CHAP. XIX. PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE.[43]

CHAP. XIX. PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE.[43]

Contests with Indians—Conquest—Taken by the Dutch—Restored—Extent—Sterility of Soil—Capes and Ports—Mineralogy—Mountains—Zoology—Phytology—Rivers and Lakes—Povoações—Island of Fernando de Noronha.

The conquest of this province, which is a portion of the capitania of Joam de Barros, was commenced in the year 1597, by order of Philip II. with the intention of impeding the exportation of Brazil wood by the French, and of overcoming the Potyguaras, who destroyed the plantations of the colonists of Parahiba, and interrupted the progress of that colony.

D. Francisco de Souza, governor of the state, by orders which he received, supplied what was requisite from the royal treasury. The squadron which was prepared at Pernambuco, and carried with it a Jesuit for an engineer, and a Franciscan to interpret the language of the Indians, directed its course to the mouth of Rio Grande, which was the port most visited by the Corsairs. The enterprise had its commencement by the construction of a wooden fort, near the place where the Fort dos Reys is now situated, and the first commandant of which, Jeronimo d’ Albuquerque, had many obstinate combats with the aborigines for more than a year, until the friendship which he established with Sorobabe, (Great Island,) chief of the Indians, through the mediation of a friendly one of the same tribe, afforded him an opportunity of laying the foundation of the city of Natal, which received this name in consequence of the inauguration of its mother church, in 1599, happening on the same day as the festivity of the birth of our Saviour. The want of better ports, the quality of the land, which did not encourage its colonization, and the Portuguese nation being then under the dominion of the Castilian crown, as well as the inconstancy of the Indians, equally unserviceable as friends, as they were fatal when enemies, concurred to prevent this colony from acquiring any considerable augmentation during thirty years.

The Dutch, after being established in Pernambuco, presented themselves several times before the Fort dos Reys, (of Kings,) which always resisted their attacks, until it was ultimately delivered to them by the treason of a sergeant, a deserter from Bahia, who stole the keys of the fort by night, the commandant being seriously wounded, and communicated to Admiral Ceulio, that the garrison would deliver itself up, according to the conditions offered to the commandant and rejected by him. Ceulio perceiving at day-break a white flag hoisted, proceeded immediately towards the fort, which made very little resistance, in consequence of this traitor, and one Orteguera, also an enemy to the commandant, vigorously counselling him to give it up. With the possession of this fort, the Dutch became masters of the province, which was restored with the others in the year 1654.

In the same year John IV. gave part of this province to Manuel Jurdao, who perished by shipwreck at the point of disembarkation, and in consequence of whose death the country reverted to the crown. This province had for some time the title of countship, created in 1689, in favour of Lopo Furtado de Mendonca. It is confined on the north and east by the ocean, on the south by the province of Parahiba, and on the west by that of Siara, from which it is separated by the serra of Appody, which is about a league to the west of the river so called. It lies between 4° 10′ and 6° 15′ south latitude; the days and nights differ very little in length all the year. The climate is hot and healthy. The winter, commonly not abundant in rain, continues from April to June in the eastern part; in the western scarcely any other rains fall, but those which accompany thunder, beginning usually in January or February. It comprises one hundred and seventy miles from east to west, in the greatest width, and one hundred from north to south, on the western side. The face of the country is generally uneven, and presents some mountains of considerable altitude, and also woods, but they are rare, and of no great extent, the greatest portion consisting of parched catingas. Notwithstanding the soil in various parts is adapted to the plantation of the cane, its culture was never considerable, and it gradually diminishes; cotton being substituted for it almost in all parts, with less expense and equal profit to the planter. Mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, and hortulans of the country, are generally cultivated, as well as some rice and tobacco in sufficient quantity for the population.

Negroes are not numerous in this province; the Indians, who were very ferocious, have all been reduced many years, and their descendants, through the medium of alliances with the Europeans and Africans, have augmented the classes of whites and mulattoes, who for the most part indulge in idleness, and improperly deem it a degradation to apply their personal labour, with instruments of agriculture, for the improvement of their country.

Capes and Ports.—Cape St. Roque forms the angle of this region to the north-east.

Point Pipa took its name from a stone, in a degree resembling a tunnel, caused by the sea continually beating against it. A little to the south of this point there are four abundant fountains of soft water upon the beach.

Point Negra is seven miles to the north of the preceding, and almost as far south of the river Tareyri.

Point Petetinga, Point Toiro, Point Tres Irmaos, Point Tubarao, between the rivers Aguamare and the Amargoso, and Point Mel, which is between the Appody and the Conchas, are all upon the northern coast of the province. It has neither ports nor bays capable of receiving a squadron of ships of much burden; there is, however, the Bay Formoza upon the eastern coast, with seven miles of mouth, three of bay, and four fathoms in depth at low water, but it is overspread with stones and unsheltered.

Mineralogy.—It has gold, minerals of iron and silver, flint stones, calcareous stone, granite, amethysts, crystals, and argils of various colours and quality.

Mountains.—The serra Estrella is in nothing comparable with that of the same name in the province of Beyra.

The serra St. Cosme, with a hermitage, St. Domingos, St. Joze, Camelo, with eighteen miles of length, and Pannaty, at the heads of the Pinhanco; Bonito, from whence a small torrent descends, denominated Aguaboa, (Good Water;) Camara, Pattu, with a hermitage of the Lady of Impossibilities, and in its skirts another of the Lady of Griefs; Luiz Gomez, covered with large woods, and where the best necessaries of life and cotton are raised; that of Cabello-naotem, so called in consequence of being entirely bare, having gold; Regente, now called Portalegre, since a town of that name was founded upon it; Campo Grande in the vicinity of the preceding, and whose inhabitants belong to the parish of Pau dos Ferros, two miles distant; Martins, which has ten miles of length, and a hermitage on the summit, near a lake, that overflows its margins with the thunder showers. It is affirmed, that at the end of the last century there was already upon the serra four thousand persons belonging to the communion. Serra Borborema is in the eastern part of the province.

Zoology.—Cattle are bred, and some mules; also sheep and goats. Hogs are not so numerous as in the adjacent provinces. In the woods the same quadrupeds are met with as in the surrounding districts. The emu ostrich, seriema, guiraponga, tucano, zabele, torquaze-pigeon, and parrot, are well known; also the beija-flor, or humming bird, sabia, cardal, canary, cabore, carrica, and papeyro. On the margins of the rivers and lakes are the heron, jaburu, colhereira, galleiroe, socco, and various sorts of the macarico. The jucurutu and the macauhan are destroyers of snakes.

Phytology.—The cocoa-nut tree is abundant in many situations near the beach. In the interior there are many species of the palm. In the woods are divers trees of excellent timber, and some resinous. The cedar is not unknown in all the districts. Amongst fruits are the cajue, jabuticaba, ambuzo, aracaza, and occasionally groves, almost entirely of the mangaba tree, are met with; there is also the cupahyba tree, and a variety of other vegetation used in pharmacy. Lights are universally made from the oil of mamona and bees-wax.

Rivers and Lakes.—Rio Grande, originally Pottengy, comes from the centre of the province, increasing with the waters of various others, generally inconsiderable, and discharges itself fifteen miles to the south of Cape St. Roque. The margins are in great part covered with handsome mangroves as far as the tide advances. Large barks proceed up for the space of near forty miles, from thence upwards only canoes.

The Appody has one hundred and thirty miles of course, formerly denominated Upanema, a name which at present is appropriated to another smaller river that unites it, on the right, ten miles above its mouth. It runs almost wholly through a flat country, where there are various lakes, which by degrees restore to it the waters introduced into them by its floods.

The waters of those lakes, amongst which are the Apanhapeixe, (Catch Fish,) about four miles in circuit; Pacco, a little less, and Varges, six miles long and narrow, totally disappear in years of drought. Large canoes advance up this river to the arraial of St. Luzia, situated upon the left margin, twenty miles from the sea. From this situation downwards the famous salterns of Mossoro are met with, the salt of which is as white as snow; they have tended to the increase of population, as well as occasioned the river to be visited by a great number of small craft, which convey it to different parts.

The Aguamare runs northward, like the preceding, and is discharged twenty miles to the west of Point Tres Irmaos by two mouths, formed by a small island that produces salt; large canoes proceed up it some leagues. Its entrance is pointed out by two mountains, called Cambujys, of unequal elevation, both in the form of a sugar-loaf, and seven miles distant from the sea.

The Gunepabu, also called Siara Mirim, after having irrigated an extensive country, with many small aldeias, is discharged three miles north of the Rio Grande, with considerable width and two fathoms in depth.

The river Cunhahu, otherwise Crumatahy, which enters the ocean five miles south of Point Pipa, waters the establishments of many fazendeiros, gathers various small rivers, and affords navigation to canoes for some leagues.

The Tareyry, which is the outlet of Lake Groahyras, discharges itself twenty miles south of the Rio Grande. This lake, ten miles long, communicates with two smaller ones, is well stored with fish, and at a certain point is only one mile from the sea. The Guajehy empties itself four miles to the north of the bay of Marcos.

The Piranhas (spoken of in the province of Parahiba) is here the most considerable river, and its largest floods are in March and April. It is discharged by five mouths, the principal of which are the eastern, called Amargozo, the Conchas the western, and the Cavallos the central, being the most voluminous, and twenty miles to the west of the Aguamare; large barks proceed up to Villa Nova da Princeza. Upon its margins are the abundant salterns of Assu, the primitive name of the river. A great portion of the salt is consumed for salting fish, the main part of which is sent to Pernambuco.

The Serido, which has one hundred miles of course, and the largest confluent of the Piranhas in this province, enters on the right eighty miles above its embouchure. An imaginary line drawn north and south from the point of Tres Irmaos divides this province into two parts, a little unequal.

In the eastern part there are the following towns:—

Natal

Arez

Estremoz

St. Joze

Villaflor.

In the western part:—Villa Nova da Princesa, Portalegre, and Villa Nova do Principe.

Natal, which has been sometimes called Cidade dos Reys, (City of the Kings,) with a church dedicated to the Lady of Apresentaçao, and the capital, does not surpass any of the largest towns of the province: it consists of a square; the streets are of deep sand; and it is dignified with the title of a city, which it received at its foundation by the Philips. It has, as usual, various places of worship, a palace for the governors, a town-house, and a prison. It is advantageously situated upon the right margin of the Rio Grande, near two miles above its mouth, which is defended by the fort of Reys Majos, seated upon the southern point, and becoming an island with the high tides. The Dutch possessed themselves of this city in 1633, and gave it an ostrich for arms, in allusion to the multiplicity of those birds with which the province at that time abounded. In its environs cotton, Indian corn, feijao, and mandioca are cultivated, with some rice and sugar.

Arez, originally Groahyras, is a small town, with a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and about thirty-five miles south of the capital, near a lake of its primitive name, and twenty miles distant from the sea. The inhabitants are almost all fishermen and respire a salubrious air. The channel which the Dutch projected opening from this lake to the beach of Tibau, only distant two miles, and which would save a navigation of fifteen or eighteen miles by the Tareyry, is yet unexecuted. In the district of Arez is the povoaçao of Goyaninha, (Little Goyanna,) larger than the town, from which it is distant ten miles. It is inhabited by whites, and has a church of Nossa Senhora of Prazeres.

Villaflor, at first called Grammacio, is an indifferent town, inhabited by agricultural Indians and whites, with a church of the Lady of Desterro. It is forty miles to the south of the capital and three from the sea, near the river Cunhau, which supplies it with water.

Estremoz, formerly Guajiru, is a town of the same class as the preceding, well situated near a lake ten miles long and two wide. It is ten miles from the sea and as far north-west of the capital, with a mother church, having for patrons St. Michael and the Lady of Pleasures. The inhabitants are composed of whites, Indians, and mesticos. In the district of Estremoz, upon the northern coast, near the mouth of a small river, is the flourishing povoaçao of Toiros, occupied by whites, and ornamented with a chapel of Lord Jesus of the Navigators. From its port, where small vessels arrive, cotton is exported.

Villa Nova da Princeza, primarily Assu, is well situated on the left bank of the river Parinhas, twenty-five miles above its mouth, and is the most considerable and trading town of the western part; hyates frequent its port. Besides a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist there is a hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate the same productions as are raised in the vicinity of the capital. The salt-pits employ many people, and their proceeds form a considerable branch of commerce. Villa Nova do Principe, formerly Cayco, is a middling town, and well situated upon the river Serido, twenty-five miles above its mouth. St. Anna is patroness of the church, and the inhabitants of various complexions drink the water of the river, upon the margins of which feijao, hortulans, Indian corn, and tobacco are cultivated. In its district there are the hermitages of St. Anna do Pe da Serra, of St. Anna do Campo Grande, and of St. Luzia, which are expected to become parishes with the increase of population.

Portalegre is a considerable town, situated upon the serra of its name, near seventy miles from the sea and eight to the west of the Appody. St. Joam Baptista is the nominal patron of its church, and its inhabitants, composed of Europeans, whites of the country, and Indians, respire fresh and salubrious air, and derive excellent water from two perennial founts. The Indians, whose numbers are much inferior to the whites, are descendants principally of three colonies, which their conquerors established here, namely the Payacus, who possessed the margins of the Appody, the Icos, who were masters of those of the river Peixe, and the Pannaties, who inhabited the serra of their name. Cotton and mandioca are its exports.

The eastern limits of the district of this town are common with those of the parish of St. John the Baptist of Appody. In its vicinity, near a stream, below a tree, there is a small spring of tepid water, called Agua do Milho, It is necessary to draw it out with a small vessel into a larger one, when any person wishes to bathe.

The town of St. Joze, which took the Lady of O. for its patroness, is in a state of mediocrity, agreeably and well situated. Mipibu was its first name, and it is nearly thirty miles south of the capital, fifteen from the ocean, and three from the lake Groahyras. The inhabitants are agricultural Indians and whites.

About four miles from it is the small povoaçao of Papary, near the lake of Groahyras, with a chapel of Our Lady of O. and inhabited by whites, who are employed in fishing.

About two hundred and fifty miles to the east-north-east of Cape St. Roque is the island of Fernando de Noronha, discovered by a Portuguese of that name, being ten miles long, of proportionate width, generally mountainous and stony, with so few and such small portions of land susceptible of cultivation, that it could not maintain a diminutive colony. In order to impede a contraband trade with foreign nations, a detachment is maintained here, supplied and annually exchanged from Pernambuco. Some criminals are sent here to pass the period of their degradation, who cultivate a small portion of mandioca, with some fruits from the continent, and breed some cattle, sheep, and goats. The rigid prohibition by the government of the entrance, till recently, of any female to this island with the colony, is a circumstance highly discreditable to their policy. A brother-in-law of General Rego returned from the government of this island when I was at Pernambuco, and from him I understood that females were now admitted into the colony. Rats are here exceedingly numerous, also the rolla bird. There are a great number of wild mountain cats, descended from those which had fled from the houses; they carry on a continued warfare against the rolla. It has good water, and eight or ten small forts, destined to defend those places where a disembarkation might be effected. In the year 1738 King John V. ordered these fortifications to be constructed, after the expulsion of the pirates who had established themselves here. Ships falling short of water occasionally visit this place for a supply.

To the north, and separated from it by a narrow channel, is the island of Ratos, (Rats,) three miles long, less stony, and more woody than the other, and where the degradados have formed plantations of the cotton tree. It is remarked that the animals from which this island derives its name did not exist here some few years ago. In the channel there is a hollow stone, where the sea bursts forth with a loud noise.