CHAP. XXII.PROVINCE OF MARANHAM.
First Donatory—Shipwreck of Persons intended for its Colonization—Establishment of the French—Retaken—Foundation of Capital—Taken by the Dutch—Retaken—Agricultural Company—Boundaries—Rivers, Ports, and Islands—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Indians—Povoaçoes—City of Maranham—Commerce—Exports of Produce.
First Donatory—Shipwreck of Persons intended for its Colonization—Establishment of the French—Retaken—Foundation of Capital—Taken by the Dutch—Retaken—Agricultural Company—Boundaries—Rivers, Ports, and Islands—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Indians—Povoaçoes—City of Maranham—Commerce—Exports of Produce.
John III. was more peculiarly attentive to the prosperity and improvement of the Brazil, than any other of the Portuguese sovereigns, with the exception of the present monarch, John VI. whose salutary administration of power in the Transatlantic part of his dominions, may be regarded as the result of those important events in Europe, which led to the removal of the Royal Family to this region, and the consequent introduction of a more liberal intercourse with other nations. But these benefits are but the dawnings of future civilization and improvement.
John III. in pursuance of his good wishes towards the Brazil, determined to partition the coast into capitanias, and that denominated Maranhao, was presented by his Majesty to the historian Joam de Barros. It is probable that this part of the coast had acquired that name from the circumstance of V. Y. Pinson, after his discovery of Cape St. Augustin, having entered a gulf or the mouth of a great river, which was unquestionably the Amazons, and whose waters not possessing the saline qualities of the ocean, he called Mara-non, (not sea.) Hence followed the Portuguese denomination of this territory Maranhao, and Maranham by the English, resulting from the false notion which the Portuguese at first entertained that it was the great river. Its donatory, Joam de Barros, being a man of noble spirit, and determined to do the utmost for the colonization of this important donation, united with his own inadequate means those of the Cavalheiros Fernando Alvarez and Ayres da Cunha. It was unanimously agreed that Ayres da Cunha should be intrusted with the settlementof the colony, which sailed from Lisbon in 1535, consisting of nine hundred persons, including two sons of the donatory, with the important addition of one hundred and thirteen horses.
This armament, comprising ten vessels, and considered the most powerful that had sailed for a long period from the Tagus, was unfortunately wrecked upon the shoals which surround the island of Maranham. Some persons escaped to the island of Medi or Boqueirao at the entrance of the bay; but which not being adapted for the foundation of the colony, they abandoned and returned to Portugal by the first vessel that appeared, excepting one individual, a blacksmith, called Pedro, or Pero, who remained among the Indians, and rendered himself highly important and exceedingly useful to them, in consequence of the variety of instruments he constructed of the iron taken from the fragments of the wreck that were washed upon the beach. A daughter of a cacique, or prince, was bestowed upon him in marriage, by whom he had two sons, both called Pedros, or Peros, from which the Indians thought the Portuguese all had this name, and they usually gave that nation the appellation of Peros.
The severe disappointment which Barros sustained, not only in the loss of his property but of his two sons, by this terrible disaster, deterred him from making any further attempt. And the same monarch gave this territory to Luiz de Mello, and furnished him with three ships and two caravels, that he might the more effectually execute his project, which was to penetrate by the river Amazons as far as the eastern mines of Peru. He was not, however, much less unfortunate than Ayres da Cunha, the whole of the armament being lost near the same place, excepting one caravel that escaped, and with which he returned to Lisbon. These misfortunes attending the vessels that entered even the best anchorage place of this province discouraged all those persons who were capable of colonizing its fertile land, but did not prevent its being visited by other nations.
In the year 1594 M. Rifault, a Frenchman, entered the port of Maranham with three sail, where he left Charles Vaux and a small number of his crew. This weak colony was reinforced in the year 1612 by M. Ravardiere. Two years afterwards Jeronimo d’Albuquerque Coelho was despatched from Pernambuco by order of the governor, Gaspar de Souza, to expel those intruders, over whom, after some attacks, he gained very little advantage, by a capitulation which he entered into with them. Alexandre de Moura, who arrived there the following year with a strong force, proposed, instead of the capitulation,the evacuation of the place by the French, to which their commander, from the weak condition of the colony, was under the necessity of acceding. This event, occurring on the 1st of November, induced Moura to give the name of Todos os Santos to the island, which it did not however long retain.
Jeronimo d’Albuquerque was left here by Alexandre de Moura with the post of captao-mor, and was instructed to found a povoaçao and continue the conquest of this new province on account of the government. He preferred the situation which had been selected by the French, where he commenced the capital, in the increase and defence of which he was occupied till the year 1618, when he died, and was succeeded by his son, Antonio d’Albuquerque, as temporary governor for more than a year, when Domingos da Costa Machado was appointed to this situation. In the beginning of his government Jorge de Lemos arrived there with two hundred families from the Azores, in three vessels, at his own cost.
In 1621 there was a very great mortality amongst the domestic Indians, caused by the small pox. Part of this loss was remedied in the same year by the transmission of forty families, also from the islands of the Azores, by the provedor-mor, Antonio Ferraira Bitancourt, in pursuance of an arrangement made with the crown.
Antonio Moniz Barreiros succeeded to this government in 1622, to whom the senate, in the name of the people, presented a requisition that he would not consent to the establishment of the Jesuits there, as it was thought the introduction of their principles among the Indians would not be favourable to the colonists. He established two sugar works, in accomplishment of the obligation his father, of the same name, was under from being appointed provedor-mor of the treasury at Bahia.
Some time before Barreiros began his government the court of Madrid (in 1621) resolved to form the conquests of Maranham into a new state of the same name, and for its governor was nominated D. Diogo de Carcoma, whose refusal occasioned the appointment of D. Francisco de Moura. This individual not going, Francisco Coelho de Carvalho was elected, who sailed from the Tagus in March, 1624, and disembarked at Pernambuco, where the irruptions of the Dutch detained him nearly two years, so that he did not arrive at the capital of Maranham till 1626, having previously taken possession of the fort of Siara, which then formed a part of this province. In the following year he visited the province of Grand Para and entered the bay of Gurupy, where he establisheda povoaçao, which he called Vera Cruz, and died in the twelfth year of his government.
In 1641, when John IV. again had an ambassador at the Dutch court, which had recognised him as the legitimate sovereign of Portugal, a Dutch vessel arrived at Maranham, under the pretence of having been driven there by a violent tempest, and requested that assistance which in such cases is customary for friendly nations to afford to each other. The credulous friendship of the governor was taken advantage of by the Dutch, who suddenly possessed themselves of the capital, and with facility subjugated the rest of the province; from whence, however, they were expelled by the Portuguese in 1643.
All the governors of this province had not the titles of captains-general of the state; occasionally Grand Para enjoyed this pre-eminence. All proceedings that admitted of appeal after the sentence of the magistrates, in all the provinces, were always referred to the court, and their bishops immediately upon creation became suffragans of the metropolitan of Lisbon.
The subjection of the Portuguese nation to a foreign sceptre, the pretensions of the Dutch to the Brazil, afterwards the prolonged war preceding the reversion of the crown, and, finally, the alleged long existing destructive abuses of the Braganza family, are adduced as plausible reasons for the unflourishing state of the Brazil for nearly a century and a half.
With the change of hemisphere the first colonists are also said to have changed their customs, entering into the pursuits of agriculture with no spirit, alike regarding improvement and instruction with indifference, and preferring the idiom of the barbarous Tupinambas to their own. The various Jesuitical missionaries, however, made great progress in the conversion of the Indians, and in which they would have been more successful had not the colonists degenerated so much and relaxed in their obedience to the laws. The Portuguese language began to be generally used in the year 1755, and at this epoch agriculture assumed a more flourishing aspect, in consequence of the creation of a public company, which included the province of Para. Its capital amounted to one million two hundred thousand crusades, which was raised by twelve hundred shares; the possession of ten shares rendered each individual eligible to the administration of the affairs of the company, which was decried by some as introductory of ignorance and a system of destruction.
This province is bounded on the north by the ocean, on the west by the province of Para, on the south by those of Goyaz and Piauhy, and on the east by thelatter. It is of a triangular form, extending nearly four hundred miles from north to south on its western side, and about three hundred and fifty miles from west to east along the coast, lying between 1° and 7½° south latitude. Its vicinity to the equator renders the climate hot. The thunderstorms introduce the winter season, which begin in the southern districts about the month of October, where the longest day is twelve hours and a half. In the northern part of the province there is scarcely any difference between the day and night all the year. The country is mostly uneven, but without any mountains of considerable elevation. It has large and numerous rivers, and is mainly covered with woods, affording a variety and abundance of excellent timber.
Rivers, Ports, and Islands.—About two miles within the bar of the channel of Tutoya, (the western branch of the river Parnahyba and the eastern limits of this province,) the river of the same name is discharged, after a short course, being only of note as far as the tide ascends. In front of its mouth is a small island, which forms an anchorage place.
Fifteen miles to the west of Tutoya bar is the Perguicas, which is large, and affords good anchorage for small vessels within the eastern point. Following a handsome beach of white sand for about thirty miles, denominated the Lancoes, and at its termination another of about twelve miles, covered with mangroves, is the river Marim, which flows through a fertile soil and is discharged by three mouths. Passing the western mouth of this river the coast changes its direction to the south-west, and forms a gulf or bay of about thirty-five miles in extent, in which is situated the island of Maranham, (twenty miles long from north-east to south-west, and fifteen at its greatest width,) forming, with the continent, two bays, one to the east, called St. Joze, and the other to the west, St. Marcos, each about six miles in width, communicating by a narrow strait, denominated the river Mosquito, fifteen miles long, and separating the island from the continent: this island, almost covered with woods, has some eminences and fifteen perennial streams.
Seven miles beyond the Marim the Perea discharges itself, and is navigable for a considerable distance. Almost in front of it is an island of the same name, near to which is another, called Raza, and not far distant that of St. Anna. The river Moconandiva follows, and after it the Mamuna, which is discharged by two mouths, the western one being called Aragatuba; the interval between it and the Perea, about twelve miles, is an archipelago. Twenty-eight miles further is discharged the large river Mony, which originates about twenty-fivemiles from the margin of the Parnahyba, and six miles above its mouth receives the Iguara, which waters a country where the necessaries of life are only partially cultivated. Three miles west of the Mony is the vast embouchure of the large river Itapicuru, being the most considerable of the province. It originates in the district of Balsas, the most southern portion of Maranham, where it already assumes the appearance of a large river, running north-east to Cachias, one hundred miles above which it receives on the left the Alpercatas, of equal size, and which comes from the territory of the Tymbyra Indians, whither it affords navigation to canoes. In Cachias it changes its direction to the north-west, and passes by two parishes of the same name, where the tide and the navigation of large barks with the sail terminate. Its current is rapid and the course winding, generally through extensive woods. The fishermen who use the line about the heads of this river, occasionally catch a species of small eel whose electric powers are greater than thetorpedo, conveying its influence up the line and rod, and benumbing the arm, so that it cannot be moved; this electrical effect is attributed to a stone the fish has in its head, and which is much esteemed by the superstitious, who attach many virtues to it. Humboldt tried many interesting experiments with this fish, whose electric fire is exhausted after many discharges; amongst other trials of its power were the driving horses into a pond and compelling them to withstand the gradually decreasing shocks of a great many of them. The two last rivers enter the bay of St. Joze.
About twenty miles further west, at the bottom of the bay of St. Marcos and the same distance south-west of the capital is the mouth of the large river Meary, or Mearim, sometimes called Maranham, which originates also in the southern part of the province, describing numerous windings, and increasing by the addition of various streams, among which is the Grajehu. Its bed is deep and wide, and the current so rapid that it suspends the progress of the tide for a considerable period, and produces by this opposition an extraordinary agitation of the waters, which is calledPororocas; when the tide has vanquished its opponent it flows up for three hours with astonishing rapidity. This phenomenon occupies a space of nearly fifteen miles, occasioning a loud noise, and there are situations, calledesperas, where canoes wait until the tide re-advances, and then continue their voyage without danger. This large river, which has the least depth at its extended mouth where vessels can only enter with the tide, affords navigation to the centre of the province, where a large fall interrupts it. It traverses the territories of the Gamella Indians and other barbarous nations. In the vicinity of the sea it flows through fine campinhasof fertile land, where cattle are raised, a diversity of the necessaries of life, and cotton. One of its principal and last confluents is the Pinnare, up which small craft proceed to the town of Vianna. The coast beyond the Mearim inclines to the north, forming a bay ten miles in extent, about fifteen miles beyond which is the bay of Cuma, nine miles long and three wide, open to the east, and receiving the river Piracunan.
Twenty miles further is the bay called Cabello da Velha, six miles wide, nearly of equal length, and receiving the river Cururupu. Its entrance is between two small islands surrounded with dangerous shoals. In the proximity of the shore, half way between the two last bays, is a file of five islands, thickly covered with woods; the largest is about four miles in length. About twenty miles further, the coast being bordered by the same number of islands, is the embouchure of the Turynana, which has an extensive course and here affords good anchorage for small vessels. In front of this is the island of St. Joam, the most westerly of those alluded to; it is ten miles long from north-east to south-west, flat, covered with woods, and occupied by birds and wild quadrupeds. A profound channel, three miles in width, separates it from the continent; near its north-eastern point there is safe anchorage.
Further westward is the vast bay of Turyvassu, the limits of the province on the side of Para. It receives a river of the same name, after flowing a great distance through extensive woods. The Indians, who, under various appellations had the dominion of the island of Maranham and the adjoining continent, were Tupinambas, and divided into small tribes.
Mineralogy.—Calcareous stone, copperas, alum, iron, lead, and silver, antimony, amianthus, saltpetre, mineral salt, crystals, grindstone, and quarries or rocks of granite.
Phytology.—The Asiatic cocoa-nut tree grows sparingly, and only along the coast. The pine is common, and fructifies in perfection. From the fruit of themamonais extracted almost all the oil which is used for lights. Here are trees of gum copal, storax, mastick, bensoin, dragons’ blood, the oil of cupahyba, or capivi, thearariba, from whose bark is extracted a beautiful crimson colour, thebarbatimoe, cajue-nutambuzo, cocoa,jabuticaba,mangaba,aracaza,babonilha,butua, ginger, jalap, ipecacuanha, and the palm. The cane prospers in many situations, but its culture has been supplanted by that of cotton, which constitutes the main article of exportation, and the principal wealth of the country. Amongst resinous trees is also thesucuba, the gum of which passes for the ammoniac of the Levant. The deity who presides over grain, the lifesustainingCeres, has here but little influence, and rice only is cultivated, but to a very great extent; the soil is equally well adapted to the produce of Indian corn. The irregularity of the seasons does not permit the cultivation of wheat, rye, or barley. Water-melons, melons, and pine-apples are excellent. The indigenous banana tree produces fruit in immense profusion and of the best quality.
Zoology.—Cattle, sheep, and goats multiply here better than in the countries from which they were imported, but do not improve in size nor in the flavour of their meat, neither are they very numerous, with the exception of the first. Mules are bred here, also hogs, equal to the consumption of the country. All the species of wild animals are met with, peculiar to the eastern provinces. Themocois numerous in all parts. The birds of the plains, woods, and lakes, known in the other districts, are common here; and the handsomeguaraabound in the proximity of the sea. There is in this part of South America a particular species of silk worm, more prolific than the ordinary kinds of Bombay or Persia. The colour of the silk is a dark yellow, and might be rendered a considerable branch of commerce, in consequence of the facility which would attend its abundant cultivation, if any adequate attention was afforded to it. The insect receives its nourishment from leaves of the orange and the pine tree, oratta, which is common in its native country.
All the territory lying between the rivers Itapicuru and the Parnahyba has been for many years evacuated by the Indians, as well as the northern part of that to the west of the first river, and is more or less inhabited by whites, and Christianized Indians, mainly occupied in the cultivation of mandioca, Indian corn, and legumes, and above all in the two vegetable articles of exportation, rice and cotton, almost all the labour being performed by the hands of negroes, who exceed by many times the number of the others. Families live for the most part dispersed. A certain proportion of land, where each cultivator dwells, generally with all his family and slaves, is of itself considered an aldeia. There are few aldeias compared with the extent of the province, having any considerable number of families, with the exception of those which have been created parishes, many comprising sixty miles or more of district. Excellent nets used for sleeping, and some coarse cottons, made into dresses, generally for slaves, are manufactured here.
The southern portion of the western district of this province is still in the possession of the Indians, as well as a great extent of the central part. The most northern tribe, bordering upon the Portuguese, are called by them theGamellas,in consequence of their prevailing custom of perforating and distending the under lip, with a sort of calabash, or round piece of wood, which produces some resemblance to a small gamella, or wooden bowl. They cultivate various necessaries of life, and live in cabanas, when they are not out upon their hunting excursions, or gathering wild fruits. Their arms are the bow and arrow, and a club of hard wood, denominated amataranna, cornered at the thicker end and pointed at the other.
The Timbyras occupy the country to the south of them, and are divided into two hordes, one denominated Timbyras da Matta, (of the wood,) from living in the interior of forests; the other, Timbyras de Canella Fina, from the delicate form of their legs. They rove in the desert plains, and are of such amazing velocity, that they equal the swiftness of the horse. All use a bow made of a species of small club, and another large one of violet wood, and flat. Those of the woods have in their territory a large lake, and mines of salt, which they use, and cultivate mandioca and other necessaries, also some cotton, of which they make their hammocks. They distil various beverages, more or less inebriating, which last only for a short time, arising as much from the quality as the excess with which they use them. From the period they begin to drink them, till they are finished, are days of folly, dedicated to tumultuous dancing and dissension.
Proceeding southward, the Manajos are met with, who are of a white complexion, and occupy a country to the west of Balsas, extending themselves to the margin of the Tucantins, where they receive the name of Temembos. In their vicinity dwell the Bus and Cupinharos. The territory bounding this province and Para is inhabited by the Gê Indians, who are divided into five tribes, distinguished by the appellations of Auge, Crange, Cannacatage, Poncatage, and Paycoge, and almost without any difference of language or customs.
The towns of this province are—
AlcantaraGuimarensSt. Joam de CortesViannaMoncaoHycatuCachiasTuryVinhaesPasso do LumiarMaranham.
Alcantara, about ten miles north-west of the capital is a large town, with good houses, and agreeably situated upon elevated ground, having four hermitages, a convent of slippered Carmalites, another of Mercenaries, and a fort,seated upon the site where a Jesuitical hospicio existed. It was for some time the capital of the capitania of Cuma, which terminated in the bay of Turyvassu, and its port is capable of receiving sumacas. The cotton raised in its district is esteemed the best of the province. This article and rice constitute the principal productions of the inhabitants. The salterns, three miles north of it, are capable of furnishing excellent salt to many provinces, if they were administered, as in the time of the Jesuits, to whom they belonged.
Guimarens is a flourishing town, situated upon the northern side of the bay of Cuma, thirty miles north-north-west of Alcantara, with a church of St. Joze. From its port are exported cotton, rice, and a considerable quantity of farinha.
St. Joam de Cortes is a small and insignificant town, eighteen miles south of Guimarens, on the southern margin of the bay of Cuma, producing farinha, with some cotton and rice.
Vianna is a middling town, and well situated upon the margin of the Maracu, a branch of the Pinnare, in the vicinity of a large lake, about one hundred miles from the capital. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Conceiçao; and its inhabitants raise cotton, mandioca, and other necessaries of life common to the country. They breed cattle and collect timber. In its district there is one of the best sugar works of the province, and formerly belonging to the Jesuits.
Moncao, eighteen miles south of Vianna, is a small Indian town, with a church, upon the banks of the Pinnare. Its inhabitants raise the provisions of life, some cotton, and follow fishing and hunting.
Hycatu, (good water,) an ancient town, and formerly considerable and flourishing, is situated near the confluence of the Hyguara with the Mony, and has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao. It was the first residence of the governors of the province, and conceded many privileges to its senate. An excellent quality of cotton constitutes the chief production of its inhabitants.
Cachias, a considerable and flourishing town upon the eastern margin of the Itapicuru, is two hundred miles south-east of the capital, and nearly the same distance north-north-west of Oeyras. It has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and a hermitage of Razario; Aldeias Altas was its primitive name. A Juiz de Fora has presided over its senate since the year 1809. The propensity to gambling amongst its inhabitants has occasioned the ruin of many merchants of the capital. Within its extensive district a very great quantity of cotton and rice is grown, for whose transmission to the parish of Rozario barks of considerable burden are constructed for navigating in shoal water.
Upon the other side of the river is the parish of Trezidellas, whose parishioners are descended from the Aborigines. They have a church of Our Lady of Razario.
One hundred miles above Cachias, and upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the small arraial of Principe Regente, commenced in June, 1807. The fertility of its surrounding country and the advantage arising from canoes of considerable burden being able to navigate hither augur favourably for the future prosperity of this new colony, where a hermitage already exists.
In the district of Balsas is the parish of St. Felis, whose inhabitants are farmers of cotton and common necessaries.
Thirty miles south-south-west of Principe Regente is the arraial of St. Bento Pastos Bons, situated amongst small hills, ten miles from the Parnahyba, and twenty-eight from the Itapicuru. Cattle and cotton constitute the main property of its inhabitants.
Three miles north of Pastos Bons is the aldeia of St. Antonio, whose dwellers are a tribe of Christianized Manago Indians, who live by hunting, and some agriculture.
Thirty-five miles from the sea, upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the parish of Rozario, better known by the name of Itapicuru Grande, whose inhabitants raise cattle and a considerable quantity of rice. Here large canoes arrive from the capital, and are laden with the productions of this district, and those that descend from the High Itapicuru and Balsas.
Twenty-eight miles further, and upon the margin of the same river, is the considerable povoaçao of Itapicuru Mirim, with a church of Our Lady of Griefs, its inhabitants producing large quantities of cotton, and the necessaries of life. Between the two preceding parishes is that of Lapa, in the site of St. Miguel.
Upon the margin of the Mearim, fifty miles from the sea, is the parish of N. Senhora of Nazareth, whose inhabitants raise cattle, cotton, rice, &c. without gaining much wealth.
Tury is a villota, or small town, with only the appearance of an aldeia, but which may become more considerable from its situation upon the large bay of the same name, and the fertility of its adjacent territory, particularly after the pacification of the central Indians. The church is dedicated to St. Francisco Xavier.
Near the mouth of the Tutoya, in an advantageous situation, is the parish of Conceiçao, well supplied with fish and the necessaries of life, having a portcapable of receiving sumacas, and possessing greater depth than any other of the Parnahyba.
Considerably to the southward, and two miles from the Parnahyba, is the parish of St. Bernardo d’ Annapuru, cotton being the production of its diversified population.
Vinhaes is a small town, three miles to the east of the capital, situated in the same island, upon a stream of its name, with a church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista. The houses are constructed of wood, and covered with straw, and its inhabitants are Indians, who fish, and cultivate various necessaries of life; they also make mats of miassava for trimming ships and cords of imbe.
Passo do Lumiar is the most populous town of Indians in the whole province, and is in the centre of the island, upon the river St. Joam. The church is of stone, dedicated to Our Lady of Luz, and its inhabitants are of divers nations, cultivating excellent tobacco, rice, mandioca, &c.; they are also woodcutters and fishermen.
In the eastern extremity of the island there is a considerable aldeia, pleasantly situated, with a hermitage of St. Joze, from which the bay already mentioned takes the name.
This island is of medium altitude, the soil in general fertile, and appropriated to different branches of agriculture.
Maranham, or St. Luiz, the capital of the province, is a city advanced to rather more than a state of mediocrity, having about thirty thousand inhabitants; and, although it may be said to rank the lowest among four great commercial cities of the Brazil, yet its amount of commerce is not far short of Pernambuco, and it certainly has maintained a progression of improvement with the latter city, as well as Bahia, since the removal of the Royal Family to this region. It is situated upon the western part of the island of the same name, between the mouth of two streams, rendered important rivers by the addition of the tide, which advances nearly to their origins, and swells them considerably. The one north of the city is called the St. Francisco, as far as the confluence of the Anil with that of Vinhaes, neither of which are more than six miles in extent. The other, on the south, denominated the Maranham, is a handsome current, and receives by its northern margin the Baccanga.
This town was created a bishopric in the year 1676, and is ornamented with a house of Misericordia, convents of slippered Carmelites, of Mercenarios, and of Franciscans; a recolhimento for women, and a hospital. The ci-devant Jesuitical college is converted into the episcopal palace, and its church into thecathedral. The houses have verandas and do not differ from the general style of Portuguese buildings. The streets are paved, and disagreeably crowded with slaves, producing the same ungracious feelings in this respect as are peculiar to all towns of the Brazil. It is divided into two parishes, one of them being attached to the cathedral dedicated to Nossa Senhora of Victoria, and the other to Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao. It has a court of Relacam, which Pernambuco does not yet possess, created in the year 1812, and having a jurisdiction over an extensive district, comprehending not only the comarcas of Maranham, Piauhy, Para, and Rio Negro, but also of Siara, as well as all the other comarcas and judicatures, which, in the provinces referred to, may be createdde novo. The members of this Relacam are composed of the governor, the chancellor, and at most of nine dezembargadors, which latter is a title given to those eligible to or holding posts of judicature, ouvidorships, &c. Here is also a tribunal of the Real Fazenda, a Port Admiral, and Royal Professors of the Primitive Letters, Latin, Rhetorick, and Philosophy, similar in their import and effect to those of other places. It is scarcely necessary to observe, after the description of the province, that cotton and rice are the principal exportations from this city. Its cotton has required the repute of being next in quality to that of Pernambuco, and obtains in the British market a price within 1½d per lb. of that cotton, and 1d. per lb. above that of Bahia. The export of cotton from Maranham, the year after the arrival of the Royal Family in the Brazil, was upwards of seventy thousand bags; it fell the two following years to fifty thousand, and the next year to forty thousand, but rose again to sixty thousand in the year 1813, from which period to 1817 its average may be estimated at sixty thousand bags. The following is a correct statement of the exports in 1818 and 1819.
For the year 1818.
Total value, 3,783,020 941, at 5s. the Milrea, is £945,755 4s. 2d. sterling; one-third deducted will be about the present value.
For the year 1819.
It appears to be uncertain whether this city or Pernambuco will in future take the lead in the exportation of cotton. Two-thirds of this article from Maranham is sent principally to the port of Liverpool, from whence the greatest portion of manufactured goods for the consumption of the province are shipped,and our merchants labour under the same disadvantage here as at Bahia and Pernambuco, in having no alternative but taking produce for the whole of their importations, which necessarily keeps up the price much above the proportionable par of the British market. There is a singular coincidence in the commercial intercourse of the two countries, relative to cotton. Nearly the amount of the annual Brazilian exports to England of this article is returned to that country in a manufactured state in the course of the following year; and, notwithstanding all the ingenuity of machinery, talent, and superior intelligence brought into the scale on the part of the British manufacturer and merchant, the Brazilians have decidedly the advantage over them in the progression of continued gain and enrichment. The illiterate and uncultivated planter derives his wealth from the refined state of British manufactures and commerce, while their votaries have for sometime, and are yet sustaining serious injury by this portion at least of their transatlantic intercourse.
It is probable that the exports from this city, as well as Pernambuco, may be lessened so far as regards the Fora cottons, or those coming from the adjoining provinces, which are acquiring by degrees a direct intercourse with Europe, and not as hitherto through the medium of those ports. In the provinces where establishments are forming, the governors are desirous of concentrating the whole of its productions through the medium of the head town, in order to increase the revenues of their jurisdictions. It may be observed again, that it is English establishments branching from this city and Pernambuco principally that afford these advantages to the rising provinces of Para, Parahiba, Rio Grande de Norte, and Siara.
This city is well supplied with fish, water, meat, and fine fruits. Three fortifications defend its port, which is diminishing in depth of water. The tide rises here twenty-eight palms, but there is considerable intricacy, attended with danger, in vessels approaching the anchorage place. Amongst the English merchants established here, the Consul ranks as one. There is an English hospital amply provided with means from the contribution fund. The governors of the provinces are usually changed every three years. General Silveira is here the present governor.
A provisional constitutional government was formed here in April, 1821, to continue in force till the basis of the Portuguese constitution should be fixed. The popular feeling was in favour of a government to consist of five or six members; but, after some contention, the first was adopted, General Silveira declining to remain at the head of the council upon any other condition.