Johan (or João) Blaer’s expedition to Palmares in 1645 constitutes the third significant campaign by the Dutch against the fugitive community. Blaer and his company departed on February 26, 1645. After only 3 days Blaer fell ill and turned over command of the expedition to his lieutenant Jürgens Reijmback. Together, Blaer and Reijmback’s journal of the expedition provides a detailed description of the organization and structures of Palmares. The Dutch document is best known in its Portuguese translation, Diário de Viagem do Capitão João Blaer aos Palmares em 1645.
English Text
“On February 26 [of 1645] Captain Johann Blaer left from Salgados with his people and, after marching two miles, came to a river called Elinga, beyond which there is a high mountain; from there we walked another two miles and came upon a river named Sebahuma, on whose southern bank we spent the night and where, on that same afternoon, our Indians speared some fished called tarairais.
On the 27th of that month, in the morning, we crossed the river and the high mountain and, after marching a good four miles, we came to a small river called Tamala, where we rested a little; afterword we pressed on. A mile later we came to an old sugar mill named São Miguel, where we saw some copper and iron parts from the old mill lying on the ground; from there we hiked another mile and arrived at the Rio São Miguel, where we camped for the night on the north bank.
On the 28th we continued to march along the same bank for a quarter of a mile; we then crossed the river and hiked another short mile, where we again crossed over to the north side and, after a half-mile march we found some traps for catching game, though they were empty; there we camped so that on the next day we could look around to see if there were any negro traps in the area; on the right side of our campsite there was a large bog along the river.
On March 1, in the morning, the captain of our Indians killed a bird, called an Enijmma, with an arrow, in our language a horned bird (Hoorenvogel or hornbill), as it has a horn as long as a finger on its head and other on each wing, which must serve as an anti-venom.
On the 2nd of the month, the captain killed another of these birds; on this day we sent our people and the Indians to look for traps, but they found none; so we remained there that night and also Captain Johann Blaer fell mortally ill and returned with five Dutch and twelve Indians, carried to Alagoas; Lieutenant Jürgens Reijmbach continued on the march with us, and we hiked another mile through the woods on the south bank of the Rio São Miguel, and four across a meadow called Humanha Field; there we spent the night on the south bank of the Rio São Miguel, which was full of rapids.
On the 3rd of the month we continued the march across the Campina Humanha, passing three dry, sandy rivers in which there was only enough water to drink. These rivers are called Camera. Continuing our hike across the meadow, and, for a space of about a mile through the woods, we kept a very high mountain called the Taipoú on our left. A little later we came to a river named Sagoú beside which we camped.
On the 4th of the month, after a short mile’s march, we came to a branch of the Rio Sagoú. We had a good trail, keeping the river to our left, and we went into a wood and, a mile ahead we crossed a high mountain, two miles beyond which we spent the night beside a stream.
On the 5th of the month we marched for a good three miles through the woods and crossed some mountains, though none were high or steep, and there we camped.
On the 6th of the month we continued the march and arrived at a river named Pevirgavo, which we went upstream for a distance of five miles, back and forth from one bank to the other until we came to the Rio Paraíba, which flows into the Alagoa at the sugar mill of Gabriel Soares. We met our people who had taken Captain Johann Blaer to Alagoas, five miles from Gabriel Soares’s mill at the place called Barra de Parúgavo, where the Rio Parengabo flows into the Paraíba. Our people said that only with a great effort did they manage to go up that Rio Paraíba, walking in the riverbed full of submerged rocks because the banks were covered with vegetation so dense that it was almost impossible to cross through it. This river is quite full of fish and extends to the north. There we spent the night.
On the 7th of the month we remained camped and send our people to fish. They caught an abundance of fish as much by arrows as by hooks.
On the 8th of the month we passed along the south bank of this river and went up the Rio Parengabo for five miles, following one bank, then the other. We ourselves had to open this trail. We camped beside the south bank of that same river.
On the 9th of the month, in the morning, we continued to move forward through woods for six good miles and passed some mountains, one of which was quite high, until we came to the Dona Ana pass, five miles from Salgados, at a river by name the Itubahumma, near which we spent the night.
On the 10th of the month, in the morning, we proceeded another two miles, keeping to our right a high mountain called Waipoú. We arrived at a meadow and a dry, sandy river where our Indians killed, with arrows, six large and two small wild pigs. From there we hiked another three miles, partway by the dry riverbed, to the Rio São Miguel, where we camped.
On the 11th of the month we headed west, passing through forest and field and sometimes along dry riverbeds, one of which, the São Miguel, we slept in.
On the 12th of the month we went up the Rio São Miguel for five miles, here and there finding water to drink. Afterward we passed along the south bank and came to an open field called the Pasto Novo [New Pasture] or Campo da Tamala [Tamala Field]. There we kept to our right two high-peaked mountains to which they give the name Grasicqúa. There was also tall grass at several places. This meadow was two miles long and, after we made our way through another half a mile through woods, we camped and had wells dug so we could get water to drink.
On the 13th of the month, in the morning, we went toward the north. After half a mile we came again to the Rio São Miguel, which a quarter of a mile ahead flows from a mountain located to the west. We crossed the mountain, which was all cliffs and had the name Cachoeira de São Miguel [St. Michael Waterfall (or rapids)]. This waterfall isn’t as high as the one of the Paraíba, which is a good four times higher. We were above this waterfall of the paraíba, but not next to it. In that place we rested a little and sent a negro we had brought with us, with some Indians, to beat the bushes. They brought us six big wild pigs and a small one, all killed by arrow. Afterward we continued the march and camped next to the south bank of the Rio São Miguel.
On the 14th of the month, after going up this river for a while, we crossed over to the north bank. A mile ahead we crossed a high mountain a good half a mile high, above which we climbed yet another mountain, but not as high. Hiking almost always to the north or northeast, about a mile ahead we arrived at a dry, sandy river full of drop-offs. We hiked another two miles and passed near the western side of rapids in the river that flows into the Paraíba that were not very steep but currently without water. We camped on that river. During the night, it rained.
On the 15th of the month, at about eight o’clock in the morning, while it was still raining, we left, and after a hike of a mile we kept that river to our right, arriving at another that was full of rapids. We hiked in the riverbed all day, leaping from one rock to another like goats on the islands of the North Sea, for five or six miles, sometimes to the north, sometimes to the east, as far as the Rio Paraíba. it rained all day, and we spent the night on the bank of this river.
On the 16th of the month, we went up the Rio Paraíba a good six miles. We saw to our right some high mountains. On this day we hiked with great effort on top of the rocks that stick up in the riverbed, where many of us fell, twisting their (sic) weapons and their appendages, but they didn’t get lost. We camped on the north bank of the Paraíba.
On the seventeenth of the month, leaving from the north bank of the Paraíba, we arrived, after a good two miles of hiking, at another river which, coming from the north, flowed into the Paraíba. We went up it all the time. The bed was full of rocks. On this day we finished off our supplies as well as those of the Indians. When we will have more, only God knows. There on the south bank of this river we spent the night. On the north side we could see a high mountain that on the following day we climbed.
On the 18th of the month we reached the top of said mountain, which was high and steep and atop which we found water to drink. To this mountain we gave the name Mudéus Ridge, or mountain of traps, since on it there were a good fifty or sixty traps for catching game, but they were all three years old. Once over this mountain, a mile farther ahead, we arrived at an old planted field where we found some green pacova bananas. From there on ahead we had to cut a trail through a dense field of sugar cane for two miles. We then arrived at Old Palmares, which the blacks had left three years earlier, abandoning it for being unsanitary. Many of them had lived there. This Palmares was half a mile long and had two gates. The road was an arm’s span wide [i.e. about two meters]. There were two cisterns at the center, a patio where the house of their king had been and was now a large plaza where the king had exercised with his people. The gates of this Palmares were fenced by two rows of palisades that were connected by crossings, but all were so full of brush that it was very hard for us to open up passage. From there we marched ahead for a mile and a half, always in garden plots or plantations that killed our hunger. We camped in one of these fields and roasted some bananas.
On the 19th in morning we hiked half a mile and came to the other Palmares, where the four Dutch had been with Brazilians [i.e. Indians] and Tapuias, who had burned it in part, so that the negroes abandoned it and moved away some seven or eight miles, where they built a new Palmares like the one they had inhabited before. A mile farther on we came upon a beautiful river full of rocks, call the Cabalero and a tributary of the Rio Mondoú, which flows into the Alagoa do Norte. After two miles we arrived at a stream that ran to the east, and in constant rain we passed two mountains. There we spent the night.
On the 20th of that month, after hiking four good miles and going by some mountains and rivers, we came to a river called the Japondá. During this day every half hour we found mocambos [hidden villages] built by the negroes when they left Old Palmares for the new, situated to the east and southeast of the first. Two miles farther on we came upon another negro mocambo where we had to wait two hours for three wounded soldiers. When they arrived, we hiked onto a mile before getting tired. Since it was already almost night and we were wet from the constant rain, which went on all night, we camped beside a river until the moon set. At two o’clock in the morning we made some torches, which we lit, and we marched a mile and a half in the woods until we came to the gate of Palmares just as the sun was rising.
On the morning of the 21st, we arrived at the western gate of Palmares, which was double and fenced by two rows of palisades, with wide crossing between each. We broke it down and inside we found a pit full of stakes into which two of our buglers fell. We wouldn’t have heard any noise if not for that made by two negroes, one of whom we caught along with a woman and a son. They said that for five or six days there had been only a few people there because the majority were in their fields and arming traps in the woods. Our Brazilians even killed two or three negroes in the nearby swamp. The captured negroes also said that their king had known of our approach, having been warned from Alagoas. One of our buglers, enraged for having fallen on the stakes, cut off the head of a negress. We also caught another negress. At the center of Palmares there was another gate, and another on the side of the swamp and a double one on the eastern side. This Palmares was also half a mile long. The street an arm’s span wide, ran from west to east and on the north side there was a large swamp. On the south side they had taken down large trees, crisscrossing them one over the other, and also the land behind the houses was full of stakes. The houses were 220 in number and in the middle of them they had built a church, four blacksmith shops, and a big council house. There was among the inhabitants all kinds of crafts, and their king governed them with severe justice, not allowing witchdoctors among the people and, when some negroes fled, he sent crioulos after them, and once they were caught, they were killed for luck because dread lived among them, principally among the negroes from Angola. The king also has a house two miles away, with an abundant garden, a house he had built when he knew of our approach. We sent two of our sergeants and twenty men to capture him, but all had fled in such as way that the men found only some provisions of little importance. On the trail to the house of the king we had to cross a high and very steep mountain, a good mile high. We burned the king’s house and carried off his provisions. We also found some large farms, most of it new corn, and we found a lot of palm oil that the negroes use in their food, but nothing else. Their clothes are almost entirely of inner tree bark and little patches, and all the farms are inhabited by two or three individuals. We asked the negroes what the number of their people was, to which they replied five men, plus women and children. We presume that all in all there are fifteen hundred inhabitants, according to what we heard from them. That night we slept at Palmares.
On the 22nd of the month, in the morning, a sergeant and two men went out to beat the bushes, but they only managed to find one lame negress names Lucrécia, who belonged to Captain Lij. We left her there because she couldn’t walk and we couldn’t carry her, already having several people stabbed by stakes who had to be carried. We filled our sacks with dried manioc flour and beans so we could go home. On this day our people burned more than sixty houses on the abandoned farms. The road of this Palmares was bordered by rows of palms, which are of great use to the negroes, because, first, they use them to build their houses, and second their beds, and third, fans for fanning their fires, and fourth, they eat the inside of the coconuts and also the heart-of-palm. From the coconuts they make oil for eating and for butter that is very clear and white, and even a kind of wine. In these trees they get grubs as thick as a finger, which they eat. So they hold these trees in great estimation. Here also many of our men injured themselves on stakes that they have behind the houses. This was Palmares Grande that is spoken of so much in Brazil. The land is very good for planting all sorts of grains as it it irrigated by many beautiful streams. Our people returned that afternoon without accomplishing anything. Again that night we slept at Palmares.
On the 23rd of that month we burned Palmares, all its houses and the objects they contained, which were gourds, baskets and pots made right there. We then pulled out, seeing that there was nothing else to be gotten there. After a marching a mile we came to a river full of fish, named the Bonguá. There we left one of our sergeants and twenty men in ambush near Palmares, but we didn’t know how much they’d accomplish. On that afternoon, near the aforementioned river, we caught a negro and a woman and a son, and there we spent the night.
On the 24th of that month, in the morning, we went up that river for a mile and a half, on the north and south banks, and there found a negro covered with sores in the company of an old Brazilian woman, a slave of the king’s daughter, who told us that in the area around there there were other negroes running around. So we camped there and twenty men beat the bushes. Coming upon the house of the king’s daughter, who was not there, we burned it, but we weren’t able to find anything. We spend the night there.
On the 25th of that month, we continued encamped and visited the woods all around within five or six miles, but nothing resulted. Again we spent the night there.
On the 26th of that month, we headed off to the east and southeast for four good miles, always within sight of mountains. We crossed two of them, each one a mile long. We kept to our right a great mountain with a high peak. We kept to the woods and arrived at the bank of a small river, and there we spent the night.
On the 27th of that month, in the morning, we left toward the southeast in the direction of a high but not too steep mountain, and we marched two miles until we reached its peak. We looked around the area from high in a tree and discovered to our right a great plateau and a high mountain to the west. We crossed the mountain which rose very steeply and worked three good miles before arriving at the plateau, where we crossed some sandy streams. The plateau was covered with dense woods and a bamboo called canabrava. It was difficult to advance and we weren’t able to stay our course, so dense was the vegetation. We then went up a river that fed into the Paraíba, and because of the rain we camped at a well beside the river. We passed the night badly due to a lack of palm leaves to make huts where we could shelter ourselves from the rain, which lasted all night.
On the 28th of that month, in the morning, we left that river and, keeping it to our right, we arrived at another, which we descended for two miles to its confluence with the Paraíba. We descended that river half a mile and camped on its left bank. It rained a lot at night.
On the 29th, in the morning, we followed along that same bank of the Paraíba, and half a mile ahead we went into the woods, headed north and northeast. Then we marched south east along the river and made four miles to the south. We passed some mountains of little elevation and spent the night on the left bank.
On the 30th, in the morning, we continued to march along the same bank for three miles, passing some small mountains, but also in a closed woods which only with great effort we were able to cross, and sometimes we had to walk on the rocks in the bed of a river. . On that day our Brazilians caught some fish, but our people caught few. The captain of our Indians also killed two ducks. It rained a lot all day, and we spent the night on the left bank of the river.
On the 31st, on the morning, we went on, descended the river along the left bank, and had to open a trail through closed woods with great difficulty until we came to an old road. We followed it until we arrived again at the bank of the Paraíba. This river is very full of fish and in the area there is a lot of game. On this day we killed some jacqús and in the afternoon we crossed some streams, going to camp on the left bank of the Paraíba.
On April 1 we left in the morning, and in a mile we had to cross a stream five or six times, then going across a mountain half a mile high, and we arrived at a cart road three miles from the old sugar mill located near Alagoa do Sul. We slept that night at Gabriel Soares’s mill.
On the 2nd of the month we marched with our people to the housing at Alagoa do Sul, from which we had departed.”
– Translation of Diário da Viagem do Capitão João Blaer aos Palmares em 1645. Extracted from the collection titled Brevien en Papieren uit Brasilien, translated from the Dutch by Alfredo de Carvalho,—Revista do Instituto Arqueológico Pernambucano, vol. X, no. 56, March of 1902. Translated from the Portuguese version in Edison Carneiro’s O Quilombo dos Palmares by Glenn Alan Cheney. In Glenn Alan Cheney, Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil’s Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves (Hanover: New London Librarium, 2011), 232-241.
Blaer and Reijmbach’s Translations
Dutch original: “Journale van de Voyagie die Capt. Johan blaer gedaen heeft naer de Palmares.” Located in the Algemeen Rijksarchief in The Hauge, Archief van Oude West-Indische Compagniën, Inventory 60, with the Letters Received from Brazil. Records code 1.05.01.01.
Portuguese translation: In Carneiro, Edison. O quilombo dos Palmares 1630-1695. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1947.
English translation: In Cheney, Glenn Alan. Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil’s Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves. Hanover: New London Librarium, 2011.
Archival link: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/en/research/archive/1.05.01.01/inventory?node=c01%253A3.c02%253A3.c03%253A0.c04%253A11.c05%253A47.
QUILOMBO DOS PALMARES AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY BRAZIL 