The Jesuits had a magnificent college (the front of whose church is of
European stone) occupying the best situation of the city, now converted
into a military hospital, with a chapel in the interior ornamented with
many paintings that represent the life of S. Estanislaw Kosca, and a
school of surgery. The religious processions and festivities are much
the same here as at Rio de Janeiro. The palace of the governor on one
side commands a view of the port and the lower city, and fronts into
the Praca da Parada, the eastern part of which is formed by the camara
or council house. The archiepiscopal palace is of two stories, one side
facing to the sea, and with a passage to the cathedral, which has a
spacious nave: the chapter consists of eighteen canons.
There is a mint, a port admiral, an intendant of gold, a civil court
of relaçam, presided by the governor, at present the Count de Palma.
This court, created here by Philip I. in 1609, was abolished by
Philip II. and re-established by John IV. in 1652. There is also an
ecclesiastical court and a junta da fazenda real, (the treasury,) for
the administration of the affairs of the province, composed of five
deputies, viz. the chancellor of the relaçam, the port admiral, the
_procurator to coroa_, (attorney-general,) the treasurer, and
the _escrivam_, (chief of the treasury,) also presided by the
governor; likewise another, called the house of inspection relative to
commerce and agriculture, with an equal number of deputies, consisting
of two merchants and two planters, one of tobacco the other of sugar,
with a secretary; the intendant of gold is president. There are
eight royal professorships of philosophy, rhetoric, mathematics,
Greek, Latin, &c. but they are far from diffusing the knowledge their
high-sounding denominations would warrant the expectation of. There
is also a public library in the ex-Jesuitical college, a printing
press, the only one in the Brazil excepting one at Rio, a manufacture
of glass, and a seminary for the _meninos orfaos_ (young male
orphans.)
Various forts defend this city on the sea side; amongst which may be
remarked that of St. Marcello, of a circular form, with two batteries
situated in the centre of the anchorage place. On the land side there
is an extensive and deep lake, which, for a considerable period, served
as a fosse, called the Dique, and where there are many alligators. This
city was taken by the Dutch in 1634, and cannonaded by a force under
Prince Nassau, without a similar result, in the year 1636.
In its eastern suburb is the hospital of Lazaretto, which was a
house of recreation belonging to the Jesuits, and where there is a
plantation of Malabar pimento trees, the finest, it is said, in the
Brazil. The suburb of Bom Fim took its name from a chapel of that
title, very agreeably situated. About two miles to the east is the
parish of Our Lady of Penha, in the extremity of a peninsula where the
archbishops have a country house, and where there is a dock-yard for
the construction of large ships. This situation, called Tapagype, is
beautified with a profusion of the airy cocoa-nut trees.
In the suburb of Victoria is the before-mentioned entertaining house of
the Benedictines, in whose church of Our Lady of Graca is an epitaph
relative to D. Catharina Alvarez, the daughter of an Indian chief, and
one of the wives of Diogo Alvarez Correa, the Caramuru. She accompanied
Correa to Europe, where they remained a short period and excited much
interest at the French court, where she was christened, and called
after Queen Catharine, relinquishing her name of Paraguassu, derived
from the river already described. The epitaph is comprised in the
following words:--
“_Sepultura de D. Catharina Alvarez, Senhora desta Capitania da
Bahia, a qual ella, e seu marido Diogo Alvarez Correa, natural de
Vianna, deram aos Senhores Reys de Portugal: Fez, e deu esta Capella ao
Patriarca St. Bento. Anno de 1582._”[29]
The society of this city is considered superior to that of Rio de
Janeiro, and the families appear to maintain a more social intercourse
with strangers. Its population may be estimated at nearly one hundred
and ten thousand, upwards of two-thirds of which are negroes, who,
being of one nation and speaking the same idiom, with greater facility
planned their insurrections, which till lately have frequently
occurred, making it requisite for the governors to maintain a very
rigid discipline over them. In the government of the Count de Ponta
an order was issued that no negro should appear in the streets after
Avi-Maria without a ticket from his owner, stating the object of his
business; in default of which the penalty was one hundred and fifty
lashes. This order had the salutary effect of preventing a great
portion of them from wandering into the streets without some proper
object.
The arrival of the late Queen and the present King here, in the year
1808, on their way to Rio de Janeiro, produced great joy, and the
inhabitants voluntarily offered to erect a palace at their own expense
for the royal family, if they would establish their court in this city.
The negroes conceived that the arrival of the Prince Regent relieved
them from the restraints which they had been subjected to; and the bold
and audacious character peculiar to this nation of Africans immediately
led them to the determination of disclaiming the right of the governor
to inflict the one hundred and fifty lashes, now that the Lord of the
territory was come, and they ingeniously communicated their resolution
to the governor in the two following poetical lines.
Don de Terra chegou,
Cento e cincoenta acabou.[30]
On the departure of the Royal Family, and as soon as the fleet had
passed the bar, the Count de Ponta, adopting the style of the negroes,
directed the two lines below to be posted up in every part of the city
and suburbs, announcing to them that the one hundred and fifty lashes
were resumed.
Don de Terra abalou,
Cento e cincoenta ficou.[31]
The Count de Ponta was succeeded in the governorship by the Count
d’Arcos, a nobleman already spoken of. The rigid and necessary system
pursued by his predecessor was in some measure relaxed. The negroes
had always on holidays and Sundays indulged, without restraint, in the
customs and rude amusements peculiar to their native country. In Bahia
they usually assembled in the praca, or square, in the upper city, and
frequently selected one from amongst the rest who was dignified with
the title of chief, and received all the homage bestowed upon a chief
in their own country. A friend of mine, passing on a Sunday through
this square, observed them going through the ceremony of executing, or
putting to death, white men, which were represented by effigies dressed
for the purpose; this was intended for the amusement of their chief,
but that there was some ulterior object in this species of diversion,
must have been manifest. In the course of a few months afterwards, a
general revolt took place amongst them, in which they proclaimed the
Count d’Arcos their prince, and threatened destruction to the rest of
the whites. They had already commenced their operations before it was
known to the governor, and were performing a bloody circuit around the
vicinity of the city, and putting to death all the white persons met
with at the different hortas. They were, however, very soon surrounded
by the Count d’Arcos, at the head of what force he could assemble, and
a great many forfeited their lives for this atrocious and sanguinary
attempt, the consequences of which, had they succeeded, would have
been horrible, as they would have murdered every white person in the
place. Subsequent to this, orders were issued by the government, that
the negroes throughout the state were to discontinue their public
assemblages on holidays and Sundays.
A theatre was erected here about seventeen years ago, but the
performances are not equal even to those at Rio. In the high city there
is a public walk, with a mirador in the form of a veranda, from whence
a view is commanded almost of the whole bay; near it there is a pyramid
of European marble, erected in memory of the short stay the Royal
Family made here on its way, in 1808, to the metropolis.
The commerce of this city stands next in extent to that of Rio de
Janeiro, and the main portion of it passes through the medium of the
English merchants, comprising nearly twenty establishments. Every
description of British manufactured goods has an extensive sale; but
the competition already stated to exist in the capital also prevails
here, affording these importations to the native dealers much below
their value: and the cultivators have another advantage over our
merchants, in consequence of their being under the necessity of
purchasing produce for the return cargo, bills upon Europe being with
difficulty or seldom obtained. The reader is already aware, from the
statement of the productions of the province, that sugar, tobacco, and
cotton, are the principal objects afforded to the merchant for the home
shipments; and as eight-ninths of the cotton, some sugar, and tobacco,
come to England, we will offer a few remarks relative to the quality
and quantity of each article.
The crop of sugar in the year 1816 amounted to thirty thousand cases,
averaging about forty arrobas each case; and the shipments between the
1st of October, 1817, and the same date in 1818, comprised twenty-six
thousand one hundred and thirty-three packages, consisting of the
denomination of _branco_ and _bruno_ (white and brown.) The
new sugars begin to arrive here in the months of December and January,
and some few in November. The most desirable months for purchasing
sugar are from January to May, comprehending the summer season, when it
is in an arid state, and the grain thereby improved; during the rainy
months the sugar becomes succulent, and the grain inferior; in the
early part of the first season also, the higher numbers of whites and
browns are more abundant, the latter arrivals consisting of the lower
numbers of both. The sugars are submitted to the inspection of the
establishment before mentioned, and divided into the following numbers,
according to quality, colour, and grain.
White--The lowest quality is termed _Branco baixa_.
Second _Branco dez_ No. 10.
Third _Branco onze_ 11.
Fourth _Branco doze_ 12.
Brown--The lowest quality is termed _Muscovado brumo_.
Second _Muscovado redondo_.
Third _Muscovado maixo_.
In addition to the above, a few boxes of whites are made of a superior
quality, and rated as high as _quinze_, or fifteen. The best
sugar in this market is produced in the Reconcave, arising, as has
been before observed, from the excellent adaptation of its soil to
the culture of the cane. These and others, coming from the interior
to the bay, are denominated _dentros_, and are not generally so
white as those termed _foras_, which come from without the bay,
and are produced along the coast. The _foras_ are much softer in
grain, but, from their superiority in colour over the _dentros_,
they obtain a preference in some markets; but not for Hamburgh or those
places where sugar is used for refining.
An average crop of tobacco may be estimated at six hundred thousand
arrobas; but in some years it almost fails, as in 1817, arising from
the continued dry weather which burnt up the plants; and for the year
ending the 1st of October, 1818, only thirty-two thousand six hundred
and eighty-one arrobas, were shipped. One-third, and more frequently
one-half, of a tobacco crop is rejected as unfit for shipment to Europe.
Tobacco comes to market from January to March, principally through
the medium of the towns of Cachoeira and Santo Amaro, where it is
previously made up into rolls. The whole is accumulated in one
government warehouse, where it undergoes a very rigid inspection,
and is separated into approved and rejected portions; the latter is
only shipped to the Portuguese possessions in Africa, and, since the
abolition of their slave trade north of the Equator, where it was
principally used, the price has fallen greatly, and very little of it
is now taken in their outward cargoes to Cabinda, Angola, &c. which
consist principally of coarse East India goods, a little rum, trinkets,
&c.
The purchasing of tobacco is deemed by the merchants not only the most
troublesome, but the most precarious branch of their dealings. Tobacco
is usually bought before inspection, so that the merchant has all the
trouble of that operation. The whole of the crop coming to market in
a short period, and piled together in one warehouse, produces great
confusion, rendering it very difficult to get at the lots agreed for;
and when found, probably, only a few rolls turn out good, so that
other lots are to be purchased, and another search undertaken to find
them, attended with the same inconvenience as the first; and, in some
instances, an examination of five or six hundred rolls will only
afford twenty good ones. This delay is prejudicial to the interest of
the merchant, in consequence of tobacco being a perishable article;
besides, it is of the highest importance to get the shipments to Europe
as early as possible, for not only do the first arrivals sell best,
but, in the event of a stagnation occurring, the owner being compelled
to retain this article, there is a great chance of its rotting upon his
hands.[32] Previous to the shipments to Europe, the tobacco is opened,
fresh molasses put to it, and made up into rolls, averaging about
fifteen arrobas each. The refuse shipped to Africa is made into rolls
of about three arrobas each.
Leaf tobacco is a monopoly of the crown. After inspection, it takes
the approved at a price proportionable to that of the roll, and it is
shipped for Goa. The refuse remains with the planter, who is allowed to
sell it to the merchants, and it is usually shipped to Lisbon.
The average crop of cotton for four years, up to and including 1816,
was twenty-four thousand four hundred and forty bags; but the shipments
for the year ending on the 1st of October, 1818, amounted to thirty-six
thousand one hundred and thirty-nine bags.
The books of the public warehouses in this city are annually closed
on the 1st of October, to ascertain the crops of produce; but at
this time some of the old crop of cotton is not received, and it
continues partially to arrive till the end of the year. In the month
of February the new cotton comes to market abundantly, and in the
course of the four following months the main part of the crop may be
said to have arrived, with the exception above stated. The quality of
the cotton varies according to the place in which it is grown; part of
that sold in Bahia is produced in the southern part of the province
of Pernambuco, and is distinguished, also, by the term of foras, as
that of Bahia is by dentros. The former has materially the advantage
over the latter in point of staple, being longer and more silky, also
stronger; but its value is greatly reduced by the dirty state in which
it arrives here, as well as by the frequent tricks of the planters, in
putting seeds, and even staves, in the centre of the bags. These abuses
have been unattended to, and the cotton inspection of Bahia is almost
nominal; this flagrant neglect of the inspectors, so opposite to that
of every other kind of produce, is supposed to be connived at by the
governor, upon this ground, that, if the inspection was rigid and the
planters were compelled to clean their cotton, they would then send it
to the Pernambuco market, where it would command a higher price, by
ranking as Pernambuco cotton, and thus prejudice the revenue of the
town of Bahia.
The dentros, or those cottons grown within the province of Bahia, are
a shorter, and not so silky or strong a staple as the foras, and have
another material fault in being occasionally mixed with stained cotton,
but they are much better cleaned, and in this respect they have of
late years improved; whilst the foras have become even worse than they
were, so that scarcely any difference exists between them as to price.
The latter formerly sold at from two to three hundred reas per arroba
higher than the dentros. Exclusive of these two qualities some _Minas
Novas_ find their way to Bahia, and if of good quality sell on a
par with them. The increase of the cotton crops has been retarded in
consequence of some of the planters, a few years ago, turning their
attention more to the produce of sugar, from the high prices then
obtained for it.
A very great portion of the cotton denominated dentros comes from
Villa Nova do Principe, in the comarca of Jacobina, a town possessing
very considerable plantations of cotton in its surrounding territory;
from whence it is conveyed to Cachoeira, upon the backs of horses and
mules, in square packages, formed of raw hides, called _malas_,
each containing three arrobas, (96 lb.) two of which constitute a
horse-load, and are denominated by the Portuguese a _carga_.
At Villa Nova do Principe the cotton is sold at so much the carga of
six arrobas, and varies in price according to the changes of the Bahia
market, say from eight milreas upwards the carga, to this must be added
the carriage to Cachoeira, which fluctuates according as horses and
mules are plentiful, or otherwise, from eight milreas to fifteen the
carga. From Cachoeira, as has been already remarked, it is conveyed in
large boats to Bahia, at a freight of one hundred reas the carga; here
it is put into bags, the expense of which is trifling, for the hide
will sell for almost as much as buys the material for the bag, and the
labour amounts only to one hundred and sixty reas[33] per bag, (not
quite tenpence.)
Cotton is planted in the month of January or February, and gathered,
say the first pluckings, about September. The same plants last three
years, the second year being frequently more productive than the first;
but in the third year the crop falls off, both in quantity and quality.
After this the plants are destroyed, and the grounds lies fallow.
Some hides and rum are exported; and the following statement will show
the number of ships, and the amount of produce they conveyed from
hence, in the year ending on the 1st of October, 1818.
==================+===========+================================+
| | SUGAR. |
+-----------+------+------+--------+---------+
To what Places the| Number of|Cases.|Boxes.|Barrels.| Arrobas.|
Vessels belong. | vessels.| | | | |
------------------+-----------|------+------+--------|---------+
Lisbon | 24 | 9,828| 381 | -- | 399,021|
Oporto | 19 | 5,506| 245 | 42 | 218,104|
Gibraltar | 10 | 429| 24 | -- | 17,328|
Ilha Gracia | 1 | 3| 24 | -- | 312|
Hamburgh | 11 | 2,716| 52 | -- | 109,056|
Liverpool | 36 | 1,187| 10 | -- | 47,539|
London | 5 | 689| 38 | -- | 27,864|
Falmouth | 3 | 981| 51 | -- | 39,546|
Portsmouth | 1 | 395| 25 | -- | 15,975|
Guernsey | 1 | 236| 4 | -- | 9,472|
Amsterdam | 3 | 930| 28 | -- | 37,480|
Trieste | 1 | 333| 27 | -- | 13,563|
Jersey | 1 | 399| 4 | -- | 15,980|
Geneva | 1 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Cowes | 1 | 543| 35 | -- | 22,000|
Stockholm | 1 | 250| -- | -- | 10,000|
New York | 2 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Baltimore | 1 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Philadelphia | 2 | 2| -- | -- | 79|
Bremen | 1 | 21| -- | -- | 840|
Salem | 8 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Boston | 4 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Newport | 1 | ----| -- | -- | ----|
Nantz | 6 | 420| 5 | -- | 16,830|
Bourdeaux | 4 | 245| 7 | 18 | 11,012|
+-----------+------+------+--------+---------+
Totals | 148 |25,113| 960 | 60 |1,012,001|
==================+===========+======+======+========+=========+
==================+========================================+
| TOBACCO. |
+------+--------+--------+------+--------+
To what Places the|Rolls.|½ Rolls.|Arrobas.|Bales.|Arrobas.|
Vessels belong. | | | | | |
------------------+------+--------+--------+------+--------+
Lisbon | 1,054| 6,324| 46,037| 255 | 37 |
Oporto | ----| ----| ----| -- | ----|
Gibraltar | 3,971| 11,732| 79,058| -- | ----|
Ilha Gracia | ----| ----| ----| -- | ----|
Hamburgh | 386| 1,677 | 8,758| 831 | 8,001|
Liverpool | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
London | ----| ---- | ----| 70 | 1,406|
Falmouth | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Portsmouth | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Guernsey | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Amsterdam | 109| ---- | 1,526| 50 | 1,050|
Trieste | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Jersey | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Geneva | 49| 1,623 | 2,932| -- | ----|
Cowes | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Stockholm | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
New York | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Baltimore | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Philadelphia | ----| ---- | ----| 24 | 504|
Bremen | ----| ---- | ----| 120 | 2,460|
Salem | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Boston | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Newport | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
Nantz | ----| ---- | ----| 30 | 603|
Bourdeaux | ----| ---- | ----| -- | ----|
+------+--------+--------+------+--------+
Totals |12,616| 15,032 | 199,427| 1968 | 32,681|
==================+======+========+========+======+========+
==================+===============+======+
| COTTON. | |
+------+--------+------+
To what Places the|Bags. |Arrobas.|Hides.|
Vessels belong. | | | |
------------------+------+--------+------+
Lisbon | 1,054| 6,324|46,037|
Oporto | 262| 1,572| 6,498|
Gibraltar | 140| 840| 9,846|
Ilha Gracia | 6| 30| ----|
Hamburgh | 115| 690| 1,309|
Liverpool |30,430| 182,580| 1,154|
London | 2,168| 10,840| 853|
Falmouth | ----| ----| ----|
Portsmouth | ----| ----| ----|
Guernsey | ----| ----| ----|
Amsterdam | ----| ----| ----|
Trieste | ----| ----| ----|
Jersey | ----| ----| ----|
Geneva | ----| ----| ----|
Cowes | ----| ----| ----|
Stockholm | ----| ----| ----|
New York | ----| ----| 2,200|
Baltimore | ----| ----| 2,200|
Philadelphia | ----| ----| 2,175|
Bremen | 53| 318| 40|
Salem | ----| ----| 9,950|
Boston | ----| ----| 1,263|
Newport | ----| ----| ----|
Nantz | 541| 2,710| 3,102|
Bourdeaux | 1,370| 8,220| ----|
+------+--------+------+
Totals |36,139| 214,124|86,627|
==================+======+========+======+
==================+===============+======+=======
| MOLASSES. | |
+------+--------+ |
To what Places the|Pipes.|Barrels.|Solas.| Casks
Vessels belong. | | | |of Rum.
------------------+------+--------+------+-------
Lisbon | 255 | 37 | 7,350| 225
Oporto | -- | 5 | 5,030| 603
Gibraltar | -- | 25 | ----| --
Ilha Gracia | -- | -- | 372| 2
Hamburgh | -- | 115 | ----| --
Liverpool | -- | -- | ----| --
London | -- | -- | ----| --
Falmouth | -- | -- | ----| --
Portsmouth | -- | -- | ----| --
Guernsey | -- | -- | ----| --
Amsterdam | -- | -- | ----| --
Trieste | -- | -- | ----| --
Jersey | -- | -- | ----| --
Geneva | -- | -- | ----| --
Cowes | -- | -- | ----| --
Stockholm | -- | -- | ----| --
New York | 387 | -- | ----| --
Baltimore | 60 | -- | ----| --
Philadelphia | 220 | -- | ----| --
Bremen | 110 | -- | ----| --
Salem | 847 | -- | ----| --
Boston | 717 | -- | ----| --
Newport | 86 | -- | ----| --
Nantz | -- | -- | ----| 20
Bourdeaux | -- | -- | ----| 30
+------+--------+------+-------
Totals | 2682 | 182 |12,752| 910
==================+======+========+======+=======
Bahia is considered by the English merchants a more agreeable place
of residence than any of the maritime towns of the Brazil, and a more
social intercourse has existed amongst themselves than at some of the
other places. The city and residences in the vicinity are delightfully
refreshed by the land and sea breezes, and the climate is deemed very
healthy. There is an English hospital here, as at the other commercial
towns of note, but there are generally few invalids.
Here, as in all parts of the Brazil, the females are much confined to
the houses, and do not take free and open exercise; their domestic
habits are slovenly and indolent; many, in the Turkish style, sit
on the ground upon mats, while at work; they dress loosely; and to
the general listlessness and prevailing custom of indulging in a
_sesta_, or nap after dinner, may be attributed the gross and
unshapely appearance of some of the Brazilian females. It would,
however, be illiberal to include the whole in this description, as
there are many fine women, and if better acquainted with the graces
and the refinements of the fair sex, would be ornaments to any circle
of society, having naturally much sprightliness and wit, if properly
directed, and freed from the shackles of jealousy with which they are
surrounded.
This city, on the 10th of February, 1821, followed the example of
Para, in declaring itself for the new constitution of Portugal, and
a resolution to that effect was publicly adopted in the camara, and
signed by Conde de Palma, the governor, who however declined holding
that situation longer. This measure was brought about principally by
the military. Lieut.-Colonels Manuel Pedro de Freitas and Francisco de
Paula, were its most active promoters. It is said, that thirteen of the
military, including a major, were killed.
[Illustration:
_On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Ja^s. Henderson._
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._