AbrantesAguafriaItapicuruPombalSoyreMirandellaAbbadiaInhambupeVilla do CondeSt. FranciscoSanto AmaroMaragogypeCachoeiraJaguarypeJoam AmaroPedra BrancaSt. Salvador, or Bahia.
Abrantes, situated a mile from the left margin of the Joannes, three from the sea, and twenty north-east of the capital, is a small town, with a church of Espirito Santo. The inhabitants, chiefly Indians, for whose ancestors it was founded, are cultivators of mandioca and other necessaries of life, and follow their ancient habits of hunting and fishing.
Aguafria, a small town, ninety miles north of Bahia, has its church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista. Within its district are various hermitages; and tobacco, mandioca, the cane, and cattle are raised.
Itapicuru, a small town, seventy-five miles from the coast, and within a mile of the left bank of the Itapicuru, has a church of Our Lady of Nazareth. Cattle forms the only wealth of its inhabitants; and the river not being navigable, added to the sterility of the land, there is no probability of its augmentation.
Itapicuru Grande is a considerable and flourishing arraial, with a church of Our Lady of Rozario, situated upon the right bank, and thirty-five miles above the mouth of the river of the same name. Cattle and cotton are its only branches of commerce.
Pombal, originally Cannabraba, and founded by the Jesuits for the habitation of Christianized Indians, is eighteen miles from the river Itapicuru, in a district adapted to a diversity of productions. Santa Thereza is the patroness of its church.
Soyre, formerly Natuba, is eight miles from the right bank of the Itapicuru, and thirty west of the town of that name. It has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and the inhabitants, composed of whites and Indians, cultivate the necessaries of life and cotton.
Further into the interior is the considerable arraial of St. Antonio das Queimadas,situated along the margin of the Itapicuru, with a chapel of the same name. Its inhabitants are breeders of cattle.
Tucano, a parish and julgado, with a church of St. Anna, is eight miles from the river Itapicuru.
Mirandella, formerly called Saccodos Morcegos, is eighteen miles from Pombal, and has a church dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord. Its inhabitants produce a sufficiency of the necessaries of life.
Abbadia, a middling town upon the margin of the Ariquitiba, the last tributary of the Rio Real, is eighteen miles distant from the sea, has a good port where sumacas arrive, that export sugar, cotton, tobacco, and much farinha. The inhabitants are whites and Indians.
Inhambupe is forty miles above the embouchure, and a short way from the right margin of the river of that name, with a church of Espirito Santo upon a steep, having an extensive view; within its precincts there is a chapel of St. Antonio, and two of Our Lady, with the titles of Conceiçao, and Prazeres. Its inhabitants exhibit a great diversity of complexion, and cultivate a very considerable quantity of good tobacco, and the provisions of life.
Villa do Conde, situated at the mouth of the river Inhambupe, has a church of Our Lady of the Mount. The inhabitants, consisting of all colours, cultivate mandioca, &c. with some sugar. Tobacco is the principal production; and fishing is here a general pursuit.
St. Francisco is one of the most ancient towns of the province, although yet small, with many edifices of stone, and has a church of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante, also a convent of Franciscans. It is about thirty miles north-west of Bahia, near the mouth of the river Serigy, in a gently rising situation, enjoying an extensive view of the sea. The inhabitants are much incommoded by musquitos, and its vast district has many sugar works, with extensive plantations of cane, to which the soil is propitious.
Santo Amaro, a large and flourishing town, situated along the right bank of the river Serigy, twelve miles above its embouchure, two below the mouth of the Subahe, and forty north-west of Bahia, has a church of Our Lady of Purificaçao, a hermitage of St. Braz, another of St. Gonçalo, four of Our Lady, namely, Amparo, Conceiçao, Rozario, and Humildes; good buildings, and a great number of alembics. The streets are principally paved, and there is a wooden bridge over the river. It is surrounded by small hills. The senate is presided by a Juiz de Fora, whose jurisdiction extends to the town of St. Francisco. For the instruction of youth, there are masters of the primitive lettersand Latin, with royal honours. The tide does not ascend higher than the town, and the port is at its commencement, from whence are exported large quantities of sugar, tobacco, spirits, and some cotton. Its district has many sugar works. The communication from hence with Bahia is short and easy, and the same tide which conveys barks from St. Amaro, will often conduct them to the capital.
Eight miles to the north-north-west is the parish of St. Gonçalo dos Campos, whose inhabitants are generally cultivators of the tobacco plant.
Maragogype, a considerable town, and advantageously situated near the left margin of the Guahy, a mile above its confluence with the Paraguassu, is ornamented, with a church of St. Bartholomew and four chapels dedicated to Our Lady, with the titles of Nazareth, Mares, Lapa do Saboeiro, and Lapa do Monte. It has royal professors of the primitive letters and Latin, a Juiz de Fora, a fountain of good water, tolerable houses, is encircled with hills and exports farinha, sugar, and tobacco. In the vicinity of this town there is armenian bole, and antimony.
The river Guahy, which brings the waters of the Capanema, is navigable for the space of ten miles.
The Paraguassu at this place is near two in width, and from it a branch runs north-east to the centre of the celebrated valley of Iguape, which is about five miles long, and of varied width; it is covered with plantations of the sugar-cane, for the growth of which it is deemed the best land that is known, being what is termedmassapé, or a black and strong soil, which is, unquestionably, the most congenial to the cane. There are nearly twenty sugar-works within its narrow precincts, the proprietors of which are parishioners of Santiago, the church of which is a short way from the left bank of the Paraguassu, upon whose margin, not far distant, is also a convent, and novitiate-house of Franciscans.
Cachoeira, a flourishing and commercial town, is divided into two parts by the river Paraguassu; the largest, which is along the left or eastern bank, has the church of Our Lady of Rozario, a convent of slippered Carmelites, with a Terceira order subordinate to them, a chapel of Our Lady of Conceiçao, another of St. Pedro, a hospital of St. Joam de Deos, a fountain, and three small bridges of stone over two small rivers, the Pitanga, and Caquende, or Falleira, each of which has its sugar-works, but neither have a course of three miles. The municipal house is situated in the portion of the town, which has nearly ten thousand inhabitants. The western part, upon the right bank of the river, is traversed by two brooks, and has two churches, the one dedicated toMenino Deos, the other to St. Feliz, from which latter it takes the name, and contains about two thousand inhabitants. Both portions are increasing; their edifices are of stone, and the streets paved. Here is collected and embarked the greatest portion of tobacco and cotton that is exported from the capital. It has a Juiz de Fora, and royal masters of the description so often mentioned, in which appointments there is not much advantage beyond the sound. The main part of its inhabitants are much incommoded at the period of the highest floods. The tide advances nearly two miles above the town, at whose extremity the river, eighty fathoms wide, with a wooden bridge over it, begins to have reefs, which form currents of little depth, and impede navigation. It is fifteen miles above Maragogipe, and something more to the west-south-west of St. Amaro. About two miles to the east of this town was found a piece of native copper, which weighed one thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds, and is now in the royal museum, at Lisbon.
Three miles to the north-north-east of Cachoeira is the aldeia of Belem, so called from a chapel, which is the remains of a seminary there established by the Jesuits. Five miles to the south-west of the same town is the arraial and parish of Murityba, in an agreeable though flat situation, refreshed with salubrious air, and possessing good water. The soil is fertile, and well adapted to the tobacco plant, coffee, orange, and jaca trees, which are abundant. It was formerly a flourishing povoaçao. Besides the church, dedicated to the Chief of the Apostles, there is another of Our Lady of Rozario, both of stone: the houses are built of a sun-dried brick.
Thejarrinha, or basil root, is very common, and indigo, known here only by the name oflingua de gallinha, (the tongue of a fowl,) grows spontaneously amongst other wild plants to the height of two feet. All the inhabitants of this parish are tobacco planters.
Eighteen miles to the west of Murityba is the serra of Apora, a mountain of considerable elevation, more than twelve miles in circuit, and near the road of the certam: in its vicinity is a hermitage of St. Joze. Fifteen miles to the westward is the small arraial of Ginipapo, with a chapel of stone dedicated to St. Joze, upon the border of the same road. A lake supplies water to all the living creatures of its district.
Jaguaripe is a middling town, pleasantly situated upon the right, and seven miles above the mouth of the river of its name, and two miles above the confluence of the Cahype, which passes it at a short distance to the southward. It has a church of the Lady of Ajuda, houses of earth, streets paved with bricks,royal masters, and a Juiz de Fora, who is the same individual holding that situation at Maragogipe. The inhabitants are generally manufacturers of earthenware.
Fifteen miles above the Jaguaripe, along the left margin of the same river, is the large and flourishing parish of Our Lady of Nazareth. Large barks arrive here with the tide, and export farinha and other necessaries to the capital. The margins of the Jaguaripe in all this interval, have potteries for earthenware, which constitutes a considerable branch of commerce.
Joam Amaro, called a town, does not surpass a small aldeia, with houses of wood covered with straw, but well situated near the margin of the Paraguassu, upon the road to the interior, about one hundred and forty miles to the west of Murityba. It has a chapel of St. Antonio, built of stone, and covered with tiles, which served as a mother church to the first inhabitants, whilst the fevers did not compel them to retire. Peter II. (then Regent,) gave to the Paulista, Joam Amaro, licence to found it, together with the senhorio, or lordship, as a premium for having conquered the neighbouring Indians, who at that time had descended to the coast, and destroyed the crops of the inhabitants of Cayru.
The town of Pedra Branca is an Indian aldeia, situated in a flat portion of territory, upon the serra of the same name, and is eighteen miles west-south-west of the arraial of Ginipapo. The houses are of wood, covered with palms, and the church, dedicated to the Lady of Nazareth, is built ofadobe, and roofed with tiles. The origin of it was about the year 1740, for the habitation of two tribes of Indians, one of them being Cayrirys. It is surrounded with large woods. Ants, many of a very large size, are numerous, and do much injury.
St. Salvador, better known by the name ofBahia, situated upon the eastern side, and near to the entrance of the bay, (or Bahia de Todos os Santos,[28]) is an archiepiscopal city, and the largest, most commercial, and flourishing in the Brazil, (now excepting Rio de Janeiro,) and is celebrated for having been for more than two centuries the residence of the governors general of this state; but the government, with the title of a vice-royalty, was transferred to the governors of Rio de Janeiro in the year 1763. This city is the grand emporium of all the produce of its partially populated comarcas,already described, as well as the medium through which a portion of the productions of the circumjacent provinces are exported. Its situation, embracing all the commercial advantages of its rival port of Rio de Janeiro, will enable it, in the desirable march of improvement and civilization, of which this great country is yet so susceptible, to preserve its rank, at least of the second city in the Brazil.
It is nearly four miles long from north to south, including the suburb of Victoria in the southern extremity, and that of Bom Fim in the northern, and divided into two unequal parts, high and low; the higher and larger one situated upon an agreeable eminence, and the other at its western base, both without any regularity. The latter is denominated the Praya, in consequence of extending along the beach, and has not more than one street nearly the whole of its length, almost in the central part of which there are five that do not exceed two hundred and fifty paces in extent. Here is the seat of commerce, containing the stores of the merchants, and many capacious warehouses, denominatedtrapiches, for the reception of sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other exports; also a general deposit for farinha, grain, and legumes, calledtulhas, where they are distributed to the people.
The lower town is divided into two parishes, the churches of which are both dedicated to Nossa Senhora, with the titles of Pilar and Conceiçao. The latter is a fine edifice with its front of European stone, and is richly decorated within. Near to it is the dock-yard and the marine arsenal.
The Cidade Alta, or High City, stands on elevated and uneven ground, the approaches to it, from the lower part, being exceedingly steep. The situation is commanding. The valleys andhortas, or country houses, in its vicinity, as well as the various trees of eternal verdure, give animation to the native beauty of its surrounding scenery. The houses are built with latticed windows and balconies. Sedans, of various forms, with canopies and embroidered curtains, are very numerous and convenient in ascending the steep streets, but attended with great labour to the slaves. These chairs are considered the most elegant in the Brazil. A better quality of meat is met with here than at Rio; and the fruits are very delicious, particularly the oranges, water-melons, and pine-apples, which are exposed to sale by black female slaves, who are also occupied in the disposal ofdoces, or sweetmeats, which are made in great perfection. This part of the city is divided into six parishes, with the churches of Nossa Senhora, of Victoria, St. Pedro, St. Anna, St. Antonio, SS. Sacramento, or Passo, and St. Salvador, which is the cathedral. There is a house of misericordia, with itshospital for the cure of the poor, a recolhimento for white orphans, and a great number of chapels, many of which, as well as the churches, are splendid; they appear every where to be the only public objects which engross the peculiar consideration of the government and the people; and here, as in all other places, the respectable parishioners go in short cloaks of crimson and other colours about the streets uncovered, begging for the churches, with a long wand and an embroidered bag, with the figure of our Saviour upon it, in their hands. Churches and convents are nearly the only public establishments in all towns that are at all worthy of description, of which latter this city also has a numerous catalogue; namely, the monasteries of the slippered and unslippered Carmelites, of the Benedictines, and the Franciscans, which is the most sumptuous edifice of the whole; the alms and entertaining houses of Terra Santa, unslippered Agostinhos, slippered Carmelites, Benedictines, Franciscans, and Italian Barbadinhos; also four convents of nuns, two recolhimentos more; and four Terceira orders of St. Domingos, St. Francisco, Carmo, and SS. Trinidade.
On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson.Printed by C. Hullmandel.A BRAZILIAN SEDAN CHAIR, & A PERSON BEGGING FOR THE CHURCH.
On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas. Henderson.
Printed by C. Hullmandel.
A BRAZILIAN SEDAN CHAIR, & A PERSON BEGGING FOR THE CHURCH.
The Jesuits had a magnificent college (the front of whose church is of European stone) occupying the best situation of the city, now converted into a military hospital, with a chapel in the interior ornamented with many paintings that represent the life of S. Estanislaw Kosca, and a school of surgery. The religious processions and festivities are much the same here as at Rio de Janeiro. The palace of the governor on one side commands a view of the port and the lower city, and fronts into the Praca da Parada, the eastern part of which is formed by the camara or council house. The archiepiscopal palace is of two stories, one side facing to the sea, and with a passage to the cathedral, which has a spacious nave: the chapter consists of eighteen canons.
There is a mint, a port admiral, an intendant of gold, a civil court of relaçam, presided by the governor, at present the Count de Palma. This court, created here by Philip I. in 1609, was abolished by Philip II. and re-established by John IV. in 1652. There is also an ecclesiastical court and a junta da fazenda real, (the treasury,) for the administration of the affairs of the province, composed of five deputies, viz. the chancellor of the relaçam, the port admiral, theprocurator to coroa, (attorney-general,) the treasurer, and theescrivam, (chief of the treasury,) also presided by the governor; likewise another, called the house of inspection relative to commerce and agriculture, with an equal number of deputies, consisting of two merchants and two planters, one of tobacco the other of sugar, with a secretary; the intendant of gold is president. There are eight royal professorships of philosophy, rhetoric, mathematics,Greek, Latin, &c. but they are far from diffusing the knowledge their high-sounding denominations would warrant the expectation of. There is also a public library in the ex-Jesuitical college, a printing press, the only one in the Brazil excepting one at Rio, a manufacture of glass, and a seminary for themeninos orfaos(young male orphans.)
Various forts defend this city on the sea side; amongst which may be remarked that of St. Marcello, of a circular form, with two batteries situated in the centre of the anchorage place. On the land side there is an extensive and deep lake, which, for a considerable period, served as a fosse, called the Dique, and where there are many alligators. This city was taken by the Dutch in 1634, and cannonaded by a force under Prince Nassau, without a similar result, in the year 1636.
In its eastern suburb is the hospital of Lazaretto, which was a house of recreation belonging to the Jesuits, and where there is a plantation of Malabar pimento trees, the finest, it is said, in the Brazil. The suburb of Bom Fim took its name from a chapel of that title, very agreeably situated. About two miles to the east is the parish of Our Lady of Penha, in the extremity of a peninsula where the archbishops have a country house, and where there is a dock-yard for the construction of large ships. This situation, called Tapagype, is beautified with a profusion of the airy cocoa-nut trees.
In the suburb of Victoria is the before-mentioned entertaining house of the Benedictines, in whose church of Our Lady of Graca is an epitaph relative to D. Catharina Alvarez, the daughter of an Indian chief, and one of the wives of Diogo Alvarez Correa, the Caramuru. She accompanied Correa to Europe, where they remained a short period and excited much interest at the French court, where she was christened, and called after Queen Catharine, relinquishing her name of Paraguassu, derived from the river already described. The epitaph is comprised in the following words:—
“Sepultura de D. Catharina Alvarez, Senhora desta Capitania da Bahia, a qual ella, e seu marido Diogo Alvarez Correa, natural de Vianna, deram aos Senhores Reys de Portugal: Fez, e deu esta Capella ao Patriarca St. Bento. Anno de 1582.”[29]
The society of this city is considered superior to that of Rio de Janeiro, and thefamilies appear to maintain a more social intercourse with strangers. Its population may be estimated at nearly one hundred and ten thousand, upwards of two-thirds of which are negroes, who, being of one nation and speaking the same idiom, with greater facility planned their insurrections, which till lately have frequently occurred, making it requisite for the governors to maintain a very rigid discipline over them. In the government of the Count de Ponta an order was issued that no negro should appear in the streets after Avi-Maria without a ticket from his owner, stating the object of his business; in default of which the penalty was one hundred and fifty lashes. This order had the salutary effect of preventing a great portion of them from wandering into the streets without some proper object.
The arrival of the late Queen and the present King here, in the year 1808, on their way to Rio de Janeiro, produced great joy, and the inhabitants voluntarily offered to erect a palace at their own expense for the royal family, if they would establish their court in this city.
The negroes conceived that the arrival of the Prince Regent relieved them from the restraints which they had been subjected to; and the bold and audacious character peculiar to this nation of Africans immediately led them to the determination of disclaiming the right of the governor to inflict the one hundred and fifty lashes, now that the Lord of the territory was come, and they ingeniously communicated their resolution to the governor in the two following poetical lines.
Don de Terra chegou,Cento e cincoenta acabou.[30]
Don de Terra chegou,Cento e cincoenta acabou.[30]
Don de Terra chegou,Cento e cincoenta acabou.[30]
Don de Terra chegou,
Cento e cincoenta acabou.[30]
On the departure of the Royal Family, and as soon as the fleet had passed the bar, the Count de Ponta, adopting the style of the negroes, directed the two lines below to be posted up in every part of the city and suburbs, announcing to them that the one hundred and fifty lashes were resumed.
Don de Terra abalou,Cento e cincoenta ficou.[31]
Don de Terra abalou,Cento e cincoenta ficou.[31]
Don de Terra abalou,Cento e cincoenta ficou.[31]
Don de Terra abalou,
Cento e cincoenta ficou.[31]
The Count de Ponta was succeeded in the governorship by the Count d’Arcos, a nobleman already spoken of. The rigid and necessary system pursued by hispredecessor was in some measure relaxed. The negroes had always on holidays and Sundays indulged, without restraint, in the customs and rude amusements peculiar to their native country. In Bahia they usually assembled in the praca, or square, in the upper city, and frequently selected one from amongst the rest who was dignified with the title of chief, and received all the homage bestowed upon a chief in their own country. A friend of mine, passing on a Sunday through this square, observed them going through the ceremony of executing, or putting to death, white men, which were represented by effigies dressed for the purpose; this was intended for the amusement of their chief, but that there was some ulterior object in this species of diversion, must have been manifest. In the course of a few months afterwards, a general revolt took place amongst them, in which they proclaimed the Count d’Arcos their prince, and threatened destruction to the rest of the whites. They had already commenced their operations before it was known to the governor, and were performing a bloody circuit around the vicinity of the city, and putting to death all the white persons met with at the different hortas. They were, however, very soon surrounded by the Count d’Arcos, at the head of what force he could assemble, and a great many forfeited their lives for this atrocious and sanguinary attempt, the consequences of which, had they succeeded, would have been horrible, as they would have murdered every white person in the place. Subsequent to this, orders were issued by the government, that the negroes throughout the state were to discontinue their public assemblages on holidays and Sundays.
A theatre was erected here about seventeen years ago, but the performances are not equal even to those at Rio. In the high city there is a public walk, with a mirador in the form of a veranda, from whence a view is commanded almost of the whole bay; near it there is a pyramid of European marble, erected in memory of the short stay the Royal Family made here on its way, in 1808, to the metropolis.
The commerce of this city stands next in extent to that of Rio de Janeiro, and the main portion of it passes through the medium of the English merchants, comprising nearly twenty establishments. Every description of British manufactured goods has an extensive sale; but the competition already stated to exist in the capital also prevails here, affording these importations to the native dealers much below their value: and the cultivators have another advantage over our merchants, in consequence of their being under the necessity of purchasing produce for the return cargo, bills upon Europe being with difficulty or seldomobtained. The reader is already aware, from the statement of the productions of the province, that sugar, tobacco, and cotton, are the principal objects afforded to the merchant for the home shipments; and as eight-ninths of the cotton, some sugar, and tobacco, come to England, we will offer a few remarks relative to the quality and quantity of each article.
The crop of sugar in the year 1816 amounted to thirty thousand cases, averaging about forty arrobas each case; and the shipments between the 1st of October, 1817, and the same date in 1818, comprised twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-three packages, consisting of the denomination ofbrancoandbruno(white and brown.) The new sugars begin to arrive here in the months of December and January, and some few in November. The most desirable months for purchasing sugar are from January to May, comprehending the summer season, when it is in an arid state, and the grain thereby improved; during the rainy months the sugar becomes succulent, and the grain inferior; in the early part of the first season also, the higher numbers of whites and browns are more abundant, the latter arrivals consisting of the lower numbers of both. The sugars are submitted to the inspection of the establishment before mentioned, and divided into the following numbers, according to quality, colour, and grain.
White—The lowest quality is termedBranco baixa.
Brown—The lowest quality is termedMuscovado brumo.
In addition to the above, a few boxes of whites are made of a superior quality, and rated as high asquinze, or fifteen. The best sugar in this market is produced in the Reconcave, arising, as has been before observed, from the excellent adaptation of its soil to the culture of the cane. These and others, coming from the interior to the bay, are denominateddentros, and are not generally so white as those termedforas, which come from without the bay, and are produced along the coast. Theforasare much softer in grain, but, from their superiority in colour over thedentros, they obtain a preference in some markets; but not for Hamburgh or those places where sugar is used for refining.
An average crop of tobacco may be estimated at six hundred thousand arrobas; but in some years it almost fails, as in 1817, arising from the continued dryweather which burnt up the plants; and for the year ending the 1st of October, 1818, only thirty-two thousand six hundred and eighty-one arrobas, were shipped. One-third, and more frequently one-half, of a tobacco crop is rejected as unfit for shipment to Europe.
Tobacco comes to market from January to March, principally through the medium of the towns of Cachoeira and Santo Amaro, where it is previously made up into rolls. The whole is accumulated in one government warehouse, where it undergoes a very rigid inspection, and is separated into approved and rejected portions; the latter is only shipped to the Portuguese possessions in Africa, and, since the abolition of their slave trade north of the Equator, where it was principally used, the price has fallen greatly, and very little of it is now taken in their outward cargoes to Cabinda, Angola, &c. which consist principally of coarse East India goods, a little rum, trinkets, &c.
The purchasing of tobacco is deemed by the merchants not only the most troublesome, but the most precarious branch of their dealings. Tobacco is usually bought before inspection, so that the merchant has all the trouble of that operation. The whole of the crop coming to market in a short period, and piled together in one warehouse, produces great confusion, rendering it very difficult to get at the lots agreed for; and when found, probably, only a few rolls turn out good, so that other lots are to be purchased, and another search undertaken to find them, attended with the same inconvenience as the first; and, in some instances, an examination of five or six hundred rolls will only afford twenty good ones. This delay is prejudicial to the interest of the merchant, in consequence of tobacco being a perishable article; besides, it is of the highest importance to get the shipments to Europe as early as possible, for not only do the first arrivals sell best, but, in the event of a stagnation occurring, the owner being compelled to retain this article, there is a great chance of its rotting upon his hands.[32]Previous to the shipments to Europe, the tobacco is opened,fresh molasses put to it, and made up into rolls, averaging about fifteen arrobas each. The refuse shipped to Africa is made into rolls of about three arrobas each.
Leaf tobacco is a monopoly of the crown. After inspection, it takes the approved at a price proportionable to that of the roll, and it is shipped for Goa. The refuse remains with the planter, who is allowed to sell it to the merchants, and it is usually shipped to Lisbon.
The average crop of cotton for four years, up to and including 1816, was twenty-four thousand four hundred and forty bags; but the shipments for the year ending on the 1st of October, 1818, amounted to thirty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine bags.
The books of the public warehouses in this city are annually closed on the 1st of October, to ascertain the crops of produce; but at this time some of the old crop of cotton is not received, and it continues partially to arrive till the end of the year. In the month of February the new cotton comes to market abundantly, and in the course of the four following months the main part of the crop may be said to have arrived, with the exception above stated. The quality of the cotton varies according to the place in which it is grown; part of that sold in Bahia is produced in the southern part of the province of Pernambuco, and is distinguished, also, by the term of foras, as that of Bahia is by dentros. The former has materially the advantage over the latter in point of staple, being longer and more silky, also stronger; but its value is greatly reduced by the dirty state in which it arrives here, as well as by the frequent tricks of the planters, in putting seeds, and even staves, in the centre of the bags. These abuses have been unattended to, and the cotton inspection of Bahia is almost nominal; this flagrant neglect of the inspectors, so opposite to that of every other kind of produce, is supposed to be connived at by the governor, upon this ground, that, if the inspection was rigid and the planters were compelled to clean their cotton, they would then send it to the Pernambuco market, where it would command a higher price, by ranking as Pernambuco cotton, and thus prejudice the revenue of the town of Bahia.
The dentros, or those cottons grown within the province of Bahia, are a shorter, and not so silky or strong a staple as the foras, and have another material fault in being occasionally mixed with stained cotton, but they are much better cleaned, and in this respect they have of late years improved; whilst the foras have become even worse than they were, so that scarcely any difference exists between them as to price. The latter formerly sold at from two to threehundred reas per arroba higher than the dentros. Exclusive of these two qualities someMinas Novasfind their way to Bahia, and if of good quality sell on a par with them. The increase of the cotton crops has been retarded in consequence of some of the planters, a few years ago, turning their attention more to the produce of sugar, from the high prices then obtained for it.
A very great portion of the cotton denominated dentros comes from Villa Nova do Principe, in the comarca of Jacobina, a town possessing very considerable plantations of cotton in its surrounding territory; from whence it is conveyed to Cachoeira, upon the backs of horses and mules, in square packages, formed of raw hides, calledmalas, each containing three arrobas, (96 lb.) two of which constitute a horse-load, and are denominated by the Portuguese acarga.
At Villa Nova do Principe the cotton is sold at so much the carga of six arrobas, and varies in price according to the changes of the Bahia market, say from eight milreas upwards the carga, to this must be added the carriage to Cachoeira, which fluctuates according as horses and mules are plentiful, or otherwise, from eight milreas to fifteen the carga. From Cachoeira, as has been already remarked, it is conveyed in large boats to Bahia, at a freight of one hundred reas the carga; here it is put into bags, the expense of which is trifling, for the hide will sell for almost as much as buys the material for the bag, and the labour amounts only to one hundred and sixty reas[33]per bag, (not quite tenpence.)
Cotton is planted in the month of January or February, and gathered, say the first pluckings, about September. The same plants last three years, the second year being frequently more productive than the first; but in the third year the crop falls off, both in quantity and quality. After this the plants are destroyed, and the grounds lies fallow.
Some hides and rum are exported; and the following statement will show the number of ships, and the amount of produce they conveyed from hence, in the year ending on the 1st of October, 1818.
Bahia is considered by the English merchants a more agreeable place of residence than any of the maritime towns of the Brazil, and a more social intercourse has existed amongst themselves than at some of the other places. The city and residences in the vicinity are delightfully refreshed by the land and sea breezes, and the climate is deemed very healthy. There is an English hospital here, as at the other commercial towns of note, but there are generally few invalids.
Here, as in all parts of the Brazil, the females are much confined to the houses, and do not take free and open exercise; their domestic habits are slovenly and indolent; many, in the Turkish style, sit on the ground upon mats, while at work; they dress loosely; and to the general listlessness and prevailing custom of indulging in asesta, or nap after dinner, may be attributed the gross and unshapely appearance of some of the Brazilian females. It would, however, be illiberal to include the whole in this description, as there are many fine women, and if better acquainted with the graces and the refinements of the fair sex, would be ornaments to any circle of society, having naturally much sprightliness and wit, if properly directed, and freed from the shackles of jealousy with which they are surrounded.
This city, on the 10th of February, 1821, followed the example of Para, in declaring itself for the new constitution of Portugal, and a resolution to that effect was publicly adopted in the camara, and signed by Conde de Palma, the governor, who however declined holding that situation longer. This measure was brought about principally by the military. Lieut.-Colonels Manuel Pedro de Freitas and Francisco de Paula, were its most active promoters. It is said, that thirteen of the military, including a major, were killed.