CHAPTER IX.
VOYAGE FROM PERNAMBUCO TO MARANHAM.—ST. LUIZ.—TRADE.—WILD INDIANS.—THE GOVERNOR.—ALCANTARA.—THE AUTHOR SAILS FROM ST. LUIZ, AND ARRIVES IN ENGLAND.
EIGHT days after my return from Searà, arrived a vessel from England, bringing letters which obliged me to leave Pernambuco and proceed to Maranham. As a cargo could not be obtained for the brig at the former place, the consignee determined to send her to Maranham, and being myself desirous of taking advantage of the first opportunity, I prepared for the voyage, and sailed in the course of forty-eight hours.
We weighed anchor on the 25th February, and had a prosperous passage of seven days. We were in sight of the land nearly the whole time, and occasionally, as the brig was small, and the master wished if possible to become acquainted with the points of land, we were very near to it. The Portugueze ships seldom come up this coast without a pilot, nor is it prudent to do otherwise; but we could not obtain one without delay, to which the master objected. He had scarcely ever before been out of the British seas; but their school is good, and now he found his way to Maranham with as much dexterity as an experienced pilot. This coast is generally known to be dangerous; and the land has for the most part a dreary and dismal look, particularly after passing Rio Grande. We entered the bay of St. Marcos with the lead going, took the channel to the eastward of the baixo do meio or middle bank, passed the Fort of St. Marcos, and came to an anchor opposite and very near to the sand banks at the mouth of the harbour of St. Luiz. As no pilot came off to us, the master and myself got into the boat, intending to fetch one; but on coming opposite to the Fort of St. Francisco, a gun without shot was fired, and the sentinel beckoned us back to the ship. We pulled for the fort, and when we approached it, an enormous speaking trumpet was produced, and through it we received orders not to proceed to the city. However we landed at the fort, and I told the officer that the master was particularly desirous of having a pilot, as he was unacquainted with the bay or port; but it is well known that they contain many sand banks. We were answered that the pilot would come in due time; and finding remonstrance of no avail, returned to the ship. When the pilot arrived, he was accompanied by a soldier and a custom-house officer. It was with some difficulty that I could persuade the master to allow the former to come into the vessel. Sailors and soldiers never very well agree, and the blunt Englishman said that he had no idea of his ship being taken from him by a fellow in a party-coloured jacket. This was a new regulation. Indeed in most of those regarding the port of Maranham, I could not avoid recollecting the old proverb of “much cry, &c.” As the brig came up the harbour, we received the health and custom-house visit. It was composed of several well-dressed men, some of whom wore cocked hats and swords; and all of them ate much bread and cheese, and drank quantities of porter. The administrador of the customs was among them, and was dressed in the uniform of a cavalry officer. I scarcely ever saw so much astonishment pictured in the countenance of any man as in that of the master of the brig. He had been accustomed to enter our own ports, where so much business is done in so quiet a manner; and he now said to me in half joke, half earnest, “Why it is not only one, but they are coming in shoals to take the ship from me.” After all these personages, and all the trouble they had given us, I was still obliged to pass the night on board, because the guardamor, the officer especially appointed to prevent smuggling, had not made his visit. Fortunately, I found means of having the letters conveyed on shore, otherwise the vessel would have arrived four and twenty hours before the merchant to whom she was consigned, could have obtained any information regarding her. To render the night still more agreeable, some heavy rain fell; the deck was leaky, and about midnight I was obliged to rise and look for a dry corner.
The city of St. Luiz, situated upon the island of Maranham, and the metropolis of the estado, or state of Maranham, is the residence of a captain-general and the see of a bishop. It is built upon very unequal ground, commencing from the water’s edge, and extending to the distance of about one mile and a half in a N.E. direction. The space which it covers, ought to contain many more inhabitants than is actually the case; but the city is built in a straggling manner, and it comprises some broad streets and squares. This gives to it an airy appearance, which is particularly pleasant in so warm a climate. Its situation upon the western part of the island, and upon one side of a creek, almost excludes it from the sea breeze, by which means the place is rendered less healthy than if it was more exposed. The population may be computed at about 12,000 persons or more, including negroes, of which the proportion is great, being much more considerable than at Pernambuco. The streets are mostly paved, but are out of repair. The houses are many of them neat and pretty, and of one story in height; the lower part of them is appropriated to the servants, to shops without windows, to warehouses, and other purposes, as at Pernambuco. The family lives upon the upper story, and the windows of this reach down to the floor, and are ornamented with iron balconies. The churches are numerous, and there are likewise Franciscan, Carmelite, and other convents. The places of worship are gaudily decorated in the inside; but no plan of architecture is aimed at in the formation of the buildings themselves, with the exception of the convents, which preserve the regular features appertaining to such edifices. The governor’s palace stands upon rising ground, not far from the water side, with the front towards the town. It is a long uniform stone building of one story in height; the principal entrance is wide, but without a portico. The western end joins the town-hall and prison, which appear to be part of the same edifice; and the oblong piece of ground in its front, covered with grass, gives to it on the whole a handsome and striking appearance. One end of this is open to the harbour and to a fort in the hollow, close to the water; the other extremity is nearly closed by the cathedral. One side is almost taken up with the palace and other public buildings, and the opposite space is occupied by dwelling-houses and streets leading down into other parts of the city. The ground upon which the whole place stands, is composed of a soft red stone; so that the smaller streets leading from the town into the country, some of which are not paved, are full of gullies, through which the water runs in the rainy season. These streets are formed of houses consisting only of the ground floor, and having thatched roofs; the windows are without glass, and the dwellings have a most mean and shabby appearance. The city contains a custom-house and treasury; the former is small, but was quite large enough for the business of the place, until lately.
The harbour is formed by a creek in the island, and is to be entered from the bay of St. Marcos. The channel is of sufficient depth for common sized merchant ships; but is very narrow, and not to be entered without a pilot. Opposite to the town the water is shallow at the ebb. It is worthy of remark, that the tide rises gradually more and more along the coast of Brazil, from south to north. Thus at Rio de Janeiro the rise is said to be trifling; at Pernambuco it is from five to six feet; at Itamaraca eight feet; and at Maranham, it is eighteen feet. The forts of Maranham are all of them said to be in bad order. I heard one person observe, half in earnest, that he did not suppose each fort contained more than four guns which were in a fit state to be fired. I did not see that of St. Marcos, which is situated at the entrance of the bay; but it is reported to be in the same state as the others. Those I saw are small, and built of stone. The soldiers were well dressed and well fed, and they looked respectable. The barracks are new and large comparatively speaking, and have been built in an airy situation, in the outskirts of the city. The garrison consists of one regiment of regular infantry of about one thousand men when complete; but these are much divided, being stationed in several forts. Recruits are formed of the lower orders of white persons, and of the people of colour. The men were never exercised with the artillery, and were merely accustomed to the common routine of mounting guard, though a few detachments have on some occasions been sent on to the main land at the back of the island, to assist the planters against the wild Indians.
The island of Maranham forms the S.E. side of the bay of St. Marcos, consequently this bay is to the westward of it. To the eastward of the island is the bay of St. Joze. From some similarity between the point of Itacolomi, by which vessels are in part guided when about to enter the bay of St. Marcos, and another point of land upon the small island of St. Anna, which is at the entrance of the bay of St. Joze, instances have occurred of vessels mistaking the latter for the former, and entering the bay of St. Joze. This error causes great danger and inconvenience, because owing to the prevalence of easterly winds, it is next to impossible for a vessel to beat her way out of it. It is therefore necessary that she should go through the narrow channel between the main land and the island of Maranham, a passage of considerable difficulty[60]. The bay of St. Marcos is spotted with several beautiful islands, and is of sufficient extent to admit of considerable grandeur. The width from St. Luiz to the opposite shore is between four and five leagues; its length is much greater; towards the south end there are several sand banks, and the water is shallower. It receives here the waters of a river, along the banks of which are situated several cattle estates, but the river Itapicuru, which runs into the narrow channel between the main land and the island, enjoys the greatest share of cultivation; its banks are extremely fertile, and upon them have been established the principal plantations of cotton and rice, which are the two chief and almost only articles of commerce from the city of St. Luiz. The island is in itself very little cultivated. There is no considerable plantation upon it. A few of the rich merchants residing in the city have country houses distant from it about one league, but the remainder of the lands are left untouched, owing, as is said, to the unfitness of the soil for the purposes of agriculture[61]. There is a horse-path through the island to a house which stands immediately opposite to the mouth of the river Itapicuru; at this is stationed a canoe, for the purpose of conveying people from one shore to the other. Another horse-path also leads to the village and chapel of St. Joze.
The importance of the province has increased very rapidly. Previous to the last sixty years no cotton was exported, and I heard that when the first parcel was about to be shipped, a petition was made by several of the inhabitants to the Camara or municipality, requesting that the exportation might not be permitted, for otherwise they feared that there would be a want of the article for the consumption of the country; this of course was not attended to, and now the number of bags exported annually is between forty and fifty thousand, averaging about 180 lbs. weight each[62]. The quantity of rice grown there is likewise great[63]; but the sugar which is required for the consumption of the province is brought from the ports to the southward. Some sugar cane has lately been planted, but hitherto molasses only have been made. I heard many persons say, that the lands are not adapted to the growth of the sugar cane[64]. The cotton and rice are brought to St. Luiz in barks of about 25 or 30 tons burthen. These come down the rivers with the stream from the plantations; their return is not however so easy, as they are obliged to be rowed or warped, but being then empty, or nearly so, the difficulty is not very great.
Considerable quantities of manufactured goods have been sent out from Great Britain since the opening of the trade, as has been done to the other principal ports upon the coast; but a ready sale has not been found for them here to any great amount. The province of Maranham will not bear comparison with that of Pernambuco. It is still in an infant state; there still exist wild Indians, and the plantations upon the main land are still in danger from their attacks. The proportion of free persons is much smaller; the slaves very much preponderate, but this class can of necessity use but little of what is in any degree expensive, of what in such a climate is mere luxury. There exists at St. Luiz a great inequality of ranks; the chief riches of the place are in the hands of a few men who possess landed property to a great extent, numerous gangs of slaves, and are also merchants. The wealth of these persons and the characters of some of the individuals who enjoy it, have raised them to great weight and consequence, and indeed one governor knows to his cost that without their concurrence it was useless to attempt the introduction of the innovations proposed, and impossible to trample long upon the rest of the community. But the great inequality of rank bespeaks the advancement of this place to have been less rapid than that of other settlements further south, where the society is more amalgamated, and property more divided. As a port of trade with Europe, St. Luiz may be accounted the fourth establishment upon the coast of Brazil in point of importance, giving precedence to Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco.
The wild Indians have occasionally crossed from the main land to the island, and have committed depredations upon the houses and gardens in the neighbourhood of St. Luiz. Some of these people have been at different times made prisoners and brought to the town, where very little pains, I fear, have been taken to conciliate them. I did not see any of them, but they were represented to me as most frightful beings; their features are excessively ugly, and their hair is black and preposterously long, both before and behind. They are of a dark copper colour, darker than Indians that have been domesticated. The last individuals taken, to the number of four or five, were brought into the town quite naked, were put into close confinement, and I was informed that there they died. I could not find out that any attempt had been made to send them back as mediators, or that any plan of conciliation had been entered into; and on mentioning something of this kind, I was in more than one instance told that it would be of no use, that rigour was the only method. I do not think that this is the general opinion regarding them, but I much apprehend that, but faint hopes can be entertained of any zeal being shown for their civilization. There are now no enthusiastic missionaries; the Jesuits no longer exist in that country, and the other orders of friars have become lazy and worse than useless. However the Indians cannot be enslaved; therefore, at least, they are not hunted down like wild cattle, as formerly was the practice. The name which is given generally both here and at Pernambuco to all wild Indians is Tapuya; and that of Caboclo is applied to those who have been domesticated.