154 



JOURNEY FROM VILLA DE ST. SALVADOR 



selves, and formed, in these forests, a republic of blacks, whom it was 

 not easy to reduce. They kept possession of the faze?ida, but without 

 working much, lived free, and hunted in the woods. Together with the 

 slaves of this fazeiida, those of the Engcuho Velho also made them- 

 selves independent, and a company of soldiers could do nothing 

 against them. These negroes chiefly employ themselves in collecting 

 some of the principal productions of these forests, such as the odori- 

 ferous Peruvian, and copaiva, and another kind of balsam. The 

 latter proceeds from a lofty tree, the Pao de Oleo. An incision is 

 made in it, and when the sap flows the wound is fdled with cotton, 

 which imbibes the resinous matter : it is a common notion that the 

 incision must be made at the full of the moon, and the oil taken away 

 in the wane. The negroes, or Indians, who collect this production, 

 bring it for sale in small wild cocoa-nutshells, the opening of which at 

 the top they close with wax. The balsam is so subtile that in the 

 hot weather it oozes through the thick shell. In its native country 

 more virtue is attributed to it than it really possesses. 



The rebel negroes of the two above-mentioned fazendas receive 

 strangers in a friendly manner, and are very different in their behaviour 

 from the runaway negro slaves in Minas Geraes and other places, who 

 are there called, from their villages in the woods ( quilomhos ), Gayam- 

 bolos. These attack travellers, particularly in Minas, plunder, and 

 often kill them ; for which reason they have there Gayambolo hunters, 

 called capitaes do mato^ whose sole business it is to catch the negroes 

 in their hiding-places, or to kill them. 



The captain of militia commanding at Goaraparim received us 

 politely, and assigned us a house for our night's lodging. The next 

 morning we crossed the river, not far from the town : it winds, in the 

 most picturesque manner, through thickets of mangroves ( conocarpiis ) 

 of a tender green, and is bounded in the distance by verdant hills : 

 on the north bank there is a village inhabited by fishermen. We 



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