CHAP. II.
From the First Discovery down to the Arrival of the Royal Family there, and its present Division into Provinces—The general Character of the Indians.
From the First Discovery down to the Arrival of the Royal Family there, and its present Division into Provinces—The general Character of the Indians.
The honour of discovering the new world, it is well known, justly belongs to Christopher Columbus, a pilot of Genoa, although it derives its name from Americanus Vespuccius, a Florentine navigator, who performed two voyages to this hemisphere, under the auspices of his Castilian Majesty, and two others by order of Emanuel, King of Portugal. The latter voyages the Portuguese writers flatly deny, and attribute the promulgation of a story so devoid of truth to the arrogance and pride of Vespuccius; nor, in fact, does his relation respecting this point appear to be supported by any collateral testimony. A mere accidental occurrence, indeed, induced Columbus first to entertain the idea of launching out upon unknown seas. The master of a caravelleon, named Francisco Sanches, about the year 1480, arrived at Madeira, where Columbus then was, in a most pitiable condition, with three or four sailors only remaining, and nearly exhausted, in consequence of a tremendous tempest which had assailed their ungovernable bark, and driven them to a remote western longitude, where they saw, or fancied they saw, land. It was in those days imagined, that the eastern coast of Asia was the western boundary of the Atlantic Ocean, and Columbus was persuaded, that the land which Sanches had seen was the island of Japan, or some other island upon that coast, and which was then only arrived at by navigating around the coast of Africa. The novel circumstance stirred up in his mind the most animating presentiments;—the glory of opening to India a shorter and more easy passage, by proceeding directly across the Atlantic, inspired Columbus with enthusiasm, and he flattered himself, that the disclosure of his ideas would produce ready concurrence in furnishing the adequate equipments for the enterprise. He proceeded to Genoa for the purpose of proposing his plan, but it was regarded there as a chimera. He submitted the same proposition to John II. of Portugal, whose subject he then was, which was rejected by the votes of some chosen geographers. He next directed his way to the court of Castile, where the learned ones entertained the same sentimentsupon the subject as the cosmographers of Lusitania, and where, perhaps, he would have been equally unsuccessful had not the spontaneous offers which Luiz de Santangal made to provide all the money requisite for the expedition, and the voluntary proposal of Don Pedro de Mendonca to contribute one-eighth of the expenses, overcome every difficulty. He sailed from Palos, with three caravelleons under his command, on the 3d of August, 1492, and, passing the Canaries, directed his course to the westward, till the 11th of October, when he descried an island, which he called St. Salvador, now one of the Bahama Islands. He was much disheartened at having traversed so much of the ocean with so little success; but he continued, however, the voyage, and discovered the Island of Cuba, of Hispaniola, now St. Domingo, and left 38 men there in a wooden fort. He then retraced his way back, and arrived at Lisbon on the 6th of March, 1493. Columbus made three other voyages across the Atlantic, under the protection of Ferdinand V. His second voyage was commenced from Cadiz, on the 25th of September, 1493. He re-visited the Island of Hispaniola, discovered Jamaica, and a great many other islands to the southward of Cuba, and which, for its fertility and picturesque beauty, he denominated the garden of the kingdom. Upon his third voyage, in 1498, he saw the island of Trinidad, at the mouth of the Oronocos, on the 1st of August. He afterwards disembarked on various parts of the coast of Paria, returned to Hispaniola, and then to Europe. He sailed again from Cadiz on the 9th of May, 1502, a third time visited Hispaniola, and continued to navigate onward till he discovered the Island of Guanaia, near Cape Honduras, and subsequently explored all the coast of the continent, from Cape Gracias to Porto Bello.
Some persons, however, affirm that it is a great injustice to attribute the honour of discovering this hemisphere to either of those navigators, when it is certain that the oriental Syberios, called Choukes, were in the habit of passing the Straits of Bhering, to the American continent, in the summer season, from time immemorial. The Danes discovered Greenland about the end of the tenth century, and the Norwegians colonized it in the following one; and if this land is not a portion of the continent, it is at least an island belonging to it.
Having briefly described the first discovery of the American continent, it will now be in unison with the object of this work, to invite the attention to an investigation of the circumstances resulting from the discovery of that portion of it more immediately under consideration, and which has excited endeavours on my part, very inadequate to render justice to a subject of such prodigious magnitude. The Portuguese imagine (and the inscriptions met with in the Brazilwould appear to corroborate the notion) that their countryman and ancestor, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, was the first discoverer of that country; but this honour indubitably belongs to the celebrated Spanish pilot, Vincente Yanez Pinson, the companion of Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic; and who, it is affirmed, would not have acquired the fame of first descrying the new world, had not the despondency which was clouding his mind, in the progress of that voyage, been dispelled by the animating hope of success with which Pinson encouraged him. In virtue of a commission granted to Vincente Yanez Pinson, by the Castilian court, he quitted his native shores in pursuit of undiscovered countries, in the month of December, 1499. He shaped his course more to the southward than his late commander, Columbus; and on the 26th of January, 1500, discovered land in about 8° south latitude, having crossed the Atlantic in as short a period as the voyage is commonly accomplished in at this day; evincing an undaunted spirit and disregard to the prevailing practice then existing amongst navigators, of taking in all sail and lying to during the night. The discovery of this new land must have been highly consolatory and gratifying to his feelings; he gave it, therefore, the name of Cape Consolation, which can be no other than Cape St. Augustine, situated about twenty miles to the south of Pernambuco. Pinson vainly went through the ceremony of taking possession of the country for the Spanish crown. The natives which they saw were exceedingly shy, and they endeavoured without success to accomplish any intercourse with them. He proceeded northward, towards Cape St. Roque, with his ships, and, again landing upon the intervening coast, his people had several rencounters with a horde of savages very different to the first they had seen. These Indians used the bow and arrow, and attacked the Spaniards with great spirit and dexterity. This reception induced Pinson to continue his course along the northern coast of the Brazil; and, after proceeding as far as the Oronocos, he returned to Europe without any manifest advantage resulting from this undertaking. Although he was unfortunate in losing some of his ships on the homeward voyage, he displayed considerable nautical skill in conducting his vessels in safety along the most difficult and dangerous part of the Brazilian coast.
During the period that Pinson was thus occupied, Portugal was fitting out a fleet with much pomp and parade in the river Tagus, not with any project of discovering a new territory, but in consequence of Don Vasco da Gama having arrived at Lisbon, with certain intelligence of having ascertained the navigation to India, round the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese King, Emanuel, determined to send a fleet to establish friendship and a treaty of commercewith the King of Calcutta, and to create a factory in the same city. Merchandise of the best taste was selected for the outward cargo, and the ships were to be laden in return with spices. For the command of this fleet, which consisted of ten caravels, and three larger vessels, a fidalgo was chosen, called Pedro Alvarez Cabral. The number of persons on board amounted to twelve hundred well selected and well armed. The fleet was prepared in front of the Rastello, now called Belem; and it was determined that it should sail on the 9th of March, 1500. At the vespers preceding, which was on Sunday, the King went with all the court to open mass, in the hermitage of our Lady of Belem, (or Bethlehem,) which site is occupied at this day by the magnificent monastery of P. P. Jeronymos. Diogo Ortiz, Bishop of Ceuta, delivered a discourse upon the object of the expedition; and, during the service, a flag was placed upon the altar, with the cross of the order of Christ, which the Bishop, with imposing ceremony, consecrated; and the King, with his own hands, delivered it to Cabral, who was near his Majesty during the ceremonies. Thefunçaōbeing finished, the colours were carried in procession, accompanied by the King, to the beach, where Cabral and most of the captains kissed his hand, and at the same time a grand salute was fired by the whole fleet. This was considered the most powerful and brilliant armament that had ever sailed from Portugal for distant countries. The other captains were Sancho de Thoar (with succession to Admiral Cabral), N. Coelho (who had been with Vasco da Gama), S. de Miranda d’Azevedo, A. G. da Sylva, V. d’Athayde, S. de Pina, N. Leytao, P. d’Athayde, L. Pirez, Gaspar de Lemos, the celebrated Bartholomew Dias, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, and Diogo Dias, his brother, who were to remain with the factory to be established. There were, besides, seven Franciscan friars, subordinate to one named Frey Henrique, who was afterwards bishop of Ceuta, eight chaplains, and a vicar, to administer the sacraments in the factory of Calcutta. Ayres Correa was appointed factor, or head of the establishment; and G. Barboza, and Pedro Vas de Caminho,escrivaōs, or writers.
On the 14th of March, the fleet passed the Canaries; and after having seen the island of St. Nicholas, one of the Cape de Verds, on the 22d, they discovered that the vessel of V. d’Athayde was missing. Cabral took every pains to fall in with it again, but without effect. He continued his voyage, and in order to avoid being detained by the calms peculiar to the coast of Africa, and to profit by the prevailing north-east trade wind, they stood so much to the westward, that, on the 21st of April, (the last Oitava of Pascal,) they met with signals of land, (which were certain floating plants,) and late on the following day, in latitude 17° south, they saw a large round mountain with smaller hills, which were the highest portionsof the Serra, now called Aymores, mostly covered with wood. Cabral made a signal to the other ships to approach the land, and by sun-set they anchored in 19 fathoms, about six leagues from it. From respect to theoitavario,[1]Cabral gave the mountain the name of Mount Pascal, which it yet retains; and the land he called Vera Cruz. The following day they sailed towards the land, and came in front of the mouth of a river now called Rio de Frade (River Friar); and remained half a league distant from it during the night, with some difficulty, in consequence of a strong south-east wind setting in. Captain N. Coelho examined the river the same day, which was found incapable of receiving even the smallest vessels of the fleet; and the wind not being favourable to coast towards the south, Cabral ordered the fleet to navigate northward, and despatched Affonso Lopez, his pilot, in one of the smallest caravels, to proceed nearer the beach, and to examine the first part he met with.
The squadron having coasted on about ten leagues, met with the bay of Corôa Vermelha, otherwise Cabral, where, towards the evening, the caravels nearest entered. Affonso Lopez, who was sounding the port, met with two young Indians in a canoe, whom he carried to the admiral, who had anchored with the larger ships a league from the reefs, which were at the entrance of the bay. They were next morning placed upon the beach dressed in Portuguese clothes, accompanied by a degradado, or criminal, in order to observe the mode of living which prevailed amongst the natives.
The fleet remained here eight days, during which time mass was celebrated twice by Frey Henrique; the first, on Easter Sunday, upon an island (its name is now Corôa Vermelha) within the bay, in sight of a great number of Indians assembled upon the continental beach; the other, on the 1st of May, at the foot of a grand cross, which had been erected upon the main land, with the arms of King Emanuel, in testimony of the solemn possession which in his name had been taken of this new land of Vera Cruz.
There is a letter in the naval archives at Rio de Janeiro, written by P. V. de Caminho (one of theescrivaōsalready mentioned) to King Emanuel, giving a minute detail of all the circumstances attending the stay of the armament in this port, which Cabral called “Porto Seguro,” in noticing which, the above letter, written in language differing from that of the present day, says, “Acharam hos ditos navios pequenos huum a recife com huum porto dentro muyti boo, e muyti seguro com huuma muy larga entrada, e meterem-se dentro.” Also, “entraram toda las naaos e amcoraram-se em simco, seis bracas, ha qual amcorajemdemtro he tam grande e tam fremosa, e tam segura, que podem jaser demtro neela mais de duzentos navios e naaos.”[2]He says the Indians were quite naked, and their bodies painted with various colours. They wore pendants of white bone from their ears. Their cheeks were in like manner ornamented with bones, and their lips slit, into which similar ornaments were also introduced. They used bows and arrows. The two natives who came on board, when they saw the gold embroidery upon the collar of Cabral’s coat, danced, put their hands to the ground, and then to the collar: they showed the same feeling in regard to silver; from which it was inferred that those precious metals were not unknown to them. This letter also says, “Mostraram lhes huum papagayo pardo que aquy ho capitam tras; tomaram no logo na maao; mostraram lhes huum carneyro, non fezeram delle mençam; mostraram lhes huuma galinha, e asy aviam medo dela, e nom lhe queriam poeer ha maao.”[3]The Portuguese offered them bread, dressed fish, and other things, which on tasting they put out of their mouths; also wine, which they did not like, and would not take it a second time. They established a friendly intercourse with those Indians, from whom they received in exchange for trifling articles, fruits, farinha (or flour) of the mandioca, maize, &c. This writer, with many of the captains, went a league and a half up the country, where they met with a body of Indians, who had nine or ten houses rudely built of wood covered with grass; each house had two small entrances, and was large enough to receive thirty or forty persons. It consisted of but one apartment, without any division. They bartered with them things of no value for large and beautiful red parrots, two small green ones, and other things. They went on shore again the next day to get wood and wash linen, when they found sixty or seventy Indians, without bows or any thing else, upon the beach, which number soon increased to two hundred, all without bows and arrows. They mixed amongst the Portuguese, and assisted them to collect wood and put it on board the boats. That Cabral considered this land an island is evidenced by the conclusion of the letter. “Beijo haas maaos deV. A. deste Porto Seguro da vosa Ilha da Vera Cruz. Hoje, Sesta feira primeiro dia de Mayo, 1500. P. V. de Caminha.”[4]
On the 2d of May, this fleet sailed from Porto Seguro, and proceeded on its voyage to India, leaving two degradados behind, who were seen lamenting and crying upon the beach, and the men of the country comforting them, demonstrating that they were not a people devoid of pity.[5]One of them soon learnt the idiom of the Indians called Tupininquins. He served as interpreter to the first Portuguese who arrived there, and afterwards returned home. Some of the Portuguese writers are piqued at the Spanish authors, Berredo and Antonio Galvum, for pretending, as they say, that their countryman, Vincente Yanez Pinson first discovered the Brazil; and they bring, as testimony against the Spaniards, the following statement of Robertson. “Vicente Yanez Pinson, one of the admiral’s companions in his first voyage, sailed from Palos with four ships; he stood boldly towards the south, and was the first Spaniard who ventured to cross the equinoctial line; but he seems to have landed on no part of the coast beyond the mouth of the Marignon, or River of the Amazons.” Robertson does not make a positive assertion that Pinson did not land upon any other part of the Brazilian coast, nor does he enter into particulars or give any dates. The river Amazons is the north-western boundary of the Brazil; and even if he only landed at the mouth of this great river, he of course landed upon the Brazilian territory, and was unquestionably the first discoverer of it. Conceding to the Portuguese the passage which they adduce from Robertson, it offers no contradiction to the circumstances and dates already detailed of Pinson’s voyage, which show him to have anticipated the Portuguese at least three months in this discovery. Cabral despatched Gaspar de Lemos from Porto Seguro, to announce to the King this new land, which had been taken possession of in his Majesty’s name. It is said that Lemos coasted northward as far as Cape St. Roque, to ascertain the extent of this territory which they had considered an island. Emanuel was so delighted with the discovery of Vera Cruz, that he resolved to send out another squadron to explore more minutely its extent; and it appears that three caravels were orderedto sail upon this project from the Tagus, on the 1st of May, 1501, but there is a considerable doubt who was the commander of them; some say it was Americanus Vespuccius, others, that it was Gonsalo Coelho. Cabral met this squadron at Goree on his return from India, but the commander’s name is not mentioned. “Che gamos ao Cabo da Boa Esperance dia de Pascoa e encontrando alli bom tempo, continuamos a viagem, e aportamos junto a Cabo Verde em Bezenegue, onde encontramos tres caravellas, que El Rey de Portugal mandara para descubrir a terra nova que tinhamos achado hindo para Calecute.”[6]Francisco de Cunha, author of the Geographical Description of Portuguese America, states that (“Gonsala Coelho fora o primeiro explorador da Costa Bazillica depois de Cabral e Lemos,”) Gonsalo Coelho was the first explorer of the Brazilian coast after Cabral and Lemos. Americanus Vespuccius, in his own manuscript, asserts that he undertook two voyages for the King of Portugal, this being the first. It is difficult to arrive at a fair conclusion from this conflicting testimony, whether he or G. Coelho had the command of those three caravels. The Portuguese deny positively that it was Vespuccius; and a French writer of “the General History of Voyages” peremptorily falsifies all that Vespuccius has advanced upon the subject. “Les relations d’Americ Vespuce contienent le recit de deux voiages, qu’il fit sur la même côte (du Brezil), au nom d’Emanuel, Rio de Portugal; mais les dates en sont fausses, et c’est en quoi consiste l’imposture; car il est prouvé par tous les temoignages contemporains que dans le tems qu’il nomme, il étoit emploie à d’autres expeditions.”[7]Antonio Galvum mentions the expedition but not the commander. All the evidence however, regarding this squadron, concur as to the time of its sailing, and arrival at the Brazil on the 17th of August. After a long and tempestuous voyage, they made land near Rio Grande, to the south of Cape St. Roque, where they met with Indians of a savage nature and decidedly cannibals. Several people from the Portuguese ships were seized by them, roasted over a large fire in presence of theircountrymen, with loud shoutings and rejoicings. The cannibals were so expert with their bows and arrows, that this fleet was considerably annoyed by them, and induced to coast on to the latitude of 8° south, near Pernambuco, where they met with friendly Indians,[8]and established an intercourse with them. After a few days, they continued their voyage along the coast, and met with a kind reception every where from the natives, who allowed them to land and make their observations without injury upon the country and its productions. They described the natives as being exceedingly well made, and universally attached to the custom of perforating their faces and ears, and wearing bones and stones as ornaments. They coasted on to 32° south latitude, and, standing out to sea, reached as high a latitude as 52° south, where, in consequence of a tempestuouslebeccio, they were compelled to return, and arrived at Lisbon in September, 1502, having lost two vessels.
Another expedition of six caravels sailed from Lisbon on the 10th of June, 1503, with the avowed object of prosecuting still further the examination of Vera Cruz. A variety of contradictory statements render it doubtful who was the real commander of this squadron, although the balance of testimony in this, as in the former case, is much in favour of Gonsalo Coelho. Americanus Vespuccius again alleges that he accompanied this fleet, and with two ships proceeded forward to the coast of the Brazil, leaving the other four vessels at an island, some of them wrecks; and he says those four vessels were all lost through the want of ability on the part of the commander, whose name he does not disclose. A work published at Paris, attributing the command of the three first caravels to Vespuccius, continues thus:—“El Rey D. Manuel extremamente affeicoado a Vespucio deu lhe o commando de seis navios com os quaes sahiu a dez de Mayo, 1503, e passou ao longo das costas d’Africa, e do Brazil, com o intuito de descubrir uma passagem pelo occidente para as Ilhas Mallucas, como ao depois se-descubriu: depois d’apportar na Bahia de todos os Santos, navegou athe os Abrolhos e rio Curababo, como nāo tinha mantimentos senāo para Vinte mezes, tomou a resoluçao de voltar a Portugal onde chegou a dezoito de Junho, 1504.”[9]Maneol Ayres de Cazal supposes Christovam Jacques tohave been the commander, and Francisco de Cunha says, that the King “Mandou logo preparar outra armada de caravellas que entregou a Christovam Jacques, fidalgo de sua casa e com o titulo de Cap-Mor, o mandou continuar n’este empressa descubrindo aquella costa, sahui armada, e seguindo viagem chegou a costa, sondando baixos e rios pondo padroes d’armas Portuguezes, foi dar a huma bahia, aque poz o nome de Todos Santos, e depois deligencias se recolhou a Portugal.”[10]But Damian de Goes assigns the command to Goncallo Coelho. “No mesmo anno de 1503 mandou Goncallo Coelho com seis naus a terra de St. Cruz com que partiu de Lisboa a hos dez dias de mez de Junho; das quaes por ainda terem pouca noticia da terra perdeu quatro, e has outras duas trouxe aho regno com mercadorias da terra que entam nam eram outras que pau vermelho que chamam Brazil, e papagaios.”[11]
The testimony of three writers attribute the command of these six caravels to three distinct individuals; but, from a fair investigation of each statement, that of Goes, who assigns the command to Coelho, appears more consonant with truth and the intentions of the King, than the other two relations. The collateral supporter of Vespuccius’ claim, represents the object of the expedition to be for the discovery of the Moluccas, which certainly does not coincide with the desire of an immediate and continued exploration of St. Cruz, (or Vera Cruz,) that seemed to actuate his Majesty solely in fitting it out; nor does this account say any thing of the loss of four of the caravels, which is generally admitted. Cunha, who gives the command to Jacques, most probably alludes to the armament which that person had under his orders in theyear 1516, when he proceeded to the Brazil, and then entered the bay of All Saints.
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 ofTodos 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 ofunknown 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 RiverSolis. 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 Portugueseagain 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 theCarijosIndians.
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 deGoes. 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.
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 denominateTupan, and, like many other barbarians, their adoration is divided between the good and evil spirit, which latter they callAnhanga. 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 theTupinamba. 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 melancholycan 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.