Charms are often supposed to destroy the venom of snakes, and to produce, consequently, the recovery of the person who has been bitten by one of these reptiles. Oil is sometimes used as a remedy, being given in considerable quantities, which are increased or diminished according to the quality of the oil. Rum is likewise administered so as to produce intoxication. I have also seen a small plant, which is known under the name of herva cobreira; wherever I have seen it, the plant has been carefully preserved in a pot. This would denote that it is not indigenous to the part of the country in which I was; and indeed I was told that it had been brought from Africa. I never saw its flower; the leaves of it are small and heart-shaped; the stem is of four or five inches in length, and of a deep red colour, which becomes greenish towards the points of the branches: these are long, crooked, and spread horizontally. The leaves and the softer branches are bruised, and are applied to the wound, and the juice which is extracted from them, when mixed with rum or water, is drank by the patient. I do not vouch for its success; but its name must, I should imagine, have been acquired by its reputation.[99]
The mill was yet at work in September, when the owner of the place applied to me to leave it, as it was convenient to him to come down from another plantation of which he was the owner, and reside at Jaguaribe, from its vicinity to Recife. I agreed to this, but did not wish that he should remove until I was about to leave Jaguaribe. However, one morning, a young man who was related to and employed by him, came to my house, and told me, that by order from his kinsman he had (accompanied by a gang of negroes) taken possession during the night of the cottage, which was situated upon the shelf of the hill. I expressed my surprise at this conduct, and said a good deal upon the subject. He, of course, returned for answer, that he had only acted according to the orders which he had received. The principal objection which I had to this premature removal arose from the general turbulent character of the slaves of this man, and from the frequency of quarrels between the dependants of those persons whose dwellings were so near to each other as ours had now become.
Several extremely disagreeable occurrences took place, as I had feared would be the case, before I could conveniently remove; but as these proceeded more particularly from the peculiarity of our situation I do not think that a minute account of them would be interesting. These anecdotes could not be given in illustration of the general state of manners in the country. Suffice it to say, that I made a visit to the owner of the plantation of Amparo, in the island of Itamaraca, upon whose lands I agreed to plant sugar-canes, and to share with him their produce, as is a usual practice upon sugar estates.
In the beginning of November, 1813, I sent my manager to prepare a residence for me, at the town of Conception in the island; and I removed to that place in the course of the following month.
CHAPTER XIII.
REMOVAL OF THE AUTHOR TO ITAMARACA.—THE ISLAND.—CONCEPTION AND PILLAR.—THE FESTIVAL OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY.—JOURNEY TO GOIANA.—THE TOQUE.—THE COW-POX.
A FEW days after I had sent the remainder of my people to Itamaraca, I gave up Jaguaribe to its owner, and rode to Recife, where I remained for some days.
I had been introduced several months before to the vicar of Itamaraca; and at the time that I crossed over to the island to agree with the owner of Amparo about my removal, I made a visit to this priest, and was received by him with the greatest cordiality. As the plantation of Amparo had no cottage unoccupied at that time, or indeed that was fit to be inhabited, I requested the vicar to obtain for me a house in the town, as it is called, of our Lady of the Conception, in which stands the parochial church of this extensive vicarage. He returned for answer, that excepting his own residence, of which he was willing to give up to me a portion, and the prison, no dwellings could be met with. However, he desired that I would send a person to speak to him; this I did, and on the man’s return, the offer of the prison was accepted.