He gave us a good supper, and hammocks, took good care of our horses, and in the morning we set forth for Goiana, seven leagues. We passed through Alhandra, an Indian village, containing about six hundred inhabitants. This village is not so regularly built as many of the others which I have seen; instead of a square, with houses on each side, it is built in streets, and though the square is preserved, still it is not the principal feature of the place. The Indians of Alhandra, from their vicinity to Goiana, which is distant about three leagues, are not so pure as those further from a large town; they have admitted among them some mamalucos and mestizos.
Great part of this extent of coast was uninhabited, but wherever the land was low, and the surf not violent, there we found a few cottages; the banks of the rivers were also not entirely destitute of inhabitants. The two streams which we first crossed might be about eighty or one hundred yards in breadth; they are deep, but do not proceed far into the country. When the action of the tide ceases, all these lesser streams become insignificant, and most of them quite dry. The great river which we were to have crossed is the Goiana; it spreads very widely when the tide enters, but is easily passed at the ebb, and the channel becomes much contracted, and very shallow during the spring tides. It is judged to be about a league in breadth, at its mouth, and is much deeper immediately within the bar than upon it.
CHAPTER V.
JOURNEY FROM GOIANA TO RIO GRANDE.—THE CITY OF NATAL.—THE GOVERNOR.
I HAD entertained hopes of being accompanied by Senhor Joaquim, at least as far as Rio Grande, but he changed his mind, and I began to make the necessary arrangements for going alone. I purchased three more horses, and hired a guide for the Sertam, who was a white man of the country, and two Indian lads of about sixteen years of age. On the 3d November, I again set forth, accompanied by my English John, Francisco the guide, Julio, and the other boy, his companion. We only reached Dous Rios the same evening, which is two leagues distant from Goiana; we had left that place late in the day, and got on very slowly, as the two loads upon the horses were not well divided and arranged. I now found, on stopping for the night, that I had not provided as many things as were necessary; that I wanted an additional piece of baize to cover myself at night, that we ought to have brought more kitchen apparatus, and that knives and forks were to be had very rarely. I had with me a trunk with my cloaths, on one side of the pack-saddle, and a case, with some bottles of rum and wine, on the other side, and my hammock in the middle; these made one load. The other horse carried in the malas, a kind of trunk, on the one side, our provisions, and on the other, the cloaths of my people, additional ropes, and other tackle. I was far from being well supplied, but afterwards provided myself with more things as I went on, learning by experience. The hammocks are all made of cotton, and are of several sizes and colours, and of various workmanship. Those in use among the lower orders, are made of cotton cloth, of the manufacture of the country; others are composed of net-work, from which all the several kinds derive the general name of Rede, a net; others, again, are knit or woven in long straight threads, knotted across at intervals: these are usually dyed of two or three colours, and are to be found in the houses of wealthy persons. This species of bed has been adopted from the Indians, and nothing more convenient and better adapted to the climate, could possibly be imagined; it can be wrapped up into a very small compass, and, with the addition of a piece of baize as a coverlid, is usually of sufficient warmth.
I could not discover that there was any stream at this place, though it bears the name of Dous Rios, or the two rivers. It is a large open piece of land, with cottages upon the skirts, and attached to each is a pen for cattle. The great weekly fair for cattle from the Sertam, for the Pernambuco market, is held here.
From Dous Rios, we advanced the following day to the sugar plantation of Espirito Santo, situated upon the banks of the river Paraiba, which becomes dry in the summer, at a short distance above this estate. I had letters to the owner of it, who is a member of the Cavalcante family, and the Capitam-mor of the captaincy of Paraiba. I was received by him in a very friendly manner. The house is in the usual style of the country, having only the ground-floor, and no ceiling, the tiles and rafters being in full view. Supper of dried meat, and the flour of the mandioc made into paste, and called piram, was placed before me; also, some hard biscuits, and red wine. I was not then sufficiently a Brazilian to eat piram, and took the biscuits with the meat in preference, which much astonished my host. Sweetmeats were afterwards brought in, which are always good in the houses of persons of his rank in life; the opulent people in Brazil taking as much pride in their doces, as an English citizen in his table or his wines. The cloth was laid at one end of a long table, and I sat down by myself, whilst the Capitam-mor placed himself upon the table, near to the other end, and talked to me; and some of the chief persons of his establishment stood around, to see the strange animal called an Englishman. We adjourned from the supper-room into another spacious apartment, and each of us took a hammock, of which there were several in the room, and swung and talked until we were half asleep. One of his men supposed, that as I spoke Portugueze, either I must be an Englishman who did not speak English, or that any Portugueze, on going to England, would immediately speak the language of that country, as I did Portugueze. The Capitam-mor seldom leaves his estate to go to Recife, or even to Paraiba, and lives in the usual style of the Brazilian gentry, in a kind of feudal state. He had several young men about him, some of whom were employed by him; neither his wife, nor any of his children appeared. The principal apartments of this house are two spacious rooms, having a great number of doors and windows; in one, were several hammocks and a sofa; and in the other, the long table upon which I supped; there were a few chairs in each of them; the floors were of brick, and the shutters and doors were unpainted. The owner of this mansion wore a shirt and a pair of drawers, a long bed-gown, called a chambre, and a pair of slippers. This is the usual dress of those persons who have no work to perform. When a Brazilian takes to wearing one of these long gowns, he begins to think himself a gentleman, and entitled, consequently, to much respect.
The next day we advanced about seven leagues, and, for the first time, I slept in the open air. We intended to have taken up our lodging for the night at a neighbouring hamlet, but the huts were so small and miserable, being constructed of the leaves of palm trees, that I preferred the open air. We made for the rivulet which runs at a little distance from these habitations; the horses were immediately unloaded, and their pack-saddles taken off, that they might roll in comfort. The next thing to be done, was to get firewood,—in most parts of the country it is very plentiful, and as we were upon the skirts of a thick wood, there was here no want of it. A light was struck, and two fires made; we got an additional pan from one of the neighbouring huts, and our dried meat was cooked. The meat is dried in the old Indian manner, by laying it upon a platform of twigs, raised about eighteen inches from the ground, and making a fire underneath. We discovered that not far off, a field or piece of land, rather more cleared of wood than the rest, was rented by a cottager, who would allow our horses to be put into it for a vintem, about five farthings each, for the night, which the guide thought I should consider dear, and therefore told me, it was the usual price. As may be supposed, I made no great difficulties on this score, and the horses were taken to the place by Julio, and his companion. I now thought myself settled for the night, and therefore ate my supper, sitting in my hammock, which was slung between two trees, with the plate upon one of the trunks; having finished, I took my segar, and sat down close to the fire; the guide lighted his pipe, and placed himself on the opposite side, that we might have a talk about our proceedings for the morrow. I returned to my hammock about ten o’clock, but found the air very sharp, and consequently laid down under the lee of the fire, upon a hide, of which we had two for covering the loads in case of rain.