CHAP. XXIV.PROVINCE OF SOLIMOES.
Jurisdiction—Origin of its Name—Boundaries and Extent—Partially known—Division into Six Districts—Rivers—Various Indians—Customs—Povoaçoes.
Jurisdiction—Origin of its Name—Boundaries and Extent—Partially known—Division into Six Districts—Rivers—Various Indians—Customs—Povoaçoes.
The province of Solimoes, and the western part of Guianna, with the western portion of Mundrucania, form a government, subordinate to Grand Para. The eastern part of Guianna is immediately under the jurisdiction of Para. The first Portuguese who proceeded up the Amazons, from the mouth of Rio Negro, gave it the name of Solimoes, by which it is yet designated; not in allusion to the venoms with which the Indians of these latitudes, as well as those of the low Amazons, infected their arrows, nor to the tribes inhabiting the banks of Rio Negro, who used the same weapon, but to the nation denominated Soriman, and, by corruption, Solimao and Solimoes.
The province of Solimoes is bounded on the north by the river of the same name, or rather the Amazons; on the west by the Hyabary, which separates it from the Spanish dominions; on the south by the same dominions, the divisionary line between the two territories having been adjusted by the Portuguese and Spanish commissioners in the year 1751, and ratified in 1757; and on the east by the Madeira.
It is two hundred and fifty miles on the eastern side, from north to south, nearly six hundred miles from east to west, and lies between 3° 23′ and 7° 30′ south latitude. It is a country but little known excepting along the Madeira, and in the vicinity of the Amazons: it is occupied by numerous Indian nations, speaking divers idioms, and watered by many large and navigable rivers. It produces all the quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds of the provinces, eastward of the river Madeira; a vast variety of plants and trees known to be of great utility, amongst which are the clove, cupahyba, or capivi, cocoa, elastic gum, puchery, and cotton. It is well known also that the soil is highly adapted to the culture of Indian corn, rice, legumes, the cane, tobacco, mandioco, coffee,bahunilha, or vanilla, inhumes, (growing like potatoes,) potatoes, and a variety of fruits: however, these articles will not prosper equally in all parts. Domestic cattle are universally in small numbers, and their augmentation depends upon the Christian portion of population, which, at present, is very inconsiderable. Nothing satisfactory is known of the mineralogy of the province; but it appears natural that the minerals peculiar to the adjoining provinces should also be found here.
The five following large rivers, Hyutahy, Hyurba, Teffe, Coary, and Puru, which traverse the province from south to north, with the Madeira and Hyabary, divide it into six districts of unequal size, and almost of the same length from north to south: each one takes the name of the river that serves for its western limit. We will describe the above districts according to the following order:—
PuruCoaryTeffeHyurbaHyutahyHyabary.
The principal povoaçoes, or towns, of these districts, four having only one each, another two, and the last three, were founded by the Slippered Carmalites. Condamine, the French writer, says, “Toute la partie découverte des bords de Rio Negro est peuple de missions Portugaises, des mêmes religieux du Mont Carmel que nous avions rencontres en descendant l’Amazone, depuis que nous avions laisse les missions Espagnoles.”
Puru, which lies between the Madeira, and the river from which it derives its name, has been more explored than any of the contiguous districts, and enjoys the best situation for commerce. From its centre various other considerable rivers flow into the three which form its confines. The Capanna and the Uhautas are the largest amongst those which run to the Madeira.
The Capanna empties itself one hundred and forty miles above the town of Borba, after having traversed a considerable lake, which receives divers small streams, and from whence there is also an outlet to the river Puru. Its environs are inhabited by the Catauixi and Itatapriya Indians, who are great hunters and fishers.
The Uhautas, which has a course of fifty miles, discharges itself fifteen miles from Borba, and originates in a lake of the same name, which is vast and studded with islands that are overspread with the clove-tree.
From this lake, which is the receptacle of various small streams, two otherrivers issue and flow to the Amazons; one of them enters it eight miles above the mouth of the Madeira, and the other, called Paratary, one hundred miles further to the west. Eighteen miles below the principal mouth of the Rio Negro is the lake d’El Rey, near the southern margin of the Amazons. The Purupuru Indians, who inhabit the central part of the country, give their chief the name of Maranuxauha.
The margins of the Amazons and the Rio Negro, upwards, are infested with a small musquito, calledpium, whose painful sting leaves a red mark, accompanied with insufferable itching and a disposition to ulcerate. One hundred and sixty miles is about the width of this district on the northern side.
Cratto, yet a small town, but well situated upon the margin of the Madeira, a considerable distance above Borba, has a church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista, and its inhabitants are generally Indians and Mesticoes, who collect some cocoa, cloves, and sarsaparilla, with provisions of the first necessity. They catch great numbers of the tortoise at the beach of Tamandoa, which they keep in an enclosure in the water. It is one of the ports for canoes coming from Matto-Grosso, and many circumstances concur in warranting the prediction that it will become one of the principal towns of Solimoes.
This district extends between the river from which it takes its name and the principal arm of the Puru, with one hundred and twenty miles of width on the northern part. The Muras possess the environs of the Amazons; the Purupurus, and the Catauixis, the centre of the country, with other uncivilized nations. Three channels from the Puru irrigate a portion of the eastern part of this comarca in the proximity of the Amazons;—the Cochiuara which discharges itself twenty-five miles from the mouth of its superior; the Coyuanna, twenty miles above the preceding; and the Arupanna, more to the westward. The first gives also its name to this portion of the district; the margins of the whole afford cocoa, sarsaparilla, and the oil of capivi.
Alvellos, a small town, is situated upon a large bay, fifteen miles above the mouth of the Coary, of which it formerly had the name. Its inhabitants, for the main part descendants of the Uamanys, Sorimoes, Catauyseys, Jumas, Irijus, Cuchiuaras, and Uayupes, collect cloves, cocoa, capivi, and sarsaparilla, and make butter from the eggs of the Tortoise, which are very numerous; and they are also employed in making earthenware, mats, and in weaving cotton cloth. The ants are here particularly destructive.
This town was commenced upon the eastern margin and twenty-five miles above the month of the river Paratary, from whence the Padre, Frey Joze da Magdalena, removed it to the same side of the Guanama, which enters the northern side of the Amazons, below the eastern arm of the Hyapura: from hence the Padre, Frey Antonio de Miranda, removed it to the site of Guarayatyba, more to the eastward upon the margin of the Amazons, eight miles below the Puru, from whence it was finally removed by Frey Mauricio Moreyra to its present situation.
The islands with which the Amazons in this part is studded, were for some time inhabited by Cambeva, otherwise Omagoa Indians—names which signify flat heads, from the custom which the mothers had of compressing their children’s heads between two boards, thus distinguishing them from other nations. This custom ceasing, their descendants are at the present day unknown.
This comarca, situated between the river from which it is named, and the Coary, that separates it from the preceding one, is nearly ninety miles in width along the Amazons. The two first rivers are very considerable; but their origins are not yet ascertained, nor the number and names of their principal confluents, which issue from the centre of the district. All accounts are equally silent as to any mountains existing in the interior, while the lands in the vicinity of the Amazons, although flat, are never inundated by the floods, which overflow a considerable portion of its northern margin, in consequence of being lower.
The Coary discharges itself into a bay of the Amazons, almost seven miles in width, and near it the Urucuparana, and the Urauba, or Cuanu, both of short navigation.
Forty miles above, the river Catua enters the Amazons, and twenty more, westward, the Cayama, its margins abounding with sarsaparilla; and, further on, the small river Giticaparana, a name implying the river of potatoes. Its mouth is fifteen miles below the Teffe. From the number of Christians being so small, and the only persons who clear away any of the woods for the purposes of agriculture, the country exhibits the same aspect to the navigators of the Amazons at this day that was presented to its first discoverers. The majestic size of various kinds of trees demonstrates the fecundity and substantial nature of the soil.
Ega, a middling town, well situated upon the right bank of the Teffe, iseight miles from the Amazons, with a church dedicated to St. Thereza de Jezus. Almost all its inhabitants are pure Indians, descended from the Uayupys, Sorimoes, Coretus, Cocurunas, Jumas, Hyupiuhas, Tamuanas, and Achouaris, and cultivate mandioca,feijao, rice, Indian corn, hortulans, and fruits, in sufficient quantities for their subsistence; they gather honey, and collect some cocoa, cloves, and pechurim, from the proceeds of which they supply themselves with iron tools, baize, and other manufactures for dresses. They all pursue hunting and fishing. The women spin cotton, of which they manufacture nets and coarse cloths. This town was begun in the island of Veados, which is below the mouth of the river Hyurba, from whence Frey Andre da Costa removed it to the situation where it now exists.
This district is confined on the north by the Amazons; on the west by the river from which it derives its name; on the south by the Spanish dominions; and on the east by the river Teffe, which separates it from the comarca of that name. It has eighty miles of width on the northern part, and abounds in timber. The rivers are stored with the same fish as the Amazons, and the woods with a great variety of birds and game, as well as formidable wild beasts, that wage war with the central Indians, of whom little more is known than the names.
Nogueyra, a middling town, pleasantly situated upon the left of the river Teffe, almost in front of Ega, is ten miles from the Amazons and ornamented with a church of Nossa Senhora do Rozario. The houses are intermixed with orange trees, and the streets, being full of them, have the appearance of groves. Its inhabitants are principally Indians of divers nations, and Mesticos, respiring a fresh and salubrious atmosphere. They are fond of fishing, collect abundance of the necessaries of life peculiar to the country, some articles of exportation, and possess cattle. The first site of this town was more to the west, on the southern bank of the Amazons, for the habitation of a numerous assemblage of Indians, namely, Jumas, Ambuas, Cirus, Catauixis, Uayupes, Hyauhauhays, and Mariaranas, brought together by the Carmalite priests. From that situation it was removed to Point Parauary, five miles higher upon the same side of the river, where Condamine found it with the name of that point in 1743, and from whence the priest, Frey Joze de Santa Thereza Ribeyro removed it, in the year 1753, to the place where we have stated it to be situated.
Alvarens, originally and at times yet called Cahissara, is a small town,situated upon a lake, near the margin of the Amazons, eighteen miles above the river Teffe. Its church is dedicated to St. Joaquim. The population is an accumulation of various tribes of Indians, with many Mesticos, who, besides absolute necessaries, cultivate some cocoa and sarsaparilla, but are much incommoded by the pium musquito, and alike annoyed by the voracity of the ants. Its first situation was upon the channel connecting the Hyapura with the lake Amana, two days’ voyage from the Amazons. The Ambuas and Uaruecocas were then its inhabitants; it was removed from thence to its present site, by one Giraldo Gonsalves, in 1758. In Nogueyra there is a creek or outlet, opened by nature, by which canoes, &c. proceed to Alvarens when the rivers are overflowed.
This district is confined by the Amazons on the north; by the river of its name on the west; by the Spanish possessions on the south; and by the district of Hyurba on the east: its width along the Amazons is about sixty miles. The middle and southern parts are not better known than the same portions of the surrounding districts, in consequence of being in the power of various untamed Indian tribes, such as the Marauhas, Catuquinas, Urubus, Cauaxis, Uacarauhas, Gemias, Toquedas, Maturuas, Chibaras, Buges, and Apenaris, with some others, who pass the rivers into the adjoining districts, and use theesgaravatana, bow and arrow, and envenomed lance, when they go to war.
It remains in a state of uncertainty whether the rivers Hyurba, upwards of six hundred yards in width at its mouth, the Hyutahy, still more spacious, and the before-mentioned Teffe and Puru, the largest of all, have their origins in the serras of Peru or issue from the lake of Rogagualo; their sources have been attributed to both, without any exploration of their courses or any satisfactory evidence being adduced in support of those statements. The extensive volume of water which each brings to the Amazons indicates a very considerable course from remote origins. It will be interesting to the future traveller to explore their unknown sources and extending margins. The Portuguese do not carry their researches amongst the central Indians; and, when they advance up the rivers any distance, they never proceed beyond the limits of the pacific Indians, with whom they have some commerce.
Fonteboa, a middling povoaçao, is situated on the eastern margin of the small river Cayarahy, two miles above its mouth, twenty miles from the embouchure of the Hyurba, and thirty-five below that of the Hyutahy. It has a churchdedicated to Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe. The first site of this town was upon the small river Capury, which empties itself into another called Moroentyba, and which latter discharges itself below the Manhana, the third branch of the Hyapura. From the Capury it was removed to the mouth of the Moroentyba, and from thence to the situation of Taracoatyba, a short distance from the Manhana, from whence it was removed seven miles below the mouth of the Hyutahy, where Condamine says he saw it, and which situation was changed for its present one. It is not known what nation were its first inhabitants. When it was in the fourth station—the Padre, Frey Joam St. Jeronymo, collected in it many Pacuna Indians, who were previously living in aldeias upon the eastern margin of the river Icapo: these were afterwards joined by the Araycas, Marauhas, and Momanas, and, ultimately, by the Tacunas, Tumbiras, and Passes. The whole are now agriculturists, fishermen, and hunters.
Between Fonteboa and the Hyurba the Annamapiu is discharged; and, in the interval, between that town and the Hyutahy, five rivers more—the Campina, Gurumaty, Puruini, Mannarua, and Icapo, which afford so many sheltering places for the canoes at the periods of tempests in the Amazons.
This district, which is the most westerly, is confined on the north by the Amazons, as the others are on the west by the river from which it takes its name, separating it from the Spanish dominions; on the south by the line of demarcation between the two countries, common to the other districts; and on the east by the Hyutahy, from whose mouth to that of the Hyabary may be computed one hundred and seventy miles. Both these boundary rivers produce the same fish as the Amazons, and both afford extensive navigation for the exportation of such productions as may be collected upon their respective margins. In the vicinity of both there is sarsaparilla, and also cocoa. Their confluents are totally unknown.
Their extensive woods, which produce in vain, for the benefit of man, the most precious timber, are occupied by the wild boar, anta, deer, and other quadrupeds and bipeds, which are pursued as game by the hitherto savage nations of Marauhas, Uaraycus, and the Tapaxanas, who inhabit the lower part of the country in the vicinity of the Amazons. At a greater distance are the Panos and the Mayurunas, who make a crown upon the top of the head, and allow the hair to grow to the utmost length. They have perforations in the nose and lips, into which they introduce long thorns; in the corners of the mouth they carryfeathers of the macaw; from the lower lip and the extremity of the nose and ears strings of shells are pendant. They are cannibals, and, when any are seriously ill, their relations kill and eat them, before the disease can cut the thread of life. The Chimanos and the Culinos are well known, amongst other tribes, from having the face very round and the eyes extremely large.
Castro d’ Avelaens is inhabited by Indians of different nations, with a church dedicated to St. Christovam, on the margin of the Amazons, twenty miles above the mouth of the Ica. It was first established lower down, between the small rivers Aruty and Matura, in the territory of the Cambevas, and experienced four other changes, similar to the preceding povoaçoes, before it was finally fixed in its present situation. In the interval from this town to the river Hyutahy, the small rivers Capatana, Aruty, Matura, Maturacupa, and the Patia enter the Amazons.
Ollivença,ci-devantSt. Paulo, by which name it is yet occasionally called, is a small place, well situated upon the margin of the Amazons, forty miles above Castro d’Avaleans. It has had several removals, and was incorporated with the aldeia of St. Pedro, about one mile above the place where it now stands. Its first inhabitants were Cambeva, Tecuna, Juri, and Passe Indians. In the interval between Castro d’Avaleans and Ollivença the small rivers Acuruhy and Jandiatiba discharge themselves.
The town of St. Joze, situated upon the Amazons, thirty-five miles from Ollivença and ten below the Hyabary, is occupied by Tacuna Indians, who cultivate the necessaries of life and pursue hunting and fishing. Between this town and Ollivença are the rivers Acuty, Camatia, Pacuty, Macapuana, and Hyuruparitapera, and between the same town and the Hyabary is the lake Maracanatyba.
Near the embouchure of the Hyabary is the prezidio of Tabatinga, dedicated to St. Francisco Xavier. Upwards of sixteen hundred miles are computed by the canoe-men from Para to this place, and they consume eighty-seven days in the voyage.