BAHIA AND PERNAMBUCO.
Departure from Rio de Janeiro—Arrival at Bahia—Description of
this City—Voyage to Pernambuco—Jangadas—Description of the
City and Environs of Pernambuco—The Jesuits—The Peasantry—Town
of Olinda—Its Colleges and Botanic Garden—Visit to the
Village of Monteiro—The German Colony of Catucá—The Island of
Itamaricá—Pilar—Salt-works of Jaguaripe—Prevalent Diseases in
the Island—Its Fisheries—Peculiar Mode of Capture.
On the tenth of June, 1837, I arrived in Rio from the Organ Mountains,
and during the remainder of that month, July, August, and the early
part of September, occupied myself in arranging and packing the
collections brought down with me, and in making a few excursions in the
neighbourhood. Having at length despatched everything for England, I took
a passage for Pernambuco in H.M. Packet Opossum, being now desirous to
explore the northern provinces. We sailed from Rio on the fifteenth of
September and after a passage of thirteen days, during which we had much
bad weather and contrary winds, reached Bahia. At three o’clock P.M., on
the twenty-eighth, we came to an anchor in the bay opposite the city, and
about a mile distant from it. As the land along this part of the coast
rises only a few hundred feet above the level of the sea, it is not seen
at so great a distance as the high lands are at Rio. In sailing up the
bay, we kept pretty close to the shore, and I could not help remarking
the great luxuriance of the vegetation. Cocoa-nut trees and other large
palms are very abundant, and the mango trees are both larger and more
numerous than those about Rio. The city of Bahia, when first seen, has a
very imposing appearance, the greater part of it being built on the face
of a hill, which rises about 500 feet above the sea, and the houses,
most of which are of several stories, are all white-washed externally.
The effect is much heightened by the great number of banana, orange, and
cocoa-nut trees which are intermingled with the houses, the dark green
leaves contrasting well with the white, and affording a pleasant relief
to the eye. The Packet being allowed to remain here forty-eight hours,
for the preparation of the mails for Pernambuco and England, I went on
shore shortly after our arrival, with some of the other passengers.
The city of Bahia, sometimes called San Salvador, is situated in the
bay which is known by the name of “Todos os Santos.” It is divided
into an upper and a lower town; the lower is built on the narrow slip
of land that lies between the sea and the rising ground on which the
upper town stands. It consists chiefly of one long street, which is
both narrow, badly paved, and dirty. The houses are mostly high, and
those adjoining the shore project considerably into the sea. After
viewing this commercial portion of the city, we proceeded to the upper
town. As the streets which form the communication between them are too
perpendicular to allow the use of carriages, those who do not choose to
walk are carried in a kind of covered chair slung on a pole, which is
borne on the shoulders of two negroes. These “Cadeiras” are commonly used
both by ladies and gentlemen, and can always be hired in the streets.
We, however, preferred walking, and after passing through some of the
principal streets, and visiting the inside of one of the large churches
we strayed out a little way into the country, delighted with the rich and
pleasing aspect which it afforded. In the evening we visited the reading
room of the Literary Society, where we found a few of the newspapers,
and many of the literary and scientific journals of France, England, and
the United States. After a short stay, we went to a large hotel opposite
the theatre, where we took up our quarters for the night; but, what with
the uncomfortable beds, the rattling of dice, and the still louder clink
of dollars, in an apartment immediately below us, which continued till
nearly four o’clock in the morning, our night’s rest was not of the most
refreshing nature.
On the forenoon of the following day, we visited a convent towards the
west end of the city, where the nuns make artificial flowers for sale,
from the feathers of birds. We were shown into a small room, separated
from the body of the building by a thick wall, through which the traffic
takes place by means of a large grated window. We were soon surrounded
by wreaths of all kinds and colours suited for head dresses, either
sent round to us in baskets, or pushed, one by one, through the grating
on a stick. It is the duty of each nun in her turn to officiate as
sales-woman, whenever purchasers visit the convent, the flowers being
brought to her by the servants of the establishment, who are either black
or brown girls; the one upon whom this duty fell at the period of our
visit was neither young nor beautiful, and destroyed all my romantic
notions regarding nuns and nunneries. Several purchases were made by my
companions with a view of taking them as presents to England.
After leaving the convent, I hired a boat in order to proceed a few miles
further up the bay, and landed on a peninsula called Bomfim, across which
I walked, accompanied by one of the two blacks belonging to the boat,
the distance being rather less than two miles. After leaving the shore,
on which grew _Sophora tomentosa_ and _Eugenia Michelii_, two shrubs
common all along the coast of Brazil, I passed through a marsh containing
several species of plants that were new to me. Beyond this, the road
passed through a dry sandy hollow, in which not a breath of air was to
be felt, and the rays of the mid-day sun, reflected from the white sand,
had so heated the atmosphere, that I was almost suffocated before I could
reach a little eminence at the other end of it. Here, also, I enriched my
collections, and still further on I found the thistle-like _Ampherephis
aristata_ growing commonly by the road-sides; and some large pools in a
marsh, under the shade of a thicket of giant palms, were quite covered
over with _Pistia stratiotes_, a plant nearly related to the Duck-weeds
of England, but of a much larger size; other pools were gay with the
yellow flowers of _Limnanthemum Humboldtianum_. After reaching the shore
I walked along it a little way, and then returned to the boat by a
different route. In passing through a swampy place at the foot of a hill,
on which a large church stands, I found a few specimens of the beautiful
_Angelonia hirsuta_, with its long spikes of large blue flowers. I
afterwards met with several new species of this fine genus, some of
which, raised from seeds sent home by me, are now common in hot-houses.
During this walk I observed some very large mango trees, many of them
twice the size of those growing about Rio. These trees have a handsome
appearance when seen at a distance, surrounding the numerous white-washed
country houses; the trunk, which is often of great thickness, seldom
rises above eight or ten feet above the ground, when it branches into
many widely-spreading ramifications, which rise to a great height, and
are so densely covered with leaves as to be impenetrable to the burning
rays of the sun, thus forming a most agreeable and luxuriant shade. At
three o’clock we returned to the boat, well loaded with my day’s spoil.
In the evening I dined with a gentleman to whom I brought letters from
Rio, and there met a young Scotchman, who invited me to sleep at his
house. Next morning he accompanied me a short way into the country; we
started a little before six o’clock, walked to the distance of about
six miles, and reached the city again by a different route before ten.
The country inland, so far as I could observe, forms a sort of elevated
table-land of a gently undulating nature, and the appearance of the
vegetation bespeaks great richness of soil. Besides great plenty of large
mango trees, I observed many jacks (_Artocarpus integrifolius_) of almost
equal size, the trunks and large branches of which were loaded with
their large yellow-coloured fruit. This tree is very much cultivated in
this part of Brazil, and, I was told, that a few years before my visit,
during a scarcity of provisions in the province, its fruit, which is
yielded in the greatest abundance, was the means of preventing a famine
among the black population. On our return to the city, we passed a small
village close by the sea, the inhabitants of which, principally blacks,
are mostly occupied in whale fishing, the sperm whale being rather
plentiful on this part of the coast. On entering the bay, we observed a
number of whale boats going out, manned by negroes. On visiting Bahia,
one circumstance which forcibly strikes the attention of a stranger,
even coming from the other provinces of Brazil, is the appearance of the
blacks met with in the streets; they are the finest to be seen in the
country, both men and women being tall and well-formed, and generally
intelligent, some of them even, as I have elsewhere observed, being
tolerable Arabic scholars. They have nearly all been imported from the
Gold Coast, and, not only from their greater physical strength and
intelligence, but from being united among themselves, they are more
inclined to insurrectionary movements than the mixed races in the other
provinces. Only a fortnight after I left Bahia a serious insurrection
took place, headed, indeed, by white Brazilians, but supported by most of
the black population; they kept possession of the city for many months,
nor were they fully dispossessed of it till after the destruction of much
life and property.
On the 31st, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we set sail for Pernambuco.
On the second night after we left, while I was walking the quarter-deck
with the captain, the watch forward reported a sail close on the
weather-bow; the crew were immediately piped to quarters, and in less
than five minutes were all on deck ready for action. Shortly afterwards
we saw the vessel pass us at some distance and disappear. As these
packets generally carry home a large amount of specie to England, it
was not without reason that the captain prepared himself for what might
happen, especially on a coast where suspicious craft are not unfrequently
hovering about. There was something exciting in this little incident, and
it afforded matter for conversation on the following day.
After a passage of nine days, land was descried early in the morning from
the mast-head, and in the course of a few hours we could see it from
the deck, rising above the horizon like a long black cloud. On nearing
the coast, it presented a very flat and barren-like aspect, forming a
great and unpromising contrast to the magnificent entry to the bay of
Rio de Janeiro. The town being built nearly on a level with the sea, we
could only obtain a view of that portion of it which immediately skirts
the shore, the houses and the cocoa-nut trees appearing above the
horizon. No part of the coast within many leagues of Pernambuco rises
to any height, except that whereon the old town, called Olinda, stands,
and which is situated about three miles north of Recife, the name of
the seaport. While standing in for the harbour, we passed a number of
fishing-boats, of a very peculiar construction; they are called Jangadas,
and formed of four, or more, logs of wood lashed together, having a mast
and a very large sail, a fixed stool-like seat, but no bulwarks, so that
the waves constantly break over them; they sail with remarkable speed,
and often venture to a great distance from land. A few of the same craft
may be seen at Bahia, but none at Rio. The light wood of which they are
formed is obtained from a species of _Apeiba_, a genus allied to our own
Linden-tree. We anchored in the outer roads about 12 o’clock, and after
the lapse of an hour and a half, a pilot came on board, and conducted
us into the harbour, which is quite a natural one, being formed by a
reef that runs along the coast, at a little distance from the shore;
the entrance is through a breach, upon the south side of which is a
light-house and a small fort. A very heavy swell runs outside the reef
and breaks over it, but there is always calm water within; and at full
tide it is sufficiently deep to float the largest merchant vessels that
visit the port.
The town of Pernambuco has few recommendations to those who are not
engaged in business. The houses are higher than those at Rio, the
streets for the most part still more narrow, and certainly quite as
dirty. In nearly all the towns and cities of Brazil, rain is the only
scavenger, and by it the streets are kept tolerably clean in such of
them as are built on declivities, but this, unfortunately, is not the
case with Pernambuco; in the wet season, the streets are full of mud
and water, and in the dry, the mud is converted into clouds of dust. It
has always appeared extraordinary to me that epidemic diseases do not
prevail to a much greater extent than they do under such circumstances.
The town consists of three great divisions: that in which the principal
trade is carried on, is situated on a narrow neck of land, which runs
down between the sea and a river from Olinda, and is called Recife;
another principally occupied with shops, and containing the palace of
the President, is built on an island, and is known by the name of St.
Antonio; the third, called Boa Vista, consisting principally of one long
street, is constructed on the mainland, and is by far the finest part of
the whole. These are all connected by means of two wooden bridges.
As Pernambuco is situated on the most eastern part of the American
continent, it is fully exposed to the influence of the trade winds
all the year round, and hence enjoys a cool climate; it is considered
more healthy than either Rio or Bahia. Except two or three churches it
contains but few public buildings, and, at the period of my visit, it had
not a single hotel of any description. The Palace in which the affairs
of the provincial government are now carried on, was in former times the
Jesuits’ College, and stands on the banks of the river; it is a large
building of gloomy appearance, with walls of enormous thickness. When it
was erected by these enterprising and charitable men, they little dreamed
that their career was to terminate at so early a period as it did. It
is handed down from father to son, particularly among the middle and
lower classes of Brazil, that the destruction of Jesuitical power was a
severe loss to the well-being of the country. There are of course but
few alive now who formed the Company of Jesus, but the memory of them
will long remain; I have always heard them spoken of with respect and
with regret. What different men they must have been from the degraded
race who now undertake the spiritual welfare of this nation! It is a hard
thing to say, but I do it not without well considering the nature of the
assertion, that the present clergy of Brazil are more debased and immoral
than any other class of men. However much the Jesuits were slandered and
persecuted from the jealousy of those who envied the respect in which
they were held by their flocks, and the confidence which they reposed in
them, enough of the good still remains to shame those who have succeeded
them. More than one nation of Indians in Brazil, which, in the time of
the Jesuits, had renounced their savage life and become Christians, have,
since their suppression, returned to the condition from which, at so
much risk and with so much labour, they had been redeemed. Whatever were
the motives of the Jesuits, they are judged of in Brazil, not by them,
but by their good works.
The inhabitants of the town of Pernambuco resemble very much those
of Rio, but there is a great difference in the appearance of the
country people, which here, as elsewhere, are easily distinguished
from the citizens. Those seen in the streets of Rio de Janeiro are
a tall handsome race of men, mostly from the mining districts, or
the more southerly province of San Paulo; their dress consists of a
linen jacket and trowsers, generally of a blue colour, brown leather
boots, which are firmly tied round the leg a little above the knee,
and a very high crowned broad-brimmed white straw hat. Those, on the
contrary, who frequent the city of Pernambuco, are a more swarthy and
more diminutive race, but still far superior in appearance to the puny
citizens. There are two classes of them, the Matúto and the Sertanejo:
the Matútos inhabit the low flat country, which extends from the coast
up to the high land of the interior, called the Sertão, or desert,
which gives name to, and is inhabited by, the Sertanejos. The dress of
both for the most part, but of the latter in particular, consists of a
low round-crowned broad-brimmed hat, jacket, and trowsers, made of a
yellowish brown-coloured leather, that manufactured from the skin of the
different kinds of deer being preferred; in place of a waistcoat they
very frequently wear a triangular piece of the same kind of leather,
fastened round the neck and middle by cords of the same material. The
boots in use in the province of Rio are unknown here, and either shoes or
slippers, also of brown leather, are worn instead. The Matúto generally
dispenses with the leather trowsers and shoes, using in place of them a
pair of wide cotton drawers, which reach only a little below the knee,
the legs remaining bare. Cotton and hides are the principal articles
brought from the interior, and horses are the only beasts of burden,
mules being as rarely used for that purpose here, as horses are in the
southern provinces. Each horse carries two large bales of cotton as well
as the driver, who places himself between them, stretching his legs
forward on a level with his seat.
Upon landing in Pernambuco, I found Dr. Loudon, a Scotch physician
resident in that city, awaiting my arrival, who kindly invited me
to remain with him during my stay; and as he had then been sixteen
years in the place, and was acquainted with most of the influential
people, both foreign and Brazilian, I derived much advantage from his
friendship, more particularly so, as he was very partial to the pursuit
of natural history. Shortly after my arrival I delivered the letters
of recommendation given me by Mr. Hamilton, the British Minister at
the court of Rio, to Mr. Watts, the Consul, who obligingly offered to
introduce me to the President of the province, Senhor Vicente Thomaz
Pires de Figueredo Comargo. The permission to wait upon his Excellency
having been given a few days afterwards, I accompanied Mr. Watts to
the palace, together with Dr. Loudon, who was a personal friend of the
President. He received me with great kindness, and when the object of
my visit to the country was explained to him, he promised to afford all
the assistance in his power, and, in the meantime, gave me a letter to
Dr. Serpa, the Professor of Botany and Curator of the Botanic Garden at
Olinda.
I was accompanied in my visit to Olinda by Mr. Nash, a young Englishman,
to whom I was indebted for many acts of kindness during my visit at
Pernambuco. There are three routes to Olinda from Recife; one along
the shore, which is seldom taken on account of the loose sandy nature
of the soil, and the complete exposure of the traveller to the sun.
Another is by canoes, up the stream before mentioned by which the surplus
water from a large lake behind Olinda is discharged into the sea; this
stream runs parallel with the shore, from which it is separated by a
high sand-bank, and is fringed on each side by a strip of mangroves,
the mud in which they grow emitting at low tide a very disagreeable
effluvium, and abounding in crabs of various sizes and colours, while
clouds of mosquitos always hover around and harbour among the branches.
The third route, which we pursued, runs parallel with the river, at a
considerable distance inland. This road is quite level, and at both ends
are seen several fine country houses, though much of it passes through
uncultivated, and often marshy land. Occasionally it is enclosed by
Mimosa hedges, in which is seen a slender kind of Jasmine (_Jasminum
Bahiense_, DC.), whose white flowers at the early hour we passed were
perfuming the air with their delightful fragrance. The road-side was gay
with the large pale yellow flowers of _Turnera trioniflora_, and the
delicate pink heads of a sensitive plant. Several different kinds of this
latter plant grow very abundantly all over the northern parts of Brazil.
Shelley has truly said, that
“The sensitive plant has no bright flower,
Radiance and odour are not its dower,”—
yet there are few in the whole range of the vegetable kingdom, which are
so much an object of curiosity to all observers, or of so much interest
to the physiologist. On approaching Olinda, I was delighted to find the
surface of the lake—which abounds in alligators—covered with thousands
of the splendid large white blossoms and broad floating leaves of a
water-lily (_Nymphæa ampla_, DC.), and intermingled with them, the yellow
flowers of _Limnocharis Commersonii_, and a large _Utricularia_.
The Botanic Garden is situated in a hollow, behind the town of Olinda,
and, though of considerable size, has only a portion of it under
cultivation; the residence of the Professor stands nearly in the centre.
We found Dr. Serpa in his study, a rather large apartment, which he uses
also as a lecture-room; he appeared to be about sixty years of age, and
we were impressed with his agreeable manners and intelligence. Besides
his other duties, he had the principal medical practice in Olinda. A
few French works on Botany, Natural History, Agriculture, and Medicine,
composed the chief part of his limited library. It was here that I first
saw the ‘Flora Fluminensis,’ a work published at the expense of the
Brazilian government. The drawings from which the plates were executed,
were prepared at Rio de Janeiro about the end of the last century, under
the direction of a Jesuit of the name of Vellozo. It cost £70,000, and,
to use the words of Dr. Von Martius, is “a strange publication, which
may be held up as an example of an ill-advised literary undertaking,
and on so great a scale that it ought never to have been commenced.
Eleven huge volumes, with about fifteen hundred plates, constitute
this bulky work, whose usefulness is, alas! not in proportion to the
expense it occasioned.”[4] The Doctor accompanied us in a walk round the
Garden, which I found to contain little worthy of notice; a few European
medicinal plants, struggling for existence, and some large Indian trees,
being its principal productions; among the latter, however, were fine
specimens of the Mango, Tamarind, Cinnamon, and the Date-Palm. He had
lately received from the interior, plants of a species of Ipecacuanha,
the roots of which form an article of export from Pernambuco, and the
living specimens which I obtained from him are now growing freely in the
stoves of the Glasgow Botanic Garden. They appear different from the
one figured and described by St. Hilaire, from the south of Brazil, and
will, I suspect, prove to be a distinct, though nearly related species.
Leaving the garden, we walked a little way into the country, where I
hoped to meet with something more interesting; and in this expectation I
was not disappointed, as many new plants were added to my collections. On
the dry bushy hills in this neighbourhood a wild fruit-tree grows very
plentifully; it is the Mangába of the Brazilians, and the _Hancornia
speciosa_ of botanists; it is a small tree belonging to the Natural
Order _Apocyneæ_, the small leaves and drooping branches of which give
it somewhat the resemblance of the weeping birch. The fruit is about the
size of a large plum, of a yellow colour, but streaked a little with red
on one side, and the flavour is most delicious.
In the afternoon we returned to Olinda, to dine with another gentleman
to whom I also carried letters, Senhor da Cunha. He had been educated
in England, and was an intelligent man. After dinner we walked out to
see the town, which is very pleasantly situated on an eminence not far
from the sea. It is a place of considerable size, and in the olden time
must have been a stirring one, particularly as regards the clergy,
judging from the number of churches, convents, monasteries, &c. It has
now, however, a deserted and desolate appearance, many fine houses being
untenanted and falling to decay, and the streets are grown over with
grass and weeds. On the outskirts of the seaward side of the town, there
are the ruins of a large monastery, which we went to see on account of
a hermit who had lived there upwards of seventeen years. We found it to
be a very large building, consisting of a church in the centre, still
in use, and two wings, containing the apartments formerly inhabited
by the friars, which are fast running into decay, particularly those
in the south wing. The north wing is in much better repair, having a
few good rooms, which are inhabited by some of the students attending
a theological and medical school, established in Olinda. Along the
corridors, and in some of the larger rooms, are still a few paintings,
but in a state of much decay. While surveying this great fabric, we could
not help thinking of the contrast it now offers to the times, not long
gone by, when its walls re-echoed to the footsteps and prayers of the
devotees of a religion, which was then in a much more flourishing state
than it now is, over nearly the whole of the empire of Brazil.
It was among the ruins of the south wing that the hermit lived. We
visited the room in which he was said to be generally found, but he
was not there. We then passed through a small court nearly choked with
rubbish, and entered a large dark room, partly filled with old bricks
and lime. Upon the floor of this wretched apartment we found him lying,
presenting a most miserable appearance. His only covering consisted of a
piece of thin black cloth wrapped round his body, his head, arms, legs,
and feet being bare. He appeared to be about sixty years of age, but his
long grey hair and beard made him look older, perhaps, than he really
was. He was moaning and otherwise seemed to be in great agony, and it
was with some difficulty he told us that two days before, while walking
across the floor of the room above, it gave way, and he was precipitated
to the place where we found him extended, and from which he was unable
to move. We tried to raise him, but the slightest movement gave him
excruciating pain. As some of his bones seemed to be broken, a young
man who had accompanied us, went off immediately to procure assistance,
and have him taken to the hospital. All the information I could obtain
relating to this unfortunate being, was that at one time, he had been
an officer in the army, and was now doing penance for a murder he had
committed in his youth. We also visited a convent, the nuns belonging
to which prepare preserved fruits for sale. Unlike the one I visited at
Bahia, we could only speak to, not see, those who were within. The fruit
was put upon a shelf of a revolving kind of cupboard, and in this manner
sent out to us; the money and empty plates were returned in the same way.
Like all the preserves I have met with in the country, those we had here
were spoiled with too much sugar.
For the first few days, my walks did not extend much beyond the suburbs
of the town. The country being quite flat, the soil sandy, and the dry
season having commenced, the herbaceous vegetation in the more exposed
situations was beginning to suffer for want of rain. For many miles
round the town, the Cocoa-nut and other large Palms grow in the greatest
profusion, mixed with fine trees of the Cashew-nut, then loaded with
their curious and refreshing fruit of a yellow or reddish colour, and the
Jack, the Bread-fruit, and the Orange. Much attention, I observed, is
paid to the gardens attached to the houses near the town, many of them
being tastefully laid out, and adorned with beautiful shrubs, partly
Brazilian and partly of Indian origin. The Mimosa and other hedges, as
about Rio, are festooned with climbers, among which the Cow-itch plant
(_Stizolobium urens_) is the most abundant. There is also in many places
a large species of Dodder (_Cuscuta_), which climbs over the hedges
with its long yellow cord-like branches, and gives them a most singular
appearance. The sea-coast yielded me many curious plants, particularly
one part of it about eight miles to the southward of the town, where the
soil for some distance inland is very sandy and covered with shrubs.
There I found in great plenty a new kind of those curious mossy Cacti
(_Melocactus depressus_, Hook.); it was but a small one, being only
about four inches high, and eighteen in circumference.
About a fortnight after my arrival at Pernambuco, Dr. Loudon removed to
his country house, situated on the banks of the Rio Capibaribe, about
four miles west from Recife; and, as the country round it was chiefly
uncultivated, this afforded more ample scope for my researches. The Rio
Capibaribe, which empties itself into the harbour at the Recife, is of
small size, and is navigable only for canoes to a distance of about ten
miles from the town. The navigation for six miles, as far as Monteiro,
is very pleasant, and the scenery is rendered more agreeable by the
number of villas, surrounded by gardens, which are scattered along its
banks. Many of these houses are inhabited during the fine or dry season
only, when most of the wealthy citizens resort to them for the benefit
of bathing in the river; for, in hot climates, fresh water is preferred,
as bathing in salt water generally produces great irritation on the
surface of the body, from the salt crystallizing there, unless washed
off with fresh water. For the purpose of bathing, each house has a large
shed projecting into the river, the tops and sides of which are covered
with cocoa-nut leaves. They are mostly rebuilt every year, as they are
generally carried away by the floods in the rainy season.
About twenty miles to the westward of Pernambuco, there is a small German
Colony called Catucá; it was established about eighteen years before, at
a period when a German regiment, which had been in the service of the
Brazilian government, was here disbanded, but it is now fast dwindling
into decay. The few families residing there gained a livelihood by the
manufacture of charcoal, which they carried to town for sale. Being
desirous of spending a day or two at this place, I started early one
morning in the beginning of November, accompanied by Mr. White, a young
gentleman whom I had previously met on the Organ mountains. We were
guided by two Germans who were returning from Pernambuco, and their
horses carried our luggage. Our route for about two hours was through
a flat country, principally planted with mandiocca, although a great
part of it was still uncleared, only the large trees having been cut
down: a few of those remaining rose high above their fellows of the
wood, and agreeably diversified the landscape. After passing through
this cultivated country, and ascending a slight eminence, we entered
the virgin forest. Previously the road had been of a sandy nature, but
now we found it to consist of hard red clay. Many of the trees were
very lofty, although they do not commonly attain the stature of those
in the Province of Rio, nor have their trunks the same circumference.
Among the shrubs that grew below them, I observed a few _Melastomaceæ_,
_Myrtaceæ_, and _Rubiaceæ_. Here everything betokened a drier atmosphere,
and a more arid soil than at Rio. There were no _Ferns_, _Begonias_,
_Pipers_, or _Orchidaceous_ plants. On the stems and branches of the
larger trees a few _Bromeliaceæ_ and _Aroideæ_ were alone to be seen.
After riding for about an hour through this forest, we reached the
cleared valley containing the cottages of the colonists, several of which
we passed before reaching the one in which we remained. These cottages
are generally of small size, although much superior in cleanliness
and neatness of arrangement to those belonging to the same class of
Brazilians. At night we slung our hammocks in a small apartment, and
enjoyed a sound sleep till morning.
My friend being desirous of having a few days’ shooting in the woods with
one of the Germans, I determined to accompany them, in the hope of making
some additions to my botanical stores. We set off early, entering the
wood about a mile from the cottage. Here, as in similar situations near
the town, I observed a great deficiency of herbaceous vegetation, and in
a walk of about two hours collected only a few Ferns. In passing through
this wood, we saw an enormously large tree, a species of _Lecythis_; the
ground beneath it was covered with its curious pot-like capsules nearly
as large as a man’s head, their resemblance to a pot being much increased
by the large lid which falls off from the top of each when the seeds
within are ripe. Most of those we saw were empty, the nuts having been
taken out by the monkeys, who are very fond of them. Leaving this wood,
we suddenly came upon another cleared valley, containing the ruins of
several cottages; this, we were told, had been the first site of the
settlement, but as the colonists were forbidden to cut any more wood in
that direction, they moved their quarters to the place before mentioned.
Near these dismantled dwellings we found abundance of pine-apples, and
refreshed ourselves with some which were ripe, sheltering ourselves from
the sun under the shade of an out-house which had formerly served as a
place for the preparation of farinha from the Mandiocca root. Near this
place I found two beautiful trees, one of them a species of _Vochysia_,
covered with long spikes of bright yellow flowers, and the other the
splendid _Moronobea coccinea_, literally covered with its globular
crimson blossoms. In returning I collected specimens of a yellow-flowered
_Palicourea_, called Mata Rato, not, however, the same plant which is
known at Rio by the name of Erva do Rato. It proves, notwithstanding,
that poisonous qualities are attributed to different plants of the same
genus in different parts of the country.
Close to the main land, and about thirty miles north from Pernambuco,
there is a small island called Itamaricá, which on account of its fine
climate and soil, and the abundance and superiority of the fruit produced
there, is designated the garden of Pernambuco. I was desirous of visiting
this place before leaving the province, and with this intention I started
about the middle of December, and considered myself fortunate in having
as a companion Mr. Adamson, a young gentleman who had been some years in
the country, and was fond of botanical pursuits. To make the voyage, we
had to hire a Jangada, one of the raft boats so common on this part of
the coast; it was manned by a crew of three men. To a stranger it appears
a very singular kind of craft, and had I not been well assured that,
primitive as their construction seems, they are perfectly safe, I should
have felt some hesitation in embarking on one of them.
Having got our luggage properly placed on its elevated platform, so
as to be out of the reach of the water, which continually washes over
these rafts, we commenced our voyage. The wind almost constantly blows
at that season from the north-east, and consequently was nearly right
against us, rendering it necessary to beat up between the reef and
the shore; the intermediate distance varying from a quarter of a mile
to two miles, all the way from Recife to the island. By four o’clock
in the afternoon, finding that the unfavourable wind prevented our
performing more than half the voyage, we determined to land at a small
fishing village called Pao Amarello, and there pass the night. It was
not without some difficulty that we obtained a shelter wherein we could
sling our hammocks; after meeting with several refusals, the owner of a
small public-house (Venda) pointed out an empty hut made of cocoa-nut
leaves, and permitted us to take possession of it for the night. Hither,
therefore, we moved our luggage, and after a supper of stewed fish and
farinha, slept soundly till daybreak. After getting up, we took a walk
a little way into the country; the soil we found to be sandy, and the
herbaceous vegetation completely scorched up by the drought. At this
place the reef is about a mile distant from the shore, and is distinctly
perceptible along its whole line, both at high and low water, for
although the ebb tide leaves the rocks quite bare, the surf marks its
position even at the highest flow. The wind having now shifted more to
the eastward, we were enabled after breakfast to proceed on our voyage,
and as we made much more rapid progress than on the preceding day, we
reached the island at noon, and landed on the eastern side of it at
Pilar, the principal town.
We carried with us two or three letters of introduction, and the first
we delivered obtained us quarters. The name of our host was Alexander
Alcantará, the proprietor of a large salt-work, of which there are
several on the island. His house, like nearly all the others we saw,
was of one story, the walls consisting of a frame-work of wood, the
interstices of which were filled up with a kind of clay, and the roof
was covered with tiles; there were four good rooms in it, all floored
with boards; it was delightfully situated near the sea, and surrounded
by cocoa-nut trees. In the afternoon we were taken by our host to see
his salt-works, which were established in a valley into which the tide
flows at high water. The water from which the salt is made, is kept
in large reservoirs, whence it is from time to time made to flow into
pits, where it is allowed to evaporate. At this place, which is called
Jaguaribe, there are twenty-four distinct manufactories, belonging to as
many individuals. The place where the water is evaporated is divided into
small compartments, measuring sixteen feet by twelve. In that belonging
to Senhor Alcantará, there are one hundred and twenty such compartments;
into each of these, two inches of water is allowed to flow from the large
reservoir, and in eight days this is completely evaporated. It yields
him, altogether, annually, about four hundred alqueires of salt, each
alqueire weighing eight arrobas, and each arroba thirty-two pounds. Three
qualities are produced, the best being used for domestic purposes, a
middle sort for curing fish and an inferior kind used principally to salt
hides. On an average it brings about 2_s._ 6_d._ an alqueire, so that his
whole income from this source is only about 50_l._ a year. Besides the
manufactories at this place, there are others in different parts of the
island.
The island, which is separated from the main land by a strait about half
a league broad, is nearly three leagues in length, and from one and
a half to two in breadth. It contains only two small villages, viz.,
Itamaricá, situated on a height near the sea, on the south-east side,
containing only about twenty houses; and Pilar, the place at which we
landed, formed of a few irregular streets, and containing about eighty
habitations. The whole number of houses in the island, we were told,
amounted to three hundred, and the entire population to about two
thousand. Although there are many very comfortable looking dwellings, yet
the mass of the houses have a poor appearance, being either formed of
wicker-work and mud, or of cocoa-nut leaves. As fishing is the principal
occupation of the inhabitants, their houses are generally near the
shore. The fish are mostly taken in pens (currals) that are constructed
of stakes a little beyond low-water mark. Another source of income to
the inhabitants, is the cocoa-nut trees, which form a dense deep belt
round the upper part of the island; both the fish and nuts are taken
to Pernambuco for sale. In the interior of the island there are three
sugar plantations; and several of the more wealthy of the inhabitants
cultivate grapes and mangoes to a considerable extent, both of which
sell well in Pernambuco, bringing a better price than those cultivated
elsewhere in the province. Good grapes I bought at tenpence a pound,
but they give the cultivator a great deal of trouble, as the vines are
sure to be attacked by a large brown ant, and stripped of their leaves
in a single night, unless care be taken to have the lower part of the
stem isolated by water. The whole of the province of Pernambuco is much
overrun by these insects. During the time of our visit the mangoes were
just getting into season, and I found them to be very much superior in
flavour to any I had previously tasted; they are much smaller than those
cultivated near Pernambuco, and very much resemble peaches in colour.
During the few days we remained on the island we made many excursions
through it in all directions; instead of the almost uniformly level
character of the country in the vicinity of Pernambuco, here there is
a gentle undulation of hill and dale. There is not much large timber,
the wooded portions generally consist of small trees and shrubs, which
give to many parts of the island an aspect more like that of an English
orchard, than an uncultivated equatorial region; some of the views we
obtained from the hills, if not grand, were at least pleasing. Though
there are both a priest and a lawyer on the island, there is no medical
man; and as soon as I was known to be one, my assistance was solicited
from all quarters. The first individual I was requested to visit, was a
man with a large abscess in the neck, from the suppuration of the right
submaxillary gland; he could neither speak nor swallow, and his relatives
thought him on the point of death. I opened the abscess, which gave him
instant relief, and next day when I called, he was sitting up, and able
to overwhelm me with thanks for what he conceived to be a miraculous
cure. This case so established my reputation, that I had more medical
practice than I desired. Two of my patients were in the last stage of
consumption, but by far the greater proportion of the cases resulted from
intermittent fever, chiefly arising from derangement of the digestive
organs, accompanied with enlargement of the spleen. Consumption is rare
in Brazil: during the whole of my travels I did not meet with more than
half a dozen cases. As I would receive no fees, many presents of fish,
fowls, and fruit were sent me.
I have said that the chief occupation of the inhabitants is fishing, and
that the fish are nearly all taken in pens (currals). These enclosures
are very common all along the coast of Pernambuco, and of the following
shape.
[Illustration]
They are made of strong stakes, driven firmly into the ground at the
distance of a few feet from each other, the interstices between them
being afterwards filled up by small straight rods closely tied together.
The straight line of rods is sometimes nearly a quarter of a mile in
length, and runs out away from the shore; it answers the purpose of
guiding the fish into the enclosures at the farthest end of it.
The day before we left the island, we accompanied our host to visit the
curral belonging to him, in order to witness the method of taking fish;
they are only visited at low water. We went in a canoe to the entrance
of the innermost enclosure; our host then stripped himself, as did also
another person who accompanied us, and entered the inner enclosure,
taking with them a small net a little deeper than the water, with a short
pole fixed to each end of it. One of the men then fixed one of the poles
perpendicularly close to one side of the entrance to the enclosure, while
the other began to unfold the net, closing with it the entrance so as to
prevent the escape of the fish; he then walked round by the side of the
enclosure till he reached the other person, when the net was rolled up,
thus enclosing in it all the fish contained in the curral, which amounted
to about a dozen very fine ones. We were informed that at this season
very few are taken; so few, indeed, that they are scarcely sufficient
for the consumption of the families to whom the currals belong; in the
rainy season, however, they are taken so abundantly, that boat-loads of
them are sent to the Pernambuco market. We returned to Recife in a large
canoe.