“Comarco de Flores, 25th May, 1838.
“Most Illustrious and most Excellent Sir,
“In this first letter that I have the honour to address to your Excellency on the state of this Comarco, which is at present tranquil, I have to lay before your Excellency the most extraordinary, terrible, and cruel circumstance ever heard of, and one which is almost past belief. It is now more than two years since a man, called Joäo Antonio, an inhabitant of Sitio de Pedra Bonita, a place about twenty leagues from this town, surrounded by woods, and near which are two large rocks, called together the people, and told them, that within those rocks there was an enchanted kingdom which he was about to disenchant, and that immediately afterwards King Don Sebastian would make his appearance at the head of a great army, richly adorned, and that all who followed him would be happy. He went on beautifying this place till the month of November of last year, when at the recommendation of the Missionary Francisco José Correa de Albuquerque, he made a journey to the desert (Sertäo) of Inhamon, whence he sent back one Joäo Pereira, a man of the worst passions, who on his arrival at Pedra Bonita proclaimed himself King, and began to instil superstitious notions into the minds of the people, telling them that for the restoration of the enchanted kingdom it would be necessary to immolate a number of men, women, and children; that in a few days they would all rise again, and remain immortal; that riches would abound among all classes, and that all those who were either black or of a dark colour, would become as white as the moon herself. In this manner he brought over many of the ignorant people to believe in his false assertions and evil doctrine, so much so that some fathers delivered over their children to the knife of the sanguinary tiger.
“On the fourth of the present month, he began his present sacrifices, and, in the course of two or three days, not less than forty-two human beings gave up their lives under his hands, twenty-one being adults, and twenty-one children; he also married every man to two or three women, with superstitious rites in accordance with his otherwise immoral conduct, this also being part of his idolatry; the result, however, was lo him melancholy, for Pedro Antonio, brother to Joäo Antonio, the promulgator of these ideas, becoming impatient of this madness, or perhaps ambitious of becoming King himself, determined on assassinating him, which he carried into effect on Friday the seventeenth. It was on this day that the inhabitants, flying from place to place, gave notice of the proceedings to the Commandant Manoel Pereira da Silva, who immediately collected a small force of twenty-six national guards and countrymen, and setting out the following day, they met near the place, Pedro Antonio crowned with a wreath of flowering creepers, taken from his predecessor, and accompanied by a group of men and women, who cried aloud—‘Come on, we do not fear you, we shall be assisted by the troops of our kingdom.’
“They then advanced upon them with the bludgeons and swords they carried, killed five soldiers, and wounded five more; but being briskly attacked, twenty-six men and three women were instantly killed; and three men, nine women, and twelve children were made prisoners. The remainder, many of whom were wounded, fled to the woods. It was only on the evening of the eighteenth, that I just had notice of these disturbances, when I immediately got together forty men, and marched off at the head of them, but on my arrival, I found every thing had been quelled in the manner above related. The prisoners were conducted by my troops to this town, and the twelve children will be taken care off till the orders of your Excellency arrive respecting them.
“God protect your Excellency.
“Francisco Barbosa Nogueira Paz.”
The district of Flores lies considerably to the south of the Villa do Crato, near the Rio de San Francisco, and in the province of Pernambuco. The occurrence was much spoken of during my stay in the neighbourhood of Crato, and I have conversed with the relatives of some of those who fell victims.
On the 31st of December, a very heavy thunder-storm occurred at Barra do Jardim, followed by about two hour’s rain, the first that had fallen that season, and the same again happened on the 2nd of January, indicating that the period of the rains was on the point of setting in; I observed that in the confidence of this, the inhabitants had commenced their plantations of rice, and therefore lost no time in making my arrangements for returning to Crato in order to prepare for my journey into Piauhy. My departure from Jardim was fixed for the 3rd, for which purpose my horses were brought the night before from the pasturage and tied securely to some orange trees, with abundance of fresh grass, on which they could feed till morning, but at daybreak two of the animals had disappeared; at first, I was apprehensive they had been stolen, but I despatched Pedro in search of them, and was glad to see him return, bringing the missing horses which had escaped to their old pasturage. Without any further delay I therefore started about noon, after taking leave of my friends, and reached Crato the following day.