Intelligence was received afresh that the Protestants continued to frequent the bay of Rio de Janeiro, and were successively becoming more strongly fortified in the continental situations they had taken up. The crown of Portugal, now discovering of how much importance it would be effectually to take possession of and colonize this fine port, which having no donatory or forces to impede the establishment of whatever enemy might think proper to proceed there for that purpose, resolved to despatch Estacio de Sa to Bahia, with two galliots, and there to receive from his uncle, Mendo de Sa, the governor, such an accession of force as would enable him to extirpate the French. Estacio de Sa, having augmented the squadron as much as circumstances would allow, arrived at Rio de Janeiro in 1565, and took up a station near the Sugar-Loaf Mountain, at the place now called Villa Velha; but in various attacks, which he made upon the united French and Indians, fortune was never decisively propitious to him. This circumstance induced Mendo de Sa to prepare, in the bay of Bahia, an armament, which consisted of three galliots, commanded by Christovam de Barros, two ships of the crown, which were cruizing on the coast, and six caravels. This auxiliary force he accompanied in person to the assistance of his nephew, visiting, as before, the intervening capitanias, and offering to convey, gratuitously, all families who might wish to people the future colony; and, in consequence, a great many did accompany him. He arrived on the 18th of January, 1567, but deferred the attack till the 20th, that day being St. Sebastian’s, under whose auspices he meant to begin and carry on the enterprise. Two years had previously passed in useless and indecisive contention, which, in two days, Mendo de Sa brought to a successful termination, by possessing himself of the forts Urussumiri and Paranapucuy, not, however, without his followers feeling the effect of the arrows of the Tamoyos, which often transfixed the shield to the arm that supported it. Amongst others, Estacio de Sa received a wound from one of them, of which he expired a few days afterwards. The French escaped in four ships which they had in the harbour; and Mendo de Sa did not allow much time to elapse before he removed the first establishment to the situation now forming a ward or district of the present capital, denominated Misericordia, and there marked out its commencement. In honour of his patron saint, he gave it the name of St. Sebastian, which has given way to that of Rio de Janeiro now more generally used. The governor assigned to the celebrated Jesuit, Nobrega, ground, in the midst of the city, for a college, which he endowed for the support of fifty brethren. Having occupied himself near a year and a half in arranging every thing necessary for the continuation and security of the new city, he returned to the capital in June, 1568. He left for governor his nephew, Salvador Corrêa de Sa, whose administration was short, as well as that of Christovam de Barros, who succeeded him by royal patent, and whose jurisdiction over the affairs of the capitania terminated in 1572, when King Sebastian divided the state into two governments; the city of St. Sebastian becoming the capital of the southern division, which was delivered to Dr. Antonio Salema, with power over the capitanias from the river Belmont, southward. The same sovereign, becoming sensible of the inconvenience resulting to the crown from this partition, ordered that the general executive government should revert to its anterior state; and nominated, as successor to Salema, the said Salvador Corrêa de Sa, with patent of captain-general, dated the 10th January, 1576, and who remained in this situation until the year 1598. None of those who followed him governed during so long a period, with the exception of Sandozo Gomes Freyre d’Andrade, who discharged the duties of the appointment from the year 1733 to 1763, and which expired only with his life in the course of the latter year.
This province, which acquires its name from the magnificent port of its capital, now comprehends the ci-devant capitania of St. Thomé, half of that of St. Vincente, and a portion of Espirito Santo. It is bounded on the north by the latter, from which it is separated by the river Cabapuâna, and by the province of Minas Geraes, from which it is divided by the rivers Preto and Parahiba, and in part by the serra of Mantiqueira; on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, which also washes its eastern limits; and on the west by the province of St. Paulo. It is estimated to be sixty leagues in length, from east to west, near its northern extremity; and twenty-three leagues of medium width, reckoning from the fortress of St. Cruz, at the entrance of the bay of Rio de Janeiro, to the river Parahibuna, and to have fifty leagues of southern coast, from Cape Frio to Cape Trinidade, which is near three leagues to the west of Point Joatinga. It is divided by the Organ Mountains into two parts; Northern, or Serra-Acima, (Mountains above,) and Southern, or Beira-Mar, (Sea-coast,) which latter is subdivided into four, and the former into two districts or territories, as follows:—
| Beira-Mar |  | Ilha Grande. |
| Rio de Janeiro. | ||
| Cape Frio. | ||
| Goytacazes. | ||
| Serra-Acima | | Parahiba-Nova. |
| Canto-Gallo. |
A line drawn from south to north, commencing at the fort of Lage, at the entrance of the port of Rio, passing up the middle of the bay, by the river Inhumirim upwards, and on to the origin of the Piabanha, descending by it to the Parahiba, divides the province into east and west.
Mountains.—All the districts of this province, with the exception of Goytacazes, are picturesquely mountainous, and present an infinite variety of novel, sublime, and wondrous scenery, of which no verbal description can give an adequate representation. The Organ Mountains, so called from the similarity which their pyramidical heads, in various parts, bear to the front of an organ, are the principal. That portion of them which assimilates more distinctly to the object from which the whole range derives the name is an approximation of precipitous pointed masses, separated by profound winding and narrow valleys, through which romantic openings the way leads from Beira-Mar to the district of Canto-Gallo, without having to ascend any comparatively high elevations in traversing them. This is, indeed, the region of solemn and poetic sequestration. Its unchanged and primeval condition would appear to afford a suitable retirement for such as have acquired a calamity-induced distortion of the mind,—a misanthropical distaste to society and the world.
The Macacu, otherwise Serra-Grande, (Great Mountain,) the mountains of St. Anne, of Sambe, of Tapacora, and of Urussanga, are situated in that extremity betwixt the districts of Rio de Janeiro and Cape Frio; the Mount of St. Joam, a league above the emboucheur of the river of the same name, the Serra Jarixina, about twenty miles north-west of the capital, and that of Bocaina, in the district of Parahiba-Nova, constitute, together with the Organ Mountains, those of the greatest altitude in the province.
Rivers.—It cannot boast of any very large or magnificent rivers, although it is irrigated by innumerable streams descending from the mountains. The river Parahiba is the only considerable one, originating in a small lake, situated upon a southern portion of the Serra Bocaina, a continuation of the Organ range, and about five leagues to the north of Paraty. It runs at first under the name of Paratinga, parallel with the mountains prolonged in piles from the south-west, in a line with the coast; enters the province of St. Paulo, where it receives the small river Jacuhy, by the left bank, a little above the town of St. Luiz, and somewhat below it, by the same margin, the river Parahibuna, which rises in the serra of Ubatuba. At this confluence it takes the name of Parahiba, approximates the sea a little to the west of the meridian of the capital, then turns towards the north-north-east, flowing along the base of Serra Itapeva, and by the town of Jacarehy. After a course of twenty leagues, with little variation, it inclines to the east and east-south-east, watering the towns of Thaubate, Pindamonhangaba, Guaratingueta, and Lorena; again turns towards the province in which it has its source, approaching it within five leagues; bathes the town of Rezende; inclines to the north-east, gathering the river Pirahy, (which comes in a northern course from its origin in the serra of Ilha Grande,) and many leagues lower, having taken an easterly direction, it receives the Parahibuna which is its largest confluent, by the left margin, and the afore-mentioned Piabanha, by the right. This part is designated Tres Rios, (Three Rivers.) Ten leagues below, the Pomba enters it by the northern bank, which flows from the western part of the Serra Frecheira principally in a south-east course, through a stony bed, rendering the navigation difficult even to canoes. A little lower it receives the Bengálas, which brings with it various other streams. Soon after this junction, it descends the precipitous fall of St. Fideles, to which point barks ascend. Eight leagues lower down, the Muriahe empties itself into it by the northern margin. Six leagues may be computed from this confluence to the emboucheur of the river Parahiba, and from thence to the fall of St. Fideles, which is the first advancing up the river, seventy-two islands are numbered; and above this fall they are still more numerous. Its waters are precipitated by a great many falls, which run principally through a stony bed, and are discharged into the Atlantic, on the eastern coast of the province. This river does not bring with it to the ocean so large a volume of water as might be imagined from its vast extent, which may be accounted for by its running principally betwixt two cordilleras, (the Organ Mountains and the Mantiqueira with their branches,) the greatest interval of which does not exceed twenty leagues, and almost all its tributary streams are poor and inconsiderable. Eight leagues below Lorêna, where it has already assumed the appearance of a large river, its course is contracted by a long wall of rock, of more than sixty feet high and six hundred yards in extent, reducing its channel to the width of about ten yards. It abounds in a great variety of fish. The adjacent territory, on both banks, from its source to its mouth, is considered to be well adapted for the growth of the sugar cane, and the very small part of it which is cultivated, is appropriated to that purpose; but the far greatest proportion yet remains in a state of wild nature, and although perhaps granted to different donatories, its impenetrable woods form the native retreat of the Indian and the ounce, each still asserting the claim of possession. The river Maccahe, which has a course of fifteen leagues, affording ten leagues of navigation to a fall, rises in the Organ range, and winds amongst mountains and woods, till it encounters the St. Pedro, formed by various small streams in the vicinity of Serra Frade. Three leagues may be computed from this confluence to its emboucheur, which is in front of the islands of St. Anna, thirty miles north of Cape Frio, dividing that district from Goytacazes. The river St. Joam rises in the skirts of the rock of Canudos, with the name of Aguas Claras, (Clear Waters,) more considerable, and affording navigation for a greater space than the Maccahe, runs like it amongst woods and mountains, and disembogues about seven leagues to the south-west of it, bathing the southern skirts of the mountain of its name. Large quantities of timber are exported by it. The rivers Curubichas and Bannanal join it by the left bank, the Bacaxa, which issues from the Serra St. Anna with the appellation of Rio do Oiro, (the Gold River,) unites it on the right by two mouths, having formed, a little higher, a large lake, into which the Capivari, coming from the same serra, empties itself. Below this confluence, little more than three leagues, the Ipuca disembogues, rises near the Maccahe, and forms a considerable island. After it the Lontra, and ultimately the Doirado, near which there is a remarkable production, called the jiquitiba tree, its trunk being fifty-six spans in circumference. All three are navigable, and incorporate themselves with the river St. Joam, by its northern margin.
The river Guandu takes its name at the confluence of the St. Anna with the das Lages, the courses of which are in an opposite direction to this point; the first issues from the Organ Mountains, near the heads of the river Piabanha, and runs south-west till it encounters the other, which flows north-east from its origin in the frontier serra of Ilha Grande. The Guandu passes the royal palace (ex-Jesuitical) of St. Cruz, and discharges itself by two mouths into the bay of Marambaya. The early possessors of this part of the country, in order to evitate the damage which they sustained by the inundations of this river, submerging the extensive and fine campinhas (plains) of the southern part, opened a trench of two miles long from it to the small river Taguahy, which runs in a parallel direction, and by this mode discharged the excess of water which the banks of the Guandu could not contain at the period of the floods. The western mouth, or that of Taguahy, is little more than a league distant from the proper one of the Guandu: barks navigate both. The river Mambucâba, which is a fine river, even beyond the point where the tide reaches, issues from the serra of Bocaina, and disembogues in front of the bar of Cayrussu.
Lakes.—Lakes are numerous in this province. The principal are situated in the districts of Cape Frio and Goytacazes; many of them are surrounded by marshy lands, and none possess, in any point of view, the attractions peculiar to such diffusions of inland water in Europe. The lake of Jacaré-pagua, or Jaracapauha, is narrow and about four leagues long, parallel with and very near to the beach. It abounds with fish, receives some small streams, and has an outlet to the sea at its eastern extremity. It is situated at the eastern base of the picturesque and lofty mountain of the Gavea, about two leagues to the west of the Sugar-Loaf. At its opposite base is the beautiful and highly pleasing cascades of Tejuca.
The lake of Roderigo de Freytas is of a circular form, and half a league in diameter; is about two miles distant from the bay of Bota-fogo, and five from the capital. In its vicinity is the mother-church of the parish of St. Joam Baptista; also the royal manufactory of gunpowder, and a botanical garden of trees and exotic plants. The tea plant is here cultivated, and, unquestionably, would prosper in this climate with proper attention; but this establishment, upon the whole, is miserably neglected. The lake of Marica, which is a league and a half in length, from north-east to south-east, and little less in width, communicates with that of Cururupina, nearly of equal length from east to west, and about the same width from north to south. They both approach very much to a triangular form. The channel which unites them is called the river Bambuhy, and forms a small lake in the centre. The Cururupina is the eastern one, and its extremity is near Negra Point, which is at an equal distance betwixt Cape Frio and the Sugar-Loaf Mountain. The rivulet of Bananal, and that from which it takes its name, are the largest streams that enter it. The Marica, under which name the small one is also comprehended, receives at its southern end the Baccahi, which half a league above its mouth traverses the lake Braba, about a mile long. The small river Itapitiu enters its northern extremity. It is prolonged in a parallel line; and at a short distance from the sea, to which it opens a passage in the winter or rainy season, possesses a great abundance of excellent fish, and, in consequence, furnishes a branch of the dizimos (a tax of one-tenth) of the province. The lake of Piratininga, three-quarters of a league from east to west, and proportionably wide, is about a mile distant from the Sacco, or Gulph of St. Joam de Carahi; it is also abundant in fish, and is separated from the sea by a sand-bank, through which a passage is opened in the rainy season, to prevent its inundating the adjacent country. Near half a league to the east of Piratininga is situated the lake Itaypu, a mile and a half long, and of proportionable width; and betwixt it and the sea is the parish of the same name, the church of which is dedicated to St. Sebastian. Its inhabitants are fishermen and cultivators of mandioca and sugar.