Each village or encampment is governed by an Ulmen. In their language and religion they differ not from the Araucanians. They are fond of hunting, and often, in pursuit of game, traverse the vast plains lying between the river Plate and the Straits of Magellan. In these excursions, which sometimes extend as far as to Buenos Ayres, they plunder the country in that vicinity, and frequently attack the caravans of merchandise going thence to Chili, with such success that commerce is said to have suffered severely thereby. Their favourite weapon is the laque or lasso, which they carry fastened to their girdles. Although of a wandering and restless disposition, the Pehuenches are the most industrious and commercial of any savages. The women work cloths of various colours; the men occupy themselves in making baskets and a variety of beautiful articles of wood, feathers, or skins, which are highly prized by their neighbours. Assembling every year on the Spanish frontier, they hold a kind of fair, that usually continues for fifteen or twenty days, when, in exchange for fossil salt, gypsum, pitch, bed-coverings, ponchos, skins, wool, bridle-reins beautifully wrought of plaited leather, baskets, wooden vessels, feathers, ostrich eggs, horses and cattle, &c., they receive wheat, wine, and the manufactures of Europe. Being very skilful in traffic, they can with difficulty be overreached; and when indulging in the pleasures of wine, a portion of them is set apart to guard their property from plunder. They are generally humane, complacent, lovers of justice, and possess all those good qualities that are produced or perfected by commerce.
The Chiquillanians, whom some have erroneously supposed to be a part of the Pehuenches, live to the north-east of them, on the eastern border of the Andes, and are the most savage and least numerous of any of the Chilians. They go almost naked, merely wrapping around them the skin of the guanaco. It is observable that all the Chilians who inhabit the eastern valleys of the Andes, namely, the Pehuenches, the Puelches, the Huilliches, and the Chiquillanians, are much redder than their countrymen dwelling westward of those mountains. All the mountaineers dress themselves in skins and paint their faces; and, living in general by hunting, lead a wandering and unsettled life. They are, generally speaking, of a lofty stature and of great strength.
CHAPTER XI.
BRAZIL: DISCOVERY OF THE MINES; ATTEMPT OF THE FRENCH ON RIO DE JANEIRO.
1702-1720.
The search for the precious metals had long shared with slave-hunting the efforts of the Paulistas and others. Rumours of the existence of silver and gold had long excited the hopes of the Portuguese Government, and from time to time a stray specimen was procured from some unknown spot in the interior. But up to the close of the seventeenth century nothing was actually known as to the localities where the precious minerals were concealed. With the opening of the eighteenth century, however, a new era dawned upon Brazil; and the discoveries which were now about to be made were destined to determine the site of her future capital.
In anticipation of the finding of gold and silver, a code of regulations had long since been issued relative to mines. Of the regulations in question, one provided that all persons in authority were bound to afford discoverers the necessary assistance; but when, about the middle of the seventeenth century, Marcos de Azevedo and a companion brought back from the Rio Doce samples of silver and emeralds, the only result to the discoverers was that they were thrown into prison at Bahia and detained there for life, because they obstinately refused to communicate the scene of their discovery to the Government. On their death renewed search was made for these mines, but in vain. A veteran, named Fernando Diaz, however, at the age of eighty, obtained permission to undertake a fresh search; and he explored the entire country now included in the captaincy of Minas Geraes, where he formed a number of settlements.
The court of Lisbon had so often been excited by hopes which proved delusive, and so many searching expeditions had failed, that its patience was now exhausted. The old man, during four years, underwent a series of privations and hardships such as wore out his more youthful companions; but he was at length rewarded by his being shown by a young Indian the spot where emeralds were found. The explorer, however, did not live to return to St. Paulo, having been overtaken by a fever, which cost him his life. The first gold known to have been produced from this district was found about the year 1691, and in the following year an expedition was formed to explore the district (now called Villa Rica) where it had been found. Some further specimens having been obtained, they were exhibited at Rio de Janeiro in 1693, in which year a commission was granted to one Carlos Silveria as Capitam Mor of Taboate and Provedor of the royal fifths, with orders to establish a smelting-house in that town.
Happily for the natives of Brazil, the discovery of the precious metals had been deferred until an age somewhat more humane than that which had witnessed the occupation of Hayti and the conquest of Peru. The preaching of humanitarians, from Las Casas down to Vieyra, had not been in vain; and when at length the day came when Minas Geraes was first to yield its treasures, the effect, as regarded the condition of the Brazilian Indians, was, contrary to expectation, rather beneficial than otherwise. The lust for gold superseded the lust for slaves.
The Brazilian explorers had expended unbounded energy throughout long years in searching for the mines; but the work of procuring their contents was far less toilsome. It was for the most part sand-washing taken from rivers, or surface mining; the soil containing the ore was broken up by pick-axes and exposed to the action of running water. In the natural course of things a large concourse of adventurers soon gathered from far and near; a road was opened to Rio de Janeiro, and at this time the foundations were laid of many considerable towns—amongst them the city of Mariana. At a few miles’ distance stands Villa Rica, the capital of the captaincy. In another direction were found the mines of Sabara; and their discovery led to the first colonization towards the sources of the San Francisco. In short, the presence of gold lent its invariable allurement to the large proportion of human beings who dream that they may be amongst the exceptional persons who obtain wealth without undergoing the slow process of long labour; and thus one of the least-inviting portions of Brazil was rapidly colonized. The town which for so many years has so largely supplied the Bank of England with its staple owes its foundation to Thomé Cortes d’El Rei.
1702.
It was soon found necessary to alter the laws then in existence as regards mining. On the discovery of gold, persons of influence had lost no time in securing grants of land. These they were in many cases unable to work; and thus they either disposed of them to others or left them unused. It was therefore enacted that no second grant should be made to any person until he should have worked the first; and if ground were remaining after all applicants had received allotments, it should be divided amongst such as possessed more than twelve slaves. On the other hand, when there were more claimants than there were shares upon the prescribed scale, the proportions were to be lessened in order that all might be satisfied. Besides its fifths, the Crown kept for itself an allotment, to be marked out after the discoverer had taken his first grant. If within forty days an explorer had not begun to work his ground, a third of it, on information being given, was assigned to the informer, the remaining two-thirds falling to the Crown,—unless sufficient reasons were to be pleaded for delay. The Crown allotments were let by auction; but if the biddings were not thought high enough, the superintendent was to see them worked for the Treasury by Indians. No officer of the Treasury or of justice might possess or share in a grant, either directly or indirectly.