Travels in Brazil

by Henry Koster

CHAPTER VII.

CONTINUATION OF THE JOURNEY.—FROM AÇU TO ARACATI.—FROM ARACATI TO SEARA.—INDIANS.—THE LATE GOVERNOR.—THE FAMILY OF THE FEITOZAS.

OUR way was through woodlands for about one league, when we came out upon the borders of the lake Piatô; we proceeded along them for another half league, and unloaded near to the caza de palha, or straw cottage, of the commandant of the district. Piatô is a lake of three leagues in length, and about one league in breadth. In the summer its sides become sufficiently dry to enable them to be cultivated, but the centre of it is invariably marshy and impassable. The fertility of its sides is very great, affording most plentifully rice, maize, sugar cane, melons, &c. and I saw some cotton trees planted very near to the edge. The lake is filled from the river in the rainy season, and as the lands around it are much higher than the lake itself, the waters which run down from them wash away all vestiges of cultivation, till these again subside and the same operations are continued the following season. In such dreadfully severe years as that during which I travelled, the people of the district would be starved if this lake did not exist; it enabled the inhabitants of Açu, at the time I was there, to remain in their houses. The appearance of abundance, the bright green, the well fed horses and cattle, which we saw as we travelled along its banks, enlivened us all; there was a look of security, a seeming certainty of at least the necessaries of life let what would happen, which we had not for a long time felt. The parched hills which surround the lake, its beautifully cultivated borders, and the dark and dangerous bogs which compose its centre and prevent the communication of the inhabitants of either bank, formed a very extraordinary scene. No water was to be seen, but the mud was too deep, and not of sufficient consistence for a man to be enabled to wade across; nor could a passage to the other side be effected by means of a raft, for a very trifling weight would make it sink.

We unloaded under a small tree on rising ground, with the lake on our right; between us and the house of the commandant, there was a deep ravine, down which, in the rainy season, the waters rush from the hills. This ravine was under cultivation and was inclosed, a narrow path only being left to cross from where we had stationed ourselves to the hut on the opposite hill, which was entirely composed of wood and the leaves of the Carnaùba and other kinds of cabbage trees. This was only a temporary habitation for the summer months, the usual residence of the owner being at Açu. He had a large family, who were all very shy, indeed the females I scarcely saw, though they sometimes did peep at the Englishmen, not knowing until now, that these were truly and bona fide nothing but men.

I was this afternoon surprised at a feat of dexterity of one of the commandant’s sons, a boy of about fourteen years of age. I had often heard of the manner of catching the wild cattle in the Sertam; the person employed for the purpose pursues on horseback, with a long pole, having a goad at one end, the animal which he is desirous of bringing to the ground, until he overtakes it—he then pierces its side between the ribs and the hip-bone, which, if it is done at the moment the beast raises its hind feet from the ground, throws it with such violence, as sometimes to make it roll over. Some oxen had often trespassed upon the commandant’s maize; one of the boys could no longer bear this quietly, he therefore mounted one of his father’s horses, of which there were several very fine ones, took one of the long poles and set off without a saddle, and in his shirt and drawers, to attack the animals. He drove them out of the maize, reached one of them with the goad at the right moment and threw it down, but before he could turn his horse, another had attacked him, running his horns into the fleshy part of one of the horse’s thighs. The boy had taken the precaution of putting a bridle on to his horse, otherwise, if he had mounted with a halter only, he would most probably have suffered much more. One of his brothers came to his assistance, and drove the oxen quite away. The facility with which the beast was thrown, proved that practice and quickness were more requisite than strength in this operation.

Towards the evening a shower of rain came on, being the first we had had since we left Goiana, and indeed this was the only rain which fell during my journey between Goiana and Seara. However there is not usually much wet weather at this season of the year; the distress occasioned by the want of it, arose from the failure of the accustomed rains in the preceding winter. We removed to the hut across the ravine, leaving the greatest part of our baggage under the tree, but the shower did not continue long. The hut was too small to admit of our taking up our lodging for the night in it, and in case of rain the tree was too far from the hut to reach it in time to prevent being wet, for which reason I determined to sleep in the ravine close to the fence, at the foot of the hill upon which the hut stood. I made a bed for myself upon two packages, to windward of the fire which we had kindled, but multitudes of mosquitos rose about midnight, which obliged me to remove and lie down upon a hide to leeward; the fire was mostly composed of the dried ordure of cattle, the smoke from which is so thick and pungent as to prevent entirely any annoyance from these troublesome insects, but the remedy is bad enough, as it is almost impossible to open your eyes or to speak. The misery of being exposed to the myriads of mosquitos which hovered around us this night, made us chuse the smoke as the more endurable evil. Notwithstanding these inconveniences we had some amusement at the distress of him whose fire was allowed to burn low; none of us slept much, for attention to the fires obliged every one to be on the alert. Towards morning the smoke was scarcely sufficient to protect us from these tormenting insects. I now learnt that near to any lake or pool of water, the highest ground is always to be fixed upon for a night station; even the commandant upon the hill had fires to windward of the house during the whole of the night.

Early in the morning we continued our journey for some distance along the banks of the lake, and then entered upon some open land, which was now quite dry; we slept under a clump of trees, distant about twenty miles from Piatô. The cattle we saw this day, were in good condition, plainly showing, that the country enjoyed a plentiful supply of water.

The road of the next day led us through woodlands, and over loose stony ground; but the woods of this part of the country are not large and luxuriant; they have not the grandeur of the forests of Pernambuco, nor is the brushwood which grows under them so close and thick. We passed through some estates, of which the live stock seemed in good condition; and saw this day a whole drove or lot (lote) of cream-coloured mares. I asked for water to drink at one of the houses; some was brought to me by a pretty white girl, who was apparently about seventeen years of age; she talked a great deal, and in a lively manner, so as to show that she had inhabited more civilized regions. There were in the house two children of colour, which she told me were her’s; she was the daughter of a man of small property, who had married her contrary to her wishes, to a wealthy mulatto man. She gave a message to the guide to deliver to her husband, who was superintending the felling of some timber by the road side, along which we were to pass; we met with him, he was of dark complexion, and about forty years of age. I learnt her story from the Açu guide; he said, it had made some noise in these parts at the time. In the afternoon we passed over a salt marsh, surrounded by great numbers of carnàûba trees. We bordered the marsh, looking for a crossing and entered it, where we found the footsteps of others who had recently passed; the mud was from twelve to eighteen inches deep where we crossed; but it was in some parts impassable. The salt had coagulated wherever the footstep of a horse had formed an opening in the mud, and had collected a small quantity of water. The breadth of the marsh might be about two hundred yards in the centre, and its length about one league. After leaving the marsh, we reached the taboleiro, upon which we were to sleep. Towards evening, the wind was high. I was riding as if I had been seated upon a side-saddle, with both my legs on the same side of the horse, and with my umbrella over my head to shade me from the heat of the sun; a sudden gust of wind took me and my umbrella, and landed us in the sand, to the no small entertainment of my companions. If the horse had gone off, I should have been awkwardly situated; but he had travelled too many leagues to be frightened at trifles such as these.