XCI. Parishes. lation of the town exceeds six thousand souls. It is situ- BOOK ated on a verdant plain, is shaded by orange and lemon trees. The island is divided into four parishes, Nossa Senhora do Desterro, St. Antonio, Laguna, and Ribeirao. The places on the adjacent continent, under the government Those on of St. Catharine, are St. Jose, St. Miguel and Nossa Sen- the oppohora do Rosario. The small barbour of Peripi with its site coast. numerous fisheries, and the delightful vale of Picada thickly studded with white cottages in the midst of orange groves and coffee plantations, are situated near the mountains opposite the island. This plain and others contiguous to it, form the boundaries of the territory possessed by the Portuguese: the Anthropophagi or Bugres dwell beyond it. These savages dwell in the woods, in huts made of palm branches, and interwoven with bananas: they destroy sometimes whole families of the settlers. The contending parties are regardless of humanity, and wholly bent on a war of extermination. To the north-east of these plains is situated, on a bay of the same name, the port of San Francisco, whose inhabitants are chiefly employed in shipbuilding. The wood there is so strong, and holds the iron so firmly, that ships built there are held in greater value by the Spaniards and Portuguese than those made in Europe. The neighbouring country is flat, and the rivers that intersect it, may be navigated by canoes to the base of a chain. of mountains more than four thousand feet above the level of the sea. A road has been made across that lofty ridge: the great difficulties attending such an undertaking have been surmounted in a country ill provided with labourers. The national importance and usefulness of this work plain of cannot be doubted; the fertile plains of Corritiva, the Corritiva. finest perhaps in the world, are thus connected with the ocean; goods may be conveyed by a gradual ascent from the base of these mountains to Corritiva, a distance of twenty leagues. Rio Janeiro and St. Paulo are supplied * Mawe. XCI. BOOK with cattle from the numerous herds on this fertile tract; the best mules in Brazil are bred on it, and the horses there are considered superior to any in Spanish America. Town and Road to The harbour of Santos is sheltered by the island St. Santos. Vincent; currents, eddies, and the great variation in the winds, occasioned by the mountains in the vicinity, render it difficult of access. The town is low, unhealthy, and exposed to much rain. The best rice in Brazil is raised in the district, which is equally noted for the excellence of its bananas. The towns of Santos and San Paulo were founded by those who escaped from the first shipwreck near the island St. Vincent. The population of Santos, which is the mart of the extensive province of San Paulo, is at present more than seven thousand souls. A paved road has been made from Santos to San Paulo; it is cut San Paulo. in many places through solid rocks, and in others along the edge of precipices, which are fenced by parapets, otherwise the traveller might be in danger of falling into an impervious thicket more than thirty yards below him. Some fine springs, issuing from their high sources, form romantic cascades in the midst of detached rocks. In these places the rocks consist of granite and soft ferruginous sandstone; everywhere else the mountains are covered with thick woods; even on the road branches of trees meet and form arbours, that defend the traveller from the rain, and shelter him from the sun's heat. Mr. Mawe remained a short time at a resting place half way up the ascent; the view of the country through which he passed was obstructed by the clouds beneath him. After a journey of three hours he reached the summit, an extensive plain, of which the lowest elevation has been calculated at six thousand feet above the level of the sea; it is chiefly composed of quartz, and in many places covered with sand. The sea, although twenty miles distant, seems to wash the base of the mountain; Santos and the level part of the coast do not fall within the angle of vision. About a mile and a half from the summit, several small streams flowing in a southwest direction, form by their union the great river BOOK Correntes, which joins the Plata. XCI. The course of these streams may in some measure serve to explain the form of this lofty ridge: the highest and steepest side fronts the sea, the other slopes gradually towards the plains in the interior.* The city of San Paulo is Town of situated on an eminence, in the wide plain of Piratininga; the San Paulo. hill on which it stands is surrounded on three sides by meadow-land, and washed at its base by several streams. These rivulets flow into the river Tieté, which passes within a mile of the town. The climate of San Paulo is one of the most delightful in the world. It has been ascertained by the repeated observations of M. Muller, that the mean temperature of the year varies from 22° to 23° of Reaumur. The houses consist of two stories, and are built of clay, which is pressed between two rows of strong posts or wicker work. The Episcopal palace and the convent of the Carmelites are the finest buildings in the town. The streets are broad and clean; this last advantage is owing to the elevation of the city above the adjacent plain. The pavement is made of grit-stone mixed with large pebbles of quartz cemented together by oxide of iron; these stones arc of an alluvial formation, and contain gold, which is sometimes found in small quantities by the common people, who seek eagerly for it after heavy rains. According to the latest accounts, the population of San Paulo, with its depend- Populaent parishes, amounts to 30,000 inhabitants, and the greater number are people of colour. It appears, from a series of official reports, that the whole province contained in the year 1808, 200,478 souls; in 1814, 211,928, and in 1815, 215,021. The results deduced from these tables relatively to the proportion of births are remarkable; the ratio is as one to twenty-one individuals. In European countries one birth is reckoned for twenty-eight individuals, and the highest known proportions are supposed to be one to 22.7 Mawe, p. 64. tion. BOOK in some villages near Paris, and one to 25.5 in some Dutch XCI. burghs. The deaths in San Paulo are, to the population, as Character bitants. one to forty-six; a less ratio than in most other countries, but not so extraordinary as that of the births. It was not until the gold washings were nearly exhaustof the inha- ed, that the inhabitants thought of cultivating the ground. The neglected state of their productive lands indicates the little progress that they have made in agriculture. The Paulistas are more famed for adorning their gardens than for managing their farms; in the capital and its vicinity, the gardens are laid out with much taste. The Palma Christi yields so much oleum_ricini* that it is generally burnt as lamp oil in San Paulo. The men in this province are active and patient of fatigue, and the women are renowned for their beauty; cheerful and good humoured, they are more like the French ladies than those in Spain. The term Paulista is considered a compliment, even when it is applied to the women of San Paulo; for the Paulistas are celebrated throughout Brazil for their personal attractions. The remote position of the province, the great difficulty of travelling in that district, and the illiberal policy of government with respect to strangers, are probably the reasons of its being so seldom visited. It has been said that the arrival of a foreigner in the chief town of this government is a matter of wonder to the Paulistas Origin of themselves. This circumstance may enable us to account the Paulis- for many false statements, concerning the barbarism and tas. ignoble origin of the inhabitants. These stories, founded at best on the suspicious testimony of the jesuits of Paraguay, have been completely refuted by a Portuguese writer, that has detected the inconsistencies of Vassette and Charlevoix, who maintained that San Paulo was peopled by Spanish and Portuguese malefactors, by mestizoes and mulattoes that fled thither for safety from all parts of Brazil. The same writer proves that the first settlers were jesuits and Indians, and that the city, until the late change * Caster Oil. + Fr. Gaspar da Madre de Deos. XCI. in the Brazilian government, never acknowledged any other BOOK sovereign than that of Portugal. The national character of the Paulistas tends to confirm his statements; they have ever been distinguished for their loyalty and humanity.* Of all the Brazilian colonists, they were formerly most renowned for that enterprising spirit which once rendered the Portuguese illustrious among the nations of Europe: Their love of travelling, and the hope of discovering the treasures in the new world, prevented them from cultivating their fertile country. They visited almost every part of Brazil, they crossed lofty mountains and forests until then deemed impassable. Porto Se They were not checked by rivers, deserts, or savages who waged continual war against them. The richest mines in Brazil were discovered by the Paulistas; they left them with regret, and submitted reluctantly to the authority of their government. The safety of Brazil depends on the energy of this people. Had not their cavalry spread the terror of its arms from Paraguay to Peru, the efforts of the Portuguese troops had been of little avail during the colonial war in 1770. The three petty governments of Spirito Santo, Porto Seguro and Ilheos, contain little that is worthy of our notice. The town of Porto Seguro is Town of built on the summit of a hill, the harbour is sheltered on guro. all sides by steep coral rocks, and the Abrolhos is a dangerous reef at no great distance from it. Beyond these districts is the extensive province of Minas Geraes, which Capitania is separated from the coast and Espirito Santo by a lofty chain of mountains. The population of Minas Geraes has been stated at half a million; the inhabitants, like those in most mining districts, have paid little attention to agriculture and other useful arts. A manufactory of bad Agriculearthen ware has been established at a league's distance from a tract of land which abounds in the finest potter's clay. The different grains and fruits of Europe require little cultivation to reward the labours of the husbandman; Lindley's Travels. * Mawe, p. 87. of Minas Geraes. ture. Arts. |