Chapter VIII (2)

The horses are small, and some of them are finely shaped, though little attention is paid to the improvement of the breed. Great stress is laid upon the colour, in the choice of these animals; some colours being accounted more demonstrative of strength than others. Thus a cream-coloured horse, with a tail and mane of the same colour, is rejected for the pack-saddle, or for any kind of severe labour; and if horses of this description are sold for these purposes, the price is lower than that of an animal of an equally promising appearance in form and size, of any other tinge: they are much esteemed if well shaped, as saddle-horses, for short distances. A cream-coloured horse, with a black tail and mane, is reckoned strong. The horses that have one fore-leg white, and the other of the colour of the body, are supposed to be liable to stumble. The usual colours are bay and grey; but chesnut, black, and cream-colour are less common; those most esteemed for work are dark bays, with black tails and manes, and greys dotted with small bay spots. Stallions are broken in both for the saddle and for carrying loads in the neighbourhood of the towns; but the Sertanejos, both from necessity and from their knowledge of their superior ability to perform hard labour, make use of geldings. It is not always safe to ride a high-spirited horse in the Sertam, because when he begins to neigh, instances have occurred of some master horse coming to give him battle, and as both are equally desirous of fighting, the rider may perhaps find himself under the necessity of placing himself at a distance from the combatants. However, if he should chance to have a good stick in his hand, and can prevent his own horse from rearing as the wild horse approaches, he may come off in safety.

Sheep are kept upon every estate for their flesh, when that of a more esteemed kind fails; that is, either when the oxen are in a meagre state, owing to a long continuance of dry weather; or that the herdsman is too much occupied at home, or too lazy to go out and kill one. The mutton is never well-tasted, and though it is true that in the Sertam no care whatever is taken in rearing or feeding the sheep, still I do not think that this kind of meat is to be brought to any great perfection[51]. The lambs are covered with fine wool, and this continues until they are one year and a half or two years old; but after this age, it begins to drop, and is replaced by a species of hair. Although the wool should remain longer in some instances, it appeared to me that it was coarse and short[52]. A wound upon the body of this animal is more difficult to heal than upon that of any other, and the flesh of it is of all others the most rapid in its advances to putrefaction.

The division of property in the Sertam is very undeterminate, and this may be imagined, when I say, that the common mode of defining the size of a _fazenda_, is by computing it at so many leagues; or, as in some cases, by so many hundreds of calves yearly, without any reference to the quantity of land. Few persons take the trouble of making themselves acquainted with the exact extent of their own property, and perhaps could not discover it if they made the attempt.

The climate is good; indeed the inland flat country is much more healthy than that immediately bordering the coast. I can hardly name any disorders that appear to be peculiar to it; but several are known. Agues are not common, but they exist. Dropsy also they are acquainted with. Ulcers in the legs are common, but less so than upon the coast. Ruptures frequently occur. The small-pox[53] makes dreadful ravages, and the measles are much dreaded. When the venereal disease has once settled, the sufferer seldom gets rid of it entirely; applications of herbs are used, but as these people are unacquainted with or unable to follow its proper mode of treatment, some of the patients are crippled, and the major part of them never again enjoy good health. The yaws also is to be met with; but I had afterwards more opportunities of seeing this complaint, and will therefore not now give any account of it. Instances of consumption occur. The hooping-cough did not appear to be known in any part of the country which I visited; I made many inquiries respecting it, but could not obtain any information upon the subject. I slept many times in the open air, and never felt any bad effects from so doing. The dew is trifling, and a high wind is usual in the night. The sun is powerful, and is of course particularly felt in travelling over sandy loose soil; but it did not seem to do any mischief. I never suffered from head-ache, and excepting the attack of the ague, which is accounted for from the heavy rain which we experienced, I never enjoyed better health.

The food of the inhabitants of the Sertam consists chiefly of meat, of which they make three meals; and to this is added the flour of the mandioc stirred up into paste, or rice sometimes supplies its place. The bean, which is commonly called in England the French bean, is a favourite food; it is suffered to run to seed, and is only plucked up when quite dry and hard. I have often been surprised to see of how little service maize is to them as food, but yet it is occasionally used. In default of these, the paste of the carnàûba is made; and I have seen meat eaten with curds. Of green vegetables they know nothing, and they laugh at the idea of eating any kind of salad. The wild fruits are numerous, and to be obtained in any quantities, but few species are cultivated; among the latter are the water-melon and the plantain. The cheese of the Sertam, when it is fresh, is excellent; but after four or five weeks, it becomes hard and tough. Some few persons make butter, by shaking the milk in a common black bottle, but this must of course be experimental, and not general. In the towns even of the Sertam, rancid Irish butter is the only kind which is to be obtained. Wherever the lands admit of it, these people plant mandioc, rice, &c. but much, I may say the greater part of the vegetable portion of their food, is brought either from more fertile districts near to the coast, or from the settlements still further back,—the vallies and skirts of the Cariris, Serra do Teixeira, and other inland mountains.

The trade of the Sertam consists in receiving small quantities of European manufactured goods[54]; the cotton cloth of the country, of which they make some among themselves; a small portion of European white earthenware, and considerable quantities of the dark brown ware of the country, which is made for the most part by the Indians who live in the districts that contain the proper kind of clay; rum in small casks; butter, tobacco, snuff, sugar or treacle made up in cakes, spurs, bits for bridles, and other gear for their horses, excepting the saddles, of which the greater part are made in their own districts; gold and silver ornaments also find a market to a certain amount. The pedlars travel about from village to village, and from one estate to another, bartering their commodities for cattle of all kinds, cheese, and hides of horned cattle. A colt of from two to three years, sells for about one guinea; a horse broken in for the pack-saddle, for two or three guineas; a horse broken in for mounting, from five to six guineas. A bullock of two years, ten shillings; a full grown ox, one guinea and a half; a cow varies much, according to the quantity of milk, from one guinea to five guineas. A sheep, from two to three shillings; a goat for slaughter is worth even less, but a good milch goat is valued at one guinea, and sometimes higher. Children are frequently suckled by goats, which increases the value of these animals. The goat that has been so employed always obtains the name of _comadre_, the term which is made use of between the mother and godmother of a child; and so general is this, that she-goats are frequently called _comadres_, without having had the honour of suckling a young master or mistress. Dogs are sometimes valued at from one to two guineas, and even higher, if they are good sporting, or good house and baggage-dogs. A fowl is as dear as a sheep or goat; and in one instance, as has been related, I paid four times the money for one of these birds that I had given for a kid. The hawkers seldom obtain money in exchange for their wares; they take whatever is offered, and hire people to assist in conveying the cattle or produce to a market, where they are exchanged for goods, and then the owner again returns. A twelvemonth is sometimes passed in turning over the property once; but the profits are usually enormous; two or three hundred _per cent._

During my stay at Natal, the governor shewed me a species of wax which is produced from the leaves of the carnàûba, a tree I have frequently mentioned. A quantity of this wax was sent by him to Rio de Janeiro; it is mentioned in one of Dr. Arruda’s publications, and a sample of it found its way to England, and has been taken notice of by the Royal Society[55]. The governor, in one of his journeys through his province, passed the night, as often happened, in a peasant’s cottage. A wax candle was lighted and placed before him, which was rudely made, but afforded a good light; he was somewhat surprised at this, because oil is generally used; on making enquiry, he found out that the wax dropped from the leaves which covered the cottage, during the heat of the day;—I suppose the cottage had been newly built, or that a fresh covering of leaves had been put on to it. He afterwards made the experiment himself, tried some of the candles, and became confident of the importance of the vegetable wax. The governor also gave me a piece of iron ore, which was the produce of the captaincy of Rio Grande. He told me that he entertained little doubt of the existence of considerable quantities of this metal in this part of the country, and that the Government would be well recompensed for their trouble, if proper persons were appointed for the purpose of making discoveries on this subject. I saw some cloth which he had ordered to be woven from the thread of the crauatâ[56]. Its texture was not unlike that of the coarse linen which is used for sheeting; it is very strong. I have some of the thread in my possession.

As soon as I had arranged that I should leave Natal in the morning of the 6th February, the governor told me that he intended setting off on business relating to his province at the same time. We took leave of each other at night, and in the morning when I rose, I found myself in possession of the house, as he had set out at four o’clock. We did not get away until about seven, owing to the number of horses’ loads, and other matters which it was necessary to arrange. I felt quite at home at Natal, though I was yet distant from Recife seventy leagues; but the country is well watered, well wooded, and comparatively well peopled.

I passed again through St. Joze, the Indian village, but did not turn off from the road towards Papari. I slept at a hamlet, and in the morning proceeded to Cunhàû. About ten o’clock we were under the necessity of turning loose, and leaving behind upon one of the plains, a horse which I had purchased at Chafaris; he was completely fagged, and could not proceed farther. The colonel of Cunhàû was not at home, but his steward wished me to make use of his master’s house; however, I merely mentioned having left a horse at some distance upon the lands of the plantation, and the guide drew for his government the mark which it had upon the haunch. I have often observed the quickness of these people in recognising a mark which they have once seen, and the accuracy with which they will draw it after having only taken seemingly a casual glance, and perhaps after a period of some weeks has elapsed since they had had even this[57]. We then rode on half a league to the hamlet. The commandant of this place introduced himself to me, and was extremely civil; he put my horse into his stable and wished me to stay until the following morning, but I preferred advancing, and slept the same night at another hamlet two leagues beyond. This day we passed several rivulets which were all much swollen, but none of them were sufficiently full to prevent the continuance of our journey. There had already been some rain, and the face of the country bore a more pleasing appearance. Two letter-carriers passed through the place in the evening, and I wrote by them to a friend at Pernambuco, that the cottage at the Cruz das Almas might be ready for me on my arrival.

The next day we passed some sugar plantations and over some hills; the country was most beautiful, for every thing looked green and healthy. I crossed a considerable rivulet at the foot of a hill, and, ascending on the opposite side, put up at a single cottage, which was inhabited by white people; an old man, a widower, with a fine family of handsome sons and daughters. Their cottage had not room for us all, and therefore we intended to sleep in the open air altogether, but the old man insisted upon my going to sleep in the house, and I was not sorry for this, being rather afraid of a return of the ague. Nearly at sunset, or at the close of the day, which in that country are almost about the same time, the tame sheep was missing; great search was made for it, but to no purpose. The old man ordered two of his sons to set out, and not to return until every enquiry had been made in the neighbourhood. I did all in my power to prevent giving this trouble, but he persisted, saying, “No, you are under my roof, and this unfortunate circumstance may lead you to have an unfavourable opinion of me.” Long after dark the young men returned with the sheep and a mulatto man in custody. I wished the man to be released, but they said that this could not be, for he was a runaway slave, who had committed many depredations, and for whose apprehension a considerable reward was offered by his master. They had followed the footsteps of the sheep upon a sandy path as long as the day-light lasted, and then had taken a direction, which they thought might lead to some _mocambos_, or huts of the wood, made by runaway slaves. After they had proceeded a little way, the bleating of the sheep was heard, upon which they prepared themselves and came suddenly upon this fellow and a woman who were in a hut; the woman escaped, which they regretted, as she was likewise most probably a runaway slave. The man was taken into the house, and was tied fast upon a long bench with his face downwards, and the cord was passed round his arms and legs several times; this was done in the room which I was to inhabit for the night. The whole of the family retired to rest, and left us together; I had my knife with me, but naturally soon fell asleep. In the morning the bench and the cords remained, but the man was gone; he had crept through a small window at the opposite end of the room. The young men of the house were sadly vexed, but I told them it was their own fault, for some of them should have kept watch, as they could not suppose that I should remain awake, who had come in fatigued from travelling. We were now afraid that he might have taken one of our horses for his more convenient escape, but this was not the case.

Our journey took us again through the village of Mamanguape; and a little distance beyond it, I left the road, accompanied by the guide, and went to the principal house of a sugar plantation, where we asked for a night’s lodging. I was told that the master was not at home, and great doubts seemed to be entertained of taking us in. Whilst we were talking at the door, a young man of dark colour came up, mounted a horse which was standing there without a saddle, and rode off, seemingly avoiding to observe that there were any strangers present. One of the black women said, “Why did not you speak to him, for he is one of our young masters.” I now enquired and discovered that the owner of the place and his family were mulattos. This was the only instance of incivility I met with, and the only occasion on which a night’s lodging was denied to me during the whole course of my stay in Brazil. We lodged this night under a tree, distant about one hundred yards from the _engenho_, near to a neat and comfortable looking cottage, of which the owner was an elderly woman; she was civil to us, and expressed her sorrow at the treatment which we had received. There had been very little rain here, for the grass in the field of the plantation had still a parched look, and the cattle were in bad condition.

Towards the evening of the following day we reached a hamlet, and at one of the cottages I obtained permission to pass the night. There was a pent-house standing out from the front; these are usual even for dwellings of wealthy persons. Under it I slung my hammock, but was surprised to find, that though the house was inhabited, still the door was shut, and that the person within spoke to us, but did not open it. This I thought strange, and began to suppose that he might be afflicted with some contagious disorder and had been forsaken by his friends, or rather, that his family had been advised to remove to some neighbouring cottage. But the guide explained, saying that the man had been bitten by a snake, and that the bite of this species only became fatal if the man who had received it saw any female animal, and particularly a woman, for thirty days after the misfortune. As the lower orders imagine that all snakes are poisonous, it is not surprising that many remedies or charms should be quoted as efficacious. It is well known that many of those reptiles are innoxious, but as this is not believed by the people in general, it is naturally to be supposed that any cause rather than the true one is ascribed on a recovery from a bite.

On the morrow we left these good people in expectation of their friend’s restoration to health at the allotted period, and proceeded to dine on the banks of the river Paraiba, at a spot which was not far distant from the plantation of Espirito Santo, where we had slept on our way northwards. The river was still as dry as it had been during the drought, that is, the pools or hollows in the bed of it had water in them, but they did not contain a sufficient quantity to overflow, unite, and form a stream. We arrived upon the banks about ten o’clock, and heard from several persons of a report which had been spread, that the river was filling fast. About twelve o’clock the water made its appearance, and before we left it the river was three feet deep. We afterwards heard that the stream was not fordable at five o’clock of the same afternoon, and that it continued to run with great rapidity for some days. I went round to Espirito Santo and spoke to the _capitam-mor_, but did not dismount, as I was more and more anxious to end my journey. We slept at a single cottage about two leagues beyond, and on the following morning again set forth. About noon, for I had pushed on without resting until this hour, we were descending a long and steep hill, when a violent shower of rain came on, which soon caused a torrent to run with much noise and velocity through the gullies in the road. The clay of which the hill was composed was rendered excessively slippery, and far from proceeding more quickly, the horses became more cautious; and on these occasions it is needless to attempt to urge them forwards faster than they themselves are willing to go; they are aware of the danger of a false step, and nothing the rider can do will make an old roadster alter his usual manner of proceeding. At the foot of the hill stood a _venda_ or liquor shop, at which travellers were in the habit of putting up. Most of the hamlets contain one of these places, and we had met with them much more frequently since we had entered upon the great cattle road. Wet as we were, through and through, it would have been impossible to go on further this day, therefore we were thankful in having a house so near; indeed, the rain continued during the greatest part of the afternoon. We had descended into a narrow and beautiful valley, much of which was covered with flourishing plantations of sugar cane, looking very green and luxuriant. This was not the first night that I had seen the beautiful luminous insect, _elater noctilucus_, which is called by the Portugueze _cacafogo_. It is to be met with chiefly in well wooded lands, and emits at intervals a strong but short lived light.

After leaving this place the next morning, we discovered that we had lost some trifles belonging to our baggage. I sent the guide and another man back to seek for them; but they returned unsuccessful. We had, it is true, seldom taken up our lodgings in public houses, but perhaps if we had done so oftener, I should have had more reason to complain; however as it is, this was the only occasion upon which I lost any part of my baggage, with a suspicion of theft attached to its disappearing.

We rested at mid-day near Dous Rios, and in the afternoon passed through that place, arriving at Goiana about sunset. It will be remembered that I purchased some of my horses at Goiana; now on my return, two of the same animals were still with me, and this alone proves that they were of the best kind. When we were distant from Goiana about one league, one of them made towards a narrow path to the right of the road, and was prevented by his driver from turning up into it, but immediately after passing it, he began to flag, and in a few minutes I was under the necessity of having him released from his load, and of desiring one of the men to lead him, otherwise he would have turned back. He had from this time the appearance of being quite fatigued. I can only account for the circumstance by supposing that the path led to his former master’s residence, and that the animal had proceeded thus far in expectation of ending his journey here.

I was received by my friends at Goiana in their usual friendly manner; but I found that the town was in a dreadful state from the scarcity of provisions. One person was said to have died of hunger, and I was told by an inhabitant that several respectable women had been at his house to beg for _farinha_, offering to pawn their gold ornaments for it.

On the morning of the 15th February, I left Goiana, and assisted my people in crossing the river. As soon as they were all safe on the Recife side of it, I pushed on accompanied by Julio and Feliciano, all three of us being mounted upon our best horses. We rested during the heat of the day at Iguaraçu. My horse recognized the place, for as he entered the town, he quickened his pace, and without being guided, went up to the door of the inn, from whence he refused to stir again until I dismounted. We arrived a little after sunset at the Cruz das Almas. John was prepared for me, but did not expect me for one or two days.

The following morning I rode to Recife, and was received by my friends as one who had been somewhat despaired of; and even my particular friend to whom I had written, did not expect me so soon. When I returned home in the evening, the rest of the party had arrived; and Feliciano and his two companions set off two days afterwards on their return to Searà[58]. Julio likewise left me, with which I was much displeased.[59]