On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Jas Henderson.

Printed by C. Hullmandel.

THE SUGAR ENGENHO DE TORRE, AND A PLAN OF ITS INTERIOR.

THE SITE AND REMAINS OF FRIBOURG HOUSE, FORMERLY THE RESIDENCE OF PRINCE MAURICE OF NASSAU.

The population of Pernambuco is estimated at about sixty-five thousand persons, St. Antonio containing much the greatest proportion. I endeavoured to discover the site and remains of Fribourg House, the first edifice built upon it by Prince Maurice of Nassau; and was finally assured that its remains constitute the present Casa de Fazenda Real, which, though exhibiting some antiquity in its aspect, in consequence of being white-washed, could not be identified with positive certainty. But its appearance, (pretty correctly represented in the plate,) combined with the tradition that it is actually the remains of Fribourg House, does not leave much room to doubt the fact. The convent fronting it has a great many cocoa-nut trees, which no doubt are the fruits of those he so copiously planted upon the island. A Prince who did so much for Pernambuco, in so short a time, and who here built the first two bridges that were known in the Brazil, is not undeserving of some monument in this place to his memory. There is a theatre in St. Antonio; but the performances are exceedingly indifferent, and the house, which is small, but thinly attended, no spirit existing for the encouragement of such an establishment.

CHAP. XVIII.
PROVINCE OF PARAHIBA.

Extent—Capitania of Itamaraca—Slow Advancement—Taken by the Dutch—Restoration—Capes and Ports—Rivers—Mountains—Zoology—Phytology—Povoaçoes—Capital—British Establishments—Produce.

This province was originally the capitania of Itamaraca, or rather it comprehends almost two-thirds of it, not comprising at the present day more than sixty miles of coast, computing from the river Goyanna to the bay of Marcos, which is three miles to the north of the river Camaratiba; the province of Pernambuco having taken twenty to twenty-five miles from it on the southern side, and Rio Grande fifteen to twenty on the northern.

The capitania of Itamaraca was never more than a portion of that which John III. gave to Pedro Lopez de Souza in 1534. The other portion of this donation selected in the immediate vicinity of his brother’s capitania of St. Vincente, was denominated St. Amaro; and Itamaraca, being situated at so great a distance from it, experienced less attention, and was so much neglected that, forty years afterwards, there was not an establishment except in the island of Itamaraca, where the colonists did not exceed two hundred families, with three sugar works; and the French entered without interruption the ports of the continent in search of Brazil wood.