_First Settlement--Contests with Indians--Slavery of the
Indians--Their Liberation--Boundaries--Mineralogy--Phytology
--Zoology--Ports and Rivers--Igaruana Indians.--District of
Para-Proper--Capital--Buildings--Exports--English
Establishments--Adoption of a New Constitution--Towns.--
District of Xingutania--Limits--In Possession of Indians--
Rivers--Towns.--District of Tapajonia--Limits--Rivers--
Indians--Towns.--District of Mundrucania--Rivers--Principally
possessed by the Indians--Their different Customs--Towns._
Subsequent to the restoration of the island of Maranham, Francisco
Caldeyra sailed from that port with two hundred soldiers, in three
caravels, at the end of the year 1615, to him being confided the
important project of selecting an eligible situation for the
establishment of another colony, more immediately in the vicinity of
the Amazons; equally with a view of promoting the navigation of that
great river, and of frustrating the attempts of any other nation, that
might be made in prejudice to the rights assumed by the Lusitanian
crown to its adjacent territory.
After various observations on different parts of the coast, he anchored
in the port near which now stands the city of Belem, commonly called
Para, to which he immediately gave a commencement, by the erection of
a wooden fort, in the beginning of the year 1616, denominating the
territory Gram-Para, and imagining that he was founding his colony upon
the margin of the great river.
This archipelago soon presented, and was for many years the theatre
of a cruel and inveterate warfare. Various Indian nations opposed
the establishment of this colony, principally the Tupinambazes, the
remains and descendants of various hordes of the numerous Tupinamba
tribe, under whose dominion the sertams of Pernambuco were, when the
Portuguese extended their conquests into the interior of that province.
Not being able to resist the progress of their invaders, they fled
from them to the margins of the Tucantins and the Amazons.
The attacks of the Indians upon the new settlers increased with the
pretensions of the Dutch to the country, who inspired them with
enthusiasm for conquest; the ardour of which was augmented, by the
attempts of some small parties of English and French upon the Amazons.
Caldeira was regarded by the Portuguese as an intrepid commander, but
was wanting in equity, and the necessary qualifications to found a
colony amongst these savage tribes.
The barbarous assassination, by a near relation of his, of a Captain
esteemed by the whole colony, led to the termination of his government.
He pretended to expiate the atrocity of his relative by a few days
imprisonment; and rigorously treated two honourable men who boldly
required from him a punishment adequate to the crime of the murderer.
The circumstances attending it produced a considerable tumult, from
which resulted his imprisonment in 1618.
In the intermediate short government of Captain Balthazar Rodrigues
de Mello, the colony was assaulted with such intrepidity, by the
Tupinambazes, that the issue would have been doubtful, if the chief of
the Indians, denominated by the Portuguese, Cabello da Velha, had not
fallen dead soon after the commencement of the attack.
In the year 1619, shortly after the Indians had retired, Jeronimo
Fragozo d’Albuquerque arrived from Pernambuco, being appointed by Don
Luiz de Souza to transmit the prisoner Caldeira to the Court, and to
succeed him in the government, which he commenced with various success,
by means of an armament, of which he took the direction, having for
his Admiral the celebrated Pedro Teyxeyra. At the moment of exultation
after these advantages, Captain Bento Maciel arrived, from Pernambuco,
with an auxiliary force of eighty Portuguese, and four hundred
disciplined Indians, to assist in the prosecution of the war against
the Tupinambazes.
In the same year, the death of the governor occurred, which was
followed by the installation of Mathias d’Albuquerque, who was deposed,
under some pretext, in the course of twenty days. He was succeeded by
Captain Custodio Valente, Frey Antonio, guardian of the Capuchins, and
Captain Pedro Teyxeyra, who governed alone after the departure of the
first for Lisbon, and the resignation of the second.
His government was short, the before-mentioned Bento Maciel succeeding
him in the year 1621. He expelled the Dutch, already established
upon both margins of the Amazons; destroyed some hordes of the most
courageous savages, obliged others to fly, and induced many to come
and offer peace and sincere friendship to the colony; thereby acquiring
the title of the conqueror of Maranham, by which name the river Amazons
was also designated. In his government the Jesuitical Missionaries made
great progress.
In 1624, Manuel de Souza d’Eca succeeded him, by royal patent, an
honour which was not conferred upon any of those who followed him,
in the course of a century. By the active and diligent operations of
the Missionaries the population became more numerous than that of the
eastern province.
After this, some governors had the title of Captain Genera! of the
State of Maranham, as were Joam d’Abreu Castello Branco, who governed
in 1743, and Francisco Xavier de Mendonca, who arrived here in 1751,
also appointed Plenipotentiary of Demarcation of the high Amazons.
The captivity of the Indians, customary in almost all the other
provinces, and adopted in this since its first foundation, was
continued. All labour was performed by the hands of the captive
Indians, of which each colony prided itself in possessing the greatest
number: riches were calculated by the quantity of these unfortunates.
The injustice which was practised in this pretend right over their
lives and liberty, the consequent prevailing disposition to indolence,
avarice, and an indifference to vicious practices, engendered crimes
amongst the colonists, tending to destroy every good and moral
sentiment. The laws of the state and the sacred obligations of religion
became odious to them, as restraints upon their vicious propensities.
The Jesuit Antonio Viegra was the first, who, in the new state,
declaimed with energy against the captivity of the aboriginal natives,
and repaired to the metropolis expressly to solicit the adoption of
more effectual measures for their liberty; and his colleagues, who
entertained the same sentiments, were expelled at all points from both
provinces in 1671.
The colonists of Para and Maranham were turbulent, and afforded
considerable difficulties to the governors on this subject, until King
Joseph issued a salutary law in 1755, which compelled them to observe
the numerous edicts his ancestors had promulgated without effect in
favour of the freedom of the Indians. The liberated Indians now passed
under the inspection of administrators, who made them work generally
on certain lands, the produce of which they were paid for out of the
treasury, until the whole, in the regency of his present Majesty,
were left to their free will. It is, however, to be remarked that
many have since resumed the original state of nature, and the others
have not advanced a step beyond their Indian brethren. The traders
of Matto-Grosso and the high Maranham experience frequent injuries
from the non-performance of contracts they make with them, finding
themselves frequently abandoned in situations of intricate navigation,
where they are, in consequence, subjected to great difficulties.
In 1755 the Portuguese language began to be generally used here with
the introduction of negroes, the freedom of the Indians, and the
creation of the company already alluded to, up to which period the
Tupinamba language was universally spoken; even the orators in the
pulpit did not use any other.
This province is bounded on the north by the ocean and the river
Maranham, or Amazons, which separates it from Guianna; on the west
by the river Madeira; on the south by the provinces of Goyaz and
Matto-Grosso; and on the east by that of Maranham. It extends from the
equator to seven degrees of south latitude, with near eight hundred
miles in length from east to west, and upwards of four hundred miles
in its greatest width. The climate is invariably hot, even when it
rains; the days and nights are nearly equal all the year, and the
seasons almost prevail together. At the same time that some trees
announce the autumn, by a profuse exhibition of fruits in a state of
maturity, others are flourishing in their primitive bloom. The face
of the country is generally flat, almost universally presenting an
agreeable aspect, covered with extensive woods, where trees grow of a
considerable height and prodigious girth. The soil in most parts is
humid, substantial, and of great fertility, affording an abundance of
various productions, which, in the other provinces, either do not exist
or but in very small quantities. It also far surpasses all the others
in the number and consequence of its rivers.
MINERALOGY.--Crystals, emeralds, granite, silver, but not yet found in
any quantity, argils, red lead, yellow ochre, from which is extracted
ochre tinged with green.
PHYTOLOGY.--In no other province are trees of such size produced; many
of the most excellent building timber, some for cabinet work, various
kinds affording tow for caulking, or flax for cordage; and the great
Author of Nature has created others whose alimentary fruits afford
sustenance to the living creature, the superabundance of which, for the
most part, is of no utility, in consequence of the diminutive state
of population. Amongst the oil and balsamic trees are to be noted the
_cumaru_ and _cupahyba_, or _capiri_, those of gum-storax are known
here only by the name of _omiry_. The satin-wood is very valuable;
the _merapinima_ is compact and heavy, appearing like tortoiseshell
when polished; there is the violet wood, the _sucuba_, which distils
by incision a liquor, and taken in certain doses, is an efficacious
remedy against the maw-worm; the _massaranduba_ distils another liquor,
which occasionally makes fine gum; the juice of the _assacu_ is one
of the most subtle venoms; the resin of the _getaicica_ is applied
to the varnishing of earthern ware; the ashes of the _chiriuba_ are
esteemed the best known for the manufacture of soap. Among fruit trees
are the orange, _mangaba_, _saracaza_, _cajue_-nut; the _atta_, or
pine, is common, and the fruit very fine; the fig and vine are rare and
do not fructify well; there are, also, the fruits of _abiu_, _inga_,
_assiahy_, _bacaba_, _inaja_, _cotitiriba_, _cupuassu_, _aguru_. The
cocoa-nut trees are seen only in the neighbourhood of the sea; the
cedar is very large and numerous, also the _sapucaya_; the plants of
_vanilla_ and indigo grow spontaneously. The chesnut, that is the tree
to whose fruit is commonly given the name of _castanha do Maranham_,
differs from the _sapucaya_, with which it is sometimes confounded.
The _cautecuc_ passes, and with justice, for one of the most useful
trees of this province, where it is common; it is of the _euphorbium_
species, and from its trunk is extracted, by incision, a liquid, which
condenses and turns into an elastic gum, with which, through the
medium of moulds, are made seringes of various kinds, and when its
juice is applied to dress renders it impenetrable to water. The cocoa
shrub, or tree, are of two kinds, one produced by nature, the other by
cultivation. Here is, likewise, sarsaparilla, ipecacuenha, _butua_,
jallap, _ginger_; also, the _pechurum_-tree and that affording the
clove, denominated _cravo do Maranham_ and _cucheri_ among the Indians.
The cultivation has here commenced of the laurel, or bay-tree, similar
to that of the _Mollucas_. The latter is an aromatic drug of such
particular flavour that nothing could be substituted for it, until
the seventeenth century, when that of Maranham was discovered, which,
though different in the form, is otherwise so similar and so adapted to
all the uses of the first that it has caused not only a considerable
reduction in the price, but in the consumption of it among European
nations. The trees that produce it the best, grow in the same latitudes
of Gram Para as the others do in the Mollucca islands, and there is
no doubt that the soil and climate of this province is capable, with
proper management, of producing any thing that any other part of the
world can afford. The bread fruit tree has been recently introduced and
prospers as in its native soil. The very small portion, indeed, of this
part of the Brazil that is cultivated is appropriated to the culture
of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, coffee, cotton, the sugar cane, of
which the engenhos at present are not numerous, and rice, which is very
abundant; these, with cocoa and other minor productions, principally
engage the attention of agriculturists, who, with the population
and industry, are at a very low ebb, compared to the advantages so
pre-eminently offered by a country of such unexampled fertility.
ZOOLOGY.--All the species of domestic and wild quadrupeds peculiar
to the surrounding provinces are common here, as likewise the most
remarkable birds, such as the parrot, _arrara_, _tucano_, _jacu_,
emu-ostrich, _soco_, _araponga_, _mutun_, _troquaze_ pigeon, partridge,
_jaburu_, divers sorts of geese, _macaricos_, _colhereiras_, _sabias_,
and _colibris_; the _guara_, only met with in the vicinity of salt
water, is very numerous. Various species of small birds, with a variety
of beautiful plumage, are observed here, totally unknown in the other
provinces; also, all the kinds of bees common to the Brazil, affording
a profusion of honey, in the extensive woods, for the supply of the
Indian.
PORTS AND RIVERS.--Between the bay of Turyuassu and Point
Tigioca there are upwards of twenty abundant rivers, each with its
anchorage place for vessels of small burden, more or less commodious,
either within or near their embouchures, the main part being within
bays or spacious gulfs, commonly surrounded with mangroves, abounding
in the _guara_, _macarico_, and other birds that exist upon
shell-fish.
As almost all the rivers in this province run into the Amazons, we will
speak of them in the order in which they enter that great recipient.
The river of the Amazons, also called Maranham by the Portuguese, and
Guienna by some Indians, was discovered, after Pinson had passed its
spacious outlet, in the interior of the continent, by his countryman
Francisco Orellana, who descended by it from the mouth of the Napo
to the ocean, in the year 1539, and, like the wondrous and fabulous
statements of some of the first discoverers of new countries, he
promulgated a story, that its margins were inhabited by warlike women,
armed with bows, from which it improperly acquired the name by which it
is universally known. In the year 1637, the Portuguese Captain Pedro
Teyxeyra before mentioned, conducted a fleet of forty-seven canoes
from Para up the Amazons, to the mouth of the Napo, and advanced up
the latter as far as it was navigable. On his return, in the following
year, he gave a circumstantial relation of both rivers, as did the
Jesuit Christoval da Cunha, who returned with Teyxeyra from Quito,
but neither of them met with any of the Amazons Orellana pretended to
have seen. This river is, without exception, the largest in the world,
having a course of upwards of four thousand miles. It is not designated
in the whole of its extent by the names already mentioned. The
Portuguese more frequently call it the Amazons as far as the embouchure
of Rio Negro; from thence upwards the Solimoes, and, at the famous
confluence of the Ucayale with the Tanguragua, it takes the appellation
of Maranham. It was doubtful for some time which of these was its
principal head. The first, unquestionably, has the more extensive
course, and is wider at their union than the latter.
The Tanguragua issues from lake Hyauricocha, situated in ten and a
half degrees of south latitude, in the district of Huanaco, about one
hundred miles north-north-east of Lima. It runs north-north-west for
the space of three hundred and fifty miles between the two cordilleiras
of the Andes as far as the town of Jaen de Bracamoras, commencing with
the name of the lake in which it originates. At Bracamoras, where it
begins to be navigable, it receives the Chinchipe on the left, which
comes from the north-west; and on the right the Chachapoyas, which
flows from the south-east, both navigable. Here it inclines to the
north-east till it receives the Santiago, formed by various torrents,
precipitated from the mountains of Loxa. In this interval of one
hundred and forty miles, nearly midway, the Tanguragua receives the
Chuchunga on the right, navigable for ten miles. It should have been
observed, that the port of Bracamoras is on its left bank, and that
immediately below the town its waters are contracted between two
mountains, and, running furiously, descend by various falls. Below
the Chuchunga it flows through the narrow strait of Cumbinama, and
afterwards by that of Escorregabragas, neither of which are very
dangerous.
At the confluence of the Santiago, the Tanguragua is five hundred yards
in width, and three miles further, running eastward, it begins to
straighten, traversing the interior cordilleira of the Andes, and is
reduced in the narrowest part to fifty yards. The current descends this
contracted channel of six miles, denominated Pongo, in the space of one
hour. At its termination is situated the city of Borja.
Seventy miles below Borja it receives on the left the Marona, which is
not inferior to the Santiago, descending from the volcano of Sangay,
and forty miles further, on the same side, the considerable Pastaca,
which originates also in the cordillera.
Thirty-five miles below, the large Guallaga enters it, originating a
little to the north of lake Chiquiacoba in 11° of latitude, in the
district of Huanaco, which name it takes for a considerable space,
describing numerous small windings. After it follows the river
Chambyra, and then the Tigre, both flowing from the north-west, the
latter having a course of three hundred miles.
Sixty miles below the embouchure of the Tigre, is the magnificent
confluence of the Tanguragua, with the Ucayale. The Ucayale originates
in the latitude of 18° south-east of the large lake Chucuito, otherwise
Titicaca, and one hundred and twenty miles east-north-east of the city
of Arica. It runs to the north and north-west, under the name of Benni,
to its junction with the Apurimaco, in the latitude of 11°, where both
their names are lost in that of the Ucayale.
The Apurimaco rises a few leagues north of the city of Arequipa,
between the lake Chucuito and the Pacific Ocean, from which it is only
distant about fifty miles; and runs northward, describing considerable
windings, and gathering various other streams, amongst which the most
important are the Pampas, on the left, in 13° 10′; the Urubamba, on
the right, in 12° 15′; and the Montaro in 12° 6′, where it changes the
direction towards the north-east. Previously to mingling its waters
with the Benni it receives on the left the Perene, and on the right,
ten miles above its mouth, the Pancartamba.
The Montaro issues from the lake Chinchayocha, in the district of
Huanaco, in 11°, and flows for a considerable space to the south-east
along the cordillera, describing extensive windings to its embouchure.
The largest tributary of the Ucayale, after it takes this name, is
the Pachitea, which joins it on the left, in the latitude of 8° 30′,
being more handsome in its appearance than considerable, its course not
exceeding two hundred miles.
The Maranham, at the confluence where it takes this name, directs its
course to the north-east for one hundred miles, receiving, on the left,
the Napo, which originates in divers parts of the interior cordillera
of the Andes, in the vicinity of Quito, from whence it flows to the
south-east, collecting various others, and, after a course of five
hundred and fifty miles, discharges itself by different channels,
formed by several islands, above which it is twelve hundred yards in
width.
With this river the Maranham becomes eighteen hundred yards wide, yet
having acquired only a small portion of the volume of water with which
it enters the ocean, from whence it is here distant thirteen hundred
miles in a direct line. At this part it inclines to the east, and,
after fifty miles of course, receives by the right the Cassiquin, which
comes from the south, with three hundred and fifty miles of extent.
Seventy miles lower the Hyabary enters, which has its source in the
territories of the Torromonas in 11° 30′.
Upwards of one hundred miles further is the mouth of the large Iça,
which originates in the skirts of the said cordillera to the north-east
of the Napo, and in the vicinity of St. Joam de Pasto, with the name of
Putumajo.
The Hyutahy and the Hyurba follow; they are less than the preceding,
being about three hundred and sixty fathoms in width, and next to the
Teffe, the Coary, and the Purus, which are discharged by many mouths.
On the northern margin it receives the great river Hyapura, after an
extensive course from the province of Popayan. This river runs parallel
with the Maranham for a considerable distance, discharging itself
in that space by nine channels, the mouth of the first being three
hundred miles to the west of the last. Auatiparana, Euiratyba, Manhana,
Uaranapu, Hyapura, Unana, Copeya, Hyucara, and Cadaya, are the names of
the channels, and the order by which the Hyapura enters the Maranham.
The Maranham is estimated to be nearly a mile and a half in width, at
a certain part, free from islands, about twenty miles below the Purus,
where the bottom, it is said, could not be found with a cord of one
hundred and three fathoms.
After the Hyapura, its waters are swelled by the entrance, also on
the northern side of the Rio Negro, almost equalling it in width and
volume; and sixty miles lower, on the right, by the river Madeira,
nearly two miles in width, being the most considerable of all the
subordinate torrents that fill up the vast space between the receding
margins of this wonderful river. The river Madeira was designated
Cayary, until the Portuguese gave it the former denomination, in
consequence of the large trunks of trees, some of cedar, of an
extraordinary size, that floated down at the period of the floods,
Madeira being the Portuguese word for wood or timber. It takes this
name at the confluence of the Guapore with the Mam ore, which latter
has its source in the province of Potoze, traversing that of Santa
Cruz, and describing a vast semicircle by the east towards the north,
being enlarged by numerous other currents, which join it on both sides
to the said confluence, in latitude 10° 22′. One hundred and forty
miles above this point, in the parallel of 13°, it communicates with
the Benni, by the river Exaltacao, issuing from the lake Rogagualo,
from which another of short extent flows to the Mamore.
In front of the angle of the confluence of the Mamore with the Guapore,
there is an island of rock, well adapted for the site of a fort, which
would command the entrance of both rivers. Upwards of nine hundred
miles is computed from this situation to the mouth of the Madeira.
In the space of the first two hundred the traveller encounters twelve
cataracts, equally astonishing for their grandeur and extent. The
attention is first arrested by that which has the same denomination
as the river, and not far below the island of rock alluded to. Three
of the falls are within the space of a mile and a half. The canoes
advancing up the river are unloaded and conveyed in this state,
including the different points, for half a mile. The Misericordia next
follows, about two miles lower down, and the danger and labour of
passing it depends upon the height or diminution of the waters of the
river. Proceeding along another interval of the same space, the four
cataracts of Reibeirao meet the astonished eye within the distance of
four miles. Canoes are here for a considerable way dragged over land.
Twelve miles further is the Figueira, otherwise Araras, formed by small
islands and large stones, but of no considerable extent.
Upwards of twenty miles further is the Pederneiras, where the river is
thickly overspread with immense stones, obliging the cargoes of the
canoes to be carried on men’s shoulders for nearly half a mile.
Descending ten miles more the Paredao is met with, where the course of
the river is contracted, and its waters precipitated among rocks for a
short space.
The Ties Irmaos (Three Brothers) is the next, about twenty miles
further, formed by various falls, generally small, for the distance of
near a mile.
Twenty-five miles lower is the Girau, where the river flows with great
rapidity, separated among rocks and precipitated over five falls in a
short distance. The canoes are here also carried over land.
Five miles further is the Caldeirao de Inferno, (the Infernal
Cauldron,) three miles in extent, forming, in a certain situation, a
most perilous whirlpool, which requires much vigilance and labour to
the navigator.
Eighteen miles beyond the preceding is the fall of Morinhos, so called
from three small morros, or rocks, a short distance from the western
margin, covered with sarsaparilla.
Passing an interval of twelve miles the interesting fall, denominated
the Salto do Theotonio is next presented for contemplation, being
an accumulation of rugged rock, twenty-six feet in height, broken
into four parts, dividing the waters of the Madeira into as many
channels, each having the appearance of a large river. Parallel with
this majestic sluice a reef of rock extends from the eastern margin
almost to the western, impelling the volume of waters of three
channels into the fourth, the whole flowing with immense profundity
and greater rapidity by this strait between the extremity of the reef
and the river’s left bank. The canoes are dragged over land, with much
difficulty and labour, nearly half a mile.
Five miles lower is the fall of St. Antonio, which the river passes by
three currents, formed by two small stony islands. This is the first
which interrupts the navigation of the canoes proceeding upwards, and
is situated in the latitude of 8° 48′.
Three months is generally consumed by the navigators of this river in
advancing up from this fall to that of Guajirumirim in the Guapore.
From the fall of St. Antonio to the embouchure of the Madeira there are
more than thirty islands, from three to ten miles in length, almost all
of them covered with superb timber; those of a smaller size are much
more numerous, the largest is called Minas, which is ten miles long
and three in width, and is sixty miles below the mouth of the river
Marmellos.
The waters of Rio Negro and the Madeira increase the width of the
Maranham to nearly four miles, and when there are parallel islands it
is at some places eight, and at others much more.
About two hundred miles in a direct line, or three hundred by the
course of the river, below the Madeira, is the mouth of the large river
Tapajos; and two hundred miles further to the east that of the river
Xingu, equal if not superior to the preceding; both coming from the
district of Cuiaba, and neither with less than eight hundred miles of
course.
At the confluence of the latter the Amazons inclines to the north-east
for the distance of one hundred and forty miles, augmenting sensibly in
width as it approaches the equator, where it discharges itself into the
ocean by a mouth of from twenty-five to thirty miles.
Eighty miles below the mouth of the Xingu there is a channel called
Tagypuru, in certain parts very narrow, and running towards the
south-east as far as the mouth of the river Annapu, where it becomes
upwards of fifteen miles in width, with many islands, and flows to
the east until it enters the river Tucantins, which comes from the
centre of the province of Goyaz, and at this part inclines to the
north-east, increasing considerably in width, and entering the ocean
by an embouchure equal to that of the Amazons, with this difference,
that for some leagues up it is impregnated with salt water, whilst the
other carries its volume of pure waters many leagues into the sea,
perfectly fresh, having acquired, by its rapidity and prodigious body,
a preponderating power over the first essays of its saline opponent
till the ocean buries it in fathomless depths.
On the northern margin of the Amazons, below the Rio Negro, are
discharged, among other smaller streams, the Matary, which flows
from some handsome lakes; the Urubu, otherwise Barururu; the Aniba,
denominated sometimes Saraca; the Trombetas; the Gurupatuba; and the
Annarapucu.
The lateral lands of the Amazons from Borja, where the falls and
currents terminate, are flat and covered with woods. The current is
always rapid, even at its greatest diminution, and the waters when
drawn are of an orange colour, and at the floods are never muddy. Its
bed is an archipelago, leaving, in the space of above one thousand
miles, few places where the navigator can distinctly see both sides
of the continent. These islands increase and decrease annually, not
only in number but in size at the period of the floods, which, in
parts, divide one into two, and in others accumulate many into one by
filling up the channels which separated them. Here portions of land are
violently torn away from the continent, there from the islands, with
which either the existing ones are augmented or new ones formed. Some
are of great extent, and usually covered with large trees.
The vessels which are navigated to the high Amazons are formed of
trunks of trees of from forty to sixty feet in length; they are
excavated into the form of canoes, with the power of fire and water,
and the greatest width is given that they are susceptible of; being
preserved in this state with knees, to which are nailed planks to make
them higher, having around prow, and a poop with a cabin, and a rudder.
They always retain the appellation of canoes, and have two masts,
with round sails, in order to proceed up before an easterly wind, and
descend by the impulse of the current. It is dangerous to navigate near
the margins, where frequently large trees fall into the river without
any wind, the current having excavated the ground upon which they stood.
The tide advances to the town of Obydos, more than five hundred miles
above Macappa, computing by the bed of the river. With a strong wind
it swells like the sea, but immediately the wind subsides it becomes
tranquil by the power of the current, which dissipates the advancing
waves in a moment.
Amongst other species of fish with which it is stored are the
_gorujuba_, the large _perahyba_, _doirado_, _pescada_, and _puraquez_,
which possesses the property of benumbing the arm of the fisherman.
A species of seal, denominated by the Indians _manahy_, and by the
Portuguese _peixe-boy_, (ox fish, or sea calf,) in consequence of
the similarity of its snout or head to that animal, is the largest,
and feeds upon herbs which grow upon the margins, without going out
of the river. It is viviparous and gives milk to its young like the
whale, and has extremely small eyes; the flesh is like veal and of a
good flavour, of which is also made sausages, called _mixiras_; the oil
extracted from it not only serves for lights but for seasoning various
eatables. The Dutch, when they had a footing in these parts, derived a
lucrative branch of commerce from this fish. The _pirarucu_ is large,
and esteemed good; its tongue serves the Indians for a rasp to grate
the guarana fruit; the internal parts, after being dried in the sun,
form a good glue, and when reduced to powder exceed every thing for
clarifying coffee. Alligators are numerous and very large; and the
tortoise is very bulky and abundant, but its shell is of no value: it
is amphibious, and deposits at one time more than a hundred eggs in
holes which it makes in the sand at a short distance from the water,
covering them over; the heat of the sun hatches them, and the young,
disengaging themselves from the sand, immediately proceed to the river;
many, however, in this short march, are devoured by the hawk.
The river Moju, which is spacious and deep, even as far as the tide
reaches, originates in the territory of the Camecran Indians beyond
the woods, which it afterwards traverses northward until it enters the
bay of Guajara. In the forests or woods above mentioned, consisting
of most excellent timber, and where the chestnut-tree of the country
abounds, there is a great scarcity of game, caused, no doubt, by the
continued huntings of the Ammanius, Pochetys, Appinages, and Norogages,
tribes of Indians who dwell in the circumjacent country. The want of
this resource is the alleged reason for establishments not having been
formed in the fertile territory watered by this river, navigable to its
centre.
The Camecran Indians are divided into five hordes, distinguished by as
many pre-names, namely, Ma-camecran, Crore-camecran, Pore-camecran,
Cha-camecran, and Pio-camecran, the whole being very similar in their
language and customs. The Ma-camecrans live at present in a state of
pacific intermixture with the inhabitants of the new arraial of St.
Pedro d’Alcantara, belonging to the jurisdiction of Goyaz.
Forty miles above the mouth of the Moju there is a narrow, winding,
and extensive strait, denominated Iguarapemirim, which is a channel
of communication between this river and the Tucantins, thus forming
an island of thirty-five miles from north to south, and twenty at its
greatest width. The Acara, also considerable, affords navigation to the
agriculturists upon its adjacent lands, divided into various parishes,
and loses its name on entering the Moju by the right, fifteen miles
south of the capital. Six miles below this confluence the Moju is
nearly a mile in width.
The river Guama, likewise considerable, comes from the east, traversing
a fertile country partially inhabited to its source, and is discharged
into the bay of Guajara, near the Moju, having received, near forty
miles above, the Capim on the left.
The largest island of this province is the Joannes, otherwise Marajo,
situated between the Tucantins and the Amazons, with the ocean on the
north, and the strait of Tagypuru on the south. It extends ninety miles
from north to south, and one hundred and twenty from east to west,
is inhabited and watered by various rivers; abounding in cattle, and
formerly had the title of a barony.
Its principal rivers are the Anajaz, which issues from a lake, and has
a course, to the west, of fifty miles in a direct line. The Arary,
something larger, flows from another lake, and discharges itself by two
mouths on the eastern side the Mondin, which also runs to the east, and
the Atua to the south-east: the whole are navigable with the aid of the
tide.
The Nhengahybas, principally masters of this island, and Christianized
in part by the Jesuit Antonio Vieyra, were expert mariners, as well as
others living upon the adjacent rivers, and possessed a great number
of canoes, denominated in their own language _igaras_, from which
they derived the appellation of Igaruanas; and always proceeding in
canoes, were distinguished by this name from tribes who lived in woods
distant from the water. Under the denomination of Igaruanas were
also comprehended the Tupinambas, the Mammayamas, the Guayanas, the
Juruanas, the Pacayas, and others. They had small _igaras_ for
fishing and proceeding from one neighbouring place to another; but
their war _igaras_ were forty and fifty feet long, of one trunk,
excavated with stone axes and fire, and were called _maracatims_,
from _maraca_, the name of a certain instrument made of a gourd,
with stones or dried legumes within; and _tim_, which properly
signifies the nose, but translated to imply the beak of a bird, and
even the prow of the vessel, in consequence of these canoes having at
the head a large _vara_, or pole, in the form of a bowsprit, to
which the _maracas_ were suspended with small cords, clashing
together with a loud rattling noise equally warlike and terrific. Their
battles were fatal, and decided with the arrow, spear, and club.
The Igaruanas of the lower Amazons were esteemed the very best of
rowers, when they were habituated to it from their infancy. It was they
who, by the force of the oar, conducted the fleet of Captain Pedro
Teyxeira from the bay of Guajara to the sight of the Andes.
With four very large rivers, the Tucantins, the Zingu, the Tapajos,
and the Madeira, nature has partitioned this province into as many
districts, which it is probable in a short period will form an equal
number of comarcas; and, for the disembarrassment of their history and
geography, we will describe them as so divided, namely:
DISTRICTS. PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
{Belem or Para.
Para Proper {Braganca.
{Collares.
{Villa Vicoza.
Xingutania {Gurupa.
{Melgaco.
{Santarem.
Tapagonia {Souzel.
{Alter do Chao.
{Villanova da Rainha.
Mundrucania {Borba.
{Villafranca.
_District of_ PARA.
The district or comarca of Para is confined on the north by the ocean,
on the south by the province of Goyaz, on the east by that of Maranham,
and on the west by the district of Xingutania, from which it is
separated by the river Tucantins. It is four hundred and fifty miles
from north to south, and two hundred from east to west, the country
being flat, watered with many rivers, and possessing immense woods,
demonstrating the fertility of the soil.
The before-described rivers Guama, Acara, and Maju, are the principal
ones of this district, well enough provided with ports, and exceeding
the others in population and agriculture. The southern part is yet
occupied by wild Indians. The tribe Taramambazes, who were masters of
the sea coast from the bay of Turyassu to that of Cahete, excelled all
others in the art of swimming. They could swim leagues, and frequently
proceeded by night to cut the cables of ships anchored at a distance,
remaining an extraordinary time under water.
BELEM, more generally called PARA, is the capital of the province,
situated upon the eastern margin of the river Tucantins in the bay
of Guajara, at the northern angle of the embouchure of the Guama,
fronting the island of Oncas, and in a plain eighty miles from the
ocean. It is an episcopal city, in a state of mediocrity, with a
population now only of about twenty thousand, many having been recently
swept off by the small-pox. If the access to it was better it would
become more rapidly commercial. It is ornamented with many chapels, a
convent of Capuchins, another of slippered Carmelites, a misericordia,
and a hospital. The cathedral and the palace of the governors are
handsome edifices. The streets are straight, the principal ones paved,
and the houses mainly of stone. The convent of Mercenarios, who are
extinct, is at present the quarters of a regiment. The ci-devant
Jesuitical college is converted into a seminary, and the episcopal
palace and the church serve for the misericordia. It has a tribunal
da Fazenda-real, similar to the other capitals of provinces, a port
admiral, an ouvidor, a Juiz do Fora, and royal professors of Latin,
rhetoric, and philosophy. Since the arrival of the Royal Family in the
Brazil, botanical gardens have been established in the vicinity of the
few maritime towns of note; and this city can boast of one, having a
variety of the most useful and best trees of the province, likewise
some European trees. There is an arsenal with its chapel, and many
engenhos for rice.
At the request of John V. Pope Clement XI. despatched a Bull for
the creation of this bishopric in 1719, and none of the Brazilian
cathedrals originated with so much splendour, and attendants of
archdeacons, canons, deacons, &c. &c. It is divided into two parishes,
St. Maria da Graca, and St. Anna, amongst whose inhabitants there are
comparatively few negroes.
The port in which the tide rises eleven feet is considered to be
diminishing in depth. Thunder is very frequent, but not diurnal, as
has been stated; the showers which accompany it mitigate, in some
degree, the ardent heat which universally prevails. The land breezes,
as well as those from the sea, generally every evening moderate the
burning rays of the sun, which may be said to be almost vertical, and
refresh the atmosphere; thereby rendering this place very healthy,
and tolerably free from the endemical diseases which many regions are
subject to in a similar latitude. There are few insects that introduce
themselves into the human frame, or that are so troublesome as in some
of the other provinces. The days and nights are equal nearly the whole
year. The environs of this city were formerly very unwholesome, but an
evident improvement took place after the colonists began to clear away
the woods, and cattle to increase.
The exportations from hence are cocoa, coffee, rice, cotton,
sarsaparilla, the Maranham and Molluca clove, raw and tanned hides,
_pechurim_ or _pucheri_, _cupahyba_ or _capivi_, _tapioca_, gum,
the urucu die, molasses, Indian rubber, castanhas, or chestnuts of
Maranham, timber, &c. These articles were formerly sent to Maranham,
and the trade with this place was carried on through the medium of
coasting vessels; but the honourable ambition and activity of the
English merchant, which lead him to every corner of the globe for the
purposes of commerce, did not allow this place long to escape his
observation, and one or two establishments were formed here soon after
the arrival of the Royal Family, which have increased to five or six.
The Confiance British sloop of war first navigated up to the town,
demonstrating that vessels, not drawing more water, might accomplish
the same object; and a house at Glasgow subsequently employed two
vessels of much larger burthen in the trade of this city, for whose
present commerce, however, vessels of a smaller class are better
adapted. The spontaneous productions, abundant fertility, and extent
of the province, fully justify the expectation of its becoming a very
considerable place; and more particularly so from the probability of
its being, at no distant period, the only mart for the increasing
productions of the provinces of Goyaz and Matto-grosso.
Its cottons have some time held a rank in the British market and
obtained a price not far short of the Bahia cottons; the communication
is principally with Liverpool, and from ten to fifteen small brigs
proceed from thence to Para annually with English manufactures, and
return with produce. One or two vessels also from London have recently
maintained with it a regular intercourse.
The great extent of country comprising the province of Para, as well
as the tributary provinces of Solimoes and Guianna, coming mainly
under the jurisdiction of its governors, have induced the government
generally to appoint individuals of distinguished families and noble
birth to this situation. The present governor of this very important
district, extending almost to the Oronocos, is the Conde de Villa
Flora. Two miles to the north-east is situated a chapel of Our Lady of
Nazareth, frequently visited by the inhabitants of this city.
Para was the first town in the Brazil that adopted the new constitution
of Portugal, which event, highly to its honour, was brought about
without any bloodshed, in the beginning of January, 1821.
Braganca, formerly Cayte, and the capital of a small capitania so
called, is one of the best and most ancient towns of the province,
and is ornamented with some hermitages. It is well situated on the
left margin of the river from which it derived its primitive name,
and is about twenty miles from the ocean, and near one hundred to the
east-north-east of the capital, and seventy to the east-south-east
of Point Tigioca. An extensive bridge traverses a swamp, or marsh,
and divides it into two parts; the northern division was at first
only inhabited by Indians. It is a port or calling place for the
coasting-vessels that navigate from Maranham to Para. Its church is
dedicated to St. Joam Baptista.
Twenty-five miles to the east-south-east of Braganca, and the same
distance from the sea, is the parish of St. Joze de Cerzedello, upon
the right margin of a small river. Thirty miles to the south-south-west
of Braganca, and eighty to the east of the capital, is the small town
of Ourem, upon the right bank of the Guama. It is ornamented with a
church dedicated to the Espirito Santo, and its inhabitants cultivate
the necessaries of life.
Vigia, an ancient town, and for some time considerable and flourishing
whilst the depository of a great quantity of cocoa and coffee, brought
thither from the adjacent country, is fifty miles north-north-east of
the capital, upon the margin of the Para or Tucantins. The Jesuits
had a college here, and the Mercenaries an entertaining-house.
Its primitive and proper name is St. Jorge dos Alamos. The church
is dedicated to Our Lady of Nazareth, and the inhabitants are
agriculturists and fishermen.
Cintra is a small town, fifty miles west-north-west of Braganca,
seventy north-east of Para, and fifteen east of Villa Nova, pleasantly
situated at the mouth of the river Maracana, of which it formerly had
the name. Its surrounding country is appropriated to various branches
of agriculture; the church is dedicated to the Archangel St. Miguel,
and its inhabitants, who are diminishing, cultivate little more than
the necessaries of life.
In the vicinity, and north-east of Cintra, is the aldeia of Salinas,
with some regularity, and in a very agreeable district, having a place
of worship dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Socorro.
Collares, formerly a middling town, and well supplied, is forty miles
north-north-east of the capital, upon an island six miles in length
from north to south, with proportionable width, and separated from the
continent by a narrow strait. It has only one church of the Lady of
Rozario, and its environs are partially appropriated to the production
of coffee, cocoa, and the necessaries of life common to the country.
Twelve miles south-south-east of Point Tigioca, and sixty north-east
of the capital, is Villa Nova d’el Rey, upon the margin, and a very
little above the embouchure of the Curuca, at the bottom of a bay. Its
inhabitants, for the main part Indians, are fishermen, and cultivators
of mandioca, Indian corn, rice, cocoa, and coffee, which do not remove
them from a state of poverty, although the soil is of great fertility,
and worthy of a more active and industrious population. It has a church
of Our Lady of Rozario.
Gurupy, advantageously situated upon the banks of the bay of the same
name, was created a town in 1671, and became for some time rather
flourishing, whilst the capital of a small Capitania, and visited by
the coasting-vessels from Maranham to Para. Its anchorage-place has
diminished in depth, and agriculture is declining from the want of
whites as well as Africans.
Bayao, a small Indian town, with some whites on the eastern margin of
the Tucantins, and thirty-five miles above Cameta, is well supplied
with fish, and the rendezvous of canoes from Goyaz. It has a church
of St. Antonio, and the inhabitants cultivate cocoa, coffee, cotton,
rice, mandioca, divers fruits, and hortulans. Its very advantageous
situation, and the wide field for agricultural improvement, promise it
a considerable augmentation.
Thirty-five miles further, upon the same margin of the Tucantins, and
eighteen below the fort of Alcobaca, is the aldeia of Pederneira,
inhabited by christianized Indians, who cultivate the same articles as
the preceding town. Here the river begins to be thickly strewed with
islands to the capital. In this district there is yet the small town of
Conde upon the margin of the Tucantins, twenty miles to the south-west
of Para; also Beja, a place of the same order, and seven miles south of
Conde; and Abayte, an insignificant place, eight miles south of Beja;
all three are upon an island formed by the rivers Tucantins, Muju, and
Igarape Mirim, whose territory is appropriated to several branches of
agriculture.
Arcos, situated upon the great bay of Turyvassu, is an aboriginal
town, and the insufficiency of its inhabitants retards the progress
of agriculture, to which its fertile soil is so favourable. Upon
this coast, also, are the parishes of St. Joze de Piria, and Vizeu,
inhabited by Indians; and in the adjacent lands of the river Guamma are
those of Caraparu, Bujaru, Anhangapy, Irituya, St. Miguel da Cachoeira,
and St. Domingos, in the angle of the mouth of the river Capim.
_District of_ XINGUTANIA.
This district is of a quadrangular form, and is bounded on the north
by the river Amazons, on the west by the river Xingu, which affords
it the name, and separates it from Tapajonia; on the south by the
district of Tapiraquia, and on the east by the Tucantins. It is a
portion of the province yet little known, and almost wholly inhabited
by the posterity of the Aborigines, divided into various nations. The
most northern tribes have some intercourse with the Christians of the
povaoçoes, situated upon the margins of the rivers which limit the
district, and various individuals of them have embraced Christianity.
The lands which have been cultivated are fertile, and appropriated
to a great variety of hortulans, edible roots, Indian corn, rice,
_feijao_, tobacco, cotton, the sugar cane, and all the fruit trees
of the climate.
The cocoa shrub, or tree, grows spontaneously in various situations.
In the vicinities of the rivers the aspect of the woods is rendered
agreeable by the diversity and thickness of the trees. They are stored
with birds and game, which are alike the resource of the indolent
savages and the Christians, who hitherto have not introduced the breed
of cattle.
Little is yet known relative to the mineralogy of this province, nor
of the genius or customs of the central and southern hordes of the
natives. A great number of rivers, many of crystaline waters, flow from
the centre of this comarca into those which mainly surround it.
The Annapu traverses the country from south to north, and discharges
itself in front of the island of Marajo by various mouths; the
principal one is spacious, and forms a great bay within. After many
days’ voyage up this river, falls are met with, and its bed is strewed
with large stones. In the woods which border it there are abundance of
clove-trees of the country.
The Pacajaz, properly Pacaya, has an extensive course through a stony
bed, and over many considerable falls, at certain distances. Four days’
voyage is required to arrive at the bar of the great river Iriuanna,
which unites it on the eastern bank, and a few leagues above the
embouchure is the entrance of the channel, which connects it with the
Annapu. It runs east of the Annapu, and takes the name of a nation
which occupies its adjacent territory, where there is great abundance
of clove-trees.
The river Jacundaz, or Hyacunda, is very large, affording an extensive
navigation, and discharges itself east of the Pacaya. The Araticu
empties itself east of the Hyacunda by a wide channel, which bathes the
island of Marago, on the south.
The Areas, which runs into the Amazons, near the northern entrance
of the Tagypuru Strait, is navigable for a considerable distance,
traversing woods, growing upon extensive plains, and abounding with a
variety of game.
The Tacanhunas, so denominated from the tribe of Indians whose
territory it irrigates, enters the Tucantins, near the Itaboca.
Villa Vicoza, originally called Cameta, and one of the most ancient
towns of the province, is flourishing, and well situated upon the left
margin of the Tucantins, ninety miles south-west of the capital, and is
a port for the canoes navigating towards Goyaz and the High Maranham,
as well as a depository for various productions cultivated within its
fertile district. It has a church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista, and
was for some time the capital of a small capitania known by the same
name. The Tucantins is here ten miles in width, being an archipelago.
Fifteen miles to the north-east, which is the direction it takes from
this town to the ocean, is the island of Ararahy, or Aragacy, ten miles
in length, narrow and flat, dividing the river into two currents, the
eastern one improperly called the bay of Marapata, and the western the
bay of Limoeira.
A short distance from the southern point of the island of Ararahy, on
the eastern bank of the Tucantins, is the southern entrance of the
before-mentioned Igarape Mirim, (Narrow Strait,) and in front of it,
on the opposite margin, another, called the Furo do Japim, which is
extensive, and flows into the large channel that waters the southern
coast of Marajo.
Eighty miles, by water, above Villavicoza, upon the same margin of the
Tucantins, is the fort of Alcobaca, for the purpose of registering
the canoes from Goyaz; and three miles further there is another,
denominated Arroyos, for the same object: here the tide is occasionally
perceptible.
Gurupu is a small town, with a church of St. Antonio upon the banks
of the Amazons, twenty-five miles below the mouth of the Zingu. Some
earthen ware is here made, and tiles and bricks are exported to
different parts, constituting a branch of its commerce, besides cocoa
and cloves. From hence is distinguished, far to the north, the serra
of Velha, almost always enveloped in mist, and beyond it the serra of
Paru, upon whose summits the electric fluid finds a vehicle in airy
vapour, giving them additional grandeur by the vibrating thunder-peels
that strike upon the distant ear. They are both of considerable
altitude, and the only mountains which the navigator sees from Para to
the city of Borja.
Melgaco, a town in a state of mediocrity, abounding with fish, is
situated upon the western side of lake Annapu, and watered by the
river of that name, fifteen miles above its embouchure. Its church is
dedicated to St. Michael, and the inhabitants cultivate vegetables,
grain, &c. peculiar to the country, and extract many articles of
commerce from the woods.
Portel, a small town, is situated on the eastern side of the lake
Annapu, near the embouchure of the channel that connects it with
the river Pacaya, seven miles south of Melgaco. It has a church of
St. Miguel, and the inhabitants, almost all Indians, are fishermen,
hunters, and agriculturists.
Oeyras is a small town, in a sandy situation, upon the margin and
five miles above the mouth of the Araticu, forty miles north east
of Villavicoza and thirty-five east of Melgaco. It has a church of
Assumpçao, and its people are composed of Indians of various nations,
who cultivate the most common necessaries, and indulge in their
favourite habits of hunting and fishing.
Between the last river and the Panauha originated the Aldeia dos Bocas,
so denominated from the Combocas, who were its first inhabitants, and
from whom also the Bahia dos Bocas derived its name, being a large bay,
extending westward to the bar of the Panauha, that disembogues near the
southern entrance of the Tagypuru Strait.
Porto de Moz is a middling and well supplied town, upon the eastern
margin of the Xingu, (which is here very wide,) twelve miles from the
Amazons and the port of canoes that navigate these rivers. It has a
church dedicated to St. Braz, and the inhabitants are Indian farmers,
and collect some exports.
Veyros is a small town, well situated upon the Xingu, fifty miles from
Porto de Moz, near the mouth of a small current, having a church of St.
John Baptista, and Indian inhabitants of various nations, who produce a
sufficiency of common necessaries, and some articles of trade.
Pombal is another Indian town, and of the same class as the preceding,
but only requiring the addition of a certain number of whites and
negroes to render it considerable and flourishing, in consequence
of the uncommon fertility of its soil, and the valuable productions
with which nature has enriched it, having, besides, great facility of
exportation. It is eighteen miles above Veyros, upon the Xingu, which
supplies it abundantly with fish.
The island of Marajo, in consequence of its proximity, may be
considered as forming a part of this district. Its principal povoaçoes
are the following:--
Monforte, _ci-devant_ Villa de Joannes, a middling town, and
well situated upon the bay of Marajo, has a church of Nossa Senhora
do Rozario, and is nearly fifty miles north of Para. A Juiz de Fora
presides over the senate, and it may be regarded as the capital of the
island.
Moncaraz, originally Cayha, is a small town, with a church of St.
Francisco d’Assiz, and ten miles south of Monforte, at the embouchure
of a small river in front of Collares.
Salvaterra is an insignificant place, but well situated upon the
southern angle of the month of the Mondin, eight miles north of
Monforte, and has a church of the Lady of Conceiçao.
Soyre, a villota, or small village, is situated upon the northern batik
of the Mondin, a few miles above Salvaterra, with a church of Menino
Deus.
Chaves is a small town upon the northern coast, fronting Robordello,
and flourished whilst a fishery existed, which was there established by
a company from Para.
To the west of Chaves is the parish of Condexa, also a maritime
povoaçao, refreshed with fine breezes, but possessing nothing
remarkable.
In this island are also the parishes of Porto Salvo, at the mouth of
the river Marajo Assu, in front of the town of Conde, Ponte de Pedra,
more to the north, and Villar, a little further in the same direction.
They are inhabited by Indians, who cultivate the provisions of the
climate, and practise hunting and fishing.
_District of_ TAPAJONIA.
This district is confined on the north by the Amazons; on the south by
the district of Arinos; on the west by that of Mundrucania, from which
it is separated by the Tapajos, the river that affords the district
its name; and on the east by Xingutania. It is three hundred and fifty
miles in length from north to south, and about two hundred of medium
width.
The Xingu being the only one of the larger class of rivers in the
Brazil that has not been navigated to its heads, no authentic account
is furnished of the aspect of the eastern part of this district from a
certain situation upwards.
The navigators of the Tapagos have observed numerous small hills and
some mountains at a considerable distance from the Amazons, in whose
vicinity the lands are flat, and no considerable river flows from this
district into the first, which is itself wide, and full of islands of
various sizes, overspread with woods.
The river Zingu, forming the eastern limit of this district, is
very wide, and is only found, after eight days’ voyage, to have any
falls, demonstrating the gradual elevation of the country towards the
interior. The first considerable confluent joining it on the Western
side is the Guiriri, which rises in the centre of the district of
Arinos: a good distance below this confluence it describes two large
and opposite semicircular windings, flowing amongst small eminences.
No large river runs from this district to the Amazons, excepting the
Curua, which has an extensive course, and passes the considerable
lake of the same name, where it is augmented by the waters of several
streams that are there discharged. Its mouth is thirty miles below the
Tapajos, and canoes advance up as far as the said lake, whose margins
abound in different sorts of birds, that subsist on shell fish. The
Uruara, after a short course, is discharged by two mouths below the
Curua.
The Guajara, also of short extent, traverses a very flat territory,
where it is divided into various channels, emptying itself by six
mouths, generally small, below the Uruara.
The Uraucu, otherwise Hyuraucu, having a communication with the
Guajara, enters the Amazons above the Zingu, with which it also
communicates in three places.
It is not ascertained yet whether there are mines of any ores in the
southern part of this district.
Various aboriginal nations, it is much to be regretted, hitherto occupy
this fine district, even to the immediate vicinity of the Portuguese
establishments, which do not extend beyond the margins of the rivers
that limit it, and whose adjacent territories are thickly covered with
majestic woods of trees, whose stems are of immense span and height,
the soil being of admirable substance and fertility, and well suited
to every branch of agriculture. Nature here produces spontaneously the
clove, _cupahyba_, (or _capivi_,) _pechurim_, and cocoa trees, with
sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, jalap, and other medicinal drugs. Amongst
other nations who possessed the adjacent lands of the Tapajos, and were
dispersed by the Mundrucus, were the Hyauains, of whom nothing is known
at the present day.
Souzel is a middling town, situated in the skirts of a mount, bordering
the Zingu, which is the best supplier of water to its inhabitants,
mostly Indians, who are occupied in hunting, fishing, and the
cultivation of different articles. It is one hundred and ten miles
distant from the Amazons, has an earthenware manufactory, and may
become more considerable with the increase of whites, and when the
navigation of the river is extended to the districts of Sappiraquia and
Arinos.
Santarem, a large and flourishing town, situated within the embouchure
of the river Tapajos, is the port or calling-place of canoes that
navigate towards Matto-Grosso and the high Amazons, and also the
depository of a great quantity of cocoa, whose trees have been
carefully cultivated in the surrounding-country, the soil being well
adapted for them.
Its beginning was an aldeia with the name of the river, and founded
by the Jesuits for the habitation of an Indian horde. It has a church
of Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao, and many houses of one story. The
fort, which first defended it against the Indians, is now occupied by
a detachment for registering the canoes that ascend and descend both
rivers. The inhabitants, principally whites, do not yet breed many
cattle.
Alter do Cham, originally Hybirarybe, is yet a small town, but
advantageously situated upon a lake, near the Tapajos, (with which it
communicates,) almost in the skirts of a rock, rising pyramidically to
a considerable height, and ten miles south of Santaram. Its inhabitants
are principally Indians, and, besides the usual necessaries, cultivate
some excellent cocoa; but hunting and fishing are their favourite
pursuits.
Aveyro, situated upon the margin of the Tapajos, has the title of a
town, but is only an inferior village, its houses being thatched with
straw, and disposed without regularity, in a beautiful situation. The
inhabitants are Indians, and incapable of improving it; consequently
the advantages of being upon a navigable river, and in the midst of a
rich and fertile soil, will not be available until it obtains a supply
of white people. It is about sixty miles distant from Alter do Cham.
_District of_ MUNDRUCANIA.
This district, limited on the south by that of Juruenna, has on the
north the river Amazons, on the west the river Madeira, and on the east
the river Tapajos. Its length from north to south, on the eastern side,
is near three hundred miles, and its medium width two hundred. Along
the banks of the rivers which limit it, the country is mainly swampy,
with extensive morasses, inhabited by a profusion of birds, drawn
thither by the shell fish. The intervals and the interior are covered
with widely-extending woods, possessing trees of every magnitude. The
banks of the rivers and lakes afford a species of cane, upon which the
ox-fish and tortoise feed. In some parts the granite-stone is common;
but there are no accounts of ore having been discovered any where in
this district.
Amongst other small rivers which run into the Madeira, are the
Anhangating, the mouth of which is in 5° 30′; the Mataura, which
empties itself twenty miles lower down, and communicates with the
Canoma in the interior of the district; and the Marmellos, originally
Araxia, whose mouth is seven miles above the entrance to the lake
Marucutuba.
The interior of the district is watered by the rivers Canoma,
Abacachy, Apiuquiribo, Mauhe-Guassu, Mauhe-Mirim, Massary, Andira,
Tuppynambarana, all of which run into a branch of the Madeira, which,
under the name of Canoma, frequently denominated the Furo, or fury of
the Tuppynambaranas, describes many windings, traversing some lakes
until it enters the Amazons by a spacious embouchure, called the river
Mauhes, which is one hundred and fifty miles below the principal mouth
of the Madeira.
The Mauhes, so called from the Mauhe nation inhabiting its banks, has
acquired also the appellation of the river of the Nambaranas, derived
from a village or aldeia of the Tuppynambas, which existed near the
eastern margins of the lake Uaycurapa, and thirty miles above its mouth.
In the space of forty miles from the Furo dos Tuppynambaranas to the
town of Borbai there are the following lakes: Annamaha, Guarybas,
Cauhintu, Taboca, Frechal, Macacos, and Jatuaranna, all in the
proximity of the river, into which their superfluous waters are
discharged. Forty miles above the said town is the entrance to the lake
Mattary, and beyond it that of the lake Murucutuba.
Between the Furo dos Tuppynambaranas and the mouth of the Madeira, is
the outlet of the lake Massurany. The domestic animals of this district
are at present very inconsiderable; but the wild ones peculiar to the
other comarcas are met with in much greater numbers, in consequence
of the gun not having been yet so much introduced. With the exception
of some portions of territory upon the banks of the rivers which
encompass this district, the whole is in the power of various savage
tribes, of whom, we are best acquainted with the Jummas, the Mauhes,
the Pammas, the Parintintins, the Muras, the Andiras, the Araras,
and the Mundrucus, from which latter the district borrows its name.
Each has its peculiar idiom, and the whole are divided into hordes;
of which some wander about the woods and forests without any fixed
residence: others are established in aldeias, where they intermix with
the Christians, and have learned to cultivate various necessaries of
life. So far are some of them influenced by the power of example, that
they begin to cover, in part, their naked bodies; and many demonstrate
their knowledge of the advantage of friendship with the Christians, by
subduing their native ferocity into a tractable observance of the rules
of the white settlers.
The bow is the weapon common to the male sex, of whatever age
they may be: many possess another still more fatal, denominated
_esgaravatana_; it is a reed of chosen wood, with ten to twelve
palms of length, formed of two pieces glued together with wax, and
firmly bound with thongs made of the bark of plants, whose perfect and
equally round orifice has eight lines of diameter, and serves for the
envenomed arrows, which are discharged by a puff of the breath. These
arrows are not more than a span, and have at the posterior extremity a
ball of cotton, equal to the eighth part of the _esgaravatana_.
When they wish to discharge it, (which is said to be very certain, and
as swift as the shot of a carbine,) the point is dipped in a thick
fluid, composed of the juices of various poisonous plants. Some say
that sugar is the only antidote, others that salt will destroy its
fatal effects, and that the wound is not mortal if the poison was dry
on contaminating the blood; and it is on this account that they carry
the venom in a cocoa-nut shell, or gourd, in order to introduce the
arrow into it at the moment of discharge. Condamine says, that on
wounding a fowl with an arrow that had been envenomed twelve months
previously with a composition made by the Ticunas of Peru, it only
lived about eight minutes; but there was probably some ingredient in
this poison that the Indians we have been speaking of are unacquainted
with.
The Jummas also wield a club, barbed at the extremity.
The Araras, who are the most celebrated for making ornaments of
feathers, form a black circle round the mouth, and perforate the
cartilage of the nose, through which they put a small piece of wood,
trimmed with plumes of various colours.
The Parintintins distend the ears very much with round targets, and
blacken the upper lip into a half moon form, conceiving that their
consequence is thus augmented.
The Muras, perhaps the most numerous among those who have had
intercourse with the Portuguese, are the most backward in adopting any
species of covering for their bodies, the main portion of both sexes
yet appearing in a state of absolute nudity. The men not only ornament
their arms and legs, but likewise perforate the nose, ears, and lips,
and attach to them pendants of shells, the teeth of the boar, and of
other wild quadrupeds. Many of them design various figures upon the
skin, not without considerable suffering and much time; others disguise
the body with dies, and even with clay and loam, adopting this mode of
deforming themselves not so much perhaps with an idea of giving beauty
to their persons as that they may thus assume an imposing air, in order
to deter their enemies by their uncouth appearance. The women are
much attached to their offspring whilst little, and row in the canoes
equally with the men, of whom a great many have beards. The superiors
have many wives; others but one: they separate from them, however, at
their caprice or discretion, and take others. _Tuxauha_ is the
title given to the chiefs of the Mura tribe.
The Mundrucus, whose custom is to paint the body black with the die
of Jenipapo, are numerous and powerful warriors, and the dread of all
the other nations, who give them the appellation of _Payquice_,
which signifies _cut off the head_, in consequence of their savage
custom of cutting off the heads of all their enemies who fall into
their power; and they know how to embalm them in such a manner that
they retain for many years the same aspect they had when severed from
the body. They ornament their rude and miserable cabanas with these
horrible trophies: he that can exhibit ten is eligible to the rank
of chief of the horde. They are well acquainted with the virtues of
various vegetables, with which they cure some dangerous diseases.
Almost all the Mundrucana tribes are at the present time allies of
the Portuguese, and some are Christianized. The brutal inhumanity at
present of those who rove in the woods, not giving quarter either to
age or sex, has compelled the principal part of the other nations to
seek for refuge near the povoaçoes of the Portuguese, under whose
protection they live secure from the attacks of their ferocious enemy.
Villa Franca, originally Camaru, is a middling town, with some
regularity, upon a lake, which communicates with the Amazons and with
the Tapajos, from whose margin it is not far distant. It is fifteen
miles south-west of Santarem. The church is dedicated to the Assumpçao
of Nossa Senhora; and the inhabitants are mostly Indians, cultivating
cocoa besides the necessaries of life.
Villanova da Raynha is a town of a similar kind, near the mouth of the
Mauhes, in an advantageous situation for increasing. Almost all its
inhabitants are Mauhe Indians, who produce the best _guarana_,
which is a composition made from the fruit of a shrub so called,
and common in their territory. After being pounded, it is made into
rolls like chocolate, and becomes quite hard: they attribute various
beneficial effects to the use of it; the most certain, however, is
driving away sleep!
Borba is a small town, with wretched houses, well situated upon
elevated ground on the right margin of the Madeira, eighty miles from
the Amazons and forty above the Furo dos Tuppynambaranas, and is a
calling-place for those who navigate towards Matto-Grosso. The church
is of St. Antonio, and its population is descended from the aborigines
of various nations, with a few Europeans and Mesticos, also some
negroes. Besides the common productions they cultivate some tobacco
and cocoa; and, with the fishing for the tortoise, they supply the
deficiency of cattle, which are at present very few.
This town had its commencement upon the river Jamary, from whence it
was removed to the mouth of the Giparanna, afterwards to the site of
Pancau, or Paraxiau, and ultimately to its present situation, where
it was in the year 1756, when King Joseph gave it the title of town.
It always took the name of the situation where it stood, its various
removals being caused by the persecutions which the inhabitants
experienced from the Mura tribe.
Contiguous to this town there is a populous aldeia of unchristianized
Muras, the descendants of those who formerly annoyed the first
inhabitants: they have taken refuge here from the attacks of the
Mundrucus.
Villaboim, yet very small, upon the left bank of the Tapajos, and
eighteen miles from the Amazons, is a town well situated: its soil
being susceptible of various lucrative branches of agriculture, affords
a probability of its future augmentation. The inhabitants are Indians,
and the church is dedicated to St. Ignacio.
Pinhel, a small town, and well situated upon the margin of the Tapajos,
fifteen miles above Villaboim, has a church dedicated to St. Joze. Its
dwellers, almost all Indians, cultivate what they deem necessary, and
pursue hunting and shooting, and collect some of the objects of trade,
which nature has produced in its fertile vicinity.
Villanova de Santa Cruz, ten miles above Pinhel and almost in front of
Aveyro, is yet insignificant. The houses which form it are generally
very miserable, and its Mundrucanan inhabitants are hunters, fishermen,
and cultivators only of some necessaries, as is the case with all the
places of this district. The increase of Europeans, however, would,
with adequate industry, render its environs abundantly productive in
every article of agriculture, the richness of the soil promising the
utmost success.
At a considerable distance above Villa Nova de St. Cruz, upon the
western margin of the Tapajos, there is an aldeia inhabited by another
horde of Mundrucus, yet unchristianized, but having their plantations
of Indian corn; while some are already partially clothed, and the women
wear a species of dress also of cotton, called a _sayote_.
A catechist, a blacksmith, a carpenter, acquainted with agriculture,
and a woman-weaver are deemed sufficient to commence a povoaçao in
this fertile country, which, with industry, will doubtless soon become
flourishing and useful to the state.