CHAP. XXI.PROVINCE OF PIAUHY.
Boundaries—First Settlers—Cattle Fazendas—Mountains—Mineralogy—Rivers—Towns.
Boundaries—First Settlers—Cattle Fazendas—Mountains—Mineralogy—Rivers—Towns.
This province derives its name from one of the rivers which water it, and was created in the year 1718, being till that period a comarca of Maranham, but did not begin to have governors before 1758. It is computed to comprise four hundred miles from north to south, and one hundred and seventy of medium width. Its form is almost triangular, having more than three hundred and forty miles on the southern side, where it is confined by the province of Pernambuco, and about sixty on the northern side, where it is washed by the ocean. On the east it is bounded by the province of Siara, from which it is separated by the serra of Hibiapaba, on the west by the river Parnahiba, which divides it from Maranham. The country is almost generally low and flat, interspersed with small hills and extensive plains, principally sandy, in great part destitute of trees, and also in places of shrubs. It exhibits herbage during the period of rains, or whilst the soil preserves any humidity, but it is soon shrivelled up on the return of the sun’s parching rays. This province has various streams all tributary to the important river Parnahiba. The winter commences in October, and lasts till April, accompanied with thunder and rain. The wind prevails at the beginning from the north, and afterwards passes round to the south. The climate is hot, and fevers reign in some districts. In the northern part, the days and nights are equal all the year, and in the southern districts of the province there is only a difference of half an hour. This territory was possessed by various nations, generally not numerous, whose reduction or repulsion did not consume much time or expenditure of lives, differing in this respect from many other provinces of much less extent, and arising from the concurring circumstances of the great deficiency of woods and serras, which in almost all the other districts served the savages for retreat and refuge. Those who afforded the greatest difficulty in subduing them, were a tribe living in thevicinity of the river Poty, commanded by a domestic Indian, who had fled from an aldeia of Pernambuco, and who animated them to a desperate resistance, until he perished in swimming across the Parnahiba. Mandu Ladino was the common name by which this chieftain was designated.
More than fifty years had elapsed without any intelligence of the existence of wild Indians within the precincts of the province, when, about the year 1760, on its southern side, a band appeared, who from that period have annoyed the colonists very much, and have compelled them to abandon a great number of fazendas for breeding cattle. The whites give this tribe the appellation ofPimenteiras, in consequence of there being a situation so denominated in the district which they occupy. They have their dwelling places between the heads of the rivers Piauhy and Gurguea, near the boundary of the province, being surrounded by the establishments of the Portuguese. Within their territory there is a large lake abounding with fish, near which they take up their residence for a considerable period of the year. It is conjectured that they were, or at least in part, descendants of various families who lived domesticated with the whites in the vicinity of Quebrobo, and from whom they deserted about the year 1685, in order to avoid marching under the banners of the forces equipped against their Indian brethren. Their hostilities commenced in consequence of a dog being killed in the vicinity of Gurguea, whither they had proceeded upon an occasion of hunting. In a frustrated assault which they made, eighty bows were found, from which it was inferred they had a considerably greater number of men capable of using that weapon. Domingos Jorge, a Paulista, and Domingos Affonso, from Maffra, in Portugal, were the first persons who began the conquest of this province. Towards the year 1674, the latter possessed a fazenda for breeding cattle on the northern side of the river St. Francisco. The great injury which he there sustained from the central Indians, and the desire of augmenting his fortune with similar possessions, urged him to undertake the conquest of the northern country, for which object he assembled all the people he could accumulate, and having passed the serra of Dois Irmaos, (Two Brothers,) towards the north, he, fortunately for himself, encountered the Paulista before mentioned, who was in the progress of reducing Indians to captivity, and they afforded mutual succour to each other. Having ultimately captured a considerable number, and caused the remainder to retire, the Paulista returned to his country with the greater part of the captive Indians, and the European remained master of the territory. Other companies made similar entries into this district, the said Affonso always remaining supreme captain of the whole,and the vast possessions thus acquired by the entrance of various parties, received the denomination of Certam. It is said that he established above fifty fazendas for the breeding of large cattle, and that he gave away and sold many during his life. It is however certain, that at his death, he left thirty, and appointed the Jesuits of the College of Bahia administrators of them, ordering the revenues of eleven to be appropriated for dowries to young virgins, to the clothing of widows, and to succour other necessities of the poor. With the rest they were to augment the number of fazendas, but it is said that they only established three more. With the extinction of this sect, the whole passed under the administration of the crown, and are preserved in the same state by the inspection of three administrators, each having eleven fazendas in his jurisdiction, with three hundred milreas of salary. They occupy the territory through which the rivers Piauhy and Caninde flow, from the boundary of the province to the north of the capital, in the vicinity of which there are some principal ones. The privilege of forming establishments within their lands is not granted to any one, where the slaves of the fazendas work alone for their subsistence and clothing. The cattle arriving at a certain age are conducted by the purchasers principally to Bahia and its reconcave. Those of the northern district descend to Maranham, others are driven to Pernambuco.
Mountains.—This province has no serras of any consequence, if we except the cordillera which limits it on the east, and that from whence emanate the divers branches of the Parnahiba. In the interior alone there are trifling hills, and some small morros, which even in the country have not acquired any names.
The serra denominated Dois Irmaos consists of two small mounts in the southern confines, between which the road passes from the capital to the river St. Francisco.
Mineralogy.—Gold, iron, lead, copperas, pumice stone, saltpetre, mineral salt, magnete, talc, grindstone, red lead, parget, potters’ earth, and abundance of calcareous stone.
Rivers.—The river Parnahiba is formed of three currents of the same name, the origins of which are in the skirts or proximity of the serra which limits the province on the south-west. Its first tributary is the river Balsas, the only one which joins it by the left margin. A short distance below this confluence, the river Urussuhy enters it on the right, and comes from the same serra. Eighty miles lower, the Gurguea is incorporated with it; one hundred miles further it receives the Caninde, and twenty more, the Poty. After one hundred andthirty miles, the mouth of the river Longa is met with, a little lower than which a small arm issues from the Parnahiba to the east, which traverses a large lake called Encantada, and forms an island of about five miles in length, of proportionate width, flat, and in the form of half a circle. Twenty miles further, this river divides itself into two rather unequal currents, and ultimately enters the ocean by six mouths, formed by five islands of various sizes, which are never submerged, and some of them afford pasture for cattle. The eastern branch and the most considerable is denominated Hyguarassu, the next Barravelha, that which follows is called Barra do Meio; the fourth, Barra do Caju; the fifth, Barra das Cannarias, the most western Tutoya, by which the small river of the same name is discharged. Thirty miles is reckoned between the two extreme embouchures. This river, by which barks of considerable burden proceed up to the confluence of the Balsas, affords navigation very nearly to its origin to canoes, which use the sail for eight days, the remainder always the oar and the vara, rendering the voyage long and tedious. This river has no falls, only currents, the largest of which render it necessary to relieve the barks of half their cargoes. Its bed is winding, and generally wide and handsome. Amongst many other fish which it affords the most esteemed are thesorubin,camurupin,piratinga,fidalgo,mandin,pirapemba,piranha, andtrahira.
The river Poty, to which was given the name of the people who inhabited the country through which it flows at its commencement, originates on the western side of the mountain from whence the Jaguaribe before described issues, in the district of St. Joze. After a course of about fifty miles, traversing plains which abound with cattle, and fifteen miles below the arraial of the Piranhas, where there is a hermitage of the Lord Bom Jesus, it opens a narrow passage across the cordillera, forming various interesting cascades. Issuing from thence, it receives by the right margin the considerable stream Macambira, that flows from the Serra Cocos. Thirty-five miles below this confluence, it is united on the left by the small river Marvao; and about the same distance further, it receives by the same side the river St. Victor, which comes from the plains of Lagoa, with more than seventy miles of course, and brings with it the small rivers St. Nicolau and Berlengas. Upwards of seventy miles below this point, it discharges itself into the ocean. Its bed is for the most part wide, and its current tranquil. Canoes advance up some leagues; and upon its margins is cultivated good tobacco.
The river Gurguea issues from a stony part of the skirts of the serra of its name, which is a portion of that before mentioned, where the river Urussuhyhas its origin. After flowing seventy miles north, it gathers on the right the Pirahim, and, continuing in the same direction for one hundred and seventy miles more, it falls into the Parnahiba. Its current is rapid, and almost universally through a flat country, abounding with cattle. It affords navigation only during the winter, has one fall a few leagues above its mouth, and its waters are of a greenish colour.
The river Pirahim originates nine leagues to the east of the preceding, at the base of the same serra, which forms the boundary on the side of Pernambuco, and, after seventy miles of course northward, it traverses the lake Pernagua, and fifty miles lower enters the Parnahiba. It runs almost generally between narrow banks, and with considerable depth through a solid soil.
The Caninde has its source near Serra Dois Irmaos, runs northward, and passes within two miles of Oeyras; and seventy miles further its waters are absorbed by the Parnahiba, after a course of one hundred and eighty miles, through a flat country rich in cattle; it runs at first only as a current during the period of rains. In the angle of its confluence there is an extensive plain, well adapted for the foundation of a town, and within its precincts every branch of agriculture would not fail to flourish.
The Itahim rises near the southern boundary of the province, passes near the serra Vermelha, flowing for a considerable space parallel with the Caninde, which it joins on the right eighteen miles above Oeyras, after having traversed an extensive country abounding with cattle. Its largest confluent is the small river Guaribis, which has a considerable course, and joins it, by the right margin, eight miles above its mouth.
The Piauhy, from which the province derives its name, originates near the boundary, runs north, and enters the Caninde fifty miles below the capital, after a course of one hundred and forty miles, through lands affording pasturage for cattle.
The river Longa rises in the campos of the town of Campo Maior, passing it within eight miles, and taking a northerly direction. Among other small rivers which enlarge it, are the Sorubim, the Maratahoan, running through a bed of amolar stone, and the Piracruca, which comes from the Serra Hibiapaba. It is only considerable during rains, and navigable for the space of twenty miles to the situation of Victoria. Near its margins, which abound with cattle and capibaras, there are many lakes: some are considerable, and have small islands, but the whole are dried up immediately the river begins to be impoverished by drought.
Phytology.—This province has few woods, and those of little extent; but possesses trees of good timber for building. Thecarnahubaandpiassabatrees are very numerous in some districts. Cocoa-nut trees appear only in the vicinity of the sea.Quinaquina, or Jesuits’ bark, is said to grow here. The soil is in parts substantial, and appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, rice, the cane, and tobacco, producing sufficient of all for the consumption of the country. The tobacco upon the margins of the Parnahiba passes in the opinion of many for the best in the Brazil; at least it is dearer, and preferred to the approved quality of Bahia. There are large plantations of the cotton tree, the produce of which furnishes a considerable branch of commerce. Jalap and ipecacuanha are not unknown; as also, among other fruit trees of the plains, theambuzo, thejabuticaba, and themangaba; thejacaand mango trees are rare. The orange and banana trees are not common to all places; but the atta, or pine tree, prospers almost in all parts, and produces fruit in perfection. European fruit trees scarcely appear. The fig and the vine acquire little size and fructify in small quantity.
Zoology.—The abundance and good quality of pasturage which is met with in all the districts, and generally without many portions appropriated to agriculture, has caused the lands, almost in all parts, to be destined for breeding cattle, which are prodigiously numerous, and constitute the main property in the country; and this province may be considered the great mart for the supply of beef to Maranham, Pernambuco, and Bahia, at which places the cattle arrive in much better condition than at Rio de Janeiro. Horses are not bred beyond the wants of the country. Sheep are numerous, and goats much less so; but if the inhabitants were industrious, and well acquainted with cutting and tanning the skins, they would form a considerable branch of commerce. All the wild animals of the neighbouring provinces are well known here; deer are the most numerous. In the short extent of the coast of this province there are no islands, capes, nor points; and the only port is that of the river Hyguarassu, capable of receiving sumacas, which formerly navigated to the town of St. Joao, but at present remain eight miles below it, in consequence of the river diminishing in depth. The entrance, besides, is dangerous.
The towns of this province are the following:—
OeyrasParnahibaMarvaoCampo MaiorVallencaJerumenhaPernagua.
Oeyras, to which King Joseph gave the title of city, with this appellation, in honour of his celebrated secretary, the first count of that name, was denominated until then the town of Mocha, having been so created in the reign of John V. about the year 1718; and, although it has been from this period the capital of the province, it does not yet surpass a small town; but is well enough supplied, and well situated near the right margin of a stream, which, three miles lower, falls into the Caninde. It is two hundred and fifty miles to the south of St. Joam de Parnahiba, and upwards of three hundred to the south-south-east of St. Luiz of Maranham; one hundred and forty in the same direction from Cachias; and between six and seven hundred miles to the west of the town of Pernambuco. The church is dedicated to the Lady of Victory, and it has also the hermitages of Conceiçao and Rozario. The houses are generally of clay and timber, whitened with potters’ earth; and the greater part of its inhabitants are Europeans.
Parnahiba, a middling town, and the principal in the province, is advantageously situated upon a point on the right margin of the eastern branch of the river from which its name is borrowed, in sandy ground, fifteen miles from the sea. It has some houses of one story, which are not seen in any other towns of the province; and the streets are generally unpaved. It is the deposit of a great quantity of cotton and hides, and has a church dedicated to the Lady of Graca. The inhabitants draw their water from the river or from cacimbas, and are frequently attacked with fevers. In 1811, it became the residence of a Juiz de Fora, and a custom-house was at the same time established. Within its district large and excellent melons grow, also water-melons throughout the year.
Campo Maior is a town in a state of mediocrity, well situated upon the margin, and eight miles above the embouchure of the small river Sorubim, of which it formerly had the name. It is thirty miles distant from Parnahiba, near a profound lake, stored with fish and good water. Besides the church dedicated to St. Antonio, it has a hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The small river Maratahoan washes its district, from the bed of which are drawn excellent grindstones. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate cotton and the necessaries of life.
Vallenca, primitively Catinguinha, is a small town, situated upon an insignificant stream, which fifteen miles lower enters the river St. Victor. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of O. Within its district there is saltpetre, and goodpasturage, where many cattle are bred. Twenty-five miles distant is the chapel of the Lady of Conceiçao, and in its environs are cultivated the necessaries of life peculiar to the country.
Marvao, whose first name was Rancho do Prato, is also a small place, situated in a plain twenty miles above the mouth of the small river so called, on the margin of which graze herds of large cattle, constituting the wealth of its dwellers. The Lady of Desterro is the patroness of its church, and within the district there is silver and pumice-stone.
Jerumenha is an insignificant town, upon the margin and fifteen miles above the embouchure of the Gurguea, of which it had originally the name. It has a church dedicated to St. Antonio; and the inhabitants breed cattle and cultivate the common necessaries of life. They are frequently attacked with fevers.
Pernagua is a small town and well situated upon the western margin of a lake fifteen miles in length, near eight in width, deep, well stored with fish, and traversed by the river Pirahim. It has a fine church of stone, dedicated to the Lady of Livramento; having flat environs, small hills only being seen at a distance. The inhabitants, amongst whom are some Europeans, raise cattle and horses; and besides other agricultural productions, the sugar cane, of which is made rapaduras, and an ardent spirit. It is above fifty miles distant from the southern limits of the province, about the same from the river Preto, and above one hundred and thirty miles from the town of St. Francisco das Chagas. In its district there are portions of ground appropriated to the culture of tobacco.
The lake of Pernagua which is reduced to eight miles of length, and four in width, during the dry season, was formed, it is said, by an extraordinary overflowing of the river, since the Portuguese were masters of the country.
The considerable arraial of Piracruca, well situated near the small river of its name, forty miles distant from the mouth of the Longa, has the best church of the province. In its district there are copperas and the real Jesuits’ bark. The inhabitants have large plantations of cotton, mandioca, and sugar; from the latter rum and rapaduras are made.
The aldeia and Indian parish of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante, is in a well selected and fertile district, where any other class of people would ere this have rendered agriculture flourishing, lived in abundance, and have become rich. It is eighteen miles from the mouth of the Caninde, and seventy north of the capital; and was founded about the year 1766, for the habitation of nine hundredGuegues, who occupied the country about the heads of the Parnahiba, and sixteen hundredAcroas, who lived more to the southward. Some time havingelapsed, the whole deserted: they were, however, subsequently re-conquered, and re-established in the same place, which has ever since been going into a state of decay.
The parish of the Lady of Merces, whose first inhabitants were mainly Jahico Indians, lies between the Itahim, and the small river Guaribas. All the parishioners live dispersed, the vicar being the only resident near the church, which is about seventy miles from the capital.
The two last parishes were created a few years ago, and formerly belonged to that of the capital; in whose extensive district there are yet to be remarked the chapel of Our Lady of Humildes, not far removed from the heads of the Caninde; that of St. Ignacio, near the same river, and thirty-five miles from the capital; that of St. Joam, near the origin of the Piauhy; and the Lady of Nazareth, upon the margin of the said river, forty miles from Oeyras; also the Lady of Conceiçao, in the situation of Bocayna, near the small river Guaribas.
The considerable arraial of Poti, advantageously situated near the embouchure of the river which affords it the name, has already some commerce, and might easily become a considerable povoaçao. All the people are within the diocese of the bishop of Maranham, who has a vicar-general at Oeyras. The literary subsidy, as it is denominated, arising from an impost upon cattle in this province, is important enough. But there was not till within this few years a single royal professor, as they are so imposingly styled, in any part of it, for either the primitive letters or Latin; but instead of any knowledge of the classics being diffused amongst the population of the Brazil, by these titled masters, it is altogether unlettered; in fact, I have seen some of those royal preceptors unattended by a single pupil.