There is another road to Pillar, besides that by which the vicar had taken me; it is through a place called Engenho Velho (the old mill). Sugar works were formerly established here; but the lands are poor, and the large red ants upon them are so numerous, as to render their cultivation almost impossible; so much so, that scarcely any persons reside upon them. Many individuals of the lower classes, first obtaining leave from the proprietor, have attempted to rear crops of mandioc and maize upon them; but their exertions have seldom enabled any one to prevent the plantations from being destroyed by the ants. Huts are to be seen, out of which the inhabitants have been driven by these tormentors; the shelter which the roofs afford is convenient to the ants, and under them they like to form the chief entrances to their cities. I never saw any other situation in which this pest of Pernambuco[113] had so completely taken possession of the land. The hillocks under which they had formed their nests were innumerable; some of these were four feet in height, and ten or twelve in circumference; others were of less dimensions, and some of them might be larger.
Some ruins of the mill are still to be seen at Engenho Velho, and there is a pond near to them of considerable depth, of which tradition says, that great riches lie concealed at the bottom. I also heard of an old African negro, who has been manumitted, and now practised the arts of a Mandingueiro, in this neighbourhood. Among the lower orders of people I have heard his powers discussed. It is said, that he can cause the death of any one who is pointed out to him; the unfortunate person will linger for a long time, but his destruction is inevitable. This old man is likewise a fortune-teller, and is applied to in cases of unrequited love.
In March took place the yearly festival of our Lady of the Rosary, which was directed by negroes; and at this period is chosen the King of the Congo nation, if the person who holds this situation has died in the course of the year, has from any cause resigned, or has been displaced by his subjects. The Congo negroes are permitted to elect a king and queen from among the individuals of their own nation; the personages who are fixed upon may either actually be slaves, or they may be manumitted negroes. These sovereigns exercise a species of mock jurisdiction over their subjects which is much laughed at by the whites; but their chief power and superiority over their countrymen is shown on the day of the festival. The negroes of their nation, however, pay much respect to them. The man who had acted as their king in Itamaraca (for each district has its king) for several years, was about to resign from old age, and a new chief was to be chosen; he who had been fixed upon for this purpose was an old man and a slave, belonging to the plantation of Amparo. The former queen would not resign, but still continued at her post. The old negro who was this day to be crowned, came early in the morning to pay his respects to the vicar, who said to him in a jocular manner, “Well, sir, so to-day I am to wait upon you, and to be your chaplain.” About eleven o’clock I proceeded to the church with the vicar. We were standing at the door, when there appeared a number of male and female negroes, habited in cotton dresses of colours and of white, with flags flying and drums beating; and as they approached we discovered among them the king and queen, and the secretary of state. Each of the former wore upon their heads a crown, which was partly covered with gilt paper, and painted of various colours. The king was dressed in an old fashioned suit of divers tints, green, red, and yellow; coat, waistcoat, and breeches; his sceptre was in his hand, which was of wood, and finely gilt. The queen was in a blue silk gown, also of ancient make; and the wretched secretary had to boast of as many colours as his master, but his dress had evident appearances of each portion having been borrowed from a different quarter, for some parts were too tight and others too wide for him.
The expence of the church service was to be provided for by the negroes; and there stood in the body of the church a small table, at which sat the treasurer of this black fraternity, (irmandade) and some other officers, and upon it stood a box to receive the money. This was produced but slowly, much too slowly for the appetite of the vicar, who had not breakfasted, though it was now nearly mid-day, for he and his assistant priests were to chaunt high Mass. Therefore he approached the table, and began to expostulate with these directors, declaring that he would not go to the altar until every expence was paid. I was much amused to see him surrounded by the blacks, and abusing them for their want of punctuality in their contributions. There was soon an uproar in the church among the negroes; the vicar had blamed some of them, and now when he left them to themselves, they called each other to an account, and the consequences were, that many high and angry words passed between them in the church. It was a most entertaining scene to me and a few other persons, who stood by and heard what was going on. However, at last Their Majesties knelt down at the railing of the principal chapel, and the service commenced. As soon as this was over, the new king was to be installed; but as the vicar was hungry, he dispatched the matter without much ceremony; he asked for the crown, then went to the church-door,—the new sovereign presented himself, and was requested or rather desired to kneel down; the insignia were given to him, and the vicar then said, “Now, sir king, go about thy business.”[114]
As the king belonged to Amparo, the eating, drinking, and dancing were to be at that place; consequently, in a short time our town remained quite quiet, and I little thought that I should so soon be disturbed. About four o’clock in the afternoon, Francisco, one of my negroes, came running from Amparo, and he said that the people at that place were killing Manoel, who was fighting against a number of persons, by whom he had been attacked. I mounted my horse, and proceeded to the plantation with all possible haste. I found Manoel tied to the middle of a long cord, of each end of which one man had hold, and these persons were standing in opposite directions for the purpose of keeping the negro at a distance from any one. His face was covered with blood, and his cloaths were much torn. I rode up to him, and spoke to him; he turned round, as if to strike me; but when he discovered who it was, he cried out, “It is my master, and now I care for no one;” and then he again proceeded in his abuse towards those who had maltreated him. Francisco soon arrived, and I sent Manoel home with him. The overseer of the plantation (for the owner was not at home) chose to take umbrage at some of my people who now arrived, because they were armed. I told him that they were perfectly right in coming prepared for the worst, but that I felt quite confident that not one person present would think of insulting me or any other white man; and therefore I sent my people away; he said that I judged correctly of his feelings, and some others stepped forwards to confirm the words of the overseer. The negro who had acted improperly, had been provoked so to do by the behaviour of some of the free persons towards him; but the affair would not have occurred, if the overseer had done his duty, or if any man of weight and importance had been present.
About this time I agreed to take a cottage with a small piece of land attached to it, in the neighbourhood of Conception. It was situated upon a shelf of the hill, immediately below the town, and opposite to the village of Camboa. The break in the hill had only space sufficient to admit of the cottage in breadth, so that on either side it must be reached by an ascent or descent. The view from it differed little from that which was to be obtained from the town-hall; save that now to the left, the town and the church were to be seen half concealed among the banana plants and trees. All the lands in this neighbourhood were subdivided among persons of several casts. That which immediately joined mine on two sides belonged to the vicar, and on the third side it was inclosed by the channel, whilst on the fourth, a numerous family of free negroes possessed a small spot covered with coco-trees. These latter people had been much impoverished by the obstinacy of the chief of the family, now deceased, in maintaining a law-suit for many years, about the boundaries of his plot of land. As soon as I took possession, one of his sons wished to commence law proceedings with me, in spite of several awards which had been given against his father. I began to make a fence around the piece of land which I had taken, and he immediately did all in his power to prevent me from accomplishing my object; however, as he saw that whatever he said was of no avail, he set off to Goiana to seek redress by law. This I discovered accidentally in the evening. In the morning at four o’clock I mounted on horseback, and followed him to Goiana, accompanied by Fideles, a creole negro, in the place of Manoel who was disabled for some time by the occurrence which has been related.
I proceeded through the plantation of Amparo, and reached the spot at which passengers embark in the canoe that plies between the island and the main land. The tide was out, and we entered among the mangroves, through which a path has been made in the mud; it is dangerous to allow the horse to step out of this, as the slime is deep on either side. We stood at the water’s edge, just beyond the mangroves, and hailed the ferryman, until he shoved off and came towards the island. The mosquitos persecuted us unmercifully, during this delay, and it was with difficulty we prevented our horses from treading out of the path. The channel is here much broader than near to Conception; but there is a bank near to the centre of it, upon which, when the tide is out, the horses regain their footing; but still the passage is distressing to the beasts; however we reached the opposite bank in safety[115]. Here stands the village of Itapisuma, which consists of a long street, situated near to the water’s edge, and running parallel with the channel; it is composed of small low houses. A narrow path took us to the village of Pasmado, a distance of two leagues, where we entered the great cattle road; we crossed the river of Araripe, passed through the village of Bû, and about mid-day stopped at the hamlet of Fontâìnhas. Here I put up at a cottage, and on enquiry found that there was some dried meat to be sold at a neighbouring hut; some of this was purchased, and was cooked for me by the good woman of the cottage.
The people of Pasmado are famous for their proficiency in the working of iron. The knives which are made at that place are in great request all over the country, and although these are a prohibited article, as I have before mentioned, still they are made publicly at Pasmado, and indeed at many other places in the country.
Whilst I was at Fontâìnhas, three armed men came to the door with a fourth person whom they had taken into custody, under a suspicion of his being a horse-stealer. It was proved that he had been seen in company with a man of this description, but he made it appear that he had been hired by him to assist in conducting some horses, without his having any knowledge of their being obtained irregularly, and therefore they set him at liberty. During the whole of my stay in Pernambuco, I only heard of two or three instances of houses being broken open, and scarcely of any murders that were not occasioned by quarrels, or had been committed in revenge; but cattle-stealing is common. I was in the constant habit of hearing of thefts of this description[116]. In the afternoon I reached Goiana, and on the following day presented my papers to the Juiz de Fora. As soon as I had accomplished the end for which I came, I returned to Itamaraca. Whilst I was at Goiana, an English merchant vessel, called the Elizabeth, had been on shore upon the south sand-bank of the harbour of Itamaraca. She had been chased by an English ship of war, under the supposition that she was an American, and the merchant vessel was also acting under the same idea regarding the pursuer. The master made for the harbour of Itamaraca and ran the vessel ashore; and the mistake under which both of them had been acting was not cleared up until the ship of war sent a boat on board. She floated at the height of the tide, and proceeded to Recife without much damage. Many of the people of Itamaraca put off in their jangadas, for the purpose of rendering every assistance in their power, and were very indignant at the crew refusing to admit any of them on board. This, I suppose, proceeded from the fear of being plundered, and of salvage being claimed, as occurs frequently upon the coast of Ireland in cases of distress. But far from any mischief being intended, I am confident that a mere trifle (a few gallons of rum for instance) would have satisfied those who went to offer to assist.
After my removal in April to the Toque, for so my new dwelling was called, I led a life of quietude; and to one who has not known other countries, and does not feel that a residence in Brazil is a species of banishment, it would be a life of great happiness. I went out young, and therefore had few unpleasant feelings of this kind to conquer, but when I reflect upon the line of life in which I had taken my station I am happy that I was removed. The climate, in particular, fascinates every one; the heat is scarcely ever disagreeable, and the power of the sun is rendered less perceptible by the freshness of the sea breeze; the coolness of the night too removes all lassitude, if any should have been felt. I have often sat at my door when the moon has been so clear as to render reading by her light, though somewhat irksome, still not difficult. When the night has been dark, I have watched the lights which were to be seen upon the sand-banks, that proceed from the land on each side of the entrance of the harbour; they were frequented at low water by numbers of persons in search of shell-fish. The appearance was singular, for the lights seemed to float upon the water.