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The Spartans: A Very Short Introduction

 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

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Very Short Introductions available now:

ABOLITIONISM Richard S. Newman AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY

THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS
Charles L. Cohen
ACCOUNTING Christopher Nobes
ADOLESCENCE Peter K. Smith
THEODOR W. ADORNO Andrew Bowie
ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher
AERIAL WARFARE Frank Ledwidge
AESTHETICS Bence Nanay
AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGION
Eddie S. Glaude Jr
AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and
Richard Rathbone
AFRICAN POLITICS Ian Taylor
AFRICAN RELIGIONS
Jacob K. Olupona
AGEING Nancy A. Pachana
AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin
AGRICULTURE Paul Brassley and
Richard Soffe
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Hugh Bowden
ALGEBRA Peter M. Higgins
AMERICAN BUSINESS HISTORY
Walter A. Friedman
AMERICAN CULTURAL HISTORY
Eric Avila
AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS
Andrew Preston
AMERICAN HISTORY Paul S. Boyer
AMERICAN IMMIGRATION
David A. Gerber
AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
Jennifer Ratner-­Rosenhagen
G. Edward White
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
Joseph T. Glatthaar
AMERICAN NAVAL HISTORY
Craig L. Symonds
AMERICAN POETRY David Caplan
AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY
Donald Critchlow
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel
AMERICAN POLITICS
Richard M. Valelly
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY
Charles O. Jones
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Robert J. Allison
AMERICAN SLAVERY
Heather Andrea Williams
THE AMERICAN SOUTH
Charles Reagan Wilson
THE AMERICAN WEST Stephen Aron
AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY
Susan Ware
AMPHIBIANS T. S. Kemp
ANAESTHESIA Aidan O’Donnell
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Michael Beaney
ANARCHISM Colin Ward
ANCIENT ASSYRIA Karen Radner
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART AND
ARCHITECTURE Christina Riggs
ANCIENT GREECE Paul Cartledge
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Amanda H. Podany
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas
ANCIENT WARFARE
Harry Sidebottom
ANGELS David Albert Jones
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Tristram D. Wyatt
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Peter Holland
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia
THE ANTARCTIC Klaus Dodds
ANTHROPOCENE Erle C. Ellis
ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller
ANXIETY Daniel Freeman and
Jason Freeman
THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
Paul Foster
APPLIED MATHEMATICS
Alain Goriely
THOMAS AQUINAS Fergus Kerr
ARBITRATION Thomas Schultz and
Thomas Grant
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn
ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne
THE ARCTIC Klaus Dodds and
Jamie Woodward
ARISTOCRACY William Doyle
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Margaret A. Boden
ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY
Madeline Y. Hsu
ASTROBIOLOGY David C. Catling
ASTROPHYSICS James Binney
ATHEISM Julian Baggini
THE ATMOSPHERE Paul I. Palmer
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick
JANE AUSTEN Tom Keymer
AUSTRALIA Kenneth Morgan
AUTISM Uta Frith
AUTOBIOGRAPHY Laura Marcus
THE AVANT GARDE David Cottington
THE AZTECS Davíd Carrasco
BABYLONIA Trevor Bryce
BACTERIA Sebastian G. B. Amyes
BANKING John Goddard and
John O. S. Wilson
BARTHES Jonathan Culler
THE BEATS David Sterritt
BEAUTY Roger Scruton
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Mark Evan Bonds
BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS
Michelle Baddeley
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland
THE BIBLE John Riches
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Eric H. Cline
BIG DATA Dawn E. Holmes
BIOCHEMISTRY Mark Lorch
BIOGEOGRAPHY Mark V. Lomolino
BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee
BIOMETRICS Michael Fairhurst
ELIZABETH BISHOP
Jonathan F. S. Post
BLACK HOLES Katherine Blundell
BLASPHEMY Yvonne Sherwood
BLOOD Chris Cooper
THE BLUES Elijah Wald
THE BODY Chris Shilling
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
Brian Cummings
THE BOOK OF MORMON
Terryl Givens
BORDERS Alexander C. Diener and
Joshua Hagen
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea
BRANDING Robert Jones
THE BRICS Andrew F. Cooper
THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION
Martin Loughlin
THE BRITISH EMPIRE Ashley Jackson
BRITISH POLITICS Tony Wright
BUDDHA Michael Carrithers
BUDDHISM Damien Keown
BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown
BYZANTIUM Peter Sarris
CALVINISM Jon Balserak
ALBERT CAMUS Oliver Gloag
CANADA Donald Wright
CANCER Nicholas James
CAPITALISM James Fulcher
CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins
CAUSATION Stephen Mumford and
Rani Lill Anjum
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
THE CELL Terence Allen and
Graham Cowling
THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
CHAOS Leonard Smith
GEOFFREY CHAUCER David Wallace
CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins
CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Usha Goswami
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Kimberley Reynolds
CHINESE LITERATURE Sabina Knight
CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long
CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman
CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy
CITY PLANNING Carl Abbott
CIVIL ENGINEERING
David Muir Wood
CLASSICAL LITERATURE William Allan
CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
Helen Morales
CLASSICS Mary Beard and
John Henderson
CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
CLIMATE Mark Maslin
CLIMATE CHANGE Mark Maslin
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Susan Llewelyn and
Katie Aafjes-van Doorn
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL
THERAPY Freda McManus
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Richard Passingham
THE COLD WAR Robert J. McMahon
COLONIAL AMERICA Alan Taylor
COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN
LITERATURE Rolena Adorno
COMBINATORICS Robin Wilson
COMEDY Matthew Bevis
COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Ben Hutchinson
COMPETITION AND ANTITRUST
LAW Ariel Ezrachi
COMPLEXITY John H. Holland
THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Subrata Dasgupta
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Dan Stone
CONFUCIANISM Daniel K. Gardner
THE CONQUISTADORS
Matthew Restall and
Felipe Fernández-Armesto
CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm
CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore
CONTEMPORARY ART
Julian Stallabrass
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Robert Eaglestone
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Simon Critchley
COPERNICUS Owen Gingerich
CORAL REEFS Charles Sheppard
CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY Jeremy Moon
CORRUPTION Leslie Holmes
COSMOLOGY Peter Coles
COUNTRY MUSIC Richard Carlin
CREATIVITY Vlad Glăveanu
CRIME FICTION Richard Bradford
CRIMINAL JUSTICE Julian V. Roberts
CRIMINOLOGY Tim Newburn
CRITICAL THEORY
Stephen Eric Bronner
THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman
CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and
Sean Murphy
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY A. M. Glazer
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
Richard Curt Kraus
DADA AND SURREALISM
David Hopkins
DANTE Peter Hainsworth and
David Robey
DARWIN Jonathan Howard
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Timothy H. Lim
DECADENCE David Weir
DECOLONIZATION Dane Kennedy
DEMENTIA Kathleen Taylor
DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick
DEMOGRAPHY Sarah Harper
DEPRESSION Jan Scott and
Mary Jane Tacchi
DERRIDA Simon Glendinning
DESCARTES Tom Sorell
DESERTS Nick Middleton
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
DESIGN John Heskett
DEVELOPMENT Ian Goldin
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Lewis Wolpert
THE DEVIL Darren Oldridge
DIASPORA Kevin Kenny
CHARLES DICKENS Jenny Hartley
DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone
DINOSAURS David Norman
DIPLOMATIC HISTORY
Joseph M. Siracusa
DOCUMENTARY FILM
Patricia Aufderheide
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson
DRUGS Les Iversen
DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe
DYNASTY Jeroen Duindam
DYSLEXIA Margaret J. Snowling
EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly
THE EARTH Martin Redfern
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE Tim Lenton
ECOLOGY Jaboury Ghazoul
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta
EDUCATION Gary Thomas
EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch
EIGHTEENTH‑CENTURY BRITAIN
Paul Langford
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball
EMOTION Dylan Evans
EMPIRE Stephen Howe
EMPLOYMENT LAW David Cabrelli
ENERGY SYSTEMS Nick Jenkins
ENGELS Terrell Carver
ENGINEERING David Blockley
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Simon Horobin
ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
John Robertson
ENTREPRENEURSHIP Paul Westhead
and Mike Wright
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Stephen Smith
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Robin Attfield
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Elizabeth Fisher
ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
Andrew Dobson
ENZYMES Paul Engel
EPICUREANISM Catherine Wilson
EPIDEMIOLOGY Rodolfo Saracci
ETHICS Simon Blackburn
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY Timothy Rice
THE ETRUSCANS Christopher Smith
EUGENICS Philippa Levine
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Simon Usherwood and John Pinder
EUROPEAN UNION LAW
Anthony Arnull
EVOLUTION Brian and
Deborah Charlesworth
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn
EXPLORATION Stewart A. Weaver
EXTINCTION Paul B. Wignall
THE EYE Michael Land
FAIRY TALE Marina Warner
FAMILY LAW Jonathan Herring
MICHAEL FARADAY
Frank A. J. L. James
FASCISM Kevin Passmore
FASHION Rebecca Arnold
FEDERALISM Mark J. Rozell and
Clyde Wilcox
FEMINISM Margaret Walters
FILM Michael Wood
FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak
FILM NOIR James Naremore
FIRE Andrew C. Scott
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Michael Howard
FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin
FOOD John Krebs
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
David Canter
FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser
FORESTS Jaboury Ghazoul
FOSSILS Keith Thomson
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting
THE FOUNDING FATHERS
R. B. Bernstein
FRACTALS Kenneth Falconer
FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton
FREE WILL Thomas Pink
FREEMASONRY Andreas Önnerfors
FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons
FRENCH PHILOSOPHY
Stephen Gaukroger and Knox Peden
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
William Doyle
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
FREUD Anthony Storr
FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven
FUNGI Nicholas P. Money
THE FUTURE Jennifer M. Gidley
GALAXIES John Gribbin
GALILEO Stillman Drake
GAME THEORY Ken Binmore
GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh
GARDEN HISTORY Gordon Campbell
GENES Jonathan Slack
GENIUS Andrew Robinson
GENOMICS John Archibald
GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and
David Herbert
GEOLOGY Jan Zalasiewicz
GEOMETRY Maciej Dunajski
GEOPHYSICS William Lowrie
GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds
GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle
GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Andrew Bowie
THE GHETTO Bryan Cheyette
GLACIATION David J. A. Evans
GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire
GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY
Robert C. Allen
GLOBAL ISLAM Nile Green
GLOBALIZATION Manfred B. Steger
GOD John Bowker
GOETHE Ritchie Robertson
THE GOTHIC Nick Groom
GOVERNANCE Mark Bevir
GRAVITY Timothy Clifton
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND
THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway
HABEAS CORPUS Amanda Tyler
HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson
THE HABSBURG EMPIRE Martyn Rady
HAPPINESS Daniel M. Haybron
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Cheryl A. Wall
THE HEBREW BIBLE AS LITERATURE
Tod Linafelt
HEGEL Peter Singer
HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood
THE HELLENISTIC AGE
Peter Thonemann
HEREDITY John Waller
HERMENEUTICS Jens Zimmermann
HERODOTUS Jennifer T. Roberts
HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson
HINDUISM Kim Knott
HISTORY John H. Arnold
THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY
Michael Hoskin
THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
William H. Brock
THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD
James Marten
THE HISTORY OF CINEMA
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
THE HISTORY OF LIFE
Michael Benton
THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
Jacqueline Stedall
THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
William Bynum
THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS
J. L. Heilbron
THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL
THOUGHT Richard Whatmore
THE HISTORY OF TIME
Leofranc Holford‑Strevens
HIV AND AIDS Alan Whiteside
HOBBES Richard Tuck
HOLLYWOOD Peter Decherney
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
Joachim Whaley
HOME Michael Allen Fox
HOMER Barbara Graziosi
HORMONES Martin Luck
HORROR Darryl Jones
HUMAN ANATOMY
Leslie Klenerman
HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY
Jamie A. Davies
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT Adrian Wilkinson
HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham
HUMANISM Stephen Law
HUME James A. Harris
HUMOUR Noël Carroll
THE ICE AGE Jamie Woodward
IDENTITY Florian Coulmas
IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Paul Klenerman
INDIAN CINEMA
Ashish Rajadhyaksha
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Robert C. Allen
INFECTIOUS DISEASE Marta L. Wayne
and Benjamin M. Bolker
INFINITY Ian Stewart
INFORMATION Luciano Floridi
INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and
David Gann
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Siva Vaidhyanathan
INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary
INTERNATIONAL LAW
Vaughan Lowe
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
Khalid Koser
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Christian Reus-Smit
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Christopher S. Browning
IRAN Ali M. Ansari
ISLAM Malise Ruthven
ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein
ISLAMIC LAW Mashood A. Baderin
ISOTOPES Rob Ellam
ITALIAN LITERATURE
Peter Hainsworth and David Robey
HENRY JAMES Susan L. Mizruchi
JESUS Richard Bauckham
JEWISH HISTORY David N. Myers
JEWISH LITERATURE Ilan Stavans
JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves
JAMES JOYCE Colin MacCabe
JUDAISM Norman Solomon
JUNG Anthony Stevens
KABBALAH Joseph Dan
KAFKA Ritchie Robertson
KANT Roger Scruton
KEYNES Robert Skidelsky
KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner
KNOWLEDGE Jennifer Nagel
THE KORAN Michael Cook
KOREA Michael J. Seth
LAKES Warwick F. Vincent
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Ian H. Thompson
LANDSCAPES AND
GEOMORPHOLOGY
Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles
LANGUAGES Stephen R. Anderson
LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark
LAW Raymond Wacks
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
Peter Atkins
LEADERSHIP Keith Grint
LEARNING Mark Haselgrove
LEIBNIZ Maria Rosa Antognazza
C. S. LEWIS James Como
LIBERALISM Michael Freeden
LIGHT Ian Walmsley
LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo
LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews
LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler
LOCKE John Dunn
LOGIC Graham Priest
LOVE Ronald de Sousa
MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix
MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner
MADNESS Andrew Scull
MAGIC Owen Davies
MAGNA CARTA Nicholas Vincent
MAGNETISM Stephen Blundell
MALTHUS Donald Winch
MAMMALS T. S. Kemp
MANAGEMENT John Hendry
NELSON MANDELA Elleke Boehmer
MAO Delia Davin
MARINE BIOLOGY Philip V. Mladenov
MARKETING
Kenneth Le Meunier-FitzHugh
THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips
MARTYRDOM Jolyon Mitchell
MARX Peter Singer
MATERIALS Christopher Hall
MATHEMATICAL FINANCE
Mark H. A. Davis
MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers
MATTER Geoff Cottrell
THE MAYA Matthew Restall and
Amara Solari
THE MEANING OF LIFE
Terry Eagleton
MEASUREMENT David Hand
MEDICAL ETHICS Michael Dunn and
Tony Hope
MEDICAL LAW Charles Foster
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham
and Ralph A. Griffiths
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Elaine Treharne
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
John Marenbon
MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster
METAPHYSICS Stephen Mumford
METHODISM William J. Abraham
THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
Alan Knight
MICROBIOLOGY Nicholas P. Money
MICROECONOMICS Avinash Dixit
MICROSCOPY Terence Allen
THE MIDDLE AGES Miri Rubin
MILITARY JUSTICE Eugene R. Fidell
MILITARY STRATEGY
Antulio J. Echevarria II
JOHN STUART MILL Gregory Claeys
MINERALS David Vaughan
MIRACLES Yujin Nagasawa
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Adam Sharr
MODERN ART David Cottington
MODERN BRAZIL Anthony W. Pereira
MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
MODERN DRAMA
Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr
MODERN FRANCE
Vanessa R. Schwartz
MODERN INDIA Craig Jeffrey
MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta
MODERN ITALY Anna Cento Bull
MODERN JAPAN
Christopher Goto-Jones
MODERN LATIN AMERICAN
LITERATURE
Roberto González Echevarría
MODERN WAR Richard English
MODERNISM Christopher Butler
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Aysha Divan
and Janice A. Royds
MOLECULES Philip Ball
MONASTICISM Stephen J. Davis
THE MONGOLS Morris Rossabi
MONTAIGNE William M. Hamlin
MOONS David A. Rothery
MORMONISM Richard Lyman Bushman
MOUNTAINS Martin F. Price
MUHAMMAD Jonathan A. C. Brown
MULTICULTURALISM Ali Rattansi
MULTILINGUALISM John C. Maher
MUSIC Nicholas Cook
MYTH Robert A. Segal
NAPOLEON David Bell
THE NAPOLEONIC WARS
Mike Rapport
NATIONALISM Steven Grosby
NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE
Sean Teuton
NAVIGATION Jim Bennett
NAZI GERMANY Jane Caplan
NEOLIBERALISM Manfred B. Steger
and Ravi K. Roy
NETWORKS Guido Caldarelli and
Michele Catanzaro
THE NEW TESTAMENT
Luke Timothy Johnson
THE NEW TESTAMENT AS
LITERATURE Kyle Keefer
NEWTON Robert Iliffe
NIELS BOHR J. L. Heilbron
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner
NINETEENTH‑CENTURY BRITAIN
Christopher Harvie and
H. C. G. Matthew
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
George Garnett
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green
NORTHERN IRELAND
Marc Mulholland
NOTHING Frank Close
NUCLEAR PHYSICS Frank Close
NUCLEAR POWER Maxwell Irvine
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Joseph M. Siracusa
NUMBER THEORY Robin Wilson
NUMBERS Peter M. Higgins
NUTRITION David A. Bender
OBJECTIVITY Stephen Gaukroger
OCEANS Dorrik Stow
THE OLD TESTAMENT
Michael D. Coogan
THE ORCHESTRA D. Kern Holoman
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Graham Patrick
ORGANIZATIONS Mary Jo Hatch
ORGANIZED CRIME
Georgios A. Antonopoulos and
Georgios Papanicolaou
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
A. Edward Siecienski
OVID Llewelyn Morgan
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
PAGANISM Owen Davies
PAKISTAN Pippa Virdee
THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI
CONFLICT Martin Bunton
PANDEMICS Christian W. McMillen
PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close
PAUL E. P. Sanders
PEACE Oliver P. Richmond
PENTECOSTALISM William K. Kay
PERCEPTION Brian Rogers
THE PERIODIC TABLE Eric R. Scerri
PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD
Timothy Williamson
PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig
PHILOSOPHY IN THE ISLAMIC
WORLD Peter Adamson
PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY
Samir Okasha
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
Raymond Wacks
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Barbara Gail Montero
PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS
David Wallace
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Samir Okasha
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Tim Bayne
PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins
PHYSICS Sidney Perkowitz
PILGRIMAGE Ian Reader
PLAGUE Paul Slack
PLANETARY SYSTEMS
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert
PLANETS David A. Rothery
PLANTS Timothy Walker
PLATE TECTONICS Peter Molnar
PLATO Julia Annas
POETRY Bernard O’Donoghue
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY David Miller
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue
POLYGAMY Sarah M. S. Pearsall
POPULISM Cas Mudde and
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser
POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young
POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler
POSTSTRUCTURALISM
Catherine Belsey
POVERTY Philip N. Jefferson
PREHISTORY Chris Gosden
PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
Catherine Osborne
PRIVACY Raymond Wacks
PROBABILITY John Haigh
PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent
PROHIBITION W. J. Rorabaugh
PROJECTS Andrew Davies
PROTESTANTISM Mark A. Noll
PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns
PSYCHOANALYSIS Daniel Pick
PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and
Freda McManus
PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSIC
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis
PSYCHOPATHY Essi Viding
PSYCHOTHERAPY Tom Burns and
Eva Burns-Lundgren
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Ravi K. Roy
PUBLIC HEALTH Virginia Berridge
PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer
THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion
QUANTUM THEORY
John Polkinghorne
RACISM Ali Rattansi
RADIOACTIVITY Claudio Tuniz
RASTAFARI Ennis B. Edmonds
READING Belinda Jack
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy
REALITY Jan Westerhoff
RECONSTRUCTION Allen C. Guelzo
THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall
REFUGEES Gil Loescher
RELATIVITY Russell Stannard
RELIGION Thomas A. Tweed
RELIGION IN AMERICA Timothy Beal
THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton
RENAISSANCE ART
Geraldine A. Johnson
RENEWABLE ENERGY Nick Jelley
REPTILES T.S. Kemp
REVOLUTIONS Jack A. Goldstone
RHETORIC Richard Toye
RISK Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany
RITUAL Barry Stephenson
RIVERS Nick Middleton
ROBOTICS Alan Winfield
ROCKS Jan Zalasiewicz
ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Christopher Kelly
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
David M. Gwynn
ROMANTICISM Michael Ferber
ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
Richard Connolly
RUSSIAN HISTORY Geoffrey Hosking
RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
S. A. Smith
SAINTS Simon Yarrow
SAMURAI Michael Wert
SAVANNAS Peter A. Furley
SCEPTICISM Duncan Pritchard
SCHIZOPHRENIA Chris Frith and
Eve Johnstone
SCHOPENHAUER
Christopher Janaway
SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Thomas Dixon and Adam R. Shapiro
SCIENCE FICTION David Seed
THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Lawrence M. Principe
SCOTLAND Rab Houston
SECULARISM Andrew Copson
SEXUAL SELECTION Marlene Zuk and
Leigh W. Simmons
SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Stanley Wells
SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES
Bart van Es
SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS AND
POEMS Jonathan F. S. Post
SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDIES
Stanley Wells
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Christopher Wixson
MARY SHELLEY Charlotte Gordon
THE SHORT STORY Andrew Kahn
SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt
SILENT FILM Donna Kornhaber
THE SILK ROAD James A. Millward
SLANG Jonathon Green
SLEEP Steven W. Lockley and
Russell G. Foster
SMELL Matthew Cobb
ADAM SMITH Christopher J. Berry
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
John Monaghan and Peter Just
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Richard J. Crisp
SOCIAL WORK Sally Holland and
Jonathan Scourfield
SOCIALISM Michael Newman
SOCIOLINGUISTICS John Edwards
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
SOFT MATTER Tom McLeish
SOUND Mike Goldsmith
SOUTHEAST ASIA James R. Rush
THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Helen Graham
SPANISH LITERATURE Jo Labanyi
THE SPARTANS Andrew J. Bayliss
SPINOZA Roger Scruton
SPIRITUALITY Philip Sheldrake
SPORT Mike Cronin
STARS Andrew King
STATISTICS David J. Hand
STEM CELLS Jonathan Slack
STOICISM Brad Inwood
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
David Blockley
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill
THE SUN Philip Judge
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
Stephen Blundell
SUPERSTITION Stuart Vyse
SYMMETRY Ian Stewart
SYNAESTHESIA Julia Simner
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Jamie A. Davies
SYSTEMS BIOLOGY Eberhard O. Voit
TAXATION Stephen Smith
TEETH Peter S. Ungar
TELESCOPES Geoff Cottrell
TERRORISM Charles Townshend
THEATRE Marvin Carlson
THEOLOGY David F. Ford
THINKING AND REASONING
Jonathan St B. T. Evans
THOUGHT Tim Bayne
TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Matthew T. Kapstein
TIDES David George Bowers and
Emyr Martyn Roberts
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
TIME Jenann Ismael
TOCQUEVILLE Harvey C. Mansfield
LEO TOLSTOY Liza Knapp
TOPOLOGY Richard Earl
TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
TRANSLATION Matthew Reynolds
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
Michael S. Neiberg
TRIGONOMETRY
Glen Van Brummelen
THE TROJAN WAR Eric H. Cline
TRUST Katherine Hawley
THE TUDORS John Guy
TWENTIETH‑CENTURY BRITAIN
Kenneth O. Morgan
TYPOGRAPHY Paul Luna
THE UNITED NATIONS
Jussi M. Hanhimäki
UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
David Palfreyman and Paul Temple
THE U.S. CIVIL WAR Louis P. Masur
THE U.S. CONGRESS Donald A. Ritchie
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
David J. Bodenhamer
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
Linda Greenhouse
UTILITARIANISM
Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and
Peter Singer
UTOPIANISM Lyman Tower Sargent
Available soon:
FLUID MECHANICS Eric Lauga
INSECTS Simon R. Leather
For more information visit our website
www.oup.com/vsi/
VETERINARY SCIENCE James Yeates
THE VIKINGS Julian D. Richards
VIOLENCE Philip Dwyer
THE VIRGIN MARY
Mary Joan Winn Leith
THE VIRTUES Craig A. Boyd and
Kevin Timpe
VIRUSES Dorothy H. Crawford
VOLCANOES Michael J. Branney and
Jan Zalasiewicz
VOLTAIRE Nicholas Cronk
WAR AND RELIGION Jolyon Mitchell
and Joshua Rey
WAR AND TECHNOLOGY
Alex Roland
WATER John Finney
WAVES Mike Goldsmith
WEATHER Storm Dunlop
THE WELFARE STATE David Garland
WITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill
WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
WORK Stephen Fineman
WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
THE WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION Amrita Narlikar
WORLD WAR II Gerhard L. Weinberg
WRITING AND SCRIPT
Andrew Robinson
ZIONISM Michael Stanislawski
ÉMILE ZOLA Brian Nelson
BUSINESS ETHICS Nils Ole Oermann
BRITISH CINEMA Charles Barr
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

Andrew J. Bayliss

THE SPARTANS
A Very Short Introduction

1
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Andrew J. Bayliss 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First published in hardback as The Spartans 2020
First published as a Very Short Introduction 2022
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021951900
ISBN 978–0–19–878760–0
Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

Contents

Acknowledgements xvii

List of illustrations xix

1 Go tell the Spartans 1

2 Sparta’s civic structure 21

3 The Spartan lifestyle 37

4 Raising a Spartan 59

5 Spartan women 77

6 Helots 90

7 The later reception of Sparta 105

Timeline 121

References 127

Further reading 135

Index 139
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

Acknowledgements

When any book is written there are various people who need to be
thanked, and this one is no exception. First of all, I would like to
thank Andrea Keegan for the privilege of writing for this
prestigious series. Thanks are due also to Jenny Nugee and the
OUP team for their assistance throughout the writing and
publication process. I would also like to thank the anonymous
readers for their clear and helpful feedback on both the proposal
and the draft manuscript.

Second, I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe to my research

colleagues working on Sparta. It was a genuine pleasure to absorb
myself in your monographs, book chapters, journal articles,
conference papers, and public lectures, and to try to translate such
a vast output of scholarship into just 35,000 words. I am
particularly grateful to Anton Powell, Steve Hodkinson, Tom
Figueira, Paul Christesen, Ellen Millender, Paul Cartledge, Ian
Macgregor Morris, and Nigel Kennell for the encouragement,
support, and earnest feedback for various research projects, not
least this short book.

I would like to pay particular tribute to the late Anton Powell, a

true gentleman and scholar, and a man whose name is almost
synonymous with the study of Sparta. Anton looms large in the
pages of this volume. He published no fewer than sixteen volumes
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi

on Sparta as the founder and General Editor of the Classical Press

of Wales (1993), with three more forthcoming, and edited the
two-­volume Wiley-­Blackwell Companion to Ancient Sparta, which
is cited very frequently in the references at the end of this volume.
Anton co-­founded the International Sparta Seminar (1997), and
founded the Celtic Conference in Classics (1998), which hosted
regular iterations of the International Sparta Seminar series.
Anyone who worked with Anton benefited from his good humour,
encouragement, and genuine enthusiasm for the study of Sparta.
Without his outstanding contribution to scholarship on Sparta, as
editor, publisher, author, and conference organizer, this book
would look very different indeed.

I would also like to register my gratitude to my colleagues at the

University of Birmingham, past and present, for their
encouragement and support during my Spartan journey.
The Spartans

I would also like to thank all of my students who have chosen to

work with me on Spartan topics over the years. I have learned as
much from you as you have from me.

I am also very grateful to the staff at the Library at the British School
at Athens, where a significant portion of this book was written.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife Vicky for her suggestion that
I see whether OUP would be interested in a VSI on the Spartans
when I was musing about writing a popular book on Sparta, and
for her unstinting support throughout the whole process. It might
sound trite, but without her encouragement this book would
not exist.

xviii
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 04/03/22, SPi
List of illustrations
1 Map of Greece and the Aegean
World xxii
From The Oxford Illustrated History
of Greece and the Hellenistic World,
edited by Boardman, Griffin, and
Murray (2001). By permission of
Oxford University Press
2 Bronze statuette of draped
Spartan warrior, c.510–500
bce, Wadsworth Museum,
Hartford, CT 8
Greek, probably Sparta. Draped
Warrior, c.510–500 bce. Bronze, 5
15/16 x c.2 1/16 x c.1 1/4in.
(15.1 x c.5.3 x c.3.2 cm). Wadsworth
Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford,
CT. Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan,
1917.815. Photography credit: Allen
Phillips/Wadsworth Atheneum
3 Apulian calyx-­krater by the
‘Painter of the Berlin Dancing
Girl’, c.420 bce, Wellesley
College Museum,
Wellesley, MA 9
Davis Museum at Wellesley College,
Wellesley, MA
4 Bronze facing of a Spartan
shield captured at Pylos in
425 bce, Athens, Agora
Museum 10
American School of Classical Studies
at Athens: Agora Excavations
5 Glazed brick frieze of Persian
soldiers, Susa, 6th
century bce 13
Lanmas/Alamy Stock Photo
6 Map of Ancient Sparta 22
From Greece: An Oxford
Archaeological Guide by Christopher
Mee and Antony Spawforth (2001).
By permission of Oxford
University Press
7 View of the Roman-­period
theatre from the Spartan
acropolis 22
Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/
Alamy Stock Photo
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
admit of the body lying at full length. They always bury under the
most shady tree, preferring the ambuzo, if it be found near the spot.
Of all savage nations they are perhaps the most remarkable for
conjugal fidelity; polygamy and adultery are unknown among them,
and the latter crime they abominate in their conquerors.
All these savages received baptism; and, after being formed into
villages and rendered rather more civilized, they began to cultivate
the most necessary provisions of life, as mandioca, Indian corn,
gourds, and vegetables. But, notwithstanding their apparent
improvement, they still retained their wild and savage propensities
for hunting and general depredation: early accustomed to live on
plunder, they conceived they had a natural right to the property of
each other, and they frequently drove off and appropriated the sheep
and oxen of the neighbouring farmers. Independently of these
savage propensities to a wild and predatory life, their religious
instructors gave them a very good character for innocence of general
manners, in which they were said to resemble the primitive
Christians.
They suppose, from the above circumstances, that the present
race of these Indians are descendants of some who, after having
settled in the villages and become Christians, had again returned to
their native wilds; and, from a rooted propensity, which no art could
remove, preferred the savage to the civilized state. Indeed, the
opinion is supported by a fact, already alleged in this work, as well
as by recent occurrences, in which individuals who have been
civilized, on entering their native wilds, have again adopted their
former rude habits.
This province of Pernambuco, which had formerly the title of
countship, is bounded on the north by the provinces of Parahiba,
Siara, and Piauhy; on the south by the river St. Francisco, which
separates it from Seregipe and Bahia, and by the Carinhenha, which
divides it from Minas Geraes; on the west by the province of Goyaz;
and on the east by the ocean, with seventy leagues of coast from the
river St. Francisco to the river Goyanna.
 The river Pajehu, which rises in the serra of the Cayriris, and
empties itself into the St. Francisco thirty leagues above the fall of
Paulo Affonso, divides it into two parts—eastern and western; the
latter forming an ouvidoria, which comprehends a great portion of the
eastern, the sea-coast of which is divided into three comarcas,
Northern or Olinda, Central or Recife, Southern or the Alagoas,
whose common limits are in the vicinity of Rio Una, which enters the
sea forty miles south of Cape St. Augustine.
This province lies between 7° and 15° south latitude, having a
warm climate and pure air. The lands upon the whole extent of the
sea-coast are low, with considerable portions of fruitful soil, and
although it has many rivers, which are perennial and abundant, yet
the inhabitants in many parts suffer from want of water. In the interior
of the province the face of the country is very unequal, being in some
places mountainous, and very deficient in water, and that which is
met with, besides being extremely scarce, is never pure, being of the
colour of milk, and drawn from wells where all kinds of animals go to
drink, or else from pits dug in the sand. From the town of Penedo to
the bar of Rio Grande, which travellers by the windings of the river
compute at five hundred miles, there does not run towards the river
St. Francisco a single stream in the dry season.
Mountains.—The serra of Borborema, which is the most
majestic in the Brazil, has its commencement near the sea, in the
province of Rio Grande, and, after having traversed that of Parahiba
from north-east to south-west, turns to the west, separating the
western part of Pernambuco from the preceding, and from Siara for
a considerable space. It then inclines to the north, dividing the last
from the province of Piauhy, varying frequently in altitude and name
to its termination, where it is denominated Hibiapaba, in view of the
coast between the rivers Camucim and Paranahiba. In some parts it
is rocky, in others bare and barren, but the principal part is covered
with beautiful woods, nourished by strong and fertile soils. In some
places it has two or three leagues of luxuriant herbage on its summit.
The mountain Araripe, which is a portion of it, commands a view
of the river St. Francisco, at a distance of more than thirty leagues.
In this mountain the rivers Jaguariba and Piranhas have their origin,
and run to the north. It also gives birth to the rivers Parahiba and
Capibaribe, which flow eastward, and likewise to the Moxoto and the
Pajehu, which direct their course to the south.
About seven leagues distant from the fall of Paulo Affonso, in the
parish of Tarcaratu, is the mountain of Agua-Branca, with its
numerous branches, in great part covered with wild and luxuriant
woods. Here is a chapel of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and many
families of different shades of complexion, equally if not more
barbarous than the ancient possessors of the country.
In the vicinity of the river Pajehu, about fifteen leagues from that
which absorbs it, is the serra Negra, which is about a league long,
and proportionably wide, and covered with thick woods, that are
often violently agitated by strong winds. Near it is the site of Jacare,
where the Choco Indians lived for some time; but since they have
been subjugated, like their neighbours, there is little mention made of
them.
At a short distance from the source of the river Una, is the serra
Garanhuns. It is covered with woods, where they are introducing
plantations of cotton, Indian corn, mandioca, vegetables, and fruits.
From this mountain descend many clear streams of water, which
vanish on entering the sandy plains that encompass it below. Among
other useful plants may be remarked the terminalia, or styrax of
Linnæus, which produces the gum-resinous drug called benzoin.
The serra of Russas, two leagues long, and of small width, is
situated about sixteen leagues distant from the Recife, in the road
which leads towards the certam of the river St. Francisco.
The serra Sellada is four leagues to the south-west of Cape St.
Augustine, and little more than two from the sea; and, although of
trifling height, is the best land-mark for sailors in these latitudes.
Four leagues to the north-west of Caninde, an insignificant and
ill-situated village, on the left bank of the St. Francisco, is the serra of
Olho d’Agua, with a circuit of two leagues, and of considerable
height. From its summit is discovered a vast chain of inferior
mountains on all sides, and at a distance of about six leagues to the
west-north-west is seen a column of vapour rising from the cataract
of Paulo Affonso, similar to the smoke of a conflagration. Formerly
this mountain abounded with numerous tigers, in consequence of the
multitude of caverns within the jetting rocks and frowning crags that
compose it. Even at present they are the retreats of a formidable
species of bat, which proves very destructive to cattle.
The serra of Priaca is about eight leagues to the north-west of the
town of Penedo. That of Pao d’Assucar is within sight of the former,
and near the river St. Francisco. On the southern skirts of the serra
of Pao d’Assucar there is a lake, where bones of an enormous size
have been found; and on its northern side there is a most terrific
cavern.
The serra of Poco, situated fifteen leagues distant from the last,
towards the interior of the province, is covered with woods where
trees of the finest timber are produced, some of whose trunks exude
precious resins, and oily or balsamic liquors, while the hollow trunks
of others serve for the hives of various kinds of bees.
Comenaty is one of the largest mountains in the interior. It
abounds with extensive woods in many parts, where the Indians and
other inhabitants of the parish of Aguas Bellas have introduced large
plantations of cotton and mandioca.
The serra of Barriga is about four leagues distant from the town
of Anadia, and twenty from the sea, and is subject to frequent
thunderstorms. The occasional and loud noises from its cavities
terrify the people of the circumjacent country, and indicate that it has
minerals. On its extreme skirts was the fatal band of Africans, called
the Quilombo dos Palmares, commenced by three hundred and forty
negroes of Guinea, on the occasion of the Dutch disembarking at
Pernambuco. They were joined by many others from the
neighbouring provinces, and founded the above village, which took
the name of Palmares from the number of palm trees which the
negroes had planted around it. The village, which was more than a
league in extent, was encompassed by a square, consisting of two
orders or rows of enclosures of palisadoes, formed of large high
trunks of the strongest and most durable wood the country afforded.
At equal distances were three strong doors, each having its platform
above, and defended by two hundred men in times of assault; the
whole flanked by various bulwarks of the same fabric as the walls. Its
population amounted to twenty thousand, one-half of whom were
capable of taking up arms. They had established an elective and
monarchical form of government. The chief was entitled Zumbe, and
had his palace more distinguished than the houses of his vassals,
which were erected according to the African mode. The most
valorous and wise were always selected for this important office.
Besides the superior, they had subordinate officers for the
administration of justice, which was punctually executed against
adulterers, homicides, and thieves.
The slaves who voluntarily came and associated with them had
their liberty immediately granted, but those taken by force remained
captives. The first incurred the penalty of death if they fled and were
taken, a punishment which deserters from the latter class did not
experience. Independently of a slight covering the whole were in a
state of nudity, except the superiors, who wore such clothes for
dresses as the neighbouring people of Quilombo sold to them,
together with arms and ammunition, in exchange for provisions.
Those only who had been baptized assumed the name of Christians.
Within the square was a vast basin or tank of soft water, well
stored with fish, and a high rock, which served them for a watch-
tower, from whence they could discover the country all round to a
great extent, and could observe the approach of the enemy. The
suburbs were covered with plantations of necessary provisions, to
protect which there were various hamlets, called mocambos,
governed by veteran soldiers.
It is extraordinary that this colony gave much anxiety to the
crown, existed for the space of sixty years, and cost much labour to
an army of eight thousand men for many months to accomplish its
extinction in 1697.
Mineralogy.—Gold, amianthus, stone for water-filters, limestone
and grindstone, terra de cores, a sort of plaster for figures, also two
or three species of rude marble, and potters’ earth.
 Zoology.—All the domestic animals of Spain are bred here.
Goats and sheep are less profitable than in the country in which they
are natives. The woods abound with all the species of wild animals
described in the preceding provinces, excepting the wild dog, in
place of which there is the ferret. The hedge-hog has here the name
of quandu. The guariba, a species of monkey generally of a red
colour, from the river St. Francisco towards the south, is black in this
province, and its skin on this account is more esteemed. The
tatubola, or armadillo, and the land-tortoise are numerous, as well as
the moco, in rocks and stony grounds. Rabbits are very rare. In the
open country are the emu-ostrich and the seriema. In the lakes are
the colhereira, jaburu, goose, grey and white heron, wild duck, soco,
macarico, water hen. In the woods and plains are the jacu, mutun,
zabele, enapupe, racuan, arara, parrot, the uru which is a species of
small partridge, going always in bands and upon the ground. The
bird here called rouxinol, or the nightingale, is very different in its
song and plumage from that of Europe. The araponga pours its
simple and tender song from the summit of the highest trees. The
white-winged dove always avoids strange birds, like other species of
its kind. Various sorts of kites and hawks make war upon the other
birds. The jacurutu, which is of a large size, has two great horns of
feathers, and kills the largest snakes with caution and much dexterity
in order to avoid being stung by them. In almost all the rivers there
are otters, and no lake is without the alligator.
Phytology.—The cedar, bow-wood, vinhatica, of various
colours, the yellow and dark are the most esteemed; the conduru,
which is red; barabu, male and female, more or less of a violet or
purple colour; pau santo, waved with violet; sucupira and brahuna,
both of a blackish colour. The sapucaya affords good masts of a
small size, and its towy rind is used by the caulkers. The red
camacary, pau d’alho, maçaranduba, angico, coraçao de negro, the
pith or heart of which is black and hard: there are many others of fine
timber for building. The Brazil wood comes thirty leagues from the
interior of the country; here is also the cassia, the carahiba, whose
flower is yellow and rather large, constituting delicious food for the
deer. This animal, generally feeding beneath the tree upon them,
thus becomes an easy prey to the hunter. Amongst the fruit trees
and shrubs of the woods are the ambuzo, the cajue, the araçaza, the
jabuticaba, the mandupussa, the fruit of which is yellow and grows
also round the trunk, like the preceding; the muricy; the cambuhy is a
large tree and its fruit about the size of a sour cherry, either red or
purple; the piky affords a fruit, from the stone of which is extracted a
kind of hard tallow that is used for making imitation candles; the
issicariba, which produces gum-mastick, ipecacuanha, and some
species of inferior quina, or Jesuit’s bark, to which they give this
name; the real one is to be found in the serra Cayriris. The
maçanzeira is common in some districts of this province, where it
has the improper name of murta.
The comarca of the Alagoas produces great abundance of the
best timber in the province; there the canoes are made in which the
St. Francisco is navigated. Cocoa-nut tree groves abound in the
vicinity of the sea. The mamona is carefully cultivated in some
districts, and its oil affords an article of exportation. The opuncia, or
palmatoria, is here very common; and the cochineal insect might be
cultivated with advantage.
The cotton tree and sugar cane are the principal branches of
agriculture, and their productions are the most lucrative. The desire
every where of the gain which these two articles afford, unwisely
prevents the cultivation of provisions of the first necessity in sufficient
quantity for the subsistence of the population. The flour of mandioca
is generally scarce and dear, arising in part from the lands in the
vicinity of the sea (which alone are fertile) having been given in such
liberal portions; so that at the present day they are under the
dominion of so few persons that it is calculated that for every two
hundred families there are only eight or ten proprietors, or senhores
d’engenho, and who generally permit their tenants only to plant the
cane. The jangada, a peculiar tree, and one of the most useful in the
province, has a trunk commonly straight and scarcely ever attaining
a thickness that a man cannot encompass with his arms: it is
extremely porous and light. The trunks attached, as already
described, constitute the only small craft of the country; fishermen
proceed with them to sea out of sight of land, and travellers transport
themselves, with their moveables, from one port to another. It is
necessary to drag them on the beach at the end of each voyage to
dry, in order that the wood may not decay so quickly. The trees which
produce the oil of cupahyba are met with in all the woods; also those
which produce the gum-copal, the drug benzoin, and the sweet gum
storax. The latter is here called the balsam tree; and the honey
which the bees make from the sweets of its flower has the smell of
cinnamon. Amongst other exotic trees which have been naturalized
the precious sandal tree, it is affirmed, would prosper here almost as
well as in the island of Timor, and would save to the state many
arrobas of gold annually expended in bringing it from India.
The people of the certam catch large quantities of turtle and ring
doves with the manicoba-brava, an infusion of which is put into
vessels half buried in the sand, in those places where some little
water remains after the streams are dried up, and to which those
birds are attracted for the purpose of drinking. On taking the infusion,
if they do not immediately vomit, they cannot again take wing, but
quickly begin to tremble, and expire in a few moments.
Rivers.—The most considerable are in the western part of the
province; but we shall defer speaking of them till we come to finish
the description of the river St. Francisco, into which they discharge
themselves.
The principal ones in the eastern part of the province are the
Capibaribe, the Ipojuca, the Una, the Tracunhaen, or Goyanna, and
the Serenhen.
The Capibaribe, or river of the Capibaras,[37] has its origin in the
district of Cayriris Velhos, about fifty leagues distant from the sea. Its
source is brackish; the channel very stony, with many falls, and
navigable only for about eight miles. It is discharged by two mouths,
one within the Recife, and the other near four miles to the south, at
the arraial of Affogados, where there is a wooden bridge two
hundred and sixty paces in length. Topacora and Goyta are its
principal confluents, both of which join it by the right bank, with an
interval of four or five miles. The latter runs from a lake, denominated
Lagoa Grande.
 The Ipojuca rises in the Cayriris Velhos, near the Capibaribe, and
runs through countries appropriated to the culture of cotton and
sugar, which productions have been extremely advantageous to the
agriculturist. It disembogues between Cape St. Augustine and the
island of St. Aleixo, forming a port for the small vessels by which it is
frequented.
The Serenhen, which is considerable and advantageous to the
cultivator, empties itself almost in front of the isle of St. Aleixo. One
of its largest confluents is the Ceribo, which meets it on the left bank,
not far from the sea.
The Una comes from the district of Garanhuns, with a course of
nearly forty leagues, and in the vicinity of the ocean receives on the
right the Jacuipe, which is inferior, and runs into the sea through
large woods. Both serve for the conveyance of timber, that is laden
in the port at its mouth, which is about seven leagues to the south-
west of the island of St. Aleixo.
The Goyanna, which is handsome and considerable, runs into
the sea nine miles to the north of Itamaraca, between the point of
Pedras and the Cocoa-Tree Point. It takes this name at the
confluence of the Tracunhaen, which has a considerable course,
with the Capibari-mirim, much inferior, about three leagues from the
sea, to which place smacks and small craft ascend. The water of the
first is only good at the source.
The other rivers upon the coast are the Cururippe, which
discharges itself twenty-eight miles north-east of the St. Francisco;
the St. Miguel, twenty-five miles further; the Alagoas, so called from
being the mouth of two large lakes; the St. Antonio Mirim; the St.
Antonio Grande; the Cammaragibe; the Manguape; the Rio Grande;
the Formozo; the Maracahippe, which runs into the sea between the
Serenhen and the Ipojuca; the Jaboatao, which receives near the
coast the Parapamba by the right bank, their common mouth being
designated Barra da Jangada, and is two leagues to the north of
Cape St. Augustine; the Iguarassu, which discharges itself with
considerable width five or six leagues north of Olinda, and is formed
by several small rivers, that unite about seven miles from the ocean.
All these rivers admit of the entrance of boats and small vessels. The
Moxoto, after a considerable course, empties itself eight miles above
the fall of Paulo Alfonso. It is only a current during the rainy season.
The delicate mandin fish, which proceed up whilst it is full, as soon
as the river ceases to run, and the water begins to grow warm in the
wells, pines away, and soon dies. The Pajehu is only a current whilst
the thunder showers prevail.
Promontories.—Cape St. Augustine, the only one upon the
coast, is the most famous in the new world, and the most eastern
land of South America, in the latitude 8° 20’. Here is a religious
hospicio of slippered Carmelites, dedicated to Our Lady of Nazareth,
which many captains formerly honoured with a salute on passing. It
has two forts, each of which defends a small port, where vessels of
an inferior class can come to anchor.
Islands.—Itamaraca, for a considerable time called Cosmos, is
three leagues long from north to south, and one in the widest part; it
is mountainous and inhabited. Its principal place is the parish of Our
Lady of Conceiçao, situated on the southern side, about half a
league above the mouth of the Iguarassu. This was formerly a town,
the prerogative of which was transferred to Goyanna, whose senate
goes annually to assist at the festival of its patroness. The mangoes
and grapes of this island are highly praised. There are also several
very fine salt-pits. The channel which separates it from the continent
is narrow and deep. At the northern entrance, called Catuama, there
is commodious anchorage for ships in front of the mouth of the river
Massaranduba.
The island of St. Aleixo, which is about four miles in circuit, with
portions of ground appropriated to the production of various
necessaries of life, is five leagues to the south-west of Cape St.
Augustine, and a mile distant from the continent.
Ports.—No province has so great a number of ports, though the
generality of them are only capable of receiving smacks and small
craft. The principal ones are the before-mentioned Catuama; the
Recife, which will be described jointly with the town of that name; the
Tamandare, which is the best of the whole, in the form of a bay
within the river so called. It is securely defended by a large fort, and
capable of receiving a fleet, being four and five fathoms deep at the
entrance, and six within. It lies ten leagues south-west of Cape St.
Augustine.
Jaragua and Pajussara are separated by a point which gives
name to the first, where vessels anchor in the summer. The latter
one can only be used in winter. They are two leagues north-east of
the river Alagoas, and in them people disembark to go to the town of
this name, because the river, which formerly afforded passage for
smacks, at present will not admit of canoes. It is therefore necessary
to go a league by land, and re-embark on the lake.
Cururippe is a beautiful bay, capable of receiving large ships. It is
sheltered by a reef, which breaks the fury of the sea. It has two
entrances, one to the south and the other to the north; but the
anchorage is not generally good. The bay receives the river from
which it derives the name. It is a deep and quiet stream of black
water, and navigable for canoes some leagues; the least depth is at
the mouth. Its banks are covered with mangroves, reeds, and divers
trees.
Lakes.—The considerable lakes are the Jiquiba, five leagues
long and one wide, brackish, containing fish, and is discharged
twelve miles to the north-east of Cururippe; and the Manguaba, ten
leagues long and one at the greatest width, is salt, and abounds with
fish. It is divided by a straight into two portions, one called Lagoa do
Norte, the other Lagoa do Sul, which is the largest. Its channel of
discharge is the before-mentioned river of the Alagoas, about a
cannon-shot across. Various small rivers here empty themselves. Its
banks are cultivated in parts; in others covered with mangoes. In its
neighbourhood are various sugar works, the produce of which is
transported, with cotton and other articles, in large canoes, to a
northern part of the lake, from whence they are carried in carts for
the space of three miles to the ports of Jaragua and Pajussara,
where the smacks are laden with them for the Recife, or Bahia.
The following are the towns in the three comarcas into which this
province is divided.
 COMARCAS. TOWNS.
Ollinda[38]
Goyanna
Ollinda Iguarassu
Pau d’ Alho
Limoeiro.
Recife
Serenhen
Recife
St. Antonio
St. Antao.
Porto Calvo
Alagoas
Atalaya
Anadia
Alagoas
Maceyo
Porto de Pedras
Poxim
Penedo.

Goyanna, situated in low ground between the rivers Capibari-

mirim, which washes it on the north, and Tracunhaen on the south, a
little more than a league above their confluence, is a large, populous,
and flourishing town, well supplied with meat, fish, and fruits. It has a
church of Our Lady of Rozario, a hermitage of the same name,
others of Amparo, Conceiçao, and the Senhor dos Martyrios, a
house of misericordia, a convent of slippered Carmelites, a
Magdalen, two bridges, and a Juiz de Fora; there is a royal professor
of Latin. It has a fair for cattle on Thursdays. A large quantity of
cotton is exported; the principal productions of the farmers of its
extensive district, where there are above twenty hermitages almost
all with chapels. It is sixty miles north-west of Ollinda, and fifteen
from the sea. In 1810 it had four thousand four hundred inhabitants,
including its district; but the town itself now contains near five
thousand.
Seven miles south of the mouth of the river Goyanna, and near
the beach, is the parish of St. Lourenço de Tijucopabo, which is
augmenting. Thirty-five miles west of Goyanna is the parish of St.
Antonio de Tracunhaen, near to this river: its inhabitants cultivate
cotton.
 Iguarassu is considerable, and the most ancient town of the
province. It is honoured with the title of loyal, and has a church
dedicated to the companion Saints of Cosme and Damiao, a house
of misericordia, a convent of Franciscans, a Magdalen, four
hermitages, and is well supplied with fish, meat, and fruits. It is five
or six leagues north of Ollinda, and two from the sea, upon the right
bank of the river that gives it the name, and which is formed by the
small rivers Ottinga, Pittanga, and Taype, that unite themselves
above. There is a bridge over it, and canoes arrive here with the tide,
but smacks remain two miles lower down. Sugar and cotton are the
articles of exportation.
Two leagues north of Iguarassu, on the Goyanna road, is the
considerable village of Pasmado, inhabited by whites, in great part
locksmiths.
Pau d’Alho, situated upon the right bank of the Capibaribe, and
thirty-five miles from the capital, was created a town in 1812, has a
church dedicated to the Holy Spirit, a hermitage of Our Lady of
Rozario, and a market every eight days.
Limoeiro, also created a town in 1812, is upon the margin of the
Capibaribe, about thirty miles above Pau d’Alho, and has a church,
dedicated to Our Lady of Expectaçao, and a market every week.
Cotton constitutes the wealth of its inhabitants. Whilst I remained at
Pernambuco, an English gentleman proceeded to this town for the
purpose of establishing a machine for dressing cotton, in which, I
understand, he has been very successful.
Serenhen, founded in 1627 with the name of Villa Formoza,
situated on an eminence upon the margin and seven miles above
the mouth of the river from which it borrows the name, is small, and
has a church, dedicated to Our Lady of Conceiçao, two hermitages,
and a convent of Franciscans. Its environs are remarkable for
fertility, abounding with water and rich plantations of cane.
St. Antonio, so called after the patron of its church, is nine miles
north-west of Cape St. Augustin, near the margin of the Parapamba,
and has two hermitages, one of St. Braz, the other of Our Lady of
Rozario. It was erected into a town in 1812.
 St. Antao, situated near the small river Tapacora, and created a
town in 1812, has a church dedicated to the same saint, and two
chapels of Rozario and Livramento, and a market every week. It
produces much cotton.
Amongst other places and considerable parishes in this comarca,
is to be remarked the Ipojuca, upon the margin of the river from
which it derives its name, two leagues distant from the sea, with a
church of St. Miguel, and a convent of Franciscans.
Muribeca, with a church of Nossa Senhora of Rozario, a
hermitage of the same name, and another of Livramento, is situated
between the Recife and Cape St. Augustin, about three miles from
the sea. Sugar is the produce of both these places.
Porto Calvo, a middling town with some commerce, and a church
of Our Lady of Aprezentaçao, is situated upon the margin of the
river, from which it takes the name, and twenty miles from the sea.
Bom Successo was its first name; to its haven formerly smacks
arrived with the tide. It is the native place of the mulatto Calabar,
who, passing over to the Dutch in 1632, was to them a great
acquisition, and to the Pernambucans a great injury; until he was
delivered to the latter, as a reward for their services, in order that he
might receive the chastisement due to his perfidy. At the taking of
this town, a nephew of the Dutch general, Count Nassau lost his life,
and the celebrated Preto Henrique Dias part of an arm. The latter
afterwards distinguished himself in the battle of the mountains of
Gararappes.
Alagoas, so called from having its site upon a southern portion of
the lake Manguaba, created with the name of Magdalen, is
considerable, head of the comarca of its name, and the ordinary
residence of the ouvidor, who is also inspector of the woods of the
royal marine. It has a church of Nossa Senhora of Conceiçao, a
convent of Franciscans, another of slippered Carmelites, two orders
of devout women, three chapels, with the titles of Amparo, Rozario,
and Bom Fim, and a royal professorship of Latin. At all times it is well
supplied with fish; and abounds in the jaca and orange tree. In the
beginning of last century was exported from the district of this town,
two thousand five hundred rolls of tobacco, of eight arrobas each,
and of such good quality, that it was bought at fifty per cent. dearer
than the same article from Bahia. Sugar is at the present day the
riches of its inhabitants. A custom-house has been recently
established within its jurisdiction, in consequence of the considerable
increase in the commerce of this comarca.
Atalaya, six leagues distant from the preceding place, three by
water, and the rest by land, is in a fertile and wholesome country,
possessing excellent water, and having a church of Nossa Senhora
das Brotas. Its neighbourhood abounds with ipecacuanha, and
cotton is cultivated with the common provisions of the country. The
number of its inhabitants, including those of its district, amount to
nearly two thousand; part of them are Caboclos,[39] white, and with
more regular features than any other known tribe of Indians.
Anadia, a middling sized town, with a church of the Lady of Piety,
is fourteen leagues from Alagoas. Its inhabitants are Indians,
Europeans, whites of the country, and Mestiços, in number about ten
thousand, including those of the district; almost all are cultivators or
purchasers of cotton, its principal produce. By the same law, of 15th
December, 1815, which gave to the town of Penedo a Juiz de Fora,
were created the towns of Maceyo and Porto de Pedras.
Maceyo is a dismemberment of the Alagoas, having a district of
more than seven leagues of coast, computing from the river Alagoas
to the St. Antonio Grande. In this interval the following rivers run into
the sea:—The Doce, which is short, and comes from a small lake;
the Paratiji, the St. Antonio Mirim, and the Paripueira, which receives
the Cabuçu on the right, near its mouth. Maceyo is becoming a place
of some commerce, and will be the emporium of the trade of the
comarca of Alagoas. One English establishment already exists here,
and shipments are made direct from hence to Great Britain. An
European first settling in any of the towns of Brazil, and particularly
in places of this class, makes a sacrifice of all the comforts common
to well regulated society.
Porto de Pedras is a dismemberment of Porto Calvo; its district
embraces nearly nine leagues of coast, occupying the interval from
the aforesaid river St. Antonio Grande to the Manguape. The
Cumuriji and the Tatuamuhy are the principal rivers that empty
themselves upon its shores. The two last towns have each two
ordinary judges, and one of orphans; three veradores, or species of
aldermen, a procurador of the council, a treasurer, two clerks of the
market, an alcaide, with a scrivener of his office, two public
scriveners, judicial and notarial, the first of which holds that office in
the council, also in the customs, and is market clerk; the second also
belongs to the office of scrivener of the orphans.
Poxim, a small town upon the margin of the river of the same
name, which enters the sea three leagues to the north-east of
Cururippe, has a large bridge, and a church dedicated to Our Lady of
Madre de Deos. It is two miles from the ocean, is well supplied with
fish, and has in its district the new and yet small aldeia of Our Lady
of Conceiçao, so called after the patroness of the chapel which
ornaments it; and where upon festival days are assembled six
hundred families, dispersed around its neighbourhood. It is situated
near the river Cururippe, four miles from the sea; and its good port,
where at present is only laden some timber and oil of the mamona,
with the fertility of the interior territory, will contribute to render this a
considerable place at some future day. The land in the proximity of
the shore is sandy, and well adapted to the cajue-nut tree, which, in
a short time grows to a large size, and its fruit would furnish a branch
of commerce.
Penedo, a considerable, populous, and commercial town, is
situated partly in a plain along the bank of the river St. Francisco,
and occasionally suffering by its inundations, and partly upon a
height at the extremity of a range, which is the first elevated land met
with on the northern margin, on ascending this river. Besides the
church dedicated to Nossa Senhora of Rozario, there is a hermitage
with the same title; another of the Lady of Corrente; others of St.
Gonçalo d’Amarante, St. Gonçalo Garcia, and a convent of
Franciscans, whose ill appropriated grounds occupy a situation the
best suited for the improvement of the povoaçao. It has a royal Latin
master, and a good house for the ouvidor. The houses were, till
lately, miserable buildings of wood; there are now many of stone,
with two or three stories, having portals of a species of grindstone.
The river is here near a mile in width, and the highest tide is three
feet. The greatest height of the river, that can be remembered,
reached twenty feet. It is about twenty-five miles from hence to the
mouth of the river. The confessional roll, which is a tolerably correct
one, estimates the population at eleven thousand five hundred and
four, including that of the district. By a law of the 15th of December,
1805, a Juiz de Fora was granted to this town.
About twenty-five miles higher up, on the margin of the St.
Francisco, in a delightful situation, is the parish of Collegio, whose
dwellers only amount to ninety families, and are mostly Indians, of
three different nations. The Acconans who lived in the district of
Logoa Comprida, a few miles higher up the river: the Carapotos, who
inhabited the serra of Cuminaty: and the Cayriris, who dwelt in the
vicinity of the serra which takes from them its name. The main part of
this colony wander about when not occupied in fishing, according to
the custom of their ancestors, through a country six miles along the
river, and three broad, which was given to them for the purposes of
agriculture. The wives of these lazy poltroons work daily in making
earthenware, seated on the ground. They begin to make an earthen
vessel by working the clay on a banana leaf, placed upon their
knees; afterwards it is put upon a large dish, with pulverized ashes,
when it receives the form and last finish. Without any assistance
from the men, they procure and work up the clay, proceed to fetch
the wood in order to set up large fires every Saturday night for
hardening the vessels made during the week. The church was a
Jesuitical chapel, which the district already possessed.
In this comarca is the considerable arraial of St. Miguel, upon the
margin and seven leagues above the mouth of the river of the same
name. It has a church of Nossa Senhora of O, whose parishioners
amount to fifteen hundred, the main part dispersed.
The western portion of the province is much more extensive than
the preceding, but is very thinly inhabited, being a sterile and
parched up country, without other rains than those afforded by
thunder showers. In all parts, however, are met with portions of
ground more or less fertile, which would produce mandioca, Indian
corn, feijao, hortulans, cottons, fruits, and the sugar cane. Cattle are
generally bred in this vast district, and game abounds in great
variety. It was included in the jurisdiction of the ouvidor of Jacobina
until 1810, when it became a comarca, receiving the interior portion
of that of Recife. It is at present called the ouvidorship of the certam
of Pernambuco, the magistrate not having chosen the town for its
head, by which it ought to be designated. Cattle, hides, cotton, salt,
and gold, are the articles of its exportation.
Rivers.—The Rio Grande and the Correntes are the only
considerable rivers.
The river St. Francisco, whose description we left off at the
confluence of the Carinhenha, only receives from thence to its
entrance into the ocean, five streams of any importance, namely, the
Rans, the Parimirim, the Verde, on the right, the Correntes, one
hundred miles below the first, and the Rio Grande, one hundred and
forty lower on the left, continuing from thence northward, with many
small windings, being of considerable width, and having many
islands and some currents which do not impede navigation. Its
margins are flat, and in some parts so low, that at the inundations,
they are submerged for more than seven miles. Below the
confluence of Rio Grande, its course bends towards the east, and
then to the east-south-east, preserving the same width for a long
way, to the aldeia of Vargem Redonda, where the navigation
terminates from above, and the lateral lands begin to rise. Its
channel gradually becomes narrower, and the current is rapidly
impelled between blue and black rocks, to the small aldeia of
Caninde, (the boundary of the navigation from the ocean,) which is
seventy miles below the other. In this interval there are various large
falls, of which the most interesting and famous is that of Paulo
Affonso. Between these falls canoes navigate during the summer
season. Through Caninde it continues to run between stony banks,
thinly covered with soil and an impoverished vegetation, being one
hundred fathoms in height, the width of the river not exceeding a
sling’s throw for the distance of ten miles, to the mouth of the Jacare,
where its elevated and rugged banks terminate. Its bed in this part is
overspread with cleft reefs, appearing like the relics of a majestic
sluice or dock.
Three leagues below is the small island of Ferro, where the
margins begin to diminish in elevation, and the river to augment in
width, exhibiting crowns of white sand, the resort of the ash-coloured
and white heron, and where myriads of black diving birds assemble;
forming themselves like a net, they encircle the fish in shoal places,
not infested by the dreaded piranha fish. Here the sea-mew, and
other aquatic birds, make their nests in small holes, their young
being hatched by the heat of the sun.
Six leagues below the island of Ferro, is that of Oiro, also small,
high, and rocky, crowned with a hermitage of Nossa Senhora of
Prazeres. These are the only islands met with in the space of one
hundred miles from Caninde to the town of Penedo, where the small
range of hills that borders the left bank of the river terminates. Two
miles below Villa Nova, the elevation of the right margin also has its
bounds, and the river begins to divide its course, forming a great
number of islands, generally low, and abounding with woods, giving
them an agreeable aspect. They possess portions of fertile soil,
where some rice, maize, mandioca, sugar, and hortulans, are
cultivated. Some are sandy, others are composed of grey clay, with a
bed of black above, about a foot in depth and above this another, of
yellow earth, from three to four spans in thickness. The whole are
submerged at the period of the overflowings of this great river. The
cassia tree is here numerous, and extremely beautiful while
blooming with its rosy flowers. It affords a sort of husky fruit, two
spans in length, and of proportionable thickness, and abounds on
both margins of the river for about thirty-five miles above the town of
Penedo. This river, so deep in the interior of the continent,
disembogues by two mouths of very unequal size; the principal one
is on the north, being near two miles wide, with so little depth that the
smacks can enter it only at high water, and there wait for the full
tides to get out. The navigation from the falls, upwards, is performed
in barks and ajojos, which are two or more canoes moored together
with cross pieces of timber above. All produce descending the river
below the falls is disembarked at Vargem Redonda, a district of the
parish and julgado of Tacaratu, and transmitted on oxen to the port
of Caninde, or Piranhas, which is two miles lower down. The
navigation from hence to Penedo, is solely by the ajojos, and
upwards always with a sail. The wind is favourable from eight o’clock
of the day to the following morning’s dawn, but not without variation
according to the age of the moon and the state of the weather;
always increasing at evening, and frequently becoming quite calm
before midnight. These craft descend always with a strong current,
whilst there is no wind to produce an agitation of the water. When the
breeze is high the current diminishes, and the river rises above a
span. Fish is more abundant above the falls, which difference, the
oldest men say originated in the extirpating system of fishing with
what are called tapagens, a mode of enclosing them, and which was
unjustly countenanced by the chief magistrates, who drew from this
abuse considerable revenues, which disappeared without leaving to
the public one signal of its expenditure. The most valuable fish of this
river are the sorubin, which grows to the size of a man; the mandin,
four feet in length, and proportionably thick, with large beards; the
pira, two feet long; and the piranha, which is short and thick, with
very sharp teeth, and fatal to all living creatures that come within its
reach. None of these fish have scales. The camurin, with a white
stripe on both sides; and the camurupin, are both thick and scaly.
The dogs, as if by a natural instinct, do not approach the waters
that are muddy, but drink only at those parts where there is a current,
from an innate dread of the piranhas, which lurk about with
destructive intent in the dead waters.
The Correntes, which has a course of about one hundred and
forty miles, issues from a lake, and runs first under the name of
Formozo, receiving another river of the same name, and afterwards
the Eguas, Guara, and Arrojado. It affords navigation for a
considerable space, and disembogues into the St. Francisco ten
miles below the chapel of Bom Jesus da Lappa. All the branches
mentioned issue from the skirts or proximity of the serra of Paranan.
Some run through auriferous countries, where mining has originated
only a few years, and which has been the occasion of founding in the
vicinity of the river Eguas a chapel of Our Lady of Glory, whose