Travels in Brazil

by Henry Koster

A Cotton Carrier.

This valuable and beautiful plantation was in the possession of a near relation of our Capitam-mor. We were acquainted with the son of the owner, who was chaplain to the estate, and had invited us to make his residence our resting-place; this we did. He was prepared to receive us, and after having breakfasted, we proceeded to pay a visit to the old gentleman at the Great House, as the dwellings of the owners of plantations are called. He was unwell, and could not be seen; but we were received by his wife and two daughters. They made many enquiries about England, and conversed upon other subjects which they supposed we might be acquainted with. This estate was not much worked; the slaves led a most easy life, and the Great House was full of young children. Of these urchins several came in and out of the room, they were quite naked, and played with each other, and with some large dogs which were lying at full length upon the floor. These ebony cupids were plainly great favourites, and seemed to employ the greater part of the thoughts of the good ladies, the youngest of whom was on the wrong side of fifty; and even the priest laughed at their gambols. These excellent women and the good priest possess a considerable number of slaves, who are their exclusive property. It is their intention eventually to emancipate all of them, and that they may be prepared for the change, several of the men have been brought up as mechanics of different descriptions; and the women have been taught needle-work, embroidery, and all branches of culinary knowledge. Thus, by the death of four individuals, who are now approaching to old age, will be set free about sixty persons, men, women, and children. As these people have been made acquainted with the intentions of their owners respecting them, it is not surprising that the behaviour of many of them should be overbearing. To some, the deeds of manumission have been already passed conditionally, obliging them to serve as slaves until the death of the individual to whom they are subject. These papers cannot be revoked, and yet no ingratitude was feared; but among so considerable a number of persons, some instances of it cannot, I fear, fail to be experienced. The owners said that all their own immediate relations are rich, and not at all in need of assistance; and that therefore independent of other reasons connected generally with the system of slavery, these their children had no right to work for any one else. Of the slaves in question, only a few are Africans, the major part being mulattos and creole negroes.

We returned to the cottage of the priest to dinner, and in the afternoon proceeded to the sugar plantation of Aguiar, belonging to the Capitam-mor, which is distant from Paulistas five leagues, where we arrived about ten o’clock at night, much fatigued. Immediately beyond Paulistas is the narrow but rapid stream of Paratibi, which near to its mouth changes this name for that of Doce. In the rainy season it overflows its banks, and becomes unfordable. The width of it, when it is in the usual state, near to Paulistas, is not above twenty yards. In its course to the sea, it runs through much marshy ground. We passed by four sugar-mills this afternoon; that which bears the name of Utringa de baixo, is situated in an amphitheatre, being surrounded by high hills, covered with large trees. These woods have not been much disturbed, and therefore give refuge to enormous quantities of game, among which the porco do mato, or pig of the woods, is common. I never saw this animal, and therefore cannot pretend to describe it; but I have often heard it spoken of, as being extremely destructive to mandioc, and that its flesh is good. This animal is not large, and is not unlike the common hog[72]. Many criminals and runaway negroes are harboured in these woods. The inhabitants of Utinga seem to be shut out from all the rest of the world, as the path which leads from it is not immediately distinguished. The last three leagues, which we traversed in the dark, were covered with almost unbroken woods; the path through them is narrow, and the branches of the trees cross it in all directions; our guide rode in front, and many times did his head come in contact with them.

The dwelling of the Capitam-mor is a large building of one story above the ground floor: the lower part of which forms the warehouse for the sugar and other articles which the estate produces. We ascended a wooden staircase, erected on the outside of the building, entered a small anti-chamber, and were received by our host and one of his sons, who conducted us into a spacious apartment beyond. A long table, and one of rather less dimensions, a couple of benches, and a few broken and unpainted chairs formed the whole furniture of these rooms. Four or five black boys, who were of a size too far advanced to wear the bow and arrow, but who were quite as little encumbered with dress as if they still might wield these dangerous weapons in the character of cupids, stood all astonishment to view the strange beings that had just arrived; and at all the doors were women’s heads peeping to see whom we might be. The supper consisted as is usual of great quantities of meat, placed upon the table without arrangement.

At five o’clock in the morning, the capitam-mor, my friend, myself, and three servants proceeded to the distance of three leagues without any addition to our party; but we were soon joined by the adjutant of the district and several other officers, in uniforms of dark blue with yellow facings most monstrously broad—the gay cuffs reaching half way up to the elbows; they wore round hats with short feathers, straight swords of most prodigious length, and very loose nankeen pantaloons and boots; the former were thrust within the latter, which caused the higher part of the pantaloons to appear to be of preposterous width. We dismounted at a sugar plantation, being the third we had passed through this morning; here we were invited to stay to breakfast, but this we could not do, and were therefore regaled with pine-apples and oranges. The owner of this place had taken great pains with his garden, and had reared several fruits which require much care; but it is strange that, although there are many which may be raised with very little trouble, still upon far the greater number of plantations even oranges are not to be found. The ant is, I well know, a great persecutor of this tree, but when care is taken in this respect, and a little water is afforded during the dry months for two or three years, none else is necessary. Upon the same plantation have been practised the most monstrous cruelties; the conduct of the owner towards his slaves is often spoken of with abhorrence, but yet he is visited and treated with the same respect which is paid to an individual of unblemished character. It is however almost the only instance of which I heard of systematic, continued, wanton enormity; but it has here occurred and has passed unpunished, and this one is sufficient, even if none other existed, to stamp the slave system as an abomination which ought to be rooted out. The estate was inherited by the person in question, with sixty good slaves upon it; fifteen years have elapsed since that time to the period of which I speak, and there were then remaining only four or five individuals who were able to work. Some have fled and have escaped, others have died, God knows how, and others again have committed suicide in sight of their master’s residence.

We arrived at mid-day at Santa Cruz, and had now reached the cotton country. The track through which we had passed was for the most part well watered and well wooded; the marshy lands being less frequently interspersed than upon the journey of the preceding day. The sugar plantations were numerous; we saw eight of them this morning. The ground was often uneven, and we crossed one rather steep hill. The lands upon which we had now arrived and those to which we were advancing are altogether higher, and the grass upon them was now much burnt up, the “first waters” not having yet fallen. The soil in these parts retains less moisture than that of the country which we had left, and soon becomes too hard to be worked. The party was now much increased, and in the afternoon we proceeded to Pindoba, a cotton plantation of considerable extent; the owner of it is wealthy and possesses many slaves. He received us in his dressing-gown, under which he wore a shirt, drawers, and a pair of stockings. After the first greetings were over, he brought out a small bottle of liqueur made in the country, to which he himself helped his guests, one solitary glass, which was filled, and then emptied by each person, being made use of by the whole party. After supper a guitar player belonging to the house entertained us until a late hour, whilst our host sat upon a table smoking from a pipe of fully six feet in length. Several hammocks were slung in two large apartments, and each person either talked or went to sleep, or occasionally did one and the other, no form or ceremony being observed.

The peasants began to assemble early on the following morning, as three companies of the Ordenanças were to be reviewed. These were the first which were to undergo inspection, as the capitam-mor purposed visiting again the places through which we had passed on his return, and intended then to perform this duty. The men wore their usual dress of shirt and drawers, and perhaps a nankeen jacket and pantaloons were added, and most of them had muskets. The capitam-mor came forth this day in his scarlet uniform, and sat himself down near to a table. The captain of the company which was about to be reviewed stood near to him with the muster-roll. The names of the privates were called over by the captain, and as each name was repeated by the sergeant, who stood at the door-way, the individual to whom it belonged came in and presented arms to the capitam-mor, then turned about and retired. It was truly ridiculous, but at the same time painful, to see the fright which the countenances of some of the poor fellows expressed, and their excessive awkwardness when they came to present themselves; whilst others displayed evident self-sufficiency; these were well-dressed and performed every manœuvre with as much neatness and promptitude as they were capable of, expressive of superior knowledge and in hopes of admiration. There were of course many absentees, and for the non-appearance of these some reason was given by one of the officers of the company to which the man belonged, or by a neighbour. The excuses were usually received as all-sufficient, without any further enquiry being made. However the absence of one of the captains was not thus quietly acquiesced in, and therefore an officer was dispatched to his house to bring him to Pindoba under an arrest. Whether this proceeded from some private pique, or from zeal for the public service, I do not pretend to determine, but he soon arrived in custody. He was put into one of the apartments of the house which we were inhabiting, and a sergeant was stationed at the door as a sentinel. The capitam-mor soon however relented, upon which he was released and allowed to return home.

At dinner the great man took the head of the table, and the owner of the house stood by and waited upon him. Every thing was served up in enormous quantities, for the party was large and this is the custom; there was no sort of regularity observed; every man helped himself to the dish which pleased him best, and this was oftentimes done, with the knife which the person had been making use of upon his own plate, and by reaching across two or three of his neighbours for the purpose. A nice bit was not safe even upon one’s own plate, being occasionally snatched up, and another less dainty given in return. Much wine was drank during dinner, and the glasses were used in common. We soon rose from table, and the party, generally speaking, took the accustomed sesta or nap after dinner which is usual in warm climates. My friend and I walked out in the afternoon, but there was nothing to tempt us to go far, for the neighbourhood possessed no natural beauty and the dry weather had burnt up the grass, and had made the face of the country extremely dreary.

Early on the morrow about forty persons sallied forth for the village of Bom Jardim. It is distant from Pindoba one league and a half. We arrived there at seven o’clock. This village is built in the form of a square; the houses are low, but the church is large and handsome. Like the huts of Açu and of some other places, those of Bom Jardim are not white-washed, and therefore the mud of which they are composed remains in its original colour. The place contains about 500 inhabitants. We ascended a steep hill to arrive at it, and on the opposite side still another of equal height is to be surmounted in proceeding farther inland. The village is situated upon a break of the hill. The soil is chiefly composed of red earth, approaching in places to a bright scarlet, with veins of yellow running through it; this is the description of soil, which is said to be the best adapted to the growth of cotton. Bom Jardim is a great rendezvous for the hawkers who are proceeding to the Sertam, and for others who merely advance thus far. It is distant from Recife twenty good leagues, in a N. E. direction.