons and the Atlantic on the north; the river Plate on the south; the ocean on the whole of its prolonged range of eastern coast; and the great rivers Madeira, &c. running north; the Paraguay and Uruguay stretching south to the river Plate, on the west; although the two provinces of Solimoes and Guianna, north of the Amazons, and actually subordinate to the governor of Para, carry its northern boundaries, politically speaking, almost as far as the Oronocos, making its length upwards of forty degrees. Its greatest width is about thirty degrees, from Cape St. Augustin to Point Abuná, upon the margin of the river Madeira.

This vast region, comprising nearly two millions of square miles, is now divided into twenty-two provinces, including the two mentioned above, viz.

Guianna }
Para }
Maranham }
Siará }
Rio Grande, North }
Parahiba }
Pernambuco } All bordering in
Seregipe d’El Rey } part upon the
Bahia } coast.
Porto Seguro }
Espirito Santo }
Rio de Janeiro }
St. Paulo }
St. Catharina }
Rio Grande, South }

Mato Grosso }
Paraná }
Uruguay }
Solimoes } Interior provinces.
Piauhy }
Minas Geraes }
Goyaz }

The zoology and phytology of this country extend to such an infinity of objects, that they would form a separate history of themselves. They, as well as mineralogy, will be partially treated upon in the topography of each province. In reference to the first subject, it may be here observed, that a very considerable portion of the Brazil is still occupied by Indians, consisting of a vast number of nations, more or less numerous, and generally divided into tribes or hordes, wandering about in a state of nudity, the principal part of their time employed in hunting, gathering honey, and such fruits as nature spontaneously produces. They believe in the immortality of the soul and a Creator of all, whom they commonly denominate _Tupan_, and, like many other barbarians, their adoration is divided between the good and evil spirit, which latter they call _Anhanga_. No state of government is found amongst them; each tribe has its elective captain, who directs them only on occasions of assaults and in forming ambuscades against an enemy. Each nation has its peculiar idiom, but there is one exists amongst them denominated the general lingua, which is the _Tupinamba_. At this day many tribes retain the ancient custom of perforating their faces and using pieces of wood as ornaments. In contracting marriages, the degree of relationship is not respected. Polygamy is admitted amongst particular individuals only, in a very few nations. Divorcements are generally very rare amongst them. They are acquainted with no liberal art, and have a great antipathy to civilization. Thousands of instances have occurred, in which they have preferred fleeing from it back again into the woods, in pursuit of their former rude habits. The governor of one of the comarcas of Minas Geraes related to me an instance of an Indian who, instructed in the Catholic faith, had actually entered upon the functions of a priest, and who, notwithstanding, was afterwards induced, from the natural bent of his mind, to abscond and rejoin his uncivilized tribe. Their inherent indolence is conspicuous, and they have but little consideration in life beyond the acquirement of their daily sustenance. Frequent instances occur of their assassinating some of the Portuguese, for whom they lie in ambush. The Portuguese almost universally provide themselves with fire-arms, on traversing the districts inhabited by the Indians, at which they are greatly terrified. Such as live upon the banks of auriferous rivers or lands, and come in contact with the Portuguese, will give pieces of gold for trifling articles of European manufacture, particularly knives, the metal of which they consider of such value, that, in sharpening them, they do not use a whetstone, but a piece of wood, in order that the blade may experience as little diminution as possible by the operation. Few Indians are seen in any of the seaport-towns of the Brazil. Some are employed in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, rowing boats in the service of the government. They appear to keep themselves quite distinct, and do not mix with any other class of people. They are not tall, but their early occupation of hunting has given to their limbs much strength and agility. A fine proportion of form is their general characteristic, and they possess great muscular powers. Their features are regular, and there is an universal resemblance between them and the various tribes. They are of a copper-colour, with strong, lank, black hair, which is permitted to hang over their ears, necks, and foreheads, adding something to the sombre aspect of their countenances, which are sad even to an extreme. If they were capable of learning from history, and appreciating with feelings of patriotism the force of such an event, it might naturally appear to be a dejection originating in the corroding idea of the conquest of their country by strangers; but this apparent characteristic melancholy can only be the result of, and founded upon, their former habits of life and precarious mode of subsistence; which having once contracted, and possessing an innate aversion to civilized intercourse, may never totally disappear. There is nothing ferocious in their physiognomy; on the contrary, they seem very inoffensive. I never saw them indulge in any gaiety, rarely laughing, and speaking seldom. They are expert rowers, and on a transient cessation from their labour, exhibit no disposition to hold converse with each other, nor curiosity or interest in the objects and bustle around them. The Jesuits were undoubtedly the best class of ecclesiastics who have hitherto visited the Brazil, not only, as has been observed, in initiating the Indians into Christianity, but in the general pursuit and encouragement of literature. The missions, for which they were so celebrated, will come under consideration in treating of the provinces where they instituted them; also the establishments of Christianized Indians, as well as the numerous savage tribes existing at the present day.

As the colonization of the capitania of Rio de Janeiro did not occur till after the Brazil was placed under the jurisdiction of a governor-general, and no allusion having been made to that event in the course of these preliminary observations, besides having long assumed the highest rank amongst the provinces of the Brazil, it naturally presents itself first in order, as well as the circumstances arising out of a residence in its capital, for our consideration.

CHAP. III.

PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO.

_Its Colonization--Contests with the French and Tamoyo Indians
--Expulsion of the French--Foundation of St. Sebastian--
Boundaries--Division into Comarcas--Mountains--Principal
Rivers--Lakes--Bays--Capes--Islands--Mineralogy--Zoology--Phytology
--Cities and Towns--Boundaries, Towns, and Productions of the
Comarcas of Ilha Grande and Parahiba Nova--Boundaries of the
Comarca of Rio de Janeiro--The Metropolis--Situation--English
Burial-Ground--Streets--Royal Mode of riding--Compulsory
Homage upon the Occasion--Churches--Convents--Gloria
Hill--Female Convents--Visit to one--Fountains--Visit to
the Aqueduct--Squares--Palace--Public Buildings--Public
Garden--Library--Manufactories--Theatre--Roads leading from the
City--Palace of St. Christovāo--Troops of Miners and others
from the Interior--Caza de Don Pedro--Royal Mill, Shacara, and
Stables--Fire-Works--Beija Maō--Fidalgos and higher Orders
of Society--Splendour of Churches--Royal Chapel--Religious
Festivals and Observances--Funeral Processions--Catacombs--The
Host--State of Society--Markets._

Joam de Solis, who has been already mentioned, entered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, in the year 1515, on his second voyage to South America; and about four years afterwards Fernando de Magellan, and Ruy Falleiro, a famous Portuguese mathematician who accompanied him, also remained a short time in it, bestowing upon it the name of St. Luzia. Martini Alfonso de Souza, who was engaged in an exploration of the whole coast, went into the bay on the 1st of January, 1532, and very improperly gave it the name, which it yet retains, of Rio de Janeiro, (River of January,) evincing, what would not be supposed to be possible, that he considered it a river. No attempts were made, however, to form any settlements here till the year 1555, when M. Villegagnon, a Frenchman, who had rescued Queen Mary from Scotland, with his comrades, took possession of the second island, after passing the entrance into the bay. His avowed object was that of propagating Calvinism in the new world. On this island, which took and still retains his name, he constructed the fort of Coligni, in honour of the excellent man and famous admiral, Gaspar de Coligni, his patron and warm supporter in establishing this colony, to which, in the following year, he despatched a further succour of three ships of war and near three hundred persons. King John III. of Portugal, receiving intelligence of this event, ordered Duarthe da Costa, then governor-general at Bahia, individually, to make himself acquainted with the actual state of the Protestants; but no attempts were made to displace them till after the death of the King, when Dona Catharina gave instructions to Mendo de Sa, the successor of Duarthe da Costa, to expel them, sending him two armed ships, with some caravels, which the governor augmented by some ships of war and two caravels that were in the port, and putting on board all the people he could assemble, personally embarked with the squadron. He visited all the intervening capitanias of the coast, and received on board all those who were willing to accompany him. The French defended themselves vigorously against the attacks of this fleet; but not being able to remedy the destruction and havoc which they sustained from the more powerful ships of the Portuguese, they retired by night to the continent, uniting themselves with the Tamoyo Indians, whose friendship they had previously conciliated. Mendo de Sa collected the artillery which the French had left, and, with one of their ships, which he found in the port, he returned to Bahia.

Intelligence was received afresh that the Protestants continued to frequent the bay of Rio de Janeiro, and were successively becoming more strongly fortified in the continental situations they had taken up. The crown of Portugal, now discovering of how much importance it would be effectually to take possession of and colonize this fine port, which having no donatory or forces to impede the establishment of whatever enemy might think proper to proceed there for that purpose, resolved to despatch Estacio de Sa to Bahia, with two galliots, and there to receive from his uncle, Mendo de Sa, the governor, such an accession of force as would enable him to extirpate the French. Estacio de Sa, having augmented the squadron as much as circumstances would allow, arrived at Rio de Janeiro in 1565, and took up a station near the Sugar-Loaf Mountain, at the place now called Villa Velha; but in various attacks, which he made upon the united French and Indians, fortune was never decisively propitious to him. This circumstance induced Mendo de Sa to prepare, in the bay of Bahia, an armament, which consisted of three galliots, commanded by Christovam de Barros, two ships of the crown, which were cruizing on the coast, and six caravels. This auxiliary force he accompanied in person to the assistance of his nephew, visiting, as before, the intervening capitanias, and offering to convey, gratuitously, all families who might wish to people the future colony; and, in consequence, a great many did accompany him. He arrived on the 18th of January, 1567, but deferred the attack till the 20th, that day being St. Sebastian’s, under whose auspices he meant to begin and carry on the enterprise. Two years had previously passed in useless and indecisive contention, which, in two days, Mendo de Sa brought to a successful termination, by possessing himself of the forts Urussumiri and Paranapucuy, not, however, without his followers feeling the effect of the arrows of the Tamoyos, which often transfixed the shield to the arm that supported it. Amongst others, Estacio de Sa received a wound from one of them, of which he expired a few days afterwards. The French escaped in four ships which they had in the harbour; and Mendo de Sa did not allow much time to elapse before he removed the first establishment to the situation now forming a ward or district of the present capital, denominated Misericordia, and there marked out its commencement. In honour of his patron saint, he gave it the name of St. Sebastian, which has given way to that of Rio de Janeiro now more generally used. The governor assigned to the celebrated Jesuit, Nobrega, ground, in the midst of the city, for a college, which he endowed for the support of fifty brethren. Having occupied himself near a year and a half in arranging every thing necessary for the continuation and security of the new city, he returned to the capital in June, 1568. He left for governor his nephew, Salvador Corrêa de Sa, whose administration was short, as well as that of Christovam de Barros, who succeeded him by royal patent, and whose jurisdiction over the affairs of the capitania terminated in 1572, when King Sebastian divided the state into two governments; the city of St. Sebastian becoming the capital of the southern division, which was delivered to Dr. Antonio Salema, with power over the capitanias from the river Belmont, southward. The same sovereign, becoming sensible of the inconvenience resulting to the crown from this partition, ordered that the general executive government should revert to its anterior state; and nominated, as successor to Salema, the said Salvador Corrêa de Sa, with patent of captain-general, dated the 10th January, 1576, and who remained in this situation until the year 1598. None of those who followed him governed during so long a period, with the exception of Sandozo Gomes Freyre d’Andrade, who discharged the duties of the appointment from the year 1733 to 1763, and which expired only with his life in the course of the latter year.

This province, which acquires its name from the magnificent port of its capital, now comprehends the ci-devant capitania of St. Thomé, half of that of St. Vincente, and a portion of Espirito Santo. It is bounded on the north by the latter, from which it is separated by the river Cabapuâna, and by the province of Minas Geraes, from which it is divided by the rivers Preto and Parahiba, and in part by the serra of Mantiqueira; on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, which also washes its eastern limits; and on the west by the province of St. Paulo. It is estimated to be sixty leagues in length, from east to west, near its northern extremity; and twenty-three leagues of medium width, reckoning from the fortress of St. Cruz, at the entrance of the bay of Rio de Janeiro, to the river Parahibuna, and to have fifty leagues of southern coast, from Cape Frio to Cape Trinidade, which is near three leagues to the west of Point Joatinga. It is divided by the Organ Mountains into two parts; Northern, or Serra-Acima, (Mountains above,) and Southern, or Beira-Mar, (Sea-coast,) which latter is subdivided into four, and the former into two districts or territories, as follows:--

{ Ilha Grande.
Beira-Mar { Rio de Janeiro.
{ Cape Frio.
{ Goytacazes.

Serra-Acima { Parahiba-Nova.
{ Canto-Gallo.

A line drawn from south to north, commencing at the fort of Lage, at the entrance of the port of Rio, passing up the middle of the bay, by the river Inhumirim upwards, and on to the origin of the Piabanha, descending by it to the Parahiba, divides the province into east and west.

MOUNTAINS.--All the districts of this province, with the exception of Goytacazes, are picturesquely mountainous, and present an infinite variety of novel, sublime, and wondrous scenery, of which no verbal description can give an adequate representation. The Organ Mountains, so called from the similarity which their pyramidical heads, in various parts, bear to the front of an organ, are the principal. That portion of them which assimilates more distinctly to the object from which the whole range derives the name is an approximation of precipitous pointed masses, separated by profound winding and narrow valleys, through which romantic openings the way leads from Beira-Mar to the district of Canto-Gallo, without having to ascend any comparatively high elevations in traversing them. This is, indeed, the region of solemn and poetic sequestration. Its unchanged and primeval condition would appear to afford a suitable retirement for such as have acquired a calamity-induced distortion of the mind,--a misanthropical distaste to society and the world.

The Macacu, otherwise Serra-Grande, (Great Mountain,) the mountains of St. Anne, of Sambe, of Tapacora, and of Urussanga, are situated in that extremity betwixt the districts of Rio de Janeiro and Cape Frio; the Mount of St. Joam, a league above the emboucheur of the river of the same name, the Serra Jarixina, about twenty miles north-west of the capital, and that of Bocaina, in the district of Parahiba-Nova, constitute, together with the Organ Mountains, those of the greatest altitude in the province.

RIVERS.--It cannot boast of any very large or magnificent rivers, although it is irrigated by innumerable streams descending from the mountains. The river Parahiba is the only considerable one, originating in a small lake, situated upon a southern portion of the Serra Bocaina, a continuation of the Organ range, and about five leagues to the north of Paraty. It runs at first under the name of Paratinga, parallel with the mountains prolonged in piles from the south-west, in a line with the coast; enters the province of St. Paulo, where it receives the small river Jacuhy, by the left bank, a little above the town of St. Luiz, and somewhat below it, by the same margin, the river Parahibuna, which rises in the serra of Ubatuba. At this confluence it takes the name of Parahiba, approximates the sea a little to the west of the meridian of the capital, then turns towards the north-north-east, flowing along the base of Serra Itapeva, and by the town of Jacarehy. After a course of twenty leagues, with little variation, it inclines to the east and east-south-east, watering the towns of Thaubate, Pindamonhangaba, Guaratingueta, and Lorena; again turns towards the province in which it has its source, approaching it within five leagues; bathes the town of Rezende; inclines to the north-east, gathering the river Pirahy, (which comes in a northern course from its origin in the serra of Ilha Grande,) and many leagues lower, having taken an easterly direction, it receives the Parahibuna which is its largest confluent, by the left margin, and the afore-mentioned Piabanha, by the right. This part is designated Tres Rios, (Three Rivers.) Ten leagues below, the Pomba enters it by the northern bank, which flows from the western part of the Serra Frecheira principally in a south-east course, through a stony bed, rendering the navigation difficult even to canoes. A little lower it receives the Bengálas, which brings with it various other streams. Soon after this junction, it descends the precipitous fall of St. Fideles, to which point barks ascend. Eight leagues lower down, the Muriahe empties itself into it by the northern margin. Six leagues may be computed from this confluence to the emboucheur of the river Parahiba, and from thence to the fall of St. Fideles, which is the first advancing up the river, seventy-two islands are numbered; and above this fall they are still more numerous. Its waters are precipitated by a great many falls, which run principally through a stony bed, and are discharged into the Atlantic, on the eastern coast of the province. This river does not bring with it to the ocean so large a volume of water as might be imagined from its vast extent, which may be accounted for by its running principally betwixt two cordilleras, (the Organ Mountains and the Mantiqueira with their branches,) the greatest interval of which does not exceed twenty leagues, and almost all its tributary streams are poor and inconsiderable. Eight leagues below Lorêna, where it has already assumed the appearance of a large river, its course is contracted by a long wall of rock, of more than sixty feet high and six hundred yards in extent, reducing its channel to the width of about ten yards. It abounds in a great variety of fish. The adjacent territory, on both banks, from its source to its mouth, is considered to be well adapted for the growth of the sugar cane, and the very small part of it which is cultivated, is appropriated to that purpose; but the far greatest proportion yet remains in a state of wild nature, and although perhaps granted to different donatories, its impenetrable woods form the native retreat of the Indian and the ounce, each still asserting the claim of possession. The river Maccahe, which has a course of fifteen leagues, affording ten leagues of navigation to a fall, rises in the Organ range, and winds amongst mountains and woods, till it encounters the St. Pedro, formed by various small streams in the vicinity of Serra Frade. Three leagues may be computed from this confluence to its emboucheur, which is in front of the islands of St. Anna, thirty miles north of Cape Frio, dividing that district from Goytacazes. The river St. Joam rises in the skirts of the rock of Canudos, with the name of _Aguas Claras_, (Clear Waters,) more considerable, and affording navigation for a greater space than the Maccahe, runs like it amongst woods and mountains, and disembogues about seven leagues to the south-west of it, bathing the southern skirts of the mountain of its name. Large quantities of timber are exported by it. The rivers Curubichas and Bannanal join it by the left bank, the Bacaxa, which issues from the Serra St. Anna with the appellation of _Rio do Oiro_, (the Gold River,) unites it on the right by two mouths, having formed, a little higher, a large lake, into which the Capivari, coming from the same serra, empties itself. Below this confluence, little more than three leagues, the Ipuca disembogues, rises near the Maccahe, and forms a considerable island. After it the Lontra, and ultimately the Doirado, near which there is a remarkable production, called the _jiquitiba_ tree, its trunk being fifty-six spans in circumference. All three are navigable, and incorporate themselves with the river St. Joam, by its northern margin.

The river Guandu takes its name at the confluence of the St. Anna with the das Lages, the courses of which are in an opposite direction to this point; the first issues from the Organ Mountains, near the heads of the river Piabanha, and runs south-west till it encounters the other, which flows north-east from its origin in the frontier serra of Ilha Grande. The Guandu passes the royal palace (ex-Jesuitical) of St. Cruz, and discharges itself by two mouths into the bay of Marambaya. The early possessors of this part of the country, in order to evitate the damage which they sustained by the inundations of this river, submerging the extensive and fine campinhas (plains) of the southern part, opened a trench of two miles long from it to the small river Taguahy, which runs in a parallel direction, and by this mode discharged the excess of water which the banks of the Guandu could not contain at the period of the floods. The western mouth, or that of Taguahy, is little more than a league distant from the proper one of the Guandu: barks navigate both. The river Mambucâba, which is a fine river, even beyond the point where the tide reaches, issues from the serra of Bocaina, and disembogues in front of the bar of Cayrussu.

LAKES.--Lakes are numerous in this province. The principal are situated in the districts of Cape Frio and Goytacazes; many of them are surrounded by marshy lands, and none possess, in any point of view, the attractions peculiar to such diffusions of inland water in Europe. The lake of Jacaré-pagua, or Jaracapauha, is narrow and about four leagues long, parallel with and very near to the beach. It abounds with fish, receives some small streams, and has an outlet to the sea at its eastern extremity. It is situated at the eastern base of the picturesque and lofty mountain of the Gavea, about two leagues to the west of the Sugar-Loaf. At its opposite base is the beautiful and highly pleasing cascades of Tejuca.

The lake of Roderigo de Freytas is of a circular form, and half a league in diameter; is about two miles distant from the bay of Bota-fogo, and five from the capital. In its vicinity is the mother-church of the parish of St. Joam Baptista; also the royal manufactory of gunpowder, and a botanical garden of trees and exotic plants. The tea plant is here cultivated, and, unquestionably, would prosper in this climate with proper attention; but this establishment, upon the whole, is miserably neglected. The lake of Marica, which is a league and a half in length, from north-east to south-east, and little less in width, communicates with that of Cururupina, nearly of equal length from east to west, and about the same width from north to south. They both approach very much to a triangular form. The channel which unites them is called the river Bambuhy, and forms a small lake in the centre. The Cururupina is the eastern one, and its extremity is near Negra Point, which is at an equal distance betwixt Cape Frio and the Sugar-Loaf Mountain. The rivulet of Bananal, and that from which it takes its name, are the largest streams that enter it. The Marica, under which name the small one is also comprehended, receives at its southern end the Baccahi, which half a league above its mouth traverses the lake Braba, about a mile long. The small river Itapitiu enters its northern extremity. It is prolonged in a parallel line; and at a short distance from the sea, to which it opens a passage in the winter or rainy season, possesses a great abundance of excellent fish, and, in consequence, furnishes a branch of the _dizimos_ (a tax of one-tenth) of the province. The lake of Piratininga, three-quarters of a league from east to west, and proportionably wide, is about a mile distant from the Sacco, or Gulph of St. Joam de Carahi; it is also abundant in fish, and is separated from the sea by a sand-bank, through which a passage is opened in the rainy season, to prevent its inundating the adjacent country. Near half a league to the east of Piratininga is situated the lake Itaypu, a mile and a half long, and of proportionable width; and betwixt it and the sea is the parish of the same name, the church of which is dedicated to St. Sebastian. Its inhabitants are fishermen and cultivators of mandioca and sugar.

BAYS.--This province can boast of two as fine ports as any in the world, the bays of Rio de Janeiro and of Angra dos Reys (King’s bay, or creek.) The first is upwards of twenty leagues from Cape Frio, and, of all others in South America, merits most properly the denomination of a bay; its narrow entrance, embosomed in lofty scenery of the beautiful and sublime, being about eight hundred and fifty fathoms in width, and fourteen in depth, while the bay itself, which is six leagues in length, almost north and south, four at its greatest width, and thirty-two in circumference, is beautified with a great number of islands, and has depth for the reception of the largest fleets. It may be said to be divided into two emboucheurs, as the island of Lage, occupied by a fort of the same name, is situated about the centre. The entrance of the bay is commanded by the additional fort of St. Cruz, on the east, and the batteries of St. Joze and St. Theodozio, on the western side, near an immense naked rock, already mentioned, which is ninety-seven fathoms in perpendicular altitude, and is in the form of a sugar-loaf, and so denominated. The fort of St. Cruz is situated at the base of a high rugged mountain, called Pico, in consequence of its having a pointed termination. From hence signals are made to the city, announcing all vessels as they appear upon the horizon. The two principal bays that branch from it are, Bota-fogo, behind the batteries of St. Jose and St. Theodozio, and the larger one of Jurufuba, to the north of Fort St. Cruz. Upon the beach of the latter is situated the parish of St. Joam de Carahi. The first discovery of this bay and the origin of its improper name have been already alluded to; its more appropriate and primitive name was _Nitherohy_. Lery, who was there with Villegagnon, says, that the Indians then called it _Ganabara_; but the first is the most suitable, “_nithero_” signifying concealed, or hidden, and “_hy_” water, as it is only on arriving in front of the inlet that the bay is discovered, being previously concealed by mountains. This bay is the receptacle of a vast number of rivers, principally inconsiderable; but, as they are the medium of an easy conveyance to the capital of the productions in their vicinity, it may not be unimportant to describe those of the most consequence. Two leagues and a half, in a direct line, or four by the road towards Campinha, is the mouth of the river Iraja, which issues from one of the small lakes, and affords navigation with the tide to its port of the same name. A quarter of a league to the north of the preceding, the Miriti enters the bay, increased by the junction of the Inhamuahi, (which issues from the Serra Bangu,) and the Pavuna, about two leagues and a half distant from its mouth. It traverses a country in a great measure marshy, and is only navigable for the space of three miles, in a direct line to the port which takes its name, where cases of sugar, and the produce of St. Joam and Our Lady of Apezentacâo, are put on board the bay boats. About a league to the north of it is the Sarapuhi, which originates in the Serra Cachoeira. Its banks are serpentine, and it is only navigable for about a league. The dwellers in the parishes of St. Antonio and Jacutinga export their productions by it. The Iguassu, a mile further to the north-east, has its source in the Serra Tinguá; is navigable for four leagues; brings with it to the bay the waters of the Iguare, which issues from one of the lakes, and affords navigation for a mile to the port bearing its name. Also the Maraby, flowing from the Serra Boa-Vista, and navigable to the port of Couto, three leagues above its mouth. It also receives the Dos Ramos, navigable for a space of eight miles, to the skirts of the Serra Mantiqueira, in which it originates. The river Inhumirim enters the bay about half a league further, and is navigable for three leagues: one of its confluents, the Jaguamirim, flows from the morasses, and affords navigation for six miles; another, the Saracuruna, descends from the serra of its name, and is navigable only for a league; also the Figueyra, which comes from Serra Frade. Boats go up very near to its origin, where it has the name of Cayoába. By the Inhumirim, (the source of which is little distant from the Piabanha,) the miners, amounting to no great number, comparatively, descend by boats to the capital, and return in the same way, with manufactured articles, up its channel to the port of Estrella, where they leave the mules to recruit for the return journey; but the major part of these people, as well as others, proceed the whole way with the mules. The port of Estrella is a flourishing place, (being on the main way to the mines,) with some little commerce, and has a chapel of Our Lady, situated in the angle of the confluence of the aforesaid Saracuruna, four miles from the bay.

From the Inhumirim there is a channel to the river Pilar, the last confluent of the Iguassu. Little more than two leagues to the east-north-east of the Inhumirim, and in front of the small island of Guayanna, the Suruhy, issuing from the Organ Mountains, discharges itself into the bay, and, like the others, admits of the navigation of boats up its channel for about seven miles. It receives the Goya, which comes from one of the morasses. All the productions of the adjacent country are excellent; and there is, perhaps, no soil better adapted for banana groves, which are cultivated here with great care. Half a league further is the mouth of the Iriry, which originates in marshy ground, and is only navigable for two miles.

About two miles to the east of the Iriry, is the emboucheur of the Magéassú, which descends from the Organ Mountains, bathes the town of the same name, and affords navigation for ten miles. The Guapimirim, is about two miles from the Magé. Its course is about six leagues, and originates in the same mountains.

About two miles from hence is the principal of two mouths by which the Macacu enters the bay. It is one of its largest streams, and is navigable for fifteen leagues. Alligators of a very large size inhabit its banks, and take shelter amongst the high reeds which grow in the water. Its source is in the Organ Mountains, near the rock called Canudos, and it is united on its right margin by the rivers Guapiassu, Cabucu, and Varge; on its left by the Cacerebu and the Aldeia. The Guapiassu, which is the most considerable, comes from the same mountains as the Macacu; and, a little before its incorporation with that river, communicates with it by a channel called Rio dos Morros (River of Rocks.) There is a quarry of _pedra sabāo_, a peculiar stone, near its heads, which is excavated in large pieces, and sawn for the purpose of forming the mouths of furnaces in _engenhos_, or sugar-works, being considered of eternal duration. The principal confluent of this tributary river is Piracinunga, the main branch of which originates between the high points of the Organ Mountains. Betwixt the rivers Macacu and Guapiassu there is a certain portion of territory, comprising about two leagues, the most fertile in the district, which was bequeathed, in 1718, by André da Costa, as a legacy to some poor persons, with inalienable succession, and an annual pension of two missas, (masses,) for each house. This colony has now arrived at the number of twelve hundred individuals, and this bequest would maintain ten times as many, with adequate industry. The Guaxindiba flows from the Serra Taypu, and, describing numerous windings and turnings, enters the bay about two miles from the Macacu. The Emboassu, disemboguing four miles further, has its source in the Serra St. Gonçalo, and is navigable with the tide for a short distance.

The islands with which this bay is ornamented are numerous, but of inconsiderable extent. The principal is the isle of Governador, which is little more than two leagues long, from east to west, and proportionably wide. It is of an irregular form, having many headlands, and small creeks, and forms the parish of Our Lady of Ajuda. The parishioners are generally agriculturists and labourers. It is situated almost in the middle of the bay. The isle of Bom Jesus, but better known by the name of Frades, is about two miles long, from east to west, and of trifling width. It is the site of a convent of lazy Franciscans, which has a handsome and commanding appearance. The King visits the island occasionally, on the celebration of some particular religious festivity. He spent two or three days with the friars in the summer of 1819. It is not far distant from his palace of St. Christovao. The island of Paqueta possesses more natural charms than any other in the bay, and is situated near its northern extremity. It is about three miles long, from north to south, and of inconsiderable width. Its whole extent constitutes the parish of Bom Jesus do Monte (Good Jesus of the Mount.) A considerable quantity of the timber and branches of the mango tree is exported to the capital for firewood.