_Boundaries--Caramuru--First Donatory--Cruel War of the Indians
--The Capitania forsaken--Return of the Donatory--Shipwreck--
Slaughter of all but Caramuru--Governor General--Foundation of St.
Salvador.--Comarca of the Ilheos--Originally a Capitania--Extent
--Fertility--Mountains--Mineralogy--Phytology--Zoology--Rivers
and Lakes--Povoaçoes--Comarca of Jacobina--Extent--Mineralogy--
Mountains--Rivers--Phytology--Zoology--Povoaçoes--Comarca of
Bahia--Extent--Mountains--Mineralogy--Phytology--Zoology--Islands
--Rivers--Povoaçoes--St. Salvador--Churches and Convents--Public
Buildings--Sepulchre of Caramuru’s Wife--Negroes--Commerce--
Produce--Exports in 1817 and 1818--State of Society--Adoption of
a new Constitution._
This province, which comprehends almost all the territory of the
ancient capitania of its name, with that of the Ilheos, is bounded on
the north by the provinces of Seregippe d’el Rey and Pernambuco; on
the south, by those of Porto Seguro and Minas Geraes; on the west,
by the province of Pernambuco, from which it is separated by the St.
Francisco; and on the east, by the Atlantic Ocean. It extends from 10°
to 16° south latitude, comprising three hundred and fifty miles from
north to south, and about two hundred and forty miles in width from
the coast to the town of Urubu, situated upon the margin of the St.
Francisco.
Tradition and history announce four remarkable events anterior to
the foundation of the capital, from which the colonization of the
province commenced:--the shipwreck of Diogo Alvez Correa, that of a
Castilian ship, the disembarkation of its only donatory, Francisco
Peyreyra Coutinho, and his unfortunate end. None of the writers on
this subject have assigned any distinct epoch to those circumstances,
and the discordancy which obtains amongst them veils their relations
in obscurity. The Jesuit Vasconcellos was the first who published, one
hundred and fifty years after their occurrence, the adventures of
Diogo Alvez Correa, the _Caramuru_,[26] almost in the shape of a
novel, and which subjects this portion of the early history of this
province to incoherencies and doubts. The said Jesuit who asserted that
he wrote from circumstantial documents, says he does not know whether
the vessel of the shipwrecked _Caramuru_ was proceeding to India
or the capitania of St. Vincente, as he pretends that the latter was
then in progress of colonization, by Martim Affonso de Souza, which,
from concurring testimony, is an affirmation not founded in truth;
Correa’s shipwreck having occurred in 1510, upwards of twenty years
previous to that event; and the vessel was unquestionably either one of
those included in the contract for Brazil wood, or in the progress of
an exploration of the coast, and did not belong to any of the armaments
destined for India.
The epoch of Correa’s shipwreck, who was a person of noble birth, and
his being the first European settler at Bahia, is confirmed by the
evidence of Herrera, who, in describing the misfortunes that attended
the St. Pitta, one of two Spanish ships that sailed from St. Lucar, in
September, 1534, (from which it would appear also, the shipwreck of the
Spanish vessel before alluded to, happened in the year 1535,) says,
“_onde hallaron un Portuguez, que dixo, que avia veynte y cinco ãnos,
que estava entre los Indios_.”[27] A person now living at Porto
Seguro has in his possession an ancient manuscript, which affirms that
Gaspar de Lemos, on proceeding to Lisbon with despatches of Cabral’s
new discovery, entered the river Ilheos and the Bay of All Saints;
where some sailors went on shore, and were suddenly attacked by the
Indians; that Diogo Alvez Correa, not having time to embark with his
companions, fled to a place where he was soon found by those savages.
This would make Correa the Caramuru’s residence near Bahia, to have
commenced in 1500; but, as this circumstance is not alluded to in the
authentic statements of Cabral’s expedition, it would still appear more
probable that Correa was thrown amongst the Indians, in consequence of
the shipwreck alluded to in 1510.
At the period when King John III. divided the Brazil into capitanias,
Francisco Peyreyra Coutinho was in Portugal, having recently returned
from India, where he had rendered important services to the state,
in remuneration for which, the said King granted him a capitania
of all the country which lay between the point of Padrao, (now
denominated St. Antonio,) and the St. Francisco, giving him afterwards
the reconcave of the bay of All Saints. He proceeded in person to
colonize this donation, with an armament fitted out at his own cost,
and disembarked at the point of Padrao. He fortified himself on the
site where the mother church of Our Lady of Victory is situated, and
preserved a state of amity with the Indians for some years. Cultivation
began to extend, and the more opulent and powerful settlers had
already established sugar works, when the Tupinamba Indians commenced
an inveterate and unceasing warfare for the period of seven or eight
years against them, carrying destruction and famine amongst the sugar
works and new establishments. Coutinho, with the small force which
now remained, discovered the impossibility of repairing the evils his
colony had sustained, and, consequently, determined to withdraw from
the increasing enmity and attacks of the Indians, which he accomplished
in one caravel, conducting the remains of the colony to the capitania
of Ilheos, where the Portuguese settlers were living in a state of
profound peace with the Tupininquin Indians.
The Tupinambas were a powerful tribe, and other hordes of Indians who
previously occupied the territory around Bahia, had been compelled to
give way to them. They affected to feel the circumstances attending
the departure and absence of the Portuguese, to whom they proposed
terms of friendship, which were acceded to. Coutinho lost no time in
re-embarking for the bay of All Saints, where, on arriving at the
entrance of the harbour, they were assailed by a tremendous gale of
wind, which drove them on the shoals off the island of Itaparica, and
all those who escaped on shore from the wreck were devoured by the
cannibal Indians, (also of the Tupinamba tribe,) excepting Diogo Alvez
Correa, who had accompanied Coutinho in his flight. Caramuru saved
his life from the circumstance of speaking the Tupinamba language. He
acquired considerable consequence amongst the Indians, and was elevated
to the rank of a prince. The chiefs offered him their daughters in
marriage, and his distinction was marked by the grant of a plurality
of wives. His offspring was numerous, and even at this day some of the
inhabitants of Bahia trace their origin to him.
In consequence of Coutinho’s misfortunes, the territory of Bahia became
_devoluto_, unoccupied; and the same monarch being informed of
the beauties and advantages of this fine bay, and the fertility of
its adjacent country, determined to found a city there, which should
become the capital of all the colonies, in order to afford them every
necessary succour against the Indians, who were at this period making
universal progress in their attempts against the new settlers. An
armament was accordingly prepared, of five ships, with six hundred
volunteers, four hundred _degradados_, (criminals,) an abundant
provision of every thing requisite for the foundation and defence
of the colony, some Jesuitical priests, in order to catholicize the
Indians, and many other sacerdotals for the administration of that
faith. This important enterprise was intrusted to an illustrious
individual named Thome de Souza, who had distinguished himself in
Africa and India, and the jurisdiction of the Brazilian state, or New
Lusitania, was conferred upon him under the title of governor general.
By this measure the sovereign suspended and limited the power which had
been given to the donatories of the different capitanias. Doctor Pedro
Borges was appointed ouvidor general, to register the proceedings of
all the capitanias. Antonio Cardozo de Barros, procurador of the royal
treasury, (or attorney general,) and some servants of the king were to
receive situations in the public offices.
The squadron left Lisbon on the 2d of February, 1549, and on the 29th
of March, arrived in the port where the unfortunate donatory had been
established, and a short distance from the place then occupied by
Correa. The situation of Coutinho’s establishment did not appear to
Thome de Souza to be well selected; and he commenced the projected city
in the place where the chapel of Our Lady d’ Ajuda is situated, about
a mile further to the north, against the votes of some individuals who
preferred the site of Montserrat.
In the following year a galliot was ordered out, laden with European
animals, commanded by Simon da Gama; and in the year 1551, the same
succour was furnished by a squadron, of which Antonio d’ Oliveira was
commander: he brought some young females of noble extraction, from the
orphan establishment, strongly recommended by Queen Donna Catharina
to the governor, in order that they might be betrothed in marriage,
with certain portions, to the principal persons of the state. Similar
assistance was annually continued, during the quadrennial government
of the first governor and of his successor Duarthe de Costa. The
Jesuits, at the head of whom was the celebrated P. M. Nobrega, pursued
their purpose of civilizing and introducing Christianity amongst the
Indians, through the imposing medium of ceremonies, parade, and pomp,
with remarkable and continued success, up to the period of the general
expulsion of their sect: and the colonists of Brazil, particularly
those of this province, are indebted most materially for the reduction
of many of the hordes of Indians who occupied the coast, to the great
influence which the Jesuits acquired over them. Duarthe da Costa
was succeeded in 1558, by Mendo de Sa, who obtained the government
for fourteen years, during which period this province advanced
considerably. He also afforded assistance to all the capitanias whose
colonization was opposed by the Indians. This province is divided into
three comarcas--Ilheos, Jacobina, and Bahia.
_Comarca of the_ ILHEOS.
This comarca, which extends from the river Jiquirica to the Belmonte
or Jiquitinhonha, occupies the territory of the suppressed capitania
of the same name, which at first took in an extent of fifty leagues of
coast, from the embouchure of the Jaguaripe opposite the southern point
of the island of Itaparica (afterwards from the island of Tinhare,) to
the commencement of the capitania of Pedro do C. Tourinho. Its first
donatory was George de Figueyredo Correa, a fidalgo of the King, and
escrivam of the treasury (or chancellor of the exchequer.) The public
situation which he held prevented his going personally to colonize
it; he therefore nominated a Spanish cavalier, Francisco Rameiro, and
intrusted him with the command of an armament equipped with every
thing requisite for the purpose, and which arrived safe in the port of
the island of Tinhare. Here Rameiro founded a town upon the morro of
St. Paulo; but, becoming disgusted with the situation he had chosen,
the colony was removed to the river of Ilheos, where a new town was
commenced, and received the name of St. George, in honour of the
proprietor. War was maintained against the Indians for a few years, but
being a tribe of the Tupininquins, who possessed much more docility of
character than any of the others, friendship was at last established
with them; and the harmony which afterwards prevailed tended greatly
to the augmentation of the capitania, and many rich men of Lisbon
ordered sugar-works to be erected, which produced a rapid increase of
population and commerce.
Jeronimo Alarcao succeeded his father, Figueyredo Correa, and shortly
afterwards, by royal consent, he sold this capitania to Lucas Giraldes,
who expended a considerable capital in its improvement, which was,
however, rendered futile in consequence of the destruction occasioned
by the Aimbores, who fell upon his people, killed a great many, and
compelled the rest to retire to Bahia. Mendo de Sa went personally
to succour the unfortunate colonists, and carried havoc amongst the
Indians, about the year 1570.
One of the successors of Lucas Geraldes transferred this capitania
to D. Ellena de Castro, for the payment of a debt; in the possession
of which illustrious family it remained till the year 1771, when
Joseph I. incorporated it with the crown lands, giving to Don
Antonio de Castro, the last donatory, the countship of Rezende, and
an admiralship, with a revenue of five thousand crusades. It is a
mountainous country, almost universally covered with wild woods and
forests, which produce a diversity of timber for building, cabinet
work, and dye-woods. The frequent rains contribute much to the growth
of the woods, which preserve the soil in a state of moisture. There is
scarcely any situation where mandioca, the coffee tree, rice, Indian
corn, the sugar cane, and cotton tree do not prosper. They are the
principal articles of cultivation. The culture of indigo might be
rendered lucrative, as well as cocoa and _pechurim_. Although the
country produces them spontaneously, the latter is not so full grown as
that of Para.
MOUNTAINS.--The serra of Aimores originates in this comarca, where
it commonly receives the name of Itaraca, and sometimes Goytaracas,
or Baytaracas; in many parts it is uneven and broken, in some it
approaches the sea, and in others stretches far into the interior.
Between the rivers Ilheos and Contas it is parallel with and very near
to the beach. All the other mountains are ramifications of this; and
almost all parts, particularly the Beira-mar, or sea-coast, are dressed
in verdant woods.
MINERALOGY.--Granite, limestone, potters’ earth, crystals, and gold in
the western district of the province.
PHYTOLOGY.--Amongst medicinal plants are found ipecacuanha, _alcacuz_,
_contrayerva_, (used against poisons,) _butua_, jesuits’ bark,
jalap, tamarind, _milhomens_, or basil root, _curucu_, _barbatimao_,
_curcuma_, or turmerick, betony. The gum trees are gum-copal, dragons’
blood, angelem, and mastick. Amongst the trees of good timber for
building are _macaranduba_, _tapinhuan_, _vinhatica_, _loiro_,
_jinipapo_, _itapicuru_, cedar, _pilia_, _hybicuhyba_, sassafras,
_angico_, _gonsalo-alves_, bow wood, oil wood, iron wood, violet wood,
_sucupira_, _sapucaya_, _caixete_, _coroçao de negro_, (negro’s heart,)
and Brazil wood. There are also trees of _cupahiba_, _suma-uma_,
cajue-nut, _jabuticaha_, _mangaba_, the _goyaba_, _araticu_, and a
diversity of palms. The Asiatic cocoa-nut tree is very abundant in
the proximity of the shore. The _piassaba_ tree, common in the woods,
furnishes a lucrative branch of commerce in its flax for cables; of its
nut various turnery articles are made. The _nayha_ tree, as large as
the first, grows in the interior, and sustains with its nuts a variety
of birds, principally the _arrara_, and quadrupeds; they are little
inferior to the cocoa, the inside being very sweet.
ZOOLOGY.--All parts of the comarca are generally deficient in domestic
animals; hogs, which are the most numerous, fly to the mountains, in
certain moons, and do not re-appear till after some days. In the woods
are the deer, _anta_, boar, and other game. The wild dog has been
known in this district only a few years. The _mutun_, _jacu_, macuco
partridge, and _tucano_ are common; as well as the _arraponga_, and
various sorts of the turtle-dove. The _cayrua_ is of the size of a
blackbird, blue on the back, with the breast purple, the wings and
tail black, the beak short and broad; the feathers of the breast,
when placed before the heat of a fire, assume the colour of gold; but
the Author of Nature has not destined this bird, so esteemed for its
plumage, to delight the ear. Various species of bees produce honey
spontaneously, some in the cavities of the trunks of trees, others in
little hives of wax which they form in the twigs.
The Tupininquin tribe, who possessed the sea-coast when the colonists
established themselves in this comarca, (ci-devant capitania,) have
been partially Christianized for many years; and, having intermarried
with the Europeans, a portion of the population exhibit a mixture of
the Tupininquin physiognomy.
In the certam there existed for some ages two nations, denominated
_Patachos_, or _Cotochos_, and _Mongoyos_; the former is at present
unknown.
The Mongoyos, reduced in the year 1806, are divided into six or seven
aldeias, thinly peopled in their vicinity, and to the north of the
river Patype. Each family lives in its cabana. They cultivate various
sorts of roots, besides excellent mandioca, and water-melons. They are
very extravagant of honey in their method of taking it from the hives.
They clear away all the wax, as well as the bees, which they find in
the cells, and strain the whole through a sort of sifter; the wax and
bees are subsequently distilled in a certain portion of water, which
ferments and produces a beverage, which when taken copiously leads them
on from intoxication to fury. They make even a more spirituous drink
from a sort of potato, and the root of mandioca pounded, and infused
to the point of fermentation. The fathers give names to their new-born
sons without any ceremony whatever. They weep over the dead, and inter
them seated in a naked state. They dance and sing to the sound of an
instrument as simple as inharmonious, and in the form of a bow with a
slender cord. The women wear a well made cotton fringe, which reaches
almost to the knees; the men a girdle made of palm leaves, and have no
other covering upon their well proportioned bodies. They spend a great
portion of their time wandering in the woods, hunting, and gathering
fruits. The manufacture of earthen vessels is the only handicraft
which they exercise. They use the skins of deer for bags. The dog is
the most useful domestic animal in their estimation, and the only one
which they breed for the purpose of hunting. They covet nothing so much
of the Christians as instruments of iron. Their medicine consists in
plasters of pounded herbs, baths, and beverages of others boiled; all
derived from the experience or tradition of their ancestors. The bow
and arrow are their only arms, both for war and hunting; those who have
been catechised prefer the gun.
RIVERS AND LAKES.--The most considerable is the river Contas,
primarily called Jussiappe. It originates and receives its first
confluents in the comarca of Jacobina. The streams that incorporate
with it in this comarca, by the northern margin, are the Preto, Pedras,
Manageru, the small Area, Pires, Agua Branca, (White Water,) and the
Orico Guassu, which generally traverse extensive forests, exhibiting
few signs of colonization or cultivation. It receives by the southern
bank the Grugungy, little inferior to it, the principal branch of
which is the Salina. The Patacho Indians are masters of its adjacent
territory. Below this confluence is the situation called Funis, where
the river runs with divided rapidity, almost hid amongst stones, and
discharges itself thirty-five miles south of Point Mutta, and about the
same distance north of the Ilheos. Sumacas proceed fifteen miles up it
to the first fall, where there is a populous aldeia, with a hermitage.
The Patype, which has its source in the comarca of Serro Frio, and
there has the name of Pardo, runs through a stony bed, with numerous
falls, which renders it unnavigable. Its mouth is ten miles to the
north of the river Belmonte, with which it communicates in two
places by the channels of Jundiahy and of Salsa, which latter, about
twenty-eight miles from the sea, divides its waters between the Patype
and the Belmonte.
About five miles from the Salsa is the deep and circular lake of
Antimucuy, abounding with fish, and having two outlets into the
Belmonte.
Ten miles north of the Patype is the Poxim, and about the same distance
from the latter the Commandatuba.
Fifteen miles north of the Commandatuba is emptied the Una, which rises
in the Aimore mountains, and gathers by its right bank the Braco do
Sul, that flows also from the same serra. Sumacas advance nearly ten
miles above this confluence, which is about three miles distant from
the sea.
The river Ilheos is the entrance of a fine bay, into which various
streams flow, navigable with the tide for a greater or less distance;
but the only considerable one is the Cachoeira, along the banks of
which is a fine flat roadway, nearly half the distance of its extent.
The Engenho is navigable for the space of eight miles to the base of a
beautiful cascade. The others are all small. The bar of the Ilheos is
pointed out by four islands; three are very rocky, the other is robed
in verdant woods, and the whole are of moderate elevation.
Three miles north of the bar of Ilheos is that of the Itahype, which
is narrow and deep, not having more than twenty-five miles of extent,
being the outlet of a deep lake of the same name. It is seven miles in
circumference, and three in width, with a small island, and is bordered
with woods and forests, from whence issue several small streams into
this fine receptacle. The spontaneous woody productions of the banks of
this lake might be conveyed with much facility to the bay of Ilheos, by
opening a canal from the Itahype to the Fundao, and which undertaking
had, in fact, at some former period been commenced.
In the northern part of this comarca are to be observed the rivers
Marahu and Acarahy, which flow into the bay of Camamu; the Serenheham,
which empties itself in front of the island of Boypeba; the Jiquie,
which enters by two unequal mouths into the channel that separates
the isle of Tinhare from the continent; the Una, which originates in
the serra of Pedra Branca, (White Stone,) and runs into the sea a few
leagues to the north of the Jiquie; and the Jiquirica, which descends
from the serra Giboya, having its mouth a few miles to the north
of the Una. The whole afford only a very short navigation, and the
largest have not a course exceeding sixty miles, their waters being
precipitated by numerous falls, and flowing through a country of a
mountainous aspect, possessing fertile soil and forests of fine timber.
PORTS AND ISLANDS.--The bay of Camamu, at the southern entrance of
which is Point Mutta, with a fort, is the only port of the comarca
capable of receiving large vessels. It is beautified with several
islands, and has numerous streams navigable only as far as the tide
advances.
From the bay of Camamu, nearly to the Una, the coast is bordered with
islands; three of which, only, are of any considerable size, the
Tinhare, the Boypeba, and the Tupiassu.
The island of Tinhare, better known by the name of Morro, in
consequence of having a rock called the morro of St. Paulo, is eighteen
miles long from north to south, of proportionable width, with a fort at
its northern extremity, and near it a povoaçao, and hermitage of Our
Lady da Luz.
The island of Boypeba, south of Tinhare, from which it is separated by
a channel, is six miles square, and has a town on its eastern shore.
The island of Tupiassu, ten miles long from east to west, and half the
width, is between Tinhare and the continent, and the two branches of
the river Jiquie.
Fifteen miles to the south of Boypeba is the small island of Quieppe,
formerly fortified, and forming two unequal bars to the bay of Camamu.
Seven miles west of Quieppe, and almost in the centre of the bay, is
the island of Camamu, elevated and of a circular form, two miles in
diameter, and with some dwellers. It is now generally denominated
the island Das Pedras, or Stones, which are found upon it in great
quantities. They are of a ferruginous colour, and as heavy as lead;
some have veins of silver, but not sufficient to repay the labour of
its extraction. The fishermen of the southern coast make leads from it
for their nets and lines.
Near ten miles north-north-east of Quieppe is the island of Tubaroes,
larger than Camamu, well provided with water, possessing cocoa groves,
and some inhabitants.