The Rio San Francisco being only thirty-two leagues to the southward of Maceio, and learning that it was navigable, without interruption, for upwards of a hundred miles, I resolved to visit it. A Portuguese gentleman, however, to whom I was directed for information on the subject, having, a few years before, made the voyage up to the great falls (Cachoeira de Paulo Affonço), informed me that as it was then the season at which the river rises to its greatest height, the head waters being far to the south, he would not advise me to undertake the voyage, in consequence of the dangerous navigation at the period of the floods, as well as from the little chance there would be of my adding much to my collection, from the dried up state in which I should find the vegetation, owing to the long continued drought. Still I determined to go, as nothing better presented itself to pass the time, and hitherto, moreover, I had always found the difficulties of travelling much less than they were represented to be. I considered myself fortunate in being able to hire, as a servant, the black who accompanied the gentleman above alluded to.

Having made the necessary preparations for the voyage, I engaged a jangada to take me along the coast to the mouth of the river, and left Maceio at five o’clock A.M., on the morning of the 15th of February. I intended to leave at eleven o’clock the night before, at the rising of the moon, but when I reached the beach with my luggage, the owner of the jangada was nowhere to be found, although he had faithfully promised to be waiting for me. I immediately sent Pedro, my black servant, in search of him, who soon afterwards returned unsuccessful; and I had no resource but to walk backwards and forwards on the beach till shortly before five o’clock in the morning, when he made his appearance. On questioning him about his absence, he told me with the greatest coolness, that as I did not arrive exactly when the moon rose, he thought I should not come till morning, and that, in order to pass the time, he had gone out to fish. Having at length embarked, we soon lost sight of Maceio under the influence of a strong north-east wind, and, coasting along a flat shrubby shore, we arrived at night at the mouth of a small river, on the south bank of which, about a mile up, there is a little village called Batel. At this place, which is twenty leagues distant from Maceio, we remained for the night. I preferred sleeping in the jangada to one of the small cocoa-nut-leaf cottages that was offered to me, but I had reason to repent of having done so. It was full tide when we arrived at the village, and the jangada was brought close to the shore, so that when the tide ebbed it was left dry. I did not then recollect that all muddy shores covered with mangroves, particularly at the mouths of rivers, abound with mosquitos, but I was soon reminded of the fact by being awoke about midnight with my face and hands smarting and swollen from the bites of those annoying insects. As I slept in my clothes without any covering, I was obliged to shield my face with my pocket-handkerchief, and thrust my hands into my pockets. Although I was thus in some measure protected from their bites, it was long before I could again fall asleep, from the continued humming noise, almost as loud as that of bees, which they were making around me. When I got up at daybreak, after a restless night, I found that besides the mosquitos, I was surrounded by thousands of a small black sand-fly (Merohy), not much larger than a grain of fine gunpowder, but whose bites are no less irritating than those of their larger congeners. The morning tide, we found, did not rise so high as it did on the previous evening, and it was with some difficulty that the jangada was floated into deep water, which was not effected till nearly nine o’clock, A.M. In crossing the bar at the mouth of the river, we had to pass through a line of small breakers, three of which swept over the elevated platform on which I was sitting, and drenched me to the skin, thereby rendering the remainder of the voyage very uncomfortable. It was one o’clock, P.M., when we reached a little village called Peba, which is situated on the coast, about five leagues to the north of the mouth of the Rio San Francisco: this was the termination of my sea-voyage, as the heavy surf which breaks over the shallow bar of that river will not allow jangadas to enter it. The village is situated a little way inland, and is hidden from the sea by a high embankment of sand, which at this place is very much drifted by the wind; it is, however, recognised at a considerable distance, from the number of tall cocoa-nut trees which grow near the shore. I was here particularly struck with a fact which goes a great way to explain the phenomenon of the stem of a fossil tree being found passing through several strata of sandstone rock. Many of the cocoa-nut trees have their stems embedded to the depth of fifty feet and upwards in the embankment of sand which stretches along the shore, and in many places is several hundred feet broad; some of them, indeed, are so deeply embedded, that the nuts can be gathered without climbing the tree. Now as this sand has accumulated at different periods, particularly during the prevalence of the north-east trade-wind, it must present, if ever it becomes hardened, a vast number of irregularly horizontal beds, through which the stems of the palms will be found to pass.

From a fisherman, whom I met on the shore, I obtained permission to occupy an empty hut till the next day. While seated on the trunk of a tree, which was lying on the beach at high-water mark, I observed that on the shore here, as well as along the coast, crabs of various sizes abounded; and, as I had to wait until my luggage was landed and carried to the hut, I amused myself by watching the operations of a small species, belonging to the genus Gelasimus that was either making or enlarging its burrow in the sand. About once in every two minutes it came up to the surface with a quantity of sand enclosed in its left claw, which, by a sudden jerk, it ejected to the distance of about six inches, always taking care to vary the direction in which it was thrown, so as to prevent its accumulation in one place. Having a few small shells belonging to a species of Turbo in one of my jacket pockets, I endeavoured to throw one of these into its hole, in order to see whether it would bring it up again or not; of the four that were thus thrown, one only entered the hole, the others remaining within a few inches of it. It was about five minutes before the animal again made its appearance, bringing with it the shell which had gone down, and carrying it to the distance of about a foot from its burrow, it there deposited it. Seeing the others lying near the mouth of the hole, it immediately carried them, one by one, to the place where the first had been laid down, and then returned to its former labour of carrying up sand. It was impossible not to conclude that the actions of this little creature, which holds so low a station in the chain of beings, were the result of reason, rather than of blind instinct by which the actions of the inferior animals are generally thought to be guided, for man himself, under the same circumstances, could not have acted with more judgment.

On the day following our arrival at Peba, I made arrangements with the owner of an ox-cart to take me with my luggage to Piassabassú, a little village situated on the north bank of the Rio San Francisco, and about two leagues distant from its mouth. He promised to come early in the forenoon, but, much to my annoyance, did not make his appearance till five o’clock in the afternoon, shortly after which we started. We kept along the sandy shore for about two miles, then went a little inland and continued our route in a direction nearly parallel to the shore through a flat, sandy, bushy country, in which Mouriria Guianensis, Aubl., and several species of Lauraceæ, were very abundant. It was indeed dark during the greater part of the journey, but on my return I had ample opportunity of observing the nature of the vegetation. I was not at all sorry, after we had once started, that we had been thus delayed, as travelling in this country is far more pleasant in the evening than during the heat of the day. Our cart was of a very primitive construction, similar to that seen everywhere in the interior of Brazil, and little different from that used by the Romans. It consisted of a rude frame, supported on two wheels about five feet in diameter, constructed of solid plank; and was drawn by six oxen, yoked in pairs, goaded on by two drivers, each carrying a slender pole about ten feet long. One of the drivers goes before to lead the way, while the other urges on the oxen with his long pole. The axles are never greased, and the creaking noise they continually make, which we heard at a great distance, is most disagreeable; the reason given for not greasing them is, that the cattle are so accustomed to the noise that they would not go on without it. It was ten o’clock at night when we arrived at the end of our journey, and as there was no place where a stranger could put up, and being without introduction to any resident in the village, I was taken by our conductor to the house of one of his acquaintances, where the only accommodation to be obtained was in a small and very dirty apartment in the hut, which did not much signify, as I slept in my own hammock.

Piassabassú is a small village, where the greater part of the houses surround a large square with a church in its centre; these are nearly all of one story, and, being white-washed on the outside, they present a cleanly appearance. Many of those situated nearest to the river, were abandoned on account of its flooded state, being then higher than it had been since the year 1793, when the inundation reached to a still greater height. On the morning after our arrival at this place I hired a canoe to convey me to the Villa do Penêdo, seven leagues further up the river. We started at eleven o’clock, A.M., but the current was so strong that the canoe was obliged to keep close along shore to be able to make way against it; a small sail, by which we were propelled, was often barely sufficient to keep us from being carried downwards; at such times our two men were forced to use their paddles. At Piassabassú the river is about two leagues broad, but the opposite side cannot be seen on account of a large island which stands in the middle of the stream; it was only after we had proceeded upwards about half a league, that I first saw the whole breadth of this magnificent river. The country, for about three leagues, is flat on both sides, which the present flood had inundated to a considerable extent. We passed large fields of sugar-cane, where nothing was to be seen but the tops of the leaves, which, waving in the stream, gave them the appearance of verdant meadows; where trees existed, nothing but their upper branches were visible, and almost every house that we passed had only its roof appearing above the water. The river begins to rise in the month of October, which is the commencement of the rainy season in the southern provinces, the sources of its origin, and continues to do so until the end of March. At about five leagues from the coast, the country, on the south side of the river, slightly rises, and from thence to Penêdo it is of an undulating character, but the opposite side still continues flat. After pursuing our course upwards about two leagues on the north, we crossed over to the southern bank, in order to obtain advantage of the breeze. A few sugar plantations exist on both sides, but the vacancies in the forests made by the cultivated spots are scarcely apparent. By the force of the stream, particularly in certain turns of the river, the banks were greatly encroached upon by a continual process of undermining, and we saw great masses of earth falling in, the trees which grew thereon being floated down by the current. We did not come in sight of Penêdo till within a league of it, when, turning round a high rocky wooded point on the south side, the white houses were seen brightly lighted up by the rays of the sun, which was then just setting nearly opposite to the town. Shortly afterwards we distinguished Villa Nova, a small town situated about half a league below Penêdo, but on the south side of the river. As the Rio San Francisco divides the province of Alagoas from that of Sergipe, it will be seen that the Villa do Penêdo is in the former, while Villa Nova is in the latter.

It was too late when we landed, to deliver the letters of introduction which I brought from Maceio, and, as the boatmen would not remain till morning, I sent my man Pedro to look out for a house in which I might lodge for the night. After being away for more than an hour he returned, and told me that he had much difficulty in finding one, owing to almost every house being crowded by the many families driven out of their homes by the flooded state of the river. I should have preferred an empty house, but as this was not attainable, I caused my luggage to be taken up to the only one Pedro could procure, which I found belonged to a young girl, who lived alone in it, following a profession which is not considered so disreputable in Brazil as in most other countries. In a small apartment of this house we therefore passed the night in our hammocks, which were slung from one side of the room to the other. During the voyage up the river I saw several large reeds in flower, and great plenty of a large yellow-flowered Jussiæa. A little way below Penêdo, Machaonia spinosa grew abundantly, forming a good sized spiny shrub, having large panicles of small white flowers, called by the Brazilians, Espinha branea: of this I collected specimens, as well as of a species of Oxypetalum, bearing large umbels of sweet smelling flowers, not unlike those of Hoya carnosa.

On the following morning I delivered the letters of recommendation I had with me from Maceio. One of these was to the chief magistrate of the district (the Juiz de Direito), Dr. Manoel Bernardino de Souza de Figueiredo, by whom I was most cordially received, and invited to reside with him till an opportunity occurred for proceeding further up the river. I returned immediately to my lodging in quest of my luggage, but before this could be dispatched the Juiz returned my visit, and, on discovering my poor quarters, he expressed much regret that I had not proceeded directly to his house on my arrival. One of the greatest inconveniences that a traveller meets with in Brazil, is the difficulty of finding accommodation, for in none of the towns or villages throughout this vast empire, does there exist an inn of any kind except in the principalities of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and one or two others in the mining districts, and even these are kept by foreigners. It will be long before such conveniences come into general use, for the Brazilians when they travel, always carry with them their own servants, provisions, cooking apparatus, and beds; and it seldom happens that an empty house of some description or other is not to be had in any village during their journey: should they fail to do so, during the dry season they content themselves by encamping under some large trees, slinging their hammocks from one branch to another. It was in this manner that I afterwards was forced to travel, often being for months together without sleeping under a roof. The Brazilians are particularly attentive to any stranger recommended to them, and, during the whole of my wanderings, I seldom went from one place to another without letters, nor do I remember a single instance in which I was not courteously received by those to whom they were addressed.

The Villa do Penêdo, so called because it is situated upon an elevated rocky point, on the north bank of the river, is about thirty miles from its mouth. The rock on which it stands is a fine-grained yellowish-coloured sandstone, the strata of which incline from east to west. The streets are irregular but the houses are very substantial, the principal ones being of two stories, and are for the most part built of the same stone as that on which the town stands. It contains about 4,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are very poor. There are no less than six large and substantially built churches, to one of which is attached a convent of Franciscan Friars, called Nossa Senhora da Corrente, but it contains only three brethren. In the Comarco, or district of Penêdo, sugar and cotton are the principal articles cultivated, the greater part of the plantations being situated on the margin of the river, below the town. Mandiocca, french-beans, and rice are raised in sufficient quantities but only for consumption. Formerly cattle were reared to some extent in the more inland parts of the district, but this source of production has failed in consequence of the occasionally excessive drought, and also because of the abundance of a tick (Carrapato), which sometimes proves so great a plague that a farmer loses his whole stock in a single season. During the Portuguese dynasty, Penêdo was a flourishing place, but is now rapidly falling into decay. The following census of the whole Comarco, which was taken in the year 1837, I owe to the kindness of the Juiz de Direito, and I consider is worthy of being quoted, to show the proportion which the different races bear to each other in this part of the country.

Whites22,045.
Free Mulattos32,694.
Mulatto Slaves4,531.
Free Blacks10,113.
Black Slaves10,876.
Native Indians2,331.
In all82,590.

Three days after my arrival at Penêdo, we heard that an empty canoe was going up as far as the river was navigable, and accordingly I engaged a passage for a small sum. Having made all the requisite preparations for my voyage, I left Penêdo at one o’clock, P.M., on the 22nd of February, carrying with me letters to some of the principal inhabitants of the different places at which we were likely to stop. The canoe in which we embarked was a very large one, being about forty feet long and four broad. It is seldom that a single tree is of sufficient dimensions to form a canoe of this size, but when such is not the case, they hollow out the largest they can find, sawing it in two through the middle from stem to stern, and then give it the requisite breadth by the addition of one or more widths of planks between the two halves: in this same manner our canoe was constructed. One end of the bow, for the length of ten feet, was thatched over with cocoa-nut leaves like the roof of a house, which thus served both as a place of shelter from the sun during the day, and as a sleeping berth by night. It had only one mast, which carried two large triangular sails of a very coarse cotton cloth, manufactured in the country, and these were stretched out on each side by a long boom. The sea-breeze generally reaches Penêdo about mid-day, blowing right up the river, and, with the sails spread out in this wing-like fashion, we went up the stream with great rapidity, notwithstanding that the current against us was very strong. As it is dangerous for small canoes to navigate the river when it is flooded, two of them are lashed side by side, and thus united, they form what is called an Ajojo. At six o’clock in the evening we reached the village of Propiá, situated on the south side of the river, and seven leagues distant from Penêdo. It contains about 250 houses, mostly small, and built of wicker work and mud; many of those in the street parallel with the river were half full of water, and consequently abandoned; such, also, we observed to be the case with many houses which we passed during our voyage.