August 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Embark on an enlightening journey through Brazil in this captivating first-hand account by an Englishman exploring the vibrant coastal regions of the Northeast just before Brazils independence from Portugal. Kosters travels, which also lead him to the northern port city of Maranh√£o, reveal the rich cultural practices and everyday life of the Brazilian people through a refreshingly objective lens. More than a mere travelogue, this work serves as a compelling ethnographic study that immerses readers in the essence of Brazilian society. (Summary by KevinS)
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section sixteen of Travels in Brazil, Volume one by Henry Coster.
The Sleeperwalk recording, as in the public domain Chapter eleven,
Part one, Residents at Jaguaribe, Journey to Guayana. Illness returned
to Jaguaribe after the journey to bom Jardim. I did
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not again leave Haysefi for any length of time until
I entered with a friend into a scheme of farming.
It had been greatly my wish to remove from the
town into the country from preference rather than from any
other cause. In the beginning of April eighteen twelve, we
rented the sugar plantation of Jaguaribe, distant from Hesefe, four
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leagues in a northward direction and about one league from
the coast. It had upon it several slaves, oxen machinery
and implements, which enabled the new tenant to enter it immediately.
A few days after these matters were arranged, I accompanied
the owner to the plantation for the purpose of meeting
the person who was about to leave it, being the
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second visit which I had made to my intended place
of residence. Having agreed with this man, the owner and
myself returned to sleep at the dwelling of one of
his brothers, which was situated about a mile and a
half from the coast. This person had purchased some lands
which he was now clearing, and upon which he was
erecting several buildings. He and his family inhabited a barn
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and were to sleep in his new house, of which
the roof and the woodwork of the walls were alone erected.
The rainy season had commenced, and this unfinished dwelling was
almost surrounded by pools of stagnant water, inhabited by enormous toads,
whose loud and hoarse croaking continued during the whold of
the night without intermission. The trunks of the trees, which
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had been cut down a short time before, were lying
as they had fallen in all directions. In the morning,
I set off alone on my return to Esife. I
made for the seashore and soon reached the River Dosse,
a narrow stream which, after a course of four or
five leagues, here discharges into waters into the sea. The
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tide enters it and again recedes with considerable rapidity. At
such times it is not fortable, but at the ebb
the remaining waters are very trifling. In some parts of
the channel are left quite dry. It is necessary to
pass quickly over, as the sand of which its bed
is composed is very fine, and although not altogether what
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is called quicksand still to delay in one spot is
not quite safe. When the tide is out, the water
of the river is quite sweet, which has obtained for
it the name of Dossi. It was upon the borders
of this river that the Portuguese and the Dutch were
first opposed to each other in this part of Brazil.
Footnote History in Brazil fioum Ie, pages four, sixty seven
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and for sixty eight end. Footnote Here commence the memorable
struggle upon which the Pernambucans, with so much reason pride themselves.
The beginning was not propitious and did not augur well
of the result, but time proved the people to be
worthy of the beautiful country which they inhabit. The river Tapado,
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upon the banks of which the Portuguese commander afterwards attempted
to rally as men, lies between the Dosse and Olinda.
It is a rivulet or dike, for it resembles more
the latter than the former, without any outlet to the sea,
but it is only separated from it by the sands,
which are here about twenty yards across. When the rains
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have been violent, the additional waters of the Tapado are
discharged over the sands, and sometimes at spring tides, when
the wind blows fresh, a few ways will reach over
them and fall into the dike, this being the only
manner in which they can communicate with each other at
the Dulce. Likewise, land that Peter Jacques de Malgalliines, the
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General and Brito ferreer, now known as an historian, the
admiral of the fleet, which assisted the patriots of Pernambucco
in the completion of their long desired and hardly earned object,
the reconquest of Hassifi in consequent expulsions of the Dutch
footnote History of Brazil, Volume two, page two thirty seven
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and footnote but to return. I arrived upon the banks
of the Dulce and asked at a cottage which was
not far distant, if the river was fordable. In being
answered in the affirmative, I rode up to its banks
and attempted to make my horse enter it, which he
refused to do. I made a second and a third
trial when he plunged in swimming, who was with much
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difficulty that he gained the outerm point of the sand
bank on the opposite side. It had passed a bad
night and was not in a proper state to perform
this task, nor should I have attempted it if I
had known the depth. But I imagined that the tide
had sufficiently retreated. My clothes were dry before I arrived
at home, But I long felt the consequences of crossing
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the those. About the middle of May, I removed to Jaguaribe.
The road to it is through the plantation of Paulsthas
from whence, after crossing the Paratibi, a narrow path leads
to the left through a deep wood. For nearly one league,
a steep hill is to be surmounted, and its corresponding
declivity carefully descended. The wood continues to a break in
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the hill on the side nearest to Jaguaribe. On reaching
the spot, there was a view before me which would
in most situations be accounted very beautiful. But in this
delightful country, so many fine prospects are continually presenting themselves,
that I opened upon this with few feelings of pleasure.
At the site I cannot avoid owning that the advantages
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of the place as a plantation occupied my mind more
deeply than its beauties. Immediately before me was a cottage
and a row of negro huts, surrounded by banana trees,
standing up on a shelf of the hill. Beyond these,
to the left was the narrow but far extending valley,
upon whose nearest border were situated the buildings of Jaguaribe,
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upon an open field with the hills behind, and in
front was the rivulet. To the right was a deep
dell with an expanse of country not thickly covered with wood,
and rather in advance. But also to the right were
numerous deep colored mangroves, which pointed out that a stream
of considerable size ran down among them. On the other
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side of the nearest of these mangroves, and not yet
very far, was the high peak of Saint Bento, with
the mangioc and maize lands and wood upon its side,
and the path winding up through them, which is at
times concealed and at times in view. But the buildings
are not to be seen, though the tolling of the
chapel bell may be often heard from the spot. Upon
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which I was standing. I was under the necessity of
taking up my abode in the vestry of the chapel,
as the great house was still occupied. The Negroes were
already at work for us, and under the direction of
a proper fettor or manager. The whole neighborhood was astonished
at the place I had determined to inhabit, until some
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other dwelling presented itself. I was certainly not comfortably situated,
for the vestry consisted of only one apartment with a
doorway to the field, and another into the church, the
latter being without a door. The church was unfinished and
was the resort of bats and owls. However, it was
principally my unconcerned respecting ghosts, which my neighbors were surprised at.
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A Negro boy myself from a sins at night to
encounter these, if any should appear, and to receive our
constant visitors the bats. My companion rolled himself up on
the ground in a piece of baize and a mat,
and thus caste was quite safe. I slipt in a hammock,
and oftentimes these unwelcome guests alighted upon it as if
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they had come for the chance of a toe or
a finger making its appearance upon which they might fix.
This way of living did not last long, nor did
I wish that it should. The house of which I
have spoken as being situated upon a shelf of the hill,
and as looking down upon the valley, was soon without
an inhabitant, and therefore to this I removed. It was large,
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but the floors of the room were without bricks, and
the interior walls had not been whitewashed for an age,
and some of them had never undergone the operation. I
received visits and presents, as is customary, from my immediate neighbors,
the white persons and those of color who aspired to gentility,
And indeed many individuals of the lower class did not
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neglect to come and offer their services to the newcomer,
whose character and disposition towards them. They judged that it
was necessary to become acquainted with. In many instances, the
wives of the latter description of visitors came also, and
brought sweetmeats, fruit or flowers. I received them all sitting
in my hammock. The men sat round on chairs, and
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the women generally squatted down upon the floor. Though it
was formed of earth, I talked to them of my
intentions and of my wish to conciliate, and I heard
much of pickerings and squabblings among those of their rank,
and of feuds between their superiors, these same stories being
related to me in many different ways. They were much
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surprised that I should wear so much clothes, saying that
I ought to do as they did and be unencumbered
in their advice. I soon followed. I was much amused,
and for some days these visits took up the largest
portion of my time. The lands around me, to the
north belonged to the Benedictine Friars, and to the east
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to an old lady. Those at the latter were much neglected,
but those which were possessed by the former were in
high order. To the south, beyond the wood through which
I passed in coming to Jaguaribe, are the lands of Paulistas,
and to the west and northwester some excellent cane lands
belonging to a religious lay brotherhood of free Negroes of Olinda,
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which were tenanted by and subdivided among a great number
of persons of low rank, whites, mulattoes and blacks. The
work went on regularly, and I had soon very little
in which to employ my time, excepting those things by
which I might think proper to amuse myself. In the
beginning of June, it was necessary that I should visit Guayana. However,
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I took a certuitous route for the purpose of seeing
something new. I was accompanied by an old free man
of color, and by Manuel, a faithful African. We slept
the first night at Aguiar, the estate of the Capita More,
with whom I traveled to BoNT Jardin, and on the
following morning proceeded through several sugar plantations. We rested at
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midday at Purgatorio, a small cotton and mangiac plantation, but
we could not purchase anything of which to make a dinner,
and therefore, as was usual on such occasions, we smoked
in place of eating. When the sun had declined a little,
we again set forth. A few of the sugar plantations
through which we passed in the afternoon were in a
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decayed state. We stopped at a cottage and begged the
odor to sell us a fowl, but she refused. We
had not eaten anything this day. I was loath so
to do, but I could not avoid saying that she
must sell one, that I did not mind the price,
but that hunger would not allow me to let her
do as she pleased. In this case she fixed upon
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one and made me pay exorbitantly for it. We parted
in the end very good friends. She offered me some
herbs with which to cook the bird, and after this
reconciliation we again advanced by going to Purgatorio. We had
left the usual direct road. Cross Roads even in England
are not good, so what must they be in Brazil.
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In one part we were obliged to lean down upon
our horses necks, and to proceed in this manner for
some distance, with the branches of the trees completely closed. Above.
The plantation of Mundolovo, or the New World, which we
reached late in the afternoon, was in ruins. Trees grew
in the chapel, and the brushwood in front of the
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dwelling house rose higher than its roof. I slept at
a cottage hard by, which was inhabited by an elderly
man and a number of children, large and small. The
ill fated fowl and another which we had also obtained
by the way, were addressed by the daughters of our host.
Soon the cooking was effected, and I commenced operations literally
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with tooth and nail upon one of the birds, for
there were no knives, forks or spoons to be had. However,
I did receive some assistance from my own facca chiponta,
a point at knife for dirt, which, though prohibited by law,
is worn by all ranks of persons. At night, my
hammock was slung under the penthouse. At a late hour,
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a shower of rain came on. Our host had a
vast herd of goats. These crowded in from the rain,
and soon I was obliged in self defense to rise,
as I discovered that they had very little respect for me.
My head and some of theirs, having come in contact,
made me look out for better quarters, and these I
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found upon a high table, where I remained until the
visitors again ventured forth. We proceeded on the morrow and
reached Guayana by the low marshy lands of Katu. The
river was scarcely affordable, but we crossed, and on the
opposite side. The loose mud in the road reached above
the horse's knees, and continued along it for more than
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one hundred yards we entered it. The horses gently waded
it through, but mine unfortunately felt that his tail was
not quite easy in the mud, and therefore began to
move it to and fro on either side. And as
it was long, much too long for this occasion, it
struck me at every jerk. My dress was a light
colored nankeen jacket and trousers, and I came forth without exaggeration,
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one cake of mud from head to foot. I rode
to the residence of a person with whom I had
been long acquainted. He had taken up his quarters in
a new mangia plantation which had been lately established in
the outskirts of Guayana. My friend had removed to this
place to superintend some of the workmen. I stayed only
two days at Guayana, for I soon accomplished the object
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of my journey, which was to obtain twenty Indian laborers
from Alhandra. My return to Jagaribe was by the usual road.
The day after my arrival at my new home, I
rode to Hasife and had on the following day an
attack of agu. I had exposed myself late lead too
much to the sun, and had been several times wet
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through the disorder left me in a fortnight. My horses
were sent for. They came and I set off for Jaguaribe,
but in midway I was drenched with rain, and, reaching
that place, much tired, went to sleep unintentionally in my
hammock without changing my clothes. In the morning, I felt
that the agu was returning, and therefore ordered my horse
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and rode out to try to shake off the attack,
which the peasants say it is possible to do. However,
whilst I was talking with a neighbor on horseback at
his door, the agu came on and I was unable
to return to my dwelling. The next day the Indians
from al Ham arrived. They had imbibed strange notions of
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the richest of an Englishman, and their captain told me
that they knew I was very rich and could afford
to give higher wages than any one else. I tried
to undeceive them in this respect, but all to no purpose.
I offered the usual rate of labor in the country,
but their characteristic obstinacy had entered into them, and they
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preferred returning as they came to any abatement of their
first demand, although this was twenty five percent higher than
any person had ever been known to give for daily labor.
They dined, placed their wallets upon their shoulders, and went away.
One of my people said, as they disappeared, ascending the
hill beyond the field, they had rather worked for any
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one else for half the money than lower in their
demands to you. I was removed from this neighbor's house
after a few days in a hammock, but finding that
the disorder increased, I sent for my manager, an old
man of color, whose wife attended upon me by my desire.
He collected a sufficient number of bearers, as it was
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my wish to be carried to Hassife. About five o'clock
in the afternoon we set off. There were sixteen men
to bear the hammock by turns, and the manager was
likewise in company. Of these persons only two were slaves.
After we passed the wood and had arrived upon a
good road, the bearers proceeded at a long walk, approaching
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to a run their wild chorus, which they sung as
they went along, their mischief and throwing stones at the
dogs by the roadside, and in abuse, half joking, half
wishing for an opportunity of quarreling, confident in their numbers,
and that as they were in the surface of a
white man, he would bring them out of any scrape.
Was very strange, and had I been less unwell, this
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journey would have much amused me. As we passed through Olinda,
a woman asked my men if they carried a dead body,
for it is in this manner they are brought from
a distance for her interment. One of the bearers answered, no,
it is the devil. Footnote Senora, Now I owed diabo
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end footnote, and then turning to me, said is it
not so, my master? Footnote kidiz mayoamo end footnote. I
said yes, and the good woman walked away, saying, ave Maria,
the Lord forbid footnote ave Maria nosa senor nos birire
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end footnote. The wind was high and some rain fell
as we crossed the Olinda Sands. We arrived at Hesife
between nine and ten o'clock. The bearer stopped before we
approached the gateway at the entrance of the town, that
each man might, in some way or other conceal his
long unlawful knife. Without one of them these weapons, no
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peasant or a great man leaves his home. Notwithstanding the prohibition.
I became gradually worse, until my recovery was not expected.
But the kind, attentive hand of another Englishman here again
was stretched forth. My former friend had left the country,
but another supplied his place, and from him I received
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every brotherly kindness I cannot forbear mentioning the following circumstances
related to my illness. I went on board an English
merchant ship some weeks after my recovery, and on passing
a cask which was lying upon the deck, I struck
it intentionally, but without any particular object. The master, who
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was an old gentleman with whom I had come from
England and who had been long acquainted with me, said, yes,
you would not have liked it. I asked him what
he meant, to which he replied, it was for you,
but you gave us the slip. This time I did
not yet understand him, so he continued, why do you
think I would have let you remain among these fellows here,
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who would not have given you a Christian burial? I
intended to have taken you home in that puncheon of run.
I was told by one of my medical attendants when
I was recovering that some old maiden ladies who lived
near to where I resided, had frequently pressed him whilst
I was in a dangerous state to have the sacrament
brought to me, for they were much aggrieved that I
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should die without any chance of salvation. An English merchant
of Hessefi asked my particular friend when the funeral was
to take place, and one of the medical men wrote
a note to the same person late one night inquiring
whether his attendants on the following morning had been rendered unnecessary.
As soon as I was well enough to remove, I
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took a small cottage at the village of Montero, that
I might have the advantage of better error than that
of Hesseife, and yet not to be too far distant
from me advice. Here I passed my time very pleasantly
in daily intercourse with a most worthy Irish family, of
whom I shall always preserve recollections of gratitude for the
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kindness which I received at that time and on other occasions.
On the night of my arrival at Montero, one of
my pack horses was stolen, but the animal was recognized
some weeks afterwards by a boy who was in my
service the man into whose hands he had fallen happened
to pass through the village, and thus I recovered my horse.
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It is astonishing to what a great extent horse stealing
has been carried in a country which bounds so much
with these animals. It is almost the only species of
robbery for the practicing of which regular gangs of men
have been discovered to have been formed. But these fellows
will sometimes also chance to lay hold of a stray
ox or cow Footnote. These practices were, or rather are
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carry on in one part of the country with which
I am well acquainted. The persons who commit the crimes
are white men, and of high birth. Among them was
a priest. The magistrate of the district in question was
applied to by a man who had lost a cow,
mentioning that he more than suspected where she was, and
at the same time naming the place a tropa or
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a troop or party of Orthinansa soldiers were collected, and
these men were dispatched to search the house which had
been pointed out, under the command of a corporal of
well known courage. They arrived there and knocked. The door
was opened by the owner, who was the priest connected
with the gang. He said that he could not allow
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his house to be entered without an order from the
ecclesiastical court. This answer was conveyed to the magistrate, who
had signed the order the soldiers remaining round about the house.
A second order arrived, and the bearer brought with him
a couple of hatchets, thus expressly pointing out to the
corporal what he was to do forthwith. Preparations were made
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for breaking open the door. When the priest said that
he would allow the corporal to enter alone, the man
fearlessly went in, but as soon as the door was
again closed, the priest seized upon him, and some of
the negroes, who were in another apartment, sprang forwards to
assist their master, But the corporal disengaged himself in standing
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upon the defensive, called to his men, who soon broke
into the house. Search was made, and the caucasse and
hide of the cow were found, and were with the
negroes taken publicly to the nearest town. The mark of
the red hot iron upon the haunch had been burnt
out of the hide that discovery might be rendered less easy.
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The priest was punished by suspension from saying mass for
a few months. I was subsequently acquainted with him. He
was received by many persons as if nothing had been amiss,
But he was not received as heretofore, for the individuals
of his own profession would not, generally speaking, associate with him.
The circumstance had, not, however, so completely prevented his re
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entrance into decent society as such a crime would have
done in many other countries, or so much as would
have occurred at Pernambuco if he had been a laban
and footnote. I was most anxious to return to Jacquardipe,
and about the middle of October was making preparations for
the purpose when the manager arrived from the plantation with
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the intelligence that one of his assistants had been attacked
two nights before and nearly killed by some persons who
had been commissioned to perform this deed in revenge of
some real or imagined injury which the man had committed.
This determined my proceedings. The following morning, I set off
with a manager and a servant to see the wounded man.
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I found him at his father's house in most woeful plight.
His face was dreadfully lacerated and his body much bruised.
The deed had been done by bludgeons, and evidently in fear.
Else the task would have been performed less clumsily and
more effectually. I never could discover by whom the murder
was intended, nor the persons who attempted it. They were
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dressed in leather like certanasos, but to sufferer imagined that
this custom was made use of as a disguise. Two
men sprang out upon him in a narrow lane which
had high banks on each side. He defended himself for
some time with his sword, but the overpowered him at last,
and his weapon was the only part of his property
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which they carried off. I removed altogether from Montero in
a few days. My presence had long been necessary at Jaguaribe,
for the mill was at work, and, as frequently happens
in every country, some of the persons who were employed
had not remained empty handed. The poor fellow who had
been ways soon returned to the plantation. He told me
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that every night large stones were thrown violently against his
door between the hours of one and four in the morning.
I called the manager the following evening. In both of
us being armed. We took our station near to the
gate which leads into the field, one being on each
side behind the high bank. We could hear the footsteps
of any person long before he could approach us, as
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the splashing in the rivulet which runs beyond the gate
would give us timely notice. The mosquitoes gave us much employment. However,
we remained at our post until half an hour before
daybreak without seeing anything, but the practice was discontinued. Two
men had arrived early in the night to offer themselves
as laborers. They were awake when we returned, had made
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a good fire upon the ground in a mill a
spacious roof supported upon brick pillars, and were sitting rounded
upon their heels. We joined them, and here I heard
the stories their own preless of charms and miracles. Another
conversation of the same nature, each of them telling something
strange which he had seen or heard. Footnote a free
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negro with whom I had been acquainted whilst I resided
at this place, and who came to see me when
I removed to Itamarasa told me, with much horror pictured
in his countenance, of the fate of a man who
had worked for me. He said that this person occasionally
became a lobos omen a wolfman. I asked him to
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explain when he said that the man was at times
transformed into an animal of the size of a calf,
with the figure of a dog, that he left his
home at midnight in this metamorphosed state and ran about
with the violence of a mad dog, and that he
attacked anyone whom he might chance to meet. The black
man was perfectly persuaded of the correctness of his own
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statement when he related, having with his brother in law
and his sister met this uncommon beating near to their
own cottages. I suppose it was some large dog which
prowled about to satisfy his hunger in the neighborhood of
these habitations. But no, the man was persuaded that it
was poor Miguel and footnote and a section sixteen
Section sixteen of Travels in Brazil, Volume one by Henry Coster.
The Sleeperwalk recording, as in the public domain Chapter eleven,
Part one, Residents at Jaguaribe, Journey to Guayana. Illness returned
to Jaguaribe after the journey to bom Jardim. I did
(00:25):
not again leave Haysefi for any length of time until
I entered with a friend into a scheme of farming.
It had been greatly my wish to remove from the
town into the country from preference rather than from any
other cause. In the beginning of April eighteen twelve, we
rented the sugar plantation of Jaguaribe, distant from Hesefe, four
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leagues in a northward direction and about one league from
the coast. It had upon it several slaves, oxen machinery
and implements, which enabled the new tenant to enter it immediately.
A few days after these matters were arranged, I accompanied
the owner to the plantation for the purpose of meeting
the person who was about to leave it, being the
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second visit which I had made to my intended place
of residence. Having agreed with this man, the owner and
myself returned to sleep at the dwelling of one of
his brothers, which was situated about a mile and a
half from the coast. This person had purchased some lands
which he was now clearing, and upon which he was
erecting several buildings. He and his family inhabited a barn
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and were to sleep in his new house, of which
the roof and the woodwork of the walls were alone erected.
The rainy season had commenced, and this unfinished dwelling was
almost surrounded by pools of stagnant water, inhabited by enormous toads,
whose loud and hoarse croaking continued during the whold of
the night without intermission. The trunks of the trees, which
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had been cut down a short time before, were lying
as they had fallen in all directions. In the morning,
I set off alone on my return to Esife. I
made for the seashore and soon reached the River Dosse,
a narrow stream which, after a course of four or
five leagues, here discharges into waters into the sea. The
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tide enters it and again recedes with considerable rapidity. At
such times it is not fortable, but at the ebb
the remaining waters are very trifling. In some parts of
the channel are left quite dry. It is necessary to
pass quickly over, as the sand of which its bed
is composed is very fine, and although not altogether what
(02:39):
is called quicksand still to delay in one spot is
not quite safe. When the tide is out, the water
of the river is quite sweet, which has obtained for
it the name of Dossi. It was upon the borders
of this river that the Portuguese and the Dutch were
first opposed to each other in this part of Brazil.
Footnote History in Brazil fioum Ie, pages four, sixty seven
(03:04):
and for sixty eight end. Footnote Here commence the memorable
struggle upon which the Pernambucans, with so much reason pride themselves.
The beginning was not propitious and did not augur well
of the result, but time proved the people to be
worthy of the beautiful country which they inhabit. The river Tapado,
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upon the banks of which the Portuguese commander afterwards attempted
to rally as men, lies between the Dosse and Olinda.
It is a rivulet or dike, for it resembles more
the latter than the former, without any outlet to the sea,
but it is only separated from it by the sands,
which are here about twenty yards across. When the rains
(03:47):
have been violent, the additional waters of the Tapado are
discharged over the sands, and sometimes at spring tides, when
the wind blows fresh, a few ways will reach over
them and fall into the dike, this being the only
manner in which they can communicate with each other at
the Dulce. Likewise, land that Peter Jacques de Malgalliines, the
(04:09):
General and Brito ferreer, now known as an historian, the
admiral of the fleet, which assisted the patriots of Pernambucco
in the completion of their long desired and hardly earned object,
the reconquest of Hassifi in consequent expulsions of the Dutch
footnote History of Brazil, Volume two, page two thirty seven
(04:34):
and footnote but to return. I arrived upon the banks
of the Dulce and asked at a cottage which was
not far distant, if the river was fordable. In being
answered in the affirmative, I rode up to its banks
and attempted to make my horse enter it, which he
refused to do. I made a second and a third
trial when he plunged in swimming, who was with much
(04:58):
difficulty that he gained the outerm point of the sand
bank on the opposite side. It had passed a bad
night and was not in a proper state to perform
this task, nor should I have attempted it if I
had known the depth. But I imagined that the tide
had sufficiently retreated. My clothes were dry before I arrived
at home, But I long felt the consequences of crossing
(05:21):
the those. About the middle of May, I removed to Jaguaribe.
The road to it is through the plantation of Paulsthas
from whence, after crossing the Paratibi, a narrow path leads
to the left through a deep wood. For nearly one league,
a steep hill is to be surmounted, and its corresponding
declivity carefully descended. The wood continues to a break in
(05:44):
the hill on the side nearest to Jaguaribe. On reaching
the spot, there was a view before me which would
in most situations be accounted very beautiful. But in this
delightful country, so many fine prospects are continually presenting themselves,
that I opened upon this with few feelings of pleasure.
At the site I cannot avoid owning that the advantages
(06:07):
of the place as a plantation occupied my mind more
deeply than its beauties. Immediately before me was a cottage
and a row of negro huts, surrounded by banana trees,
standing up on a shelf of the hill. Beyond these,
to the left was the narrow but far extending valley,
upon whose nearest border were situated the buildings of Jaguaribe,
(06:28):
upon an open field with the hills behind, and in
front was the rivulet. To the right was a deep
dell with an expanse of country not thickly covered with wood,
and rather in advance. But also to the right were
numerous deep colored mangroves, which pointed out that a stream
of considerable size ran down among them. On the other
(06:50):
side of the nearest of these mangroves, and not yet
very far, was the high peak of Saint Bento, with
the mangioc and maize lands and wood upon its side,
and the path winding up through them, which is at
times concealed and at times in view. But the buildings
are not to be seen, though the tolling of the
chapel bell may be often heard from the spot. Upon
(07:13):
which I was standing. I was under the necessity of
taking up my abode in the vestry of the chapel,
as the great house was still occupied. The Negroes were
already at work for us, and under the direction of
a proper fettor or manager. The whole neighborhood was astonished
at the place I had determined to inhabit, until some
(07:33):
other dwelling presented itself. I was certainly not comfortably situated,
for the vestry consisted of only one apartment with a
doorway to the field, and another into the church, the
latter being without a door. The church was unfinished and
was the resort of bats and owls. However, it was
principally my unconcerned respecting ghosts, which my neighbors were surprised at.
(07:58):
A Negro boy myself from a sins at night to
encounter these, if any should appear, and to receive our
constant visitors the bats. My companion rolled himself up on
the ground in a piece of baize and a mat,
and thus caste was quite safe. I slipt in a hammock,
and oftentimes these unwelcome guests alighted upon it as if
(08:19):
they had come for the chance of a toe or
a finger making its appearance upon which they might fix.
This way of living did not last long, nor did
I wish that it should. The house of which I
have spoken as being situated upon a shelf of the hill,
and as looking down upon the valley, was soon without
an inhabitant, and therefore to this I removed. It was large,
(08:42):
but the floors of the room were without bricks, and
the interior walls had not been whitewashed for an age,
and some of them had never undergone the operation. I
received visits and presents, as is customary, from my immediate neighbors,
the white persons and those of color who aspired to gentility,
And indeed many individuals of the lower class did not
(09:05):
neglect to come and offer their services to the newcomer,
whose character and disposition towards them. They judged that it
was necessary to become acquainted with. In many instances, the
wives of the latter description of visitors came also, and
brought sweetmeats, fruit or flowers. I received them all sitting
in my hammock. The men sat round on chairs, and
(09:27):
the women generally squatted down upon the floor. Though it
was formed of earth, I talked to them of my
intentions and of my wish to conciliate, and I heard
much of pickerings and squabblings among those of their rank,
and of feuds between their superiors, these same stories being
related to me in many different ways. They were much
(09:48):
surprised that I should wear so much clothes, saying that
I ought to do as they did and be unencumbered
in their advice. I soon followed. I was much amused,
and for some days these visits took up the largest
portion of my time. The lands around me, to the
north belonged to the Benedictine Friars, and to the east
(10:08):
to an old lady. Those at the latter were much neglected,
but those which were possessed by the former were in
high order. To the south, beyond the wood through which
I passed in coming to Jaguaribe, are the lands of Paulistas,
and to the west and northwester some excellent cane lands
belonging to a religious lay brotherhood of free Negroes of Olinda,
(10:31):
which were tenanted by and subdivided among a great number
of persons of low rank, whites, mulattoes and blacks. The
work went on regularly, and I had soon very little
in which to employ my time, excepting those things by
which I might think proper to amuse myself. In the
beginning of June, it was necessary that I should visit Guayana. However,
(10:53):
I took a certuitous route for the purpose of seeing
something new. I was accompanied by an old free man
of color, and by Manuel, a faithful African. We slept
the first night at Aguiar, the estate of the Capita More,
with whom I traveled to BoNT Jardin, and on the
following morning proceeded through several sugar plantations. We rested at
(11:16):
midday at Purgatorio, a small cotton and mangiac plantation, but
we could not purchase anything of which to make a dinner,
and therefore, as was usual on such occasions, we smoked
in place of eating. When the sun had declined a little,
we again set forth. A few of the sugar plantations
through which we passed in the afternoon were in a
(11:38):
decayed state. We stopped at a cottage and begged the
odor to sell us a fowl, but she refused. We
had not eaten anything this day. I was loath so
to do, but I could not avoid saying that she
must sell one, that I did not mind the price,
but that hunger would not allow me to let her
do as she pleased. In this case she fixed upon
(12:00):
one and made me pay exorbitantly for it. We parted
in the end very good friends. She offered me some
herbs with which to cook the bird, and after this
reconciliation we again advanced by going to Purgatorio. We had
left the usual direct road. Cross Roads even in England
are not good, so what must they be in Brazil.
(12:22):
In one part we were obliged to lean down upon
our horses necks, and to proceed in this manner for
some distance, with the branches of the trees completely closed. Above.
The plantation of Mundolovo, or the New World, which we
reached late in the afternoon, was in ruins. Trees grew
in the chapel, and the brushwood in front of the
(12:43):
dwelling house rose higher than its roof. I slept at
a cottage hard by, which was inhabited by an elderly
man and a number of children, large and small. The
ill fated fowl and another which we had also obtained
by the way, were addressed by the daughters of our host.
Soon the cooking was effected, and I commenced operations literally
(13:04):
with tooth and nail upon one of the birds, for
there were no knives, forks or spoons to be had. However,
I did receive some assistance from my own facca chiponta,
a point at knife for dirt, which, though prohibited by law,
is worn by all ranks of persons. At night, my
hammock was slung under the penthouse. At a late hour,
(13:27):
a shower of rain came on. Our host had a
vast herd of goats. These crowded in from the rain,
and soon I was obliged in self defense to rise,
as I discovered that they had very little respect for me.
My head and some of theirs, having come in contact,
made me look out for better quarters, and these I
(13:47):
found upon a high table, where I remained until the
visitors again ventured forth. We proceeded on the morrow and
reached Guayana by the low marshy lands of Katu. The
river was scarcely affordable, but we crossed, and on the
opposite side. The loose mud in the road reached above
the horse's knees, and continued along it for more than
(14:08):
one hundred yards we entered it. The horses gently waded
it through, but mine unfortunately felt that his tail was
not quite easy in the mud, and therefore began to
move it to and fro on either side. And as
it was long, much too long for this occasion, it
struck me at every jerk. My dress was a light
colored nankeen jacket and trousers, and I came forth without exaggeration,
(14:33):
one cake of mud from head to foot. I rode
to the residence of a person with whom I had
been long acquainted. He had taken up his quarters in
a new mangia plantation which had been lately established in
the outskirts of Guayana. My friend had removed to this
place to superintend some of the workmen. I stayed only
two days at Guayana, for I soon accomplished the object
(14:56):
of my journey, which was to obtain twenty Indian laborers
from Alhandra. My return to Jagaribe was by the usual road.
The day after my arrival at my new home, I
rode to Hasife and had on the following day an
attack of agu. I had exposed myself late lead too
much to the sun, and had been several times wet
(15:19):
through the disorder left me in a fortnight. My horses
were sent for. They came and I set off for Jaguaribe,
but in midway I was drenched with rain, and, reaching
that place, much tired, went to sleep unintentionally in my
hammock without changing my clothes. In the morning, I felt
that the agu was returning, and therefore ordered my horse
(15:42):
and rode out to try to shake off the attack,
which the peasants say it is possible to do. However,
whilst I was talking with a neighbor on horseback at
his door, the agu came on and I was unable
to return to my dwelling. The next day the Indians
from al Ham arrived. They had imbibed strange notions of
(16:03):
the richest of an Englishman, and their captain told me
that they knew I was very rich and could afford
to give higher wages than any one else. I tried
to undeceive them in this respect, but all to no purpose.
I offered the usual rate of labor in the country,
but their characteristic obstinacy had entered into them, and they
(16:23):
preferred returning as they came to any abatement of their
first demand, although this was twenty five percent higher than
any person had ever been known to give for daily labor.
They dined, placed their wallets upon their shoulders, and went away.
One of my people said, as they disappeared, ascending the
hill beyond the field, they had rather worked for any
(16:45):
one else for half the money than lower in their
demands to you. I was removed from this neighbor's house
after a few days in a hammock, but finding that
the disorder increased, I sent for my manager, an old
man of color, whose wife attended upon me by my desire.
He collected a sufficient number of bearers, as it was
(17:07):
my wish to be carried to Hassife. About five o'clock
in the afternoon we set off. There were sixteen men
to bear the hammock by turns, and the manager was
likewise in company. Of these persons only two were slaves.
After we passed the wood and had arrived upon a
good road, the bearers proceeded at a long walk, approaching
(17:28):
to a run their wild chorus, which they sung as
they went along, their mischief and throwing stones at the
dogs by the roadside, and in abuse, half joking, half
wishing for an opportunity of quarreling, confident in their numbers,
and that as they were in the surface of a
white man, he would bring them out of any scrape.
Was very strange, and had I been less unwell, this
(17:51):
journey would have much amused me. As we passed through Olinda,
a woman asked my men if they carried a dead body,
for it is in this manner they are brought from
a distance for her interment. One of the bearers answered, no,
it is the devil. Footnote Senora, Now I owed diabo
(18:13):
end footnote, and then turning to me, said is it
not so, my master? Footnote kidiz mayoamo end footnote. I
said yes, and the good woman walked away, saying, ave Maria,
the Lord forbid footnote ave Maria nosa senor nos birire
(18:39):
end footnote. The wind was high and some rain fell
as we crossed the Olinda Sands. We arrived at Hesife
between nine and ten o'clock. The bearer stopped before we
approached the gateway at the entrance of the town, that
each man might, in some way or other conceal his
long unlawful knife. Without one of them these weapons, no
(19:00):
peasant or a great man leaves his home. Notwithstanding the prohibition.
I became gradually worse, until my recovery was not expected.
But the kind, attentive hand of another Englishman here again
was stretched forth. My former friend had left the country,
but another supplied his place, and from him I received
(19:21):
every brotherly kindness I cannot forbear mentioning the following circumstances
related to my illness. I went on board an English
merchant ship some weeks after my recovery, and on passing
a cask which was lying upon the deck, I struck
it intentionally, but without any particular object. The master, who
(19:42):
was an old gentleman with whom I had come from
England and who had been long acquainted with me, said, yes,
you would not have liked it. I asked him what
he meant, to which he replied, it was for you,
but you gave us the slip. This time I did
not yet understand him, so he continued, why do you
think I would have let you remain among these fellows here,
(20:04):
who would not have given you a Christian burial? I
intended to have taken you home in that puncheon of run.
I was told by one of my medical attendants when
I was recovering that some old maiden ladies who lived
near to where I resided, had frequently pressed him whilst
I was in a dangerous state to have the sacrament
brought to me, for they were much aggrieved that I
(20:27):
should die without any chance of salvation. An English merchant
of Hessefi asked my particular friend when the funeral was
to take place, and one of the medical men wrote
a note to the same person late one night inquiring
whether his attendants on the following morning had been rendered unnecessary.
As soon as I was well enough to remove, I
(20:49):
took a small cottage at the village of Montero, that
I might have the advantage of better error than that
of Hesseife, and yet not to be too far distant
from me advice. Here I passed my time very pleasantly
in daily intercourse with a most worthy Irish family, of
whom I shall always preserve recollections of gratitude for the
(21:11):
kindness which I received at that time and on other occasions.
On the night of my arrival at Montero, one of
my pack horses was stolen, but the animal was recognized
some weeks afterwards by a boy who was in my
service the man into whose hands he had fallen happened
to pass through the village, and thus I recovered my horse.
(21:34):
It is astonishing to what a great extent horse stealing
has been carried in a country which bounds so much
with these animals. It is almost the only species of
robbery for the practicing of which regular gangs of men
have been discovered to have been formed. But these fellows
will sometimes also chance to lay hold of a stray
ox or cow Footnote. These practices were, or rather are
(21:59):
carry on in one part of the country with which
I am well acquainted. The persons who commit the crimes
are white men, and of high birth. Among them was
a priest. The magistrate of the district in question was
applied to by a man who had lost a cow,
mentioning that he more than suspected where she was, and
at the same time naming the place a tropa or
(22:23):
a troop or party of Orthinansa soldiers were collected, and
these men were dispatched to search the house which had
been pointed out, under the command of a corporal of
well known courage. They arrived there and knocked. The door
was opened by the owner, who was the priest connected
with the gang. He said that he could not allow
(22:43):
his house to be entered without an order from the
ecclesiastical court. This answer was conveyed to the magistrate, who
had signed the order the soldiers remaining round about the house.
A second order arrived, and the bearer brought with him
a couple of hatchets, thus expressly pointing out to the
corporal what he was to do forthwith. Preparations were made
(23:05):
for breaking open the door. When the priest said that
he would allow the corporal to enter alone, the man
fearlessly went in, but as soon as the door was
again closed, the priest seized upon him, and some of
the negroes, who were in another apartment, sprang forwards to
assist their master, But the corporal disengaged himself in standing
(23:26):
upon the defensive, called to his men, who soon broke
into the house. Search was made, and the caucasse and
hide of the cow were found, and were with the
negroes taken publicly to the nearest town. The mark of
the red hot iron upon the haunch had been burnt
out of the hide that discovery might be rendered less easy.
(23:48):
The priest was punished by suspension from saying mass for
a few months. I was subsequently acquainted with him. He
was received by many persons as if nothing had been amiss,
But he was not received as heretofore, for the individuals
of his own profession would not, generally speaking, associate with him.
The circumstance had, not, however, so completely prevented his re
(24:11):
entrance into decent society as such a crime would have
done in many other countries, or so much as would
have occurred at Pernambuco if he had been a laban
and footnote. I was most anxious to return to Jacquardipe,
and about the middle of October was making preparations for
the purpose when the manager arrived from the plantation with
(24:34):
the intelligence that one of his assistants had been attacked
two nights before and nearly killed by some persons who
had been commissioned to perform this deed in revenge of
some real or imagined injury which the man had committed.
This determined my proceedings. The following morning, I set off
with a manager and a servant to see the wounded man.
(24:56):
I found him at his father's house in most woeful plight.
His face was dreadfully lacerated and his body much bruised.
The deed had been done by bludgeons, and evidently in fear.
Else the task would have been performed less clumsily and
more effectually. I never could discover by whom the murder
was intended, nor the persons who attempted it. They were
(25:19):
dressed in leather like certanasos, but to sufferer imagined that
this custom was made use of as a disguise. Two
men sprang out upon him in a narrow lane which
had high banks on each side. He defended himself for
some time with his sword, but the overpowered him at last,
and his weapon was the only part of his property
(25:40):
which they carried off. I removed altogether from Montero in
a few days. My presence had long been necessary at Jaguaribe,
for the mill was at work, and, as frequently happens
in every country, some of the persons who were employed
had not remained empty handed. The poor fellow who had
been ways soon returned to the plantation. He told me
(26:03):
that every night large stones were thrown violently against his
door between the hours of one and four in the morning.
I called the manager the following evening. In both of
us being armed. We took our station near to the
gate which leads into the field, one being on each
side behind the high bank. We could hear the footsteps
of any person long before he could approach us, as
(26:25):
the splashing in the rivulet which runs beyond the gate
would give us timely notice. The mosquitoes gave us much employment. However,
we remained at our post until half an hour before
daybreak without seeing anything, but the practice was discontinued. Two
men had arrived early in the night to offer themselves
as laborers. They were awake when we returned, had made
(26:49):
a good fire upon the ground in a mill a
spacious roof supported upon brick pillars, and were sitting rounded
upon their heels. We joined them, and here I heard
the stories their own preless of charms and miracles. Another
conversation of the same nature, each of them telling something
strange which he had seen or heard. Footnote a free
(27:11):
negro with whom I had been acquainted whilst I resided
at this place, and who came to see me when
I removed to Itamarasa told me, with much horror pictured
in his countenance, of the fate of a man who
had worked for me. He said that this person occasionally
became a lobos omen a wolfman. I asked him to
(27:31):
explain when he said that the man was at times
transformed into an animal of the size of a calf,
with the figure of a dog, that he left his
home at midnight in this metamorphosed state and ran about
with the violence of a mad dog, and that he
attacked anyone whom he might chance to meet. The black
man was perfectly persuaded of the correctness of his own
(27:53):
statement when he related, having with his brother in law
and his sister met this uncommon beating near to their
own cottages. I suppose it was some large dog which
prowled about to satisfy his hunger in the neighborhood of
these habitations. But no, the man was persuaded that it
was poor Miguel and footnote and a section sixteen
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