A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

St. Joam de Maccahé, situated upon both banks of the river from which it takes its name, was created a town in 1814, and has a church called Santa Anna. The inhabitants, who are fishermen, produce some Indian corn, rice, feijao, mandioca, and sugar, but their principal object of trade is timber. The parish of St. Joam, at the embouchure of the river of the same name, is well situated to render it in time a considerable town. Timber forms the riches of its inhabitants, who also export a variety of the necessaries of life.

The district of Goytacazes, comprising twenty-eight leagues of coast, bounded on the south by the river Maccahé, and on the north by the Cabapuana, originally formed the capitania of St. Thomé, and so denominated from the contiguous cape. Pedro de Goes, who had frequented the Brazil for ten years, was its first donatory; and although, the period of this donation is not recorded, it was most probably about the year 1537, as the first allusion to him is in the year 1527, when he transported some Indians from St. Vincente to Portugal. This fidalgo established himself and the colonists who accompanied him, upon the banks of the river Parahiba, where they lived in amity with the Indians two years, succeeded by five of inveterate warfare, in which the aborigines displayed such bravery and determined resistance, particularly the Goytacazes, (the name of which tribe the district retains,) that Goes was compelled to retire to the capitania of Espirito Santo, where the donatory Coutinho was already established. From thence he returned to Lisbon, and, in the year 1549, accompanied Thomé de Souza to Bahia; but neither himself nor successors were fortunate in endeavouring to colonize the capitania of St. Thomé, which was in the possession of three different nations, the Puris, Guarus, and Goytacazas; the latter were the most numerous, and divided into three hordes, the Goytaza Guassu, Goytacaza Moppy, and Goytacaza Jacorito, the avowed enemies of each other. It is affirmed, that the Guarus comprised various nations, one of which, the Sacarus, still exists in the Organ Mountains.

Gil de Goes was its third donatory, at the time of its devolvement to the crown. King Peter II. granted it to Viscount d’Asseca in the year 1674; but, in consequence of the mal-administration of his successors producing considerable dissatisfaction, and various revolts amongst the colonists, King Joseph was induced, by commutation, to incorporate it with the crown lands; and Francisco de Sales, ouvidor of Espirito Santo, took possession of it, in the year 1752, in the name of his sovereign, to the great joy of the inhabitants.

From the river Parahiba, northward, a cordillera runs parallel with, and at no great distance from the coast; the intervening space, denominated Cacimbas, is mountainous, and in parts sterile, and ill adapted to agricultural purposes. From the Parahiba to the Maccahé, the whole country presents campinhas, or continued plains, with some small woods, called capoes, and is irrigated by various streams.

The soil is appropriated to the produce of cocoa, coffee, indigo, and rice; wheat might be cultivated with advantage. Mandioca grows best in the southern parts of the district, and sugar is cultivated in the proximity of the rivers Parahiba and Muriahe, to a very considerable extent. The number of sugar works in this district, in the year 1801, amounted to two hundred and eighty, of which ninety were very large. Since that period they have increased rapidly, and the sugars produced upon the margins of those rivers are esteemed the best in the Brazil, usually known by the denomination of Campos sugars. Indian corn, feijao, mandioca flour, tobacco, and cotton, are produced only in sufficient quantity for the consumption of the district. All the species of domestic animals are bred, none of them, however, are remarkable for their fecundity. Cattle are not in sufficient number for the consumption of the population, and the working of sugar engenhos. The mules are not so large as those of Rio Grande, and Curitiba, but are superior in strength. Goats and sheep degenerate here. Hogs are not numerous, neither is the pork good. The north and south-west winds generally prevail, and scarcely a day passes, that the atmosphere is not refreshed with a strong breeze from one of these quarters. Part of the timber exported by the river Maccahé, is derived from the woods of this district, which afford a variety of medicinal plants.

Rivers and Lakes.—We have already described the Parahiba, which is the chief river of this district, and traverses it from west to east.

The river Muriahe, to which is attributed forty miles of course in a direct line, rises in the serra of Pico, in the territory of the Puri Indians, takes a winding direction to the south-east, until it enters the Parahiba, is navigable for the space of twenty-five miles, and has a fall, where the canoes are dragged over land. When the cultivation of its fertile margins first commenced, (at this day abounding with sugar-works,) its waters were so pestilential, that many who drank of them were attacked with malignant fevers, which either terminated their days, or left them through life pallid and diseased. Even the necessaries of life, which grew upon the lands inundated by its floods, were pestiferous. Its largest confluent is denominated the Rio Morto, or Dead River, in consequence of having a very tranquil current, the waters of which, are muddy, from its origin in a morass. The margins of the Muriahe produce a poisonous cipo plant, with long and flexible shoots, called timbo, or tingui, and a tree denominated guaratimbo, the infectious qualities of which are attributed to the malignancy of its waters.

The river Maccabu originates in the skirt of the Serra Salvador, little removed from the source of the before-mentioned river St. Pedro. It is serpentine, tranquil, flows principally through a swampy country to the north-east, discharges itself into the lake Feia, and is navigable, without falls, pretty nearly to its origin.

The river Imbe, which rises at the base of the above serra, seven miles from the head of the Maccabu, and runs for a considerable space parallel with it, receives near its commencement, by the left bank, three streams, called the Three Rivers of the North, (which have their origin in the situation of Tres Picos, where there is gold,) and traverses the lake of Cima, from whence it flows to the lake Feia, with the name of Ururahi. The bed is winding and the current slow. Large canoes advance up without obstacle, almost to its heads.

The above-mentioned Ururahi, (the outlet to the lake of Cima,) the margins of which abound with plantations of the sugar-cane and mandioca, describes a semicircle to the north, approaching the Parahiba, with which an advantageous communication might be opened, by cutting a canal across a plain, not exceeding four miles in width.