_First Explorers--Gold discovered--Two Brothers appointed
for the purpose of exacting the Fifths on Gold--Their
atrocious Conduct--People attracted here by the Fame of
Gold--Destruction of a Party by the Indians--Payagoa and
Guaycuru Nations discovered--Their Alliance--Their fatal Attacks
upon the Portuguese--Their Disunion--Continued Hostilities
of the Guaycurus--Conflicts with them--Attempts to make
Peace with the Indians--Treachery of the Guaycurus--Severe
Drought--Arrival of a Governor--Promotes the Navigation to
Para--Extent and Boundaries.--Division into Districts--District
of Camapuania--Mineralogy--Phytology--Rivers--Zoology--Various
Indian Tribes--Povoações.--District of Matto Grosso--Mountains
--Mineralogy--Phytology--Zoology--Rivers--Capital.--District
of Cuiaba--Mineralogy--Phytology--Zoology--Rivers--Povoações
--Indians.--District of Bororonia--Indians--Rivers--Lakes.--
District of Juruenna--Indians--Rivers--Forts.--District of
Arinos--Indians--Rivers.--District of Tappiraquia--Indians--
Rivers.--Lands of these Districts fertile and auriferous._
The Vincentistas having reduced the Guanhana, and Carijo nations,
they began to make incursions beyond the Paranna, in pursuit of other
Indians equally pusillanimous, and less numerous. Aleixo Garcia and his
brother or son, accompanied by a numerous band of domestic Indians,
having passed the Paraguay, and penetrated to the proximity of the
Andes in the middle of the sixteenth century, were the first known
discoverers of the southern part of this vast province; and Manuel
Correa, a Paulista (as well as the others) having passed the Araguaya,
a considerable time afterwards, penetrated to its northern part.
It will be difficult perhaps, to ascertain the names of the other
certanistas, or commandants of bandeiras,[20] who visited this
territory in quest of Indians, during the interval from its discovery
to the year 1718, when Antonio Pires de Campos, also a Paulista,
proceeded up the river Cuiaba in search of the Cuchipo Indians, who
had an aldeia, where at this day is situated the hermitage of St.
Gonçalo. In the following year Pascoal Moreira Cabral advanced up the
river Cuchipo Mirim, and very soon discovered granites of gold. He
left here a portion of his company to accumulate as much as possible
of it, and proceeded higher up the river, with the greater part of the
bandeirantes, as far as the situation at present called Forquilha,
where they caught some young Indians ornamented with pieces of gold,
which proved that the country abounded with that metal; they were most
diligent in their searches after it, and collected a considerable
portion. Returning to the party left behind, they descended with them
the river below, to the aldeia which Antonio Pires had visited the
preceding year, where each one exhibited the quantity of gold he had
collected. Some found themselves possessed of one hundred oitavas,
(2dwt. 7⅜gr. each,) others of half a pound weight, and many more of
smaller portions, but they were generally well satisfied; those who
accompanied Captain Moreira Cabral had exceeded the rest in good
fortune. He had for his own share one pound and a half of gold. The
whole party greatly lamented the want of mining instruments, as they
were compelled to use their hands in removing the earth or sand. They
soon began to construct cabanas, or dwelling places upon the margins of
the rivers, determined to persist as long as the precious ore lasted.
A few weeks had only elapsed, when another bandeira arrived at the new
establishment, having been upon the margins of the river St. Lourenço,
where they received intelligence of this discovery, and determined to
augment the party.
The whole now consulted upon the circumstances attending their
situation, and resolved to despatch Joze Gabriel Antunes to the city
of St. Paulo, with samples of gold, and tidings of their success; also
to announce to the governor their solicitude to receive the necessary
instructions for the common weal and service of his Majesty. On the
same day, the 8th of April, 1719, on which this resolution was formed,
the party unanimously elected Captain Pascoal Moreira Cabral for
their _guarda mor regente_ until the arrival of orders from the
governor of St. Paulo, investing him with much authority, and promising
him implicit obedience. Antunes consumed many months, from the various
difficulties which beset his way, before he reached St. Paulo, where
the new discovery of the mines being divulged, numerous persons took
their departure for them the following year, in various caravans, none
of which arrived at Cuiaba without loss; many died on the way of fevers
and different disasters. The misfortunes and losses which the numerous
bandeiras, that continued to bend their course towards this province,
annually sustained, were the result of ill-regulated measures, and the
absence of judicious combinations for preventing disorder upon the
march, and obviating the palpable neglect of proceeding without fishing
instruments, which would have preserved many from famishing, and
without fire arms for shooting game, or defence against wild animals
and the natives.
In the same year the arraial or establishment was removed to the
situation of Forquilha, where Cabral had found a better vein of gold;
and in the following, one Miguel Sutil, from Sorocaba, having taken up
a station with his party upon the margin of the Cuiaba, two Carijos,
or domestic Indians, sent into the woods in search of honey, brought
him at night twenty-three pieces, _folhetas_, or lamina, of gold,
which weighed one hundred and twenty oitavas, stating that there was
more in the wood where they had found it. Sutil, highly delighted, next
morning went with his European comrade, Joam Francisco, called by way
of nickname Barbado, and all his domestic establishment, conducted by
the two Carijos to the place where they had found the precious metal,
and which is the present site of the town of Cuiaba. Here they spent
the day, gathering with their hands all the gold upon the surface of
the ground, or thinly covered, and desisting only with the termination
of daylight; they assembled late at their bivouacs, when Sutil found
that he had accumulated half an arroba, or sixteen pounds weight, of
gold, and Barbado upwards of four hundred oitavas. This adventure
becoming known at the arraial of Forquilha, caused its removal to the
situation where Sutil and Barbado had been so successful, and where it
was calculated that four hundred arrobas of gold were collected in one
month, without the excavations exceeding four fathoms in depth.
In this same year the governor Rodrigo Cezar de Menezes arrived at
St. Paulo, whose first concern was to exact the payment of the royal
fifths upon this metal. With this intention he nominated two brothers,
resident at St. Paulo, of distinguished birth and fortune, Lourenço
Leme to the situation of Procurador of the Fifths, and John Leme to the
post of Master de Campo of the same mines. Those two individuals, in
consequence of the liberty with which they had always triumphed over
the laws, were imprudently selected; and now considered themselves
more than ever authorised to consult with impunity their own caprices.
On arriving at the arraial, they adopted the most violent and absurd
measures, and wished to expel from the mines all those who were not
Paulistas. The chaplain remonstrating against this injustice, they
ordered a shot to be fired at him, which, erring in its object,
killed one of his friends. Actuated by the same lawless spirit, they
ordered one Pedro Leite to be inhumanly insulted at the time he was
hearing mass, merely from some feeling of jealousy entertained against
him. These and other atrocities, which they committed, induced the
governor-general to transmit orders for their being arrested and sent
prisoners to St. Paulo. They received intimation of this circumstance
from one of their relatives, and on the arrival of the Master de Campo,
Balthazar Ribeiro, to execute the commands of the governor, they had
already fortified themselves in a remote place, accompanied by their
partizans, where an attack was ineffectually made upon them. In a
short time, however, after the loss of some lives on both sides, they
fled to the interior with a great number of their followers, but were
pursued until Lourenço Leme was killed by a shot, and his brother taken
prisoner, and subsequently sent, with a summary of his crimes, to the
city of Bahia, the relaçam of which city ordered him to be executed in
1724.
The prodigious amount of quintos, or fifths, which were received at St.
Paulo in the year 1723, and the termination of the jurisdiction of the
rapacious Lemes, excited an universal spirit in that city for mining.
Every one was desirous of becoming a miner of Cuiaba, notwithstanding
the calamities attached to so laborious and prolonged a voyage. Of more
than three hundred persons, who in the year 1725 departed from St.
Paulo, with upwards of twenty canoes, only two white men, and three
negroes escaped. All the rest were killed or made prisoners in an
encounter which they had with an Indian armada (the Payagoas) in the
river Paraguay, in front of the embouchure of the Harez. Although the
Paulistas knew that the Payagoas were celebrated mariners, they were
totally ignorant of this nation possessing so numerous a fleet.
It may be proper to remark here, that the first Paulistas who entered
the river Paraguay met with two nations, denominated _Payagoas_,
and _Guaycurus_; both numerous and formidable; the first from its
large armadas, and the second from the dexterity of the natives on
horseback, from which they acquired the denomination of Cavalleiros.
The Payagoas, from time immemorial, were always masters of the
navigation of the Paraguay and its confluents, as far as nature offered
no impediments. The Guaycurus had also always possessed the adjacencies
of the same river, for the space of three hundred and fifty miles at
least.
As it is an indubitable fact, that there were no horses in South
America previous to its discovery by Pinson, in 1500, and that they
were first introduced into this country by its two conquering nations,
Spain and Portugal, it cannot be difficult to define, with tolerable
certainty, the epoch when the Guaycurus first obtained these animals,
which they used at all times, even in their shortest excursions,
and with which they rendered themselves so formidable to all the
circumjacent nations, not excepting the conquerors of the country.
It would appear probable that they first derived the horse from the
colonists of Assumption, rather than from those of Peru. If they
were in former times powerful in war canoes, they only retained a
sufficient number for passing from one to the other side of rivers, on
discovering that the horse was more useful and advantageous for war, or
for depredations upon the distant tribes. Such was the state of those
two nations about the year 1720, when their reciprocal aversion was
converted into a firm alliance, the Guaycurus soon becoming equally
formidable upon both elements, with an establishment of war canoes
little inferior to that of the Payagoas.
They continued to annoy the rising province from the year 1725 to
the year 1768, at which period a disunion occurred, and the Payagoas
descended to the low Paraguay, formed an alliance, or, more properly
speaking, subjected themselves to the Spaniards of the province of
Paranna, where they fixed their habitations, and have lived since 1774,
a little below Assumption. Two causes are said to have influenced the
Payagoas in this separation; the great diminution of numbers which they
had sustained in repeated conflicts with the Spaniards and Portuguese,
and their jealousy of the Guaycurus, who they now found were not less
powerful upon the waters than in the field.
The Guaycurus persevered in the same hostility, although less frequent
and less destructive, as will presently be detailed, till the year
1791, when the principal captains of this nation, Emavidi Channe, who
assumed the name of Paulo Joaquim Ferreira, and Queyma, who took the
name of Joam Queyma d’Albuquerque, accompanied by seventeen of their
warriors, with a Brazilian creole, their slave or prisoner, for an
interpreter, spontaneously came to solicit peace at Villa Bella, where,
in the palace of the governor, and in the presence of the senate, they
made a treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance, agreeing to become
the vassals of his faithful Majesty. Letters-patent, securing to them
the necessary privileges, were granted, which shall be transcribed
when we conclude the history of this important nation. We will now
return to the proceedings of the Paulistas, in reference to the early
colonization of this province.
In the year 1727, the governor Menezes arrived at the new arraial, and
gave it the title of Villa Real (royal town) of Cuiaba. The following
year he left this town, and proceeded up the river Tocoary, to which
was transferred, in 1729, the navigation from the Embotatiu, with the
intention of avoiding, at least in part, the attacks of the Indians.
From this change, however, no advantage resulted, in consequence of the
trifling distance between these two rivers. The first division which
left Cuiaba in the year 1730, with upwards of sixty arrobas (thirty-two
pounds each) of gold, accompanied by Doctor Antonio Alvez Peixoto, who
had accomplished the period of his ouvidorship, was attacked in the
Pantanos,[21] by an armada of eighty war canoes, manned by more than
eight hundred Indians. The pillage lasted for a considerable time, and
only seventeen Christians escaped by swimming to land. It was computed
that these warlike Indians lost more than four hundred combatants on
this occasion. Some gold, which they carried off, with many prisoners,
the Payagoas parted with at such a low price in the city of Assumption,
that an Indian exchanged, with one Donna Quiteria de Banhos, six
pounds weight for a pewter plate. At this period, a singular branch of
commerce flourished in this city, which was in the disposal of cats, at
exorbitant prices; the first pair of those animals that were brought to
Assumption were sold for one pound of gold, and their progeny at thirty
oitavas, and so on, till the augmentation of this race proportionably
reduced their value. The extraordinary value of cats in this place, was
occasioned by the houses and stores of Indian corn, &c. being infested
with prodigious swarms of rats.
In 1730, the Brigadier Antonio de Almeida sent various persons, in
two canoes of war, to procure a quantity of the sugar cane, which had
been observed two years previously, by some certanistas, growing upon
the borders of the river St. Lourenço. This party returned, at the
expiration of two months, with a considerable supply of the cane, of
which a plantation was formed, and it prospered so abundantly, that
in the following year there were numerous planters. The juice of the
cane was generally distilled into spirit, and the demand for it was
so great, that a flagon of it sold at first for ten oitavas of gold.
From the use of this spirit, the pallid aspect of the people gave way
to a better complexion; and the diminution of fevers, as well as the
mortality amongst slaves, became rapidly manifest.
In this same year, an armament of thirty canoes of war and fifty
transports, with six hundred men, two pieces, and a great number of
muskets, were despatched in pursuit of an enemy’s squadron, which had
advanced to the mouth of the Cuiaba, where it made some fishermen
prisoners. This armada having proceeded to the mouth of the Embotatiu,
a division of the Indians was descried, which, with loud yellings,
suddenly disappeared. After a pursuit of several days’ voyage, which
carried it beyond the strait where the waters of the Paraguay are
compressed between two morros, (large rocks,) the armada one morning
unexpectedly encountered an Indian fleet. The Indians, giving the
signal of attack by loud and discordant war-hoops, came furiously to
the onset; but the thunder of the musketry and pieces, which were
discharged upon them at the same instant, as quickly produced a
retrograde movement, and they were pursued in their precipitate flight
by the Portuguese, as far as the aldeia of Tavatim, from whence the
latter returned, after having destroyed a great many canoes found there.
In the year 1732, all the canoes accomplished their destination with
safety; but in the following year, a fleet, consisting of fifty canoes,
was destroyed, and on the arrival of the few persons who escaped at
Cuiaba, a squadron of thirty canoes of war, and seventy of transport,
was equipped, and confided to the command of Lieutenant-General Manuel
Rodrigues de Carvalho.
About the middle of August, 1734, this powerful fleet entered the
Paraguay, and having navigated a month without encountering an enemy,
they one morning discovered at day-break various fires at the bottom
of a bay, apparently difficult of access, towards which, however,
they proceeded in great silence, without being observed, till they
arrived almost within gun-shot. The Indians, perceiving themselves thus
surprised and surrounded, raised a most horrible yell, to which the
Portuguese responded by a discharge of upwards of four hundred muskets,
which occasioned great havoc amongst them. Two hundred and ninety-two
were made prisoners, including wounded and children, who could not
follow the fugitives to the woods. The whole were shortly afterwards
baptized.
In 1735, after the return of this armament from the Paraguay, and the
arrival of a fleet from St. Paulo, consisting of one hundred and twelve
canoes, the mines were divided which Fernando de Barroz (a Sorrocabano)
had discovered three years before, a short distance from the present
site of Villa Bella, the capital of this province, and where the new
colonists died in great numbers from a malignant fever, caused by some
neighbouring stagnant pools. In the following year the numerous fleet
from St. Paulo was attacked by an Indian armada, considerably superior,
at the situation of Caranda, on the day of St. Joze. The conflict
lasted several hours, in which were killed, amongst others, their brave
commandant Pedro de Moraes and Frey Antonio Nascentes, a Franciscan
friar, whose extraordinary powers and intrepidity had acquired him the
by-name of Tiger. Many others distinguished themselves more fortunately
in this conflict, from which they issued conquerors, having caused
a horrible carnage amongst the savages. None, however, displayed
more bravery than a mulatto, from Pindamonhangaba, called Manuel
Rodriguez, and, vulgarly, Manduassu, Manuel the Great, in consequence
of his immense stature, strength, and courage. This gigantic man, who
commanded his own canoe, in which he was accompanied by his wife, of
the same colour, and various slaves, being attacked by two Indian war
canoes, defended himself with such valour and dexterity that neither
were able to board him; at one time he discharged a musket, which his
wife successively loaded for him, at another he wielded a _vara_,
(a long pole for impelling the canoe,) the strokes of which were fatal
to all those who came within his reach. On his arrival at Cuiaba he was
presented with the commission of a captain.
In the same year a road was opened to the territory of Goyaz, (so
called from the Goya Indians,) from whence upwards of fifteen hundred
persons departed, with horses and numerous troops of mules, besides
those who descended by the river St. Lourenço, attracted by the
announcement of gold which had been found in Matto Grosso, from whence,
in fact, eighty arrobas of that metal were despatched the same year
to St. Paulo in eight canoes of war, each furnished with sixteen
chosen men, and commanded by Lieutenant-General Manuel Rodrigues de
Carvalho, who conducted them in security, and put an Indian division to
flight which attacked them at the entrance of the Pantanos. With this
intelligence almost the whole population of Cuiaba left that town for
the newly-discovered mines of Matto Grosso, (Large Woods.) Five hundred
oitavas were paid for negroes, and they were cheap, from the gain which
they afforded.
In 1740 the Indians were again beaten, at the embouchure of the
Tacoary, by the fleet from St. Paulo, commanded by Jeronimo Gonsalves,
(an Hituan,) who arrived at Matto Grosso with a great number of lances,
or spears, that belonged to the Indians who perished in the combat,
he having himself lost four canoes laden with merchandise and slaves.
After his arrival some domestic Bororo Indians brought intelligence
that the Spanish Jesuits had established themselves near the heads of
the Paraguay, reducing into aldeias the Guaraparez tribe.
It being well known that this step was not taken for want of Indians
to convert in the vicinity of their own missions, the Portuguese
counselled them to retire peaceably, which advice was disregarded. The
inconstancy, however, of the catechumens obliged the catechists to
retrace their steps to the aldeias of the province of St. Cruz de la
Sierra, before measures were taken for their expulsion.
In the year 1742 Manuel de Lima descended, with five Indians, three
mulattoes, and a negro, in a canoe, by the Guapore, Madeira, and
Amazons, to the city of Para.
At the same period that Manuel de Lima descended the Madeira, one
Joaquim Ferreira, with other traders, advanced up the Mamore to the
mission of Exaltaçao. The same persons, or others with a similar
intention, returning the following year, found the mission of St. Rosa
newly erected upon the eastern margin of the Guapore, almost in front
of the outlet by which they had entered to St. Miguel the preceding
year. The jesuitical curate determining to impede their navigation
of the river, it was conjectured that, for the better effecting this
project, he shortly afterwards removed the mission of St. Miguel also
to the same side, and founded that of St. Simao further to the north.
It notwithstanding appears that the people of Matto Grosso did not
desist from the navigation of this river.[22]
In 1743 the combined Indians observing certain signals at the mouths
of the Tocoary of a fleet having passed forward, they proceeded up in
pursuit of it as far as the _reducto_ of Sappe, in the vicinity of
the town of Cuiaba, where they killed some fishermen.
A series of such calamities produced a resolution of the ouvidor, Joam
Gonsalves, in a junta with the senate and the principal persons of the
town, to endeavour to obviate hostilities, through the medium of a
firm friendship with the Guaycuru Indians, they not being considered
so inveterate against the Portuguese, whose maledictions fell upon the
Payagoa tribe, attributing to them alone all the injuries they had
sustained. With this intention, a squadron of six canoes of war and
six of transport, was sent, under the command of Captain Antonio de
Medeiros, with a considerable quantity of articles most esteemed by the
Indians, equally for the purpose of making presents as to exchange for
horses. Having arrived at an island in front of a post occupied by the
Guaycurus, the commandant sent an Indian, versed in their language,
with two white soldiers, to the chief of the party, soliciting him to
come to the island, as he was desirous to make him some presents, and
to enter into a negotiation. On the following day the Indian captain
presented himself, with a numerous band of men and women, upon the
beach nearest to the island, and with the three deputies sent two of
his to Medeiros requesting him to come and parley on land, the two
Indians to remain as hostages upon the island. Medeiros immediately
proceeded to the other side with a considerable part of his force,
and an assortment of various articles, with which he complimented the
captain and his relations. He then proposed the projected negotiation,
which was to effect a cessation of hostilities with the Payagoas, and
to barter horses for European merchandise; to all which the Indian
promptly assented.
On the following day a large party of Portuguese passed to the other
side, in order to traffic with the Indians, without any kind of arms,
imprudently confiding in the apparent demonstrations of sincerity which
they had evinced; when, about nine o’clock, those who had remained with
Medeiros in the squadron perceived a tumult amongst the savages, which
convinced them that their comrades were lost. They immediately fired
upon them, when the traitors instantly fled, fifty Christians remaining
dead upon the field. This disaster terminated all hopes of a friendly
negotiation.
In 1744 the Indians were routed by the Paulista fleet, without the
Christians sustaining more loss than one negro, from the wound of a
lance. Notwithstanding the disaster which the savages experienced on
this occasion, they boldly advanced up the Paraguay the same year, as
far as the passage from Cuiaba to Matto Grosso; and, disembarking at an
early hour near the establishment of Joam d’Oliveira, set fire to his
house, and killed several people.
On the 24th of September, in this year, at mid-day, in clear weather,
a subterraneous noise was heard, and the earth immediately quaked,
continuing to experience various tremulous agitations, which produced
considerable alarm in all places of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba. At this
period, a drought already prevailed, which lasted till 1749. All
the woods were parched up, and no longer exhibited any foliage; the
atmosphere was now only the vehicle of smoke; all living creatures
suffered from famine and other calamities; and death stalked in
universal triumph.
The earthquake, which, in October two years afterwards, 1746, agitated
the territory of Peru, and destroyed the city of Lima, its capital,
was here very sensibly felt; filling every living creature with sudden
dread, but unattended with worse consequences.
Before the conclusion of this same year, the Captain Joao de Souza,
descended the Arinos, Tapajoz, and the Amazons, to Para, and returned
the following year by the Madeira, with European merchandise; after
his arrival, other dealers departed by the same route, which has been
frequented to this day, in spite of the great difficulties to which
this prolonged voyage has hitherto been subject.
Two years had almost elapsed, before the rains had reanimated the face
of the country, given verdure to the foliage of the unbounded woods,
renovated the springs, arrested the ravages of death, and facilitated
journeys by land; when, about the beginning of January, 1751, a
numerous fleet arrived at Cuiaba, accompanied by Don Antonio Rolin de
Moura, as governor of the new province, a Juiz de Fora, (Theotonio
de Sylva Gusmao,) two Jesuits, and a troop of dragoons. At the end
of this year, the governor proceeded to the mines of Matto Grosso,
with the intention of promoting the navigation discovered by Manuel
de Lima to Gram Para, and to compel the retrocession of the Spanish
Jesuits established on the right margin of the Guapore. D. Antonio
Rolin, commanded to found a town in the situation best adapted for
the effectuating those projects, selected for its site a place called
Pouzoalegre, founded and named it on the 19th of March, 1752; and, on
the 25th of November, by order of the bishop of Rio de Janeiro, the
hermitage of St. Anna was converted into its mother church.
With the opening of the roads to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and with
the new navigation of Gram Para, that of Camapuan began to be less
frequented. The miners who were interested in proceeding to St. Paulo
by this fatal way never accomplished it, except with a considerable
number of canoes, equipped with chosen men, and armed with the best
instruments of defence; and occasionally accompanied by canoes of war
to a certain situation in the river Tocoary, where they waited for the
Paulista fleet to protect them through the passage of the Pantanos.
Subsequent to the separation, already mentioned, of the two nations,
one of the most disastrous hostilities which the Portuguese
experienced from the Guaycurus was in May, 1775, when they proceeded
up the Paraguay, in twenty canoes, nearly to Villa Maria, where they
assassinated sixteen persons, and carried off many others prisoners.
The foundation of the prezidio, or garrison, of Nova Coimbra, in the
same year, upon the western margin of the Paraguay, ought to have been,
according to the order of General L. d’Alburquerque, forty leagues
further to the south, at the place called Fecho dos Morros, where it
would have contributed to the protection of the navigators of St.
Paulo. The author of the Guaycurus, (written in this prezidio by one
of its governors,) says, that he could but partially embarrass the
passage of the Indians, or prevent the flight of deserters; and that
its founder had committed an error, from whence resulted the entrance
of the Spaniards into the dominions of his faithful Majesty, where they
founded Villa Real, St. Carlos, and St. Joze.
The last hostility which the Portuguese sustained from the Guaycurus,
was the atrocious assassination of fifty soldiers in a plain fronting
Nova Coimbra, in January, 1781, at the time they were bartering some
articles with the barbarians who had been there twice before with
demonstrations of friendship.
The prezidio of Nova Coimbra was besieged in September, 1801, by the
Spaniards, who proceeded from the city of Assumption with four escunas
and twenty canoes. It was the first time that the thunder of contending
artillery had been heard in the centre of South America, and from which
the Guaycuru and Payagoa warriors formed an idea of the European mode
of warfare. The commencement of hostilities produced the following
correspondence between the Spanish and Portuguese commandants:--
“I had the honour, last evening, to contest the fire of the fort under
the command of your Honour; and having ascertained that the force with
which I am about to attack it is much superior to that of your Honour,
which cannot fail to reduce it to the ultimate state of misfortune; and
as the vassals of his Catholic Majesty know how to respect the laws
of humanity, an opportunity is offered, and your Honour is required to
surrender the fort to the arms of the King my master; on the contrary
the cannon and the sword will decide the fate of Coimbra, and its
unfortunate garrison will suffer all the extremities of war, from which
calamity it will see itself delivered, if your Honour complies with my
proposal. Furnish me with your decision categorically, in the course
of one hour. On board of the Escuna, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, 17th of
September, 1801.
“DON LAZARO DA RIBERA.”
* * * * *
“Coimbra, 17th September, 1801.
“I have the honour to reply categorically to your Excellency, that the
inequality of force always was a stimulus which greatly animated the
Portuguese not to forsake their posts, and to defend themselves to the
two extremities, either of repelling the enemy, or burying themselves
below the ruins of forts confided to them. In this resolution are all
the individuals of this prezidio, who have the distinguished honour of
seeing in front of it the exalted person of your Excellency, whom God
preserve.
“RICARDO FRANCO D’ALMEIDA.”
* * * * *
The assailants withdrew with some loss, after being nine days
ineffectually attempting to carry the fort.
This province, which lies between the parallel of 7° where it joins
that of Para, and 24° 30′ of south latitude where it borders upon that
of Paranna, occupies a territory of nearly eleven hundred miles from
north to south, with almost eight hundred at its greatest width, being
more extensive than ancient Germany.
On its western limits it has the Spanish possessions, from which
it is separated by the rivers Guapore, Jauru, and Paraguay, and on
the eastern the river Paranna, which divides it from the province
of St. Paulo, and the Araguaya, which separates it from that of
Goyaz. It comprises nearly four climates, entering twenty leagues
into the temperate zone. A country so extensive necessarily admits
of a considerable variety in every point of view in which it can be
regarded. Nature itself has partitioned it into three grand districts,
or comarcas, of which two are divided into six smaller ones, and their
limits (also natural) will become, perhaps, on some future day, those
appropriated for the formation of the same number of ouvidorias, when
the accumulation of its population may render such a measure desirable.
The southern district is denominated Camapuania.
{ Matto Grosso, on the west.
The central district comprises { Cuiaba, central.
{ Bororonia, on the east.
{ Juruenna, on the west.
The northern district comprises { Arinos, central.
{ Tappiraquia, on the east.
_District of_ CAMAPUANIA.
The rivers Tocoary, Cochim, Camapuan, and Pardo, the origin of which
approximating, the three first flowing westward and the last eastward,
separate the district of Camapuania into north and south, the northern
limits of which is a chain of mountains, that in the latitude of about
13° extend themselves from east to west, and from whence emanate the
Paraguay and its first branches to the southward, and those which form
the Tapajos and the Zingu to the northward.
This district, which derives its name from the river Camapuan, is
bounded on the west by the river Paraguay; on the south by the Chichuhi
and Igurey; on the east by the Paranna; and comprises a tract of
territory of upwards of three hundred and fifty miles square. It is
a country almost universally flat, and has its woods chiefly in the
vicinity of the rivers. It consists principally either of catingas (not
adapted to agriculture) or plains, and is irrigated by a great number
of rivers, the most considerable of which originate in a range of land
from north to south, of very trifling elevation, and denominated the
serra Amambuhi, dividing the canton into east and west. A vast portion
of the western part is annually submerged by the inundations of the
Paraguay, which in some parts covers more than seventy miles of plain.
MINERALOGY.--Gold, calcareous stone, granite, variety of
argils, diamonds, and other precious stones.
PHYTOLOGY.--The vegetable on which the cochineal breeds, and
the shrub which produces matte, are very common in various situations;
a diversity of palm trees, caju-nut trees, four sorts of excellent
_guabiroba_ fruit, three of the _uvaspiriticas_, the fruit
similar to a grape, and the plant to the strawberry. The Paraguaynians
make various beverages of it.
RIVERS.--The Tocoary, Pardo, Mondego, Igatimy, Correntes,
Ippanne Guaçu, Miamaya, Ivinheima, and the Negro, are the principal.
The river Pardo, (Grey,) so called from the colour of its waters, is
formed by the Sanguexuga and the Vermelho. The latter, of a green
colour, partaking of the hue of its bed, is small, and flows from the
north. The Sanguexuga, (the Leach,) so called from passing near a lake
where they are excellent, originates a few miles to the south-west of
the Camapuan, and is navigable for the space of five or six leagues.
Its water is crystalline and excellent as far as the confluence with
the former. The Pardo is considerable, and so rapid that canoes advance
against its stream by the use of the vara with great labour; water
falls and currents increasing more and more from its centre upwards,
which render the navigation more tedious than any other river which
the Cuiabanos navigate, who consume almost two months in proceeding up
to the situation where the navigation of only two hundred and eighty
miles terminates, computing by water. Its course is winding towards
the south-east, through delightful plains at the commencement, where
the navigator passes the white deer, _anta_, _tamandua_,
wild hog, wolf, fox, emu ostrich, _seriema_, partridge, &c. which
invite him to the diversion of shooting.
These plains continue to the falls of Caiuru Guaçu and Caiuru Mirim,
which are situated about the middle of the extent of this river, with
an interval of three miles one from the other. From this situation
downwards, both margins are clothed with woods, abounding more in honey
than fruits, and only one small fall or current is met with, called
Capoeiras, eighteen miles below that of Caiuru Mirim.
The principal falls of this river are the Caiuru Guaçu, Tijuco,
Tacoaral, Tamandua, Curao, which is the largest of the whole, and
near fifty palms in height, Ballo, Lage Grande, Lage Pequena, Banco
Grande, Banco Pequena. In passing these, the canoes are conveyed by
land;--Caiuru Mirim, Banquinho, Cirga Comprida, Empirucu, Mangaval,
Cirga do Campo, Manuel Rodrigues, Sucuri, Embirucu Mirim, another
called Embirucu, Paredao, Furado, Formigueiro, Pedras d’Amolar,
Vermelho, Tocoarapaia, past all which canoes are dragged by a warp,
with but half a cargo, and double the number of people. There are
others passed with full cargoes, the canoes being impelled by a greater
or less number of men.
Upon the banks of the Pardo, two sorts of the palm are seen, which are
not met with near any of the other rivers of the Cuiabana navigation.
One called _guacuman_, slender and six or seven feet in height,
of which a good bait for fish is made; the other, denominated
_brutiz_, is high and thick with leaves seven feet long. The
Indians, and also the ancient certanistas, made of its fruit a wine,
very similar to that of the red grape in colour and taste.
The principal rivers which enlarge the Pardo are the Anhanduhi Guaçu,
Anhanduhi Mirim, and Sucuri; they join it by the right margin. The last
and smallest disembogues fifty miles below the Vermelho. The first,
rising in the centre of the province, discharges itself into the Pardo,
seventy miles above its embouchure. The Anhanduhi Mirim enters it forty
miles below the Sucuri. Fifteen miles above the mouth of the Vermelho,
is the port of Sanguexuga on the left margin of the river of the same
name, where the canoes, which proceed up the river Pardo, are unloaded
and conducted in _carretas_, (a sort of cart with four wheels,
drawn by six or seven bullocks,) across an isthmus of near ten miles
in width, through plains and woods to the port of Camapuan, on the
left bank of the small river of that name, which originates near the
first, in the skirts of the serro of Sacco. From hence, the navigation
is only with half a cargo, and accomplished with prodigious labour (in
consequence of the shoals and stones of which this river is full) to
the Cochim, where the goods are deposited in _ranchos_, and well
guarded, until the remainder of the cargoes are fetched. Forty miles
are reckoned from the port to the mouth of this river, traversing woods
deficient in fruits and game.
The river Cochim, which originates in the vicinity of the Sanguexuga,
runs violently between sides, formed of steep and frightful rocks,
which in some places are narrowed to four or five fathoms; in other
parts it passes through extensive woods, affording little fruit,
but abounding in game, where two sorts of palm trees, in great
quantities, are observed, the one called _guacuriz_, the other
_bocayuvas_. The principal of twenty-two falls, which interrupt
the navigation of this river, are, Mangaval, five leagues below the
mouth of the Camapuan; Pedra Branca, near thirty miles below the
preceding; and Vare, all requiring double the number of persons to
pass; Culapada, Furnas, Canellas d’Andre Alvez, Avanhandavussu, and
Avanhandavu Mirim, two miles distant from each other; P. Luiz Antonio,
which is very perilous; Jiquitaya; and Cachoeira da Ilha, which is
three miles above the confluence of this river with the Tocoary. The
principal streams which enlarge the Cochim are the Inferno, (Infernal
River,) Sellada, and the Jauru, entering by the right margin; the
Furado, Orelha d’Anta, Joam Bicudo, and the Tocoary Mirim, by the left.
The latter enters near the embouchure of the Cochim.
The Tocoary has its heads near the boundary of Cayaponia, much to
the north of Camapuan. When it receives the Cochim, it is already
considerable, and near this confluence there is a large fall of its
name, where the canoes are relieved of half the cargo, in order to
pass it without danger. A little lower there is another small one,
denominated Belliago, the last of this river, (the ordinary width of
which is here about sixty fathoms,) and also the last of one hundred
and thirteen, which navigators encounter from Port Feliz to Cuiaba.
The greater part of its course is through campinhas, with little wood,
describing continual and short turnings, which give it an appearance to
the navigator of his always being enclosed within a lake. It abounds in
fish; but its waters are impregnated with a fine sand. Amongst other
islands, which it forms, is that of Passaros, (or Birds,) so called on
account of the infinite number that breed in it, and with which its
trees are always laden: it discharges into the Paraguay, through many
channels, which form a great number of islands, generally submerged
during the floods of either river. These islands are denominated
Pantanos, where, amongst other rare birds, is seen a beautiful one
called _anhupocas_. It is the size of the _inhuma_, having
also, like it, a horn upon the head, and spurs to the wings; it sings
from midnight till day. Wild geese are exceedingly numerous, and for
their exclusive sustenance nature here produces a prodigious quantity
of wild rice, and of so large a size that no other bird can swallow it.
Amongst other remarkable trees, on the margins of this river, the most
esteemed is a species of palm tree, thicker round the trunk than the
arms of a man can compass; its nuts, which are the size of an ostrich’s
egg, supply the aliment of the Indian.
The river Mondego, otherwise Embotateu, originally Aranbahi, is
considerable, and navigable nearly to its origin, which is a short
distance from that of the Anhanduhi Guaçu, and runs into the Paraguay
eighteen miles below the Tocoary. The largest of its tributaries, which
enter by the right margin, is now called the river Verde. The last
confluent of the Mondego, by the southern bank, is the small river
Zezere, which rises near the inconsiderable serra of St. Barbara.
The Ivinbeima, which enters the Paranna by three mouths, flows from the
interior of the province, whither it affords navigation; and receives
by the left the Jaguary, a river little inferior to it.
The Negro, which is considerable, and would appear to be the Sambambaya
of the first certanistas, runs into the Paranna twenty miles above the
northern mouth of the Ivinheima.
The Miamaya, or Miamay, which is considered to be the river formerly
called Amambahy, is large, and enters the Paranna forty miles below the
southern arm of the Ivinheima.
The Igatimy, to which is given one hundred and fifty miles of extent,
is navigable very near to its source in the serra Amambahy. Eighty
miles in a direct line from its embouchure is the passage of the
Guaycurus, where the river is shallow. Twenty miles lower it receives
on the left the small river Bogas; and thirty-five miles further, on
the same side, the Escopil, which is little inferior, and flows from
the same serra.
The name of this fine confluence is Forquilha. It is an advantageous
point for the establishment of a colony. From hence to the Paranna, the
distance is about thirty-five miles, with only two falls. Ten miles
above this point, the first of twenty-one falls is encountered, all of
them compressed within the space of ten miles; from these cataracts
upwards, the river has no interruption to a little above the Guaycuru
ford, already mentioned. The course is winding, the lateral lands low,
and covered with impervious woods.
The Correntes, which appears to be the same that the Spaniards called
Rio Branco, (White River,) is considerable, and enters the Paraguay
fifty miles below the _Fecho dos Morros_, (closing of Rocks.)
The Ipanne Guaçu, after having watered an uninhabited territory, falls
into the Paraguay one hundred miles below the Correntes.
At no great distance from the Igatimy are the heads of two small rivers
called (the northern) Iguaray Assu, and (the southern) Iguaray Mirim,
which after uniting, join the Chichuhi, a river that discharges itself
into the Paraguay, in the latitude of 24° 12′. Neither the treaty of
limits agreed upon in 1751 or 1777, mention this river, or any other
as the divisionary line; but from the principal origin of the Igurey,
the ninth article of the latter treaty, says, that the boundary is
to continue in “a direct line, by the highest land, to the principal
head of the nearest river which enters the Paraguay;” and the Chichuhi
appears to answer best this adjustment. This river is also called
Jejuhy, formed, it is said, by the Grande and Pequena Jejuhy, which
after their junction receives on the left the Coruguaty.
Nearly fifteen miles to the south of the Igatimy, the river Igurey
falls into the Paranna, which has formed the limits on that side,
between the crowns of Spain and Portugal, since the year 1777.
ZOOLOGY.--There are _antas_ of all colours, wolves, white deer, with
all other species of quadrupeds known in the other provinces. The
middle of the northern part of this province is called, in the journals
or diaries of the certanistas, Vaccaria, (or Cattle Plains,) in
consequence of the cattle that were here dispersed when the Paulistas
expelled the inhabitants of the city Xerez, and of five neighbouring
small aldeias, which formed a small province, of which the said city
was the head. The remainder of these animals, almost extinct from the
devastations of the wild beast and the hunter, were augmented in 1797,
by those which the Guaycurus carried off, when they plundered the
Spanish plains of the town of Coruguaty; and also by such as escaped
from the Coruguatynos, who pursued (to the number of upwards of fifteen
hundred) the barbarian pillagers.
Various savage nations have dominion in this country; the Guaycuru
is the most distinguished. At the present day they are divided into
three bodies; one of which, without any alliance with other nations,
live along the western margin of the Paraguay, subdivided into various
hordes: the most southern are called Linguas by the neighbouring
Spaniards; and when they infest the aldeias of the province of St.
Cruz de la Sierra, are there known by the name _Xiriquanos_;
others have the appellation of _Cambaz_. Those who possess the
eastern vicinity of the same river, constitute the other two bodies;
the southern are allied with the Spaniards, the northern with the
Portuguese. The Fecho dos Morros, or an approximating situation, is
the separating line. No difference is remarked of origin, idiom, and
usages, amongst these three portions of Indians, otherwise declared
enemies to each other. The allies of the Portuguese, extending from the
Mondego southward, are divided into seven hordes, or large aldeias,
generally friends to each other, and without the least difference in
any respect. Chagoteo, Pacachodeo, Adioeo, Atiadeo, Oleo, Laudeo,
and Cadioeo, are the names by which they are distinguished. In none
of these aldeias, which would be better designated as large towns,
are there any acknowledged superior to the rest. Each horde is
composed of three classes of persons; the first, are a species of
noblesse, entitled _captains_, and whose wives and daughters
have the distinction of _donas_; the second, are denominated
_soldiers_, or men whose military obedience descends from father
to son; and the third, _captives_ or _slaves_, comprising
the prisoners of war and their descendants. There are but a few of
the first in each aldeia, the second are very numerous, and the
third exceed many times the number of the others taken conjointly.
The captains and soldiers have an intermixed origin, and their title
of gentility is _joage_. The slaves are of various nations,
acquired in war, never undertaken with any other object, than for
the augmentation of prisoners, in the number of which consists the
degree of nobility, or distinction of the captains. These irruptions
are exterminatory, taking away the lives of the elder people and the
liberty of the younger. Such youthful captives soon forget their idiom
and customs, and adopt those of the Guaycurus, and never abscond, as
their masters do not occupy them in any thing. It is reputed highly
degrading for a senhor, or lord, to contract marriage with his slave;
the son treats with contempt the mother who bore him by a slave.
The Guaycurus are of medium stature, well made, healthy, robust, and
appear formed to the most painful and laborious undertakings. They eat
many times in the day, very slowly, and their provisions are generally
over-dressed, and cooked without any attention to cleanliness. They
never suffer from indigestion. They are most particular in the diet
which they use on occasions of their unfrequent indispositions. The
scurvy never makes its appearance, and sudden deaths are never known.
Bodily defects are exceedingly rare; blind persons sometimes are seen,
but none are ever bald. Their teeth are almost universally irregular,
in consequence of not extracting the first teeth of the youth when they
change them, an omission arising from the tenderness with which they
are treated; but they commonly retain them till death, although black
enough, from the prodigious quantity of tobacco which they use. The
women always carry a piece between the under lip and gums. They paint
the body with the dye of the _urucu_ and _jenipapo_, in which
operation much symmetry is preserved. The youth have no certain usage
in the disposal of their lank hair; the aged shave their heads similar
to the lay Franciscans.
The women likewise shave their heads around, and clip the hair, leaving
it three inches in length at the top. Their physiognomy is broad,
and presents nothing agreeable in consequence of the dye which they
introduce into the skin with thorns, forming lines, that commence at
the roots of the hair, and terminate at the eyelids or the cheeks,
and in some instances at the chin, where they give it the appearance
of a chess board, an ash colour being so indelibly fixed, that it
continues through life. They are usually wrapped up in a large cotton
cloth, from the neck to the feet, striped with various colours; the
more ostentatious ornament themselves with shells, the mother-pearl
appearing outwards; some have upon them the figure of their horses,
well drawn in black and white. Below this dress they wear a very wide
girdle, called an _ayulate_; without which a girl from her birth
is never seen. Ornamental strings of silver, in necklaces and bracelets
for the arms and legs, and a plate of the same metal at the breast, are
generally displayed, for the manufacture of which, a stone anvil and
hammer are used. In former times, these ornaments consisted of wood,
such as are yet seen amongst some of the poor.
Early in life they become meagre, and their skins, as well as those of
the men at an advanced age, are remarkably wrinkled.
The men have no other clothing than a narrow girdle, or _cinta_
of dyed cotton, which they tie round the middle of the body; and after
they have had communication with the Europeans, they cover them with
beads of divers colours, forming different devices. They ornament the
head, arms, and legs, with plumes, or feathers, of various colours.
They have the under lip perforated, and a cylinder of wood, almost as
thick as a writing pen, and three inches long, introduced, the richer
class wearing them of silver; and in their ears, half moons of the same
metal. The men are diligent in hunting, fishing, gathering honey and
wild fruits, and in the manufacture of arms and canoes, which they call
_noatek_. The women spin, manufacture clothes, and _cintas_,
or girdles of cotton; and make cords, mats, &c. Both sexes occupy
themselves equally in culinary affairs.
They breed all the species of domestic European birds and quadrupeds
introduced into the country, and some peculiar to this continent,
with great attention and care, in consequence of which the whole are
particularly tame.
Agriculture is held in contempt by them; and meat is their only
aliment, which renders their stock of animals not over abundant, with
the exception of horses, which they never eat. They change the colour
of a green parrot into yellow, by stripping off the plumage, and
applying the dye of the _urucu_, to its unfeathered skin.
From their custom of incessant riding on horseback, their legs are
crooked. They do not use the saddle or stirrups, nor any substitute for
them, and their bridles consist of cords. They break their horses in
water, in order that the rider may not be dismounted, or that his fall
may be less sensibly felt.
Their war-horses are not used for any other purpose, nor do they ever
sell them. The women are mounted on horseback between bundles of dried
grass upon a cloth which serves at the same time for a housing.
The Guaycurus are dreaded and respected by the surrounding nations, in
consequence of the advantage they have in cavalry in their cruel wars,
and the arms which they use, consisting of a club, or staff, of four
to five spans in length, and an inch in diameter; a lance, somewhat
thicker, and twelve feet long; a _trassado_, or large knife, and
the bow and arrow. They are equipped with all those arms, when they
proceed upon their war-horses, in the following manner. They encircle
themselves with a cord, between which and the body, the club is
introduced on the right side, the trassado on the left; with the left
hand they govern the horse, and with the right wield the lance, which
they do not use when they carry the bow and arrow. They also use the
laço in their hunting excursions.
A year does not elapse without their undertaking campaigns against, and
making prisoners of the Guatos, Cayapos, Bororos, Xiquitos, Chamococos,
(the two last are of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra,) Guaxis,
who dwell about the heads of the Aranhahy, Coroas, Caiavabas, Guannas,
and other tribes. The Guannas are the most numerous, and amongst them
alone is remarked the cultivation of some hortulans and cotton trees.
They content themselves with one wife; but the law is free to both
parties to effect a separation, and contract a new alliance, when one
is disgusted with the other; such separations, however, are very rare.
The ceremony of marriage consists in a plentiful banquet, accompanied
with a rude dance.
They have a general cemetery, which is a large open structure covered
with mats, where each family has a part staked off for its use. Above
the sepulchres of the men are deposited their bows, arrows, and other
arms. Those of distinguished warriors are decked with ornaments. Rich
young females are decorated as if for the bridal day. They have no
religion; and, in place of doctors or surgeons, there are certain
persons denominated _Unigenitos_, who are pretended diviners
and superstitious imposters, absolutely destitute of that knowledge
of medicine or cure of diseases, which belongs to other savages less
distinguished. They cure their patients by smoking or sucking the part
affected, and expectorating into a grave; they do not prescribe any
beverages.
They believe in a creator of all, but to whom they pay no kind of
homage, nor have recourse upon any urgent occasions; and also an
inferior spirit, endowed with the knowledge of futurity, whom they
denominate _Nanigogigo_. They admit the immortality of the soul;
but it would appear, they have no idea of future recompenses being
proportioned to the conduct of life; they imagine that the souls of the
captains and unigenitos are in a state of enjoyment after death, and
that those of the people wander about the cemetery.
The unigenitos acquire most credit by their pretended familiarity
with the Nanigogigo, for which the people consider them privileged.
The _macauhan_ is a bird which produces much auguration amongst
the Guaycurus, when its notes are unintelligible to them; upon such
occasions the subsequent night is a season of inconvenience and labour
to the unigenitos, who occupy themselves alternately in lamentable
singings, or in imitating the notes of various birds, shaking at the
same time a calabash with little stones in it, and in calling upon the
Nanigogigo to interpret the mysterious song of the bird. They practise
the same artifice when they pretend to know whether an invalid will
die or recover, and if good or ill success will attend an ensuing war.
It is considered a beauty amongst these people to have no hair upon the
eyebrows, being particularly careful to extract it on its appearing.
Their language abounds with words and phrases of soft and easy
pronunciation. The women explain themselves at times differently to
the men; for instance, in the expression of “Farewell, I am going,”
the latter say “_sara gigo oipilo_,”--the women, “_sara gigo
ioy_.”
There is nothing more remarkable amongst the Guaycurus than the inhuman
practice of the mothers in destroying the embryo on discovering their
pregnancy, until they arrive at the age of thirty. The reason of this
custom is to avoid the inconveniences annexed to the birth and rearing
of their offspring.
The streets of their villages or towns are straight and wide, the
houses are covered with mats of bulrushes, disposed horizontally in
dry weather, and slopingly in wet weather. Many have two and three
mats, one above the other, with more or less interval, as much for the
exclusion of the rain as for the diminution of the heat. They sleep on
the ground upon hides, and cover themselves with the cloths that the
women spread over the two bundles of grass between which they ride on
horseback.
None of their dwelling places are permanent. They are always near some
river or lake, and continue whilst there are game, fish, fruits, and
pasturage for the cattle. On experiencing any want, in a moment the
town disappears, and the plains, previously covered with thousands of
animals, are deserted. The marches of these caravans are grand and
interesting. On arriving at their destined place, another town rises
almost in a moment, and the surrounding campos, where scarcely a few
deer pastured, are on a sudden covered with numerous horses, oxen, and
flocks of sheep.
They manufacture an inebriating drink with honey and water, called
_chicha_; and to the rum of the Portuguese they give the name of
_nodak_.
Some express themselves tolerably in the Portuguese language, and have
made transitions to the towns or establishments of the province, since
they received the protection and subjected themselves to the Faithful
Crown, in virtue of which, the following patent, previously alluded to,
was granted to them.
“Joam d’Albuquerque de Mello Pereyra e Caceres, of his Majesty’s
council, chevalier of the order of St. John of Malta, governor and
captain-general of the capitanias of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba, &c.
maketh known to all those to whom this my letter patent may come,
that the nation of Indian Guaycurus, or Cavalleiros, having solemnly
contracted perpetual peace and friendship with the Portuguese, for
a term judicially done, in which the two chiefs, Joam Queyma de
Albuquerque and Paulo Joaquim Joze Ferreyra, in the name of their
nation, subject themselves and promise a strict obedience to the laws
of his Majesty, in order to be from this day hence forward recognised
as vassals of the same sovereign; I command and order all magistrates
of justice and war, commandants, and all persons of the dominions of
his Faithful Majesty, to recognise, treat with, and aid them, with all
the demonstrations of friends. And, for the confirmation of the above,
I have ordered the present Letter Patent to be passed to them, with my
signature, and sealed with the signet of my arms, in this capital of
Villa Bella, on the 30th July, 1791.”
The following words will partly show the difference between the
Guaycuru language and the general lingua.