Travels in Brazil

by Henry Koster

I had now taken up my abode at the house which was usually inhabited by the owner or tenant; this was a low, but long mud cottage, covered with tiles, and white-washed within and without; it had bricked floors, but no ceiling. There were two apartments of tolerable dimensions, several small rooms, and a kitchen. The chief entrance was from a sort of square, formed by the several buildings belonging to the estate. In front was the chapel; to the left was a large dwelling-house unfinished, and the negro huts, a long row of small habitations, having much the appearance of alms-houses, without the neatness of places of this description in England; to the right was the mill worked by water, and the warehouse or barn in which the sugar undergoes the process of claying; and to the view of these buildings may be added the pens for the cattle, the carts, heaps of timber, and a small pond through which the water runs to the mill. At the back of the house was the large open field, the mill dam beyond, and cottages, mandioc lands and trees along the valley, bordered on each side by steep hills covered with thick woods.

Oftentimes I have sat at night upon the threshold of the door, after all my people had retired to their habitations; they have supposed that I was asleep; then I have heard the whisperings in the negro huts, and have observed some one leave his house, and steal away to visit an acquaintance, residing at some distance; or there has been some feast or merry-making, thus late at night, thus concealed. Neighbouring negroes have been invited, and have crept in during the evening unperceived. It is on these occasions that plans for deceiving the master are contrived; in these sweet unpermitted meetings, the schemes are formed. Then the slave owner who is aware of such secret practices, and reflects, must feel of how little avail are all his regulations, all his good management. Restraint creates the wish to act contrary to given rules. The slave has a natural bias to deceive him who holds him in subjection. A man may love the master whom he may at pleasure leave; but to be tied down, and as a duty enjoined to esteem, fails not in most instances to rouse contrary feelings, to awaken a sense of pleasure rather than of pain, in counteracting the wishes, and in rendering nugatory the determinations of him who commands.

At other times far different ideas from these have occupied my mind; I have thought of the strange life I was leading; a remembrance of feudal times in Europe has crossed me, and I could not forbear comparing with them the present state of the interior of Brazil. The great power of the planter, not only over his slaves, but his authority over the free persons of lower rank; the respect which is required by these Barons from the free inhabitants of their lands[87]; the assistance which they expect from their tenants in case of insult from a neighbouring equal; the dependance of the peasants, and their wish to be under the peculiar protection of a person of wealth who is capable of relieving them from any oppression, and of speaking in their behalf to the governor, or to the chief judge; all these circumstances combined, tend to render the similarity very great. I even felt the power which had unintentionally fallen into my hands. I had collected a considerable number of free workmen, and the estate was respected for miles round. Many of these fellows would have committed almost any crime under the impression that my protection would screen them; and if I had not turned some away, and threatened others that I would aid the law rather than evade it, should their proceedings be irregular, I know not what evil deeds might not have followed.[88]

Whilst I was unwell at Recife and Monteiro, the manager and his wife had taken possession of the house; and here they remained for some time after my return. Thus, I lived literally among these people; I had indeed my meals alone, but generally two or three of the persons employed upon the plantation were in the room, whilst I breakfasted or dined, and they stood or sat talking to me. Any one reached me a plate or ought else for which I asked, if he happened to be near to what I wanted. The manager and his wife told me many strange tales; he was a man of feudal stamp, honest and faithful in every respect, from personal regard to the man whom he served, but not in general to the world; not from a principle of right and wrong. This is very frequently the case among these people. He was however of the right sort for what I wanted; and if I was again to travel there, I should seek him out.

I had become somewhat intimate in several families of the neighbourhood; but was the most amused with my acquaintance in those of secondary rank, where there is less ceremony than among persons of the first class. In the former, the females often appear, when the visitor is a neighbour, has concerns with the master of the house, and becomes intimate with him.

The Festival of St. Bento was to be celebrated about the close of the year in the adjoining plantation, belonging to the monks of whom he is the patron saint. The convent is at Olinda, and there the abbot resides; the fraternity is rich, possessing much landed property. Upon the estate adjoining to Jaguaribe, mandioc, maize, rice, and other articles of food are cultivated, with which the convent is supplied. The slaves upon it are in number about one hundred, of all ages; and the last African died whilst I resided in that part of the country. The festival, at which I intended to be present, was to our Lady of the Rosary, the patroness of negroes. The expence which was to be incurred was subscribed for by the slaves of the estate, and the festival was entirely managed by them. Three friars attended to officiate at the altar; but the lights, the fireworks, and all other necessary articles were provided for by a committee of the slaves. The manager of the estate was a mulatto slave, who made me a visit upon my arrival at Jaguaribe, and on the occasion of the festival came to invite me to the novena and to the festa, (the nine previous evenings and the festival); or rather he came to request that I would not fail to go, as he feared that my people and his might quarrel. I went with a large party of men and women; we ascended the hill, and on our arrival at its summit, I was invited by one of the black women to enter her cottage, the same invitation being made to several other persons of our party. The chapel is placed quite upon the highest point of the hill; and the house in which the friars dwell, when they come to the estate, and the row of negro huts form a semicircle about it, thus in part inclosing the chapel. These habitations look down upon the broad river of Maria Farinha, winding below among the mangroves, and there are several creeks on the opposite side, which look like so many branches.

The crowd which had assembled was considerable, and was not a little increased by my free workmen; some of whom were unmarried men, unencumbered, and ready for any mischief. I was armed with a long pike and the large knife of the country; and had brought three of my slaves, accoutred much in the same manner,—three resolute Africans, upon whom I could depend, and whose business it was closely to watch their master. Before the commencement of the prayers and singing in the chapel, the black people extended several mats upon the ground in the open air; and our party sat down upon them to converse and to eat cakes and sweetmeats, of which many kinds were exposed for sale in great abundance. All went on quietly for three nights, for the mulatto manager forbad the sale of rum; but on the fourth night some liquor unfortunately found its way up the hill, and Nicolau, the manager, came in haste to inform me that a few of my Indians were earnestly bent on quarrelling with a party of his people. I rose from the mat upon which I had been seated, and followed by my body guard, accompanied him back to the spot, where I soon saw that a fight had commenced; persuasion was of no avail, and therefore my negroes made use of the butt ends of their pikes, and brought an Indian to the ground, who was delivered over to Simam, one of my fellows; and I desired the two slaves who remained to assist the St. Bento negroes. I thus proved, that I would not uphold my own people if they acted irregularly; and the matter fortunately ended with only some trifling bruises, and one broken head. The Indian was conveyed home by Simam, who returned to tell me that he had placed the man in the stocks, with the intent of sobering him. No more quarrels were entered into; for this affair quite sickened all those who might have been so inclined. In the morning the Indian was set at liberty, and he quietly went off to his work, not being much the worse.

I had great pleasure in witnessing the most excellent arrangements of this plantation; the negroes are as happy as persons in a state of slavery can be; but although the tasks are, comparatively speaking, easy, and corporal punishments are only resorted to for children, still the great object at which they aim is to be free, and to purchase the freedom of their children[89]. One man, who was a fisherman by trade, had obtained the manumission of his wife, though he was still a slave himself, with the intent that if she should still have any more children, they might be free; and he purposed afterwards purchasing his own freedom, and that of his young ones. Several instances of the same behaviour are frequently occurring upon the estates belonging to these and other friars. Thus every one wishes to be a free agent; and it is this feeling alone which makes a St. Bento negro do all in his power to be able to act for himself; for very probably he may be obliged to labour with more diligence to obtain his living as a free man than as a slave. The emancipated negro oftentimes becomes an excellent member of society, for he contracts habits of industry, in which he continues; but again, if he has been hardly treated by a rigorous master, he becomes disgusted with, and indifferent to life, is rendered callous to shame, and drags on an idle, miserable existence.

Another festival was to take place at one of the chapels upon the coast, which is dedicated to our Lady of the Conception. This was distant one league and a half from Jaguaribe; however we formed a party and mounted our horses one moon-light evening; the females riding behind their husbands and relations, with a sheet or counterpane thrown over the horse’s haunches, upon which they sat. We came out upon the sea-shore at the church of our Lady of the O, (of which I shall presently speak) not far from the Fort of Pao Amarello, and from thence proceeded along the sands to the place of our destination. I was introduced to the family of an old Portugueze who resided here; his son had just taken orders as a secular priest, and was to say his first mass on the day of the festival. There were puppet-shows, tumblers, and all their attendants in great abundance; fireworks and bon-fires, noise, bustle, and no lack of quarrelling. Within the chapel there was a display of wax tapers, praying, singing, and music, as is usual.