A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

Alemquer is a considerable town, supplied with excellent meat, and well situated upon the central embouchure of the lake Surubui, fifteen miles from the Amazons, and fifty north of Santarem. It is a country infested with the musquito, called carapana. The church is dedicated to St. Antonio. Mandioca, Indian corn, rice, tobacco, and cocoa, are its productions.

Curuamanema is the name of the third and western outlet of the lake Surubui.

Obydos, formerly Pauxis, the name of the Indians for whose establishment it began, is a considerable town, upon a small hill, with some regularity, and a large square in the centre, near the eastern mouth of the Trombetas, with an extensive view of the Amazons, the whole of whose waters here rapidly descend by a channel about a mile in width, but of such profundity, that the attempts to find the bottom by sounding, have been unsuccessful. It has a magnificent church, dedicated to St. Anna, and is fifty miles west of Alemquer. The inhabitants cultivate divers necessaries of life, cotton, and a large quantity of cocoa, which is in the highest repute at the capital.

Faro is a middling town, near a large lake, traversed by the river Jamunda, forty miles west-north-west of Obydos, and above twenty from the Amazons. Its church is dedicated to St. Joam Baptista, and the soil is well adapted to the produce of cocoa, the principal wealth of its inhabitants.

Sylves is a small place, situated upon the summit of an island near the margin of the lake Saraca, eighty miles west-north-west of Faro, and twenty distant from the Amazons. It abounds in fish and the necessaries of life peculiar to the country. It has a church of St. Anna, and the inhabitants are of various classes and colours, as are those of the other towns, and cultivate excellent tobacco, cotton, cocoa, cloves, and sarsaparilla.

Serpa is a middling town upon a small island of the Amazons, near its northern bank, fifty miles from Sylves, and thirty-five below the mouth of the Madeira. It has a church of Nossa Senhora of Rozario, and inhabitants who derive a partial benefit from the rich productions that nature has bestowed upon this country.

Forty miles to the north-west of Serpa is the parish of Our Lady of Conceiçao, advantageously situated on the margin of the great lake Canuma. Its productions are among the commerce and necessaries of life. Twenty miles north-west of the preceding, and forty from the Amazons, the parish of St. Raymundo, on the margin of the Urubu, is occupied by Indians, who collect some articles of exportation. Fifty miles west of Conceiçao and forty from the Amazons, is the parish of Nossa Senhora do Socorro, near the lake of Matary, with productions similar to the preceding one.

Fifteen miles above the parish of St. Raymundo is that of St. Pedro Nolasco, also on the margin of the Urubu. Its inhabitants are Indians, and their mode of life and productions do not differ from the others.

Marippy is a middling town, on the left bank of the Hyapura, thirty miles from the Amazons, the church is of St. Antonio, and its inhabitants are an accumulation of divers Indian nations, amongst whom are the Miranhas, who possessed part of the territory between the Hyapura and the Ica. They are fishermen and hunters, and collect a portion of the productions of nature in its environs. Fevers do not permit Europeans to reside here in any number.

Rio Negro, a considerable and flourishing town, capital of the province, and head of the Ouvidoria of the same name, has a church of Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao, and is situated near a small hill, on the left margin of the eastern branch of the Rio Negro, ten miles from the Amazons. Its origin was a fort, now existing, near which various families were established, of the Bamba, Barre, and Passe nations. It is the depository of divers mercantile productions, which descend by the river, and are destined for exportation. It has a manufactory of cord from piacaba, one for weaving cotton cloth, and a pottery, all worked on account of the treasury. The main part of the cattle killed here are embarked from the royal fazendas of Rio Branco. Above the extremity of the town the Cachoeira discharges itself, which, four miles distant, forms a handsome cataract, whose murmuring descent is heard at this place.