Ilheos
Olivença
Rio de Contas
Camamu
Marahu
Barcellos
Serinhehem
Cayru
Igrapiuna
Boypeba
Valença.
Ilheos, or St. George, now decayed, and formerly a considerable place,
is on a plain upon the northern bank of the bay of the same name,
between the two small hills of St. Antonio and Our Lady of Victory,
which latter is the most distant from the sea. It has a church
dedicated to the Invençao da Vera Cruz, a hermitage of Our Lady of St.
Sebastian, near the beach, and one of Our Lady of Victory, upon the
hill of that name. It is well supplied with fish, and the necessaries
of life. The Jesuits had a college here, which serves for the municipal
house. The suburbs are agreeable, and the port, which can receive large
sumacas, is defended by various small forts. From hence is exported
farinha, rice, coffee, spirits, timber, and some cocoa. There are two
roads or tracks from this town, one already mentioned along the river
Cachoeira to the comarca of Serro Frio, the other to Villa Nova do
Principe, in the southern district of the comarca of Jacobina.
Olivença, nine miles to the south of Ilheos, is a large and populous
Indian town, delightfully situated upon a small eminence, enjoying
salubrious air, and an extensive view of the sea, between the mouths
of two small rivers of unequal size. All the houses are covered with
straw, and its inhabitants are generally occupied in works of turnery,
by which they obtain nearly a thousand crusades annually. The church
is a handsome stone building, denominated Our Lady da Escada, and a
bridge is over the larger stream, which washes the northern side of the
town.
Rio de Contas is a middling town, well situated a little within the
mouth and upon the southern margin of the river from which its name
is derived, and that forms a very good port for the reception of
sumacas between two rivers of very unequal magnitude, the waters of
which are excellent for tempering iron. It has a church dedicated to
St. Miguel, and a stone bridge over the larger river. The inhabitants
are obliged by the camara to cultivate, under certain penalties, so
many feet of mandioca, proportioned to the number of slaves which each
farmer possesses. This arrangement produces considerable exportation of
farinha to the capital.
Camamu is a town in a state of mediocrity, possessing some commerce,
and agreeably situated upon the left bank of the Acarahy, ten miles
above its embouchure, and opposite the mouth of the Cachoeira, which
joins the former on the right. It possesses a church of Our Lady of
Assumpçao, a hermitage of Our Lady of Desterro, and royal professors
of Latin and the primitive letters. The exports are considerable in
coffee, farinha, spirits, timber, rice, and cocoa. At this town a road
terminates from the central part of the district of the town of Rio de
Contas, from whence proceed numerous droves of oxen.
Marahu is a small town, well situated upon the margin and about twenty
miles distant from the mouth of the river from which it derives the
name, and by which small craft proceed up to its port. It has a church
dedicated to St. Sebastian. The inhabitants produce much mandioca, and
collect some timber. In its district are portions of soil particularly
adapted to the produce of water-melons and pine-apples, which are very
large and excellent, and are sent in considerable abundance to the
capital.
Barcellos is also a small town, advantageously standing at the angle of
the confluence of the small river Paratigy, with the Marahu, ten miles
below the town of the same name. The inhabitants are Indians, cultivate
mandioca and other necessaries of life peculiar to the country, and
dress the flax of _ticum_. The church is entitled Our Lady of
Candeias.
Serinhehem, commonly called Santarem, is a very small town, near the
mouth of the stream of that name, and peopled with Indians, who are
fishermen, agriculturists, and cutters of wood. St. Andre is the
titular patron of its church.
Cayru, a town of medium size, pleasantly situated upon a small
island of the same name, between those of Tinhare, Tupiassu, and
the continent, has one good paved street, with many houses of one
story. At its extremity is a convent of St. Franciscans; also a church
dedicated to Our Lady of Rozario, a hermitage of the Lady of Lapa, and
royal schools of the primitive letters and Latin. Some ouvidors select
this place for their residence; those now holding this appointment
are also judges, conservators of the woods, and preside at a junta
denominated Conservatoria.
Igrapiuna is an insignificant maritime town, at the mouth of the small
river of the same name, between Santarem and Cayru. Its inhabitants are
white, cultivators of rice, and other necessaries. It has a church of
Our Lady of Griefs.
Boypeba, an old town upon the island from which it takes the name, is
peopled by whites, who cultivate very little beyond the provisions of
life. The church is dedicated to the Holy Spirit.
Valença is an increasing town, upon the northern margin of the Una, a
little above its mouth. The church is dedicated to the Holy Heart of
Jesus, and its inhabitants are Indians and European descendants. Coffee
and timber are their productions.
About two miles from the lake of Itahype, and very agreeably situated,
is the povoaçao of Almador, with a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao.
The inhabitants are composed of whites and Indians, for the latter of
whom the establishment was founded; they produce farinha and other
necessaries, and are cutters of timber.
In a peninsula formed by the river Patype, near its mouth, and on
the most fruitful soil, is the large parish of St. Boaventura. The
inhabitants, who are also whites and Indians, grow abundance of rice,
mandioca, feijao, and Indian corn; cut wood, possess some cattle, and
are great fishers and hunters. The water-melons and pine-apples are
here very excellent and large.
_Comarca of_ JACOBINA.
The comarca of Jacobina takes its name from the head town, and
comprehends all the western part of the province, a considerable
portion of which consists of catingas that are not susceptible of
agriculture, but are appropriated alone to breeding cattle. Mountains
of any considerable elevation are rare, and woods are seen only where
the soil possesses some degree of substance, portions of which are
cultivated with mandioca, Indian com, sugar, legumes, hortulans, and
cotton. It is probable, from the considerable extent of this district,
and the system which the government is now adopting, of forming the
provinces into comarcas, that it will be divided into two, in which
event the town of Rio de Contas would be well suited for the head of
the future comarca. And for the better delineation of the topography
of the country, we will already consider it as divided into two equal
parts, or districts, that of Jacobina to the north, and Rio de Contas
to the south.
MINERALOGY.--It possesses gold, brass, iron, and silver; saltpetre,
mineral salt, potters’ earth, crystals, limestone, grindstone, and
granite.
MOUNTAINS.--The serra of Almas for a considerable space divides the
province from that of Minas Geraes.
The serra of Villavelha, near the town of Rio de Contas and the Pinga,
a few leagues to the west of the latter, the highest portion of which,
denominated the Morro das Almas, is seen from a considerable distance,
and is frequently covered with fogs. Various torrents, which take
different courses, have their origin in it.
The serra of Catulez, commencing a few leagues to the north of the
Pinga, extends forty miles to the north-west, and terminates within
twenty of the town of Urubu.
The serra of Montes Altos, (High Mountains,) which abounds with
saltpetre, is prolonged from north to south, at a distance of about
thirty-five miles from the river St. Francisco.
The serra of Cincura, which is a branch of the Aimores, extends almost
to the northern extremity of the province, discontinuing entirely in
various parts, and serving as a limit to the winter of the sea-coast,
when it is there rainy.
In the district of Jacobina, is the Morro do Chapéo, (or Hat Rock,) so
called from its similitude to a hat.
The serra of Thiuba, which possesses gold, and upon whose summit cold
is sensibly felt, is in some parts covered with rocks, in others with
woods; has many dwellers, and a hermitage of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante.
The serra of Paulista commands the view of a plain extending far to the
eastward.
The serra of Borracha, otherwise Muribeca, is said to have abundance
of brass, also some silver, and is not far distant from the celebrated
fall of Paulo Affonso.
The serra of Riachinho is a portion of that of Cincura; those who come
from the river St. Francisco, by the road of Joazeiro in the summer,
passing this mountain soon find pasturage for their animals, on its
eastern side.
Monte Santo, (Holy Mount,) so called from a hermitage upon it, has
calcareous stone; and in its vicinity, nearly sixty miles north-west of
Villa Nova, there is a large rock, or stone, almost all iron.
The serra Branca has a spring on the summit; that of Gado Brabo,
(Wild Cattle,) has small streams, woods, and gold, and is partially
inhabited. There are also the serras of Orobo, of Piedade, of
Mangabeira, with large woods and plantations, and that of Boqueirao, in
the vicinity of the river Verde.
RIVERS.--The Paramirim is neither considerable nor perennial,
descends from the Morro das Almas, runs north-west, and enters the
St. Francisco above thirty miles below the arraial of Bomjardim, near
a mountain, where there is grindstone. A little below the origin, it
passes near a large and deep lake with which it communicates, and
during the period of the inundations supplies it with much fish.
The Rans originates in the Montes Altos, and flows into the St.
Francisco thirty miles above the chapel of Good Jesus of Lapa.
The Rio de Contas springs in the serra of Tromba, above twenty-eight
miles north-west of the town of its name, and passing it at the
distance of about eighteen miles, takes a course with little variation
eastward; and, after flowing a considerable space, receives on the
right the Brumado, also called Rio Contas Pequena, (the Little Contas,)
which issues from the Morro das Almas, runs near the same town, and
two miles below it forms a fine cascade. Twenty miles below this
confluence, the Gaviao joins it on the same margin, and flows from the
Morro do Chapeo, a portion of the afore-mentioned Serra das Almas,
bringing with it the waters of the Antonio. Twenty miles lower, it
receives, on the left, the considerable Cincura, which originates in
the serra of the same name. We have already mentioned those rivers
that join it on traversing the comarca of Ilheos, where it enters the
ocean. The Paraguassuzinho, the Una, and the Andrahy, confluents of the
Paraguassu, which latter flows into the bay of All Saints, originate in
this district.
In the district of Jacobina, besides the three rivers of the same name,
which form the Itapicuru, discharged into the sea on the coast of
Bahia, is to be remarked the Jacuhype, which rises near the Morro do
Chapeo, and runs into the Paraguassu, twelve miles above the town of
Cachoeira. In its adjacent territory many cattle are bred, and lower
down provisions and tobacco are cultivated.
The Verde, whose wholesome waters flow northward through an extensive
country, partially abounding with cattle, finally enters the St.
Francisco near the passage from Pilao Arcado.
PHYTOLOGY.--Where there are woods a variety of timber for
building is met with, but in this district hitherto little used, in
consequence of the great deficiency of population. The wood called
_sebastiao d’arruda_ is common in many places. Of wild fruits,
the _jabuticaba_ which is found in the woods only, and the
_ambuzo_, alone met with in the catingas, are the most esteemed.
ZOOLOGY.--Amongst wild animals, the _anta_, the ounce, the boar, and
the deer, are the most numerous species, and most hunted. Cattle are
universally bred in this district, and would be more than adequate to
the supply of the whole province, if winter weather prevailed here,
or the thunder showers were regular in summer. It has been already
observed that the winters of the Beira-mar, or sea-coast, do not
extend more than ninety or one hundred miles into the interior of the
continent, where it rains proportionably only with the thunder, which
is generally not frequent, and at times almost fails in parts of the
north. The sun is vertical twice a year throughout the province, and
leaves the earth in a state of calcination: a few salutary showers
animate the soil in two or three weeks to abundant production, and
the cattle become fat; but the approach of dry weather as quickly
dissipates all herbage, and the animals exist upon the branches of
trees and shrubs, if they can obtain water; but if the tanks, which
the thunder showers supply, and the torrents are dried up, a mortality
necessarily prevails, and large numbers are swept off. Sheep and goats
are not numerous, in consequence of being almost universally deemed
animals of no utility.
In various parts of the district of Rio de Contas, the first
discoverers found bones of an immense size, belonging to a class of
animals that no longer existed.
The towns of this comarca are,
Jacobina
Villa Nova da Rainha
Rio de Contas
Villa Nova do Principe
Urubu.
Jacobina is a considerable town, and the ordinary residence of the
ouvidor of the comarca. It is situated near the left bank of the
southern Itapicuru, three miles below a lake, whose superfluous waters
enlarge the river. It was created a town in 1723, by King John V. and
consists of one large and good street, and other smaller ones. The
houses are mostly of stone, and white-washed with a species of potters’
earth, found in the vicinity. It is traversed by the small stream
Rio do Oiro, (Gold River,) which is passed by a bridge. The nominal
patron of the church is St. Antonio, there are also two hermitages,
one dedicated to Good Jesus, the other to Our Lady of Rozario. It has
a royal master of Latin, and had a smelting house whilst the mines
were productive. In the adjacent country are bred cattle, good horses,
hogs, sheep, and goats. The articles cultivated are sugar, cotton,
tobacco of an excellent quality, wheat, Indian corn, and legumes.
There are oranges, grapes, and small quinces, which latter are made
into marmalade, and exported in small cases. Some of the inhabitants
manufacture earthenware.
Villa Nova da Rainha, yet small, and possessing no advantages to
warrant the expectation of its increase, is sixty miles north of
Jacobina, and three from the Itapicuru Mirim. The houses are of earth
and wood, and tiled. The church is of brick, and dedicated to the
Senhor of Bom Fim. Cattle and cotton are the wealth of its inhabitants,
who also cultivate Indian corn, rice, feijao, mandioca, and distil some
spirits from the cane. The orange, lime, _jaca_, mango, banana,
and pine trees are common, as are the _mangaba_, and pine-apple.
In its district there are many crystals and saltpetre. Ten miles from
it is the arraial of Matriz Velha, whose church is dedicated to St.
Antonio, and is the most ancient in the comarca. The vicar resides
at Villa Nova, and has a coadjutor here. About five miles from Villa
Nova is the parish of the mission of Sahy, abounding with water. Its
inhabitants are principally Indians. Our Lady of Neves is its titular
patroness. In the district of Jacobina are yet the arraial of Figuras,
formerly flourishing, but at present of little note; that of Saude;
of Gamelleira, with a hermitage of Our Lady of Graça, near the river
Jacuhype; of Joazeiro, more distinguished than extensive and upon the
St. Francisco, in one of the most frequented tracks from Bahia to the
province of Piauhy, with a chapel of Our Lady of Grotas. Higher up,
and also upon the same river, is the parish of St. Joam Baptista, near
Centoce, where much salt is made; St. Antonio de Pambu is much below
Joazeiro; in its district is the magnificent fall of Paulo Affonso, and
the Primerios Campos, (First Fields,) where there are rich mines of
copper. The parish of Bom Jesus, or de Xique-xique, is also upon the
banks of the St. Francisco, about fifty miles above the mouth of the
river Verde.
Rio de Contas, a considerable town, upon the road from the capital to
the province of Goyaz, was created by John V. in the year 1724, in
consequence of the augmentation given to it by the discovery of gold
mines, which some Paulistas made in the year 1718. It is in a plain,
refreshed with salubrious air, upon the left margin of the Brumado.
The houses are mostly constructed with earth and adobe, or wood, are
white-washed, and without regularity. The church is dedicated to the
Holy Sacramento: it is the residence of a Juiz de Fora, also a royal
master of Latin, and was commenced two leagues higher up upon the same
river, where there yet exists a chapel of Our Lady of Livramento. The
inhabitants, and those of its vast district, cultivate mandioca, Indian
corn, rice, feijao, and tobacco, for the consumption of the country,
also the cane, for which there are some engenhos and alembics. Little
wealth exists in this district; those that in any degree possess it
are traders, breeders of cattle, and cultivators of the cotton tree,
which is here of excellent quality. The only European fruit is a small
and insipid quince, from which is made a great quantity of marmalade.
The nearest track or road from the town of Rio de Contas to Jacobina,
not more than one hundred and thirty miles, is little frequented, in
consequence of the catingas being uninhabited for want of water, which
is not met with for several days’ journey. The travellers carry it
in _borrachas_ (leathern bottles.) The way usually frequented
exceeds two hundred and thirty miles. In the district of this town
are dispersed various chapels or hermitages, which in the course of
time will become parochials, namely, in the serra of Montes Altos,
in the arraials of Morro do Fogo, (Rock of Fire,) Furna, Bom Jesus,
Catulez, and one of St. Antonio of Matto Grosso, six miles distant
from the town of Rio de Contas, which is constructed of stone and
served as a parochial for some years previous to the erection of the
before-mentioned one of Our Lady of Livramento.
Villa Nova do Principe, antecedently Caytete, was created a town in the
year 1810, and is in a situation refreshed with breezes, near a small
stream which flows into the Antonio. It is nearly fifty miles to the
west-south-west of Rio de Contas. The church is dedicated to St. Anna.
In the adjacent territory many cattle are bred, and there are more
extensive plantations of cotton than in any other part of the province.
Within its district is the chapel of Our Lady of Boa Viagem.
Urubu, yet a small town, in an advantageous situation upon the St.
Francisco, is ornamented with a stone church of St. Antonio and a
hermitage of Our Lady of Rozario. The inhabitants, having no fountains,
use the water of the river, which also supplies them with fish;
they breed cattle, and have some plantations of cane, and raise the
necessaries of life in such parts of its vicinity as are not deficient
in water. It is about seventy miles north-west of Rio de Contas.
Thirty-five miles to the north, upon the same river, is the small
arraial of Bom Jardim, with a hermitage of Our Lady of Bom Successo.
The people who inhabit it breed cattle, are agriculturists and
fishermen. Fifty miles from the town of Urubu is the celebrated
chapel of Bom Jesus da Lapa, but which does not correspond with the
description given of it by the exaggerating pen of Rocha Pitta. It is
a vast cavern, and one of the many curious operations which Nature
has displayed in this region, having some similitude to the form of a
temple, into which it was converted, being interestingly situated in
the skirts of a mount of rock, about a mile in circumference, upon the
margin of the St. Francisco. It has an effective chaplain and a good
patrimony. Not far from it there is a small povoaçao.
_Comarca of_ BAHIA.
The comarca of Bahia comprises upwards of one hundred and forty miles
of coast, computing from the river Jiquirica, which empties itself ten
miles west-south-west of Barra-Falsa, to the Rio Real, the northern
limit of the province, and one hundred and twenty miles in width,
being bounded on the west by the comarca of Jacobina. The face of the
country is varied by woods, small hills, a few serras, and catingas,
or charnecas, which occupy more than one half of it, and where cattle
alone are raised. It is not however without tracts of substantial soil,
upon the summits principally of the serras, in the profoundest valleys,
and in the vicinity of rivers, where fine trees grow, and where (after
they are cleared away) plantations are formed of mandioca, tobacco,
cotton, and millet.
The best land of the comarca is that called the Reconcave, from twenty
to thirty-five miles in width, immediately surrounding the fine and
picturesque bay of All Saints, (the harbour of its capital,) where
considerable estates are appropriated to the culture principally of the
sugar-cane and tobacco, productions which in no other province of the
state are afforded in such quantity; the soil called _massapé_,
black and strong, is deemed the best for the growth of the cane. The
winter, or rainy season, commences about the end of March and continues
till August, with considerable intervals of summer weather, and never
extends to the western extremity, where it rains only with thunder,
which is pretty general, and continues whilst the sun is southward of
the equator.
MOUNTAINS.--The principal serras are from the river Paraguassu
southward; the most remarkable are the Giboya, the Itapera, the
Mangabeira, the Bocetas, the Gayru, the Pedra Branca, and the Cupioba.
On the left of the same river, at a considerable distance from it, is
the Camizao, covered with extensive woods, where cotton plantations and
other objects of agriculture flourish.
MINERALOGY.--Granite, argils of different colours, gold, and iron, but
only in small quantities.
PHYTOLOGY.--Of European trees, the fig only flourishes. The mango tree
is very numerous in some situations, and produces fruit in perfection
and abundance; the _jaca_ is very common; the _mangaba_ tree is
universally known; the _jabuticaba_ prospers only in the woods, and the
_ambuzo_ in the catingas. Water-melons are generally very large and
good, but melons are bad. There are various sorts of oranges, the best
are the _embigos_, which have no seed, and those called _seccas_. There
are a variety of indigenous spices and peppers, as well as those from
Malabar; also ginger, jalap, _urucu_, _angelim_, and the _opuncia_,
of which there are various species and names, some are almost of the
form of a tree, and produce a fruit resembling a large pear, with a
smooth thin skin of a reddish hue, and a white, soft, and cooling pulp,
containing seed.
There is a variety of fine timber, such as the _jacaranda_,
_vinhatica_, _masaranduba_, _piquia_, _sucupira_, _sapucaya_, _paroba_,
_itapicuru_, _sebastiao d’ arruda_, _gonsalo alves_, bow wood, Brazil
wood, _brauna_, mulberry, whose trunk is used in dying, and the
leaves nourish a species of indigenous _bombice_, or silk worm, the
cultivation of which might be rendered lucrative. Amongst various sorts
of palm trees, the one best known by that name is the handsomest;
its trunk is high and of great thickness, very smooth and straight,
with branches of prodigious size, and growing only in the humid soil
of the woods. There are also the _cupahyba_ and gum-mastick trees.
The cajue-nut tree is very abundant. The cane, mandioca, tobacco,
and cotton, are the principal branches of agriculture, which have
produced a considerable diminution of the largest forests and woods,
particularly in the environs of the Reconcave; the growth of coffee is
pretty extensive.
ZOOLOGY.--All the wild quadrupeds of the adjoining provinces
are known here: sheep and goats are far from being numerous. Cattle,
which are bred generally in all parts beyond the Reconcave, are
not, even with the addition of those from the comarca of Jacobina,
adequate to the supply of the engenhos, the usual consumption, and the
furnishing of ships, in consequence of the pastures being generally
bad, and the frequent want of water. The deficiency is supplied from
the provinces of Piauhy and Goyaz.
The ancient _Quinnimura_ Indians were the first memorable
possessors of the Reconcave, or country surrounding the bay of All
Saints. They were succeeded by the _Tappuyas_, which tribe was
soon afterwards expelled by the _Tuppinas_, who came from the
certams, whither the others retired; but they never ceased to annoy and
to afford great inquietude to their conquerors. The _Tupinambas_,
who were masters of both banks of the St. Francisco, being at war
with the neighbouring Tuppinas, dispersed them, and marching forward
expelled the last conquerors of the Reconcave, and compelled them
to fly in their turn to the certams. The Tappuyas and the Tuppinas
uniting, marched upon the Tupinamba tribe, but were effectually
repulsed; and from that period to the arrival of the Portuguese in
the bay of All Saints, and their final establishment at Bahia, the
Reconcave remained in the possession of the Tupinambas. They were
divided into various independent hordes and declared enemies on all
occasions to the injurers of any one of them. The same idiom prevailed
amongst them, and each elected the most powerful individual for its war
captain, who in peace received no superior distinction. They were a
race of anthropophagi.
The only port of this comarca is the famous bay of All Saints, which is
twenty-three miles long from north to south, computing from the point
of St. Antonio, to the mouth of the river Pitanga, and near thirty wide
from east to west. The island of Itaparica forms two entrances, open
to the south, the eastern is about eight miles wide, and the western,
called Barra-Falsa (False Bar,) is under two at the narrowest part. The
margins of the bay are flat, and beautified in most parts with groves
of cocoa-nut trees; the most elevated portion of it presents the site
of the capital, St. Salvador, commonly called Bahia.
ISLANDS.--All the islands of this comarca are within the bay
of All Saints; that of Itaparica is the largest, being twenty-three
miles long from north to south, and ten in the widest part. It is of an
irregular form, having a bay on the western side, and a large curving
projection on the eastern, with considerable inequality of surface.
Its soil in great part is adapted for various branches of agriculture.
The cocoa-nut, the mango, the _jaca_, and orange trees, are
abundant; the vine produces in perfection. It is divided into the two
parishes of St. Amaro, on the southern side, and Santissimo Sacramento,
at the northern extremity; the latter is a considerable povoaçao,
the only one in the island, and yet without the title of town, also
without regularity, but with a handsome church, a hermitage of St.
Gonçalo, a fort, a good anchorage place for small vessels, sheltered
from the east winds, and at a short distance an abundant fountain of
excellent water. It has also a whale fishery, cord manufactories of
the _piassaba_, (a sort of black rush,) and some alembics. For
the instruction of youth there are royal professors of the primitive
letters and Latin. This island, which belongs to the Marquis de Niza,
and in whose territory the first annual payments in the state began,
was given by Thome de Souza to Don Antonio d’ Athayde, Count of
Castanheira, and afterwards made part of the capitania, which the King
gave to him, comprehending the territory between the rivers Paraguassu
and Jaguarype, with thirty-five miles of certam. About two miles
distant from the povoaçao there is a chapel called Vera Cruz, which was
formerly the mother church.
About three miles north of Itaparica is the island Dos Frades, which is
mountainous, and four miles in length; a little to the north of it is
the island of Bom Jesus, with a chapel of the same name, and another of
Our Lady of Loreto. Further north is the island Das Vaccas, two miles
long; to the east of it is that of Menino Deos, which is small. North
of Vaccas is the island of Bimbarra, and further in the same direction
that of Fontes.
The island of Mare, whose soil is mainly appropriated to the culture
of bananas, the support of its inhabitants, is five miles long, little
less in width, having its eastern extremity near the main land. The
isle of Cajahyba, three miles long, low, and cultivated, is situated at
the western extremity of the bay.
The island of Medo, which is very small, flat, and covered with
cocoa-nut trees, lies west of the northern end of Itaparica.
Between the western side of Itaparica and the continent there are many
islands, mostly small, flat, and uninhabited, in the proximity of the
bar. Those of Cal and Cannas are the largest.
RIVERS.--About three or four miles to the north-east of the
point of St. Antonio is discharged the Vermelho, which does not exceed
a rivulet, and is of very little extent. The road from the capital to
Itapuan crosses it by a stone bridge.
Eight miles to the north-east of the river Vermelho is the bay of
Itapuan, with a whale fishery. Between this bay and the said river
there are fisheries which furnish the capital with fish.
Ten miles onward to the north-east is the mouth of the river Joannes,
which originates in the district of the town of St. Francisco.
About ten miles further is the embouchure of the Jacuhype, which comes
from a great distance, as also the Pojuca, which follows it.
The Itapicuru is formed in the comarca of Jacobina, by three streams
of the same name. The southern one is called Guassu, or Large, and the
northern Mirim, or Small. It flows uniformly towards the east, passes
the arraial of St. Antonio of the Queimadas, by the town and arraial of
its name, and discharges itself into the ocean ten or twelve miles to
the south-west of Rio Real. Within its dangerous bar there is a bay;
the navigation is short, and only for small craft. Its adjacent country
is mostly of the catinga kind, serving only for breeding cattle.
The Jaguaripe, originating on the borders of the road to the mines,
about forty miles west of the town of Cachoeira, in the situation of
Curralinho, flows into the bay at Barra Falsa, affording navigation to
large barks, for the space of twenty miles.
The river Paraguassu rises in the vicinity of the serra Chapada, about
the centre of the district of the town of Rio de Contas. The small
streams Cocho and Encantada, (Enchanted,) which flow from a lake of
the latter name, so called from having a floating island, are the
first confluents which it receives on the left; the Paraguassusinho
(the Little Paraguassu) is the first on the right. The largest of the
rivers that join it on the left is the Andrahy, which flows from the
vicinity of the serra of Orobo. Not far from the mouth of this river a
small stream enters the Paraguassu, which a little above re-appears,
having flowed for some miles hid under solid ground. About twenty miles
below the large cascade formed by its waters traversing the serra
of Cincura, the Una joins it on the right, being the only abundant
stream that enters on that side, and whose black waters change the
crystalline Paraguassu to a yellowish colour. The Capibary and the
Peixe enter it on the left, also the Jacuhype, which rises in the
district of Jacobina. Twelve miles above the last confluence is the
fall of Timbora, less than that of Cincura. This river passes the towns
of Cachoeira and Maragogype, and discharges by a large mouth into the
western side of the bay of All Saints. The water is excellent; but
ought not to be drank till kept twenty-four hours. The occupiers of the
central part of its banks are frequently attacked with fevers, which
are often fatal.
The Serigy, or Serzipe, originates in the plains of Cachoeira, receives
the Subahe, which is equal to it, on the left, and, after ten or twelve
miles more, runs into the bay of All Saints, opposite the island of
Cajahyba.
A few miles to the west of the Serigy is the mouth of the Sararahy,
also called Assu, or Acupe, which becomes a small stream where the
tide terminates. The Piraja empties itself almost in the middle of the
eastern side of the bay.
Near the extremity of the same side, the Matuin flows into the bay in
front of the Island of Mare, and has a fine bay within its bar.
The Pitanga and the Paranna Mirim also add their might to the waters of
the bay of All Saints, the first in front of the island of Mare, and
the other opposite that of Fontes. Rocha Pitta represents them as large
rivers, but they are small streams, and alone assume the appearance
of rivers for the short space that the tide advances. Barks enter the
whole, and convey from them sugar in cases, &c. to Bahia.