Kitabı oku: «Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2», sayfa 13

1720.

The people of the Mines were thanked for the promptitude with which they had brought assistance for the deliverance of Rio; and S. Paulo, as being the capital of a captaincy, obtained the rank of a city. Some idea may be formed of the value of the yield of the mines at this time from the fact that, in the year 1714, the Government fifths were commuted for the equivalent of about £50,400 sterling. The commutation was, however, raised, three years later, by one-fourth. In the year 1720, the country of Minas Geraes was detached from S. Paulo and declared a separate captaincy.

Note.—The reader will, I fear, observe a want in this work, which has not by any means escaped the notice of the writer, but which he has found it impossible fully to supply. In almost every chapter there occur notices of large transactions in money, the coins quoted being those then current in Spain and Portugal, respectively. It would, of course, be possible to state approximately the relative value to a given standard of those various coins, respectively, at any one period; but the value of gold and silver coins of the same name varied so constantly and so considerably that it is impossible to lay down a definite standard of value throughout the whole area of which this work treats for any considerable part of the period to which it is devoted. As an instance of the tendency to mislead in taking any fixed coin as a standard in reference to South American monetary transactions, I may mention that, in Buenos Ayres, in the year 1866, I found the Argentine dollar, a coin which most English readers would naturally estimate as the equivalent of four shillings, to be worth exactly twopence. This, of course, applies to the paper dollar; but this would be the legal tender in payment of amounts stated in dollars, unless otherwise specified.

CHAPTER XII.
BRAZIL: DISCOVERY OF THE DIAMOND DISTRICT

1724-1749

1724.

The mining districts had on several occasions been the scene of serious and prolonged resistance against the constituted authorities, in consequence of the regulations respecting the mode of levying the royal share which were introduced with a view to prevent smuggling. It had been found necessary to make a severe example of the ringleaders of an insurrection; and the mining population were thenceforward amenable to law. It was established that all gold was to pass through the royal smelting-house before paying the royal fifths which were now re-established. The people of the mines had, by a timely discovery, escaped the danger of a negro insurrection; and in consequence so many negroes took to the woods that the same evil was apprehended as in the case of the Palmares. In order to avert such a contingency, Bush-captains were established, whose business it was to apprehend wandering negroes, for whom they received head-money from their masters. In many cases it was alleged that the Bush-captains, in order to receive the reward, made a practice of arresting negroes who were not runaways, and that this institution was only one degree less troublesome to the community than the evil which it was appointed to suppress—these individuals being likewise in the habit of detaining negroes and profiting by their labour.

The great importation of negroes into Minas Geraes gave occasion to fears which were not entertained elsewhere in Brazil, and in consequence an order was issued forbidding the formation of free blacks into separate companies, and requiring that they should be mixed with white soldiers. No person who was a mulatto within the fourth degree might be an ordinary judge or hold any municipal office in Minas Geraes. The mode of mining had now undergone a considerable alteration. Instead of opening cuttings and carrying the produce in bulk to be washed, water was conveyed to the mining ground, and, washing away the mould, broke up the blocks in pits or wooden troughs, thus saving a great expenditure of labour. As water-power thus became a valuable property, those in possession of water-courses derived great advantages therefrom. Their pretensions were, however, so extravagant that it was found necessary to establish a set of laws respecting the distribution of the water.

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.

The Portuguese were now advancing in several directions into the interior of Brazil; more especially up the Amazons and the numerous tributaries of that stream. The Paulistas and the people of Minas Geraes spread themselves across the extensive region lying behind the captaincies of Bahia and Piauhy, which now forms the province of Goyaz; whilst from Cuyabá the settlers continued to advance towards the Chiquito and Moxo missions, and likewise in the direction of the western branch of the Tocantins. They thus secured for Portugal a country containing two hundred thousand square miles, which now forms the province of Matto-Grosso.

The name Goyaz is derived from the Goya tribe. The first discoverer of its mineral wealth was a Paulista, named Manoel Correa, who, in the seventeenth century, made his way thither at the head of a party of slave-hunters. He brought back some specimens of gold, which induced another adventurer to follow in his footsteps. He too found gold upon one of the rivers flowing into the Amazons. This second adventurer, called Bueno, was accompanied in another expedition by his son, then only twelve years old. They found the Goya women wearing pieces of gold picked up from the beds of the torrents. This was in 1670, before the age of Brazilian mining had arrived. Fifty years later Bueno’s son proposed to the Governor of S. Paulo to go in search of the spot which he had visited in his boyhood, and which, after three years’ searching, he once more found. He collected gold from five different streams, where he was appointed to establish a colony with the rank of Capitam Mor.

The mines of Goyaz soon rivalled those of Cuyabá, and had the advantage of a shorter and safer communication with the older settlements. Provisions came regularly from S. Paulo, but not in sufficient quantities to keep pace with the increasing population. The demand for food induced a portion of the community to devote themselves to rearing cattle and cultivating the ground, occupations which were soon found to be even more profitable than mining. In ten years the colony, requiring a separate jurisdiction, was made a province of S. Paulo; twelve years later it was declared a captaincy. Its capital, Villa Boa, was chartered in 1739.

1734.

Mines were first discovered in Matto-Grosso in 1734, upon the banks of the river Sarare. These, too, were found by a Paulista. Gold was found during the first years in greater abundance than in any other quarter; but the earlier adventurers suffered the greatest hardships from want of provisions. Even the necessaries of life rose to famine prices. The gold was not enough to prevent many from starving from want of food. The settlement was at length relieved by the arrival of a supply of cattle from Cuyabá; but not until the original discoverer, who was at the time rolling in wealth, had fallen a victim to disease.

1742.

The undoubted riches of the region, however, did not fail to insure a due proportion of settlers; and a road was opened to Cuyabá from Goyaz by which a due supply of cattle was introduced. Amongst the few survivors of the first miserable year was Manoel Felix de Lima, who was destined to accomplish a remarkable geographical feat, by finding his way from the mines of Francisco Xavier in Matto-Grosso to the Spanish settlements at Santa Maria Magdalena. A short sketch of this journey may be given here as illustrating the enormous natural and other difficulties with which the first explorers of the interior of Brazil had to contend.

Manoel de Lima, who was a native of Portugal, had failed to enrich himself in the pursuit of gold; prices were very high; and, being wearied of a settled life, he induced some companions to join him in an adventure down the rivers. The party made up the number of fifty, including slaves and Indians. They were all either penniless or deeply in debt, and were glad of any excuse for escaping from their creditors. Falling down the Sarare in canoes, they found themselves upon the Guapore, when they laid in stores for the voyage before them down the river which now forms for a considerable distance the frontier between Brazil and Bolivia.

On the tenth day of the voyage the adventurers landed on the right bank, at the mouth of a stream, where they found marks of a recent encampment made by a party under one Almeida, who had set out from the settlement six months before them upon a slave-hunting expedition, and who soon joined them here. Almeida had been informed that it would be dangerous to proceed down the stream, on account of the character of the natives; he therefore proposed to ascend the smaller river, where he might pursue his object with greater safety. The intelligence discouraged the greater number of Manoel’s party, but not the leader himself; he determined to pursue his course, notwithstanding the defection of fourteen of his number.

Going down the Guapore, they found, next day, a village, from which the Indians fled at their approach. The course of the stream led them into a vast lake where crocodiles were numerous, and near which they captured an Indian, and had some communication, not altogether friendly, with others. Renewing their voyage, they came to a part of the stream lined with habitations, and having many canoes; but as soon as any people saw them, they set up a cry and ran away. A pilot went in front with two negroes in a small canoe, and these, on one occasion, attacked some Indians, who, however, succeeded in escaping. Next morning, as was to be expected, a number of canoes came in pursuit of the aggressors, the leader of the party being a young man attacked on the previous day. The affair, however, ended peacefully, the Indians receiving gifts. A day or two later, they shot an antelope on the river, and, landing, found a piece of cloth and a cross, which were evident signs of converted Indians, some of whom they next day encountered.

Following the side of the broad stream, Manoel was so fortunate as to meet another canoe full of converted Indians, one of whom undertook to guide his party. This native now entered a stream which joined the Guapore on the left, and on which they were before long accosted from a canoe in Spanish. The adventurers were now amidst a labyrinth of islands and channels, where they might have wandered indefinitely had they not had a guide. They were about, however, to lose him; but, before his departure, he assured them that they would reach San Miguel on the following evening. To their surprise, their guide reappeared next morning, and conducted them amidst an infinity of intricate channels.

When near San Miguel, the guide was sent forward with a letter to the missionary; and when the adventurers followed, their appearance excited so much curiosity that the people even clustered on the trees to behold them. At this point the companions of Manoel were seized with apprehensions of danger, from the reflection that Paulistas could not expect good treatment either at the hands of the Jesuits or at those of their disciples. Manoel undertook the perilous task of first presenting himself. As soon as he landed, he was met by a number of old men, who, much to his surprise, mistook him for a bishop, and, kneeling down, besought his blessing. The missionary of San Miguel turned out to be a German of nearly fourscore years. This “Reduction” was situated upon the river Baures, twenty miles from its junction with the Guapore; it was one of the Moxo missions. The missionary had charge of about four thousand Indians, who had killed some of his predecessors.

From San Miguel Manoel de Lima descended the stream to the Guapore, and came to the second river, called the Magdalena, on which was situated the mission of that name. Ascending it, he and his companions arrived, on the tenth day, at cultivated fields; and they learned from an Indian that the German missionary had sent news of their coming overland. At nightfall a canoe arrived from the “Reduction,” bringing the travellers a welcome present of two dozen fowls and some other provisions. Next day, Manoel, having attired himself in a startling costume, proceeded to pay his visit to the two missionaries, a Hungarian and an Italian, who received him courteously, and entertained him and his companions at a plentiful repast.

The Magdalena mission was a flourishing one; the church was a spacious building, having three aisles; the columns being each composed of a tall tree. Some Indian carvers astonished the Portuguese by the beauty of the work with which they were embellishing the pulpit. The golden pyx, which had been sent from Lima, was valued at three thousand five hundred pieces of silver; and the Jesuits showed the traveller thirty hangings of tissue and brocade which had been sent from Lima and Potosí. The settlement was enclosed by a square wall, within which was a considerable space, so as to afford room for folds and gardens. There were shops for weavers, carpenters, and carvers; an engenho, for the fabrication of rum and sugar; public kitchens, and likewise stocks. The plantations attached to the settlement extended for leagues along the river; and the horses and cattle were very numerous.

But, although the Portuguese received every hospitality and attention, they were not allowed to depart without receiving a hint that the “reduction” was sufficiently strong to be capable of self-defence in the case of too frequent or unwelcome visits from their countrymen. On the second morning, after breakfast, fourscore horsemen were exercised in the great square. When they had concluded their manœuvres, both sides of the square were filled with archers, who discharged their arrows in the air so that they should fall into the intervening space. They became so heated in their exercise that Manoel de Lima became somewhat alarmed, and took the precaution of firing his pistol in the air, upon which the archers thought proper to disperse. The Jesuits stated that the missionaries could bring into the field forty thousand of these Indians.

Some of the Portuguese were now of opinion that they had proceeded far enough; and they proposed to purchase from the missionaries seven hundred and fifty cattle, with which to return to the mines. The missionaries, however, not having power to dispose of any property, the Portuguese were referred to the Provincial, who was then at Exaltacion upon the Mamore, to which point the travellers now determined to proceed, partly perhaps with the object of exploring this borderland. Manoel and three Europeans determined to set out by land, whilst the others preferred their canoes.

Before Manoel had departed, an incident occurred which somewhat changed the situation. This was the arrival of a messenger with a letter from the Provincial, in which the Father was reprimanded for having entertained the Portuguese, by doing which he had incurred the displeasure of the governor of Santa Cruz, and he was commanded to dismiss them without delay. At the end of three days, therefore, Manoel de Lima and his three companions were compelled to quit the society of the Jesuits, and to proceed on their voyage in canoes. They parted with many tears on both sides. Soon after they had reached the Guapore, they met a canoe bearing a cross; but they received no tidings of their former companions, all hope of rejoining whom was soon at an end.

At the junction of the Mamore with the Guapore the two rivers combine to form the Madeira, so called from the large quantities of wood which, after the rainy seasons, it bears into the Amazons. The last great river received by the Madeira before the point at which it turns to the north-west is the Beni. Very soon after passing the point of their junction, Manoel and his companions came upon the falls of the Madeira, and rapids more formidable than any which they had yet passed. Going down the stream they were much molested by the insects; whilst they had several narrow escapes from being swamped or upset by whirlpools or rocks. On one occasion the canoe was carried by a current against a rock, with such force that the men were thrown out; whilst the canoe was borne down the stream, and was soon out of sight.

The position of the travellers was now distressing. They had advanced so far down the stream that they could not think of returning; whilst they had no means of ascertaining their distance from the nearest settlement in the direction of Pará, the intervening country being possessed by wild animals or savages. Fortunately their arms and ammunition were remaining, and they were thus enabled to procure the means of subsistence. They had nothing for it but to follow the course of the river by land, when to their great joy they suddenly found themselves at the end of the rapids, and discovered their canoe caught between two large stones near an island. The canoe was regained by a slave.

On leaving behind them the last rapid and the last fall, where the river leaves the mountains, they saw on their right ground which had been cleared for a settlement by the people of Pará, who had come up the Madeira so far to seek for cinnamon, sarsaparilla, cacao, and tortoises. The settlers had been cut off by the Muras, from which people the travellers had a narrow escape. They likewise suffered from want of food; but after some days they came upon a Jesuit mission, where they were hospitably entertained. Here, leaving their canoe, they re-embarked in a larger vessel given them by the Jesuits, and proceeded down the stream to two other establishments of the same order, below the last of which they entered the Amazons.

Manoel de Lima, although he had not been the first to descend the Madeira, had performed a remarkable journey, having been the earliest European to proceed from Matto-Grosso to Pará, and to prove that a communication by water might be established. He was, therefore, sent to Lisbon to give an account of his proceedings. He expected great rewards for his services, and was consulted by the Portuguese ministers as to the steps which should be taken in consequence of his discoveries. But his pretensions were extravagant. Not contented with the offer of the repayment of the expenses of his expedition, he insisted on being appointed governor of the countries which he had discovered; and, as this was inadmissible, since they already belonged to Spain, he passed the remaining sixteen years of his life as a disappointed suitor at the court of Portugal. Those of his companions with whom he had parted at Magdalena made their way back to Matto-Grosso.

1749.

In the year 1749, a voyage was made from Pará to Matto-Grosso, inverting the route which had been followed by Manoel de Lima. It was undertaken by order of the Portuguese Government, and by a strong party, provided with instruments for laying down their course. The expedition had to overcome considerable difficulties, and did not reach its destination before nine months had been passed on the voyage. The voyage down the stream can be performed in one-sixth of the time. Since the above date the water communication between Matto-Grosso and Pará has been continuous; and it was by this route that the former place was supplied with European goods, this way being both cheaper and less perilous than that from S. Paulo.

The new provinces rapidly increased in population and prosperity, which was temporarily interrupted by a drought between the years 1744 and 1749. During this period the streams dried up, and in consequence of the severe heat the woods caught fire. A great mortality ensued; whilst the people were alarmed at mid-day by a sound as if of thunder beneath their feet, which was followed by several shocks of earthquake. This disturbance, however, was merely temporary; and in one year more than fifteen hundred persons passed from Goyaz to Matto-Grosso, bringing droves of cattle and horses. A salt lake was opportunely discovered, to remedy the distress which had been occasioned from the want of that article.

The Portuguese in Brazil had shown exemplary enterprise in pushing forward their settlement along the various streams which form the tributaries of the Amazons; and there were in consequence some disputes with Spain concerning the boundaries. They had even occasioned some fears in the minds of the Spanish authorities as to the safety of Peru. They had likewise, by their inland explorations by water, ascertained that there was a communication by water between the Amazons and the Orinoco, they having from the former reached the Spanish missions on the latter river.

By the middle of the eighteenth century no hostile tribes remained on the banks of the Amazons throughout the entire course of that stream; such as had not submitted to the missionaries had retired into the interior. Some Indians, being terrified of pursuit, did not feel themselves in safety until they had reached the French territory of Guayana, where they were well received and encouraged to settle.

It is stated that the Portuguese missions on the Amazons were in a more flourishing condition than were those of the Spaniards on the upper part of the same river or its tributaries. The reason is to be found in the fact that whereas the former depended for their communications and supplies upon the flourishing settlement of Belem or Pará, the latter were forbidden to hold any communication with their Portuguese neighbours, and had to be supplied by the long and difficult overland route from Quito, which place was itself a six days’ mountainous journey from the sea-coast. The city of Pará itself is stated by a French traveller¹⁴ to have presented at this period the aspect of an European town, with regular streets of well-built stone houses and with magnificent churches. During thirty years it had been gradually rebuilt; whilst by clearing the country and converting woodland into pasture the healthiness of the city had been made to undergo a corresponding improvement. It should be remarked that about the year 1730 the plague of small-pox was here stayed amongst the Indians by the introduction of inoculation at the hands of a Carmelite missionary.