The third part of the town, called Boavista, is the only portion susceptible of any considerable increase, being situated on the continent. It has advanced in magnitude with the others, but is destitute of regularity, which may be attributed to the negligence of the senate in not having marked out the streets in right lines at its commencement. Its church is also dedicated to SS. Sacramento. Here also the Dutch governor built the first house, which he called Boavista, and, being a Portuguese name, the place has retained it. These three portions, running in a line from east to west, form this large and flourishing town, which, besides the governor, has an ouvidor, a port admiral, a Juiz de Fora, each of them having various inspections, and three royal professors of Latin, one of philosophy, and another of eloquence and poetry. The usual junta, or council da fazenda real, to decide upon all matters relative to the province, is composed of the governor, the ouvidor, the Juiz de Fora, the attorney-general, the port admiral, the chief of the treasury, and the judge or comptroller of the custom-house, who hold their sittings at the treasury. The suburbs are an extensive plain, with handsome cocoa-nut tree groves, interspersed with sitios, or country-houses. The inhabitants drink the water principally of the Biberibe, collected into a reservoir at Ollinda, formed by a sort of barrier, denominated a varadoiro, which impedes the further advance of the tide, and accumulates the fresh water above. This bulwark, which also serves as a bridge or passage over the river to Ollinda, is in part covered by a handsome archway, below which the water passes through circular spouts, and at the other parts by larger and square channels; presenting altogether twenty-four mouths, from whence the water issues in spray, forming many pleasing cascades. From hence it is conveyed in covered canoes for the supply of the Recife. The water of the Capibaribe is also brought in canoes from Monteiro.
The port of Recife, which is not deep enough for vessels of a large class, is amongst the most wonderful works of nature. A recife, or chain of reef, which extends itself from the entrance of Bahia to Cape St. Roque, parallel with and at no great distance from the shore, in no part appears so much like an operation of human art as here. It is prolonged for the space of a league in a direct line with and about two hundred yards from the beach, having the aspect of a large flat wall, being always above the level of the sea, and at low water six feet is discovered. This reef, which is perpendicular on the land side, and gradually declining on the other, here suddenly disappears opposite the most northern part of the Recife, having on its extremity the fort of Picao, and forming a fine harbour, which must have been the sole inducement for the foundation of the capital in this situation. Vessels entering the port navigate as near as possible to the internal side of the reef, where they require much depth till they arrive at the most commodious place of anchorage. The occasionally agitated ocean here finds its bounds, and dashes in tumultuous and angry waves against the reef, the foaming spray not disturbing the smooth water within, but affording a delightfully cooling freshness, as well as an interesting spectacle, to the houses situated upon the beach, and principally occupied in stores by the merchants. Large ships anchor to the north of the fort of Picao, in a bay without shelter, fronting the forts of Brun and Buraco, situated upon the before-mentioned sand-bank. The fort of Brun, which the Dutch commenced on the 25th of June, 1631, and gave it the name of a maternal relative of their General Theodore, had for some time among the Pernambucanans the appellation of Perreril.
This place, while yet of little consequence, was taken by the Dutch in 1630, who retained it for twenty-four years, and did more for it in public works during that time, as was candidly admitted to me by a Portuguese gentleman holding a public situation here, than has ever been done since. Among the monuments which attest the spirit of improvement that marked the Dutch possession of this part of the Brazil, there is (or was a few years ago) a stone of European marble bearing the following inscription:
Op Gebouwt
onder
D’Hooge Regeringe
van
Præsidt en Raden,
Anno MDCLII.[40]
This stone was seen by several of the English merchants within the last three years at the door of the church of Corpo Santo, among the masonry work destined for the completion of this fine edifice; but it certainly is not introduced into the walls of the building, nor could I discover any trace of it.
The before-mentioned forts, and that of Cinco Pontas, at the southern extremity of St. Antonio, are the principal ones that defend the place; the two first are in good order.
A league to the south of Recife, near the southern arm of the Capibaribe, is the arraial of Affogadas, which is increasing, and is ornamented with three hermitages, of Nossa Senhora of Paz, of Rozario, and of St. Miguel. There is here a wooden bridge communicating with St. Antonio.
The city of Ollinda, which, as has been observed, constitutes a part of Pernambuco, was burnt by the Dutch in 1631, and is beautifully situated upon a cluster of eminences, which are the commencement of a small cordillera, that extends itself towards the interior of the continent. It was in former times rich, flourishing, and powerful, and was erected into an episcopal city in the year 1676, but continued to fall into decay, and is at present poor and thinly inhabited, owing to the vicinity of the town of Recife, which has deprived it of all its commerce. It is, however, a fine retreat for the studious, convalescent, or misanthropical, who seek retirement from the tumult and bustle of the world. It has a house of misericordia, with its hospital, a recolhimento, or Magdalen house, a convent of Franciscans, one of unslippered Carmelites, another of slippered Carmelites, and a fourth of Benedictines; a palace in which the governors in former times were obliged to reside six months in the year; an episcopal palace, finely situated, but much deteriorated, being unoccupied in consequence of the death of the bishop; a seminary in the ex-Jesuitical college, with schools, and professors of Greek, Latin, French, geography, rhetoric, universal history, philosophy, drawing, ecclesiastical history, dogmatical and moral theology, a great number of hermitages, and a garden of trees and exotic plants, chiefly Asiatic, from whence the farmers can transplant them into their own grounds. It has also the bread-fruit tree and Otaheitan cane, and occupies an advantageous situation, but is not kept in good order. This city is divided into two parishes, one of them being of the cathedral, which is a magnificent edifice, with three naves, dedicated to St. Salvador, and contains eight hundred and eighty houses; the other has for parochial the church of St. Pedro Martin, and comprises three hundred and fifteen houses.
The senate is rich; almost all the houses pay to it a testoon (three hundred reas) of tax for each span of front. Almost all have large gardens, but generally of little or no utility. The ground is appropriated to the cultivation of fruitful trees, of which mangoes are the principal.
The last donatory of this province affirmed that Ollinda, when it was burned, had two thousand five hundred houses, which were estimated to contain twenty-five thousand inhabitants.