Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

The discovery of the mines had brought about so great an increase of wealth that the jealous restrictions against the immigration of foreigners into Brazil were rendered more stringent than ever. Not only were they forbidden to enter the country, but no person might embark for it unless he were appointed to an office there, or unless he were a servant of Portuguese birth accompanying his master. Even Portuguese must be provided with passports; and the clergy were likewise under restrictions.

The Paulistas, being greatly outnumbered by strangers in Minas Geraes, sought and found a new field for their energies. It was to the enterprise of one of this class of men, named Pascoal Cabral, that was due the discovery of the mines of Cuyabá in the centre of the Continent,—mines which should more naturally have fallen to the lot of the Spaniards from Paraguay or from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The journey thither from S. Paulo was long and arduous, and was further attended with no slight risk, leading the traveller through the native country of the fierce Puayaguas. These people rendered the journey to Cuyabá so dangerous that, when a colony had been established there, a strongly-armed vessel was sent thence to await the annual caravan of traders at the Paraguay river.

So soon as the richness of the locality became known, cattle and supplies were forwarded to Cuyabá, but with infinite difficulty and at proportionate cost. Mining at Cuyabá was attended with a danger from which Minas Geraes was free, namely, the presence of hostile and resolute Indians. Military discipline was found necessary for self-preservation; but the attitude of the savages was at least attended with the good result of compelling the settlers to sink their own jealousies and differences in making common cause against them. Thus the settlement of Cuyabá soon began to flourish as much as had those of Minas Geraes. As the way thither by water was so circuitous and difficult, the governor of S. Paulo offered a reward for the opening up of a communication by land; and this object was effected by Manoel de Lara, a house being established at the point where the Paraná was crossed, in order that the gold might be registered and the royal fifths collected. But such a mode of levying the dues proved ineffectual in a country where smuggling was so easy; and it was judged expedient to have recourse to a poll-tax upon the slaves.

A like measure was, after long hesitation, determined upon in respect to the taxation of Minas Geraes, where almost every conceivable contrivance had been resorted to in order to defraud the Crown of the royal fifths,—such measures, for instance, as corrupting the goldsmiths and employing coins. It was therefore strongly recommended to raise the royal proportion by means of taxing the produce according to the number of slaves employed; and the task of introducing this measure devolved upon the new governor, Gomes Freyre de Andrade, the son of the distinguished Gomes Freyre, who had restored order in Maranham.

When the edict for the capitation was posted in the public places throughout the captaincy, the inhabitants of two districts tore down the proclamation and prepared to resist the levying of the tax; but so conciliatory was the new governor that this threatened disturbance was quieted down; and the peace of the province was happily insured by the discovery, at this time, of several fresh mines, which promoted a general prosperity extending to the entire population.

But it was not to gold alone that Brazil was to owe the sudden increase of its prosperity which occurred during the early part of the eighteenth century. A rumour had long been current of the existence of diamonds; and one Bernardino da Fonseca Lobo had found specimens of these precious stones in the Serro do Frio, which he sent home to Portugal, and which procured him the title of Capitam Mor of Villa do Principe for life. Diamonds were declared to be royalties, and subject to the same duties as gold. It was difficult, however, to collect these duties in the same manner; since neither by number, weight, nor measure could any equitable plan of taking the royal fifths be devised. A capitation tax upon the slaves employed was therefore decided upon. The diamonds were to be remitted, as was gold, only in the King’s ships, one per cent. on their value being charged for freight. The result of this last discovery of the produce of Brazil was such that, in the course of two years, the price of diamonds in Europe went down seventy-five per cent. The property of individuals was so seriously threatened that it was found necessary, without delay, to take measures for limiting the number of diamonds extracted.

In order to arrive at this end, by which the price of diamonds was to be kept up artificially, several measures were proposed, and were referred to commercial men for their opinion. The advice of Dr. Joam Mendes was to the effect that the diamond country should be reserved for the King’s use; that it should be placed under special laws; and that the diamonds should be extracted for the King’s account slowly. After due deliberation, the Court resolved to adopt the counsel thus given, in so far as to reserve the diamond country and to limit the extraction; but not to undertake it on its own account. An officer was therefore charged to mark out the limits of the forbidden district, and so heavy a capitation was imposed as to prevent all but a few persons from searching for the precious stones. It was thought that they could only be offered for sale at a heavy price.

Under the government of Gomes Freyre, a contract was made for employing six hundred slaves in the work of extracting diamonds, an annual poll-tax to be paid upon the slaves of two hundred and thirty milreis. The Crown was to have the option of purchasing stones above a certain size. When, at the end of four years, this contract expired, it had proved so profitable that the capitation was raised to two hundred and seventy milreis; whilst the Treasury should each year give the contractor credit for sixty thousand milreis of the two hundred and sixty-two thousand for which he stood engaged. This arrangement fell in with the views of all parties. The European lapidaries kept back their stock until time should have effaced the effects of the sudden glut; and whilst they gave out that the Brazilian diamonds were inferior to the Oriental, they did not fail to pass off the former as the latter. They are even asserted to have sent Brazilian stones to Goa to find thence their way back to Europe, until the equal value of the Brazilian diamonds with those of India was established.

The Serro do Frio, in which these diamonds were found, had been first explored by two Brazilians probably from the town of Villa do Principe, which dates from the beginning of the century. The boundaries of Minas Geraes, to the east, lay along the adjacent captaincies of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. Towards the north and west there lay an undefined extent of unappropriated territory. To the south the province is bounded by the captaincies of S. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The whole captaincy is a portion of an immense mountain-range. A winter of two months’ duration commences in May, when the average temperature is about 50° Fahrenheit; in the hot season the heat never exceeds 80°. The rainy season lasts from October till May, the rain sometimes continuing for days together. The captaincy of Minas Geraes was divided into four districts, of which that of Serro do Frio, called also the forbidden district, contained the diamond fields.

This district boasts innumerable peaks, some of enormous height, which present a scene of alpine grandeur and desolation—a grandeur which is added to by the magnificent cataracts into which the waters of the region are in many places gathered before they fall into the rivers which drain the district.