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A few, however, had escaped to France; and it was on their representations that an expedition was sent out under Charles Poncet, who was appointed Lieutenant-General of the country of the Cabo do Norte, a district which was not too minutely defined, and which he interpreted generally to include the whole coast between the Amazons and the Orinoco. This officer took out with him some four hundred men, with whom he attempted to form settlements at Cayenne, Surinam, and Berbice, which three places now form settlements in French, Dutch, and British Guayana respectively. Owing to his cruelty, however, he himself fell a victim to the vengeance of the savages, whilst the various settlements were attacked and cut up. About forty survivors made their escape to St. Kitts.

The disasters, however, of M. Poncet de Bretigny did not deter the company at Rouen from pursuing the enterprise in which they had embarked; and they continued for eight years after his death to maintain a fort at Cayenne. At this date a new company was formed, on the plea that the previous one had failed in fulfilling its conditions to the Crown. The chief of the next expedition, which consisted of seven hundred men, was the Sieur de Royville. But De Royville was no more fortunate than his predecessor, being murdered on the outward voyage. The twelve associates who had accompanied him lost no time upon their arrival in quarrelling amongst themselves and in beheading one of their number, whilst three others were deported to an island, where they soon fell victims to the savages. The colony was not successful; some of its members perished from disease, and others from hunger; whilst others again were brought to the boucan.⁶ The survivors were glad to seek the protection of the English, who were by this time established at Surinam.

1656.

1676.

A few years after this occurrence, the Dutch, finding Cayenne forsaken, occupied it in the name of the West India Company. This settlement promised favourably; its commander, named Guerin Spranger, fulfilled all the conditions required for forming a profitable colony; but Louis XIV., at this period, gave to a new French company the country between the two great rivers, appointing M. le Hevre de la Barre governor of Cayenne. Five vessels were sent out, having on board a thousand persons, and Spranger had no alternative but to submit. His country was not then at war with France, but high-handed proceedings were the order of the day. The French were so fortunate as to find themselves in possession of a ready-made colony. Two years later it was laid waste by the English; but it was immediately re-occupied by the French. In the war which succeeded the peace of Breda, Cayenne was again taken by the Dutch; but in 1676 it was once more captured by the French under the Comte d’Estrees.

Cayenne once more a French settlement, its guiding spirits lost no time in directing their attention towards the possessions of their neighbours. Their attempt to enter the Amazons was forbidden by the captain of Curupá, whilst five Frenchmen were found by the Jesuits trading for slaves in the interior.

1687.

About the year 1687 the province of Ceará was so infested by the neighbouring savages that it was declared lawful and necessary to make war against them; and the hostilities were prosecuted with such vigour as to free the province from their presence for the future.

1688.

1694.

In proof that the trade of Brazil was steadily increasing, it is stated that, in 1688, the fleet which sailed from Bahia was the largest which had ever left that port, and yet that it did not contain tonnage sufficient for the produce. A trade had sprung up between Buenos Ayres and Brazil, and when it was prohibited, alike by the Spanish and by the Portuguese Governments, goods to the amount of three hundred thousand cruzados were left on the merchants’ hands at Nova Colonia, and of double that amount at Rio de Janeiro. The Government showed their appreciation of the importance of Bahia by putting its forts in a proper state of defence. Three additional settlements in the Reconcave were now large enough to be formed into towns; and the currency in Brazil was now put upon a proper footing by a regulation which permitted only milled pieces to pass, the practice of clipping having been hitherto prevalent.

The escaped negroes who had taken refuge in the Palmares or palm forests, in the interior of Pernambuco, have already been mentioned. In the course of threescore years they had acquired strength and daring. Not contented with being left unmolested, they infested several Portuguese settlements; one of their chief reasons being to carry off women. They were under the government of a chief who was elected, and who listened to such whose experience gave them the right to counsel him. He was obeyed implicitly. His people did not abandon the sign of the cross. They had their officers and magistrates; and the greater crimes were punished with death. As they carried on a regular intercourse with the Portuguese settlements by means of their slaves, the evil arising from them as a place of refuge became so great that it was necessary to make an effort to put an end to it.

The negro settlement in the Palmares was reputed to be so strong that the authorities of Pernambuco long hesitated to attack it; but at length Caetano de Mello determined to make a vigorous effort with the object of exterminating this formidable organization. With this end he solicited from the Governor-General the aid of the camp-master of a regiment of Paulistas, and that officer was accordingly directed to proceed to join him. On his way, however, at the head of a thousand men, he unwarily resolved to reconnoitre the Palmares, and found himself in front of a double palisade of hard wood, enclosing a circle four or five miles in extent, and within which were some twenty thousand persons. The enclosure contained a rock which served as a look-out station; and it was surrounded by a number of smaller settlements, in which were stationed selected men.

1665.

In front of this strong position the Paulista leader pitched his camp. On the third day the negroes sallied forth; and so fierce a conflict ensued that more than eight hundred persons were killed or wounded, with the result that the assailants were glad to retreat to Porto Calvo. At that point a force of six thousand men was assembled, which had been gathered from Olinda, Recife, and elsewhere. The retreat gave the negroes time to prepare for the attack which they awaited. Their fighting strength is said to have amounted to ten thousand men. The Portuguese army advanced without delay, and encamped in front of the fortifications. The negroes, not having anticipated an attack of this nature, were unprovided with sufficient powder. On the other hand, the Portuguese had neglected to bring artillery.

Under these circumstances, the struggle between the two parties became one of endurance. Any attempt to cut a way through the palisade was easily foiled; but the negroes not only felt the want of weapons, but likewise that of provisions. The Portuguese, too, were for some time on short allowance; but they were reinforced by large convoys of cattle from the San Francisco, and the despair which this sight occasioned to the besieged deprived them of the courage to withstand the attack which was simultaneously made. The gates were hewn down; and the chief and some of his followers, preferring death to renewed slavery, threw themselves down from the rock. The survivors of all ages were brought away as slaves.

About this time the question was formally raised as to the limits of the territory claimed by the French and by the Portuguese, respectively, M. de Ferrol, the Governor of Cayenne, claiming for France the whole to the north of the Amazons. He received for reply that it was the duty of the Portuguese governor to maintain possession of that which had been entrusted to his predecessors and to himself, and which included both sides of the river, together with the whole of the interior. M. de Ferrol, after some time, sent an expedition against the fort of Macapá, which had lately been erected at the Cabo do Norte, and which surrendered to him. In writing to the governor of Maranham, M. de Ferrol justified this expedition on the ground that the place was within the limits of the French colony. Three hundred men were at once sent to recover the fort, which was thereupon put into a state of defence, pending a reference to Europe; but, owing to complications in European policies, it was allowed to remain in the hands of Portugal without further demur on the part of France.

1696.

Meanwhile the condition of the Indians throughout Brazil had gradually improved. For this they were indebted chiefly to the importation of negroes, but partly also to legislation. Throughout all the old captaincies, with the exception of St. Paulo, a pure Indian—that is to say one without negro blood—was declared free on demanding his freedom. This consummation must have gladdened the closing days of Vieyra’s life. His memorable existence was prolonged to the age of ninety; he having been for seventy-five years a member of the Order of Jesus. His brother Gonçalo survived him by one day.

CHAPTER VII.
BRAZIL; THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

1600-1700

At the close of the seventeenth century the Portuguese race had established themselves along the whole extent of the coasts of the vast region which now forms the Brazilian Empire,—from Pará in the north to Rio Grande Do Sul at the other extremity. Of the interior of these immense provinces, extensive spaces—equal, indeed, to the size of European kingdoms—were then, and are still, uninhabited. The clouds driven westward by the periodical winds which prevail at certain seasons on the Southern Atlantic, meeting the huge and unbroken barrier of the Andes, are forced to discharge their contents in continuous deluges over the entire area of Central Brazil, thus giving birth to the most voluminous water-systems which the world contains. But this is not the only result of the almost incessant downfall of waters which is witnessed on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Another result is that the superabundant moisture, falling upon a soil under the influence of a burning sun, produces an extent and luxuriance of tropical vegetation such as is nowhere else to be seen on the surface of the earth. This vegetation has hitherto, throughout all ages, baffled the efforts of man to contend with it; and ages will elapse ere the increase of the world’s population will force mankind to bend themselves to the huge effort of subduing this teeming virgin forest.

To give any clear idea of the mere extent of the region which now forms the Empire of Brazil is no trifling task. It is easy to say that it extends from the fourth degree of northern latitude to about the thirty-fourth degree of southern latitude, and that at its widest extent it covers the space between the thirty-fourth and the seventy-third degrees of western longitude. But it will give a far more accurate estimate of the superficies of Brazil if we compare its area with something which we can realize. Its area is estimated at 8,515,848 geographical square kilometres, or 3,275,326 English square miles,—the area of British India being 899,341 English square miles;—that is to say, Brazil has an extent equaling about three and two-thirds that of British India. The area of France is 208,865 English square miles, being considerably less than one-fifteenth of that of Brazil. But perhaps the best way of estimating the extent of the Brazilian provinces is to spread out a map of South America and compare their united bulk with that of one of the adjoining countries even of that colossal continent. The contiguous state of Uruguay, for instance, covers 73,500 English square miles, being double the area of Portugal; yet Uruguay would scarcely seem to add materially to the superficies of the adjoining empire, of which in extent it forms less than a forty-fourth part. Thus the little kingdom of Portugal annexed in America alone an empire almost ninety times larger than itself.

It may be of interest to give a general idea of the progress which the Portuguese race had made in effecting the conquest and civilization of the regions lying along the immense line of coast indicated above during the seventeenth century. Maranham had now been in their undisputed possession for seventy years, its seat of government being placed in the island of the same name. The capital boasted three churches and four convents; the European population of the State was estimated at the middle of the century at about four hundred, a number which in ten years had increased to seven hundred, whilst in 1685 there were more than a thousand Portuguese in the city of St. Luiz alone. The rank and privileges of nobles were conferred upon all who had held a commission even for a few months in the local militia; indeed at one place the brotherhood of the Misericordia, which consisted of men of inferior rank, could find no recruits, since, with their exception, the whole population had become ennobled.

In order to reward the services of the inhabitants of Maranham and Pará, it was decreed that none of them should be put to the torture, excepting in such cases as rendered torture applicable to Fidalgos; they were likewise not to be imprisoned; but to be held on parole. They received the privileges of the citizens of Lisbon, and were not liable to be impressed either for land-service or for sea-service.

The revenue consisted for the most part of the tenths, which, about the middle of the century, might average five thousand cruzados.⁷ There was a duty on wine; but little was imported, as the natives prepared a spirit extracted from maize and from the sugar-cane. A fifth of the slaves taken in lawful war belonged to the Crown. Some idea of the vastness of these provinces may be conceived from the fact that the voyage from S. Luiz to Belem occupied thirty days. In 1685 the latter city contained about five hundred inhabitants, with a clerical and monastic establishment out of all proportion to its numbers. The tenths of Pará and its subordinate captaincies amounted to about four thousand cruzados; whilst the saltworks produced two thousand more, and the fisheries an equal amount.

The salary of the Governor-General was three thousand cruzados; but on the whole the salaries to the various public officers were so small as almost to compel them to have recourse to other means of living. The priests were said to be of the very lowest order, being chiefly engaged in securing gain and in exciting discontent against the Jesuits, whose mental acquirements and whose manner of life were alike a reproach to their inferior brethren. The natives of Brazil held in the utmost horror and detestation the lot of slavery to which so many of them fell heirs. It is even said that many captives preferred death to being ransomed for the purpose of being thrown into perpetual captivity; and instances are on record when slave-hunters in vain set fire to the dwellings of Indians with a view to inducing them to come out and be captured.

Slave-hunting in Brazil, independently of the miserable lot of the captured victims, was attended by an enormous waste of life. Almost all slaves were kidnapped; and great numbers perished before reaching the Portuguese settlements. On their capture they were penned like cattle until a sufficient number were collected, being shut up for months together and exposed to the varying action of the elements. Such being the case, it is not surprising that often but half their number arrived at their destination. The Indians likewise who took part in the hunt, in the service of the slave-dealers, suffered greatly in the expeditions; while the Portuguese themselves returned in a wretched condition, after having penetrated more than two thousand miles into the interior, carrying devastation before them. The object of all this inhuman exertion was, of course, gain—gain to be derived in the first instance from the sale of the slaves, who were to become the means of gain to others. The sole pretext which could be urged on behalf of the slave-hunting was that it was a necessary evil, if such an expression may be used with reference to what may be avoided, since it was impossible for Europeans to perform the work of tilling the earth in such a climate; but, as Southey very justly remarks, that men of European stock are perfectly capable of all the labour which in such climates is required for the well-being of man is abundantly proved by the prodigious fatigues which the Portuguese underwent in seeking slaves to do this “necessary” labour for them.

In Maranham and Pará the colonists occupied one of the numerous islands per family, the country being so intersected by streams of all descriptions that these became natural and convenient landmarks. Inter-communication was carried on by water; and each family relied on its own means for subsistence. Vegetation being too luxuriant to admit of land for pasturage, game became the only animal food within reach of the colonists, and this, as well as fish, was procured by means of their Indians. This, however, formed but the smallest part of the slaves’ occupation, and it is stated that at this period the slaves in Maranham and Pará were, literally, worked to death,—a statement which is borne out by the fact of depopulation.

In addition to slave-hunting, there were other inducements for traders in the interior. Sarsaparilla and other drugs were found in abundance, as were cinnamon and nutmeg, the vanilla and indigo. Cacao grew in plenty. Of the cultivated produce, cotton was the most important; the cotton of Maranham was at this time accounted the best in America. Mandioc supplied the inhabitants with a satisfactory substitute for wheat-flour. Tobacco was one of the branches of agriculture chiefly cultivated in Brazil from the first. At the time in question this industry had grown into disuse in Maranham from want of hands. As such persons as were without a trade could only procure subsistence by means of slaves, many families in Maranham fell into distress owing to their not being able to procure the latter. The Portuguese had grown so accustomed to depend on slave-labour, that they allowed themselves to fall into destitution rather than work for their families; it was thought dishonourable for free men to cultivate the soil.

In strange contradistinction to the apathy of the Portuguese with respect to engaging in agriculture, was the eagerness with which they embarked in commerce. It was found necessary to restrain the civil and judicial officers by means of statute; whilst the clergy showed equal readiness to join in speculations. Still, in spite of every disadvantage, the provinces of Pará and Maranham gradually, though slowly, acquired population and importance. Such, however, could not be said of the adjoining captaincy of Ceará, which possesses neither river nor harbour, and is the least fertile portion of Brazil, being subject to fatal droughts. Owing, nevertheless, to the disadvantages which this captaincy possessed for colonization, its native inhabitants were free from the molestations which beset those of Maranham and Pará.

The settlement of the neighbouring captaincy of Rio Grande do Norte dates from the commencement of the seventeenth century. In this province, whilst it was under the Dutch, great efforts were made for exploring the country, civilizing the Tapuyas, and improving the general condition of the people. The palace of Maurice of Nassau, together with the buildings and public works erected under his auspices, are solid mementoes of his administration, which is still further commemorated in the history of Barlæus. During the government of this Viceroy an attempt was undertaken to discover the vestiges of some people who had possessed the country before the race of savages then existing, an attempt which has left the race in question a subject of curious speculation to the learned in such matters.⁸

Great efforts were made during the administration of Count Maurice to promote the reformed religion throughout the territories under his government. The Protestant missionaries were, it is said, regarded with much jealousy by Vieyra and his brethren. They are reputed to have succeeded to a considerable extent in imparting to the Indians the arts of civilization; but the efforts of the Dutch towards civilizing and humanizing the natives and negroes was confined entirely to the government and the clergy. Nothing could exceed the barbarity of these invaders, on the whole, towards both races. Their privateers freely seized such Indians as they could entrap on the rivers or on the coasts, and sold them as slaves; whilst of their imported negroes the excessive mortality was imputed by Nassau himself to unwholesome food and physical suffering. It was no unusual thing for these slaves to commit suicide after attempting in vain to kill their masters.

The Dutch conquerors introduced into their Brazilian provinces that almost excessive domestic cleanliness for which their country is remarkable; whilst they increased the pleasures of life by the attention which they, in accordance with their national habits, did not fail to bestow upon horticulture. They reared vines with great success, and from which a wine was made that was much esteemed. Being accustomed to plains and swamps, they did not take advantage of the higher lands in forming their settlements; but the malaria and damp had less evil consequences than might have been anticipated, from the fact of the men being addicted to the free use of wine and tobacco. The Dutch women, however, who were without these counteractants, suffered much from the climate. The country possessed by Holland was only cultivated to an extent of some twelve or fifteen miles inland from the shore. The native industry of the Dutch had not sufficient time to display itself; and the almost continuous hostilities prevented the development of the fisheries. Although the invaders from Holland were in Brazil for five-and-twenty years there was very little mixture of races between them and the Portuguese; the difference of religion was an almost insuperable barrier; and when they departed they left little or no trace behind them either in religion, language, or manners.

The population of Bahia and the surrounding coast is said to have numbered, in the middle of the seventeenth century, some three thousand five hundred souls, not including a garrison of two thousand five hundred. A few years later, however, Bahia is described as having fine streets, grand squares, well-built houses, and splendid churches. At the close of the century it is said to have possessed two thousand houses, built of stone. It owed its prosperity, amongst other causes, to its being a place of safety for the new-Christians, who were persecuted with such cruelty in Portugal and Spain. Superstitious as were the Brazilians, even they successfully resisted the establishment of the Inquisition amongst them. If the new Christians were, in Brazil, a despised race, they could at any rate count on opportunities of gaining wealth and of retaining it when gained. Bahia possessed abundant sources of riches; amongst others its whale fishery, which at one time was considered the most important in the world. At the close of the century it was rented by the Crown for thirty thousand dollars. The staple commodity was sugar.

In general, a scanty population was scattered along the shores and in the islands; and here and there we read of a place, such as Porto Seguro, possessing a population of fifty inhabitants. The numbers, on the whole, are so scanty that it seems strange that the Portuguese could have at the same time contended successfully with a foreign invader and with hostile tribes in the interior. Espirito Santo had five hundred Portuguese in its district; whilst the population of Rio de Janeiro was estimated at five times that number, exclusive of a garrison of six hundred. As a city it was inferior to Bahia; it was, however, advancing rapidly in wealth. It owed the eminence which it soon attained, and which it retains amongst the cities of Brazil, to its situation relatively to the mines which were soon to be discovered.

Ilha Grande and the island of S. Sebastian possessed, in the middle of the century, no more than one hundred and fifty inhabitants each; the population of Santos was rather greater. S. Paulo boasted some seven hundred inhabitants; its neighbourhood, however, must have contained a considerable number, amongst whom were enlisted the terrible bands of freebooters, who carried desolation and destruction to the frontiers of Paraguay, and one band of whom penetrated as far as to the province of Quito, where, having encountered the Spaniards, they escaped down the Amazons on rafts. The earliest gold found in Brazil was gathered at S. Vicente in 1655, where it was coined. S. Vicente, at this time, had two thousand inhabitants. To the south of this place there was a small settlement at Cananea, and a still smaller one at Santa Catalina.

It was commonly reported that Indian spices were indigenous in Brazil, and that their culture had been prohibited by the Government, lest it should interfere with the Indian trade. Whether this were so or not, an order was given by Joam IV. that every ship touching at Brazil on its way from India should bring with it spice plants. These were placed in the garden of the Jesuits at Bahia, and two persons were brought from Goa who understood the management of cinnamon and pepper plants. But, although the attempt promised success, it was not persevered in; and the subsequent discovery of mines diverted attention from this possible source of wealth. Previously to the finding of the precious metals, the production of sugar was the main object of the inhabitants of the coast.

A sugar-producing engenho implied the presence of various artisans, necessary for the continuous work of the machinery belonging to it. That is to say, it was a village-community in itself, more populous than many of the towns so-called then existing. It comprised in general an area of some eight square miles, the condition attached to the holding of this land being settlement and the cultivation of the necessary canes, which were to be sold at a fair price. From fifty to a hundred negroes were employed in each engenho; a circumstance which, owing to the great cultivation of sugar in the province, had a marked influence on the population of Bahia. A French traveller⁹ estimated the proportion of negroes to the white population as twenty to one; but this is probably the highest proportion which it assumed in Brazil. The negroes, according to his account, were exposed to purchase, exactly like beasts at our own cattle fairs, being entirely naked, being handled, as animals are, to test their muscle, and being obliged to show their paces.

The costume of the inhabitants of civilized Brazil during the period of which we treat comprised every conceivable variety, from that of the almost entirely nude slave to that of the lady dressed according to the latest fashion from Lisbon. In the more flourishing settlements, such as Olinda and Bahia, nothing could exceed the luxury of the female costume, the wives of the planters being attired in silks and satins covered with the richest embroidery, with pearls, rubies, and emeralds. Black was the prevailing colour, and the use of gold and silver lace was forbidden by a sumptuary law. In describing the results of holding slaves, it is necessary for the historian to state, with whatsoever reluctance, that the ladies of Bahia, even those the most distinguished amongst them, and who passed for being the most virtuous, did not, according to the direct statement of the French traveller above referred to, scruple to adorn their female slaves to the utmost extent, with the object of participating with them in the profits of their prostitution. This particular form of highborn depravity is, in so far as I am aware, peculiar to Brazil in the annals of history. The ladies of Bahia were so indolent of habit that on going abroad they had to lean on their pages lest they should fall. Even the men,—if men they might be called,—were unable to descend the declivity on which Bahia stands, and were carried down on a contrivance called the serpentine, that is to say, a hammock suspended from a pole, a slave attending meanwhile with a parasol. Each lady on going from home was attended by two negresses.

The Portuguese in Brazil were exceedingly prone to jealousy, and it has been concluded that, as the punishment for convicted unfaithfulness was assured death, it is impossible to believe the often-repeated statement that connubial infidelity on the part of women was remarkably common; but the experience of many countries has shown that neither certainty of punishment nor the probability of detection can be relied upon as preventives of a breach of the marriage law; whilst it is likewise not the less certain that the risk incurred may add to the zest of the crime.

As might be anticipated from the fact that criminals were, from an early period, sent to Brazil to swell the ranks of the settlers, the police records of the various settlements are not gratifying reading. In the first place, the courts of justice were, in certain quarters, notoriously corrupt; robberies were committed in open day; whilst quarrels not unfrequently terminated in death. In short, the lives of the Christian settlers were certainly, as a whole, the reverse of being calculated to serve as examples to the heathen whom their missionaries were employed in converting. The very ships which brought out the Fathers too often carried out a supply of criminals whose lives serve as a practical antidote to their doctrines.