I became acquainted and somewhat intimate with the Capitam-mor of a neighbouring district, from frequently meeting him, in my evening visits to a Brazilian family. He was about to make the circuit of his district in the course of a few weeks, and invited one of my friends and myself to accompany him in this review or visit to his officers, to which we readily agreed. It was arranged that he should make us acquainted in due time with the day which he might appoint for setting out, that we might meet him at his sugar-plantation, from whence we were to proceed with him and his suite further into the country.
The Capitaens-mores, captains-major, are officers of considerable power. They have civil as well as military duties to perform, and ought to be appointed from among the planters of most wealth and individual weight in the several Termos, boundaries or districts; but the interest of family or of relations about the Court, have occasioned deviations from this rule; and persons very unfit for these situations, have been sometimes nominated to them. The whole aspect of the government in Brazil is military. All men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, must be enrolled either as soldiers of the line, as militia-men, or as belonging to the body of Ordenanças. Of the regular soldiers, I have already spoken in another place. Of the second class, each township has a regiment, of which the individuals, with the exception of the major and adjutant, and in some cases the colonel, do not receive any pay. But they are considered as embodied men, and as such are called out upon some few occasions, in the course of the year, to assemble in uniform, and otherwise accoutred. The expense which must be incurred in this respect, of necessity, precludes the possibility of many persons becoming members of this class, even if the Government was desirous of increasing the number of militia regiments. The soldiers of these are subject to their captains, to the colonel, and to the governor of the province. The colonels are either rich planters, or the major or lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of the line is thus promoted to the command of one of these; in this case, and in this case only, he receives pay. I am inclined to think that he ought to possess some property in the district, and that any deviation from this rule is an abuse; but I am not certain that the law so ordains. The majors and the adjutants are likewise occasionally promoted from the line; but whether they are regularly military men or planters, they receive pay, as their trouble in distributing orders, and in other arrangements connected with the regiment is considerable.
The third class, that of the Ordenanças, consisting of by far the largest portion of the white persons and of free mulatto men of all shades, have for their immediate chiefs the Capitaens-mores, who serve without pay, and all the persons who are connected with the Ordenanças, are obliged likewise to afford their services gratuitously. Each district contains one Capitam-mor, who is invariably a person possessing property in the part of the country to which he is appointed. He is assisted by a major, captains, and alferes, who are lieutenants or ensigns, and by sergeants and corporals. The duties of the Capitam-mor are to see that every individual under his command has in his possession some species of arms; either a firelock, a sword, or a pike. He distributes the governor’s orders through his district, and can oblige any of his men to take these orders to the nearest captain, who sends another peasant forwards to the next captain, and so forth, all which is done without any pay. A Capitam-mor can also imprison for twenty-four hours, and send under arrest for trial a person who is accused of having committed any crime, to the civil magistrate of the town to which his district is immediately attached. Now, the abuses of this office of Capitam-mor are very many, and the lower orders of free persons are much oppressed by these great men, and by their subalterns, down to the corporals. The peasants are often sent upon errands which have no relation to public business; for leagues and leagues these poor fellows are made to travel, for the purpose of carrying some private letter of the chief, of his captains, or of his lieutenants, without any remuneration. Indeed, many of these men in place, seldom think of employing their slaves on these occasions, or of paying the free persons so employed. This I have witnessed times out of number; and have heard the peasants in all parts of the country complain: it is a most heavy grievance. Nothing so much vexes a peasant as the consciousness of losing his time and trouble in a service which is not required by his Sovereign. Persons are sometimes confined in the stocks for days together, on some trifling plea, and are at last released without being sent to the civil magistrate, or even admitted to a hearing. However, I am happy to say, that I am acquainted with some men, whose conduct is widely different from what I have above stated; but the power given to an individual is too great, and the probability of being called to an account for its abuse too remote, to insure the exercise of it in a proper manner.
The free mulattos and free negroes whose names are upon the rolls, either of the militia regiments which are commanded by white officers, or by those of their own class and colour, are not, properly speaking, subject to the Capitaens-mores. These officers and the colonels of militia are appointed by the supreme government, and the subaltern officers are nominated by the governor of each province.
The above explanation of the state of internal government I thought necessary, that the reader might understand the grounds upon which I was about to undertake the journey, of which some account will immediately be given.
On the 28th January, 1812, the Capitam-mor sent one of his servants to summon us to his plantation, and to be our guide. Early on the morning following, my friend, myself, our own two servants, and the boy who had been sent to us by the Capitam-mor, set forth on horseback in high spirits; my friend and I expecting to see something new and strange. I had before, as has been already related, travelled into the less populous parts of the country; but I had had very little communication with the planters. On that occasion, I proceeded too rapidly to obtain as much knowledge of their manners and customs as I wished.
We proceeded to Olinda, and passed through its wretchedly paved streets, with much care; and when we were descending the hill, upon which it stands on the land side, there was laid open to us a considerable extent of marshy ground, which was partly covered with mandioc, planted upon raised beds or hillocks, which were made of a circular form, that the water might not reach the roots of the plants; the remainder of the land was still undrained and unproductive. The darkness of the green of the plants which grow upon marshy ground immediately points out the lands that are in this state. The country which was to be seen in the distance was covered with wood. We crossed a rivulet, communicating with the marshy land on each side of the road, and passed on over some rising ground, and by several scattered cottages, until we reached, distant from Olinda one league, the low lands surrounding the hill which forms the site of the sugar plantation of Fragozo. From hence the lands are low and damp, almost without any rising ground, to the sugar plantation of Paulistas. The beautiful spots upon this track of country are numerous; cottages are oftentimes to be met with, half concealed among the trees and brushwood; they are built of mud, and are covered with the leaves of coco-trees. They have usually a projecting pent-house with a small area in front, which is clear of weeds; under this pent-house is slung the hammock, with its dark-coloured owner, idly swinging backwards and forwards, who raises his head as he hears the horses’ footsteps; the dog is basking in the sun, or lying under the shade, or running out to annoy the traveller; and the fishing baskets and the gourds hang as chance directs upon the protruding stems of the coco-leaves, which cover the lowly hut. Some times the sight of these rude dwellings is enlivened by the figure of a female, who runs off, and conceals herself, as the passenger upon the road looks down the narrow path which leads to the cottage. The road itself was likewise narrow, (for this was not the great cattle track) and all view of the country was generally shut out, by the wood on each side, against which the legs of the horseman are often brushing, and into which he is obliged to force his horse, if he should chance to meet a carrier, with his panniers or his cotton bags on either side of his beast, or one of the carts which are employed upon the plantations. The print represents one of the cotton-carriers. In the fore ground is described the species of palm tree called Tucum[71], and immediately behind it is the Mamoeiro, which produces its fruit upon the stem; the fruit is large, and the pulp of it is soft, having much resemblance in consistence and in taste to a melon that is too ripe; the appearance of the fruit has some similarity likewise to a small round melon.
To those who are unaccustomed to a country that is literally covered with woods, which prevent an extensive view of the surrounding objects, and the free circulation of air, the delightful sensations which are produced by a fine green field, opening all at once to the sight, and swept by a refreshing breeze, cannot possibly be felt. The plantation of Paulistas is so situated. The buildings were numerous, but most of them were low, and somewhat out of repair. These are the dwelling-house of the owner, which is spacious, and has one story above the ground floor; the chapel, with its large wooden cross erected upon the centre of the gable end; the mill, a square building without walls, its roof being supported upon brick pillars; the long row of negro huts, the steward’s residence, and several others of minor importance. These edifices are all of them scattered upon a large field, which is occupied by a considerable number of tame cattle; this is skirted by a dike which runs in front, but somewhat at a distance from the dwelling-house of the owner, and through it runs the water which turns the mill. On the opposite side of the field is the chaplain’s cottage, with its adjoining lesser row of negro huts, its plantain garden, and its wide spreading mango trees behind it. Beyond the principal house, are low and extensive cane and meadow lands, which are skirted on one side by the buildings of another small plantation, and bordered at a great distance by woods, which are situated upon the sides and summit of rising ground.
