FOOTNOTES:
Reading edition
A royal manufactory of iron has been established in the captaincy of St. Paulo, called “The Royal Fabric of S. Joam de Ypanema.” I obtained a knowledge of the fact from two letters in Nos. 45 and 56 of the Investigador Portuguez, a periodical publication published in London. I am sorry to say, that the two letters to which I allude have arisen from some differences existing among the directors of the Fabric.
Vessels. Bags.
1809. To Great Britain in 51 55,835
—— To other parts 29 21,006
1810. To Great Britain 37 40,684
—— To other parts 19 11,793
1811. To Great Britain 36 48,705
—— To other parts 19 6,053
1812. To Great Britain 29 35,767
—— To other parts 29 4,803
1813. To Great Britain 35 50,072
—— To other parts 27 10,101
1814. To Great Britain 22 31,205
—— To other parts 34 14,436
1815. To Great Britain 32 28,539
—— To other parts 49 22,216
The tajaçu is to be met with at Maranham, but is not known at Pernambuco.
“The formation of nitre upon calcareous stones in certain situations has been long known, and advantage has been taken of it to procure that important salt in great quantities; though no satisfactory theory of the formation of the salt itself has yet been offered to the public. The present paper contains a set of observations on the appearance of an efflorescence of salt-petre on the walls of the Ashmole laboratory at Oxford, a large ground room, sunk below the area of the street. The walls are built of Oxford lime-stone, a granular floetz lime-stone, containing many fragments of shells, of vegetable bodies, and composed of 96 carbonate of lime, and 4 of ochrey sand. The salt formed was nearly pure, though it contained traces of lime and of sulphuric and muriatic acids. What was formed in winter contained most lime. The formation of this salt was most rapid in frosty weather; it formed slowly, and the quantity even diminished in moist weather after it had been deposited. Exclusion from the air did not preclude the deposition of the salt, though it diminished it considerably.” p. 70.—The paper, of which the above is an analysis, is by John Kidd, M.D. professor of chemistry in Oxford.
Another anecdote of this strange man was communicated to me by a person who had witnessed the transaction. Two officers of justice or bailiffs, arrived at Agua Azul, and served a writ for debt upon him; the priest received them with great calmness, but shortly afterwards he ordered some of his people to take these two men and harness them in the mill (which was then at work) in the places of two of the horses, (eight of these are employed at the same time). He then ordered that the works should go on, and that a negro boy should sit above and make these unfortunate fellows assist in its movement; there they remained for some minutes, until half dead with fatigue and fear, he turned them loose, and told them to relate to their employer the manner in which they had been treated, threatening to do the same to him, if he could obtain possession of his person. The priest had a considerable number of blood hounds, which were usually unchained, and were lying about the house; thus rendering dangerous an approach to his dwelling. The animals were well trained, for a call from their master was sufficient to make them lie still, and allow of the advance of a stranger. This person died only a few years ago; but as I have already elsewhere said, the time for such characters in Brazil is fast going by.
The lower orders in Brazil make use of an iron ring round the wrist for this purpose.
I was informed that the Contas Verdes came from Africa, but some may have found their way from the Orellana, and been put into requisition by the Mandingueiros.
I refer the reader to the History of Brazil, vol. i. p. 607, for a farther account of the green stones of the Amazons.
In the same work, I find the following manner of cure from the bite of a snake, which will not however be very generally adopted. “Ceux qui ont assez de courage ou de charité pour s’exposer a faire cette cure se gargarisent bien la bouche avec de l’eau-de-vie; et après avoir scarifié la place, ils la succent de toute leur force, ils rejettent de tems en tems ce qu’ils ont dans la bouche, et se la nettoyent et gargarisent à chaque fois, observant de presser fortement avec les deux mains les environs de la partie blessée. On a vú de trés bons effets de cette cure, mais elle est trés-dangereuse pour celui qui la fait; car s’il a la moindre ecorchûre dans la bouche, ou qu’il avale tant soit peu de ce qu’il retire, il peut s’attendre à mourir en peu de momens, sans que toute la medecine le puisse sauver.” tom. i. p. 167.
I do not know what tree he means by the bois amer, which in another place he calls Simarouba. I well know that the red ant will not molest the leaves of the acaju tree; but the same occurs with regard to many other plants. The leaves of the acaju are certainly extremely bitter.
Piso likewise speaks of the caatia, or caiatia, or caacica plant, which he says, has deservedly obtained the name of the herva de cobras; his description of it at p. 102, agrees in some respects with that of the herva cobreira, of which I have spoken at chapter 12; but it can scarcely be the same, for mine would have been more plentiful if it had been indigenous.
He speaks afterwards of the mangle rouge, and this from his description appears to me to be what the Pernambucans call the mangue bravo; this does not grow in salt water, but in the vicinity of it. It is a large tree of irregular make, the branches being much twisted and full of knots.
Bolingbroke in his voyage to the Demerary describes the red mangrove as I have seen it, but he says that the bark is grey. In the Third Report of the Directors of the African Institution, p. 8, I find that some notion was entertained in 1809, of introducing the mangrove bark into this country for tanning.
Labat, in speaking of the kinds of wood which are fit for building, says, “Je ne croi pas devoir renvoyer à un autre endroit la remarque que j’ai faite sur tous les bois qu’on met en terre qui est, que pour peu qu’ils soient bons ce n’est pas la partie qui est en terre qui se pourrit ni celle qui est dehors, mais seulement ce qui est au ras de terre.” This I have found to be true to a certain extent; but there are some species of timber which rot very quickly under ground, though the part which he terms au ras de terre is certainly that which decays the most speedily. He continues “Pour éviter cet inconvenient, il faut brûler la partie qui doit être en terre et quelques pouces au dessus, c’est-à-dire la sécher au feu ou dans les cendres rouges, sans la réduire en charbon, afin que la seve ou l’humidité qui s’y pourroit encore trouver, soit entierement dessechée, que les pores se renfermant, les parties se raprochent les unes des autres, le bois devient plus compact et par consequent plus propre à résister à l’humidité.”—Nouveau Voyage, tom ii. p. 386.
This is done in Pernambuco, and is found to be of great service; but it is only practised with those woods which are known not to be naturally durable under ground.
He speaks in vol. ii. p. 94, of two large Indian canoes made of bois d’acajou or cedre. I am inclined to think that the acajou of the islands and the cedre of the Spaniards is the pao amarello of Pernambuco.
In Piso, p. 83, an account will be found of the Munduy-guacu, Lusitanis Pinhoes do Brasil, ejusque usu in medicina.
I have perhaps quoted too copiously in writing an account of those plants which Labat has described, but I must have followed so nearly what he has said, that my description might have been supposed to have had his for its basis. Perhaps these plants need not have been described at all, but to some readers a confirmation of what other travellers have said may afford satisfaction.
“It consists of a bar of forged iron, about two feet eight inches long, one inch thick towards the handle, and of two inches towards the breech or platform. The platform, which is circular, is fourteen inches in diameter. This platform serves as the base of the chamber or furnace of the mine, which is three inches in diameter, and three inches eight lines in the length of its bore. The stopper or tampion, which serves as a plug to the mine, is of the same diameter, to enter within after a slight paper or wadding. It is attached by a chain to the gun or mortar, which last is eight inches in diameter. About two inches above is added a small touch-hole and pan. The hole is directed in an angle of forty-five degrees, and is primed with powder to communicate with the charge with which the chamber is filled up to the stopper. This engine may be cast even with more facility in brass or bronze, and in this case it must be a little thicker in all its dimensions, in order to afford a resistance equal to that of the forged iron.”
“USE OF THE MACHINE.”
“When the machine is charged with powder, a small excavation is made with a pick-axe, in the centre of the stump. The machine is then placed in it, so that the plug immediately touches the wood. Care must be taken to fill all the vacancies, either with stones or pieces of iron or wood, more especially beneath the platform of the machine, in order that the explosion of the powder may have its full effect on the stump, of which, if necessary, the principal roots should first be cut if any appear on the surface of the ground near the stump that is to be eradicated.”
“When the machine is firmly fixed in its place, the priming is put into the pan, a slow match applied, the length of which is sufficient to allow time to retire to a proper distance from the explosion.”—Journal of Natural Philosophy, &c. by W. Nicholson, vol. iv. p. 243 to 245.
In Pernambuco the only means of rooting up the stumps which is known, is that of digging deep trenches round about them.
I had previously read the following passage in another work, “Dans les plantations situées au bord du Demerari on fait trente recoltes successives de sucre sans transplanter les cannes, &c.—Voyage a la Guiane &c.” p. 222.
As this work is of doubtful reputation, I should not have cited any statement which was made in it unless I was myself aware of its correctness, or unless the fact was mentioned by other writers; but when Labat speaks of the same thing, there must be some foundation for the statement.
His account of this affair still continues, but I have transcribed the more important part of it.
The master of the grammar school at Itamaraca, told me that he acted in the same manner with respect to a quantity of cane which he once planted upon a piece of land that was afterwards cultivated by me; he was satisfied that this was the better plan, when the land is in the state which Labat describes; but the people in general thought that he was mad, until crop time came, and then they changed their opinion.
In another work Labat says, “le terrain nouvellement défriché, étant naturellement gras et humide, et sa situation le rendant encore aqueux, les cannes qu’il produit, sont à la vérité grosses, grandes, pleines de suc; mais ce suc est gras et aqueux; il est par conséquent plus long à cuire, plus difficile à purifier, de sorte qu’il faudra abbatre et mettre au moulin plus de cannes, purifier et cuire plus de jus ou de suc pour faire une barrique de sucre, qu’il n’en faut à la Martinique pour en faire quatre.”—Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais a Cayenne, &c. tom. iii. 204. In the little experience which I had, I was surprised to find an increase or decrease in the quantity of the product of the same number of cart loads of cane from different quarters of the plantation; but my mind was then too much occupied to allow me to look for the cause of this.
At the time that Labat wrote his account of the French portion of the Columbian islands, (from 1693 to 1705) they were in a state which resembled much that of Brazil in the present day; that is, the colonists were forming establishments and clearing lands; agriculture was in a rude state, and as sugar colonies were then, comparatively speaking, new things, improvements were daily striking the thinking men who went out to those places; for it was a subject to which intellect was at that time turned. The system in the Columbian islands has now been much benefited, by the advanced state of the mother countries which possess them; and the communication between the islands belonging to the several powers which rule them, has led them to adopt and to profit by each other’s inventions and ideas. But Brazil has been left to its own resources; no interest has been taken in its concerns from without, nor has any regard been paid to the mental advancement of the people belonging to it, so that it cannot be wondered at that the country should have made very little progress. However the similarity of the state of the French islands in the time of Labat, to that of Brazil at the present day, and his powers of observation, induce me to think that some of his remarks may be useful in the latter country, although they may be out of date in the places of which he wrote. Thus much I say, as a reason for making frequent notes from him.
Although it was the general custom to employ the cane tops for planting, Labat objects to them from his own authority, upon the score of these not possessing sufficient strength to yield good canes. The same opinion is general in Pernambuco.
But when a plantation has a large crop, it is absolutely impossible to attend so particularly to the ripeness as he inculcates; some of the cane must be ground unripe, and other parts of the field cannot be cut until after the proper time.
I never heard of any description of mill being employed at the present day, excepting that which is in general use.
In the fourth volume of the Nouveau Voyage, p. 106 to 110, is a description of an oven for drying clayed sugars; this would be interesting to Brazilian readers, but it is too long to excuse insertion before a British public.
“Le barril à lessive étant posé sur la sellette ou sur un trépied, on en bouche le trou avec une quantité de paille longue et entiere, aprés quoi on y met une couche composée des herbes suivantes, aprés les avoir broyées entre ses mains, et aprés les avoir hachées.
“Herbes à blé; c’est une herbe qui croît par touffes comme le blé qui est levé depuis deux ou trois mois, et à qui elle ressemble beaucoup. On arrache la touffe entiere avec sa racine qui est fort petite.
“La seconde se nomme herbe à pique. Cette plante a une tige droite de la grosseur d’un tuyau de plume d’oye et de la hauteur de quinze à dix-huit pouces. Son extrémité porte une feüille comme celle de l’ozeille pour la couleur et pour la consistance, mais qui ressemble entiérement au fer d’une pique.
“La troisiéme est la mal-nommée. C’est une petite herbe déliée, fine et frizée à peu près comme les cheveux des négres.
“On met ces trois sortes d’herbes par portion égale, avec quelques feüilles et quelques morceaux de lianne brûlante. Cette lianne est une espéce de lierre, dont la feüille est plus tendre, plus mince et les bois plus spongieux que le lierre d’Europe. On écrase un peu le bois et les feüilles, avant que de les mettre dans le barril. C’est avec ces quatre sortes d’herbes qu’on garnit le fond du barril jusqu’ à trois pouces de hauteur; on les couvre d’un lit de cendre de pareille épaisseur, et l’on choisit la cendre faite du meilleur bois qu’on ait brûlé, comme sont le chataignier, le bois rouge, le bois caraibe, le raisinier, l’oranger ou autres bois durs, dont les cendres et les charbons sont remplis de beaucoup de sel. On met sur cette couche de cendre une couche de chaux vive de même épaisseur, et sur celle-ci une autre couche des mêmes herbes, ausquelles on ajoûte une ou deux cannes d’inde ou de seguine bâtarde, amorties au feu, et coupées par ruelles de l’épaisseur d’un ecu. Cette plante vient sur le bord des eaux marécageuses, sa tige est ronde d’un pouce ou environ de diamétre; sa peau est fort mince et fort verte; le dedans est blanc, assez compacte, et rempli d’une liqueur extrémement mordicante, qui fait une vilaine tache, et ineffaçable sur le linge et sur les étoffes où elle tombe. Sa feüille est tout-a-fait semblable pour la figure à celle de la porée ou bette, mais elle est plus verte et plus lisse, et ses fibres ne se distinguent presque pas; on ne les met point dans la lessive. Toutes ces herbes sont extrémement corrosives et mordicantes. On remplit ainsi le barril de cendre, de chaux, et d’herbes, par lits jusqu’à ce qu’il soit plein, et on le termine par une couche des mêmes herbes bien broyées et hachées. Quand on se sert des cendres qui viennent de sortir des fourneaux, et qui sont encore toutes brûlantes, on remplit le barril avec de l’eau froide; mais lorsque les cendres sont froides, on fait boüiller l’eau avant que de la mettre dans le barril. On met un pot ou un autre vaisseau sous le trou qui est bouché de paille, pour recevoir l’eau qui en dégoûte, que l’on remet dans le barril, et que l’on fait passer sur le marc qu’il contient, jusqu’à ce que cette lessive devienne si forte que la mettant sur la langue avec le bout du doigt, on ne puisse pas l’y souffrir, et qu’elle jaunisse le doigt, comme si c’étoit de l’eau forte.”—Nouveau Voyage, tom. iv. p. 33 to 35.
Even in the time of Labat, his countrymen were much before the Pernambucan planters respecting the arrangement of the still-houses. They had copper stills.
Secondly. Executions can however be made if the debt is equal to or above the value of the estate; but the whole of the slaves, the cattle, the lands, and the implements belonging to the engenho must form one valuation, nor can they be separated; but they must all be taken as parts of the engenho.
Thirdly. If there are more debts than one, and these together make up the sum which may cause the plantation to be subject to execution, still some law proceedings must be entered into, by which these several debts may be placed in such a form as to be considered as one debt. Thus the government does those things which ought not to be done, and leaves undone those things which ought to be done.
Of this disorder I never heard, but there is one to which horses as well as horned cattle are subject; it is produced by the animals feeding upon fields of which the grass is very short. The flesh grows from the roots of the teeth towards their edges, and at last renders it impossible for the beasts to eat.
1808. 4271
1809. 12801
1810. 9840
1811. 7749
1812. 8577
1813. 9022
I obtained it from my friend Mr. I. C. Pagen, who resided at Recife during a considerable portion of the time.
Bolingbroke, in his “Voyage to the Demerary,” says that “On the sea coast the British settlers also commenced the culture of cotton, and found that land to answer much better than the soil up the river.”—In Phillips’ Collection, &c. p. 81.
The cotton of the settlements upon the part of South America of which he writes, is very inferior to that of Pernambuco.
In the Third Report of the Directors of the African Institution, p. 23, I find it stated, that “the saline air of the sea-shore, which generally destroys coffee, is favourable to cotton;” at p. 27, it is said that cotton never fails to degenerate “when it has been propagated in the same ground for many years without a change of seed.”
1808. 26,877
1809. 47,512
1810. 50,103
1811. 28,245
1812. 58,824
1813. 65,327
From this it would appear that in saying, at chapter 1st, that the export from thence at the present time is between 80,000 and 90,000 bags annually, I have over-rated the real number. But it will be seen that the increase has been considerable from 1812 to 1813, and I know that it still continues to increase as rapidly, if not more so.
Labat does not believe in the virtue of the herbe de couleuvres in this case.
“Nos sauvages qui en mettent (the juice of the mandioc) dans toutes leurs sauces n’en sont jamais incommodez parce qu’ils ne s’en servent jamais que quand il a boüilli.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. i, p. 400.
Likewise in the “Voyage a la Guiane,” p. 101, “Le suc de manioc cet instrument de mort devient, travaillé par les creoles de Cayenne, une sauce appétissante et salutaire.”
“The juice is boiled with meat and seasoned, and makes excellent soup, which is termed casserepo, and used in pepper-pot and sauces.”—Voyage to the Demerary, &c. by H. Bolingbroke, p. 149.
Dr. Pinckard mentions having tasted in the colony of Demerary of the juice of the cassada prepared as sauce.—Notes on the West-Indies, vol. ii. p. 257.
During the famine of 1793, the people of Pernambuco made use of the juice as food; but in times of plenty it is regarded as being unfit for any purpose. It is by evaporation that it loses its poisonous qualities.
Labat likewise speaks of the Camanioc, “comme qui diroit le chef des maniocs. En effet son bois, ses feüilles et ses racines sont plus grandes et plus grosses que les autres maniocs. Mais comme il est beaucoup plus long tems à crôitre et à mûrir, et que ses racines rendent beaucoup moins de farine parce qu’elles sont plus legéres et plus spongieuses que les autres, on le neglige et peu de gens en plantent.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. i. p. 411.
It is not only the root of the macaxeira which is smaller, but the plant is, I think, altogether smaller than the other species.
Barrere, in the Nouvelle Relation de la France Equinoxiale, p. 61, speaks of the harmless species under the name of maniok sauvage.
Then again, he says, “On ne mange que trés rarement a Cayenne, ou pour mieux dire, presque jamais de la Coaque, qui est la nourriture ordinaire des Portugais de Parà, du Maragnan, et des peuples, qui sont sur les rivages du fleuve des Amazones.” He describes the coaque; and it is clearly the farinha, but he does not explain how the cassave was made, of which the creole ladies were so fond, and which did them so much mischief.
He says afterwards, “Les Indiens Portugais, quand ils veulent prendre leurs repas, ils mettent une poignée de coaque dans le creux de la main, qui leur sert d’assiette; et de là ils la font sauter adroitement dans la bouche; l’on boit par dessus une bonne coüye d’eau et de boisson; et voila leur repas pris.”—Nouvelle Relation de la France Equinoxiale, p. 55, and 56.
This mode of eating and the abstemiousness of the repast are both common in Brazil to all casts of people. With respect to the cassave, I cannot comprehend what he means. But, contrary to his notion, to eat farinha in the manner that he mentions quite dry, although it is done by most people, is not reckoned wholesome. In fact, it is one of the duties of a feitor or manager to see that the negroes do not make their meals with dry farinha, but he should see that they make piram; this is done by mixing the flour with boiling water or gravy. The negroes do not dislike piram, but they are sometimes too idle or too much fatigued to take the trouble of cooking their victuals; and therefore they eat the farinha dry, and their salt meat with it, after having smoke-dried the latter upon a wooden skewer. The disorder which is said to proceed from constantly eating dry farinha is the dropsy. The flour of the mandioc swells considerably when it is moistened: if the expansion takes place in the stomach it may be injurious, and this may perhaps afford some reason for the opinion of the Brazilians upon the subject.
Labat says, that the maroon negroes used to prepare it in the two following ways. “C’est de la couper par morceaux, et de le mettre tremper dans l’eau courante des rivieres ou des ravines pendant sept ou huit heures. Le movement de l’eau ouvre les pores de la racine et entraîne ce trop de substance. La seconde maniere est de le mettre cuire tout entier sous la braise. L’action du feu met ses parties en mouvement et on le mange comme on fait des chataignes ou des patates sans aucune crainte.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. i. p. 410.
I think the said negroes must have been accustomed by degrees to eating the mandioc in this manner. I should not be willing to recommend either of these ways of cooking it.
Labat does not however vouch for the truth of the statement. He speaks of the cabbage of the coco-tree being very good; and I agree with him. A coco-tree was cut down at Itamaraca, and the vicar sent me the cabbage of which several dishes were made, and they were excellent.
Labat mentions a means of rendering the banana serviceable in travelling; and as the ingredients of his receipt are all of them good, the mixture must, I should imagine, be likewise good, and therefore I insert it for the benefit of those who may, as I have been, be much in want of something palatable, when crossing the Seará-Meirim. “Ceux qui veulent faire cette pâte avec plus de soin, font d’abord sécher les bananes au four ou au soleil, puis ils les gragent, ils y mêlent ensuite du sucre pilé, avec un peu de poudre de canelle, de géroffle et de gingembre, tant soit peu de farine et un blanc d’œuf pour lier toutes ces choses ensemble, après qu’elles ont été paitries avec un peu d’eau de fleur d’orange.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. iii. p. 314. Fewer ingredients might be made use of.
Du Tertre says of the banana, “Quand on le coupe on voit une belle croix imprimeé sur chaque tronçon; c’est qui a fait croire à plusieurs que ce fruit est le même qu’Adam mangea dans le Paradis terrestre,” &c.—Histoire des Antilles, &c. tom. ii. p. 140.
Labat speaks of the same story, but adds, “Adam pouvoit avoir meilleure vûë que nous, ou la croix de ces bananes étoit mieux formée.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom iii. p. 307. I was once desired by a Brazilian woman of colour to cut the banana lengthways, and not across, for by the latter manner of dividing the fruit, I should cut the Cruz de Nosso Senhor, Our Saviour’s Cross.
Du Tertre says, “Lorsque les ouragans ont tant de fois ravagé les manyocs de nos isles, on a toujours eu recours aux patates, sans lesquelles bien du monde auroit pery de faim.” And again, “Tous les matins, c’est une coustume generale par toutes les isles de faire cuyre plein une chaudiere de patates pour dejeûner.”—Histoire des Antilles, &c. tom. ii. p. 118 and 119.
If this article and the malagueta of Brazil are the same, I should be strongly inclined to agree with the Report; and indeed I conceive that it is not only harmless but extremely wholesome. A decoction of the pods is used among the peasantry as an injection in aguish disorders.
He mentions it again, and seems to be quite confident that the plant of which he speaks is the tea shrub.
The orange is cut into two pieces, and is rubbed violently upon the sore.
Labat tells us that “Le roi a fait revivre par sa Declaration la loi Romaine, qui veut que les enfans suivens le sort du ventre qui les a portez,” and this revival took place in 1674, when the king took the islands from the Companies which had held them during his pleasure.—Nouveau Voyage &c. tom. ii. p. 192.
I have, as is stated in the text, heard from good authority, that the law forbids the ordination of mulattos; what the practice is I am quite certain, and I hope the law may be favourable also.
At Surinam, says another writer, “Si un maître voulait affranchir son esclave, outre la perte qu’il fesait de son negre, il étoit encore obligé d’acheter fort cher des lettres de franchise, sans lesquelles aucun noir ne pouvait être instruit dans la religion Chrétienne, ni baptisé.”—Voyage a la Guiane et a Cayenne en 1789, et années suivantes, p. 224.
Bolingbroke says, “It is by no means an uncommon thing in these colonies for negroes when they have accumulated a sufficiency, to purchase their freedom; and I have known many instances of negroes who paid their owners a proportion of the purchase-money, and were allowed after emancipation to workout the balance.”—Voyage to the Demerary, &c. p. 65.
I give this statement, and should be happy to transcribe any other, with which I might meet in the course of reading, of the same tenor; but it must be recollected that the “Voyage to the Demerary” is decidedly written in favour of the slave trade and of slavery.
Fellow slaves, or free persons of colour, are usually the sponsors in Brazil; but it is better, I think, that fellow-slaves, that is, belonging to the same master, should be sponsors, for they take a considerable interest in their god-children. The god-child, indeed, in any of the ranks of life, never approaches either of its sponsors without begging for their blessing. Labat, in speaking of a negro whom he had made renoncer tous ses pactes implicites et explicites qu’il pouvoit avoir fait avec le diable, says,—“Je chargeai sont maitre, qui étoit aussi son parrain de vieller soigneusement sur sa conduite.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. ii. p.54.
I never heard of the master in Brazil being likewise the god-father, nor do I think that this ever happens; for such is the connection between two persons which this is supposed to produce, that the master would never think of ordering the slave to be chastised.
The St. Domingo planters have paid severely for all their misdeeds, and therefore of them nothing need to be said in the present day. The vastness, however, of Brazil, which is a little more vaste than St. Domingo, does not require that the slaves should be marked like cattle.
Labat is of opinion, that it is a habit and not a disease.—Nouveau Voyage &c. tom. ii. p. 11.
“There is a sort of people who travel about in the country, called Mandingo-men; (these are Mahommedans) they do not like to work; they go from place to place; and when they find any chiefs or people whom they think they can make any thing of, they take up their abode for a time with them, and make greegrees, and sometimes cast sand from them, for which they make them pay.”—Correspondence of Mr. John Kizell in the Sixth Report of the Directors of the African Institution, p. 136.
Du Tertre says that the custom of giving a certain portion of time to the slave for the purpose of providing for his own maintenance, was introduced into the Columbian islands by “les Holandois chassez du Recif,” and he adds that they “gouvernent leurs esclaves à la façon du Bresil.”—Histoire des Antilles, vol. ii. p. 515.
Another man, on ordering a slave to work in the sugar-mill, was answered, that he was sick and could not go, but the master persisted. The negro went, saying, “you will then kill your slave;” and vexed with the treatment which he received now, and had suffered on other occasions, he placed his head near to one of the wheels, (for it was a water-mill) by which it was severed from his body. I could mention many anecdotes of this description, indicative of individual blackness of heart, such as have been related of all nations who have had to do with slaves; but few will suffice. Neither of the stories which are above related, occurred in the great and pre-eminent instance of depravity of which the scene was the Mata, and which has been mentioned in a former part of this work; in that case 55 slaves were consumed in less than fifteen years.
In the “Voyage à la Guiane et à Cayenne fait en 1789 et anneés suivantes,” I find that speaking of the same disorder, “on la gagne trés-aisement avec les Indiennes qui en sont presque toutes attaquées.” It is supposed by Mr. Edwards to be brought from Africa, and the same idea exists in Brazil; indeed it is less known among the Indians than among the people of colour.
A short time before I left that plantation, the same boy fled with another of nearly the same age, both of them being about fourteen years of age. They had been absent some days, when late one evening an Indian labourer brought them both home. The children had thrown off all cloathing, and had made bows and arrows suited to their own size, with which they were to kill poultry, rats, &c. as food. Their appearance was most laughable, but it was distressing; it was soon known that they were found, and many of their companions and other inhabitants of the plantation assembled to see and to laugh at these terrible negros do mato, or bush negroes. The boys had been well treated by me, and therefore the propensity to continue in practices which had commenced under severe usage could be their only inducement to prefer the woods now.
The captures, of which complaint was principally made, were effected under the impression that all ships which bore the Portugueze flag, trading to the coast of Africa for slaves, ought to be of Portugueze build. This was a mistake arising from misunderstanding the treaties which were concluded between the two Powers in 1810.
In the work in which the note appears, it is introduced for the purpose of proving, that “the total average population in any country can never be affected by the annual number of deaths, but depends solely and exclusively upon the means of subsistence afforded to the living.” I have transcribed it inasmuch as the author of it states, that domestic slavery was one of the causes of the decrease of population in Italy; and though the pernicious effects of slavery do not act to the same extent in Brazil, it does undoubtedly prevent the rapid increase of the numbers of the people of colour; and if the trade in Africans continues much longer, it will tend to stop the increase altogether of the persons of mixed blood. That the increase of the free population of colour ought to be encouraged, no one will deny; they are the pillars of the state, the bulwark from the strength of which Brazil becomes invincible.
Then follow the penalties to which those officers will be subjected who do not pay a due regard to these privileges.
The clerks and servants of Englishmen enjoy the same privileges to the number of six, provided they are not Spaniards.
British subjects cannot be arrested, nor can their houses be searched without an order from their judge-conservator. Then follow some regulations by which their law proceedings may be rendered as easy as possible. They are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Juiz de Orfaons & Auzentes(4).
The copy of the privileges from which the above has been extracted is passed in the name of John Bevan. I obtained it at Pernambuco as a curiosity. If the state of government in Brazil is considered, these privileges are absolutely necessary for the prevention of oppression; and even the privilege of wearing arms is not more than is requisite, because although the laws which prohibit Portugueze subjects from carrying arms ordain severe penalties, still scarcely any man in Brazil leaves his own home without some species of weapon; and the crime which is committed in so doing is too general to be punished.
(1) Mais em seu favor do que em odio.—What occasion is there for this? Impartiality is what is required.
(2) An officer of a rank somewhat superior.
(3) An officer of government can turn an unprivileged man out of his house by placing the letters P. R. upon his door.
(4) The officer into whose hands the property of orphans falls, and of those persons who die without heirs resident upon the spot. It is difficult to reclaim what has found its way into this office.
I heard this mentioned frequently whilst I was in the Sertam; but at the time we were in want of water, we were not crossing any of those lands upon which the plant grows.—Transl.
Neither pigs nor pine-apples are to be found thus by wholesale in Pernambuco.—Transl.
Barrere says “La Pitte, qui est une espéce d’ananas, fournit encore une filasse d’un bon usage. Le fil en est plus fort et plus fin que la soye. Les Portugais en font des bas qui ne cedent en rien, dit-on, par leur bonté et par leur finesse aux bas de soye.”—Nouvelle Relation de la France Equinoxiale, p. 115.
Old Ligon says “the last and best sort of drinke that this iland or the world affords, is the incomparable wine of pines; and is certainly the nectar which the gods drunke; for on earth there is none like it; and that is made of the pure juyce of the fruit itselfe, without commixture of water or any other creature, having in itselfe a naturall compound of all tastes excellent, that the world can yield. This drinke is too pure to keep long; in three or four dayes it will be fine; ‘tis made by pressing the fruite, and strayning the liquor, and it is kept in bottles.”—A true and exact History of the Iland of Barbadoes, 1657.
Labat gives the same account, and adds that persons who are in the habit of smoking “ne manquent jamais d’avoir sur eux leur provision de tol.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. 6. p. 142.
“Le caratas dont j’ai parlé dans un autre endroit est bien meilleur que la Savonette pour blanchir le linge. On prend la füeille et aprés en avoir ôté les piquans, on la bat et l’écrase entre deux pierres et on frote le linge avec l’eau. Elle produit le même effet que le mielleur savon, elle fait une mousse ou écume épaisse, blanche, qui decrasse, nettoye et blanchit parfaitement le linge, sans le rougir ou le brûler en aucune facon.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. vii. p. 385.
Padre Ignacio de Almeida Fortuna told me, that he had had a pair of stockings made from the fibre of the Macaiba. I brought some of the fibre to England; it is extremely strong and fine. I think Dr. Arruda may perhaps have been rather hasty in ranking it with the tucum, in the difficulty of obtaining it. At Itapissuma, near to Itamaraca, a great quantity of thread is manufactured for fishing-nets, &c. and it has at that place a fixed price.—Transl.
“Referring the meeting to what was communicated in the last annual Report on the subject of a species of hemp, manufactured from the leaves of a particular kind of palm which abounds in Sierra Leone and its neighbourhood, the directors have now to add, that one of their Board, Mr. Allen, has lately subjected a small quantity of cord, manufactured from this substance, to experiments calculated to ascertain its strength, as compared with the same length and weight of common hempen cord. The result has been very satisfactory.” In five trials, the average is as follows “hempen cord 43lbs. 3-fifths. African cord 53lbs. 2-fifths, being a difference in favour of the African cord of 10lbs. in 43lbs.”—Fourth Report of the Directors of the African Institution, p. 15.
Dr. Arruda has not spoken of the dendezeiro or dende tree, which, next to the coco tree, is the palm which is of the most service to the Pernambucans. An oil of good quality is made from the nut, and is sold in Recife as a culinary ingredient, being more generally used than the coco oil. The fruit resembles much that of the coco naia, according to Arruda’s description of the latter.
Labat, who has a propensity to call in question the opinions of others, in speaking of the tree which he calls palmier franc ou dattier, says, “On prétend que cet arbre est mâle et femelle, &c. Je suis fâché de ne pouvoir pas souscrire au sentiment des naturalistes, mais j’en suis empêché par une expérience que j’ai trés-sûre, opposée directement à leur sentiment, qui dément absolument ce que je viens de rapporter sur leur bonne foi; car nous avions un dattier à côté de notre couvent du Moüillage à la Martinique, qui rapportoit du fruit quoiqu’il fut tout seul. Qu’il fut mâle ou femelle, je n’en sçai rien, mais ce que je sçai trés certainement, c’est que dans le terrain où est le Fort Saint Pierre et le Moûillage et a plus de deux lieuës à la ronde il n’y avoit et n’y avoit jamais eu de dattier, &c.”—Nouveau Voyage, &c. tom. iii. p. 276.
“The vegetable wax described in this paper was given to the president by Lord Grenville, with a wish on the part of his Lordship, that its properties should be investigated, in the hope that it might prove a useful substitute for bees’ wax, and constitute in due time a new article of commerce between Brazil and this country. It was transmitted to Lord Grenville from Rio de Janeiro by the Conde das Galveas(1), as a new article lately brought to that city(2), from the northernmost parts of the Brazilian dominions, the capitanias of Rio Grande and Seará, between the latitude of three and seven degrees north; it is said to be the production of a tree of slow growth, called by the natives carnâùba, which also produces a gum used as food for men, and another substance employed for fattening poultry.”
“The wax in its rough state is in the form of a coarse pale grey powder, soft to the touch, and mixed with various impurities, consisting chiefly of fibres of the bark of the tree, which when separated by a sieve amount to about 40 per cent. It has an agreeable odour, somewhat resembling new hay, but scarcely any taste.”
(Here follow various chemical Experiments which I wish I could insert, but they are too long.)
“Having been unsuccessful in my attempts to bleach the wax in its original state, I made some experiments to ascertain whether its colour could be more easily destroyed, after it had been acted upon by nitric acid, and found that by exposing it spread upon glass to the action of light, it became in the course of three weeks of a pale straw colour, and on the surface nearly white(3). The same change was produced by steeping the wax, in thin plates, in an aqueous solution of oxymuriatic gas, but I have not hitherto succeeded in rendering it perfectly white.”
(Other chemical Experiments follow, which are of considerable Length.)
“From the preceding detail of experiments, it appears that although the South American vegetable wax possesses the characteristic properties of bees’ wax, it differs from that substance in many of its chemical habitudes; it also differs from the other varieties of wax, namely, the wax of the myrica cerifera, of lac, and of white lac. The attempts which have been made to bleach the wax have been conducted on a small scale; but from the experiments related, it appears that after the colour has been changed by the action of very dilute nitric acid, it may be rendered nearly white by the usual means. I have not had sufficient time to ascertain whether the wax can be more effectually bleached by long continued exposure, nor have I had an opportunity of submitting it to the processes employed by the bleachers of bees’ wax.”
“Perhaps the most important part of the present inquiry is that which relates to the combustion of the vegetable wax, in the form of candles. The trials which have been made to ascertain its fitness for this purpose are extremely satisfactory; and when the wick is properly proportioned to the size of the candle, the combustion is as perfect and uniform as that of common bees’ wax. The addition of one eighth to one tenth part of tallow is sufficient to obviate the brittleness of the wax in its pure state, without giving it any unpleasant smell, or materially impairing the brilliancy of its flame. A mixture of three parts of the vegetable wax with one part of bees’ wax, also makes very excellent candles.”
(1) This nobleman is since dead.
(2) It was sent to Rio de Janeiro by Francisco de Paula Cavalcante de Albuquerque, Governor of Rio Grande do Norte.
(3) The portion which the Governor of Rio Grande gave to me was in the form of a cake, which could not be pierced, but was brittle; it was of a pale straw colour.—Transl.
I brought some of it to England in powder.—Transl.