We continued travelling for two days over the same kind of ground; plains with trees thinly scattered, and spots of wooded land. We likewise crossed two salt marshes; but upon these there was no mud. The water which oozes from the land, on digging into it, is however, salt; but the soil was dry and hard. Mimoza, the dog belonging to my new guide, afforded us considerable amusement. She generally made her way through the wood at a little distance from the road, now and then returning to the path. She was very expert in discovering the tatu bola, or rolling tatu, a small species of armadillo; this animal is protected by its bony shell; on being touched, it rolls itself up in the manner of the hedge-hog. As soon as the dog saw one of these, she touched it with her nose, and barked, continuing the same operation as often as the armadillo attempted to move, until her master answered the well-known signal. Several were caught in this manner. The flesh is as fine as that of a young pig. The tatu verdadeiro, or legitimate armadillo, which is much larger, does not roll itself up, and Mimoza sometimes pursued it to its hole, and stood at the mouth of it, until she had her master’s permission to come away. There exists a third species of armadillo, called the tatu peba, which is said to feed upon human flesh.
On the 7th December, we arrived at ten o’clock in the morning at the village of St. Luzia, containing from two to three hundred inhabitants. It is built in a square, and has one church; the houses are small and low. Here I was able to replenish my spirit bottles, and to purchase a supply of rapaduras. These are cakes of brown sugar or treacle, boiled to a sufficient consistency to harden, by which means it is more portable, and much less liable to be wasted in its conveyance.
The day before we reached St. Luzia, our resting place at mid-day was under some trees, and not far from a cottage. I observed the skin of a jaguar, the onça pintada, in the language of the country, stretched upon several pieces of wood; it had the appearance of being quite fresh. I had afterwards some conversation with the cottager, and he told me, that he had killed the animal to which the skin had belonged, with the assistance of three dogs, only the day before. It had committed great destruction, particularly among the sheep; but had escaped for a length of time, from never appearing at the same place twice successively. The preceding day this man had gone out with his three dogs, as was occasionally his practice; his musket was loaded, but he was without any farther supply of ammunition, and he had his long knife in his girdle. One of the dogs got scent of the jaguar, and followed it up to the den; the beast was within, the dogs attacked it; one of them was killed, and another much maimed, which we saw, and even the third was hurt. The man fired as soon as the jaguar came out, and wounded it; and when he saw that it was considerably disabled, he ran in upon the animal with his knife, and killed it; in doing which, one of his arms was much lacerated, and this was bound up at the time I conversed with him. He asked for some powder, saying that there was still another jaguar in the neighbourhood. The skins are much valued in Brazil for saddle-cloths; and from the make of the saddles used in that country, a cloth of some sort, or a skin is required for each. I have the skin of a jaguar in my possession, which measures five feet and three inches. The onça vermelha, felis concolor, and the onça preta, felis discolor, are also to be met with; but the jaguar is more common, and more dreaded than either of these.
The same day we passed over the dry bed of the Panema; it was the third river we had crossed since our departure from Açu, and all were in the same state.
St. Luzia stands upon the northern bank of a dry river, in a sandy loose soil. We took up our mid-day station under the roof of a miserable hut; the ashes of an extinguished fire in its centre, and a bench of twisted twigs, alone denoted that it had served as a dwelling. Several of the inhabitants of the village soon came to us to enquire for news from Pernambuco; and among others, a young man, whose accent discovered him to be a native of some of the northern provinces of Portugal, and whose manner displayed the idea which he entertained of his own importance; he said, that he had orders from the commandant to demand my passport, to which I answered, that if the commandant had wished to see the passport, he would certainly have sent one of his officers to ask for it; the young man rejoined, that he was the sergeant of the district. I said that I did not doubt the truth of what he said, but that I could not know him in that capacity, because, instead of being in uniform, he had appeared in the usual dress of shirt and drawers; and I added, that his manner was such, that I had quite resolved not to show it to him at all. He said, I must and should show it; I turned to Julio, and asked him, if he heard what the man said; Julio answered, “Yes, sir, never mind.”[39] The sergeant went off, and we prepared our arms, much to the amazement and amusement of some of the more peaceable inhabitants. I soon saw him again, and he was coming towards us, with two or three other persons; I called to him to keep at a distance, telling him that Julio would fire if he did not. This he judged advisable to do; and as I thought it proper and prudent to advance as soon as possible, we left the place soon after one o’clock, with a broiling sun; therefore we then saw no more of the sergeant. The dry river, upon which this village stands, divides the captaincies of Rio Grande and Seara, consequently there was much reason for the commandant’s demand of my passport; but it was necessary to preserve the high opinion generally entertained of the name of Inglez, Englishman, wherever the people possessed sufficient knowledge to understand that the said Inglezes, were not bichos, or animals; and also to keep up my own importance with the persons about me. It would not have answered, to have thus given way to a man who was inclined to make me feel the consequence which he judged his place would allow him to assume. If I had been invited to the commandant’s house in a civil way, or if the sergeant had come to me in his uniform, all would have gone well. These trifles, though apparently of no importance, weigh very heavily with persons who have made such small advances towards civilization; public opinion is every thing. If the idea of my being a bicho and a heretic had not been counter-balanced by that of rank and consequence, I might have had the whole village upon me, and have been deserted by my own people into the bargain.
The general features of the captaincy of Rio Grande, may be laid down as displaying tolerable fertility to the southward of Natal, and as having a barren aspect to the northward of it, excepting the banks and immediate neighbourhood of the Potengi.
We passed through the estate of Ilha, distant from St. Luzia one league and a half, and proceeded, after taking water, four leagues beyond it, to an uninhabited and unfinished house. The owner had commenced building during the rains of the former year, and had gone on with the work until the spring of water, near to the place, failed. The house was tiled and spacious; but the wood work only of the walls was erected. It had been the intention of this person to establish a fazenda here; but the failure of the spring of water would, probably, deter him from his purpose. The country from Ilha to Tibou, where we halted at noon on the following day, a distance of ten leagues, was now without water. Two parties of travellers, besides our own, had taken up their night’s lodging at this unfinished house. The several fires, the groups around them, some cooking, some eating, and others asleep; the pack-saddles and trunks strewed about, as they had been taken from the horses’ backs, formed a scene worthy of a painter; all was darkness around, and the wind blew fresh, for the house had no walls, and no obstruction to oppose its entrance, save the upright posts which supported the roof. The light of the fires sometimes flashed upon one or other of the countenances of the travellers, and on these occasions alone could I discover their colour and consequently, in some degree, their rank. I might be in the company of slaves or of white men, for both would have taken up their night’s station in the same manner. An old man of colour addressed me, asking if I was the Englishman who had rested at noon at St. Luzia; on my answering in the affirmative, he said that he was at the commandant’s at the time, and that there were several debates about the mode of proceeding respecting me and mine—that my determination not to give up my passport had caused some demur, and that among other suppositions of who I might be, one wiseacre said, there was no knowing whether I was not one of Bonaparte’s ministers, and what might be my diabolical plans. Indeed I was often amused with the strange ideas which the country people entertained of distant nations, of which they had heard the names, and perhaps some further particulars; these were altered in such a manner by their misapprehension, that it was oftentimes difficult to discover what the real circumstances were which had been related to them.
We traversed another salt marsh this afternoon. The marsh I have mentioned as having crossed on the 4th of this month, was the only one of that description which I met with. The others I have spoken of, and those which I shall have occasion to mention, are dry, and the soil upon them in summer is hard, it is dark coloured and produces no grass, but upon the skirts of the marshes are seen several sea-side plants, and the water that oozes from them is quite salty.
Our road the next morning lay through brushwood for three leagues over heavy sand, and three leagues over a salt marsh. Near mid-day we passed a cottage, in which resided the herdsman of a fazenda and immediately beyond, ascended a hill of heavy sand called Tibou, from which we again saw the sea. I scarcely can describe the sensations which were occasioned by this sight; I felt as if I was at home, as if free to act as I pleased. The spring of water near to the cottage was dried up, but there was one on the opposite side of the sand-hill, which still afforded a small supply; we now took up our mid-day station under a miserable hut, erected at the summit of the hill, by the inhabitants of the cottage, for the purpose of curing their fish; they had fixed upon this spot from its height and consequent exposure to the wind. The descent to the sea-shore is steep, but not dangerous, as the depth of the sand prevents any apprehension of a horse falling and rolling down. The great length of the journies of the two last days, had almost knocked up the horse upon which my Goiana guide rode; I saw that the man was not inclined to walk for the purpose of easing the animal, and therefore wishing to see what could be done by example, I dismounted and took off the greatest part of my cloaths, removed the bit from my horse’s mouth, tied the bridle round his neck, and turned him loose among the others; this had the desired effect, and John also was then ashamed to be the only person on horseback.
We advanced very quickly over the wet sands, passed two fishermen’s huts distant from Tibou two leagues; and one league further turned up from the shore by a steep, sandy path, which took us to the hamlet of Areias, composed of one respectable looking dwelling and five or six straw huts. The lands we passed this afternoon, bordering the shore, are low and sandy, without trees and without cultivation. In seasons less severe than this there is a small spring of water, not far from the fishermen’s huts which we had passed, but now it was entirely dried up; they stand near to a small piece of ground, of which the soil is less sandy than that in the neighbourhood, and a crop of water melons is usually obtained from it, which had however completely failed this year. On our arrival at Areias I made for the principal house, and asked for a night’s lodging. The front room was offered to me, upon which our horses were unloaded, and our baggage put into it. I was surprised to see no elderly or middle aged person belonging to this house; there were three or four boys only, of whom the oldest was about sixteen years of age, and he appeared to direct the concerns of the establishment. He had a piece of inclosed ground near to the house, into which he allowed our horses to be turned, and this arrangement being made, I had then time to look round, and see my quarters. Not a tree or shrub was to be seen in the neighbourhood, but there were immense sand-hills on one side, and on the other the sea. The convenience of the spot for fishing could alone have made these people fix upon it for a residence. I sent out to purchase a fowl; one was brought, for which I paid 640 reis, about 3s. 6d. Julio told me that he had seen some goats and kids, upon which I sent him to purchase one of the latter; he returned with a large one, for which the owner asked 80 reis, less than 6d. I thought I was in duty bound to eat my fowl, but the kid was much finer of its kind. A boy passed in the evening with a large turtle, which he begged the guide to exchange for about one pound of the kid; the meat was given to him, but his turtle would have been of no use to us.