Printed by C. Hullmandel.
AN OFFICER OF CAVALRY IN MINAS GERAES, AND A HERMIT.
Villa do Principe, the head of the comarca, and residence of its ouvidor, (who fills other offices,) is considerable, well supplied, and possesses a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, a chapel of the Lord of Matozinhos, another of St. Rita, three of the Lady of Purificaçao, Carmo, and Rozario. It is ill situated, has only one good street, and was erected into a town in the year 1714. It has a Juiz de Fora, a royal professor of Latin, and a smelting house for gold, with the same appointments as that of Sabara. This town is in the vicinity of the serra Lapa, two miles distant from the river Peixe, (a branch of the St. Antonio,) near one hundred north-east of Sabara, one hundred and ten north-north-east of Marianna, and three hundred and seventy almost north-west of Rio de Janeiro. The inhabitants are miners, and cultivators of Indian corn, legumes, cotton, and sugar; the whites constitute twenty-two companies of infantry, the mulattoes thirteen, and the free blacks six. The revenue of the vicarship amounts to twelve thousand crusades, and that of the camara to seven. In the whole of the comarca there are two regiments of cavalry, one of eight, and the other of nine companies.
Within the district of the last town, and at a distance of forty miles, is the large arraial and parish of Conceiçao, in whose environs is the serra of Gaspar Soares, abundant in iron mines, for the working of which a royal establishment is forming.
Bom Successo, better known by the name of Fanado, created a town in 1751, is well situated on elevated land, enjoying a fine climate, between two small streams that afford it the name, and uniting, enter the Arassuahy, which passes six miles distant to the north. It has a church dedicated to the “Chief of the Apostles,” chapels of the Lord of Bom Fim, of the Lady of Amparo, for the mulattoes, of Rozario, for the blacks, St. Anna, St. Joze, and St. Gonçalo; and a Terceira order of St. Francisco. It possesses a Juiz de Fora, and a royal professor of Latin. It has not one house of stone. The inhabitants follow the same occupations as those of the last town, and some work for precious stones. The general traders are the most independent. This place is two hundred and twenty miles north-east of Marianna, two hundred and ten, nearly in the same direction, from Sabara, one hundred and twenty-five north-north-east of Villa do Principe, and four hundred and fifty from Rio de Janeiro. In its extensive circuit there are various hermitages, namely, Piedade, Mercez, Penha, St. Joao, Prata, and Barreiras. Their numbers are expected to increase to the east and south as far as the river Doce, when the projected roads to the ports of Porto Seguro are made and frequented. The fertility of the territory, and the facility which proper measures may create for transporting produce to the ports, will most probably attract numerous colonies to this district, which, unquestionably, will become the best in the province, when the Aimbore Indians are subjugated.
Ten miles to the north of Bom Successo is the parish of St. Cruz da Chapada, near the river Capibary. The inhabitants scarcely raise any of the necessaries of life, but follow mining.
Fifteen miles to the north-east of the preceding, and twenty-five from Bom Successo, is the arraial of Agua Suja, (Dirty Water,) near the confluence of the stream of its name, with the Arassuahy, having a church dedicated to the Lady of Conceiçao. The inhabitants cultivate Indian corn, legumes, and cotton, and are gold miners. In its district are the parishes of St. Domingos, and Conceiçao, near the Sucuriu, whose parishioners raise the same articles, and work for gold and precious stones.
One hundred miles north of Bom Successo is the considerable arraial of Rio Pardo, at the confluence of the river from which it takes the name with the Preto, each having a bridge. The houses are in great part of adobe, and the church of taipa. Its inhabitants raise cattle, mandioca, Indian corn, rice, cotton, and a variety of fruits.
Two hundred and ten miles north of Sabara, one hundred and thirty west-north-west of Bom Successo, and one hundred and fifty north-north-west of Villa do Principe, is the famous arraial and julgado of Barra do Rio das Velhas, situated in a plain at the confluence of the river of its name, from whose floods it sustains considerable injury. It has a church of Bom Successo, and a chapel of Lord Jesus of Matozinhos, has much commerce, is well supplied with meat, fish, and fruit, and is the depositary of a large quantity of salt that arrives from the salterns of the river St. Francisco. Fevers, which reign here in the wet season, have driven away many inhabitants, and prevent this place from becoming one of the largest povoaçoes in the province. This arraial, that of Bom Successo, and others of the comarca, belong to the archbishopric of Bahia.
Two miles distant is the arraial of Porteira, with a chapel of the Lady of Bom Successo and Rozario. In it reside the vicar, and the officers of justice, in consequence of being a healthy situation.