CHAP. XIV.PROVINCE OF PORTO SEGURO.
Boundaries—Prosperity of its first Donatory—Reversion to the Crown in a bad State—Present partial Cultivation—Indians—Mountains—Mineralogy—Zoology—Phytology—Rivers, Lakes, and Ports—Povoações—Abrolhos.
Boundaries—Prosperity of its first Donatory—Reversion to the Crown in a bad State—Present partial Cultivation—Indians—Mountains—Mineralogy—Zoology—Phytology—Rivers, Lakes, and Ports—Povoações—Abrolhos.
This province, which comprises the territory of the capitania of the same name, with one portion of that of Ilheos, and another of that of Espirito Santo, is confined on the north by the province of Bahia, from which it is separated by the river Belmonte, on the west by Minas Geraes, on the south by Espirito Santo, and on the east by the ocean. It lies between 15° 54′ and 19° 31′ of south latitude, and in consequence of its being like the province of Espirito Santo imperfectly explored, and from the same cause, of being in great part under the dominion of the Indians, its width cannot be precisely determined. A different result might have justly been expected, as it is without contradiction that part of the new world where the Portuguese were first established. It has already been shown that Cabral left here two degradados in the year 1500, and Christovam Jaques a large number of other individuals, with two Franciscan missionaries in the year 1504. The excellent quality of the Brazil wood, which the first explorers found in abundance, soon rendered it an object of public contract, and the good understanding which the colony maintained] with the Indians, also contributed to its being regularly and annually visited for the purpose of so important a traffic.
When John III. partitioned this region into capitanias, the colony of Porto Seguro had begun to flourish, and many ships destined for India refreshed in its port. The three Indians, which George Lopez Bixorda presented to King Emanuel in 1513, were Tupininquins, the allies and friends of the colonists of Porto Seguro, and the interpreter who accompanied them was one of the degradados left there by Cabral in 1500. This Bixorda had the contract for Brazil wood, and in order to show the king a sample of his new subjects, the three Indians were conveyed to Portugal in the ship laden with this precious wood,without any change of their rude and native dress, the peculiarity of which consisted in their bodies being dressed or ornamented with feathers, and their lips, noses, and ears distorted with immense pendants; their usual weapons of defence, the bow and arrow, added to the interest which their appearance excited.
The name of Porto Seguro, (Secure Port,) given to the bay where the discovering armada anchored, also soon became common to the anchorage place of the river Buranhen, with the establishment of the colony which C. Jaques planted upon its margin, in the place where the principal or high part of the capital is now situated. It soon after became the factory also for the Brazil wood.
Pedro do Campo Tourinho, its first donatory, after having sold all he possessed, for the purpose of transporting himself, his wife, Ignez Fernandes Pinta, one son, called Fernam do Campo Tourinho, and various families who agreed to accompany him, arrived safe in the port of the factory. Not one of the other donatories experienced so prosperous a disembarkation. His colony was a considerable augmentation of that of C. Jaques, or the factory, where he found many countrymen, some of whom had been more than thirty years in the country, with their half Indian progeny, calledMamalucos, living in full harmony with the aborigines.
In a few years he found himself in a considerable and flourishing town. Besides the town of Santa Cruz he founded that of St. Amaro, and other aldeias, with which the establishment was greatly increased, and before his death had acquired a very flourishing state.
The town of St. Amaro, any vestige of which can scarcely at present be discovered, near the morro crowned with a hermitage of Our Lady d’Ajuda, three miles to the south of Porto Seguro, was demolished by the ferociousAbatyraIndians in the year 1564.
The town of St. Cruz, which was commenced upon Cabralia Bay, (Bay of Cabral,) was removed by its inhabitants near to the river Joao de Tyba, in consequence of its more favourable soil.
On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson.Printed by C. Hullmandel.BOTOCUDO INDIANS, ABOUT TO CROSS A RIVER.
On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson.
Printed by C. Hullmandel.
BOTOCUDO INDIANS, ABOUT TO CROSS A RIVER.
The first donatory was succeeded by his said son, who did not live to enjoy it long. To Fernam do Campo Tourinho succeeded his sister, Leonor do Campo Tourinho, widow of Gregorio de Pesqueira, to whom the king confirmed the capitania by letter of the 30th of May, 1556. Two months afterwards she sold it, by permission of the Sovereign, to the Duke d’Aveiro, Don John de Lancastre, to whom the King, in the same law, granted licence, at his death,to nominate his son, Don Pedro Deniz de Lancastre, from whose successors it reverted to the crown in the reign of Joseph I. in a very bad state and with only two towns. One hundred milreas (about £25)de juro, or right, six hundred milreas (about £150) in money, and two moyos (about seventy Winchester bushels each) of wheat every year as long as the vendor lived, was the price stipulated in the writings of the sale. The Jesuits, who founded a house in the capital in 1553, with the intention of better reducing the Indians to Catholicism, only left two aldeias entirely Indian, of which they were the curates. Amongst the most able of those in the course of two hundred and five years, who became curates in these missions, many went there to be catechised previous to studying theology at the college of Bahia, in order to learn more perfectly the idiom of the Indians, who were not taught the Portuguese language, as they only treated or had intercourse with the curates, who were well acquainted with their language.
The Abatyra Indians, at the period before alluded to, destroyed, amongst other places, the towns of Juassema and St. Andre, founded by the duke. These Indians, now unknown, are said to be a horde of the Aimores, or perhaps this was the name by which the Tupininquins designated them in general. The Aimores are believed to have been a tribe of northern Tapuyas, who, in ancient times, in consequence of the wars, proceeded southward, and retired to the west of the serra which afterwards took their name. The neighbouring nations called them Aimbores, and the Portuguese, from corruption, Aimores; but, for a considerable time, they have had no other name amongst the Christians than Botocudos, in consequence of their custom of perforating the ears and lips. They always wander about, divided into parties of forty to sixty families, destroying game, and gathering wild fruits, their ordinary aliment. Some paint the body, at times, a green colour, at others yellow; and in order to free themselves from the attacks of the mosquito, at certain seasons, or in places where they most incommode them, they varnish the skin with the juice or milk of certain trees. Their arms are the bow and the arrow barbed on both sides. They have no other conveyance by water, but jangadas, or catamarans, rudely formed of the trunks of the jangada tree, and put together with very little care, with which they cross large rivers. Their combats, like those of all other Indians, are from ambuscades, and they commonly make the assault after dark, and only when they judge that they are taking their enemy by surprise. Some tribes, when they have determinedto engage the foe, leave the aged, the women, and children, in some secure place in the centre of their district. Their barbarity has always produced the idea that they are much more numerous than they are really found to be. The garrisons newly established upon the eastern line of the province of Minas Geraes, and those in the centre of this, have obliged many to sue for that peace which had been so frequently offered them, and which they always rejected, secure in extensive woods, where there are few, if any, Christian colonists to subdue their wild habits, or mitigate their savage propensities.
Of all the provinces of the Brazil, this may be said to be the most backward in cultivation, and in the civilization of the aboriginal inhabitants. It is almost one wood of fine timber, and different species of trees, indicating, beyond a question, the great fertility generally of its soil. The want of good ports capable of receiving large ships is assigned as the cause of its present condition; but want of industry, and the requisite energy and spirit of improvement, as well as the deficiency, it must be allowed, of population, are the real causes. The Christianized population only possess the parts adjacent to the ocean, and few days pass in certain months of the year, that its coasts are not visited by the Indians in search of the eggs of the tortoise. From these people theCanarinsare known, who are the nearest hordes to the towns of Caravellas, and Villaviçoza. It is said that they have an establishment of one vast house in the centre of the country, hid in a valley between two mountains. TheMachacarisare masters of a country washed by the rivers Norte and Sul. In the western part are known theCumanacho,Mono,Frecha,Catathoy,Aimore, and thePatachonations; the last are more numerous than all the others together, and extend themselves, divided into tribes, from one extremity of the province to the other.
The Aimores are anthropophagi, and the dread of all the other nations except the Patachos.
From the river Doce, the southern limit of this province, as far as a league to the north of the Jucurucu, the lands are so flat, that they scarcely exceed the level of the highest tides. In the whole of this tract, (more than one hundred miles,) not one mountain, or even small elevation is seen. From this point nearly to the Buranhen, the shore is of a green or white colour, and of four to six yards in height; the remainder of the coast to the river Belmonte is in parts flat, in others rather more elevated. Fine woods are everywhere seen extending to the margin of the ocean.
Mountains.—Those in the central and western parts are unknown. At the northern extremity of the eastern side only is discovered the serra of Aimores, the highest portion of which, denominated the Mount of John de Siam, and the outer portion Mount Pascoal, is seen for many leagues at sea, being the principal land-mark in this latitude.
Mineralogy.—Gold, iron, granite, calcareous stone, white potters’ earth, with other argils, amethysts, topazes, and other precious stones.
Zoology.—Domestic animals are in all parts very rare, if we except the environs of the capital. In the woods are the deer, boar,tamandua, monkey,anta, with various other species of this region, generally very numerous. Ounces are here in the greatest number, and commit their depredations upon the sea-coast from April to August, in consequence, it is thought, of the cold, which makes them desert the western lands, and seek the vicinity of the sea, where it is warmer. Hunters find with much facility themutun,juru,macucopartridge,jacu,jacutinga,aracuan,nhamba,capueira, parrot, and a diversity of the turtle bird. Thearaponga,bicudo, andsabioare well known. Thepavo, or peacock, is little larger than thetucano, black, with the breast yellow and red. Thecrijohais something larger than the blackbird, and its change of colours beautiful. The bees produce honey in the trunks of trees, supplying aliment to a great many.
Phytology.—Amongst many other trees of good timber are thevinathico,aderno,avariba,anhuhyba,aricurana,anhahyba de rego,angelim, of different colours; also thebiriba,buranhen,camacary,caixeta, cedar, cherry,conduru,grapiapunha,guanandirana,hoyticica,jatahy; of thejacaranda, are the sorts calledcabuina, mulatto and white; of thejucirana, white and green; thejiquitiba,inhuhybatan, and the clove;ipe, black and other sorts;piqui, black, yellow, otherwisemirindiba; thepotumuju, bow wood, oil wood, Brazil wood,oanandy,sapucaya,sobro,sucupiracu,sucupira acary,tatagiba, white and greentimbuhyba; thejabuticaba, thearacaza, thepindahyba, and various palm trees are well known; the Asiatic cocoa-nut tree is not very frequent. There is a tree, the leaves of which, when broken, exhale the aromatic smell of the clove. The tree which produces thepechurim, here improperly called mulberry tree, is rare, and its fruit not so fine as that of Para. The soil is good for the culture of mandioca, the most valuable produce of the country; Indian corn, rice, and legumes grow in some districts. Cotton trees prosper best in the vicinity of the sea, at least in many situations.
Rivers, Lakes, and Ports.—The river Doce has its heads in the centre of Minas Geraes, and, flowing through part of that province, leaves it, already accumulated by its tributary streams into a considerable river, under the name by which it is here known. After it begins to divide this province from that of Espirito Santo, it is precipitated in the space of one league over three falls, denominated the Escadinhas. From hence to the ocean it is large, serpentine, and handsome, and has many flat islands. Its waters are muddy in the summer season, in consequence of the minerals of Minas Geraes with which it is impregnated; and this appearance is partly caused, it may be inferred, by the auriferous bed through which there cannot be a doubt, from what has been already observed, the latter part of its course is impelled. Its waters are discharged between two points of flat sand of considerable extent; and this aqueous volume preserves its freshness for a considerable distance into the ocean, from which circumstance its primitive name was changed to that of Doce (Soft, or Fresh.)
The St. Mattheus, originally the Cricare, has its source in Minas Geraes. Soon after entering this province, it runs for the space of many miles with great violence, occasioned by the impulse it acquires in descending various falls. A little below this current, which is supposed to be in the meridian of the Escadinhas, it receives by the left the large river Cotache, which traverses extensive woods, inhabited by Indians and wild beasts. It irrigates one of the most fertile countries of the state, and discharges itself into the sea thirty-five miles north of the Doce. A little above its embouchure it receives by the northern margin the St. Anna, which is navigable with the tide.
The Mucury, which is considerable as far as the tide advances, originates in Minas Geraes, and with a rapid current enters the sea near thirty miles to the north of the St. Mattheus. In the vicinity of the ocean it traverses a most fertile district, covered with fine woods, occupied by wild quadrupeds, beyond which it passes through lands rich in gold and precious stones. This river communicates with the Peruhype.
The Peruhype, whose mouth is fifteen miles north of the Mucury, originates in the centre of the province, and is apparently considerable, with a tide running many leagues up.
Ten miles north of the preceding is the mouth of the channel called the river Caravellas, but which is only an arm that the sea extends ten miles to the west, of considerable width, very deep, and beautifully bordered with mangroves.The entrance is only accessible to small vessels. About the middle of its extent, there is a spacious channel of great depth communicating with the Peruhype.
The Itanhem, after a long course, enters the sea fifteen miles north of Caravellas, and affords navigation for canoes for a considerable distance.
The Jucurucu, which discharges itself fifteen miles north of the Itanhem, takes its name at the confluence of the afore-mentioned river Do Sul, (South) with the Do Norte, (North) which unite about twenty miles from the sea, and afford navigation to canoes for a considerable space into the interior of the country. Sumacas advance up this river as far as the said confluence.
Thirty miles to the north of the Jucurucu is the point Corumbau, by corruption Corumbabo; three miles further the mouth of the river Cramimuan, at the bottom of a large bay; and a little further the small river Juassema, near whose mouth is yet seen the vestiges of the town so called.
Eight miles north of the Cramimuan is the river Do Frade, (Friar,) which took its name from the shipwreck of a religious Franciscan. Its course is through woods, and it is only capable of receiving canoes.
The Buranhen, for a long period here designated only the Cachoeira, in consequence of a fall, (cachoeira,) which it passed about the centre of the province, enters the sea eighteen miles north of the Frade: its origin is unknown; but not being considerable, it may be inferred that its course is not extensive; that portion of it explored flows from the south-west to the north-east, with many windings. It affords various sorts of fish, such as are called herepiaus,trahiras,robalos,acaris,piabanhas,piabas,jundias,pitus, and very largepronesin abundance.
It is followed, at a distance of about eighteen miles by the St. Cruz, something smaller, and navigable by canoes. It took this name after the inhabitants of the town of St. Cruz removed to its margin, then called the Joam de Tyba. They formed the first colony in its vicinity. It is stored with the same fish as the preceding one.
The St. Antonio, the waters of which are muddy, with an inconsiderable course, is a few leagues north of the preceding.
The lake Juparana, deep, abounding with fish, interspersed with small islands, and about fifteen miles in circuit, bordered with fine woods, growing upon an uneven and fertile country, is twenty miles from the sea, has an outlet into the river Doce by a narrow and deep channel five miles in length, and receives a river called Cachoeira, which is said to be navigable.
Between the mouth of the Doce and the St. Mattheus is the lake Tapada, of considerable length from east to west but very narrow.
The lake of Medo, (Fear,) very small, is in the proximity of the origin of St. Antonio and communicates with the Belmonte.
The lake Braco, long and narrow, prolongs itself with the coast, between the Belmonte and the Mugiquissaba, which is small, and enters the ocean about eighteen miles south of the first.
The Belmonte, so called after the town of the same name was founded near its mouth, is formed in Serro do Frio, one of the comarcas of Minas Geraes, by the waters of the Jiquitinhonha and Arassuahy. When it traverses the cordillera of Aimores it is contracted between two mountains of unequal elevation; the northern one, called St. Bruno, is the highest, and on a sudden descends from a height of more than forty yards into a whirlpool, whose evaporation exhibits an eternal cloud, and the loud murmuring of its falling waters is heard sometimes twelve and fifteen miles off. Continuing for the space of fifteen miles to the east between rugged margins to acachocirinha, (a little fall,) it flows through a flat and woody country to the sea, describing various windings, with a current rapid and wide but of little depth. Its fish calledtubarõeis of an enormous size, and thecacoeis the smallest of its finny inhabitants. It has many flat islands within its margins, and does not receive any considerable stream after it descends the fall.
The Piauhy, which unites the Belmonte below this fall, is the most abundant amongst those which it receives, after commencing to serve as a limit to this province.
Cabralia Bay, (where the armada of Cabral anchored,) fifteen miles to the north of Porto Seguro, and four to the south of St. Cruz, is the only port of the province where large vessels can enter.
The bay of Concha, near the Mugiquissaba, is a roadstead which might be rendered capable of receiving vessels of large burden.
The towns of this province are—
Porto SeguroVillaverdeTrancozoPradoAlcobacaCaravellasVillaviçozaPortalegreSt. MattheusBelmonte.
Porto Seguro, a considerable town, and capital of the province, is situated at the mouth of the river Buranhen, upon an elevation on the northern side, with an agreeable aspect, enjoying salubrious air, and provided with good water. It has a church of Nossa Senhora da Penna, a house of misericordia, and an ex-Jesuitical hospicio, at present the residence of the ouvidors. Thehouses are of brick or wood, and the streets unpaved. The main part of its inhabitants frequent the fishing ofgaroupas, which form an important branch of their commerce. It has, as is usual, a royal professor of Latin. Its surrounding lands are appropriated to divers productions, none of which are superabundant except fruits. Porto Seguro, it is said, was once larger, but upon the occasion previously referred to was nearly dismantled by the Abatyras, and being rebuilt, again suffered much from the invasions of theGuerens, who, perhaps, would have annihilated it altogether if the celebrated Tateno, a cacique or chief from the river St. Antonio, who was a scourge to the other savages and a friend of the Christians, had not succoured them, in spite of the diseases under which he laboured at the time, and which did not permit him to move, except in a net or rede, carried upon the shoulders of his most robust comrades. The small povoaçoes of Pontinha, Marcos, and Pacatta, the whole upon the northern margin of the river, scarcely separated by small intervals, are so many other parts of this town.
Villaverde, originally Patatiba, is small but well situated, has a church dedicated to Espirito Santo, (Holy Spirit,) and a municipal house. It is eighteen miles above the capital, upon the southern margin of the same river, near a large lake. It has a profusion of fruits, and abundance of water from fountains. The soil is of great fertility, but is entirely left to the indolence of the Christianized Indians, amongst whom a white is scarcely seen. They export some timber and a little cotton.
Eighteen miles north of the capital, near the mouth of the St. Cruz, the parish of this name, formerly considerable, has decayed, in consequence of the invasions of the Guerens. It has a church, dedicated to Nossa Senhora of Conceiçao; and in the vicinity a tree is common, the fruit of which is called the quince. The proximity of Cabralia Bay, and the roads which are expected to be opened from divers points of Minas Geraes, will probably render this povoaçao a flourishing and considerable place.
Trancozo is an inconsiderable town, well situated, near the mouth of a small river; the church is dedicated to St. John Baptista, and its inhabitants, almost generally Indians, cultivate cotton and mandioca, and are also fishermen. It is fifteen miles south of Porto Seguro.
Prado, situated at the mouth of the Jucurucu, which was its primitive name, is forty miles to the south of Trancozo. A considerable quantity of farinha (flour of mandioca) is exported from hence, at present the onlyriches of its inhabitants. Its church is dedicated to the Purificaçao de Nossa Senhora.
Alcobaça, another small town, near the mouth of the Itanhen, of which it originally had the name, has a church dedicated to St. Bernardo. The population, generally Indian, and the agriculture, begin to increase, by the establishments of various farmers, who removed hither from Caravellas, in consequence of the woods or mattas remaining uncut in the immediate vicinity of the town.
Caravellas is a considerable town, upon the northern margin of the river of the same name, about five miles from the sea, and almost in front of the channel which communicates with the Peruhype. It consists of three streets parallel with the river, which forms a good port, capable even of receiving large vessels, if the bar were accessible. It is the most frequented of any other town in the province; has a church called St. Antonio, and royal masters of the primitive letters and Latin. Almost all its inhabitants cultivate mandioca, which is nearly three years in the ground before it reaches maturity; they can scarcely make two plantations of it, as already in the second the ants have accumulated upon it to a destructive extent. The lands overgrow with brushwood immediately the woods are cleared away. The water-melons,aboboras, bananas, and oranges, are very fine. There are places covered entirely with thejabuticabatree. A great quantity of farinha is exported from hence. Various families, who escaped from the catastrophe which attended the destruction of the towns in the vicinity of the capital by the Indians, commenced this town, upon the right bank of the river, near the bar, from whence it was shortly afterwards removed to the situation which it now occupies. They are now labouring in the opening of a road or track, to communicate with that of Portalegre, which leads to Minas Geraes.
Villaviçoza, at first called Campinho, upon the southern margin, and four miles above the mouth of the river Peruhype, is yet small, with a church of N. Senhora da Conceiçao. Its inhabitants produce much farinha, and the vessels by which the superfluity is exported navigate commonly by the river Caravellas, and the channel before mentioned, in consequence of the little depth which the Peruhype has at the bar.
Portalegre, at the mouth of the river Mucury, of which it originally had the name, is a small town, without any thing remarkable; but the extensive navigation of the river and the fertility of its surrounding lands promise it future augmentation. Its church is dedicated to St. Joze; and its inhabitants, besidesother necessaries, produce and export a considerable quantity of farinha, with some flax of ticum, and timber. In its district there are minerals of iron. From this town, a road runs to Villa do Principe in Minas Geraes.
The town of St. Mattheus, without regularity, upon gently elevated ground, on the right margin, and fifteen miles above the bar of the river so called, does not yet exceed mediocrity, but is well supplied with fish and good water. Many circumstances, however, concur to warrant the expectation of its becoming flourishing, when the Indians are reduced. Its inhabitants hitherto respire air infected by the neighbouring swamps, which occasionally produce fevers, terminating sometimes in death. They cultivate feijao, rice, Indian corn, cotton, the sugar cane, and above all mandioca, the farinha of which is exported to a great extent. Many other branches of agriculture would flourish in this district, the fertility of which is perhaps unequalled, and not materially infested with ants. The water-melon is here excellent, and oranges and lemons are abundant.
Belmonte is a town situated in the angle of the mouth of the river, which took its name, and which injures it occasionally, at the period of the greatest floods. It was first an aldeia of Christian Indians, and consists of three streets, in a line, with houses generally of earth. The church is called Our Lady of Carmo, and the people are of all complexions.
On the margin of the river Doce, near the outlet of the lake Juparana, is the increasing aldeia of Linhares, to which a vicar was appointed in 1815, in consequence of its inhabitants becoming numerous. With the view of impeding the invasions of the savages, as well as commencing new povoaçoes, were recently established the detachments of Arcos, near the margin of the river Belmonte, above the great fall; Aveiro, upon the river St. Cruz; Aquiar, in the district of Villaverde; Linhares, on the river Frade; Cunha, on the Cramimuan; Vimieyro, on the Jucurucu; Obidos, in the district of Alcobaca; Caparica, upon the river Peruhype; Araujo, upon the Mucury; Itahunas, upon the Guaxindiba, which discharges itself four miles north of the St. Mattheus; and Galveas, above the town of St. Mattheus, upon the margin of the river of that name. All the parochials of this province are in the jurisdiction of the bishopric of Rio de Janeiro.
In front of the bar of the river Caravellas, and forty miles from the coast, are the islands of St. Barbara, generally known by the name of Abrolhos, four in number, and a short distance from each other; the largest and most easterly istwo miles in length, and has some vegetation. Portions of a large shoal, which extends two hundred miles from east to west, in consequence of the dangers which they present to navigators, were calledAbrolhos(“open the eyes.”) There is no water found upon these islands, and they are generally covered with marine birds. Upon these shoals the fishing of thegaroupasis pursued, producing the next branch of exportation to farinha; this is a fish which does not exceed two palms in length, is very thick, of a green colour, without scales, has little bone, is very white, and is esteemed savory when fresh.