Chapter I: Voyage from England to Rio de Janeiro (6)

Some leagues from hence, upon the track leading to the mining districts, is situated the extensive establishment of Padre Corre, for shoeing mules, previously to their proceeding into the interior districts. In this trade the padre has accumulated a considerable sum: he grows a prodigious quantity of the finest peaches, and has the character of being exceedingly hospitable to strangers.

A league to the south-east of the port of Estrella is situated the parish of Our Lady of Pilar, upon the left bank of the river from which it derives its name, producing mandioca, Indian corn, rice, and vegetables, for which the soil is well adapted.

St. Maria of Marica was created a town by a law of the 26th May, 1814, with a civil jurisdiction, administered by two ordinary judges, (_juizes ordinarios_,) one of orphans, three magistrates, (_vereadores_,) an alcayde, a procurator of council, and two _almotaces_, or regulators of the market. It is small, but well situated, near the mouth of the little river Itapitiu, upon the margin of the lake from which it is named, and which well supplies it with fish. The church here, of Our Lady of Amparo, is the best in the province, with the exception of some in the metropolis, from whence it is distant about twenty-five miles to the eastward, and near thirty west of Cape Frio. The inhabitants cultivate sugar, mandioca, feijao, Indian corn, and some coffee.

The district of Cape Frio, named from the promontory where the coast changes its direction, is limited on the north, by the river Maccahé, which separates it from the district of Goytacazes, is washed on the east and south by the ocean, and comprises twelve leagues of territory, from north to south, and ten in the widest part from east to west. The country is generally uneven, and the valleys and plains, situated between mountains more or less elevated, are extremely deficient in good water. It produces mandioca, Indian corn, rice, vegetables, and sugar. Cattle, inconsiderable in number, are of a small size. Banana and orange trees, so abundant in various parts of the province, are here exceedingly rare, owing to the negligence of the inhabitants. The produce of indigo, which was formerly considerable, is at present trifling, although this district is well adapted for it. Cochineal was once an important branch of commerce; but the avaricious propensity of several individuals induced them to adulterate it by the addition of farinha. The government took a certain quantity of it, and paid the best price: but, discovering the fraud, declined having any more of it. The merchants of the capital followed this example, and at last the cultivation of it was totally abandoned. To the productions of the district already mentioned must be added, that of timber, which, with management and industry, would form one of the most lucrative and important. The woods are very extensive, abounding in an innumerable variety of trees, well adapted for the purposes of building, cabinet work, &c. Three qualities of the Brazil wood are met with here, of which that denominated _mirim_ is esteemed the best. The rivers St. Joao and Maccahé afford navigation for conveying those fine timbers to the coast. Besides the two last-mentioned rivers, there is the Una, which enters the ocean seven miles south of the first. In front of its embouchure is situated the small island of Branca.

The principal lakes in this district are the Araruama and the Sequarema; the first, twenty miles long, and eight at the widest part, is separated from the ocean by a bank in many parts of small elevation, and empties itself at the eastern extremity, by a channel, which at the mouth is fifty yards in width. Notwithstanding its waters are supplied by various rivers, they have a saline flavour, in consequence of its communication with the sea. It abounds with a variety of fish, and in some situations is many fathoms in depth, in others quite shallow. Various small bays on the southern side are formed by headlands, in which the operations of nature furnish considerable quantities of salt, almost without human aid. Nine places may be reckoned which are apparently destined by Providence for the production of this indispensable article; the whole is not however formed by the sea water, but by the aqueous flow of rain through the saltpetre or saline particles with which the earth is impregnated, subsequently acquiring the consistency of marine water, and which arrives at its ultimate crystalization, by the influential rays of the sun. The largest of the rivers which the lake Araruama receives are the Francisco Leite, which enters it at the western extremity, and the Mataruna, which is crossed by a bridge, and disembogues about four miles to the east of the other; between those streams, and at a short distance from the lake, is situated the parish of St. Sebastian, whose inhabitants are cultivators of mandioca, rice, feijao, a little sugar, and derive some profit from fishing.

The lake Sequarema, in the vicinity of Ponta Negra, is six miles long from east to west, and three at the widest part; the water is salt, abounding with fish, and separated from the sea by a narrow tract of land. During the rainy season, when it inundates the adjacent country, in consequence of the superabundance of waters brought by the small streams, the dwellers near it open a channel to the ocean from its eastern extremity, which is soon filled up again, on the return of dry weather, by the flowing of the sea. The river Tinguy, which runs into its most northern bay, is the principal one that it receives. Upon the neck of land which divides it from the ocean, a parish has originated, called Our Lady of Nazareth, whose parishioners grow Indian corn, mandioca, and feijao, and are fishermen, which occupation constitutes their chief gain.

Between the lake Sequarema, and the Cururupina, is situated the Jacuné, which is near three miles in length, and of proportionable width.

The lake Jacarépua lies between the Sequarema and Araruama, comprising two miles of length, and something less in width. The lake Vermelha, about the same size, is near the western extremity of the Araruama, and although it has no communication with the sea, its waters are saline.

The lake Boacica, situated two leagues to the south of the river Maccahé, and approximating the ocean, is about three miles long, and half a mile at the greatest width, has not much depth, is impregnated with salt, and abounds with fish, which enter it from the sea by the channel formed for the egress of its waters at the period of the floods. It is the receptacle of the river from which it derives its name; also, of the Serraria, the Mutum, the Riacho d’Alagoa, and the Riachinho.

The lake of Juthurnuahibi, two miles in diameter, and one to seven fathoms in depth, receives the rivers Bucasca and Capibary; has an outlet into the ocean, which is winding, deep, navigable, and taking the name of the first river, is seven leagues distant, and only three in a direct line from the lake.

Cape Frio, called a city, although not so large as a moderate town, is divided into two parts, by an interval of half a mile, both being without regularity, and situated upon the southern margin of the eastern extremity of the lake Araruama. The principal portion has a church of Our Lady of Assumption, a hermitage of St. Bento, and a Franciscan monastery. The chapel of Our Lady of Cuia crowns the summit of a rock, from whence is beheld a great extent of sea and land. The smaller portion of the city, denominated Passagem, defended by the fort of St. Mattheus, has another hermitage of St. Benedicto. This city has royal masters of the primitive letters and Latin. The inhabitants eagerly follow the pursuit of fishing, their principal and most lucrative occupation; fish being their common diet and their chief exportation. It was taken in the year 1615, when Portugal was under the dominion of Philip II.; and when, like many other places, it took the title of city, upon the occasion of some Rotterdam pirates being repulsed, who wished to establish themselves there, for the purpose of exporting dye-wood. Here is a Juiz de Fora, whose power extends to the town of Maccahé. Fevers are the prevailing disease of the country.

St. Joam de Maccahé, situated upon both banks of the river from which it takes its name, was created a town in 1814, and has a church called Santa Anna. The inhabitants, who are fishermen, produce some Indian corn, rice, feijao, mandioca, and sugar, but their principal object of trade is timber. The parish of St. Joam, at the embouchure of the river of the same name, is well situated to render it in time a considerable town. Timber forms the riches of its inhabitants, who also export a variety of the necessaries of life.

The district of Goytacazes, comprising twenty-eight leagues of coast, bounded on the south by the river Maccahé, and on the north by the Cabapuana, originally formed the capitania of St. Thomé, and so denominated from the contiguous cape. Pedro de Goes, who had frequented the Brazil for ten years, was its first donatory; and although, the period of this donation is not recorded, it was most probably about the year 1537, as the first allusion to him is in the year 1527, when he transported some Indians from St. Vincente to Portugal. This fidalgo established himself and the colonists who accompanied him, upon the banks of the river Parahiba, where they lived in amity with the Indians two years, succeeded by five of inveterate warfare, in which the aborigines displayed such bravery and determined resistance, particularly the Goytacazes, (the name of which tribe the district retains,) that Goes was compelled to retire to the capitania of Espirito Santo, where the donatory Coutinho was already established. From thence he returned to Lisbon, and, in the year 1549, accompanied Thomé de Souza to Bahia; but neither himself nor successors were fortunate in endeavouring to colonize the capitania of St. Thomé, which was in the possession of three different nations, the Puris, Guarus, and Goytacazas; the latter were the most numerous, and divided into three hordes, the Goytaza Guassu, Goytacaza Moppy, and Goytacaza Jacorito, the avowed enemies of each other. It is affirmed, that the Guarus comprised various nations, one of which, the Sacarus, still exists in the Organ Mountains.

Gil de Goes was its third donatory, at the time of its devolvement to the crown. King Peter II. granted it to Viscount d’Asseca in the year 1674; but, in consequence of the mal-administration of his successors producing considerable dissatisfaction, and various revolts amongst the colonists, King Joseph was induced, by commutation, to incorporate it with the crown lands; and Francisco de Sales, ouvidor of Espirito Santo, took possession of it, in the year 1752, in the name of his sovereign, to the great joy of the inhabitants.

From the river Parahiba, northward, a cordillera runs parallel with, and at no great distance from the coast; the intervening space, denominated Cacimbas, is mountainous, and in parts sterile, and ill adapted to agricultural purposes. From the Parahiba to the Maccahé, the whole country presents _campinhas_, or continued plains, with some small woods, called _capoes_, and is irrigated by various streams.

The soil is appropriated to the produce of cocoa, coffee, indigo, and rice; wheat might be cultivated with advantage. Mandioca grows best in the southern parts of the district, and sugar is cultivated in the proximity of the rivers Parahiba and Muriahe, to a very considerable extent. The number of sugar works in this district, in the year 1801, amounted to two hundred and eighty, of which ninety were very large. Since that period they have increased rapidly, and the sugars produced upon the margins of those rivers are esteemed the best in the Brazil, usually known by the denomination of Campos sugars. Indian corn, feijao, mandioca flour, tobacco, and cotton, are produced only in sufficient quantity for the consumption of the district. All the species of domestic animals are bred, none of them, however, are remarkable for their fecundity. Cattle are not in sufficient number for the consumption of the population, and the working of sugar _engenhos_. The mules are not so large as those of Rio Grande, and Curitiba, but are superior in strength. Goats and sheep degenerate here. Hogs are not numerous, neither is the pork good. The north and south-west winds generally prevail, and scarcely a day passes, that the atmosphere is not refreshed with a strong breeze from one of these quarters. Part of the timber exported by the river Maccahé, is derived from the woods of this district, which afford a variety of medicinal plants.

RIVERS AND LAKES.--We have already described the Parahiba, which is the chief river of this district, and traverses it from west to east.

The river Muriahe, to which is attributed forty miles of course in a direct line, rises in the serra of Pico, in the territory of the Puri Indians, takes a winding direction to the south-east, until it enters the Parahiba, is navigable for the space of twenty-five miles, and has a fall, where the canoes are dragged over land. When the cultivation of its fertile margins first commenced, (at this day abounding with sugar-works,) its waters were so pestilential, that many who drank of them were attacked with malignant fevers, which either terminated their days, or left them through life pallid and diseased. Even the necessaries of life, which grew upon the lands inundated by its floods, were pestiferous. Its largest confluent is denominated the Rio Morto, or Dead River, in consequence of having a very tranquil current, the waters of which, are muddy, from its origin in a morass. The margins of the Muriahe produce a poisonous _cipo_ plant, with long and flexible shoots, called _timbo_, or _tingui_, and a tree denominated _guaratimbo_, the infectious qualities of which are attributed to the malignancy of its waters.

The river Maccabu originates in the skirt of the Serra Salvador, little removed from the source of the before-mentioned river St. Pedro. It is serpentine, tranquil, flows principally through a swampy country to the north-east, discharges itself into the lake Feia, and is navigable, without falls, pretty nearly to its origin.

The river Imbe, which rises at the base of the above serra, seven miles from the head of the Maccabu, and runs for a considerable space parallel with it, receives near its commencement, by the left bank, three streams, called the Three Rivers of the North, (which have their origin in the situation of Tres Picos, where there is gold,) and traverses the lake of Cima, from whence it flows to the lake Feia, with the name of Ururahi. The bed is winding and the current slow. Large canoes advance up without obstacle, almost to its heads.

The above-mentioned Ururahi, (the outlet to the lake of Cima,) the margins of which abound with plantations of the sugar-cane and mandioca, describes a semicircle to the north, approaching the Parahiba, with which an advantageous communication might be opened, by cutting a canal across a plain, not exceeding four miles in width.

The lake Feia consists of two unequal parts, united by a narrow channel. The one lies to the north, near twenty miles in length from east to west, and upwards of twelve in width; the other to the south, sixteen miles in length, and only two in width. It is an interesting lake, abounds with fish, and so inconsiderable in depth, that canoes can only proceed by certain channels. The water is fresh and wholesome. It has within its precincts a considerable peninsula, upon the isthmus of which is situated the church of the parish of the Lady of Remedios, and presenting a delightful aspect. The margins of this lake are marshy, and it discharges itself by various channels, which, describing extensive circuits, form many islands, and without which, none of those channels would have made their way to the ocean, in consequence of an extensive, high, and solid sand-bank, formed by the sea. All the channels re-unite at divers points, and form another lake, many leagues in length, with the width of a spacious river, stretching, for its whole extent, along the said sand-bank; across a certain part of which it opens annually an outlet, that presents the appearance of a considerable and furious river, called Furado, at the time the internal receptacles are overflown. The southern or principal of these channels is called Iguassu, or the river Castanheta. This district might be cleared from water, by the introduction of some hydraulic machines, (as in some parts of Lincolnshire), when the grounds would afford pasturage, and become susceptible of cultivation at all times.

Three leagues to the north of the river Maccahé, is situated the lake Carapebas, about four miles in length from east to west, of unequal and inconsiderable width, separated from the ocean by a sand-bank, which it breaks down in the rainy season, in some parts, for the egress of the waters. It is well stored with a variety of fish. Near the right margin of the Parahiba, between the towns of St. Salvador, and St. Joam, are the two Jahi lakes; also the Sequarema; the Campelo, upon the north side of the Parahiba, almost in front of the town of St. Joam; and the Pedras, which is a deep lake, having its channel of discharge denominated the Corrego do Jacare, between the town of St. Salvador and the mouth of the river Muriahe. Lake Cima is five miles long, and more than sixteen hundred fathoms at its greatest width, comprehending the gulf called Pernambuca.

The fine campos, or plains, of this district would certainly become the Elysium of Brazil, if its territory, rich in soil, were divided into certain portions and delivered to a people animated with a spirit of agricultural improvement. But the same unfortunate circumstances which we have previously described to exist in the donation of lands, concur, unhappily, to place those campos, at least the greater part, in the hands of three proprietors; namely, the Benedictine monastery of Rio de Janeiro, the purchaser of the ex-Jesuitical possessions, and a titular.

St. Salvador, or Campos, is a large, populous, and flourishing town, situated upon a plain on the right margin of the Parahiba, eighteen miles distant from the ocean, and four below the mouth of the Muriahe. Besides the mother church, it has a house of misericordia, three hermitages dedicated to the Lady of Rosario, Boa Morte, and Lapa; also two Terceira orders of St. Francisco and Carmo, and a hospital. The youth of this place are instructed by persons having the usual high sounding titles of royal professors of the primitive letters and Latin. Justice is administered by a head magistrate, denominated a Juiz de Fora,[17] (a judge without.) An account recently taken of the population of this town states it to contain eleven hundred and fifty families, which may be fairly computed to comprise twelve thousand souls.

The town of St. Joam da Parahiba derives the name from its church and the river upon which it is situated, and is distant about two miles from the sea, in front of the extremity of a small island. Sugar constitutes the riches of its inhabitants, who do not exceed fifteen hundred; and it is the port from whence the principal produce of the Campos, consisting of that article, is shipped in coasting vessels to the capital.

Eight miles up the Maccahé is situated the parish of the Lady of Neves, which originated in an establishment of a tribe of Garulho Indians, but now almost extinct, and succeeded by whites, who fell timber and are farmers of the same necessaries of life as their predecessors.

Upon the Parahiba, between the town of St. Salvador and the mouth of the river Muriahe, the parish of St. Antonio occupies a delightful situation. It was founded for the habitation of a horde of Indian Garulhos, who have insensibly disappeared. Its district is extensive, and abounds with sugar-works.

Thirty miles above the town of St. Salvador, and two below the last fall of the Parahiba, the aldeia or village of St. Fidelis, is agreeably and secludedly situated. It is an Indian parish, and was founded by three padres, one of whom, two years ago, was still living, and had the whole management of this establishment. A French gentleman, who was shipwrecked at the mouth of the Parahiba, proceeded through the Campos as far as this Indian village. He informed me, that, on leaving the plains cultivated with the plantations of the sugar-cane, he had to traverse a thick wood, rendered more difficult to penetrate by the wild grass and almost impervious underwood at the bottom of the higher trees. After a laborious march of five hours, this gentleman reached the aldeia, which consisted of a stone church, decorated with saints and much finery. It was fronted by the padre’s house at no great distance; both sides of this space were occupied by the huts of the Indians, over whom, from the imposing show of religious ceremony, and occasional personal chastisement, the padre had acquired a perfect command. Part of the Indians were employed in his house for domestic purposes; others in the cultivation of the necessaries of life; some were occupied in fishing in the Parahiba; and others, of proved fidelity, in shooting game in the surrounding woods; and thus subsistence was procured for the establishment. The domestic arrangement, however, of this priest was truly miserable.

The savage Indians frequently carry off by force some of their Christianized brethren, and display an inveterate antipathy to civilization. The tribes on the northern bank of the Parahiba, bordering upon the Portuguese establishments, are considered much more cruel than those on the southern, and have afforded various and recent proofs of cannibalism. On some occasions they lie in ambush near pathways, and, with their arrows, pierce the stranger to the heart, and feast upon his body. A proprietor of a sugar-work was carried off about three years ago, and devoured by them; and since that time three or four negroes have shared the same fate. They are addicted to plunder, and commit at times great devastation amongst the sugar-plantations, advancing in bodies of fifty or sixty from the woods, and cutting down the canes, which they carry off to their retreats. They are great cowards; and, on those appointed to keep watch giving the alarm of the approach of a single individual, they fly precipitately. They are exceedingly alarmed at the report of a gun. Two soldiers, equipped with jackets, stuffed with cotton and quilted, (which are almost impenetrable to the arrows of the Indian,) and with muskets, very recently proceeded from Villa Rica, (in Minas Geraes,) and penetrated as far as this district, through the woods covering the fertile territory on both banks of the Parahiba, to the possession of which the ounce assumes a right as well as the savage.

Of the ancient tribes the Puris is the principal one now remaining in those uncleared regions. It is a lamentable circumstance that the Brazilian government does not adopt some effectual plan to render these extensive and fertile territories of the Parahiba subservient to the wants of civilized man. The absence of comfort in the houses of the planters in the Goytacaze district is very conspicuous, and they have yet much to learn in the school of hospitality.

St. Gonçalo and St. Sebastiam are parishes of this district, both situated upon the Parahiba, and a few leagues distant from the principal town.

The district of Canta Gallo (Singing Cock) is a territory of great fertility, and irrigated by many rivers and smaller streams, which issue from the Organ Mountains, its southern limit, and discharge themselves into the Parahiba, which separates it from Minas Geraes on the north. It is bounded on the east by a continuation of the Organ range, which divides it from Goytacazes; and on the west by the river Piabanha, which separates it from Parahiba Nova. It has mines of gold, for the working of which the first colony was established in the year 1785. The _fifths_ on the gold, rendered to the crown, in the four following years, were above ten thousand cruzades; and the duty upon agricultural productions amounted to eight thousand in the same period.

Amongst its rivers may be remarked the Pequequera, well stored with fish and navigable for the space of twenty miles; the Rio Negro, little less voluminous, and navigable for an equal distance, and also abounding with fish; the Bengales; and one called Rio Grande.

The major part of the territory, up to the epoch of its colonization, was under the dominion of the Coroado Indians, the remains of the ancient Goytacazes, at present not numerous, and allied to the conquerors. Their houses are large, constructed of timber and earth; they are of extraordinary length, covered with grass, or the bark of trees, with one door only, and without a single window. One of these rudely-constructed edifices will contain fifty, sometimes eighty, and even one hundred families. Generally each house constitutes an aldeia; very rarely two are met with together. Every morning, at the break of day, on hearing the song of a species of partridge, called _macuco_, (which sits upon trees during the night,) they immediately rise, and, although it rains, they go and bathe in the nearest torrent or lake; for which purpose a signal is made by the sound of an instrument formed of a cane.

Their marriage ceremonies consist of a species of banquet, at which all the inhabitants of the aldeia assemble; and generally the whole party become intoxicated. Immediately on being sensible of the approach of labour, the women retire into a wood, where they become mothers without any assistance whatever, and return with their infants, already covered with the juice of certain herbs, to render them less susceptible of cold.

These natives inter their dead in a sitting posture. Formerly the cemeteries of their caciques, or captains, consisted of cylindrical earthen vases, denominated _cammucis_; some of which have been recently found, containing bones.

These Indians use the bow and arrow only. The arrow is a species of cane, with a point of peculiarly hard wood, exposed to the fire till it acquires the greatest degree of consistency; some, intended for large animals, are formed at the point like a sword; others triangular and quadrangular.

A man who returns to the house after an absence of many days does not say a single word, in compliment, to his family, nor do they receive him in any other manner than if he had only been to fetch water from the fountain.

In 1814 the parish of Santissimo Sacramento was created a town, with the name of St. Pedro de Canta Gallo. Its civil government is conducted by two ordinary judges, three magistrates, and various minor officers. It is a middling town, traversed by a current of good water, which flows to the river Macuco. Its inhabitants, and those of its extensive district, prefer agriculture to mining, and they cultivate the usual necessaries of life belonging to the country.

In this district is the parish of St. Joze de Leonissa, upon the Parahiba, in front of the embouchure of the river Pomba, was created a parish in 1812, and is a _povoacāo_, abounding with fish and all the necessaries of life. Its inhabitants are yet almost all Indians.

Between the rivers Pomba and Parahiba, about six miles distant from the angle of their confluence, the parish of St. Antonio de Padua was erected, in 1812, in a district well adapted to the culture of various branches of agriculture.

The dwellers of the northern margin of the Parahiba are diocesans of Rio de Janeiro.

CHAP. V.

PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL.

_Colonization--Boundaries--Climate--Aspect and Productions--
Contests between Spaniards and Portuguese--Divisionary Line
between these two Powers--Opposition by the Indians of the Seven
Missions--Their Defeat--Revived Contests between Spaniards
and Portuguese--Mountains--Rivers--Lakes--Capes and
Ports--Islands--Mineralogy--Phytology--Zoology--Large Fazendas
for breeding Cattle--Mode of Management--Sheep-Flocks--Use of
the Laço and Balls--Towns, Nature of Exports, Villages, &c.
including those of the District of Monte Video._

This province, which includes the major part of the territory to the south of the capitania of St. Amaro, either had no donatories when John III. divided the coast, or from some other cause it was not colonized. Neither was its colonization accomplished by Viscount D’Asseca, nor his brother, John Correa de Sa, at the period of the great distributions of land which Peter II. granted to them in the territory denominated St. Gabriel, adjacent to the river Plate.

The names by which this capitania was sometimes, although seldom, designated, of D’El Rey and St. Pedro, are supposed to have been given when it was first annexed to the crown lands.

About the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, some Vincentistas removed their establishments to the vicinity of lake Dos Patos, and their descendants extended themselves to the south and west, as the Indians gradually relinquished the country.

The capitanias of the brothers Souzas, could not be enlarged beyond their prescribed limits, although the adjoining districts of land were _devoluta_, or without donatories; yet the first settlers there from these capitanias were always considered their people, and known as Vincentistas and Paulistas, until those districts were erected into this province. It is the most southern one in the Brazil, very extensive and important, lying between twenty-eight and thirty-five degrees of south latitude, and is bounded on the north by the province of St. Catharina (from which it is separated by the river Manbituba) and the province of St. Paulo; on the west it is skirted by the river Uruguay and the province of that name; on the south by the river Plate; and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; being upwards of five hundred miles long and four hundred wide.

The climate is temperate, participating almost equally of heat and cold, and the air is pure and healthy. Winter begins in May and lasts till October. The prevailing wind is from the south-east. The longest day of the year, in the most southern part of the province, is about fourteen hours, or rather more. Frost occasionally prevails from the month of July till September. The greatest part of this province is flat, having extensive plains, watered with numerous torrents, or rapid streams, and with lakes. No other district possesses such abundant pastures. In its southern parts the soil is well adapted to a profitable diversity of productions; to wheat, rye, barley, Indian corn, rice, peas, beans, water-melons, melons, onions, as well as to all that arises from Spanish horticulture; also, some cotton, mandioca, and the sugar-cane. Hemp and different qualities of flax grow in great abundance. Fruit-trees of the south of Europe prosper here better than between the tropics, and none multiply so prodigiously as the peach. The vine flourishes in profusion and perfection; but the absence of a spirit of industry and improvement still retards the manufacture of wine, of which the grape here would afford an excellent quality.

D. Peter de Mendonça, sent by Charles V. with eight hundred men, in order to form a colony in the river Plate, in 1535, established himself in the place where the city of Buenos Ayres now stands, in the country of the _Maracotos_, by whose hands he lost his life, and a great part of his followers, in 1539. The rest had, in the preceding year, advanced up the Paraguay, and already begun the city of Assumption. D. Pedro Ortez de Zarate, governor of that city, re-established the colony of Mendonça at Buenos Ayres, and took up his residence there in 1580, in order to supply the want of a port to the city of Assumption, which they could not obtain on the opposite margin of the Plate.

The Vincentistas would not consent to any Spanish establishment on the northern margin of this river, from Cape St. Mary to the embouchure of the river Paraguay, and from whence they were repulsed every time they attempted to gain a footing. The settlers from St. Paulo, in the years 1536, 1538, and 1540, expelled some priests of the orders of St. Cosme, St. Damiao, St. Anna, &c. who had settled in the land of St. Gabriel, from the upper to the eastern part of the river, and effectually drove them into the province of Paraguay.

In the sixty years that Portugal was subject to the court of Castile, various Spanish colonies established themselves in the vicinity of the river Uruguay; and, in order to prevent a continuation of these establishments towards the east, D. Manuel Lobo, governor of Rio de Janeiro, founded Colonia do Sacramento, at the request of the infant Don Pedro, in 1680.

Scarcely had seven months elapsed, when it was surprised and taken, by Don Joze Garro, governor of Buenos Ayres, accompanied with circumstances of much barbarity. It was restored at the end of three years, and placed in its former state, by Duarthe Teixeira Chaves. It however returned under the dominion of Buenos Ayres, being abandoned by the governor, Sebastian da Veiga, in 1703, who, after a long and valorous resistance, retired with all his people and property, in ships, to Rio de Janeiro, not having sufficient forces any longer to resist the power of Don Alonso Valdez. By the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was restored to the crown of Portugal, but was attacked afresh in 1735, by Don Miguel de Salcedo, governor of Buenos Ayres, and defended by Antonio Pedro, with much courage, till he could receive aid, during which period, his brave garrison were reduced to the necessity of eating dogs, cats, and rats. On the arrival of the expected succour, Salcedo raised the siege, an auxiliary force of some thousand Tappes, brought by the Jesuit, Thomas Berley, availing him nothing. In 1750, when Don Joseph ascended the throne, the two courts agreed to a treaty of limits between their respective possessions, the one giving up Colonia, and the other the seven missions to the east of the Uruguay. The line of division commenced at the mouth of the little river nearest the hill of Castilhos Grandes, and continued along the highest range of land, in which the various rivers originate that run into the lakes Mirim and Patos, to the source of the river Ibicuí, and along its channel to its entrance into the Uruguay; by the latter, upwards to the mouth of the Piquiri, which joins it by the right bank, above the great fall, and by that river to its origin; from thence, by the top of the nearest mountains, to the source of the first river met with that runs into the river Iguacu, proceeding downwards by the latter, to its entrance into the Parana, and continued thence to the mouth of the Gatimim, and by that river upwards to its origin; from which point, to the source of the nearest river that runs into the Paraguay: from this confluence, continuing upwards by the last great river to the mouth of the Jauru, and from thence by a line to the left bank of the Guapore; and by it downwards, to a latitude at an equal distance between its confluence with the Mamore and the entrance of the Madeira into the Maranham; and from that latitude, by a line from east to west, as far as the Hyabary, the bed of which river to complete the line as far as the Maranham. The commissioners sent by the two courts, in 1752, to arrange this demarcation, having arrived at the source of the Rio Negro, were obliged to return, from the opposition of the Indians of the missions, they being advised secretly by the Jesuits not to consent to the proposed exchange. On learning which, the two Sovereigns determined to compel the Indians to obedience by force of arms. For this purpose, Gomez Freyre d’Andrade, governor of Rio de Janeiro, marched with more than one thousand troops; and the governor of Buenos Ayres with double the number. When the combined armies were marching through the territories lying between the source of the Caziquey, and the Vaccahy-guaçu, they were met by more than twelve thousand Tappes, determined to frustrate their project. On the 10th of February, 1756, a battle took place, in which the Indians were routed with the loss of fifteen hundred, leaving on the field some pieces of artillery, and a great number of other arms, the major part retiring to the missions, where shortly after the conquerors arrived. The Indians were immediately reduced to subjection; and, according to the treaty, they passed over to the other side of the Paraguay. Gomez Freyre d’Andrade took possession of the country, but, before delivering up Colonia, received advices that his presence was indispensable at Rio, for which place he immediately set out. The army remained some months behind, seizing the produce of the labour of the Indians, and at length retired, many returning to their homes. Bougainville, (say the Portuguese,) out of revenge for not having been treated at Rio de Janeiro, by C. da Cunha, as he wished, gives a different account of this expedition.

The commissioners, in 1759, while completing this demarcation, found in the field of battle, in latitude 30° south, a wooden cross set upright, with the following inscription, in the Guarani language.

Anuo de 1756
Omnium S^{to} rum A 7 O ch^{to} Jesus^{tuo} Pa^e tie cr^e
de Febrero pipe
omanò C^r J. b.
Tiarayu Guarani
pipe Sabado ramo
A 10
de Febrero p^e oico
Guarini guaçú Martes p^e
9 Taba Uruguay rebe
gua 1500 Soldados rebe
hae beiaere Mburubichare
ta omanô onga ape.
A 4 de
Marzo p^e oya pou ca
Angaco Cruz mtu D^n
Miguel Moyri sold^e
repa upe

A little to the southward, in the plains of the Yapóguaçú, the commissioners met with a field or space enclosed with wood capable of containing forty thousand oxen.

The certainty of war breaking out in 1762, having been received at Buenos Ayres, the governor, Don Pedro Cevalhos, unexpectedly ordered a furious attack upon Colonia. Vincente da Fonseca, its governor, after a vigorous resistance of twenty-five days, seeing the horrible devastation which a prodigious discharge of artillery had caused, capitulated, and marched out with his garrison on the 29th October. Two ships of war, with other smaller vessels were sent from Rio de Janeiro, to reinforce the place; and, on finding that it had surrendered, they unavailingly endeavoured to regain it; and, in the ardour of battle, one of their ships of war was burned. Cevalhos now proceeded against the forts of St. Miguel, St. Theresa, and Rio Grande de St. Pedro, which surrendered in consequence of not having adequate force for their protection. Little care had been taken for the security of this fine country by the inhabitants. After reducing also a fortification on the southern part of the peninsula, the Spaniards marched sixteen hundred men to the west of the lake of Patos, against the fort of Rio Pardo. This corps fortified itself with seven pieces of artillery by the side of a wood, in the vicinity of the pass of Jacuhy, and waited for reinforcements. Intelligence being received of this circumstance at the fort of Rio Pardo, a company of dragoons, with all the Paulistas that could be assembled, making in all twelve hundred and thirty men, left the fort with a view of cutting off the march of the Spaniards. Finding, however, that their only mode of attack was from that side of the wood which did not afford any transit for cavalry, they spent several days in opening a narrow pathway through it. A passage being opened, and favoured by the light of the moon, they fell unexpectedly upon the encampment, and threw it into disorder. The Spaniards retired precipitately, with much loss in ammunition, killed, and prisoners.

The peace of 1763 put an end to the campaign. Cevalhos, in pursuance of orders he received, was to deliver Colonia to Pedro de Sarmento, now appointed its governor. Rio Grande and other garrisons (unjustly, say the Portuguese) remained under the dominion of the crown of Spain until the year 1776, when they were restored by General Bohemi. In this interval, the Spaniards extended their possessions into the interior, and constructed the fort of St. Tecla, which was demolished at the restoration of Rio Grande.

In 1774, Don John Joze Vertis, having with sinister views taken his station with eight hundred troops, on a plain near the pass of Taquatinguay, was attacked and destroyed by two companies of Paulistas, commanded by captains Bandeiro and Carneiro. During the tranquillity of peace, an armament, commanded by Cevalhos, for the purpose of seizing the island of St. Catharina, anchored in front of the colony, who were unprovided with sufficient provisions, the people having been sustained by the stores of the royal magazines, which it was alleged would only last five days. Assigning as a reason the impossibility of receiving succours, the governor, with a probable want of courage, offered to capitulate, which offer being rejected, he surrendered at discretion, with the exception of some officers, their families, and a few inhabitants, who, by paying a sum of money, obtained permission to go to Rio de Janeiro. The greater part of the colony were conducted at their own expense to Mendonça and Cordova, in order to augment the population and agriculture of those districts. Cevalhos was cruel enough not to exempt the women from this march, some of whose husbands were sent dangerously ill to the hospital of Buenos Ayres; others were seen carrying in their arms their infants dying with the small pox.

The loss of the island of St. Catharina, then more considerable for its ultimate advantages, than for its present value, produced a treaty of peace between the two nations, in the same year, 1777, with an article to establish a new line of division in the southern part only, one surrendering the aforesaid island, the other Colonia; and in the province of Uruguay, a greater portion of neutral territory to remain between the small rivers Chuy, the ancient limit, and Thahim. The demarcation was to proceed in a direct line by the source of the river Arica, northward to the mouth of the Peperi-guaçu; and passing the Setequeades (Seven Falls) to continue up the Igurey to the Paraguay.

The certainty of war between his Catholic Majesty and Portugal, being received at Rio Grande St. Pedro, in June, 1801, the governor immediately ordered a proclamation to be issued to the corps de guard, to regard the Spanish nation as enemies; and, in the expectation of an order coming from the capital to make a formal declaration, he pardoned all deserters who were willing to take up arms. An official letter now arriving from his excellency the Viceroy, the campaign commenced by the marching of troops in two bodies to the frontier of Rio Pardo and Rio Grande. By the narrow land between the lake Mirim and the ocean, S. Soares and J. Antunes marched with one hundred and fifty men against the camp of Chuy, which was surprised, sacked, and abandoned, without any loss on the part of the assailants. This corps passed to the other side of Rio de St. Gonçalo, and halted at Herval, in front of some advanced posts established on the north of the Jaguaron, which the Spaniards abandoning, the Portuguese demolished. The same misfortune befel all the other Spanish detachments, as far as the vicinity of the Jacuhy, without excepting fort St. Teela. On the Spanish guards retiring towards the post of Cerro-largo, twelve leagues to the south of the Jaguaron, on the Batuvi, they had a re-encounter with a party of Portuguese, who put them to flight, took six waggons with ammunition, provisions, and mathematical instruments. A small party of the Portuguese and Spaniards engaged each other on the Jaguaron, when the former were successful, returning with fifty prisoners, having lost only two men.

Shortly after, a colonel passed to the other side of the river with twelve hundred Portuguese, and marched to the attack of the Spanish fort at Cerro-largo. Before the Portuguese had fired many guns, some cartridges of powder took fire, and a horse taking fright threw the cavalry into disorder, which spread through the whole detachment. Animated by this event, and wishing to take advantage of it, a sortie was made by a squadron of Spanish cavalry; but the Portuguese forming again, they were obliged to retreat. This trifling reverse, and the smallness of the garrison, induced the commandant to capitulate. The Portuguese apprehending, however, the arrival of some Spanish reinforcements from Monte Video, dismantled the fort and returned to their former position. Shortly afterwards, the large reinforcement which left Monte Video in order to succour the pass of Cerro-largo, arrived at the opposite banks of the river. The Portuguese showing at the same time a resolute determination to oppose their passage. In this state of things, the news of peace arrived and terminated the campaign.

MOUNTAINS.--This province has no very considerable mountains, excepting the cordillera called the General Serra, which runs from the north, near the sea, and in the parallel of 29° 30′ turns to the west, and then north-west with some windings, breaking in many parts to afford a passage to various rivers, amongst others, the Paranna. The mountain of St. Martinho, or Monte Grande, is a portion of that serra, where it divides this province from that of Uruguay. Monte Vidio, or Video, situated on the west side of the bay to which it gives the name, is pleasing to the view, and high only in the vicinity of the sea. The Castilhos Grandes is a hill near to the point of the same name, and crowned with stones, that appear like towers.

_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._

CAPTAIN OF MILITIA IN THE PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL.]

The Pao d’Assucar (Sugar-Loaf) is upon the shore four or five leagues to the west of Maldonado, and the hill of St. Luzia a little to the east of the river of the same name. The Serra dos Tappes, which is of very small elevation, runs parallel with the lake of Patos at a distance of from four to seven leagues, being fifteen leagues long from north to south, and five broad. That of Herval is further to the north, behind the Tappes.

The extensive chains of small hills, without trees, and forming pasturage for flocks of cattle, are called _cochilhas_.

The before-mentioned Pao d’Assucar is at the southern extremity of the chain called the Great Cochilha, which extends itself to the north as far as the source of the river Arica. In many parts, its elevation is imperceptible, appearing like a plain, and from both sides other mountains branch off, as do some rivers which have their origin in it. The hills ranging to the west of it are not well known; the largest on the east are the Herval, the Piratinim, approximating the rivers of the same names, and the Babiragua, in the vicinity of the Camacuan. The highest points of the hills and cochilhas, and destitute of vegetation, are called _serros_, their summits serving on occasions of war for watchtowers, which are numerous, and some of them are seen from others at a distance of twenty leagues.

RIVERS.--The numerous streams of this province almost all issue by two channels, viz. the Rio Grande de St. Pedro, which empties itself about the middle of the eastern coast, and the Rio Uruguay, which runs into the Paraguay. The Great Cochilha divides the tributary streams of those two rivers. The Uruguay originates in the lower parts of the mountains which stretch along the ocean, and runs for a considerable distance under the name of Pellotas to the westward, between margins principally of pointed and massy rocks, gathering in its course the rivers Caveiras, Caroas, Chorros, and the Correntes, which issue either from the skirts or the vicinity of the same cordillera, and water the most southern portion of the province of St. Paulo, designated by the name of Campos da Vaccaria. It here takes the name with which it terminates, and, already assuming the appearance of a large river, bends its course towards the south-west, still accumulating by other streams. In latitude 29½°, it receives the considerable river Ibicui by the left, afterwards the Mirinay by the right, then flowing southward, and ultimately the Negro by its eastern margin; has many windings and islands, and affords navigation for large boats to the first great fall, which is ten leagues below the confluence of the Ibicui. Canoes advance as far up as the centre of the vaccarias, or cattle-plains, not, however, without immense labour, occasioned by the many cataracts and rapid currents.

The river Ibicui rises in the plains of Japóguassu, and, after running many leagues to the west, turns northward for a space of twenty-five leagues, augmenting considerably by the junction of many rivers, one of them being the river Caziquey; a little below which confluence the Toropy joins it, which is larger, and comes from the cattle plains, flowing south-west, and bringing with it the river Ibicui-Mirim, that joins it on the left a little higher up. At this confluence, called Forquilha, (Three-pronged,) where the Ibicui becomes considerable, it turns to the west, and gradually augments in importance, so that much above its embouchure it is four hundred fathoms wide; a little below the Forquilha it is joined on the right by the Jaguari, a considerable stream, which also comes from the before-mentioned vaccarias. Its banks are covered with wild shrubs and trees; the tortuous channel has many islands, the current almost always tranquil, and navigable nearly to the heads of those rivers which form it.

The river Negro has its origin very near to that of the Ibicui, runs always to the south-west, is enlarged by the receipt of a number of streams, and incorporates itself with the Uruguay five leagues before that river enters the Paraguay, or Plate, after having watered eighty leagues of country, abounding, for the major part, in cattle: its largest confluent is the Hy, which it receives nearly twenty leagues above its mouth, after a course of thirty-six leagues, from east to west, through a country rich in pasturage and cattle.

The river St. Luzia takes a course, for nearly forty leagues, through a country similarly abundant, and disembogues four leagues to the west of Monte Video, having received by the right bank, a little higher up, the St. Joze, with which it becomes wide, deep, and navigable, with a good port at its mouth.