passage to everywhere and admirable pastures. In that stripe by
the time of European occupation, the accumulated fertility was
so great that it compensated for the deficiencies of the sandy
soils. He also records forests of low-utility near Salgado lagoon,
a restinga lagoon. Then he concludes
In those portions of sandy soils, which
end by the seashores, as well as in the
restingas, little grow the bushes, which
are thin, crawling, crooked, and mostly
of poor quality, but among them grow
some appreciated woods, with the pos-
sibility of being more solid, and as rigid
as the ironwood(21).He was probably referring to the imarshy depressions
between strands of restingas, with vegetation appropriate for
cattle raising, decreasing the fertility near the beach dunes. On
the other hand, the fields of Sabões, Jagoroaba, Boa Vista, San-
to Amaro, Algodoeiros, Taí and Limpo appear to the observer
eyes as enlarged and pleasant, despite all the anthropic inter-
ventions already intense at that time.
When evaluating the fertility of the land, Couto Reis re-
turns to the restingas. From the interior to the coast, he passes
from the mountainous lands to the flat lands, which, in turn, are
divided into restingas, fields and forests. The already mentioned
fields of Macaé, Juribatiba, Carapebus, Jagoroaba, São Tomé
and Taí extend through the restingas. The fields themselves
constitute the massapê plain. Forests correspond to the table-
lands(21).
Neither the anonymous map of 1747 nor that of Manoel
Vieira Leão, drawn twenty years later, presents the detail level of
Couto Reis map in relation to any aspect. In the cartography of
the militiaman, the restinga lagoons deserve special mention. In
the southern restinga, he registers in his color map, the lagoons
of Boacica (Imboacica), Taboinhas, Preta, Mato Seco, Juruba-
tiba, Comprida, Carapebus (preceded by one and connected to
another by a channel, both without a name), Paulista, Frechei-
ras, Jagoroaba and two nameless others. He points out, in ad-
dition, the great field of Jagoroaba. In the northern restinga, on
the right bank of Paraíba do Sul River, appears the mighty Ig-
uaçu River (whose remnants constitute today the Açu lagoon),
the Salgado lagoon (confronts to the south with the Veiga River
and exhausts in Martinho marsh and some other lowlands), the
Veiga River (in fact, an elongated lagoon that run to Barra do
Açu), the lagoons of Guipari (Iquipari, located at the foot of the
coastal dune, has its bar opened by fishermen when flooded),
from Guruçaí, (Grussaí, a name derived from Guruçá, a white
crab that inhabits the beach, and i water, communicates with
Paraíba River by long marshes), Taí Grande (with a large bottom,
launches its water surpluses in Martinho marsh and in others
that run for the Paraíba; Its name derives from Intaá, a com-
mon shellfish in the region, and í, water; probably reffering to
the species Anodonta perlifera) and Taí Pequeno (in the floods,
it discharges part of its waters in the Jacaré lagoon). On the
left bank, he marks Campelo’s lagoon (one of the largest in the
District, that communicates with numerous and long marshes,
and is navigable by canoes and ferries), Dutra’s lagoon, Restin-
ga Nova and Doce lagoon.Due to the infinity of lagoons in the area, the inventory of
the infantry cartographer is, apparently, unsatisfactory. Howev-
er, he clarifies that, in addition to those pointed out,...There are many others, also large,
some with continued existence, even
during the greatest droughts, and oth-
ers only exist during the floods. I will not
mention some of them to avoid prolixity,
although in the Topographic Map, which
I elaborated, they are indicated with all
the minuteness, and individuation(21).In any case, as it can be seen, Couto Reis’ observations
confirm the close linkage of most of the lagoons of the plain and
the tableland to the basins of Paraíba do Sul and Feia lagoon,
collecting by surprise environmental conditions no longer exis-
tent today.Plants and animals. Mangroves and restinga vegetation
do not seem to have a good reputation in the western represen-
tations of nature. And here, as in several other previous passag-
es of this work, when trying to analyze the illustrations about
restinga ecosystems of northern Fluminense, it is impossible to
avoid creating a version based on previous representations. The
anonymous map dated from 1747, according to Lamego, has a
peculiarity: as well as portraying physical features, it also shows
the vegetation. This is how the left bank of Paraíba do Sul Riv-
er and the valley of the Muriaé River, its tributary, appear cov-
ered with forests. In the hinterland of Cacimbas, near the coast,
abound the dense seasonal forests that were linked to the rest-
inga forests (15,16).Couto Reis exalts the beauty and usefulness of the
plants found in the fields of the mountain range, tablelands and
the alluvial plain. In the first one, attention is drawn to the timber
and firewood suppliers. In the second, he observes the prodigal-
ity of the arboreal vegetation in the hinterland of Cacimbas. He
observes that in the alluvial plain, mainly in the section between
Barra do Rio Preto and Valetas, where countless mills were built,