We will finish the description of the noble St. Francisco when we treat upon the province of Pernambuco, which is bounded by this river from hence to the ocean. This very extensive river, as well as those mentioned which enlarge it, abound with fish, of which the doirado, sorrubin, mandin, and piranha, are the best.
Near the right margin of the St. Francisco, and eighteen miles below the confluence of the Bambuhy, is the lake Feia, of a circular form, about three hundred yards in diameter, of dark green water, and inhabited by the sucury and sucuriu snakes, and the alligator. No reptile or even bird approaches to drink its waters. About two miles to the north, there is another called Lake Verde, narrow, six miles long, and the haunt of the same horrible creatures. Both lakes are discharged into the St. Francisco. The sucuriu and sucury differ only in colour; the first is of a blackish hue, and the other grey: they have two large claws, or talons, near the extremity of the tail, with which they secure themselves to roots or the points of stones under the water, when they wish to seize any animal. The teeth are sharp pointed, and inclined towards the gorge, so that the prisoner cannot escape, although the monster wished to withdraw its hold. Sucurys have been killed twenty yards long. These snakes are supposed to be a species of the sucuriuba of other provinces.
Villa Real do Sabara, (Royal Town of Sabara) is the head of the comarca, and ordinary residence of its ouvidor, who also acts in other situations. It stands near the right margin of the Velhas, where this river receives the small stream that affords the town’s name, in a low situation, surrounded with mountains, and is large, flourishing, well supplied with meat, fish, and the common necessaries peculiar to the country. It has a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, a chapel of Our Lady of O, another of Rozario, and a numerous fraternity of blacks, two Terceira orders of Carmo and St. Francisco. There is a Juiz de Fora, who is head of the orphan establishment; a vicar; the usual professors of the first letters and Latin; and a smelting house for gold, the expenses of which are forty thousand crusades annually, having the same appointments as that of Villa Rica, with the exception of the engraver of stamps for coining, and the third founder. This town has a good fountain of excellent water in the street of Caquende, and four entrances from the cardinal points, all but one having wooden bridges; the eastern and southern are over the Sabara. The judicial officers are the same here as in the capital of the province; the annual revenue of the camara, or municipal body, is nine thousand crusades. The heat is here more intense in the hot months than in any other povoaçao in the province, arising, most probably, from its reflexion from the circumjacent mountains. A register for receiving the royal duties was, in 1712, established in this place, which is thirty-five miles north-north-west of Marianna, seventy north-east of Tamandua, near one hundred south-west of Villa do Principe, and seventy-five north-north-east of St. Joao d’ el Rey. The inhabitants, and those of six parishes within its district, (viz. Rio das Pedras, St. Antonio, Curral d’ el Rey, St. Luzia, Congonhas, and Rapozos,) comprising altogether forty-six thousand three hundred persons, are miners and farmers, and form two regiments of cavalry, one with eleven, and the other with eight companies, all whites; twenty companies of infantry; a regiment of eleven companies of mulattoes; and another of seven companies of forro, or free blacks. In the year 1788, the population of Sabara consisted of seven thousand six hundred and fifty-six persons, and eight hundred and fifty houses. In 1819, its inhabitants did not exceed nine thousand three hundred and forty-seven.
This comarca, which is nearly as large as England, does not, exclusive of the district of Paracatu, contain more than one hundred and thirteen thousand, three hundred and sixty-four souls. Senhor Gama, who was recently its ouvidor or governor, collected materials, during his triennial government, for a map of the comarca, which he presented to the minister of state at Rio de Janeiro, in expectation that his labours would at least have received some approbation; but the subject was treated with indifference. Senhor Gama subsequently made me a present of the map, an exact copy of which is here introduced. The signal of a standard upon the map points out those places rich in diamonds, which, by a strange policy, are rigidly preserved untouched as a resource for the government; and whenever they are worked, if the proceedings are conducted upon the same principle as the diamond grounds of Tijuco, will certainly not be a source of much revenue to the state.
Mapa da Comarca do
Sabara
Senhor Gama related a circumstance which occurred during his ouvidorship here, that affords a tolerably strong evidence of the deep subtilty practised by some, at least, of the Brazilian holy fathers, for their personal benefit. A female, residing at no great distance from Sabara, whose mind was darkened by bigotry, and who was particularly rigid in all religious observances, no saint day passing without her exhibiting the utmost devotion, mortified herself in a peculiar degree on all occasions of fasting, and during Lent always refrained from eating, with such resolution, that she acquired the honour of being considered a saint. So strongly was her mind influenced by this delusion, that she communicated her self-working inspirations to two or three padres, who lived near. They immediately inflamed her wild imagination by their countenance, and gave public weight to the notion, by affirming that her soul would ascend to heaven on a certain day. Contributions were already talked of for forming an establishment to be dedicated to Santa Harmonica, the name of the female. The priests were, of course, to have the administration of the funds. Good Friday was the appointed day for the consummation of this important event. The machinery hitherto worked well, and her exhausted appearance, from continued fasting, warranted the conclusion that her dissolution was near. It was a subject of general interest, and being introduced where the ouvidor was present on the evening preceding the intended conclusion of the drama, he stated that he had not faith in any thing so ridiculous; and in the event of the female’s death, he would summon a species of inquest to be held upon the body. A friend or coadjutor of the priests was present: he left the party and hastened on horseback to communicate this determination of the ouvidor to the holy brothers. An effect very contrary to the expectation of her devoted worshippers was thus produced. She speedily recovered from her saintly indisposition, and remains, if not in mental, at least in bodily health to this day. It was ascertained to have been the intention of these priests, founded on the wicked purpose of deriving advantages from the contemplated establishment of Santa Harmonica, to have produced, by some means, a gradual exhaustion of life by the appointed time.
About twelve miles from Sabara there is a lake, two miles long and nearly one in width, whose crystalline and tepid waters, having been an antidote in many diseases, acquired it the name of the Holy Lake. In its centre there are various springs; and when not agitated, its surface is covered with a pellicle or thin skin of the colour of mercury, which disappears by blowing upon it, and leaves the lips silvered over of those who drink it. It is discharged at the northern extremity by an outlet into the river Velhas, which is five miles distant.
Fifteen miles north of Sabara, and a mile from the Velhas, is the large and flourishing freguezia or parish of Santa Luzia, ornamented with five Catholic temples, and whose inhabitants, amounting to thirteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, are well supplied with its produce of agriculture, mines, and cattle.