Joaquim Magalhães de Castro
The voyage of the Jesuits to the reign of the Cocho was made by the Brahmaputra, or by some of its tributaries, upstream, it is presumed, in a vessel of considerable size. The priests took with them various objects, including heavy artillery pieces. The fact, however, is not mentioned once in the account of Estêvão Cacela. We will address this issue later.
The rivers were the main roads of the time. In addition, between Bengal and the capital of then of the kingdom of Cocho, in the present Indian state of the Assam, there extended a mountainous chain integral part of the province of Megalaya. The entire itinerary was subject to the payment of fees collected at stations strategically placed along the gates and canals. Once again the action of captain Jorge de Sousa would prove fundamental. It was he who provided the Bengalis who accompanied the priests and helped them pass the customs, whose officials should not be easy to convince. This is how the prose of Cacela’s Relation states: “…we came accompanied by the men of the people whom Jorge de Souza sent for this purpose, and served us very well to pass the choquis, which are like customs where the merchandise is seen, and there are sixty and many in these rivers to Azó, always going for streams that are very fresh and pleasant of very good water, and with the many settlements that are close to it, abundant in everything.”
Times change, circumstances change. To reach our destination we used the Jet Air flight to Guwahati, capital of Assam, a city where no single foreigner can be glimpsed. Not even in the hotel lobby or restaurant of the prestigious Scandinavian chain where we stayed overnight. The social problems and conflicts between ethnic groups that have always marked Assam and Megalaya, are the reason why only a few years ago was allowed free movement to foreigners without requiring special authorizations or subject to heavy restrictions. We were on the eve of the elections and a trip to the polls in these places is almost always synonymous with disturbances. There are often wounded and dead. We are therefore somewhat anxious. It was our objective to make the journey by land, following at least partially the long river route traveled by João Cabral and Estêvão Cacela in their epic journey.
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