PROVINCE OF PARAHIBA. 



395 



Bahia, despatched Diogo Baldez, in the year 1583, to afford him the necessary 

 succour. The Indians and the French, who were their auxiliars, sustained a 

 defeat; and Francisco Castrejon, commandant of a fort, which he had then con" 

 structed, would not recognise Fructicozo Barboza as superior, which induced 

 the latter to retire, and the result was an invasion by the Indians, who com- 

 pelled Castrejon to desert this post. 



On his arrival at Pernambuco, Barboza returned with some companies, and 

 having restored all the fortifications, he gave the origin to a povoa^ao, which in 

 the year 1585 was ennobled with the title of city, and called Fillippea. Its popu- 

 lation had already arrived at seven hundred families, with twenty sugar works, 

 when the Dutch, who had obtained possession of Pernambuco and Itamaraca, 

 determined to conquer it. 



After various attempts, during two years, which were "always frustrated, it 

 fell into the hands of General Segismundo Escup, in consequence of the capitu- 

 lation of the fort of Cabedello, on the 19th of December, 1634, who substituted 

 for it the appellation of Margarida, in honour of a Dutch matron. With its re- 

 duction, and the surrender of the fort of St. Antonio four days after, the whole 

 province passed under the dominion of the Dutch, till their evacuation of this 

 part of the Brazil in the year 1654. 



It lies between 6° 15' and 7" 15' south latitude, and extends two hundred and 

 ten miles at its greatest width from east to west. 



The longest day in the year does not exceed twelve hours and a half The 

 winter commences at the equinox of March, and continues till July, and is 

 never severe. The climate is warm, but refreshed by the delightful breezes 

 with which it is visited from the sea. More than two-thirds of the face of the 

 country, generally uneven, consists of catingas, the remainder is of strong sub- 

 stantial and fertile soils, covered with extensive woods, principally upon serras 

 of the greatest elevation, and in the vicinities of some rivers ; and it is only in 

 those latter districts, partially divested of their primitive sylvan shades, that 

 cultivation is to be seen, comprised in plantations of the cotton tree, sugar cane, 

 mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, tobacco, with some rice ; and also the hortu- 

 lans and fruits peculiar to the climate, including the pine-apple, water-melon, 

 banana, and the orange, which are of excellent flavour. 



Capes and Islands. — Point Cabedello, south of the embouchure of the 

 river Parahiba ; Point Lucena, six miles north of the preceding ; and Cape 

 Branco, fifteen miles south of the first, are the principal. 



3 E 2 



