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The Morgan Kaufmann Practical Guides Series
Series Editor: Michael J. Donahoo

Java: Practical Guide for Programmers

Zbigniew M. Sikora

Multicast Sockets: Practical Guide for Programmers

David Makofske and Kevin Almeroth

The Struts Framework: Practical Guide for Java Programmers

Sue Spielman

TCP/IP Sockets in Java: Practical Guide for Programmers

Kenneth L. Calvert and Michael J. Donahoo

TCP/IP Sockets in C: Practical Guide for Programmers

Michael J. Donahoo and Kenneth L. Calvert

JDBC: Practical Guide for Java Programmers

Gregory D. Speegle

For further information on these books and for a list of forthcoming titles, please visit our
Web site at www.mkp.com/practical.
Java
Practical Guide for Programmers
Zbigniew M. Sikora
Independent Consultant
Senior Editor Rick Adams
Publishing Services Manager Edward Wade
Developmental Editor Karyn Johnson
Cover Design Yvo Riezebos Design
Cover Image Siede Preis/Getty Images
Text Design Side by Side Studios/Mark Ong
Composition and Illustration Windfall Software, using ZzTeX
Copyeditor Robert Fiske
Proofreader Sarah Burgundy
Indexer Steve Rath
Interior Printer The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
Cover Printer Phoenix Color Corporation

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as

trademarks or registered trademarks. In all instances in which Morgan Kaufmann
Publishers is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital
letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete
information regarding trademarks and registration.

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers

An Imprint of Elsevier Science
340 Pine Street, Sixth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104-3205
www.mkp.com

© 2003 by Elsevier Science (USA)

All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2002114098

ISBN: 1-55860-909-1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

To my mother, Janina
This page intentionally left blank.
 CONTENTS

Introduction 1
Simple Java Application 1
Java Tools 4
javac 4
java 5
Language Features 5
Basic Language Syntax 7
Comments 8
javadoc 8
Statements 8
Variables 9
Constants 9
Data Types 10
Integer Numbers 10
Real Numbers 11
Booleans 12
Characters 12
Strings 13
Arrays 14
Arithmetic Operations 15
Data Type Conversion 18
Flow Control 21
Conditional Statements 21
if Statement 21
if else Statement 22
else if Statement 23
Embedded Conditional Expressions 24
 Switch Statement 24
Relational and Logical Operators 26
Bitwise Operators 28
Iteration Statements 28
while Loop 28
do while Loop 29
for Loop 30
break and continue Statements 30
Classes and Objects 33
Class and Object with No Methods 33
Class with Methods 35
Constructors 37

Method Overloading 39
Argument Passing in Java 39
Instance and Static Variables 42
Instance and Static Methods 44
this Keyword 45
StringBu.er 46
Vectors 47
Object Wrappers 47
Inheritance and Access Control 49
Creating Subclasses 49
Casting Objects 52
The Object Class 53
equals Method 53
hashCode Method 55
toString Method 56
instanceof Operator 57
 Abstract Classes and Methods 57
Interfaces 59
Packages 60
classpath Option 62
Access Control 63
Inner Classes 67
Exceptions 71
Exception Handling 71
Java Exception Classes 74
Creating Exception Classes 75
Propagation of Exceptions 76
Runtime Exceptions 79
Assertions 80
Input/Output 83
Terminal I/O Example 85
FileReader and FileWriter Streams 86
FileWriter Example 86
The write Method 87
The OutputStreamWriter Stream 88
The PrintWriter Stream 89
FileReader Example 90
Using FileNotFoundException 91
FileInputStream and FileOutputStream 92

Bu.ered Input and Output Streams 93

Bu.eredWriter Example 93
Flushing the Bu.eredWriter Stream 94
Bu.eredReader Example 94
DataInputStream and DataOutputStream 95
 DataOutputStream Example 95
DataInputStream Example 97
Wrapping Filter Streams 98
Random Access Files 98
Writing to a Random Access File 99
Reading from a Random Access File 100
Object Serialization 101
Controlling Serialization 104
The jar Tool 105
Developing GUIs 107
Introduction 107
Swing Components 108
Button 108
Combo Box 112
Check Box Button 112
Radio Button 112
Text Field 113
Text Area 113
Label 114
List 114
Component Methods 115
Borders 115
Background and Foreground Colors 116
Fonts 116
Enabling and Disabling Components 116
Swing Containers 117
Top-Level Containers 117
Dialogues 117
Intermediate-Level Containers 119
Layouts 120
 FlowLayout 120
BorderLayout 122
GridLayout 123
Specifying Look and Feel 123
Event Handling 124
ActionListener 125
ItemListener 126
ListSelectionListener 127

Adapters in Event Handling 128

Painting with Swing 129
CustomerDetails Example 130
Applets 135
Swing Applets 138
Applet Life Cycle Methods 140
Applet Security 141
Collections 143
Set Interface 143
SortedSet Interface 147
Implementing the Comparable Interface 148
List Interface 151
Map Interface 152
SortedMap Interface 154
The Collections Class 154
Threads 157
The Thread Class 157
Multithreaded Application Example 158
Thread Priorities 160
The Runnable Interface 160
 Finite Applet Thread Example 161
Infinite Applet Thread Example 163
Synchronizing Threads 164
Thread States 166
Appendix A Operator Precedence 167

Appendix B Swing Events 169

Index 173
Preface
The purpose of this book is to help you quickly learn the essentials of the Java language.
After its release in 1995, Java was initially used to execute programs from a Web page by
means of applets. However, Java is also a general-purpose, object-oriented programming
language. Java is used for developing applications as diverse as statistical calculations,
graphics, and accessing databases in a multitiered environment. In contrast to other
languages, Java has from the start supplied a large number of libraries. The latest release of
Java 2 Standard Edition version 1.4, or J2SE 1.4, in February 2002 contains over 2000
classes. All this means that Java is huge, and possible applications of it are very diverse.
Furthermore, many Java books tend to be huge, and though fine as reference material, do
not serve the newcomer to Java desiring a concise introduction. This book focuses on the
core language features only, and with the exception of Swing, does not cover any of the
application libraries.

This book is aimed at students and professional programmers who have some knowledge of
programming and are switching to Java. Experience of an objected-oriented or procedural
language such as C++, Smalltalk, C, or Pascal is assumed. The book will be suitable for
students in upper-division undergraduate or graduate Java conversion courses. It is not
aimed at students learning to program. Professional programmers switching to Java will
find a rapid introduction to the core language. This will give them the necessary Java
background for tackling more specialist material such as J2EE. For example, students and
enterprise programmers will find this book provides the Java needed for Gregory Speegle's
JDBC book in this series. This book covers only basic features, and topics such as
networking, RMI, and JavaBeans have not been included.

Recognizing that a programming language is best learned through example, we provide

numerous program examples with line-by-line explanations. To maintain the book's
conciseness and clarity, the program examples are not production-quality code. For
example, exception handling is omitted from most of the examples, except, of course, in the
chapter on exception
handling. This concise, essentials-only approach is in line with the Practical Guide series
overall philosophy. The book is based on J2SE 1.4, but anyone using version 1.2 or 1.3
should have no difficulties since any 1.4 or 1.3 features have been explicitly highlighted in
the text.

Chapter 1 dives straight in with a simple example of a Java program. This is to give you an
early feel for the language and show where we are heading. Chapters 2 and 3 cover much of
the basic syntax of Java, including sequencing, branching, and looping, but leaves
discussion of object-oriented topics for later. Those of you with a background in C or C++
will be able to get quickly through these chapters. Chapters 4 and 5 cover the object-
oriented features of the language. Chapters 6 and 7 cover the core features of exception
handling and input/output. To this point, the chapters should be read in order. The last three
chapters may be regarded as optional by some instructors. Chapter 8 covers the Swing
graphical user interface, which is the one application area covered in the book. Developing
GUIs is more fun, and readers coming from an environment such as C will appreciate what
is included for free with Java. Chapter 9 discusses collections. Finally, Chapter 10 covers
the more advanced topic of threads. This chapter uses applets for some of its examples, so
you should familiarize yourselves with the applet material in Chapter 8 before attempting
threads.

Source code, exercises, and related material can be found at the book's accompanying Web
site, www.mkp.com/practical/java.

Acknowledgments
First I would like to thank the technical editor of the Practical Guide series, Dr. Jeff
Donahoo of Baylor University, for his advice and numerous suggestions at all stages of the
book's development. This is really appreciated. I would like to thank the reviewers. These
include Carl Burnham; John Raley, Moonlight Systems; Lynn R. Ziegler, Saint John's
University; An Lam, 3PARdata and U.C. Santa Cruz; Bill Jackson, Ensemble Studios; Dr.
Lawrence (Pete) Petersen, Texas A&M University; Jonathan L. Brisbin; Christopher
Marshall, JP Morgan; William Cox, Cox Consulting; Simon P. Chappell; Ryan Witcher,
Modulant Solutions. All the reviewers provided considerable feedback and this has
influenced the final version of the book. I would also like to thank the staff at Morgan
Kaufmann, especially Karyn Johnson for her professionalism and, for giving me the
opportunity to publish the book, Edward Wade, Cheri Palmer, and the rest of the
production team.
Introduction 1
Simple Java Application 1
Java Tools 4
javac 4
java 5
Language Features 5
Basic Language Syntax 7
Comments 8
javadoc 8
Statements 8
Variables 9
Constants 9
Data Types 10
Integer Numbers 10
Real Numbers 11
Booleans 12
Characters 12
Strings 13
Arrays 14
Arithmetic Operations 15
Data Type Conversion 18
Flow Control 21
Conditional Statements 21
if Statement 21
if else Statement 22
else if Statement 23
Embedded Conditional Expressions 24
Switch Statement 24
Relational and Logical Operators 26
Bitwise Operators 28
 Iteration Statements 28
while Loop 28
do while Loop 29
for Loop 30
break and continue Statements 30
Classes and Objects 33
Class and Object with No Methods 33
Class with Methods 35
Constructors 37

Method Overloading 39
Argument Passing in Java 39
Instance and Static Variables 42
Instance and Static Methods 44
this Keyword 45
StringBu.er 46
Vectors 47
Object Wrappers 47
Inheritance and Access Control 49
Creating Subclasses 49
Casting Objects 52
The Object Class 53
equals Method 54
hashCode Method 55
toString Method 56
instanceof Operator 57
Abstract Classes and Methods 58
Interfaces 59
Packages 60
 classpath Option 62
Access Control 63
Inner Classes 67
Exceptions 71
Exception Handling 71
Java Exception Classes 74
Creating Exception Classes 75
Propagation of Exceptions 76
Runtime Exceptions 79
Assertions 80
Input/Output 83
Terminal I/O Example 85
FileReader and FileWriter Streams 86
FileWriter Example 86
The write Method 87
The OutputStreamWriter Stream 88
The PrintWriter Stream 89
FileReader Example 90
Using FileNotFoundException 91
FileInputStream and FileOutputStream 92

Bu.ered Input and Output Streams 93

Bu.eredWriter Example 93
Flushing the Bu.eredWriter Stream 94
Bu.eredReader Example 94
DataInputStream and DataOutputStream 95
DataOutputStream Example 95
DataInputStream Example 97
Wrapping Filter Streams 98
Random Access Files 98
 Writing to a Random Access File 99
Reading from a Random Access File 100
Object Serialization 101
Controlling Serialization 104
The jar Tool 105
Developing GUIs 107
Introduction 107
Swing Components 108
Button 108
Combo Box 112
Check Box Button 112
Radio Button 112
Text Field 113
Text Area 113
Label 114
List 114
Component Methods 115
Borders 115
Background and Foreground Colors 116
Fonts 116
Enabling and Disabling Components 116
Swing Containers 117
Top-Level Containers 117
Dialogues 117
Intermediate-Level Containers 119
Layouts 120
FlowLayout 120
BorderLayout 122
GridLayout 123
Specifying Look and Feel 123
 Event Handling 124
ActionListener 125
ItemListener 126
ListSelectionListener 127

Adapters in Event Handling 128

Painting with Swing 129
CustomerDetails Example 130
Applets 135
Swing Applets 138
Applet Life Cycle Methods 140
Applet Security 141
Collections 143
Set Interface 143
SortedSet Interface 147
Implementing the Comparable Interface 148
List Interface 151
Map Interface 152
SortedMap Interface 154
The Collections Class 154
Threads 157
The Thread Class 157
Multithreaded Application Example 158
Thread Priorities 160
The Runnable Interface 160
Finite Applet Thread Example 161
Infinite Applet Thread Example 163
Synchronizing Threads 164
Thread States 166
Appendix A Operator Precedence 167
Appendix B Swing Events 169

Index 173
chapter 1
Introduction
The Java language was released in 1995 at the time of explosive growth in the Internet. The
initial language release included the HotJava Web browser written in Java itself. This made
it possible for the browser to execute programs from a Web page by means of applets.
Shortly after, Netscape and Microsoft enabled their browsers to execute Java applets.

However, Java is also a fully computational object-oriented language. As such, it is a

suitable vehicle for conventional standalone programs or applications, which is the main
use of the language today.

Java is also a multithreaded language, and this feature makes it a highly scaleable language
for programs that execute on a Web server. Consequently, in recent years, there has been
increasing use of Java for server side, or servlet, programming.

1.1 Simple Java Application

To give you an early feel for the language, the Multiply.java example shows a Java
application that outputs the product of two integers supplied as parameters.

Multiply.java
1 public class Multiply {
2
3 public static void main(String[] args) {
4 String resultString;
5 int arg1;
6 int arg2;
7 int result;
8
9 arg1 = Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
10 arg2 = Integer.parseInt(args[1]);
11 result = arg1 * arg2;

12 resultString = Integer.toString(result);
13 System.out.println(''The product of " + args[0] +
14 " and " + args[1] + " is " + resultString);
15 }
16 }

Multiply.Java
The program consists of a class, Multiply, in a source file, Multiply.java. We will
cover classes in detail in Chapter 4. At this stage, it is sufficient to note that every program
must contain one public class. public is an access modifier, which specifies that other
programs can access our class. We discuss access modifiers in Chapter 5. We can
determine the class from the declaration (line 1)

public class Multiply {

The source file name must be the same as the class name. The source file suffix must be
.java. If these two conditions are not met, the program will not compile. The program is
compiled using the javac compiler, for example,

> javac Multiply.java

where > is the command prompt. We use > to indicate a command prompt in general. This
could be a > on Windows or a % on Unix. If compilation is successful, the compiler will
produce a bytecode file Multiply.class. All compiled bytecode files have the suffix
.class.

With many programming languages, compilation produces machine code. Each platform
will have its own machine-specific code, so a program compiled on one platform will need
to be recompiled on another before it can be run. Java bytecode is an intermediate code
between source code and machine code. The bytecode can be run by any Java interpreter
that conforms to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) specification. A JVM can be a standalone
interpreter or embedded in a browser or electronic device. So having produced our
bytecode on one platform, we can run it on any other platform that supports a JVM.

To run the application, we can use the java interpreter as follows:

> java Multiply 7 12

The product of 7 and 12 is 84

Note that we do not add the .class suffix when specifying the program name. Following the
program name are optional parameters separated by one or more spaces.

At this stage, we do not expect you to have a detailed understanding of the code. The
starting brace, {, in line 1 denotes that following statements are part of the Multiply class.
Line 16 consists of a closing brace, }, which denotes the end of the class. We use these
braces not just to delimit classes but also, for example, to delimit blocks of code that follow
an if or else statement.

Because the program is a standalone application, it must contain the declaration (line 3)

public static void main(String[] args) {

We will describe the keywords public, static, and void in later chapters. At this point,
you should just note that they must precede main in the declaration line. A method is
roughly equivalent to a procedure or function in a nonobject-oriented language. Every Java
application must have a main method.

Note that Java is case sensitive; using PUBLIC instead of public, for example, will be
rejected by the compiler.

The main method has as a parameter an array of String objects named args. The
declarations (lines 4–7)

String resultString;
int arg1;
int arg2;
int result;

declare variables of type String and int. Note that a semicolon is used as a terminator,
so statements can span more than one line.

The statement in line 9 takes the first supplied parameter, the first element in the args
array identified by args[0], and converts it to the int type variable arg1. This is done
using the parseInt method of the supplied Java language class Integer. The syntax for
calling static methods, such as parseInt, is classname.methodname, or
Integer.parseInt in our case. We will learn about static methods in Chapter 4.
Line 11 multiplies the two input parameters, and line 12 converts the result to a String
variable, resultString, using the supplied Integer.toString method.

In lines 13–14, System.out.println prints a line to the standard output stream, then
terminates the line. System.out is an object in the java.lang.System class, which is
of type java.io.PrintStream. In turn, println is a method within the
PrintStream class, which takes a String as a parameter. This format of
objectname.methodname(parameters) for invoking a method, which is not
static, is standard Java syntax.

There are two main types of development environments in Java. The first is the Software
Development Kit (SDK), which can be downloaded for free from Sun's Web site,
java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/download.html. This site contains installation instructions for Windows,
Solaris, and Linux environments, as well as a link to start the download itself. The SDK
contains the javac compiler and java interpreter, various Java libraries, and tools. Once
Java has been installed, programs are typically developed using a text editor and compiled
and run from the command line as we have shown. Sun also provides a portal, java.sun.com,
for Java in general. In particular, there is a link to the Java 2 Platform API (application
programming interface) Specification. This provides documentation about all the Java-
supplied classes and methods. The API documentation can be viewed online or downloaded.
The second kind of development environment is an IDE (integrated development
environment) available from many sources such as Borland's JBuilder, Oracle's JDeveloper,
and Sun's Forte. Some of these are free for personal use in a nonproduction environment.
These IDEs are window-driven environments and have all the SDK features as well as
features such as default code generation, advanced debugging, and code coaches.
Compiling or running a Java program can be done by clicking on a menu or tool bar in the
IDE. A typical development feature is to bring up a list of methods in a popup window
once a class or object has

been typed, thereby doing away with the need to memorize the large number of methods
provided by the Java libraries. Although IDEs are fine tools for experienced Java
developers, they have a large number of features that have to be assimilated. If you are new
to both Java and IDEs, you will find yourself at first spending as much time learning about
the IDE as Java itself.

In the remainder of this book, we will use the convention of

> javac MyClass.java

> java MyClass

to indicate compiling or running Java programs, whether from the command line SDK or a
Windows-driven IDE. To distinguish user input from any output, we will use the
convention of highlighting user input in bold.

1.2 Java Tools

The Java SDK contains a number of tools that are executed from the command line. If an
IDE is being used, then many of these tools will be incorporated within the IDE. We have
already encountered javac and java; we will describe these in a little more detail here.
Other tools such as javadoc and jar will be covered later in the book.

1.2.1 javac
javac compiles Java source code and produces bytecode class files. The source code file
must have a .java suffix; the resulting class files have a .class suffix. The file must
contain one public class with the class name the same as the file name. Other nonpublic
classes can be included in the same file. We can include more than one source file in a
single command, for example

javac Class1.java Class2.java

We can also group several source files in a single command file. For example, Myfiles
could contain

Class1.java
Class2.java
Class3.java
These can all be compiled with the command

javac @Myfiles

A program will usually have references to other classes. javac will search for a
corresponding class file. If a class file is found, but no corresponding source file, javac
will use the class file. If a corresponding source file is found, but no class file, javac will
compile the source file and use the resulting class file. If both source file and class file are
found, the class file is used unless the source file is more recent than the class file, in which
case the source file is recompiled and the resulting class file is used.

javac has a number of associated options: we will cover just a few.

-d destination

This sets the destination directory for the resulting class file. The default is to place the
class file in the same directory as the source file.

-verbose

This outputs details about each class loaded and each source file compiled.

javac, as well as java, also have a classpath option. We will discuss this option in
Chapter 5 after we have covered packages.

1.2.2 java
The java interpreter runs Java applications. It loads the application's class file and invokes
the specified class's main method, which must be public, void, and static. There
are a number of options for java, including the verbose option that we have seen for the
javac compiler. The format of the command is

java [options] classname [program parameters]

Note you do not include the .class suffix in the class name.

1.3 Language Features

Java's portability is largely achieved through the Java Virtual Machine concept. Instead of
compiling a program to a machine-specific code, a Java program is compiled into a
machine-independent bytecode. The bytecode, in turn, is interpreted by a machine-specific
Java Virtual Machine (JVM). A JVM is small, so it can easily be incorporated into Web
browsers. JVMs are available in many other environments: a standalone JVM can be
downloaded from Sun's Web site; JVMs can be included in personal digital assistants
(PDAs), or incorporated into relational database engines such as Oracle, or integrated
development environments (IDEs) such as Borland's JBuilder.
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
nearly to its origin to canoes, which use the sail for eight days, the
remainder always the oar and the vara, rendering the voyage long
and tedious. This river has no falls, only currents, the largest of
which render it necessary to relieve the barks of half their cargoes.
Its bed is winding, and generally wide and handsome. Amongst
many other fish which it affords the most esteemed are the sorubin,
camurupin, piratinga, fidalgo, mandin, pirapemba, piranha, and
trahira.
The river Poty, to which was given the name of the people who
inhabited the country through which it flows at its commencement,
originates on the western side of the mountain from whence the
Jaguaribe before described issues, in the district of St. Joze. After a
course of about fifty miles, traversing plains which abound with
cattle, and fifteen miles below the arraial of the Piranhas, where
there is a hermitage of the Lord Bom Jesus, it opens a narrow
passage across the cordillera, forming various interesting cascades.
Issuing from thence, it receives by the right margin the considerable
stream Macambira, that flows from the Serra Cocos. Thirty-five miles
below this confluence, it is united on the left by the small river
Marvao; and about the same distance further, it receives by the
same side the river St. Victor, which comes from the plains of Lagoa,
with more than seventy miles of course, and brings with it the small
rivers St. Nicolau and Berlengas. Upwards of seventy miles below
this point, it discharges itself into the ocean. Its bed is for the most
part wide, and its current tranquil. Canoes advance up some
leagues; and upon its margins is cultivated good tobacco.
The river Gurguea issues from a stony part of the skirts of the
serra of its name, which is a portion of that before mentioned,
where the river Urussuhy has its origin. After flowing seventy miles
north, it gathers on the right the Pirahim, and, continuing in the
same direction for one hundred and seventy miles more, it falls into
the Parnahiba. Its current is rapid, and almost universally through a
flat country, abounding with cattle. It affords navigation only during
the winter, has one fall a few leagues above its mouth, and its
waters are of a greenish colour.
 The river Pirahim originates nine leagues to the east of the
preceding, at the base of the same serra, which forms the boundary
on the side of Pernambuco, and, after seventy miles of course
northward, it traverses the lake Pernagua, and fifty miles lower
enters the Parnahiba. It runs almost generally between narrow
banks, and with considerable depth through a solid soil.
The Caninde has its source near Serra Dois Irmaos, runs
northward, and passes within two miles of Oeyras; and seventy
miles further its waters are absorbed by the Parnahiba, after a
course of one hundred and eighty miles, through a flat country rich
in cattle; it runs at first only as a current during the period of rains.
In the angle of its confluence there is an extensive plain, well
adapted for the foundation of a town, and within its precincts every
branch of agriculture would not fail to flourish.
The Itahim rises near the southern boundary of the province,
passes near the serra Vermelha, flowing for a considerable space
parallel with the Caninde, which it joins on the right eighteen miles
above Oeyras, after having traversed an extensive country
abounding with cattle. Its largest confluent is the small river
Guaribis, which has a considerable course, and joins it, by the right
margin, eight miles above its mouth.
The Piauhy, from which the province derives its name, originates
near the boundary, runs north, and enters the Caninde fifty miles
below the capital, after a course of one hundred and forty miles,
through lands affording pasturage for cattle.
The river Longa rises in the campos of the town of Campo Maior,
passing it within eight miles, and taking a northerly direction. Among
other small rivers which enlarge it, are the Sorubim, the Maratahoan,
running through a bed of amolar stone, and the Piracruca, which
comes from the Serra Hibiapaba. It is only considerable during rains,
and navigable for the space of twenty miles to the situation of
Victoria. Near its margins, which abound with cattle and capibaras,
there are many lakes: some are considerable, and have small
islands, but the whole are dried up immediately the river begins to
be impoverished by drought.
Phytology.—This province has few woods, and those of little
extent; but possesses trees of good timber for building. The
carnahuba and piassaba trees are very numerous in some districts.
Cocoa-nut trees appear only in the vicinity of the sea. Quinaquina, or
Jesuits’ bark, is said to grow here. The soil is in parts substantial,
and appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn, legumes,
rice, the cane, and tobacco, producing sufficient of all for the
consumption of the country. The tobacco upon the margins of the
Parnahiba passes in the opinion of many for the best in the Brazil; at
least it is dearer, and preferred to the approved quality of Bahia.
There are large plantations of the cotton tree, the produce of which
furnishes a considerable branch of commerce. Jalap and
ipecacuanha are not unknown; as also, among other fruit trees of
the plains, the ambuzo, the jabuticaba, and the mangaba; the jaca
and mango trees are rare. The orange and banana trees are not
common to all places; but the atta, or pine tree, prospers almost in
all parts, and produces fruit in perfection. European fruit trees
scarcely appear. The fig and the vine acquire little size and fructify in
small quantity.
Zoology.—The abundance and good quality of pasturage which is
met with in all the districts, and generally without many portions
appropriated to agriculture, has caused the lands, almost in all parts,
to be destined for breeding cattle, which are prodigiously numerous,
and constitute the main property in the country; and this province
may be considered the great mart for the supply of beef to
Maranham, Pernambuco, and Bahia, at which places the cattle arrive
in much better condition than at Rio de Janeiro. Horses are not bred
beyond the wants of the country. Sheep are numerous, and goats
much less so; but if the inhabitants were industrious, and well
acquainted with cutting and tanning the skins, they would form a
considerable branch of commerce. All the wild animals of the
neighbouring provinces are well known here; deer are the most
numerous. In the short extent of the coast of this province there are
no islands, capes, nor points; and the only port is that of the river
Hyguarassu, capable of receiving sumacas, which formerly navigated
to the town of St. Joao, but at present remain eight miles below it,
in consequence of the river diminishing in depth. The entrance,
besides, is dangerous.
The towns of this province are the following:—
Oeyras
Parnahiba
Marvao
Campo Maior
Vallenca
Jerumenha
Pernagua.

Oeyras, to which King Joseph gave the title of city, with this
appellation, in honour of his celebrated secretary, the first count of
that name, was denominated until then the town of Mocha, having
been so created in the reign of John V. about the year 1718; and,
although it has been from this period the capital of the province, it
does not yet surpass a small town; but is well enough supplied, and
well situated near the right margin of a stream, which, three miles
lower, falls into the Caninde. It is two hundred and fifty miles to the
south of St. Joam de Parnahiba, and upwards of three hundred to
the south-south-east of St. Luiz of Maranham; one hundred and
forty in the same direction from Cachias; and between six and seven
hundred miles to the west of the town of Pernambuco. The church is
dedicated to the Lady of Victory, and it has also the hermitages of
Conceiçao and Rozario. The houses are generally of clay and timber,
whitened with potters’ earth; and the greater part of its inhabitants
are Europeans.
Parnahiba, a middling town, and the principal in the province, is
advantageously situated upon a point on the right margin of the
eastern branch of the river from which its name is borrowed, in
sandy ground, fifteen miles from the sea. It has some houses of one
story, which are not seen in any other towns of the province; and
the streets are generally unpaved. It is the deposit of a great
quantity of cotton and hides, and has a church dedicated to the Lady
of Graca. The inhabitants draw their water from the river or from
cacimbas, and are frequently attacked with fevers. In 1811, it
became the residence of a Juiz de Fora, and a custom-house was at
the same time established. Within its district large and excellent
melons grow, also water-melons throughout the year.
Campo Maior is a town in a state of mediocrity, well situated
upon the margin, and eight miles above the embouchure of the
small river Sorubim, of which it formerly had the name. It is thirty
miles distant from Parnahiba, near a profound lake, stored with fish
and good water. Besides the church dedicated to St. Antonio, it has a
hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The small river Maratahoan
washes its district, from the bed of which are drawn excellent
grindstones. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate cotton and
the necessaries of life.
Vallenca, primitively Catinguinha, is a small town, situated upon
an insignificant stream, which fifteen miles lower enters the river St.
Victor. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of O. Within its district
there is saltpetre, and good pasturage, where many cattle are bred.
Twenty-five miles distant is the chapel of the Lady of Conceiçao, and
in its environs are cultivated the necessaries of life peculiar to the
country.
Marvao, whose first name was Rancho do Prato, is also a small
place, situated in a plain twenty miles above the mouth of the small
river so called, on the margin of which graze herds of large cattle,
constituting the wealth of its dwellers. The Lady of Desterro is the
patroness of its church, and within the district there is silver and
pumice-stone.
Jerumenha is an insignificant town, upon the margin and fifteen
miles above the embouchure of the Gurguea, of which it had
originally the name. It has a church dedicated to St. Antonio; and
the inhabitants breed cattle and cultivate the common necessaries of
life. They are frequently attacked with fevers.
 Pernagua is a small town and well situated upon the western
margin of a lake fifteen miles in length, near eight in width, deep,
well stored with fish, and traversed by the river Pirahim. It has a fine
church of stone, dedicated to the Lady of Livramento; having flat
environs, small hills only being seen at a distance. The inhabitants,
amongst whom are some Europeans, raise cattle and horses; and
besides other agricultural productions, the sugar cane, of which is
made rapaduras, and an ardent spirit. It is above fifty miles distant
from the southern limits of the province, about the same from the
river Preto, and above one hundred and thirty miles from the town
of St. Francisco das Chagas. In its district there are portions of
ground appropriated to the culture of tobacco.
The lake of Pernagua which is reduced to eight miles of length,
and four in width, during the dry season, was formed, it is said, by
an extraordinary overflowing of the river, since the Portuguese were
masters of the country.
The considerable arraial of Piracruca, well situated near the small
river of its name, forty miles distant from the mouth of the Longa,
has the best church of the province. In its district there are copperas
and the real Jesuits’ bark. The inhabitants have large plantations of
cotton, mandioca, and sugar; from the latter rum and rapaduras are
made.
The aldeia and Indian parish of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante, is in a
well selected and fertile district, where any other class of people
would ere this have rendered agriculture flourishing, lived in
abundance, and have become rich. It is eighteen miles from the
mouth of the Caninde, and seventy north of the capital; and was
founded about the year 1766, for the habitation of nine hundred
Guegues, who occupied the country about the heads of the
Parnahiba, and sixteen hundred Acroas, who lived more to the
southward. Some time having elapsed, the whole deserted: they
were, however, subsequently re-conquered, and re-established in the
same place, which has ever since been going into a state of decay.
 The parish of the Lady of Merces, whose first inhabitants were
mainly Jahico Indians, lies between the Itahim, and the small river
Guaribas. All the parishioners live dispersed, the vicar being the only
resident near the church, which is about seventy miles from the
capital.
The two last parishes were created a few years ago, and formerly
belonged to that of the capital; in whose extensive district there are
yet to be remarked the chapel of Our Lady of Humildes, not far
removed from the heads of the Caninde; that of St. Ignacio, near
the same river, and thirty-five miles from the capital; that of St.
Joam, near the origin of the Piauhy; and the Lady of Nazareth, upon
the margin of the said river, forty miles from Oeyras; also the Lady
of Conceiçao, in the situation of Bocayna, near the small river
Guaribas.
The considerable arraial of Poti, advantageously situated near the
embouchure of the river which affords it the name, has already
some commerce, and might easily become a considerable povoaçao.
All the people are within the diocese of the bishop of Maranham,
who has a vicar-general at Oeyras. The literary subsidy, as it is
denominated, arising from an impost upon cattle in this province, is
important enough. But there was not till within this few years a
single royal professor, as they are so imposingly styled, in any part of
it, for either the primitive letters or Latin; but instead of any
knowledge of the classics being diffused amongst the population of
the Brazil, by these titled masters, it is altogether unlettered; in fact,
I have seen some of those royal preceptors unattended by a single
pupil.
 CHAP. XXII.
PROVINCE OF MARANHAM.
First Donatory—Shipwreck of Persons intended for its Colonization—Establishment of the French—
Retaken—Foundation of Capital—Taken by the Dutch—Retaken—Agricultural Company—
Boundaries—Rivers, Ports, and Islands—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Indians—Povoaçoes—
City of Maranham—Commerce—Exports of Produce.
John III. was more peculiarly attentive to the prosperity and improvement of the Brazil, than any
other of the Portuguese sovereigns, with the exception of the present monarch, John VI. whose
salutary administration of power in the Transatlantic part of his dominions, may be regarded as the
result of those important events in Europe, which led to the removal of the Royal Family to this
region, and the consequent introduction of a more liberal intercourse with other nations. But these
benefits are but the dawnings of future civilization and improvement.
John III. in pursuance of his good wishes towards the Brazil, determined to partition the coast
into capitanias, and that denominated Maranhao, was presented by his Majesty to the historian Joam
de Barros. It is probable that this part of the coast had acquired that name from the circumstance of
V. Y. Pinson, after his discovery of Cape St. Augustin, having entered a gulf or the mouth of a great
river, which was unquestionably the Amazons, and whose waters not possessing the saline qualities
of the ocean, he called Mara-non, (not sea.) Hence followed the Portuguese denomination of this
territory Maranhao, and Maranham by the English, resulting from the false notion which the
Portuguese at first entertained that it was the great river. Its donatory, Joam de Barros, being a man
of noble spirit, and determined to do the utmost for the colonization of this important donation,
united with his own inadequate means those of the Cavalheiros Fernando Alvarez and Ayres da
Cunha. It was unanimously agreed that Ayres da Cunha should be intrusted with the settlement of
the colony, which sailed from Lisbon in 1535, consisting of nine hundred persons, including two sons
of the donatory, with the important addition of one hundred and thirteen horses.
This armament, comprising ten vessels, and considered the most powerful that had sailed for a
long period from the Tagus, was unfortunately wrecked upon the shoals which surround the island of
Maranham. Some persons escaped to the island of Medi or Boqueirao at the entrance of the bay; but
which not being adapted for the foundation of the colony, they abandoned and returned to Portugal
by the first vessel that appeared, excepting one individual, a blacksmith, called Pedro, or Pero, who
remained among the Indians, and rendered himself highly important and exceedingly useful to them,
in consequence of the variety of instruments he constructed of the iron taken from the fragments of
the wreck that were washed upon the beach. A daughter of a cacique, or prince, was bestowed upon
him in marriage, by whom he had two sons, both called Pedros, or Peros, from which the Indians
thought the Portuguese all had this name, and they usually gave that nation the appellation of Peros.
The severe disappointment which Barros sustained, not only in the loss of his property but of his
two sons, by this terrible disaster, deterred him from making any further attempt. And the same
monarch gave this territory to Luiz de Mello, and furnished him with three ships and two caravels,
that he might the more effectually execute his project, which was to penetrate by the river Amazons
as far as the eastern mines of Peru. He was not, however, much less unfortunate than Ayres da
Cunha, the whole of the armament being lost near the same place, excepting one caravel that
escaped, and with which he returned to Lisbon. These misfortunes attending the vessels that
entered even the best anchorage place of this province discouraged all those persons who were
capable of colonizing its fertile land, but did not prevent its being visited by other nations.
In the year 1594 M. Rifault, a Frenchman, entered the port of Maranham with three sail, where
he left Charles Vaux and a small number of his crew. This weak colony was reinforced in the year
1612 by M. Ravardiere. Two years afterwards Jeronimo d’Albuquerque Coelho was despatched from
Pernambuco by order of the governor, Gaspar de Souza, to expel those intruders, over whom, after
some attacks, he gained very little advantage, by a capitulation which he entered into with them.
Alexandre de Moura, who arrived there the following year with a strong force, proposed, instead of
the capitulation, the evacuation of the place by the French, to which their commander, from the
weak condition of the colony, was under the necessity of acceding. This event, occurring on the 1st
of November, induced Moura to give the name of Todos os Santos to the island, which it did not
however long retain.
Jeronimo d’Albuquerque was left here by Alexandre de Moura with the post of captao-mor, and
was instructed to found a povoaçao and continue the conquest of this new province on account of
the government. He preferred the situation which had been selected by the French, where he
commenced the capital, in the increase and defence of which he was occupied till the year 1618,
when he died, and was succeeded by his son, Antonio d’Albuquerque, as temporary governor for
more than a year, when Domingos da Costa Machado was appointed to this situation. In the
beginning of his government Jorge de Lemos arrived there with two hundred families from the
Azores, in three vessels, at his own cost.
In 1621 there was a very great mortality amongst the domestic Indians, caused by the small pox.
Part of this loss was remedied in the same year by the transmission of forty families, also from the
islands of the Azores, by the provedor-mor, Antonio Ferraira Bitancourt, in pursuance of an
arrangement made with the crown.
Antonio Moniz Barreiros succeeded to this government in 1622, to whom the senate, in the name
of the people, presented a requisition that he would not consent to the establishment of the Jesuits
there, as it was thought the introduction of their principles among the Indians would not be
favourable to the colonists. He established two sugar works, in accomplishment of the obligation his
father, of the same name, was under from being appointed provedor-mor of the treasury at Bahia.
Some time before Barreiros began his government the court of Madrid (in 1621) resolved to form
the conquests of Maranham into a new state of the same name, and for its governor was nominated
D. Diogo de Carcoma, whose refusal occasioned the appointment of D. Francisco de Moura. This
individual not going, Francisco Coelho de Carvalho was elected, who sailed from the Tagus in March,
1624, and disembarked at Pernambuco, where the irruptions of the Dutch detained him nearly two
years, so that he did not arrive at the capital of Maranham till 1626, having previously taken
possession of the fort of Siara, which then formed a part of this province. In the following year he
visited the province of Grand Para and entered the bay of Gurupy, where he established a povoaçao,
which he called Vera Cruz, and died in the twelfth year of his government.
In 1641, when John IV. again had an ambassador at the Dutch court, which had recognised him
as the legitimate sovereign of Portugal, a Dutch vessel arrived at Maranham, under the pretence of
having been driven there by a violent tempest, and requested that assistance which in such cases is
customary for friendly nations to afford to each other. The credulous friendship of the governor was
taken advantage of by the Dutch, who suddenly possessed themselves of the capital, and with
facility subjugated the rest of the province; from whence, however, they were expelled by the
Portuguese in 1643.
All the governors of this province had not the titles of captains-general of the state; occasionally
Grand Para enjoyed this pre-eminence. All proceedings that admitted of appeal after the sentence of
the magistrates, in all the provinces, were always referred to the court, and their bishops
immediately upon creation became suffragans of the metropolitan of Lisbon.
The subjection of the Portuguese nation to a foreign sceptre, the pretensions of the Dutch to the
Brazil, afterwards the prolonged war preceding the reversion of the crown, and, finally, the alleged
long existing destructive abuses of the Braganza family, are adduced as plausible reasons for the
unflourishing state of the Brazil for nearly a century and a half.
 With the change of hemisphere the first colonists are also said to have changed their customs,
entering into the pursuits of agriculture with no spirit, alike regarding improvement and instruction
with indifference, and preferring the idiom of the barbarous Tupinambas to their own. The various
Jesuitical missionaries, however, made great progress in the conversion of the Indians, and in which
they would have been more successful had not the colonists degenerated so much and relaxed in
their obedience to the laws. The Portuguese language began to be generally used in the year 1755,
and at this epoch agriculture assumed a more flourishing aspect, in consequence of the creation of a
public company, which included the province of Para. Its capital amounted to one million two
hundred thousand crusades, which was raised by twelve hundred shares; the possession of ten
shares rendered each individual eligible to the administration of the affairs of the company, which
was decried by some as introductory of ignorance and a system of destruction.
This province is bounded on the north by the ocean, on the west by the province of Para, on the
south by those of Goyaz and Piauhy, and on the east by the latter. It is of a triangular form,
extending nearly four hundred miles from north to south on its western side, and about three
hundred and fifty miles from west to east along the coast, lying between 1° and 7½° south latitude.
Its vicinity to the equator renders the climate hot. The thunderstorms introduce the winter season,
which begin in the southern districts about the month of October, where the longest day is twelve
hours and a half. In the northern part of the province there is scarcely any difference between the
day and night all the year. The country is mostly uneven, but without any mountains of considerable
elevation. It has large and numerous rivers, and is mainly covered with woods, affording a variety
and abundance of excellent timber.
Rivers, Ports, and Islands.—About two miles within the bar of the channel of Tutoya, (the western
branch of the river Parnahyba and the eastern limits of this province,) the river of the same name is
discharged, after a short course, being only of note as far as the tide ascends. In front of its mouth
is a small island, which forms an anchorage place.
Fifteen miles to the west of Tutoya bar is the Perguicas, which is large, and affords good
anchorage for small vessels within the eastern point. Following a handsome beach of white sand for
about thirty miles, denominated the Lancoes, and at its termination another of about twelve miles,
covered with mangroves, is the river Marim, which flows through a fertile soil and is discharged by
three mouths. Passing the western mouth of this river the coast changes its direction to the south-
west, and forms a gulf or bay of about thirty-five miles in extent, in which is situated the island of
Maranham, (twenty miles long from north-east to south-west, and fifteen at its greatest width,)
forming, with the continent, two bays, one to the east, called St. Joze, and the other to the west, St.
Marcos, each about six miles in width, communicating by a narrow strait, denominated the river
Mosquito, fifteen miles long, and separating the island from the continent: this island, almost
covered with woods, has some eminences and fifteen perennial streams.
Seven miles beyond the Marim the Perea discharges itself, and is navigable for a considerable
distance. Almost in front of it is an island of the same name, near to which is another, called Raza,
and not far distant that of St. Anna. The river Moconandiva follows, and after it the Mamuna, which
is discharged by two mouths, the western one being called Aragatuba; the interval between it and
the Perea, about twelve miles, is an archipelago. Twenty-eight miles further is discharged the large
river Mony, which originates about twenty-five miles from the margin of the Parnahyba, and six miles
above its mouth receives the Iguara, which waters a country where the necessaries of life are only
partially cultivated. Three miles west of the Mony is the vast embouchure of the large river Itapicuru,
being the most considerable of the province. It originates in the district of Balsas, the most southern
portion of Maranham, where it already assumes the appearance of a large river, running north-east
to Cachias, one hundred miles above which it receives on the left the Alpercatas, of equal size, and
which comes from the territory of the Tymbyra Indians, whither it affords navigation to canoes. In
Cachias it changes its direction to the north-west, and passes by two parishes of the same name,
where the tide and the navigation of large barks with the sail terminate. Its current is rapid and the
course winding, generally through extensive woods. The fishermen who use the line about the heads
of this river, occasionally catch a species of small eel whose electric powers are greater than the
torpedo, conveying its influence up the line and rod, and benumbing the arm, so that it cannot be
moved; this electrical effect is attributed to a stone the fish has in its head, and which is much
esteemed by the superstitious, who attach many virtues to it. Humboldt tried many interesting
experiments with this fish, whose electric fire is exhausted after many discharges; amongst other
trials of its power were the driving horses into a pond and compelling them to withstand the
gradually decreasing shocks of a great many of them. The two last rivers enter the bay of St. Joze.
About twenty miles further west, at the bottom of the bay of St. Marcos and the same distance
south-west of the capital is the mouth of the large river Meary, or Mearim, sometimes called
Maranham, which originates also in the southern part of the province, describing numerous windings,
and increasing by the addition of various streams, among which is the Grajehu. Its bed is deep and
wide, and the current so rapid that it suspends the progress of the tide for a considerable period,
and produces by this opposition an extraordinary agitation of the waters, which is called Pororocas;
when the tide has vanquished its opponent it flows up for three hours with astonishing rapidity. This
phenomenon occupies a space of nearly fifteen miles, occasioning a loud noise, and there are
situations, called esperas, where canoes wait until the tide re-advances, and then continue their
voyage without danger. This large river, which has the least depth at its extended mouth where
vessels can only enter with the tide, affords navigation to the centre of the province, where a large
fall interrupts it. It traverses the territories of the Gamella Indians and other barbarous nations. In
the vicinity of the sea it flows through fine campinhas of fertile land, where cattle are raised, a
diversity of the necessaries of life, and cotton. One of its principal and last confluents is the Pinnare,
up which small craft proceed to the town of Vianna. The coast beyond the Mearim inclines to the
north, forming a bay ten miles in extent, about fifteen miles beyond which is the bay of Cuma, nine
miles long and three wide, open to the east, and receiving the river Piracunan.
Twenty miles further is the bay called Cabello da Velha, six miles wide, nearly of equal length,
and receiving the river Cururupu. Its entrance is between two small islands surrounded with
dangerous shoals. In the proximity of the shore, half way between the two last bays, is a file of five
islands, thickly covered with woods; the largest is about four miles in length. About twenty miles
further, the coast being bordered by the same number of islands, is the embouchure of the
Turynana, which has an extensive course and here affords good anchorage for small vessels. In front
of this is the island of St. Joam, the most westerly of those alluded to; it is ten miles long from
north-east to south-west, flat, covered with woods, and occupied by birds and wild quadrupeds. A
profound channel, three miles in width, separates it from the continent; near its north-eastern point
there is safe anchorage.
Further westward is the vast bay of Turyvassu, the limits of the province on the side of Para. It
receives a river of the same name, after flowing a great distance through extensive woods. The
Indians, who, under various appellations had the dominion of the island of Maranham and the
adjoining continent, were Tupinambas, and divided into small tribes.
Mineralogy.—Calcareous stone, copperas, alum, iron, lead, and silver, antimony, amianthus,
saltpetre, mineral salt, crystals, grindstone, and quarries or rocks of granite.
Phytology.—The Asiatic cocoa-nut tree grows sparingly, and only along the coast. The pine is
common, and fructifies in perfection. From the fruit of the mamona is extracted almost all the oil
which is used for lights. Here are trees of gum copal, storax, mastick, bensoin, dragons’ blood, the
oil of cupahyba, or capivi, the arariba, from whose bark is extracted a beautiful crimson colour, the
barbatimoe, cajue-nut ambuzo, cocoa, jabuticaba, mangaba, aracaza, babonilha, butua, ginger,
jalap, ipecacuanha, and the palm. The cane prospers in many situations, but its culture has been
supplanted by that of cotton, which constitutes the main article of exportation, and the principal
wealth of the country. Amongst resinous trees is also the sucuba, the gum of which passes for the
ammoniac of the Levant. The deity who presides over grain, the lifesustaining Ceres, has here but
little influence, and rice only is cultivated, but to a very great extent; the soil is equally well adapted
to the produce of Indian corn. The irregularity of the seasons does not permit the cultivation of
wheat, rye, or barley. Water-melons, melons, and pine-apples are excellent. The indigenous banana
tree produces fruit in immense profusion and of the best quality.
Zoology.—Cattle, sheep, and goats multiply here better than in the countries from which they
were imported, but do not improve in size nor in the flavour of their meat, neither are they very
numerous, with the exception of the first. Mules are bred here, also hogs, equal to the consumption
of the country. All the species of wild animals are met with, peculiar to the eastern provinces. The
moco is numerous in all parts. The birds of the plains, woods, and lakes, known in the other districts,
are common here; and the handsome guara abound in the proximity of the sea. There is in this part
of South America a particular species of silk worm, more prolific than the ordinary kinds of Bombay
or Persia. The colour of the silk is a dark yellow, and might be rendered a considerable branch of
commerce, in consequence of the facility which would attend its abundant cultivation, if any
adequate attention was afforded to it. The insect receives its nourishment from leaves of the orange
and the pine tree, or atta, which is common in its native country.
All the territory lying between the rivers Itapicuru and the Parnahyba has been for many years
evacuated by the Indians, as well as the northern part of that to the west of the first river, and is
more or less inhabited by whites, and Christianized Indians, mainly occupied in the cultivation of
mandioca, Indian corn, and legumes, and above all in the two vegetable articles of exportation, rice
and cotton, almost all the labour being performed by the hands of negroes, who exceed by many
times the number of the others. Families live for the most part dispersed. A certain proportion of
land, where each cultivator dwells, generally with all his family and slaves, is of itself considered an
aldeia. There are few aldeias compared with the extent of the province, having any considerable
number of families, with the exception of those which have been created parishes, many comprising
sixty miles or more of district. Excellent nets used for sleeping, and some coarse cottons, made into
dresses, generally for slaves, are manufactured here.
The southern portion of the western district of this province is still in the possession of the
Indians, as well as a great extent of the central part. The most northern tribe, bordering upon the
Portuguese, are called by them the Gamellas, in consequence of their prevailing custom of
perforating and distending the under lip, with a sort of calabash, or round piece of wood, which
produces some resemblance to a small gamella, or wooden bowl. They cultivate various necessaries
of life, and live in cabanas, when they are not out upon their hunting excursions, or gathering wild
fruits. Their arms are the bow and arrow, and a club of hard wood, denominated a mataranna,
cornered at the thicker end and pointed at the other.
The Timbyras occupy the country to the south of them, and are divided into two hordes, one
denominated Timbyras da Matta, (of the wood,) from living in the interior of forests; the other,
Timbyras de Canella Fina, from the delicate form of their legs. They rove in the desert plains, and
are of such amazing velocity, that they equal the swiftness of the horse. All use a bow made of a
species of small club, and another large one of violet wood, and flat. Those of the woods have in
their territory a large lake, and mines of salt, which they use, and cultivate mandioca and other
necessaries, also some cotton, of which they make their hammocks. They distil various beverages,
more or less inebriating, which last only for a short time, arising as much from the quality as the
excess with which they use them. From the period they begin to drink them, till they are finished,
are days of folly, dedicated to tumultuous dancing and dissension.
Proceeding southward, the Manajos are met with, who are of a white complexion, and occupy a
country to the west of Balsas, extending themselves to the margin of the Tucantins, where they
receive the name of Temembos. In their vicinity dwell the Bus and Cupinharos. The territory
bounding this province and Para is inhabited by the Gê Indians, who are divided into five tribes,
distinguished by the appellations of Auge, Crange, Cannacatage, Poncatage, and Paycoge, and
almost without any difference of language or customs.
 The towns of this province are—
Alcantara
Guimarens
St. Joam de Cortes
Vianna
Moncao
Hycatu
Cachias
Tury
Vinhaes
Passo do Lumiar
Maranham.

Alcantara, about ten miles north-west of the capital is a large town, with good houses, and
agreeably situated upon elevated ground, having four hermitages, a convent of slippered Carmalites,
another of Mercenaries, and a fort, seated upon the site where a Jesuitical hospicio existed. It was
for some time the capital of the capitania of Cuma, which terminated in the bay of Turyvassu, and its
port is capable of receiving sumacas. The cotton raised in its district is esteemed the best of the
province. This article and rice constitute the principal productions of the inhabitants. The salterns,
three miles north of it, are capable of furnishing excellent salt to many provinces, if they were
administered, as in the time of the Jesuits, to whom they belonged.
Guimarens is a flourishing town, situated upon the northern side of the bay of Cuma, thirty miles
north-north-west of Alcantara, with a church of St. Joze. From its port are exported cotton, rice, and
a considerable quantity of farinha.
St. Joam de Cortes is a small and insignificant town, eighteen miles south of Guimarens, on the
southern margin of the bay of Cuma, producing farinha, with some cotton and rice.
Vianna is a middling town, and well situated upon the margin of the Maracu, a branch of the
Pinnare, in the vicinity of a large lake, about one hundred miles from the capital. The church is
dedicated to Our Lady of Conceiçao; and its inhabitants raise cotton, mandioca, and other
necessaries of life common to the country. They breed cattle and collect timber. In its district there is
one of the best sugar works of the province, and formerly belonging to the Jesuits.
Moncao, eighteen miles south of Vianna, is a small Indian town, with a church, upon the banks of
the Pinnare. Its inhabitants raise the provisions of life, some cotton, and follow fishing and hunting.
Hycatu, (good water,) an ancient town, and formerly considerable and flourishing, is situated near
the confluence of the Hyguara with the Mony, and has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao. It was the
first residence of the governors of the province, and conceded many privileges to its senate. An
excellent quality of cotton constitutes the chief production of its inhabitants.
Cachias, a considerable and flourishing town upon the eastern margin of the Itapicuru, is two
hundred miles south-east of the capital, and nearly the same distance north-north-west of Oeyras. It
has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and a hermitage of Razario; Aldeias Altas was its primitive
name. A Juiz de Fora has presided over its senate since the year 1809. The propensity to gambling
amongst its inhabitants has occasioned the ruin of many merchants of the capital. Within its
extensive district a very great quantity of cotton and rice is grown, for whose transmission to the
parish of Rozario barks of considerable burden are constructed for navigating in shoal water.
Upon the other side of the river is the parish of Trezidellas, whose parishioners are descended
from the Aborigines. They have a church of Our Lady of Razario.
One hundred miles above Cachias, and upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the small arraial of
Principe Regente, commenced in June, 1807. The fertility of its surrounding country and the
advantage arising from canoes of considerable burden being able to navigate hither augur favourably
for the future prosperity of this new colony, where a hermitage already exists.
 In the district of Balsas is the parish of St. Felis, whose inhabitants are farmers of cotton and
common necessaries.
Thirty miles south-south-west of Principe Regente is the arraial of St. Bento Pastos Bons, situated
amongst small hills, ten miles from the Parnahyba, and twenty-eight from the Itapicuru. Cattle and
cotton constitute the main property of its inhabitants.
Three miles north of Pastos Bons is the aldeia of St. Antonio, whose dwellers are a tribe of
Christianized Manago Indians, who live by hunting, and some agriculture.
Thirty-five miles from the sea, upon the margin of the Itapicuru, is the parish of Rozario, better
known by the name of Itapicuru Grande, whose inhabitants raise cattle and a considerable quantity
of rice. Here large canoes arrive from the capital, and are laden with the productions of this district,
and those that descend from the High Itapicuru and Balsas.
Twenty-eight miles further, and upon the margin of the same river, is the considerable povoaçao
of Itapicuru Mirim, with a church of Our Lady of Griefs, its inhabitants producing large quantities of
cotton, and the necessaries of life. Between the two preceding parishes is that of Lapa, in the site of
St. Miguel.
Upon the margin of the Mearim, fifty miles from the sea, is the parish of N. Senhora of Nazareth,
whose inhabitants raise cattle, cotton, rice, &c. without gaining much wealth.
Tury is a villota, or small town, with only the appearance of an aldeia, but which may become
more considerable from its situation upon the large bay of the same name, and the fertility of its
adjacent territory, particularly after the pacification of the central Indians. The church is dedicated to
St. Francisco Xavier.
Near the mouth of the Tutoya, in an advantageous situation, is the parish of Conceiçao, well
supplied with fish and the necessaries of life, having a port capable of receiving sumacas, and
possessing greater depth than any other of the Parnahyba.
Considerably to the southward, and two miles from the Parnahyba, is the parish of St. Bernardo
d’ Annapuru, cotton being the production of its diversified population.
Vinhaes is a small town, three miles to the east of the capital, situated in the same island, upon a
stream of its name, with a church dedicated to St. Joam Baptista. The houses are constructed of
wood, and covered with straw, and its inhabitants are Indians, who fish, and cultivate various
necessaries of life; they also make mats of miassava for trimming ships and cords of imbe.
Passo do Lumiar is the most populous town of Indians in the whole province, and is in the centre
of the island, upon the river St. Joam. The church is of stone, dedicated to Our Lady of Luz, and its
inhabitants are of divers nations, cultivating excellent tobacco, rice, mandioca, &c.; they are also
woodcutters and fishermen.
In the eastern extremity of the island there is a considerable aldeia, pleasantly situated, with a
hermitage of St. Joze, from which the bay already mentioned takes the name.
This island is of medium altitude, the soil in general fertile, and appropriated to different branches
of agriculture.
Maranham, or St. Luiz, the capital of the province, is a city advanced to rather more than a state of
mediocrity, having about thirty thousand inhabitants; and, although it may be said to rank the lowest
among four great commercial cities of the Brazil, yet its amount of commerce is not far short of
Pernambuco, and it certainly has maintained a progression of improvement with the latter city, as
well as Bahia, since the removal of the Royal Family to this region. It is situated upon the western
part of the island of the same name, between the mouth of two streams, rendered important rivers
by the addition of the tide, which advances nearly to their origins, and swells them considerably. The
one north of the city is called the St. Francisco, as far as the confluence of the Anil with that of
Vinhaes, neither of which are more than six miles in extent. The other, on the south, denominated
the Maranham, is a handsome current, and receives by its northern margin the Baccanga.
This town was created a bishopric in the year 1676, and is ornamented with a house of
Misericordia, convents of slippered Carmelites, of Mercenarios, and of Franciscans; a recolhimento for
women, and a hospital. The ci-devant Jesuitical college is converted into the episcopal palace, and its
church into the cathedral. The houses have verandas and do not differ from the general style of
Portuguese buildings. The streets are paved, and disagreeably crowded with slaves, producing the
same ungracious feelings in this respect as are peculiar to all towns of the Brazil. It is divided into
two parishes, one of them being attached to the cathedral dedicated to Nossa Senhora of Victoria,
and the other to Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao. It has a court of Relacam, which Pernambuco does
not yet possess, created in the year 1812, and having a jurisdiction over an extensive district,
comprehending not only the comarcas of Maranham, Piauhy, Para, and Rio Negro, but also of Siara,
as well as all the other comarcas and judicatures, which, in the provinces referred to, may be created
de novo. The members of this Relacam are composed of the governor, the chancellor, and at most of
nine dezembargadors, which latter is a title given to those eligible to or holding posts of judicature,
ouvidorships, &c. Here is also a tribunal of the Real Fazenda, a Port Admiral, and Royal Professors of
the Primitive Letters, Latin, Rhetorick, and Philosophy, similar in their import and effect to those of
other places. It is scarcely necessary to observe, after the description of the province, that cotton
and rice are the principal exportations from this city. Its cotton has required the repute of being next
in quality to that of Pernambuco, and obtains in the British market a price within 1½d per lb. of that
cotton, and 1d. per lb. above that of Bahia. The export of cotton from Maranham, the year after the
arrival of the Royal Family in the Brazil, was upwards of seventy thousand bags; it fell the two
following years to fifty thousand, and the next year to forty thousand, but rose again to sixty
thousand in the year 1813, from which period to 1817 its average may be estimated at sixty
thousand bags. The following is a correct statement of the exports in 1818 and 1819.
For the year 1818.
Number Destination. Cotton. Rice. Hides. Tanned Gum. Farhina, Indian Total freight Total value
of Leather. or Flour Corn. to each Port. at each Port.
vessels. of
Mandioca.
Bags. Arrobas. Bags. Arrobas. No. Pieces. lbs. Sacks. Sacks. Milreas. Reas.
25 Lisbon 16,294 88,488 43,212 224,263 5131 32,503 1501 250 —— 137,692 250 1,092,498 151
16 Oporto 3,251 18,595 25,037 132,167 1027 6,116 202 — 1389 65,281 854 319,697 590
1 Cape de 14 73 —— —— —— —— —— — —— —— 500 400
Verds
1 Antwerp 500 3,040 305 1,666 418 —— —— — —— 4,062 800 28,653 200
1 Surinam 25 157 —— —— 712 —— —— — —— 441 800 1,936 600
1 Boston 8 48 —— —— 1659 —— —— — —— 435 800 2,013 400
1 Gibraltar 156 780 —— —— —— —— —— — —— 780 000 6,084 000
2 St. Maloes 511 2,976 —— —— 420 —— —— — —— 2,823 200 24,236 200
5 Havre de 3,888 21,472 372 1,997 30 —— —— — —— 21,438 200 167,402 100
Grace
2 London 1,687 8,835 —— —— —— —— —— — —— 5,985 200 70,046 300
49 Liverpool 47,396 258,329 —— —— —— —— —— — —— 220,576 200 2,069,903 000
104 73,730 402,793 68,926 360,095 9433 38,619 1703 250 1389 459,517 304 3,783,020 941

Total value, 3,783,020 941, at 5s. the Milrea, is £945,755 4s. 2d. sterling; one-third deducted will
be about the present value.
For the year 1819.
Ports. Cotton. Cost. Rice. Cost.
Bags. Arrobas. Milreas. Reas. Bags. Arrobas. Milreas. Reas.
Lisbon 16,625 91,074 517,821 500 41,993 220,562 201,039 450
Oporto 2,629 14,212 81,745 500 22,934 116,184 104,074 950
Cape Verde 8 45 238 833
 Havre 5,900 31,326 203,052 350
Liverpool 40,291 222,623 1,333,142 354
Total 65,453 359,280 2,136,000 537 64,927 336,746 305,114 400

It appears to be uncertain whether this city or Pernambuco will in future take the lead in the
exportation of cotton. Two-thirds of this article from Maranham is sent principally to the port of
Liverpool, from whence the greatest portion of manufactured goods for the consumption of the
province are shipped, and our merchants labour under the same disadvantage here as at Bahia and
Pernambuco, in having no alternative but taking produce for the whole of their importations, which
necessarily keeps up the price much above the proportionable par of the British market. There is a
singular coincidence in the commercial intercourse of the two countries, relative to cotton. Nearly the
amount of the annual Brazilian exports to England of this article is returned to that country in a
manufactured state in the course of the following year; and, notwithstanding all the ingenuity of
machinery, talent, and superior intelligence brought into the scale on the part of the British
manufacturer and merchant, the Brazilians have decidedly the advantage over them in the
progression of continued gain and enrichment. The illiterate and uncultivated planter derives his
wealth from the refined state of British manufactures and commerce, while their votaries have for
sometime, and are yet sustaining serious injury by this portion at least of their transatlantic
intercourse.
It is probable that the exports from this city, as well as Pernambuco, may be lessened so far as
regards the Fora cottons, or those coming from the adjoining provinces, which are acquiring by
degrees a direct intercourse with Europe, and not as hitherto through the medium of those ports. In
the provinces where establishments are forming, the governors are desirous of concentrating the
whole of its productions through the medium of the head town, in order to increase the revenues of
their jurisdictions. It may be observed again, that it is English establishments branching from this city
and Pernambuco principally that afford these advantages to the rising provinces of Para, Parahiba,
Rio Grande de Norte, and Siara.
This city is well supplied with fish, water, meat, and fine fruits. Three fortifications defend its port,
which is diminishing in depth of water. The tide rises here twenty-eight palms, but there is
considerable intricacy, attended with danger, in vessels approaching the anchorage place. Amongst
the English merchants established here, the Consul ranks as one. There is an English hospital amply
provided with means from the contribution fund. The governors of the provinces are usually changed
every three years. General Silveira is here the present governor.
A provisional constitutional government was formed here in April, 1821, to continue in force till
the basis of the Portuguese constitution should be fixed. The popular feeling was in favour of a
government to consist of five or six members; but, after some contention, the first was adopted,
General Silveira declining to remain at the head of the council upon any other condition.
 CHAP. XXIII.
PROVINCE OF PARA.
First Settlement—Contests with Indians—Slavery of the Indians—Their
Liberation—Boundaries—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Ports
and Rivers—Igaruana Indians.—District of Para-Proper—Capital—
Buildings—Exports—English Establishments—Adoption of a New
Constitution—Towns.—District of Xingutania—Limits—In
Possession of Indians—Rivers—Towns.—District of Tapajonia—
Limits—Rivers—Indians—Towns.—District of Mundrucania—Rivers
—Principally possessed by the Indians—Their different Customs—
Towns.
Subsequent to the restoration of the island of Maranham,
Francisco Caldeyra sailed from that port with two hundred soldiers,
in three caravels, at the end of the year 1615, to him being confided
the important project of selecting an eligible situation for the
establishment of another colony, more immediately in the vicinity of
the Amazons; equally with a view of promoting the navigation of
that great river, and of frustrating the attempts of any other nation,
that might be made in prejudice to the rights assumed by the
Lusitanian crown to its adjacent territory.
After various observations on different parts of the coast, he
anchored in the port near which now stands the city of Belem,
commonly called Para, to which he immediately gave a
commencement, by the erection of a wooden fort, in the beginning
of the year 1616, denominating the territory Gram-Para, and
imagining that he was founding his colony upon the margin of the
great river.
This archipelago soon presented, and was for many years the
theatre of a cruel and inveterate warfare. Various Indian nations
opposed the establishment of this colony, principally the
Tupinambazes, the remains and descendants of various hordes of
the numerous Tupinamba tribe, under whose dominion the sertams
of Pernambuco were, when the Portuguese extended their conquests
into the interior of that province. Not being able to resist the
progress of their invaders, they fled from them to the margins of the
Tucantins and the Amazons.
The attacks of the Indians upon the new settlers increased with
the pretensions of the Dutch to the country, who inspired them with
enthusiasm for conquest; the ardour of which was augmented, by
the attempts of some small parties of English and French upon the
Amazons. Caldeira was regarded by the Portuguese as an intrepid
commander, but was wanting in equity, and the necessary
qualifications to found a colony amongst these savage tribes.
The barbarous assassination, by a near relation of his, of a
Captain esteemed by the whole colony, led to the termination of his
government. He pretended to expiate the atrocity of his relative by a
few days imprisonment; and rigorously treated two honourable men
who boldly required from him a punishment adequate to the crime
of the murderer. The circumstances attending it produced a
considerable tumult, from which resulted his imprisonment in 1618.
In the intermediate short government of Captain Balthazar
Rodrigues de Mello, the colony was assaulted with such intrepidity,
by the Tupinambazes, that the issue would have been doubtful, if
the chief of the Indians, denominated by the Portuguese, Cabello da
Velha, had not fallen dead soon after the commencement of the
attack.
In the year 1619, shortly after the Indians had retired, Jeronimo
Fragozo d’Albuquerque arrived from Pernambuco, being appointed
by Don Luiz de Souza to transmit the prisoner Caldeira to the Court,
and to succeed him in the government, which he commenced with
various success, by means of an armament, of which he took the
direction, having for his Admiral the celebrated Pedro Teyxeyra. At
the moment of exultation after these advantages, Captain Bento
Maciel arrived, from Pernambuco, with an auxiliary force of eighty
Portuguese, and four hundred disciplined Indians, to assist in the
prosecution of the war against the Tupinambazes.
 In the same year, the death of the governor occurred, which was
followed by the installation of Mathias d’Albuquerque, who was
deposed, under some pretext, in the course of twenty days. He was
succeeded by Captain Custodio Valente, Frey Antonio, guardian of
the Capuchins, and Captain Pedro Teyxeyra, who governed alone
after the departure of the first for Lisbon, and the resignation of the
second.
His government was short, the before-mentioned Bento Maciel
succeeding him in the year 1621. He expelled the Dutch, already
established upon both margins of the Amazons; destroyed some
hordes of the most courageous savages, obliged others to fly, and
induced many to come and offer peace and sincere friendship to the
colony; thereby acquiring the title of the conqueror of Maranham, by
which name the river Amazons was also designated. In his
government the Jesuitical Missionaries made great progress.
In 1624, Manuel de Souza d’Eca succeeded him, by royal patent,
an honour which was not conferred upon any of those who followed
him, in the course of a century. By the active and diligent operations
of the Missionaries the population became more numerous than that
of the eastern province.
After this, some governors had the title of Captain Genera! of the
State of Maranham, as were Joam d’Abreu Castello Branco, who
governed in 1743, and Francisco Xavier de Mendonca, who arrived
here in 1751, also appointed Plenipotentiary of Demarcation of the
high Amazons.
The captivity of the Indians, customary in almost all the other
provinces, and adopted in this since its first foundation, was
continued. All labour was performed by the hands of the captive
Indians, of which each colony prided itself in possessing the greatest
number: riches were calculated by the quantity of these
unfortunates. The injustice which was practised in this pretend right
over their lives and liberty, the consequent prevailing disposition to
indolence, avarice, and an indifference to vicious practices,
engendered crimes amongst the colonists, tending to destroy every
good and moral sentiment. The laws of the state and the sacred
obligations of religion became odious to them, as restraints upon
their vicious propensities. The Jesuit Antonio Viegra was the first,
who, in the new state, declaimed with energy against the captivity of
the aboriginal natives, and repaired to the metropolis expressly to
solicit the adoption of more effectual measures for their liberty; and
his colleagues, who entertained the same sentiments, were expelled
at all points from both provinces in 1671.
The colonists of Para and Maranham were turbulent, and
afforded considerable difficulties to the governors on this subject,
until King Joseph issued a salutary law in 1755, which compelled
them to observe the numerous edicts his ancestors had promulgated
without effect in favour of the freedom of the Indians. The liberated
Indians now passed under the inspection of administrators, who
made them work generally on certain lands, the produce of which
they were paid for out of the treasury, until the whole, in the
regency of his present Majesty, were left to their free will. It is,
however, to be remarked that many have since resumed the original
state of nature, and the others have not advanced a step beyond
their Indian brethren. The traders of Matto-Grosso and the high
Maranham experience frequent injuries from the non-performance of
contracts they make with them, finding themselves frequently
abandoned in situations of intricate navigation, where they are, in
consequence, subjected to great difficulties.
In 1755 the Portuguese language began to be generally used
here with the introduction of negroes, the freedom of the Indians,
and the creation of the company already alluded to, up to which
period the Tupinamba language was universally spoken; even the
orators in the pulpit did not use any other.
This province is bounded on the north by the ocean and the river
Maranham, or Amazons, which separates it from Guianna; on the
west by the river Madeira; on the south by the provinces of Goyaz
and Matto-Grosso; and on the east by that of Maranham. It extends
from the equator to seven degrees of south latitude, with near eight
hundred miles in length from east to west, and upwards of four
hundred miles in its greatest width. The climate is invariably hot,
even when it rains; the days and nights are nearly equal all the year,
and the seasons almost prevail together. At the same time that some
trees announce the autumn, by a profuse exhibition of fruits in a
state of maturity, others are flourishing in their primitive bloom. The
face of the country is generally flat, almost universally presenting an
agreeable aspect, covered with extensive woods, where trees grow
of a considerable height and prodigious girth. The soil in most parts
is humid, substantial, and of great fertility, affording an abundance
of various productions, which, in the other provinces, either do not
exist or but in very small quantities. It also far surpasses all the
others in the number and consequence of its rivers.
Mineralogy.—Crystals, emeralds, granite, silver, but not yet found
in any quantity, argils, red lead, yellow ochre, from which is
extracted ochre tinged with green.
Phytology.—In no other province are trees of such size produced;
many of the most excellent building timber, some for cabinet work,
various kinds affording tow for caulking, or flax for cordage; and the
great Author of Nature has created others whose alimentary fruits
afford sustenance to the living creature, the superabundance of
which, for the most part, is of no utility, in consequence of the
diminutive state of population. Amongst the oil and balsamic trees
are to be noted the cumaru and cupahyba, or capiri, those of gum-
storax are known here only by the name of omiry. The satin-wood is
very valuable; the merapinima is compact and heavy, appearing like
tortoiseshell when polished; there is the violet wood, the sucuba,
which distils by incision a liquor, and taken in certain doses, is an
efficacious remedy against the maw-worm; the massaranduba distils
another liquor, which occasionally makes fine gum; the juice of the
assacu is one of the most subtle venoms; the resin of the getaicica is
applied to the varnishing of earthern ware; the ashes of the chiriuba
are esteemed the best known for the manufacture of soap. Among
fruit trees are the orange, mangaba, saracaza, cajue-nut; the atta,
or pine, is common, and the fruit very fine; the fig and vine are rare
and do not fructify well; there are, also, the fruits of abiu, inga,
assiahy, bacaba, inaja, cotitiriba, cupuassu, aguru. The cocoa-nut
trees are seen only in the neighbourhood of the sea; the cedar is
very large and numerous, also the sapucaya; the plants of vanilla
and indigo grow spontaneously. The chesnut, that is the tree to
whose fruit is commonly given the name of castanha do Maranham,
differs from the sapucaya, with which it is sometimes confounded.
The cautecuc passes, and with justice, for one of the most useful
trees of this province, where it is common; it is of the euphorbium
species, and from its trunk is extracted, by incision, a liquid, which
condenses and turns into an elastic gum, with which, through the
medium of moulds, are made seringes of various kinds, and when its
juice is applied to dress renders it impenetrable to water. The cocoa
shrub, or tree, are of two kinds, one produced by nature, the other
by cultivation. Here is, likewise, sarsaparilla, ipecacuenha, butua,
jallap, ginger; also, the pechurum-tree and that affording the clove,
denominated cravo do Maranham and cucheri among the Indians.
The cultivation has here commenced of the laurel, or bay-tree,
similar to that of the Mollucas. The latter is an aromatic drug of such
particular flavour that nothing could be substituted for it, until the
seventeenth century, when that of Maranham was discovered,
which, though different in the form, is otherwise so similar and so
adapted to all the uses of the first that it has caused not only a
considerable reduction in the price, but in the consumption of it
among European nations. The trees that produce it the best, grow in
the same latitudes of Gram Para as the others do in the Mollucca
islands, and there is no doubt that the soil and climate of this
province is capable, with proper management, of producing any
thing that any other part of the world can afford. The bread fruit
tree has been recently introduced and prospers as in its native soil.
The very small portion, indeed, of this part of the Brazil that is
cultivated is appropriated to the culture of mandioca, Indian corn,
legumes, coffee, cotton, the sugar cane, of which the engenhos at
present are not numerous, and rice, which is very abundant; these,
with cocoa and other minor productions, principally engage the
attention of agriculturists, who, with the population and industry, are
at a very low ebb, compared to the advantages so pre-eminently
offered by a country of such unexampled fertility.
Zoology.—All the species of domestic and wild quadrupeds
peculiar to the surrounding provinces are common here, as likewise
the most remarkable birds, such as the parrot, arrara, tucano, jacu,
emu-ostrich, soco, araponga, mutun, troquaze pigeon, partridge,
jaburu, divers sorts of geese, macaricos, colhereiras, sabias, and
colibris; the guara, only met with in the vicinity of salt water, is very
numerous. Various species of small birds, with a variety of beautiful
plumage, are observed here, totally unknown in the other provinces;
also, all the kinds of bees common to the Brazil, affording a
profusion of honey, in the extensive woods, for the supply of the
Indian.
Ports and Rivers.—Between the bay of Turyuassu and Point
Tigioca there are upwards of twenty abundant rivers, each with its
anchorage place for vessels of small burden, more or less
commodious, either within or near their embouchures, the main part
being within bays or spacious gulfs, commonly surrounded with
mangroves, abounding in the guara, macarico, and other birds that
exist upon shell-fish.
As almost all the rivers in this province run into the Amazons, we
will speak of them in the order in which they enter that great
recipient.
The river of the Amazons, also called Maranham by the
Portuguese, and Guienna by some Indians, was discovered, after
Pinson had passed its spacious outlet, in the interior of the
continent, by his countryman Francisco Orellana, who descended by
it from the mouth of the Napo to the ocean, in the year 1539, and,
like the wondrous and fabulous statements of some of the first
discoverers of new countries, he promulgated a story, that its
margins were inhabited by warlike women, armed with bows, from
which it improperly acquired the name by which it is universally
known. In the year 1637, the Portuguese Captain Pedro Teyxeyra
before mentioned, conducted a fleet of forty-seven canoes from Para
up the Amazons, to the mouth of the Napo, and advanced up the
latter as far as it was navigable. On his return, in the following year,
he gave a circumstantial relation of both rivers, as did the Jesuit
Christoval da Cunha, who returned with Teyxeyra from Quito, but
neither of them met with any of the Amazons Orellana pretended to
have seen. This river is, without exception, the largest in the world,
having a course of upwards of four thousand miles. It is not
designated in the whole of its extent by the names already
mentioned. The Portuguese more frequently call it the Amazons as
far as the embouchure of Rio Negro; from thence upwards the
Solimoes, and, at the famous confluence of the Ucayale with the
Tanguragua, it takes the appellation of Maranham. It was doubtful
for some time which of these was its principal head. The first,
unquestionably, has the more extensive course, and is wider at their
union than the latter.
The Tanguragua issues from lake Hyauricocha, situated in ten
and a half degrees of south latitude, in the district of Huanaco,
about one hundred miles north-north-east of Lima. It runs north-
north-west for the space of three hundred and fifty miles between
the two cordilleiras of the Andes as far as the town of Jaen de
Bracamoras, commencing with the name of the lake in which it
originates. At Bracamoras, where it begins to be navigable, it
receives the Chinchipe on the left, which comes from the north-
west; and on the right the Chachapoyas, which flows from the
south-east, both navigable. Here it inclines to the north-east till it
receives the Santiago, formed by various torrents, precipitated from
the mountains of Loxa. In this interval of one hundred and forty
miles, nearly midway, the Tanguragua receives the Chuchunga on
the right, navigable for ten miles. It should have been observed, that
the port of Bracamoras is on its left bank, and that immediately
below the town its waters are contracted between two mountains,
and, running furiously, descend by various falls. Below the
Chuchunga it flows through the narrow strait of Cumbinama, and
afterwards by that of Escorregabragas, neither of which are very
dangerous.
At the confluence of the Santiago, the Tanguragua is five
hundred yards in width, and three miles further, running eastward, it
begins to straighten, traversing the interior cordilleira of the Andes,
and is reduced in the narrowest part to fifty yards. The current
descends this contracted channel of six miles, denominated Pongo,
in the space of one hour. At its termination is situated the city of
Borja.
Seventy miles below Borja it receives on the left the Marona,
which is not inferior to the Santiago, descending from the volcano of
Sangay, and forty miles further, on the same side, the considerable
Pastaca, which originates also in the cordillera.
Thirty-five miles below, the large Guallaga enters it, originating a
little to the north of lake Chiquiacoba in 11° of latitude, in the district
of Huanaco, which name it takes for a considerable space, describing
numerous small windings. After it follows the river Chambyra, and
then the Tigre, both flowing from the north-west, the latter having a
course of three hundred miles.
Sixty miles below the embouchure of the Tigre, is the
magnificent confluence of the Tanguragua, with the Ucayale. The
Ucayale originates in the latitude of 18° south-east of the large lake
Chucuito, otherwise Titicaca, and one hundred and twenty miles
east-north-east of the city of Arica. It runs to the north and north-
west, under the name of Benni, to its junction with the Apurimaco,
in the latitude of 11°, where both their names are lost in that of the
Ucayale.
The Apurimaco rises a few leagues north of the city of Arequipa,
between the lake Chucuito and the Pacific Ocean, from which it is
only distant about fifty miles; and runs northward, describing
considerable windings, and gathering various other streams,
amongst which the most important are the Pampas, on the left, in
13° 10′; the Urubamba, on the right, in 12° 15′; and the Montaro in
12° 6′, where it changes the direction towards the north-east.
Previously to mingling its waters with the Benni it receives on the
left the Perene, and on the right, ten miles above its mouth, the
Pancartamba.
The Montaro issues from the lake Chinchayocha, in the district of
Huanaco, in 11°, and flows for a considerable space to the south-
east along the cordillera, describing extensive windings to its
embouchure.
The largest tributary of the Ucayale, after it takes this name, is
the Pachitea, which joins it on the left, in the latitude of 8° 30′,
being more handsome in its appearance than considerable, its
course not exceeding two hundred miles.
The Maranham, at the confluence where it takes this name,
directs its course to the north-east for one hundred miles, receiving,
on the left, the Napo, which originates in divers parts of the interior
cordillera of the Andes, in the vicinity of Quito, from whence it flows
to the south-east, collecting various others, and, after a course of
five hundred and fifty miles, discharges itself by different channels,
formed by several islands, above which it is twelve hundred yards in
width.
With this river the Maranham becomes eighteen hundred yards
wide, yet having acquired only a small portion of the volume of
water with which it enters the ocean, from whence it is here distant
thirteen hundred miles in a direct line. At this part it inclines to the
east, and, after fifty miles of course, receives by the right the
Cassiquin, which comes from the south, with three hundred and fifty
miles of extent.
Seventy miles lower the Hyabary enters, which has its source in
the territories of the Torromonas in 11° 30′.
Upwards of one hundred miles further is the mouth of the large
Iça, which originates in the skirts of the said cordillera to the north-
east of the Napo, and in the vicinity of St. Joam de Pasto, with the
name of Putumajo.
 The Hyutahy and the Hyurba follow; they are less than the
preceding, being about three hundred and sixty fathoms in width,
and next to the Teffe, the Coary, and the Purus, which are
discharged by many mouths.
On the northern margin it receives the great river Hyapura, after
an extensive course from the province of Popayan. This river runs
parallel with the Maranham for a considerable distance, discharging
itself in that space by nine channels, the mouth of the first being
three hundred miles to the west of the last. Auatiparana, Euiratyba,
Manhana, Uaranapu, Hyapura, Unana, Copeya, Hyucara, and
Cadaya, are the names of the channels, and the order by which the
Hyapura enters the Maranham. The Maranham is estimated to be
nearly a mile and a half in width, at a certain part, free from islands,
about twenty miles below the Purus, where the bottom, it is said,
could not be found with a cord of one hundred and three fathoms.
After the Hyapura, its waters are swelled by the entrance, also on
the northern side of the Rio Negro, almost equalling it in width and
volume; and sixty miles lower, on the right, by the river Madeira,
nearly two miles in width, being the most considerable of all the
subordinate torrents that fill up the vast space between the receding
margins of this wonderful river. The river Madeira was designated
Cayary, until the Portuguese gave it the former denomination, in
consequence of the large trunks of trees, some of cedar, of an
extraordinary size, that floated down at the period of the floods,
Madeira being the Portuguese word for wood or timber. It takes this
name at the confluence of the Guapore with the Mam ore, which
latter has its source in the province of Potoze, traversing that of
Santa Cruz, and describing a vast semicircle by the east towards the
north, being enlarged by numerous other currents, which join it on
both sides to the said confluence, in latitude 10° 22′. One hundred
and forty miles above this point, in the parallel of 13°, it
communicates with the Benni, by the river Exaltacao, issuing from
the lake Rogagualo, from which another of short extent flows to the
Mamore.
 In front of the angle of the confluence of the Mamore with the
Guapore, there is an island of rock, well adapted for the site of a
fort, which would command the entrance of both rivers. Upwards of
nine hundred miles is computed from this situation to the mouth of
the Madeira. In the space of the first two hundred the traveller
encounters twelve cataracts, equally astonishing for their grandeur
and extent. The attention is first arrested by that which has the
same denomination as the river, and not far below the island of rock
alluded to. Three of the falls are within the space of a mile and a
half. The canoes advancing up the river are unloaded and conveyed
in this state, including the different points, for half a mile. The
Misericordia next follows, about two miles lower down, and the
danger and labour of passing it depends upon the height or
diminution of the waters of the river. Proceeding along another
interval of the same space, the four cataracts of Reibeirao meet the
astonished eye within the distance of four miles. Canoes are here for
a considerable way dragged over land.
Twelve miles further is the Figueira, otherwise Araras, formed by
small islands and large stones, but of no considerable extent.
Upwards of twenty miles further is the Pederneiras, where the
river is thickly overspread with immense stones, obliging the cargoes
of the canoes to be carried on men’s shoulders for nearly half a mile.
Descending ten miles more the Paredao is met with, where the
course of the river is contracted, and its waters precipitated among
rocks for a short space.
The Ties Irmaos (Three Brothers) is the next, about twenty miles
further, formed by various falls, generally small, for the distance of
near a mile.
Twenty-five miles lower is the Girau, where the river flows with
great rapidity, separated among rocks and precipitated over five falls
in a short distance. The canoes are here also carried over land.
Five miles further is the Caldeirao de Inferno, (the Infernal
Cauldron,) three miles in extent, forming, in a certain situation, a