A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

In 1624, Manuel de Souza d’Eca succeeded him, by royal patent, an honour which was not conferred upon any of those who followed him, in the course of a century. By the active and diligent operations of the Missionaries the population became more numerous than that of the eastern province.

After this, some governors had the title of Captain Genera! of the State of Maranham, as were Joam d’Abreu Castello Branco, who governed in 1743, and Francisco Xavier de Mendonca, who arrived here in 1751, also appointed Plenipotentiary of Demarcation of the high Amazons.

The captivity of the Indians, customary in almost all the other provinces, and adopted in this since its first foundation, was continued. All labour was performed by the hands of the captive Indians, of which each colony prided itself in possessing the greatest number: riches were calculated by the quantity of these unfortunates. The injustice which was practised in this pretend right over their lives and liberty, the consequent prevailing disposition to indolence, avarice, and an indifference to vicious practices, engendered crimes amongst the colonists, tending to destroy every good and moral sentiment. The laws of the state and the sacred obligations of religion became odious to them, as restraints upon their vicious propensities. The Jesuit Antonio Viegra was the first, who, in the new state, declaimed with energy against the captivity of the aboriginal natives, and repaired to the metropolis expressly to solicit the adoption of more effectual measures for their liberty; and his colleagues, who entertained the same sentiments, were expelled at all points from both provinces in 1671.

The colonists of Para and Maranham were turbulent, and afforded considerable difficulties to the governors on this subject, until King Joseph issued a salutary law in 1755, which compelled them to observe the numerous edicts his ancestors had promulgated without effect in favour of the freedom of the Indians. The liberated Indians now passed under the inspection of administrators, who made them work generally on certain lands, the produce of which they were paid for out of the treasury, until the whole, in the regency of his present Majesty, were left to their free will. It is, however, to be remarked that many have since resumed the original state of nature, and the others have not advanced a step beyond their Indian brethren. The traders of Matto-Grosso and the high Maranham experience frequent injuries from the non-performance of contracts they make with them, finding themselves frequently abandoned in situations of intricate navigation, where they are, in consequence, subjected to great difficulties.

In 1755 the Portuguese language began to be generally used here with the introduction of negroes, the freedom of the Indians, and the creation of the company already alluded to, up to which period the Tupinamba language was universally spoken; even the orators in the pulpit did not use any other.

This province is bounded on the north by the ocean and the river Maranham, or Amazons, which separates it from Guianna; on the west by the river Madeira; on the south by the provinces of Goyaz and Matto-Grosso; and on the east by that of Maranham. It extends from the equator to seven degrees of south latitude, with near eight hundred miles in length from east to west, and upwards of four hundred miles in its greatest width. The climate is invariably hot, even when it rains; the days and nights are nearly equal all the year, and the seasons almost prevail together. At the same time that some trees announce the autumn, by a profuse exhibition of fruits in a state of maturity, others are flourishing in their primitive bloom. The face of the country is generally flat, almost universally presenting an agreeable aspect, covered with extensive woods, where trees grow of a considerable height and prodigious girth. The soil in most parts is humid, substantial, and of great fertility, affording an abundance of various productions, which, in the other provinces, either do not exist or but in very small quantities. It also far surpasses all the others in the number and consequence of its rivers.

Mineralogy.—Crystals, emeralds, granite, silver, but not yet found in any quantity, argils, red lead, yellow ochre, from which is extracted ochre tinged with green.

Phytology.—In no other province are trees of such size produced; many of the most excellent building timber, some for cabinet work, various kinds affording tow for caulking, or flax for cordage; and the great Author of Nature has created others whose alimentary fruits afford sustenance to the living creature, the superabundance of which, for the most part, is of no utility, in consequence of the diminutive state of population. Amongst the oil and balsamic trees are to be noted the cumaru and cupahyba, or capiri, those of gum-storax are known here only by the name of omiry. The satin-wood is very valuable; the merapinima is compact and heavy, appearing like tortoiseshell when polished; there is the violet wood, the sucuba, which distils by incision a liquor, and taken in certain doses, is an efficacious remedy against the maw-worm; the massaranduba distils another liquor, which occasionally makes fine gum; the juice of the assacu is one of the most subtle venoms; the resin of the getaicica is applied to the varnishing of earthern ware; the ashes of the chiriuba are esteemed the best known for the manufacture of soap. Among fruit trees are the orange, mangaba, saracaza, cajue-nut; the atta, or pine, is common, and the fruit very fine; the fig and vine are rare and do not fructify well; there are, also, the fruits of abiu, inga, assiahy, bacaba, inaja, cotitiriba, cupuassu, aguru. The cocoa-nut trees are seen only in the neighbourhood of the sea; the cedar is very large and numerous, also the sapucaya; the plants of vanilla and indigo grow spontaneously. The chesnut, that is the tree to whose fruit is commonly given the name of castanha do Maranham, differs from the sapucaya, with which it is sometimes confounded. The cautecuc passes, and with justice, for one of the most useful trees of this province, where it is common; it is of the euphorbium species, and from its trunk is extracted, by incision, a liquid, which condenses and turns into an elastic gum, with which, through the medium of moulds, are made seringes of various kinds, and when its juice is applied to dress renders it impenetrable to water. The cocoa shrub, or tree, are of two kinds, one produced by nature, the other by cultivation. Here is, likewise, sarsaparilla, ipecacuenha, butua, jallap, ginger; also, the pechurum-tree and that affording the clove, denominated cravo do Maranham and cucheri among the Indians.

The cultivation has here commenced of the laurel, or bay-tree, similar to that of the Mollucas. The latter is an aromatic drug of such particular flavour that nothing could be substituted for it, until the seventeenth century, when that of Maranham was discovered, which, though different in the form, is otherwise so similar and so adapted to all the uses of the first that it has caused not only a considerable reduction in the price, but in the consumption of it among European nations. The trees that produce it the best, grow in the same latitudes of Gram Para as the others do in the Mollucca islands, and there is no doubt that the soil and climate of this province is capable, with proper management, of producing any thing that any other part of the world can afford. The bread fruit tree has been recently introduced and prospers as in its native soil. The very small portion, indeed, of this part of the Brazil that is cultivated is appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, coffee, cotton, the sugar cane, of which the engenhos at present are not numerous, and rice, which is very abundant; these, with cocoa and other minor productions, principally engage the attention of agriculturists, who, with the population and industry, are at a very low ebb, compared to the advantages so pre-eminently offered by a country of such unexampled fertility.

Zoology.—All the species of domestic and wild quadrupeds peculiar to the surrounding provinces are common here, as likewise the most remarkable birds, such as the parrot, arrara, tucano, jacu, emu-ostrich, soco, araponga, mutun, troquaze pigeon, partridge, jaburu, divers sorts of geese, macaricos, colhereiras, sabias, and colibris; the guara, only met with in the vicinity of salt water, is very numerous. Various species of small birds, with a variety of beautiful plumage, are observed here, totally unknown in the other provinces; also, all the kinds of bees common to the Brazil, affording a profusion of honey, in the extensive woods, for the supply of the Indian.