_Extent--Capitania of Itamaraca--Slow Advancement--Taken by
the Dutch--Restoration--Capes and Ports--Rivers--Mountains--
Zoology--Phytology--Povoaçoes--Capital--British Establishments
--Produce._
This province was originally the capitania of Itamaraca, or rather it
comprehends almost two-thirds of it, not comprising at the present
day more than sixty miles of coast, computing from the river Goyanna
to the bay of Marcos, which is three miles to the north of the
river Camaratiba; the province of Pernambuco having taken twenty to
twenty-five miles from it on the southern side, and Rio Grande fifteen
to twenty on the northern.
The capitania of Itamaraca was never more than a portion of that which
John III. gave to Pedro Lopez de Souza in 1534. The other portion of
this donation selected in the immediate vicinity of his brother’s
capitania of St. Vincente, was denominated St. Amaro; and Itamaraca,
being situated at so great a distance from it, experienced less
attention, and was so much neglected that, forty years afterwards,
there was not an establishment except in the island of Itamaraca, where
the colonists did not exceed two hundred families, with three sugar
works; and the French entered without interruption the ports of the
continent in search of Brazil wood.
It is affirmed that the parish of Nossa Senhora of Conceiçao, in
the island of Itamaraca, was the first povoaçao, and also for a
considerable period the capital of the capitania; but, as the year of
its foundation is not known, we are left in ignorance as to the precise
epoch of the disembarkation of the first colonists.
In the short reign of King Henry, in consequence of the incapacity of
the donatory to promote its colonization, Joam Tavarez was ordered by
the governor-general, Lourenco da Veyga, to proceed to this capitania,
for the purpose of founding a prezidio in the island of Camboa,
situated in the river Parahiba; which was removed by Captain Fructicozo
Barboza to the situation of Cabedello, where being greatly annoyed
by the Indians, Manuel Telles, governor of Bahia, despatched Diogo
Baldez, in the year 1583, to afford him the necessary succour. The
Indians and the French, who were their auxiliars, sustained a defeat;
and Francisco Castrejon, commandant of a fort, which he had then
constructed, would not recognise Fructicozo Barboza as superior, which
induced the latter to retire, and the result was an invasion by the
Indians, who compelled Castrejon to desert this post.
On his arrival at Pernambuco, Barboza returned with some companies,
and having restored all the fortifications, he gave the origin to a
povoaçao, which in the year 1585 was ennobled with the title of city,
and called Fillippea. Its population had already arrived at seven
hundred families, with twenty sugar works, when the Dutch, who had
obtained possession of Pernambuco and Itamaraca, determined to conquer
it.
After various attempts, during two years, which were always frustrated,
it fell into the hands of General Segismundo Escup, in consequence of
the capitulation of the fort of Cabedello, on the 19th of December,
1634, who substituted for it the appellation of Margarida, in honour
of a Dutch matron. With its reduction, and the surrender of the fort
of St. Antonio four days after, the whole province passed under the
dominion of the Dutch, till their evacuation of this part of the Brazil
in the year 1654.
It lies between 6° 15′ and 7° 15′ south latitude, and extends two
hundred and ten miles at its greatest width from east to west.
The longest day in the year does not exceed twelve hours and a half.
The winter commences at the equinox of March, and continues till
July, and is never severe. The climate is warm, but refreshed by the
delightful breezes with which it is visited from the sea. More than
two-thirds of the face of the country, generally uneven, consists of
catingas, the remainder is of strong substantial and fertile soils,
covered with extensive woods, principally upon serras of the greatest
elevation, and in the vicinities of some rivers; and it is only in
those latter districts, partially divested of their primitive sylvan
shades, that cultivation is to be seen, comprised in plantations of the
cotton tree, sugar cane, mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, tobacco, with
some rice; and also the hortulans and fruits peculiar to the climate,
including the pine-apple, water-melon, banana, and the orange, which
are of excellent flavour.
CAPES AND ISLANDS.--Point Cabedello, south of the embouchure
of the river Parahiba; Point Lucena, six miles north of the preceding;
and Cape Branco, fifteen miles south of the first, are the principal.
There are no islands upon the coast of this province but in the mouths
of rivers or the entrances of bays, and they are generally small.
PORTS.--That within the river Parahiba is the most frequented.
The bay of Traicao, originally Acejutibiro, in the form of a half moon,
with three entrances formed by two small islands, almost eight miles
in width, having a small river at the extremity, is deemed the best
port of the province, and capable of receiving a considerable number
of small vessels. The northern entrance is almost two miles in width.
From this bay a reef extends nearly eighteen miles to Cape Branco,
between which and the beach there are nine and ten fathoms of depth,
where vessels anchor in smooth water, protected from the agitation of
the ocean by this recife, which is a portion of the celebrated chain
extending along the coast, elevating its head occasionally above the
water, as at Pernambuco, and in other latitudes.
The bay of Lucena, on the northern side of the point of the same name,
is large, with a good anchorage, but is exposed to winds prevailing
from north to east.
RIVERS.--The Parahiba, from which the province takes its name,
originates in the district of the Cayriris Velhos, in the skirts of
the serra of Jabitaca, near the source of the Capibaribe, runs to the
east-north-east, and is considerable only in the vicinity of the ocean,
into which it is discharged by two mouths, separated by the island
of St. Bento, which is about three miles in extent. As the territory
in which it rises is of a sandy nature, it becomes a stream in that
district only during the period of the rains, nor does it receive till
after half its course, any of those tributary currents which render it
navigable for a considerable space. Ships advance up only a few miles,
sumacas to the capital, and canoes as far as the town of Pilar. From
hence upwards, its bed is stony, with many falls and currents rendering
difficult or entirely impeding navigation. It does not abound in any
part with fish. In the proximity of the sea it is wide and handsome,
the margins being adorned with mangroves.
The Guarahu, which is the largest of its confluents, unites it on the
left, not far from the capital.
The Mamanguape, which is handsome, and affords an advantageous
navigation to the planters upon its adjacent lands, enters the ocean by
two mouths, divided by a flat island covered with mangroves, between
which and the chain of reefs, which arrests all the fury of the sea,
there is an excellent anchorage place, where vessels lie in dead water,
to which a narrow aperture amongst the reefs affords a passage, with
three fathoms of depth, and is little more than ten miles to the north
of Point Lucena.
The Grammame, originally Guaramama, which discharges itself between
Port Francez and Cape Branco, has a large wooden bridge over it, on the
road from Goyanna to the city of Parahiba. It is only navigable as far
as the tide advances.
The Cammaratiba, which enters the sea ten miles north of the bay of
Traicao, and the Popoca, which discharges itself six miles to the north
of the Goyanna, are also navigable with the tide.
In the western part is the Piranhas, which has acquired the name of
the fish with which it abounds. Its source is at the base of the
serra of Cayriris, and after seventy miles of course to the north, it
gathers on the left the river Peixe, which comes from the serra of Luiz
Gomez, with fifty miles of extent, always flowing through campinhas,
where there are a great many emu-ostriches, and in its vicinity have
been found gold and silver. Twenty-five miles below this confluence,
it receives on the right the Pinhanco, which is little inferior to
it, also flowing from the serra of Cayriris, in a serpentine course
through an extensive district, abounding with cattle belonging to
various fazendeiros, or breeders, who live dispersed about in different
situations. After a long course, having become considerable by other
streams, it enters the province of Rio Grande in its way to the ocean.
MOUNTAINS.--Almost all the mountains with which this province is
interspersed, are arms of the serra Borborema, commencing near the sea,
within the province of Rio Grande, which traverse it from north-east
to south-west, dividing it into two parts, east and west. The latter,
denominated Cayriris Novas, is an elevated country, and being refreshed
with winds is wholesome, and also considerably wider than the eastern
portion. January, February, March, and April, are here the most rainy
months.
In the serra of Teyxeira, which is a portion of the Borborema, there
are some inscriptions with green ink, in characters unknown to the
adjacent inhabitants, but which are reputed to be the work of the
Dutch, or the Flamengos, as they are yet called here.
ZOOLOGY.--All the domestic animals of the Portuguese peninsula,
multiply here without degenerating much. In the woods are seen the
_anta_, deer, ounce, boar, monkey, _quaxinin_, _preguica_, or sloth,
_paca_, _quaty_, and other quadrupeds common to the neighbouring
provinces. There is here a species of ferret, the size of a cat, and
resembling the _quaty_, with which the hunters draw from their burrows
the _moco_ and the _preha_. If the animal perceive a snake in the hole
it will not enter. It does not appear to be known southward of the St.
Francisco. Amongst the birds are observed the emu-ostrich, _seriema_,
_jacu_, _zabele_, quail, parrot, _rolla_, _sabia_, troquaze pigeon,
canary, _cardal_, wild duck, _colhereira_, heron, _jaburu_, _socco_, a
diversity of the _macarico_, and the sparrowhawk. The _arraponga_ has
the feathers black upon the back. The _puppeyro_, which is the size
of a blackbird, with the bill of a pigeon, blue back, the breast red,
and the tail when opened of beautiful colours, is only met with in the
woods of the serras. Two Indian nations were the possessors of this
country. The _Cahetes_, from the river Parahiba to the south, and the
_Potyguaras_ to the north; each tribe is divided into various hordes,
and the whole have been christianized many years since.
PHYTOLOGY.--Cedar, Brazil wood, _aroeira_, _pereira_, _batinga_, which
is yellow, iron and violet wood, _fava-de-cheiro_, (a species of
pulse,) which grows in pods, and whose bean is deemed excellent for
removing hoarseness; _sipipira_, bow-wood, heart of negro, _anjico_,
_angellim_, _jatuba_, the cupahyba oil, and gum-mastick trees. In the
woods where these trees grow, and where there are others for building,
are also met with fruit trees growing without any human aid, such
as the _jabuticaba_, _pitomba_, _goyaba_, _cajue_, _ambuzo_, and
_aracaza_. The _mangaba_ is very abundant in some parts. The cocoa-nut
tree abounds along the coast, which in parts is sandy, in others rocky,
or covered with mangroves. The _catulez_ is a sort of large palm tree,
the fruit of which affords aliment to cattle. The _piki_ is a middling
sized tree, its fruit round, of the size of an apple, with a green
rind, and a large prickly stone, the almond of which is eaten roasted
or raw; the pulp is white and soft, and is also eaten; an oil is
likewise extracted from it, and used for seasoning.
This province produced formerly much excellent sugar, the culture of
which has diminished considerably in consequence of the great droughts
which are frequently experienced; but in its place cotton has greatly
increased, as it resists the heat better, and at the present time does
not leave a less profit to the cultivator.
In the eastern part of this province are the following towns:
Parahiba
Pilar
Alhandra
Villa Real
Villa do Conde
Villa da Rainba
St. Miguel
Montemor.
In the western part are Pombal and Villa Nova de Souza.
Parahiba, denominated a city, in a state of mediocrity and populous,
is situated upon the right bank, ten miles above the embouchure of
the river of its name, near the confluence of the small river Unhaby.
It is ornamented with a house of misericordia and its hospital; a
convent of Franciscans, another of slippered Carmelites, and a third
of Benedictines; five hermitages, that of Bom Jesus for the soldiers,
Santo Cruz, St. Pedro Gonsalves, Our Lady of Rozario for the blacks,
and May dos Homens for the mulattoes; also two handsome fountains of
good water. It is the capital of the province, the residence of its
governor, and of the ouvidor, whose jurisdiction extends also to the
province of Rio Grande. It has its high-sounding royal professors of
the primitive letters and Latin, and a junta of real fazenda, (the
treasury.) Its only mother church is dedicated to Nossa Senhora das
Neves. The Jesuits had a college here, which serves at the present day
for the palace of the governors; they possessed another for recreation,
at a distance of five miles on the beach of Tambahu, where there is an
entertaining house of Franciscans. The principal streets are paved, and
there are some good houses. The river, whose entrance is defended by
two frontier forts, a league distant, is here a mile in width, forming
a good port for sumacas. Ships can only advance a little higher up than
the forts. A Juiz de Fora was granted to this city in the year 1813.
The Dutch exchanged its primitive name for that of Friderica, in honour
of the Prince of Orange, and presented it with a sugar-loaf for arms,
in allusion to the excellent quality of that article, which was made
in this district, and in pursuance of the plan they had adopted of
granting similar armorial emblems of some leading object or production
peculiar to the districts or capitanias then under their dominion.
An Englishman, a Scotchman, and an Irishman have recently settled
in this city, and it is to be hoped, that an union will exist in
their commercial operations, and that they will be induced to go
hand-in-hand, thereby precluding that competition, which has been
already alluded to as militating so seriously in other places against
the interest of the merchant and manufacturer. These establishments
were formed in conjunction with the merchants of Pernambuco, and
from hence they receive supplies of manufactured goods, the returns
for which are transmitted direct to England in sugar and cotton
principally. Besides, additional sums of specie sent from Pernambuco
to those merchants for the purchase of produce, give this city the
advantage of disposing of a greater portion of the productions of the
province than the amount of British commodities consumed in it. During
my stay at Pernambuco two or three vessels were sent from thence
in ballast to Parahiba to take in produce, the major part of which
was purchased with specie remitted for the purpose, and not with the
proceeds of goods sold here. The balance of specie in favour of this
city, in its interchange of commodities with the British merchant,
may arise from various causes. The two or three merchants at Rio de
Janeiro, who supply the government with naval and military stores,
receive bills in payment upon the Provincial or fora treasuries, and
the specie thus and by other remittances coming into the Pernambuco
market beyond the returns for goods sold, create an extra demand for
produce, arising from the impossibility of transmitting those funds to
England in any other way; and thus part of the specie finds its way
to this city, from an expectation of its being disposed of to better
advantage. Two circumstances concur in producing this result;--in the
first place, a considerable part of the produce of the province of
Parahiba, till very recently, was brought to the market of Pernambuco;
but the measures of the governor to confine the productions of the
district under his jurisdiction to an exit by the head town, in
order that the treasury may not be deprived of its revenue, has led
to a concentration of the objects of exportation in this city, a
direct transit to England being opened for them by the establishments
mentioned, and whose object, in forwarding them at a lower rate than
from Pernambuco, is at all events in the second place accomplished by
an exemption from consulage duties.
One of the merchants settled here visited Pernambuco in the early part
of 1820, whilst I was there, and purchased a cargo of _bacalhao_,
or salt fish, from Newfoundland, being the sixth vessel which had
arrived at Recife so laden in the course of two months, and this was
the first entire cargo that had sailed from Pernambuco to Parahiba,
demonstrating that this city is in a progressive state of commercial
improvement.
In its environs the necessaries of life are cultivated, and the sugar
cane, for which there are various engenhos, principally going by water.
Towards the interior plantations of the cotton tree are to be seen,
especially in the certam of Crumatahu.
Previous to the revolution at Pernambuco, which is said to have
extended its baneful consequences to this province, particularly to the
vicinity of this city, where the sugar is principally grown, the export
of that article exceeded nine hundred chests annually, each containing
fifty arrobas, or sixteen hundred pounds; but in 1819 the amount did
not reach much above four hundred chests.
Notwithstanding sugar has diminished, the production of cotton is
increasing rapidly. In 1816 it was nine thousand bags; in 1819 it
reached seventeen thousand bags of five to five and a half arrobas
each; and in the year 1820 it was confidently anticipated to reach
twenty to twenty-four thousand bags.
The campinhas of this province, which afford cattle to the capital,
and in part to Pernambuco and Bahia, when visited by two or three
succeeding seasons of drought, entirely lose their vegetation, and
the streams disappear, so that a mortality ensues amongst the cattle,
carrying them off in great numbers.
The governor of this city is endeavouring to effect some improvement
in the roads, or rather tracks, through the province, which are in
the same lamentable condition as in all other districts, and it is
sincerely to be wished that his efforts may not be fruitless. He has
issued orders for all individuals to make roads through their lands.
Ten miles from this city, and upon the margin of the same river, is the
considerable arraial of St. Rita, with a hermitage so called.
Pilar do Taypu, forty miles above the capital upon the left bank of
the Parahiba, is ornamented with a church of N. Senhora of Pilar.
Cariri was its primitive name, when an aldeia of Indians, its first
inhabitants, and who even at this day form, with their descendants, the
principal portion of its population, cultivating in its environs a good
quantity of cotton, mandioca, &c.
Nine miles from it is the arraial and parish of Tayabanna, upon the
margin of the same river; and ten miles to the north is that of
Cannufistula, with a hermitage; both grow much cotton. Gurunhem is upon
a small river of the same name, with a chapel of N. Senhora of Rozario.
Near the Parahiba, and two miles from the town of Pilar, is the parish
of St. Miguel; cotton is the wealth of its parishioners.
Alhandra, originally Urathauhy, is a middling town, and well situated
near the river Capibary, nine miles north-east of Goyanna, and seven
from the sea; it has a church dedicated to N. Senhora of Assumpçao. Its
inhabitants are composed of Indians and whites, pure and intermixed,
and are agriculturists and fishermen.
Villa do Conde, formerly Japoca, is yet small and without any thing
remarkable. It has a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, and is about
eighteen miles south of the capital, and near fifteen from the sea.
Its inhabitants, Indians, whites, and mesticos, cultivate divers
necessaries of life, and draw their water from a good fountain.
The town of St. Miguel, situated near a lake in the proximity of the
bay of Trabicao, has the aspect of a small aldeia. Its church is
dedicated to the archangel whose name it takes. Its inhabitants are
Indians, and draw their subsistence from the same occupations as the
preceding places.
Montemor is a vilota, or small town of the descendants of the
aborigines, one mile from the northern margin of the Mamanguape, and
fifteen from the sea. It had its commencement six miles more distant,
where the parish of St. Pedro and St. Paulo is situated, for the
habitation of the ancestors of its present inhabitants. The number of
whites having greatly increased, and in order to avoid the dissensions
which originated with the two hierarchies, it became expedient to
separate them; for which purpose a new aldeia was founded with the
name of Preguica, for the establishment of the first, in the situation
where the town is. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of Prazeres.
The senate of this town resides in the parish of St. Pedro and St.
Paulo, better known by the name of Mamanguape, in consequence of being
near that river. In the year 1813, when its population and that of its
extensive district, had nearly reached fifteen thousand adults, it was
dismembered of its western portion for the creation of the parish of N.
Senhora of Conceiçao do Brejo d’Area.
Villa Real. By a law of the 17th of June, 1815, the above new parish
of Conceiçao, was created a town, with the name of Villa Real do Brejo
d’Area, its civil government being assisted by two ordinary judges and
three _vereadores_, or aldermen, with other officers common to
towns of the same order. It is seventy miles from Montemor, and cotton
is its principal production.
Villa da Rainha, vulgarly called Campinha Grande, (Large Plain),
in consequence of being a solitary place, in an extensive plain,
one hundred and twenty miles west of the capital, is yet a small
town, much frequented, however, in consequence of the royal road,
(estrada-real) as it is ludicrously called, of the certam. Paupinna was
its name previously to its becoming a town. Its inhabitants drink of a
contiguous lake, which failing of water in the years of great drought,
obliges them to fetch it upwards of six miles. Its church is dedicated
to the Lady of Conceiçao.
Pombal, a considerable town, speaking comparatively with others of the
country, is well situated upon the river Pinhanco, four miles above its
mouth, and one hundred and fifty miles south of Villa Nova da Princeza,
a town of Rio Grande. It has for nominal patroness the Lady of Bom
Successo (good success.) Its inhabitants, mostly whites, live upon the
produce of agriculture, and of cattle, which are not numerous.
Villa Nova de Souza is situated upon the margin of the river Peixe,
ten miles above its mouth, thirty-five from Pombal, and has a church
of the Lady of Remedios. The inhabitants cultivate legumes, sugar,
water-melons, and melons, in the vicinity of the rivers; and on the
serras, mandioca, cotton, and Indian corn; in the catingas cattle
pasture, and abound with a diversity of game. In the year 1806, there
was scarcely an orange tree in the districts of the last two towns,
where all the trees are bent to the west, in consequence of the
constant and sometimes impetuous east wind that prevails here.