A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

The dealers of Cuiaba proceed to barter their bars of precious metal at Bahia, by the road of Goyaz, or at the metropolis, by the same track, or by Camapuan; but their trade might more conveniently be carried on by the river Tapajos, and others of Gram Para, to its capital. Various ways, in fact, remain to be opened to the transit of the productions of these fertile districts; two to Para,—one by the river Xingu, the other by the Mortes and the Araguaya; the same number to St. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,—the first by the rivers St. Lourenço, Piquiry, Sucuriu, and Tiete,—the second always by land, traversing the districts of Bororonia and Cayaponia, crossing the Paranna between the confluence of the Parannahiba and the cataract of Urubupunga. The latter, it is credibly affirmed, would be near three hundred miles shorter than the route actually frequented by Villaboa.

At Cuiaba, the orange tree is exceedingly abundant, and fructifies with excellence the whole year. The water-melon, melon, and pine-apple, are here very good. The principal productions are mandioca, Indian com, feijao, some cotton, and the sugar cane, the juice of which is principally distilled into spirit.

Thirty-five miles to the east of Cuiaba is the small arraial and parish of St. Anna, situated on a plain, upon the serra St. Jeronimo. Every way that it is approached the ascent is steep and of considerable length. Its inhabitants rear cattle, cultivate mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, the sugar cane, and some cotton, which is occasionally injured by the cold, here sensibly experienced in the nights of July. The soil has been found well adapted to the growth of wheat, but want of industry precludes its cultivation.

Fifty miles to the south-west of Cuiaba is the small arraial of St. Pedro d’el Rey, formerly Poconna, situated upon the verge of a vast lake, with a hermitage, one league distant from the extensive swamp of Pirannema, which becomes dry in the hot season, and affords pasturage for cattle. The houses are of taipa, or adobe, (a species of large brick dried in the sun,) and are white-washed. The soil in its environs is green. The people who inhabit it, and form a julgado, or village, are miners, are supplied with water from cacimbas, or pits, for want of fountains, cultivate the common necessaries of life, and breed cattle. They also make salt, by the filtering of water through a portion of earth put into bangues, which are made of hides, and subsequently dried by a strong heat.

Villa Maria, situated upon the eastern bank of the Paraguay, twenty-five miles from the confluence of the Jauru, has a church of St. Luiz; and is abundantly supplied with meat and fish. The situation of this town upon the noble Paraguay, and other circumstances, promise it a future augmentation and splendour, which will perhaps not be equalled by any other internal town of South America. Its inhabitants, at present consisting principally of Indians of various nations, cultivate Indian corn, mandioca, legumes, rice, cotton, and breed cattle. There is already one engenho, or sugar-work. The lights universally used are made of the oil of mamona, and of the piquira, a species of fish exceedingly numerous, and caught with great facility. The fish called paraputanga and pacu, are esteemed the best of the Paraguay and of its first confluents.

In front of this town is situated the royal fazenda of Cahyssara, where numerous droves of cattle and horses are bred, and where a great many tigers have been destroyed.

The hermitages of Nossa Senhora of Livramento, upon the road of Matto-Grosso, of Nossa Senhora of Prazeres, near the heads of the Cuiaba, of St. Antonio, below the capital, near the same river, and others, are the places of worship of the people who inhabit those districts. Near to the port of the capital, on the eastern bank of the Cuiaba, is a hermitage of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante.

Near the left margin of the Jatuba, an arm of the St. Lourenço, upon the Goyaz road, is the aldeia of Boavista, so called from its fine situation upon a height.

There still exist various hordes of Indians, (all said to be of the Bororo nation,) dispersed within the limits of this comarca and the preceding one. One is designated Coroados, the other Barbados, (bearded,) so called from feigning mustachios or beards with a certain dye.

Of the Indian nations here found by the conquerors, the only one worthy of remembrance was the Paricis, who were well formed, affable, and much pleased with the Christians. From their alliances with the whites and Africans are descended a great part of the Mamalucos and Curibocas, who constitute the gross of the population. They are usually of good morals, and much respected.