Besides these there are several other Distempers that very much infest Brasile, as the Bloody-flux, Dropsie, Rising of the Gall, Worms, Meazles, and St. Anthony’s Fire.
Brasilians success in curing of several Distempers by their knowledge in Herbs.
The aged Brasilians have for the most part great skill in Herbs, which they gather in the Woods, and apply them to the Sick both inwardly and outwardly; and chiefly they know how to expel Poyson. None can perswade them against the Medicines which they have learn’d from their Predecessors; nay, they will rather chuse to lose their Lives than use any other: and indeed they do not always succeed amiss, but often manifest that they understand the Vertue of Herbs better than our European Physicians. The Learned Guilielmus Piso relates, That he hath seen several times in the Army which Grave Maurice sent against the Portuguese in Brasile, that the Brasilians in a short time cur’d those Wounds with fresh Gums and healing Herbs, which the Netherland Chirurgeons judging past Cure, presently advis’d the cutting off either the Arm or Leg of the wounded Person. Piso adds moreover, That he himself us’d some of Hippocrates’s and Galen’s Prescriptions in Wine, for the curing of Cancers and Swellings, which the Brasilians have made well onely with the Juice of Tobacco. They also in a moment recover’d a Person given over by all European Physicians, with the Juice of the Root call’d Jaborandi: Wherefore he always desir’d their Company when he went to visit sick or wounded Men.
Their manner of curing the Sick, and bewailing the Dead.
The Distempers in America differ much from the European, not onely in the Signs of any Distemper, but also in the Cure; for when a Distemper cannot be cur’d by the prescribed Medicines, a Father or Mother sends for the Neighbors, to know if they can find any means to cure the Disease: Which Custom was anciently observ’d amongst the Greeks. They also strictly observe a Rule in their Diet, and take care to keep the Patient out of the Sun in the Day, and cold Winds in the Night: However, if their Fathers and Mothers be sick, nevertheless they leave not off their usual Dancing and Singing; but if the sick Person die, especially a Father, they lament and cry over the Corps like Wolves, calling to one another with a quavering Voice, and uttering these Expressions, The strong Man is deceas’d, who carry’d so many Prisoners for a brave Dinner to his House. Oh what a quick Hunter and subtil Fisher hath Death bereav’d us of! we shall see him no more till our Souls are carry’d beyond the high Mountains, where our valiant Predecessors Dance in Rings. The Women make the greatest noise, and in the midst of their howling embrace one another, which lasts six hours, and then they put the Body upright into a Grave made like a Hogshead, hanging about it divers colour’d Feathers, and other things in which the Deceased delighted most when living; upon the Grave the nearest Relations place Dishes of Meat, both Flesh and Fish, and the Liquor Cauou-in, that their evil Spirit call’d Aygnan, may be reconcil’d by these Offerings, and not carry away the Body; but when they remove from thence they cover the Grave with the Herb Pindo. This Custom is not observ’d by all Brasilians, for some eat up their deceased Relations.
Sect. XIII.
Grave Maurice his Account of Brasile, so far as it concern’d the West-India Company.
Brasile, so far as it concerns the West-India Company, extends from the River Real, which divides Seregippa and the Lordship of St. Salvador, to Maragnan: Seregippa it self reaches along the Sea-Coast thirty two Leagues, and was first brought under the King of Spain’s Jurisdiction by Christovan de Barros Cardoso, who being order’d by the King of Spain to Plant this new Countrey, invited many People from St. Salvador, who built four Sugar-Mills, and a Town consisting of a hundred Houses, and four hundred Sheds for Cattel; but the Town being destroy’d, hath nothing left but Heaps of Rubbish; and the Cattel either fell into the Netherlanders hands, or were devour’d by Tygers; the Inhabitants fled back to St. Salvador: Many troubles have prevented the re-building of it.
The fertility of Pernambuco.
Pernambuco may for its fruitfulness stand in competition with any Place in the World, except in those parts where the Soil is sandy and stonie. The Fields feed abundance of excellent Cattel; the Woods, Deer and Fowl; the Ocean and Rivers, all manner of good Fish. It is inhabited but eight Leagues into the Countrey, because the nearer the Sea, the more convenient it is for Importing and Exporting of Goods; neither could the Portuguese, by reason of their small number, spread themselves farther, as also in regard they found great resistance from the Brasilians. The Negro’s that work in the Sugar-Mills between the River Grande and Francisco, amount to four thousand. The Cape Verde, Mina, Angola, Ardra, and Calabaria, generally provide three thousand in a year, to supply the number of the Sick, or those that run away.