Within the district of this town is the parish of St. Pedro, situated upon the margin of the St. Francisco, in a flat country, and which becomes an island immediately the river begins to swell. It consists of eighty families, almost generally Indians, for whom it was exclusively founded. The colony is composed of two tribes. The Romaris, who are the remains of the native aborigines, and the Ceococes, from the vicinity of the serra of Pao d’ Assucar, (Sugar Loaf,) fifteen miles distant from the province of Pernambuco. Even at the present day, they are repugnant to the intermarriage of one with the other. The women labour daily in the manufacture of earthenware, which they dry or complete on Saturday evening, with a large fire upon a piece of ground appropriated to the purpose. The husbands hunt, fish, or plant some mandioca, according as their caprice dictates, loitering about the greater part of their time, and consuming in cachassa (spirit) the main portion of the product of the labour of their industrious wives. In the vicinity of this parish were found, a few years ago, bones of a vast size; the species of animal which afforded them are extinct.
Lagarto, situated in a plain seventy miles to the west of the capital, is a middling town, and famous for its quarry of flint stone. It has a church dedicated to Our Lady of Piedade, (Piety.) In its environs are raised cattle, cotton, mandioca, &c.; and in its district is the famous Campo of Creoilo, eight miles in extent, affording pasturage for numerous herds of cattle, and where are many emu-ostriches and seriemas, with other birds.
Thomar, antecedently Geru, well situated in a flat district, and enjoying a salubrious atmosphere, with good water, has a handsome church dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Socorro, which belonged to the Jesuits. It is five miles from the Rio Real; and the inhabitants, principally Indians, cultivate cotton, legumes, and mandioca. They always select a white man and an Indian for judges.
The distinguished and considerable arraial of Laranjeiras, (Orange Groves,) most advantageously situated upon the left bank of the river Cotindiba, and eight miles above its confluence with the Seregipe, is not yet a parish, but in time it most probably will become one of the principal towns of the province. Large sumacas visit it for cargoes of sugar, cotton, hides, and legumes.
In the district of the town of St. Amaro, about eight miles to the north of it, is the arraial of Nossa Senhora of Rozario, which derived its name from a chapel of this name, agreeably situated near the small river Ciriri, traversed by a road conducting to the port of Moruim, and which is one of the most frequented in the country.
Besides the parochials of the towns mentioned, there are only three parishes: Our Lady of Socorro, (Succour,) filial of the capital; Our Lady of Campos do Rio Real, filial of the town of Lagarto; and St. Gonçalo do Pe do Banco.
Upon the coast of this province there are no capes, islands, or ports, excepting those within the rivers, the bars of which are generally more or less dangerous, and afford passage only to sumacas. The men are of all complexions. The Mesticos are the most robust: of this class was Christovam de Mendonca, who, at the end of the year 1806, when he had completed his one hundred and twenty-eighth year, still exercising the business of a potter in the aldeia of Aracaju, near the mouth of the river Cotindiba, gave a relation of the revolt alluded to at the commencement of this chapter, and died two years afterwards.
CHAP. XVII.
PROVINCE OF PERNAMBUCO.
Voyage from Rio de Janeiro—First Donatories—Taken by the Dutch—Restoration—Reversion to the Crown—Indians—Boundaries—Mountains—Colony of Negroes—Mineralogy—Zoology—Phytology—Rivers—Islands—Comarcas of Ollinda, Recife, Alagoas—Povoações—Ouvidoria of the Certam of Pernambuco—Rivers—Towns—Recife, or Pernambuco—Ollinda—Mattutos—State of Society—Apathy—Environs—Revolution in 1817—Military Government—Adoption of a New Constitution—Holidays—Produce—Inspection—Sugar Engenho—Contribution Fund—Population—Fribourg House.
On the 14th of November, I proceeded on board the brig Columbine, Captain Thomson, lying in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, for the purpose of visiting Pernambuco. A contrary wind prevented our departure for five days. The party on board consisted of Colonel Cotter, his lady and children, Captain Rezende, and Mons. Garay. By way of rendering our detention less tedious, we made two or three excursions to the eastern side of the bay. Our first visit was to the small rocky island with the church of Boa Viagem situated on its summit. We were denied access, from the orders of government, that strangers were not to be admitted up the steep, in consequence of a new fort then erecting upon it. We were therefore excluded from the blessing usually granted at this church to persons upon the point of undertaking a voyage. It was formerly the general custom, and is at present not uncommon, for navigators and others previously to embarking upon the ocean, to present offerings here, receiving in return the prayers of the padre for a good voyage; and hence the place is called Boa Viagem.