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PROVINCE OF PARA. 



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 ofMaran- 

 ham, by which name the riverAmazons 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 popula- 

 tion became more numerous than that of the eastern province. 



After this, some governors had the title of Captain General of the State of 

 Maranham, as were Joam d' Abreu Castello Branco, who governed in 1743, and 

 Francisco Xavierde Mendonca, who arrived here in 1751, also appointed Pleni- 

 potentiary 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 per- 

 formed 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 colo- 

 nists, 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 consider- 

 able 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 con- 



