CHAPTER VIII.
OEIRAS TO PARNAGUÁ.
The Author’s reception by the President of Piauhy—City of Oeiras described—Its Population—Its Trade with the Coast—Great want of River Navigation—Its chief exports are hides and cattle—Its Climate—Diseases—Character of the Barão de Parnahiba—His great power in the Province—History of this Remarkable Man—And of the Civil War on declaration of the Independence of Brazil—Resources of the Province—National Cattle Farms—Course of the Author’s Journey quite changed by an alarming Revolt—This Insurrection described—He determines on travelling southwards through Goyaz and Minas Geräes—Leaves Oeiras—Description of the Country—Chapadas—Passes through many Cattle Farms—Curious mode of catching Cattle—Passes Pombas—Algodoes—Golfes—Retiro Alegre—Genipapo—Canavieira—Urusuhy—Prazeres—Description of a Piauhy Family—Reaches Flores—Rapoza—Arrives at Parnaguá—Universal Hospitality of the Natives—Salt found in the Neighbourhood.
As I brought several letters of recommendation with me to the Barão de Parnahiba, the President of the Province, I made enquiries for his house on entering the city, and was directed to it by a soldier. The Palacio, as it is called, is situated on the most elevated part of the town, is of one story, and has a very ordinary appearance. On arriving at the door I found it guarded by a sentinel, one of the most abject-looking beings that can be imagined. He was a young mulatto, dressed in the uniform of the troops of the line, which seemed as if it had not been off his back for the last six years; his cloth cap was old and greasy, his blue jacket one half patches and the other half holes, was open in front, displaying his naked breast, for he could not boast the possession of a shirt; his trowsers were little better than his jacket, and his bare feet were thrust into a pair of old shoes, down at the heels, and open at the toes. Had it not been for his musket, and his upright position, I should certainly have taken him for a beggar. There was a pavement a few feet in breadth in front of the house, upon which, when I stopped, my horse’s fore-feet rested, and, before I had time to speak, the sentinel started forward, seized the bridle, and turned him off into the street. I then dismounted and was about to proceed to the door, but no sooner had I put foot upon the pavement, than I was served in the same way as my horse had been, and told that no one was allowed to enter the palace with spurs on. These I instantly took off, and having asked if anything else was necessary to be done, I was at last allowed to enter.
On reaching the lobby I was met by a sergeant, who asked me if I wished to speak with his Excellency, and who, on being told that I had letters for him, said that it was his duty to deliver them. After waiting about a quarter of an hour in the lobby, I was shewn into a large room containing two small tables, a sofa, and a few chairs. Here I had not been more than five minutes, when his Excellency made his appearance with my letters in his hand. He told me to excuse him while he read them, as also to pardon his undress, which he wore, he said, on account of the great heat of the day. The dress he had on was certainly one of a very light nature, but was that generally worn in the house by the inhabitants of this province; it consisted of a thin white cotton shirt hanging loose over a pair of drawers of the same material, which reached but a short way below his knees; his legs and feet were bare, the latter being thrust into a pair of old slippers; around his neck were several rosaries, with crucifixes and other appendages of gold attached to them.
While he was looking over my letters I could not help scrutinizing the appearance of an individual whose name is more celebrated than that of any other in the north of Brazil, and whose despotic government of the province of which he is President, has gained for him the appellation of ‘The Francia of Piauhy.’ He was low in stature and strongly built, though not corpulent, and his looks bespoke considerably more activity, both of body and mind, than is generally met with in persons of his age in Brazil, for he was then about seventy years old; his head was remarkably large, and, according to the principles of phrenology was pretty well balanced before and behind, but deficient in the region of the moral sentiments, and was of considerable breadth between the ears. In conversation his countenance had a sinister unpleasant expression, notwithstanding that it was generally covered with a half-formed smile. After finishing the letters, all of which he read over very carefully, we entered into a conversation respecting my visit to the province, but I could not make him understand that my collections were for any other purpose than that of being converted into medicine or dye stuffs. That the productions of nature were studied for any other purpose than as regards their mere utility to man, he could not form the slightest idea. As soon as he learned that it was my intention to remain for some time in the city, he sent a person to procure an empty house for my use; and, as it was not furnished, he was kind enough to send me two chairs, a table, and a large earthen pot to hold water.
The city of Oeiras, the capital of the Province of Piauhy, is situated in a large circular valley, about a league in breadth, nearly surrounded by a broken range of low hills composed of a soft whitish-coloured sandstone. Until the year 1724, when it was raised to the dignity of a city, it was known by the name of Villa da Mocha, from a little stream which passes close to it and all the year round yields an abundant supply of water, which, however, in the dry season is very much impregnated with saltpetre. It is very irregularly built, consisting principally of a large square, and a few streets which proceed from the south and west sides of it. The population does not exceed three thousand souls; the most respectable part of which, not including those in the employ of the government, are shopkeepers who retail European goods. The greater part of the merchandize comes from Maranham, being carried in large canoes up the Rio Itapicuru to Cachias, from whence they are brought to Oeiras on the backs of horses. A portion is also brought by the same means from Bahia, but the distance is much too great to render such expeditions profitable; this is brought by drovers who go there yearly with cattle for sale. Sometimes a solitary launch of twenty tons burden, laden with salt, arrives in the Rio Canindé, opposite Oeiras, from the Villa da Parnahiba, a flourishing town near the coast on the east bank of a large river of the same name, which divides the Provinces of Maranham and Piauhy, and up which the navigation takes place. One such arrived during my visit, but it took nearly three months to perform the distance, which is about one hundred leagues. It is only during the rainy season, when the river is flooded, that this voyage can be undertaken, and the current is then so strong that the vessel has to be pushed up by poles all they way. Owing to the length of time, and the number of men required, it is seldom that such a speculation terminates profitably. It has been recently proposed by Mr. Sturz, the Consul-General for Brazil, in Prussia, to navigate this stream by a small steam-boat, but there are many reasons for concluding that this will never be successfully put into execution. It is not probable that the middle and southern portions of the Province will ever be much more populous than they are at present, as from the great yearly droughts to which they are liable, the cultivation of cotton or sugar can never be carried on. The only articles of export are cattle and hides, and the latter is all that a steamer would get as cargo downwards. As regards the import of European goods, it is not likely that the traffic would soon be changed from Maranham to Parnahiba. The river, moreover, would only be navigable during the rainy season, at which period the force of the current, and the numerous shifting sandbanks which its bed is said to contain, would render the transit both slow and difficult.
The city contains three churches, two of which though now of considerable age are unfinished. There are also several other public buildings, such as a jail, military barracks, the provincial house of assembly, the Camara Municipal, and hospital, but none of these are deserving of notice excepting the jail, which was then just completed; it was erected under the superintendence of a German engineer, who has resided in the province several years in the employ of the government; it consists of two stories, in which respect only two other buildings like it are to be found in the city; the lower part and wings serve as prisons and a house of correction, the upper story being used as a court of justice. At the north end of the city there is a fine large building, now falling into ruins, which was the college of the Jesuits previous to their expulsion from Brazil.
The seasons are very regular in this district, and although very few old persons are seen, it is not considered unhealthy. A few showers generally take place in the month of October, but the regular rains do not set in till about the beginning of January, when they continue till the end of May; during this period thunder storms are very common, fearfully loud, and of long duration, and accidents, it is said, do not unfrequently occur from them. Between Crato and Oeiras we saw several large trees which had been shivered in pieces by lightning; and while in Oeiras I was informed that a fazendeiro who was returning to his country house, after one of the church festivals, sent his family, consisting of his wife and several children, with their attendant slaves, a short distance before him; on overtaking them he was shocked to find them all dead, having been struck by lightning from a thunder storm which was then passing over. The months of May, June, and July, are the most pleasant of the season, for then the rains have ceased, and everything continues fresh and green, and the atmosphere is comparatively cool, from a strong S.E. wind which prevails during this period. After the month of July a great change takes place, the whole country begins to wear a dry and arid appearance, the grass and other herbaceous vegetation wither up, and the trees and shrubs throw off their leaves. At this period too the cooling S.E. winds cease, and are followed by light and variable ones or by calms, from which cause the air becomes so much heated, that no one stirs abroad, excepting those who are under the necessity of doing so.
The principal diseases in and around the city are agues and malignant fevers, particularly at the beginning and end of the rainy season; after the rains have ceased, and during the prevalence of the south-east wind, pectoral complaints are not uncommon, and many cases of ophthalmia occur; in the latter, either because of improper treatment, or from neglect, many persons lose their sight. But the complaint for which I was most frequently called upon to prescribe, was dyspepsia, which under its various forms, these people are most subject to; asthma and paralysis are also prevalent. At the time I visited Oeiras it could boast of two resident medical men and an apothecary’s shop; the latter was but poorly furnished with medicines, and those neither new nor of the best quality. The senior of the two medical men, Senhor Josè Luiz da Silva, an intelligent and amiable person, from whom I received much kindness, holds the office of Cirurgião môr, and has charge of a small hospital, which is almost entirely devoted to the service of the military. He is a Portuguese by birth, and in his youth had acted as surgeon in the navy of that country. He had now resided thirty-six years in Oeiras, and was the father of a large and respectable family. The other, a young Brazilian, educated at Bahia, ill instructed, and of an unamiable disposition, was assassinated in the street a few months after I left. Although they both of them were accustomed to treat diseases generally, neither of them had the skill, and consequently the courage to undertake any serious operation, notwithstanding that many cases had long called for professional assistance. An opportunity was thus afforded me of undertaking several operations which few young surgeons in England have it in their power to attempt. The most serious of these were depression of Cataract and Lithotomy; the former I performed three times, but with success only in one case, when such was the astonishment produced in the minds of these simple people, by the blind regaining his sight, that it was spoken of through the country as a result little short of a miracle. The operation for stone in the bladder was likewise performed by me three times, in all cases with the greatest success; and it is deserving of remark that these were the only instances of this complaint that I met with during my whole travels. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this complaint is of very rare occurrence in the country, but it is not easy to say from what cause this originates. My first patient was an otherwise healthy free black man, about thirty years of age; and it was astonishing to see the rapidity with which the wound healed; but this has been found to occur universally in people of his colour. The second was a poor mulatto, who lived in a little palm hut in the outskirts of the city: both these poor fellows did all in their power to show their gratitude, and would willingly have parted with all they possessed to repay me, but of course I would take nothing from them. The third case was the most remarkable of all: the patient was a man about forty-five years of age, and one of the most respectable shopkeepers in the city. About nine years before my arrival he had been treated by the surgeon in chief for stricture of the urethra, when by improper treatment a portion of a small leaden bougie passed into the bladder; this formed the nucleus for the stone, from which cause he suffered the most excruciating agonies that mortal could endure. I was consulted by him on my arrival, when I assured him that nothing but an operation would relieve him from his sufferings; being, however, of a very timid disposition, he would not consent to its performance, till after he heard of the success of the other two cases; assisted by my friend the Cirurgião môr, I happily succeeded in extricating the stone, which was about two inches in length. This occurred about a month before I left the place, by which time he was so far recovered as to be able to walk about his room. After a period of eighteen months I received a letter which he sent to meet me at Rio de Janeiro, in which he informed me that he had perfectly recovered, and offered me a thousand thanks (mil graças) for the good service rendered to him. Before I left, he gave me a very handsome gratuity of three hundred spanish dollars, two fine horses, and many little necessaries suited for the journey I was then about to undertake.
The province of Piauhy sends two members to the national chamber of Deputies in Rio, but in all that relates to its internal government, the Barão de Parnahiba rules with despotic sway. He has been its president ever since the establishment of the independence of the empire, with the exception of one short period, when another person was sent to supersede him; but he did not hold his appointment long, dying suddenly, and under suspicious circumstances. Since that period, although the presidents of all the other provinces are changed every two or three years, he has remained constantly in office. He is more feared than respected by the mass of the population, and on an emergency can command, among his own friends and dependents, more than 2,000 staunch supporters: he has always at his call those who are both ready and willing to execute his orders of whatever nature these may be. By the firmness of his government he has acquired many enemies, especially by the enactment of some provincial laws, respecting which it must be confessed in their favour, that their tendency is always to benefit the poorer classes of the inhabitants: among others, he has forbidden that beef and farinha, the two principle articles of food, be sold in the city above a certain fixed price, and that a very low one; however, he has always taken care that his own cattle be sent to Bahia and other distant and more profitable markets, having abundant facilities for such arrangements. Although generally ill-informed, he possesses a great share of shrewdness and cunning, qualifications highly requisite for the maintenance of the despotism with which he has hitherto governed the province, under which it can certainly boast of a greater amount of peace and quietness than almost any other province in the empire. It is not a little strange that, notwithstanding his many enemies, only one attempt has hitherto been made to assassinate him, and that so late as the year before I arrived there.