[page i]

History of Brazil:

by

Robert Southey.

Part the First.

LONDON:

Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Drme, Paternoster-row.

1810.

[page ii]

[page iii]

TO
THE REVEREND HERBERT HILL
THIS HISTORY IS INSCRIBED,
BY
HIS NEPHEW
ROBERT SOUTHEY,
AS A MEMORIAL
OF
GRATEFUL AND RESPECTFUL AFFECTION.

[page iv]

[page v]

PREFACE.

SOMETHING more than the title promises, is comprized in the present work. It relates the foundation and progress of the adjacent Spanish Provinces, the affairs of which are in latter times inseparably connected with those of Brazil. The subject may therefore be considered as including the whole track of country between the rivers Plata, Paraguay, and Orellana or the Amazons, and extending Eastward towards Peru, as far as the Portugueze have extended their settlements or their discoveries.

The only general History of Brazil is the America Portugueza of Sebastiam da Rocha Pitta, a meagre and inaccurate work, which has been accounted valuable, merely because there was no other. There are many copious and good accounts of the Dutch war. Earlier information is to be gleaned from books where it occurs rather incidentally,

[page vi]

than by design. Authorities are still scarcer for the subsequent period, and for the greater part of the last century, printed documents almost entirely fail. A collection of manuscripts not less extensive than curious, and which is not to be equalled in England, enables me to supply this chasm in history. The collection was formed during a residence of more than thirty years in Portugal, by the friend and relation to whom this work is inscribed. Without the assistance which I have received from him, it would have been hopeless to undertake, and impossible to compleat it.

A critical account of all the materials which have been consulted, will be appended to the concluding volume. The map also is delayed, for the purpose of rendering it as full, and as little incorrect as possible, though a far better than any which has yet appeared might have been given at present.

[page vii]

Should any person who may see this volume be in possession of any of the books enumerated below, he would greatly oblige and serve me by consigning it to Messrs. Longman and Co. for my use, and he may rely upon its being speedily and carefully returned.

R. S.

Literæ Annuæ Provinciæ Paraguariæ, &c.

Any volumes of the Jesuits' Annual Letters or Relations, except those from 1551 to 1558, and those for the years 1601, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Montoya, Conquista Espiritual de Paraguay.

Lozano, Hist. de Paraguay.

The Latin translation of Charlevoix's Hist. du Paraguay. Venice, 1779.

Fasti Novi Orbis. Venice, 1777. a work published under the name of Cyriacus Morelli, by the Jesuit P. Domingo Muriel.

P. Sim. de Vasconcellos. Vida do P. Joam de Almeida.

O Valeroso Lucideno.

Rel. diaria do sitio do Recife. Lisbon, 1654; or the Italian translation.

Anchieta's Brazilian Grammar.

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[page ix]

CONTENTS.

	Page
INTRODUCTION.
Nature of this History	1
CHAPTER 1.
Vicente Yañez Pinzon discovers the Coast of Brazil and the River Maranham. Voyage of Cabral. He names the country Santa Cruz. Amerigo Vespucci sent to survey the coast. His second voyage. The first settlement made by him. The country obtains the name of Brazil.
Voyage of Pinzon	4
The line first crost, and Cape St. Augustines first seen	ib.
Discovery of the River Maranham or Orellana	5
Hyger or Bore on the Meary	7
Voyage of Cabral	9
He is driven to the Coast of Brazil	10
Appearance of the natives	11
Porto Seguro discovered	12
The first mass performed	ib.
Possession taken for the Crown of Portugal	13
Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci	14
Cannibalism of the natives	15
Second voyage of Vespucci	18
First settlement in the country	20
It obtains the name of Brazil	21
Criminals sent to serve there	23
CHAPTER II.
Voyage of Pinzon and Solis. Discovery of the Rio de la Plata. The French trade to Brazil. History of Caramuru. Brazil divided into Captaincies. St. Vicente. The Goaynazes. St. Amaro and Tamaraca. Paraiba. The Goaytacazes. Espirito Santo. The Papanazes. Porto Seguro. The Tupiniquins. Captaincy of the Ilheos. Bahia. Revolutions in the Reconcave. Expulsion of the colonists there. Pernambuco. The Cahetes. The Tobayares. Siege of Garassu. Expedition of Aires da Cunha to Maranham.
Voyage of Pinzon and Solis	25
Discovery of the Plata	26
Death of Solis	27
Trade of the French to Brazil	28
Bahia discovered	29
Adventures of Caramuru	30
Brazil divided into Captaincies	32
St. Vicente	33
The Goaynases	34
First sugar canes planted	35
St. Amaro and Tamaraca	36
Paraiba	37
The Goaytacazes	ib.
Espirito Santo	38
The Papanazes	39
Porto Seguro	ib.

b

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The Tupiniquins	39
Captaincy of the Ilheos	40
Bahia	41
Revolutions in the Reconcave	42
Expulsion of Coutinho	43
Pernambuco	44
The Cahetes	ib.
The Tobayares	45
Hans Stade arrives in Brazil	46
Siege of Garassu or Iguaraçu	ib.
Expedition of Aires da Cunha, and the sons of Barres to Maranham	48
CHAPTER III.
Voyage of Sebastian Cabot. He names the river Plata, and remains there five years. D. Pedro de Mendoza obtains a grant of the conquest. Foundation of Buenos Ayres. War with the Quirandies. Famine. Buenos Ayres burnt by the Savages. Buena Esperanza founded. The Timbues. Mendoza sets sail for Spain, and dies upon the passage. Ayolas ascends the Paraguay. The Carios. The Spaniards win their settlement, and call it Asumpciou. The Agaces. Ayolas goes in search of the Carcarisos, a people who were said to have gold and silver. Yrala waits for him as long as possible, and then returns to Asumpcion. Misconduct of Francisco Ruyz. Buena Esperanza besieged and abandoned. Reinforcements sent out under Cabrera. Yrala marches in search of Ayolas. The death of that Commander ascertained. The Payagoaes. The Spaniards abandon Buenos Ayres, and collect all their force at Asumpcion.
Voyage of Sebastian Cabot	51
He goes up the Plata and centers the Paraguay	53
Voyage of Diego Garcia	54
The river Plata obtains its present name	55
Cabot driven out by the Guaranies	56
Expedition of Mendoza	57
Buenos Ayres founded	58
War with the Quirandies	60
Famine at Buenos Ayres	61
Buenos Ayres burnt by the Savages	62
Mendoza returns to Spain and dies on the voyage	62
Ayolas ascends the Paraguay	64
The Carios	65
The Spaniards win a settlement of the Carios, which they call Asumpcion	66
The Agaces	67
Ayolas hears of gold and silver among a people called Carcarisos, and goes in search of them	ib.
Yrala returns to Asumpcion	66
Misconduct of Fr. Ruyz at Buena Esperanza	70
Reinforcements sent out under Cabrera	72
Hulderic Schmidel escapes from shipwreck	72
Yrala marches in search of Ayolas	73
Whose death is ascertained	74
The Payagoaes	ib.
Buenos Ayres abandoned	75
CHAPTER IV.
Expedition of Diego de Ordas. Gonzalo Pizarro sets out in quest of El Dorado. Voyage of Orellana. Attempt of Luiz de Mello to settle at Maranham.
Diego de Ordas obtains a grant of conquest	79
He attempts to ascend the Amazons, and then the Orinoco	77
Expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro in search of El Dorado	78
Orellana joins him	79
Cruelty of G. Pizarro	80
Sufferings of his people	81
They build a brigantine	ib.
In which Orellana is sent forward. He enters the Napo, and resolves to proceed down the stream	82
Reports of a nation of Amazons	85
The Encabellados	87
The Savages attack the Spaniards	88
Psalming the wounded	89
The Amazons	94
They reach the sea	99
Orellana undertakes the conquest of his discoveries	ib.
And dies while attempting it	101
Reasons for restoring his name to the river	102
CHAPTER V.
Cabeza de Vaca succeeds Mendoza in the Plata. He marches overland from S. Catalina. Advances from Asumpcion up the Paraguay, and marches into the country towards Peru in search of gold. The Spaniards return for went of food, .. mutiny against him, and send him prisoner to Spain.

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Cabeza de Vaca succeeds Mendoza as Adelantado	104
His ship saved by means of a Grillo	105
He marches overland from the coast	107
Flour from the stone pine	109
Grubs eaten	ib.
Falls of the Yguazu	112
Passage of the Parana	113
He arrives at Asumpcion	114
Danger of the sick, and their escort	115
Orders given to re-found Buenos Ayres	116
Treatment of prisoners among the Guaranies	ib.
The Agaces	117
The Guaycurus	ib.
Cabeza de Vaca marches against them	119
Courage of this tribe	121
The Palometa .. a fish more formidable than the American crocodile	122
Peace made with the Guacurus	ib.
Buenos Ayres a second time abandoned	126
Duçks kept to devour the crickets	127
Faction formed against C. de Vaca, who undertakes an expedition into the interior	128
The Payagoaes offer to restore what they had taken from Ayolas	ib.
Garcia the Portugueze	129
Aquatic tribes	130
Lake of Xarayes	132
Vampire bat	134
Plague of ants	135
Fashion of extending the ears	ib.
Farther accounts of Garcia	136
Messengers sent to the Xarayes	137
The Artaneses	ib.
Settlement of the Xarayes	138
Great expedition of the Guaranies towards Peru	140
Cabeza de Vaca follows their route	141
He finds a family which had escaped from the wreck of their nation	143
His people compel him to return	145
Scarcity at Puerto de los Reyes	ib.
Mendoza sent in search of food	146
Ribera returns	147
Some of Garcia's followers discovered	149
The Spaniards return to Asumpcion	151
Mutiny against C. de Vaca	152
Who is sent prisoner to Spain	ib.
CHAPTER VI.
Expedition of Hernando de Ribera; he hears of the Amazons and marches in quest of them over the flooded country. Disturbances at Asumpcion. Yrala conquers the Carios, and attempts a second time to march across the country. He reaches the confines of Peru, makes his own terms in secret with the President, and then returns. Diego Centeno appointed Governor; he dies, and Yrala remains with the government.
Ribera marches in quest of the Amazons over a flooded country	157
Fables which he heard or reported	159
They return	160
Yrala subdues the Carios	161
He enters the country	163
And reaches the Spanish settlement on the side of Peru	168
He makes a secret agreement with Gasca and returns	169
Disturbance at Asumpcion	171
Expedition of Senabria with which Hans Stade goes out	173
CHAPTER VII.
Hans Stade sails with Senabria for Paraguay, and reaches St. Catalina. Shipwrecked on St. Vicente. He is made Gunner at St. Amaro, and taken prisoner by the Tupinambas. Their ceremonies towards a prisoner; superstition and weapons. He effects his escape.
Hans reaches St. Catalina	175
One of the ships wrecked there	177
He sails for St Vicente and is wrecked there	178
State of that Captaincy	179
He accepts the office of gunner	180
And is caught by the Tupinambas	181
Who carry him home to be eaten	185
Description of their villages	ib.
Ceremonies of receiving a prisoner	186
The aprasse, or dance of the prisoner	187
The Maraca	ib.
He pleads that he is not a Portugueze, and therefore not liable to be eaten	188
The plea referred to a French interpreter who decides against him	ib.
Konyan Bebe, the Tupinamban Chief	191
His master and his family fall sick, and impute it to his prayers	194
Mode of trading during war	198
He swims off to a French boat, and the crew refuse to take him in	200
Ceremonies before they go to war	201
Their Payes or Jugglers	202
Their weapons	204

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Hans is transferred to another master	209
And obtains his liberty	210
CHAPTER VIII.
Thome de Sousa appointed Governor General of Brazil. He takes out with him the first Jesuits to America. City of St. Salvador founded. The Jesuits begin the attempt of converting the natives. Obstacles to that attempt. Cannibalism. Language, and state of the Tupi tribes.
Evils of the existing system in Brazil	212
Thome de Sousa appointed Governor General	213
Zeal of the King for the conversion of the Brazilians	ib.
The Jesuit Mission appointed	214
First Jesuits go out to S. America	ib.
Foundation of the City of St. Salvador	215
Conduct of the Jesuits	217
Cannibalism	ib.
Ceremonies observed with a captive	218
Consequences which the Savages deduce from their theory of generation	ib.
Passion of revenge among these Savages	223
Customs of the Tupi Tribes	ib.
Their language	ib.
Their Payes	227
St. Thomas the Apostle said to have visited Brazil	229
The mandioc or cassava	230
Their fermented liquors	233
Acayaba tree	235
The natives nice in their choice of water	236
Their reputed knowledge of poisons	237
Ceremonies at their births	238
Their names	239
Harmony in which they lived	240
Their marriages	ib.
Fashions of the women	241
Condition of women among them	242
Their pottery	243
Canoes	244
And fishing	ib.
Their domestic animals	245
Their treatment of strangers	246
And of the sick	247
Mode of burial	248
Their longevity	249
Their frequent change of place	250
Cause why they were not farther advanced	251
Conduct of the Jesuits	252
And opposition of the Settlers	257
The first Bishop of Brazil	259
CHAPTER IX.
D. Duarte da Costa Governor. Anchieta comes out. Brazil erected into a Jesuit Province. School established at Piratininga. Death of Joam III. Mem de Sa Governor. Expedition of the French under Villegagnon to Rio de Janeiro. Their island is attacked and the works destroyed. War with the Tamoyos. Nobrega and Anchieta effect a peace with them. The French finally defeated at Rio de Janeiro, and the City of St. Sebastian founded.
Anchieta comes out to Brazil	261
Establishment of the Jesuits at Piratininga	262
Employment of Anchieta there	264
He is attacked by the Savages	265
Disputes between the Governor and the Bishop	266
The Bishop killed by the Cahetes	267
Mem de Sa Governor	268
Outcry against his attempts in behalf of the natives	ib.
Villegagnon's expedition to Brazil	270
He names it France Antarctique	272
Conspiracy against him	273
His conduct towards the Savages	275
Jean de Lery goes to Brazil	ib.
Treachery of Villegagnon	277
Expedition against the French at Rio de Janeiro	279
The Aymores	281
Defeated by Mem de Sa	283
The Tamoyos	284
They ravage Espirito Santo	286
Nobrega and Anchieta go to treat for peace	287
Anchieta is left with the Savages	290
Peace with the Tamoyos	293
Pestilence and famine	294
Board of Conscience	ib.
Estacio de Sa goes against the French	296
Nobrega prevents him from abandoning the attempt	297
He expels the French, and is mortally wounded	301
City of St. Sebastian founded	302
A Protestant put to death	303
The French driven from Paraiba	305
CHAPTER X.
Luiz de Vasconcellos appointed Governor. Martyrdom of the forty Jesuits. Vascon-

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cellos killed. Death of Nobrega and of Mem de Sa. Luiz de Brito, Governor. The Colonies neglected. Division of Brazil into two Governments, and re-union. Final Defeat of the Tamoyos. Expedition in search of Mines. Portugal usurped by Felipe II. State of Brazil at that time.
Martyrdom of the forty Jesuits	308
Miracles invented for the occasion	309
Deaths of Nobrega and Mem de Sa	310
The colony neglected	311
Brazil divided into two governments	ib.
Final defeat of the Tamoyos	312
Expeditions of Tourinho and Adorno in search of mines	ib.
Settlement at Rio Real made and abandoned	314
The two governments reunited	315
Brazil offered to the Duke of Braganza	ib.
Attempt of Antonio the Prior upon Brazil	316
State of Brazil at this time	ib.
St. Salvador and the Reconcave	317
Tea and coffee indigenous there	320
Culture of ginger prohibited	ib.
Leafless parasite plants	321
Fishery at Bahia	322
Mermaids	323
Rumours of emerald mines	ib.
People of Bahia	ib.
Pernambuco	324
St. Vicente	325
Espirito Santo	326
Porto Seguro	ib.
Diseases	327
CHAPTER XI.
Disputes on the frontier of Brazil. Asumpcion made a Bishopric. Expedition of Chaves. The Chiquites. Death of Yrala. March of Vergara to Peru, and his Deposition. Death of Chaves. The Itatines. Caceres sent home Prisoner. Zarate sails from Spain to take the Government: misconduct and sufferings of his Armament. Deposition and Death of his successor Mendieta. Buenos Ayres founded for the third and last time.
Settlement formed from Paraguay in Guayra	331
Asumpcion made a Bishoprick	332
The Chiquitos	333
Death of Yrala	336
S. Cruz de la Sierra founded	337
Vergara marches to Peru	338
And is there superseded	ib.
Chaves killed	339
The Itatines	ib.
Disputes at Asumpcion	342
Zarate sails for Paraguay	343
Famine at St. Catilina	344
Misconduct and death of Zarate	347
Buenos Ayres a third time founded	348
First hides sent to Europe	349
CHAPTER XII.
The French driven from Paraiba. The Pitagoares. Intercourse of the English with Brazil. Fenton's Expedition. Commencement of hostilities. Withrington ravages the Reconcave. Death of Barreto. D. Francisco de Sousa Governor. Search after Silver Mines. Expedition of Cavendish. He takes Santos, burns St. Vicente, is repulsed at Espirito Santo, and dies of a broken heart. Lancaster takes Recife. Ralegh diverts adventurers towards Guiana. El Dorado.
The Pitagoares	350
The French expelled by Flores	351
Intercourse of the English with Brazil	352
Fenton's voyage	355
Hostilities with the English	ib.
Withrington's voyage	356
Roberio Diaz offers to discover silver mines	358
Cavendish's last voyage	359
He takes Santos, and burns S. Vicente	360
Is repulsed at Espirito Santo	363
And dies broken hearted	364
Lancaster's voyage	ib.
He takes Recife	366
Ralegh diverts adventurers from Brazil	371
El Dorado	ib.
CHAPTER XIII.
Attempts on the side of Maranham. The Tapuyas. Success of the Jesuits, and diminution of the natives. The Aymores pacified. Settlement formed at Seara. French expedition to the Isle of Maranham. They are expelled by Jeronymo de Albuquerque. Foundation of the Captaincy of Para, and the City of Belem. Settlements of the Dutch and other nations at the mouth of the Orellana destroyed.
Villainy of Pedro Coelho	376
Serra de Ibiapaba	377
The Tapuyas	378
Jesuits at the Sierra de Ibiapaba	382
The Pitagoares brought against the Aymores	383

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Ravages of the Aymores	385
They are conciliated by Alvaro Rodriguez in Bahia	ib.
And at Ilheos by the Jesuits	387
Success of the Jesuits	389
Settlement at Seara	391
French expedition to Maranham	392
Foundation of S. Luiz	397
Rasilly returns to France	399
Gaspar de Sousa ordered to colonize towards the Orellana	400
First expedition of Jeronymo de Alhuquerque	ib.
Diogo de Campos sent out	401
Martim Soares driven to Europe	402
Second expedition of Jeronymo	403
His junction with Diogo	404
They reach the Island of Peria	406
Irresolution of Jeronymo	408
Diogo advises that they fortify themselves on the Island	409
Rangel sent out to reconnoitre	ib.
They remove to Guaxenduba	411
Information obtained from a prisoner	412
Treachery of the French	413
Jeronymo duped by his prisoners	414
Three ships taken by the French	415
Conspiracy communicated to Diogo	ib.
The French invest the Portugueze	417
And are defeated	418
Ravardiere opens a corrèspondence with Jeronymo	419
Terms concluded greatly to the advantage of the Portugueze	420
The Tupinambas suppose they are to be divided as slaves between the two contracting powers	422
Instructions to the Portugueze Commissioners	423
Treaty broken by the Portugueze	424
Fresh forces come out from Lisbon	ib.
St. Louis surrendered unconditionally	426
Expedition of Caldeira to Para	427
Foundation of Belem	ib.
Teixeira burns a Dutch vessel	428
Insurrection of the Tupinambas	429
Death of Jeronymo	430
Disturbances at Belem	ib.
Caldeira deposed by the people	431
The mutineers sent to Portugal	432
Cruelty of Bento Maciel	ib.
Colonists from the Azores arrive at Maranham	433.
Maciel Captain of Para	435
Expedition to the Curupa and the mouth of the Orellana	ib.
Maranham and Para formed into a State independent of Brazil	437
CHAPTER XIV.
Establishment of a West Indian Company in Holland. St. Salvador taken by the Dutch, and recovered by the Spaniards and Portugueze under D. Fadrique de Toledo. Affairs of Maranham. The Dutch send out a second expedition, and obtain possession of Olinda and Recife.
Establishment of the Dutch West India Company	438
A fleet equipped against Brazil	440
St. Salvador taken by the Dutch	441
They strengthen the city	442
The Portugueze rally under the Bishop	443
Vandort slain	444
Expedition of Heyne against Angola	ib.
Measures of the Spanish Government	445
And zeal of the Portugueze	ib.
Death of the Bishop	447
Arrival of the combined fleets	448
The Dutch make an unsuccessful sally	449
Their troops mutiny and they capitulate	450
Difficulty of sending them to Europe	451
Arrival of a Dutch fleet	452
Disasters of the Portugueze on their return to Europe	453
Effect of these losses in Holland	454
Brazil still neglected by Spain	455
Oliveira Governor	ib.
Exploit of Heyne at Bahia	456
Affairs of Maranham	458
Attempts of the Dutch in these parts	459
Cruelty of Maciel	460
Oppressive conduct of the Portugueze	ib.
English settlers expelled	462
Mathias de Albuquerque sent out	463
State of Olinda	ib.
Arrival of the Dutch fleet	465
And capture of Olinda	468
Mathias abandons Recife	ib.
Attack of the Forts	469
And arrival of reinforcements from Holland	471
CHAPTER XV.
Camp of Bom Jesus formed. Calabar deserts to the Dutch, and turns the fortune of the War. Negroes of the Palmares. The Island of Itamaraca, Rio Grande, Paraiba, Tamaraca, the Camp, and Nazareth-reduced.

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The Portugueze rally	472
Bush companies formed	473
Distress of both parties	474
Some Colonists incline to submit	475
Expedition against Isle Itamaraca	476
A fleet sent out under Oquendo	477
Naval action and death of the Dutch Admiral	478
Olinda burnt by the Dutch	479
Paraiba attached	480
Lichthart lays siege to Fort Cabedello	481
The Dutch break up the siege	482
Unsuccessful attack upon Rio Grande	ib.
Importance of the port of Nazareth	483
Calabar deserts to the Dutch	485
He surprizes and sacks Garassu, and Rio Fermoso	486
Indecision of Bagnuole	487
The Dutch send out Commissaries	ib.
They assault the Camp and are repulsed	488
Isle of Itamaraca reduced, and Garaasu abandoned	489
Attempt to besiege the Camp	490
Expedition of Calabar to the Lagoas	491
Fate of the succours under Vasconcellos	ib.
Rio Grande reduced	493
Fidelity of an Indian Chief	494
The Palmarea	495
Attempt to surprize Recife	497
Nazareth attacked	ib.
The Dutch pass the batteries, and win the town	498
Calabar brings the launches in	499
And gets the ships out	500
Reinforcements arrive from Holland	ib.
Paraiba again attacked	501
Siege of Fort Cabedello	502
The Fort surrenders and Paraiba falls	504
Treachery of Sylveira	505
Siege laid to the Camp, and to Nazareth	507
The Camp capitulates	ib.
Nefarious conduct of the Dutch	508
Attempts to relieve Nazareth	509
Bagnuolo abandons Porto Calvo, and retreats to the Lagoas	510
Heroism of Maria de Sousa	511
Nazareth taken	512
CHAPTER XVI.
Emigration from Pernambuco. Porto Calvo recovered, and Calabar put to death. Succours sent out under Roxas, who is defeated and slain. Bagnuolo succeeds to the command, and carries on a harrassing warfare with success. Mauritz Count of Nassau arrives as Governor General of the Dutch; his wise measures: he pursues the Portugueze to the River St. Francisco, and Bagnuolo, abandoning the Captaincy of Seregipe, retreats to Bahia.
Emigration from Pernambueo	514
Treachery of Sonto towards the Dutch	515
Porto Calvo recovered	516
Calabar put to death	517
Mathias retreats to the Lagoas	518
Alarm of the Spanish Court	ib.
Rexas sent out with reinforcements	520
Raahness of the new General	521
He is defeated and slain	522
Bagnuolo succeeds to the command	524
Porto Calvo reoccupied by the Portugueze	525
Cruelty of the Dutch	ib.
Predatory system of warfare	526
Second emigration from Pernambuco	527
The Count of Nassau sent out	ib.
His first measures	529
He marches against Porto Calvo, and Bagmuolo abandons it	530
Porto Calvo surrenders	532
Bagnuolo abandons the Lagoas, and is pursued to the San Francisco	533
River San Francisco	ib.
Fort Mauritz erected	535
Reforms at Recife	537
The Dutch seek for mines	ib.
Wise measures of Nassau	538
Deliberation concerning the seat of Government	540
Captaincy of Seregipe	ib.
Sonto ravages the conquered provinces	541
Bagnuelo abandons Seregins, and retreats to Bahia	542
CHAPTER XVII.
St. Jorge da Mina attacked and taken by the Dutch. Seara taken. Nassau besieges St. Salvador unsuccessfully. The Dutch throw open the trade. State of their Captaineres. A new city built by Recife. Count da Torre comes out; he loses great part of his men by sickness, and after four indecisive actions at sea, is blown off the coast. Wonderful retreat of Vidal and Barbalbo. Marquis de Monte Alvam Viceroy. Revolution in Portugal. The Viceroy deposed.
St. Jorge da Mina taken by the Dutch	543
Seara taken	546
Proceedings at Recife	547

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Preparations against Bahia	549
Bagnuolo marches to S. Salvador	ib.
Exploit of Souto	550
The Dutch enter the Bay	551
Tumults in the City	ib.
Four of the Forts surrendered	553
Pedro da Sylva resigns the command to Bagnuolo	ib.
Exchange of prisoners	554
Consternation of the townsmen	ib.
The City well supplied	555
The Dutch open their batteries	ib.
Letters intercepted	556
Battle in the trenches, and death of Souto	557
Cruelty of the Dutch	558
They raise the siege	559
Representations of Nassau to the Company	560
They throw open the trade of Brazil	561
Expedition of Jol in quest of the Mexican fleet	562
Cameron negociates with the Dutch	563
Arms given to the Dutch Captaincies	ib.
Artisjoski comes out, and returns to Holland in disgust	564
State of the Dutch Captaincies	ib.
Want of Colonists	565
The Jews	ib.
The Savages	ib.
Dutch Missionaries	567
Force of the Dutch	ib.
Nassau builds a Palace	568
And the city of Mauritias	569
The Conde de Torre comes out	570
Four naval actions	571
Retreat of Vidal and Barbalho	573
The Reconcave laid waste	574
The Marquez de Monte Alvam comes out as Viceroy	ib.
Revolution in Portugal	575
The Viceroy sent home prisoner	577
CHAPTER XVIII.
Affairs of Maranham. Some Missionaries from Quito flying down the Napo, trust themselves to the river, and reach Belem. Teixeira sent up the Orellana. Acuña returns with him, and surveys its course.
Attempts of the English in Para	578
Death of Coelho	580
Raimundo intrudes into the succession	ib.
Mission from Quito to the Indians upon the Ahuarico	581
The Missionaries driven away, embark on the river, and reach Para	ib.
Teixeira sent to explore the Orellana up to Quito	582
He is ordered by the Viceroy of Peru to return and survey the river	584
Sources of the Orellana	585
Teixeira reembarks, and Acuña with him	ib.
The Encabellados	586
The Omaguas	587
Gum elastic	589
The Tucunas and Mayurunes	590
Rivers Iça and Yutas	591
And Yurua	592
The Curiciraris	ib.
River Jupura or Gran Caqueta	594
Rivers Tefe and Acaricoara	596
The Jurimauas	ib.
River Perus	597
The Caripunas and Zurinas	598
River Negro	ib.
Communication between the Orellana and Orinoco known at that time by the natives	599
The Portugueze want to make slaves	600
Rivers Madeira and Saraca	601
Tupinambas of the River	602
Fables reported by them	ib.
The Amazons	604
Testimonies of their existence	ib.
Probability of it	608
River-dos Trombetas	609
River-dos Topajos	ib.
Kidnapping expedition of Young Maciel	611
River Curupatuba	612
River Mapau	613
They reach Belem	ib.
Extent and magnitude of the Orellana	614
Food of the tribes on its banks	615
Plague of insects	618
Number of Tribes	619
The Throwing stick	620
Their Idols	ib.
Their Conjurors	621

[page 1]

HISTORY OF BRAZIL.

The history of Brazil is less beautiful than that of the mother country, and less splendid than that of the Portugueze in Asia; but it is not less important than either. Its materials differ from those of other histories: here are no tangles of crooked policy to unravel, no mysteries of state iniquity to elucidate, no revolutions to record, nor victories to celebrate, the fame of which remains among us long after their effects have past away. Discovered by chance, and long left to chance, it is by individual industry and enterprize, and by the operation of the common laws of nature and society, that this empire has risen and flourished, extensive as it now is, and mighty as it must one day become. In the course of its annals disgust and anger will oftener be felt than those exalted feelings which it is more grateful for the historian to excite. I have to speak of savages so barbarous that little sympathy can be felt for any sufferings which they endured, and of colonists in whose triumphs no joy will be taken, because they added avarice to barbarity; .. ignoble men, carrying on an obscure warfare, the consequences of which have been greater than were produced by the conquests of Alexander

B

[page] 2

or Charlemagne, and will be far more lasting. Even the few higher characters which appear have obtained no fame beyond the limits of their own religion, scarcely beyond those of their language. Yet has the subject its advantages: the discovery of extensive regions; the manners and superstitions of uncivilized tribes; the efforts of missionaries, in whom zeal the most fanatical was directed by the coolest policy; the rise and the overthrow of the extraordinary dominion which they established; and the progress of Brazil from its feeble beginnings, to the importance which it now possesses, these are topics of no ordinary interest.

[page] 3

CHAPTER I.

Vicente Yañez Pinzon discovers the Coast of Brazil and the River Maranham.—Voyage of Cabral.—He names the country Santa Cruz.—Amerigo Vespucci sent to survey the coast.—His second voyage.—The first settlement made by him.—The country obtains the name of Brazil.

CHAP. I. 1499.

Voyage of Pinson.

The first person who discovered the coast of Brazil was Vicente Yañez Pinzon, who had sailed with Columbus¹ on his

¹ The Pinzons were natives of Palos, excellent seamen, and among the first people of the place. Vicente Yañez supplied an eighth of the expences of this expedition, in which two of his brothers embarked also, one as captain, the other as master of the Pinta. Herrera, 1. 1. 10.

Oviedo knew Vicente Yañez well, and was in habits of friendship with him till his death, in 1514. This historian says that there were not wanting persons who affirmed that Columbus was disheartened on his first voyage, and would have turned back if it had not been for these brethren. Probably he heard this from his friend; .. and by what he says this report seems to have occasioned some judicial proceedings. These are his words. "Pero arveys de saber que por el coutrario dizen algunos lo que aqui se ha dicho de la constancia de Colon; que aun afirman que el se tornara de su voluntad del camino, y no le concluyera, si estos hermanos Pinçones no le fizieran yr adelante: y dizen mas que por causa dellos se hizo el descubrimiento, y que Colon ya ciava y queria dar la buelta. Esto sera mejor remetirlo a un largo processo que ay entre el Almirante y el Fiscal, donde a pro y a contra ay muchas cosas alegadas; en lo qual yo no me eutremeto, porque como sean cosas de justicia y por ella se ha de discidir, que dense para el fin que tuvieren; pero yo he dicho en lo uno y en lo otro ambas las opiniones; el lector tome la que mas le dïtare su buen juyzio." L. 2. C. 5.

[page] 4

CHAP. I. 1499.

A.D. 1500, Jan. 26.

first voyage, as commander and master of the Niña. Seven years afterwards he and his nephew Arias obtained a commission to go in search of new countries, and trade in any which Columbus had not previously appropriated. The Pinzons were wealthy men, and the former voyage had added to their wealth; they fitted out four caravels at their own cost, and set sail from Palos in December, 1499, made the Cape de Verds, then steered to the south-west, and were the first Spaniards who crost the line and lost sight of the north star. After suffering intolerable heat, and storms which drove them on their way, they saw land on January 26, 1500, in lat. 8½° S. to which Vicente gave the name of Cape Consolation; .. but which is now called Cape St. Augustines. They landed, cut the names of the ships, and the date of the year and day upon the trees and rocks, and took possession of the country for the crown of Castille.

No natives were seen that day, but they perceived footsteps upon the shore. During the night they saw many fires, and in the morning sent forty well-armed men towards them to treat with the people. About an equal number of the natives advanced to meet them, armed with bows and lances; it was in vain to make friendly gestures, and hold up bells, beads, and looking-glasses, the savages seemed determined to drive these strangers out of their country, and the Spaniards were intimidated at their appearance. They affirmed that they were taller than the tallest Germans, and not waiting to judge more accurately of their stature upon a nearer view, retired to their boats. The next day no natives were to be seen; the Spaniards landed again, and convinced themselves that they had had good reason for their fear, by finding or fancying that they found the footstep of a giant, which was twice as long as would have been made by the foot of an ordinary man. They supposed these people to be a wandering race like the Scythians.

[page] 5

CHAP. I. 1500.

From hence they coasted along toward the North till they came to the mouth of a great river: there was not sufficient depth of water for the ships to enter, so they sent four boats to land. A party of natives were assembled upon a hill near the shore, and one of the Spaniards who was well armed, advanced singly toward them. They came to meet him, suspecting and at the same time intending evil. The Spaniard made all the friendly signs he could devise, and threw to them a hawks-bell, for which they threw down a piece of gold²; he stoopt for it, and they sprang forward to seize him. This however was not so easy as they had expected; though neither large nor robust he defended himself with sword and shield to the admiration of his comrades, who hastened to his assistance, and succeeded in rescuing him, but with great loss. The savages with their deadly archery slew eight, wounded many more, and pursued them to their boats. Not satisfied with this success, they attacked the boats. It was then that, being naked, they felt the edge of European swords. But nothing deterred them; they rushed on like wild beasts, despising wounds and death; followed the boats even when they had put off, dived after them, and fairly won one, having slain its captain, and driven out the crew. Scarcely a man got off without a wound, and had the arrows of the natives been poisoned, scarcely one could have escaped.

Discovery of the Maranham.

Continuing to coast along after this unlucky action, they came to what they called a sea of fresh water, where they filled their casks. This they accounted for by supposing that the vehement course of many rivers, descending from the mountains,

² Una bara de dos palmos dorada, Herrera says: and Gomara also says it was a gilt wand. A better bait could not have been thrown out; but it does not appear that the Brazilians made any use of gold, and still less is it likely that they should be acquainted with the art of gilding.

[page] 6

CHAP. I. 1500.

had freshened the sea: they were in the mouth of the great river Maranham³ as they afterwards discovered. Here they found many islands, which appeared to be fortunate and fruitful, and the inhabitants received them hospitably and unsuspiciously, for which Pinzon made a villainous return, .. for finding no other merchandize, he seized about thirty of these unoffending people, and carried them away to sell for slaves⁴. His ships were once in as much danger here as Columbus had endured in the Bocas del Dragon. That phenomenon which in our Parret and Severn is called the Bore or Hyger, is found off this part of the Brazilian

³ The origin of this name has given occasion to some discussion. P. Manuel Rodriguez (L. 1. C. 5.) supposes it was given in memory of the marañas, the villanies, committed there by Lope de Aguirre, .. forgetting that the river was so called before that wretch had ever been heard of. Afterwards (L. 2. C. 14.) he sports an etymology with which no doubt he was better pleased. When the Israelites in the desart tasted the bitter waters, he says, they cried out Mara, because of the bitterness or saltness, and the water retained that name. So when the sailors tasted the water of this great river, their companions asked if it were not salt, Sunt mara, or maria, .. is it the sea? .. to which they replied No, non, .. and so Mara-ñon it was called.

Bernardo Pereira de Berredo (L. 1. § 8—11.) was satisfied with this quaint derivation, till he discovered Marañon to be an old Spanish name, and then he supposed the first person who discovered it on the side of Peru was so called. He afterward found authority for this in the Relaçam Summaria of Simam Estacio da Silveira, and in Fr. Christovam de Lisboa's manuscript History of Maranham and Para. Zarate (L. 4. C. 4.) who says the same, is earlier authority than either. But it is proof decisive against them, that the word is used by Pietro Martire, in the oldest account extant of Pinzon's voyage. Probably therefore it was named after some person in that expedition, .. the man who first tasted its waters, .. or who first ascertained that they were in a river.

⁴ The name by which, as they understood, the natives called their own country, was Mariatambal; the country on the eastern side of the river they called Camomorus, and that on the western Paricora. They also understood that there was plenty of gold in the interior. P. Martire.

[page] 7

CHAP. I. 1500.

Bernardo Pereira de Berredo 1. § 30. 31.

coast. Twenty leagues off the entrance of the river Meary, the conflict between its strong current and the sea occasions an uproar which may be heard for leagues around. The natives call it Pororoca. When it subsides the tide rushes in, and in less than fifteen minutes gives back as great a body of water as had been nearly nine hours on the ebb: the flow continues about three hours with almost inconceivable rapidity. Violent as the flux is, there are parts of the river which are not affected by it; the Portugueze call them esperas, or resting places: the boats which navigate the Meary wait there till the force of the Hyger is past, and are seldom endangered by it⁵. The Araguari is subject to the same phenomenon in a still greater degree. It must have been off the mouth of one of these rivers that Pinzon and his squadron were endangered. Escaping however from thence, he recrossed the line, and continuing his course till he came to the Orinoco, then made for the islands, and sailed homeward, losing two of his three ships by the way⁶. A river in Guiana is still named after him⁷.

⁵ Bernardo Pereira speaks from his own knowledge. He had crost the great river on an expedition against the Indians. Thomas, the Baptist missionary, describing the Hyger in Bengal says, 'There are places enough in the river where the bank is steep and the water deep; there you are safe.' He adds, with his characteristic vividness of mind, 'I have seen this bore coming along against a brisk wind with a fearful noise, and from its white frothy brow the wind blew a streamer that would be flying many yards long behind it.' Periodical Accounts. 1. 221.

⁶ Herrera says that Diego de Lepe sailed after Pinzon in the same month, from the same port, and made the same land at the same place. This is not probable, .. besides, he says that Lepe's men found a tree which sixteen men could not grasp; now P. Martire relates this of Pinzon's voyage, saying there were many such. An expedition, according to this earlier author, sailed upon Pinzon's return, and this is perhaps the one of which Herrera speaks.

⁷ Lat. 1° 30′ N. The Wiapoc of the French, .. but Pinzon's name ought to be preserved. This was the original boundary between the Spanish and Portugueze; and Charles V. ordered a pillar to be erected beside it. After the French settled in Guiana this pillar was known only by tradition; but in 1723, an officer of the garrison of Para discovered it. Berredo. 1. § 13. 14.

[page] 8

CHAP. I. 1500.

Pietro Martire. Dec. 1. L. 9.

Grynæus. p. 104.

Gomara. Hist. de las Ind. c. 85.

Herrera. D. 1. L. 4. c. 6.

Pinzon was convinced that the land which he had visited was not an island, .. he believed that it was India beyond the Ganges, and that he had sailed beyond the great city of Cathay. When these navigators were asked if they had seen the south pole, they answered that they saw no star like the north star, which could be discerned about the point; .. but that they saw another set of stars, and that a thick mist, rising from the horizontal line, greatly impeded their sight. They were of opinion that there was a great rising in the middle of the earth, and that till this was past the south pole could not be seen. He brought home specimens of cinnamon and ginger, not very good, but this was accounted for by supposing that they had been taken before they were fully seasoned with the heat of the sun: cassiafistula, unripe, but thought to be of no less goodness than what was administered for ague; gum-anime, then held a precious medicine for rheums and heaviness of the head; stones which were thought to be topazes, sandal wood, and a large cargo of Brazil-wood from Paria⁸. An opossum which they had caught with her young died on board, but they brought the body home, and it excited the astonishment of all who beheld it⁹.

⁸ Gomara adds to this list, muchos juncos de los preciados. I know not what species of rush is meant.

⁹ The description of this opossum is quite in the manner of old travellers. Both Pietro Martire, who had seen and handled it when dead, and the writer of the narrative which Grynæus has printed, describe it, as having the fore part of a fox, the hind parts of a monkey, the feet of an ape, or like human hands, and the ears of a bat. It was sent to Seville, and then to Granada, that the King and Queen might see it.

[page] 9

CHAP. I. 1500.

The coast which Pinzon had discovered lay within the Portugueze limits of demarcation, and before he reached Europe it had been taken possession of by the nation to whom it was allotted.

Voyage of Cabral.

Barros 1. 4. 2.

As soon as Vasco da Gama had returned from the discovery of India, King Emanuel fitted out a second and far more powerful expedition, to the command of which he appointed the fidalgo Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Sunday the 8th of March was fixed for the day of their departure. On that morning mass was performed at Rastello, in the Chapel which the Infante Don Henrique had built, and dedicated to our Lady of Bethlehem, endowing it for certain brethren from the Convent of Thomar, who should administer to mariners the sacraments of the church, especially on such occasions as this¹⁰. The King himself attended, and to do honour to the Commander made him sit with him within the curtain. The Bishop of Ceuta preached a sermon of which the main theme was the praise of Cabral for having accepted so great and weighty a charge. Having concluded, he took the banner from the altar, whereon it had been planted during service, and blest it, and gave it to the king, who with his own hands delivered it to Cabral, and placed upon his head a barret-cap which had received the Pope's benediction. The banner was then raised, and they proceeded in solemn procession with crosses and re-

¹⁰ These forms of religion were afterwards insisted on when Loaysa's expedition was preparing for the Moluccas. Part of his instructions were, that every man should confess and communicate before they set sail, and no man suffered to sail who neglected it. Herrera. 3. 7. 5.

C

[page] 10

CHAP. I. 1500.

Castanheda. l. 1. c 30.

Barros 1. 5. 2

licks to the shore. The Tagus was covered with boats, carrying persons to and from the fleet, or assembled to behold it; "these," says Barros, who was probably himself a spectator, "made the river with their liveries and blazonry, as gay as a spring garden in full flower. And what of all," he adds, "was most spirit-stirring, was to hear drums, trumpets, tambours and tambourines, the flute and the shepherds pipe, which hitherto had been heard only afield with the flocks, now for the first time going upon the salt waters of the ocean; and from that time forward they were taken in every fleet, that the men in so long a voyage might want no solace which could lighten the wearisomeness of the sea." Emanuel accompanied the Commander to the water's edge, and when he had given the officers God's blessing and his own, they kissed his hand and embarked, the whole fleet saluting them with a general discharge. Vasco da Gama himself had not taken a more solemn departure; and it is extraordinary that this second expedition to India should accidentally have procured for Portugal a wider and more important empire than the first.

Cabral driven to the coast of Brasil

The fleet could not leave the Tagus that day because the wind was against them: on the following they sailed. They made for the Cape de Verd Islands, to water there, then stood to the westward to avoid those calms which Diaz and Gama had met with, thinking thus to double the Cape of Good Hope more easily. They experienced however a continuance of bad weather which drove them still farther west, and on the 24th of April fell in with land. America was now no longer to be concealed from Europe, and its discovery would thus have been effected by the agency of the elements, if Columbus had not secured that glory for human intellect.

It was at this time universally believed that no continent

[page] 11

CHAP. I. 1500.

General appearance of the Brasilian savages.

Lery c. 7. Marcgrav. L. 8. c. 6.

existed to the west of Africa: the Pilot therefore affirmed that this must be a large Island, such as those which Columbus had discovered, and they coasted along a whole day expecting to find it so. When the boat approached the shore the natives came down to the beach, armed with bows and arrows, being ready for defence, but not intending hostility. They were of a dark copper complexion; their lank black hair was cut straight on the forehead to a line with the ears, and from thence falling at right angles to the shoulder, was there cut straight also. Their coronals were of upright feathers of the brightest hues, the feathers being reversed on the hinder part, so as to hang down. Their noses were flattened, their beards, eyebrows, and eyelashes eradicated; their naked bodies painted of many colours: they wore white bones for pendants in their ears; their cheeks were bored also, and in like manner ornamented with bones; the under lip was slit longitudinally, and had a great stone set in the opening, .. if that was wanting, it was the fashion from time to time to put the tongue through. The Portugueze seeing them so unlike all other men, put back in wonder to report what monsters they had discovered. Upon this Cabral drew nearer with his ship, and sent the boat to shore, with orders to catch some of the natives if possible, but not to fire a gun, nor terrify them. They however when they perceived that the strangers were about to land, fled to an eminence and there gathered together. A negro boy called out to them in his language: they were then tried in Arabic¹¹, but they understood neither, and to the more intel-

¹¹ When Columbus went his fourth voyage, he requested that he might have with him three or four men who spoke Arabic, .. for it was always his opinion that if he could find a strait, and get beyond the new continent, he should find some of the Great Khan's people, or others who spoke that language, .. en que no era fuera de camino, says Herrera. 1. 5. 1.

[page] 12

CHAP. I. 1500.

ligible medium of signs they made no return. Thus it was not possible to establish any communication with them that day; in the night the wind came off shore, and drove the ships from their anchorage, and they then kept coasting on to the southward, in search of a good road-stead.

Porto Seguro discovered.

At length they discovered a fine haven in latitude 16° 30′ S. Cabral anchored, and named it Porto Seguro, signifying safe harbour. The boats were sent again to shore, and presently returned with two natives whom they had caught in a canoe, fishing. No information could be obtained from them; either they were too much terrified to comprehend signs, or had made up their minds for death, and would not answer them. Cabral had them drest in Portugueze finery, ornamented them with bracelets of brass, gave them bells and looking-glasses, and set them ashore. This expedient succeeded. A friendly intercourse was soon established, and pulse, fruits, maize, and flour of the mandioc root, exchanged for baubles, of which the ships of discovery carried good store¹² to traffic with upon the African coast.

The first mass performed.

The next day being Easter Sunday, Cabral landed; an altar was erected upon the beach under a large tree, and mass performed by Frey Henrique de Coimbra, who with seven other Friars Minorite was going on the first mission to India. It was celebrated with every possible solemnity, all the chaplains of the fleet assisting, and every person who could sing. Frey Henrique preached. The natives assembled at the ceremony, knelt

¹² Herbert mentions prisms as carried out in his time for this purpose; .. "triangular glasses," he calls them, "or fools paradise" In De Bry's prints to Hariot's account of Virginia, (plate 7,) an English doll of Elizabeth's age is seen in one hand of a savage boy, and a curious rattle in the other.

[page] 13

CHAP. I. 1500.

when they saw the Portugueze kneel, and imitated the congregation in every thing, as if they thought to gratify them by joining in the same forms of devotion. When the strangers returned to their ships they accompanied them to the boats, singing and dancing and clapping their hands, sounding horns, shooting up arrows into the air, and lifting up their hands to heaven for joy that such visitors were come to them. Some followed them into the water till it was breast high, others went out to the fleet in canoes, and many swam after them, both men and women, moving in the water with the same ease as if it had been their natural element.

Possession taken for the crown of Portugal.

Castanheda. l. 30.

Barros 1. 5. 2.

Damiam de Goes. 1. 55.

The Portugueze ships of discovery had hitherto taken out stone pillars with the arms of Portugal engraved thereon, to set up in the lands which they might find, and by this act secure them for King Emanuel. Cabral was not provided with these pillars, because his destination was to follow the track of Gama; possession had been taken all the way which he was to steer, and no discovery of new countries was expected from him. He erected a stone cross instead¹³, and took possession of the whole province for the crown of Portugal, naming it Santa Cruz, or the Land of the Holy Cross. Gaspar de Lemos was then dispatched to Lisbon with the tidings; and one of the natives was embarked with him, as a sample for Emanuel of his new subjects. Cabral remained some days taking in water and provisions, left two criminals on shore, who as usual had been sent in the expedition that they might be exposed upon any dangerous service, and proceeded on his way to India. One of

¹³ This Cross, or its representative, is still shown at Porto Seguro, and the inhabitants of that town pride themselves because it is the spot where Brazil was taken possession of for Portugal and Christianity. Lindley's Narrative. 232.

[page] 14

CHAP. I. 1501.

these men lived to return, and afterwards¹⁴ served as interpreter in these parts.

Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci to Brasil.

The King of Portugal immediately fitted out three ships to explore the country which Cabral had discovered, and gave the command to Amerigo Vespucci, whom he invited from Seville for that purpose. They sailed about the middle of May in the ensuing year, and after a three months voyage, during four and forty days of which they suffered one continued tempest, made land in latitude 5° S. when all their provisions were just failing them, and their strength exhausted. Boats were sent ashore, who came back with tidings that they had seen no inhabitants, but that the country was evidently well peopled. On the following day they landed to lay in wood and water, and procure provisions if possible. A party of naked natives were by this time assembled upon the summit of a hill. They could not by any gestures be persuaded to come near the Portugueze, who therefore having provided themselves with water, though with nothing else, left bells and looking-glasses upon the shore, and returned at evening to the ships. As soon as they were at safe distance the savages came down to collect these treasures, and the boats were not so far off but that the men in them could perceive their tokens of admiration. On the morrow they collected in greater numbers, and kindled fires on all sides, which the Portugueze understood as inviting them to land; but when they went to shore the natives still kept fearfully at a distance. They made signs however for some of the strangers to accompany them to

¹⁴ Como veremos em seu lugar, says Barros; but the work in which it should have appeared either was not written, or has been lost. It is plain from this expression that this great historianlhad collected materials concerning Brazil, of which no trace is now to be found.

[page] 15

CHAP. I. 1501.

their habitations. Two sailors volunteered upon this adventure, thinking they should discover whether the land produced gold or spice. They took with them some of the proper currency for such traffic as they expected, appointed that the ships should wait for them five days, then joined the savages, and were led into the interior. Five days past, and the sixth also without their return. On the seventh the Portugueze landed: the natives had now brought their women with them, which they had not done before, and sent them forward apparently as negociators, an office which was not undertaken by them without manifest unwillingness. The Portugueze seeing their reluctance to advance, thought it best to send only one to meet them; .. a young man of great strength and activity was chosen, and the rest returned to their boats.

Cannibalism of the savages.

The women surrounded him, handling and examining him with evident curiosity and wonder. Presently there came down another woman from the hill, having a stake in her hand, with which she got behind him, and dealt him a blow that brought him to the ground. Immediately the others seized him by the feet and dragged him away, and the men rushing to the shore discharged their arrows at the boats. The boats had grounded upon a sand bank; this unexpected attack dismayed the Portugueze; they thought rather of escape than of vengeance, till remembering at length that the best means of securing themselves was by displaying their power, they discharged four guns at the savages, who fled to the hills. There the women had dragged the body; they cut it in pieces, held them up in mockery to the boats, broiled them over a huge fire which had been kindled as it seemed for this purpose, and devoured them with loud rejoicings in sight of the Portugueze, to whom they intimated by signs that they had in like manner devoured their two countrymen. At this abominable sight forty of the crew

[page] 16

CHAP. I. 1501.

would have landed to revenge their comrades, but they were not permitted to do this¹⁵: and if they were not provided with defensive armour, it was wise to prevent them from exposing themselves to the arrows of the savages.

From this unfortunate place the ships proceeded, coasting on till they had got to latitude 8° S. without seeing any natives with whom it was possible to communicate. At length a large body came down to the shore, disposed for friendly intercourse, which was soon established between them; and here they remained five days, and brought away three of the natives, with their own consent. They continued to coast on, stopping from time to time as they thought good. The people now welcomed them every where, and they were thus enabled at leisure to fulfil the object of their expedition, by examining the nature of the country and its productions. The natives were excellently well made, and would have been a comely race if they had not so painfully deformed themselves; but the men seemed to consider their faces as made for nothing but to hang ornaments in; lips, nostrils, ears, and cheeks, were all perforated and studded. One man in particular had seven holes in his face, each big enough to hold a damascene plumb, and the stones which he carried in them weighed sixteen ounces. The privilege of thus decorating themselves was confined to the nobler sex, and the women were not allowed to bore any thing except their ears. They made the most of this permission; a finger might be put through the hole,

¹⁵ The Naviprætor, or Navipræceptor, forbade them. Vespucci complains of him; he says, et ita tam magnam ac tam gravem injuriam passi, cum malevolo animo et grandi opprobrio nostro, efficiente hoc Navipræceptore nostro, impunitis illis abscessimus. There seems therefore to have been some person in the squadron whose authority controlled Vespucci. Grynæus, P. 156.

[page] 17

CHAP. I. 1501.

Lery.c. 5–7.

1502. Feb. 13.

and they wore bones in it which reached down to the shoulder, and were sometimes as long as an ordinary candle; .. by this constant weight the ears were greatly elongated, and with these pendants, looked at a little distance like the ears of a spaniel. The Portugueze were well pleased with their probity and their extreme innocence¹⁶: they had however sufficient proof that they were cannibals; human flesh, salted¹⁷ and smoaked, was hanging up in their houses, and when their visitors expressed their astonishment that they should kill men and eat them, they expressed equal astonishment at learning that the Portugueze killed men and did not eat them. Human flesh, they said, was good, .. so good that it gave them appetite. One man among them boasted that he had partaken of the bodies of three hundred enemies. But it was a stronger passion than hunger which gave to these accursed banquets their highest relish. The land was beautiful, and abounded with whatever the heart of man could desire: the splendid plumage of the birds delighted the Europeans; the trees diffused an inexpressible fragrance, and distilled so many gums and juices, that they thought if their virtues were but rightly understood, there would be nothing to prevent man from enjoying health to extreme old age. If the terrestrial Paradise were upon this round world, they fancied that surely it could not be far from hence. Finding however no precious metals, which were the main object of their hopes, when they had advanced as far as latitude

¹⁶ After giving them this praise, Vespucci adds in the same page, that in their lust and in their hunger no relationship, however sacred, was regarded. This is false. Man has never yet been discovered in such a state of depravity.

¹⁷ This is not likely to be true.

D

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CHAP. I. 1502.

Apr. 2

Alb. Vesp. Am. Vesp. Navig. 8. in Gryncus.

32°, they agreed to leave the coast and strike out to sea. The ships were still fit for a six months voyage, and by Vespucci's advice they laid in wood and water for that time, and stood to the southward till they had advanced as high as 52, Vespucci all the while carefully noting down the stars of this new hemisphere. Here they found bad weather, and were driven under bare poles by the Lebeccio, the S. W. wind, till they came again within sight of land. They could find no port, and saw no inhabitants; and the country seemed to them to be uninhabitable, because of the severe and intolerable cold. It was now thought expedient to return: they made the coast of Africa, burnt one of their ships at Serra Leoa, and reached Lisbon in safety with the other two, after a voyage of sixteen months, during eleven of which they had sailed by the south star. Amerigo Vespucci has usurped the fame of Columbus; .. but how nearly had he anticipated the work of Magalhaens! The season of the year seems to have been the only thing which prevented him from reaching the South Sea¹⁸ before Vasco Nuñez de Balboa had seen it!

1503. May 10.

Second voyage of Vespucci, and first settlement in Brasil.

In the spring of the ensuing year Amerigo sailed again from Lisbon, with six ships. The object of this voyage was to discover a certain island called Melcha¹⁹, which was supposed to lie west of Calicut, and to be as famous a mart in the commerce of the Indian world, as Cadiz was in Europe. They made the

¹⁸ He had conceived the intention. Hæsit mihi cordi rursum peragrare eam orbis partem, quæ spectat nœridiem; et huic operi jam navando in expedito sunt liburnicæ duæ, armamentis ac commeatibus ubertim communitæ. Dum igitur proficiscar in orientem, iter agens per meridiem, Noto vehar vento, quo cum devenero, plura abs me fient in decus et gloriam dei, necnon patriæ emolumentum, et mei nominis æternitatem, et in primis in senectutis meæ, quæ jam propè appetit, honorem et levamen. Alb. Vesp. 114.

¹⁹ Malacca must have been meant.

[page] 19

CHAP. I. 1503.

Cape de Verds, and then, contrary to the judgment of Vespucci and of all the fleet, the Commander persisted in standing for Serra Leoa. Just as they were in sight a heavy gale came on, blowing off shore, and drove them three degrees beyond the line, where they discovered an island²⁰. He describes it as high and admirable, not exceeding two leagues in length, nor one in breadth, and as bearing no marks that it had ever been inhabited. It abounded with wood and water, and with both land and sea fowl. Four leagues off this island the Commander struck upon a rock: the others came to his help, and he ordered Vespucci to leave his own ship, which with nine men on board was assisting him, and go in a smaller to the island in search of a harbour, where he would join him, and where he should resume the command of his vessel. Vespucci took half his crew, and soon found an excellent port, where he remained eight days, in vain expecting the squadron. At length, when his men had given up all hopes, they saw one vessel, and put out to meet her. The news which they received proved to be, that the Commander's ship, which was of three hundred tons, and in which the strength of the expedition consisted, was totally lost, and every thing in her, except the men. With these tidings they went back to the island, took in wood and water, and knocked down as many birds as they pleased; then stood towards the coast of Santa Cruz (as it was then called) according to their instructions. After a run of three hundred leagues, made in

²⁰ The island of St. Matthews answers in latitude to this description, but is much farther from the coast of Brazil. There is a small island near that of Fernam de Noronha, which also corresponds in latitude, but is as much too near the coast. This insuperable difficulty is overlooked by the author of the Elogio Istorico, who affirms it to be the Isle of Noronha.

[page] 20

CHAP. I. 1503.

1504. June 28.

Am. Vesp. Navig 4. in Grynæus p. 158.

seventeen days, they reached the main land²¹, and found a port which they named All Saints²², where they waited above two months in vain expectation of being joined by the rest of the squadron. Having lost all hope of this they coasted on for two hundred and sixty leagues, to the Southward, and there took port again in 18° S. 35° W. of the meridian of Lisbon. Here they remained five months, upon good terms with the natives, with whom some of the party penetrated forty leagues into the interior: and here they erected a fort, in which they left four and twenty men who had been saved from the Commander's ship. They gave them twelve guns besides other arms, and provisions for six months; then loaded with Brazil, sailed homeward, and returned in safety, being welcomed at Lisbon with exceeding joy, as men who had been given up for lost. None of the other ships were ever heard of. Vespucci says they were destroyed by the presumptuous folly of the Commander, for which he prays God to give him his reward²³.

²¹ It is remarkable that Vespucci still calls it an Island, though he had previously discovered such a prodigious length of coast.

²² This should seem to be Bahia, .. though that discovery is afterwards ascribed to Christovam Jaques.

²³ Simple drowning then he did not think punishment sufficient. There can be little doubt that the Commander of whom he speaks with so much asperity was Gonzalo Coelho. He went in 1503 to Santa Cruz with six ships, of which four were lost on account of their ignorance of the coast. The others returned laden with Brazil-wood, monkeys, and parrots, being all the articles of commerce from that country which were as yet known. This is the whole account which Damiam de Goes gives. (1. 65.) Agreeing as it does in the date, in the number of ships which went out, and the number which were lost, I have no hesitation in identifying it with Amerigo Vespucci's second voyage to Brazil. Antonio Galvam mentions Vespucci's voyage, but not Coelho's, which confirms this opinion. Rocha Pitta speaks of both; but his authority upon any doubtful point is nothing.

Simam de Vasconcellos (Chron. da Comp de Jesu do Estado do Brazil, L. T. das Not. antecedentes § 19.) errs greatly in his account; he says, that Coelho returned with four ships, having carefully examined the coast, and set up pillars along it, and that he did not return till after Emanuel's death.

The author of the M.S. Elogio Istorico calls the commander Il Maggi, and accuses him of endeavouring to destroy Amerigo; the intention is as imaginary as the name.

[page] 21

CHAP. I. 1504.

The country obtains the name of Brasil.

The honour therefore of having formed the first settlement in this country, is due to Amerigo Vespucci. It does not appear that any farther attention was at this time paid to it. No gold had been found, and it produced no articles of commerce which could be thought worthy the notice of a government, whose coffers were overflowing with the produce of the spice trade, and the riches of the African mines. But the cargo of Brazil which Vespucci had brought home, tempted private adventurers, who were content with peaceful gains, to trade thither for that valuable wood; and this trade became so well known, that in consequence the coast and the whole country obtained the name of Brazil²⁴, notwithstanding the holier appellation which Cabral

²⁴ As we say the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, the Sugar Islands, &c.

This alteration of a name so solemnly imposed, has made Barros more angry than usual, and far less reasonable. He attributes it directly to the agency of the Devil, and adjures all his readers by the Cross of Christ, since he has no other means of avenging himself upon the Devil, to call the country Santa Cruz, on pain of being accused at the day of judgment by that Cross. Moreover, he adds, it is a name of better sound, to prudent ears, than Brazil, .. that being a name given without consideration by the vulgar, who are not qualified to name the possessions of the Crown. 1. 5. 2.

Simam Vasconcellos also regrets the change. Yet Santa Cruz is so common a name, and Brazil luckily of so sweet a sound itself, and in its derivatives, that both for the sake of geography and euphony it is rather to be rejoiced at.

The name perhaps was more easily affixed, because the geographers had already set it afloat, and seem to have been as much puzzled how to dispose of it, as they were of the famous title Prester John. Hervas (T. 1. P. 109) mentions a map in the Library of St. Mark at Venice, made by Andres Blanco in 1439; in which, at the extremity of the Atlantic, an island is laid down with this name, Is. de Brazil; another called Is. de Antilla; and a third, about the position of Cape St. Augustine in Florida, with the strange appellation Is. de la man de Satanaxio. This Island of Brazil he supposes to be one of the Terceras.

Don Christobal Cladera, in his reply to the Memoir of M. Otto concerning the discovery of America, describes five charts drawn by Juan Ortis, in Valencia, which he shows by fair reasoning could not have been made earlier than the year 1496, nor later than 1509. The fourth of these contains the coasts of Spain, of France from Bayonne to Antwerp, Holland, England, Scotland, and Ireland, with their adjacent Isles; and an Island is laid down in 52° N. divided by a great river, and called Brazil. Cladera infers from this that the chart was made after the discovery of Brazil by Cabral, in 1500, and very soon after it, or it would not have been so erroneously laid down.

If Brazil were meant, is it possible that it could have been laid down so erroneously; and would it at that time have been laid down by that name?

In the Novus Orbis of Grynæus, is a Nova et integra Universi Orbis Descriptio, drawn as it should seem by a certain Orontius F. Delph, and engraved at the expence of Christian Wechel. The author says it is in the shape of a human heart; but it more nearly resembles a kidney. This was drawn in July 1531. It marks a river Brazil in 20° S. and 328° E. from the Azores: but that name is not given to the province, nor indeed is any province named. In 25° S. Brasielie Regio is marked in the Terra Australis, .. an imaginary place in an imaginary country.

The Irish believe that they can see an enchanted Island called O Breasil*, or O Brazil, from the isles of Arran, .. which General Vallancy, in his usual wild way, identifies with the Paradise of Irem. I have elsewhere advanced a guess that some such phenomenon as that of the Fata Morgana's works occasionally

* The Harleian Catalogue gives this title, 8277, O Brazile, or the inchanted Island, being a perfect relation of the late discovery of an island on the North of Ireland, 4to. It may save trouble to some future enquirer if I add, that the inchanted Island is only mentioned in a dream, and that the bulk of this thoroughly worthless pamphlet consists of a stiugless satire upon the Welsh.

occurs there, and has given rise to the superstition. Be that as it may, this fabulous island I suspect to be the Brazil of the Valencian chart; .. because it is laid down near Ireland, and because, as none of the West Indian Islands are marked in any of those charts, nor the continent of America; it is reasonable to suppose that Juan Ortis knew nothing of the discoveries. Assuredly he could not have heard of Cabral's voyage, and been ignorant of Columbus's. His charts are probably earlier than Cladera imagines; and the flags which mark the Spanish conquests may easily be supposed to have been inserted by another hand, when those conquests were made. The Brasielie Regio of Orontius, shows that geographers were possessed with the belief of an imaginary country so called.

[page] 22

CHAP. I.

had given it. Parrots and monkeys also were brought home

[page] 23

CHAP. I.

Criminals sent to serve there.

for the ladies²³. It was convenient for these traders to have agents living among the natives, and adventurers would not be wanting who would willingly take up their abode with friendly savages, in a plentiful and delightful country, where they were under no restraint. These were not the only colonists. Portugal had taken possession of Brazil, and meant to maintain it. It was the system of the Portugueze government to make its criminals of some use to the state; a wise system, if wisely regulated: in that kingdom it obviously arose from the smallness of its territory, and lack of population to support its extensive plans of ambition. Hitherto they had been degraded²⁶ to the African frontier, and more recently to India also. In these situations they certainly served the state; yet this service was not without heavy disadvantages. The usual offences which were thus punished,

²⁵ I cannot tell where Herrera has found that Joshua had for his arms three green parrots, 6.3.11. Boccacio, in his tale of the Parrot's feather, which was shown for one of the Angel Gabriel's, dropt by him in the Virgin's Chamber at the Annunciation, says, the imposition might well be believed, because the effeminacies of Egypt which have since flowed in upon us, to the ruin of our country, had not yet reached Tuscany, and the people had not even heard of a parrot! In his time these birds therefore seem to have been common. Gio. 6. Nov. 10.

²⁶ I follow literally the Portugueze term, degradados.

[page] 24

CHAP. I.

were those of blood and violence: ferocious propensities, which were not likely to be corrected by placing the offenders in situations where they might indulge them with impunity, and consider the indulgence as meritorious. This system was immediately extended to Brazil: .. the first Europeans who were left ashore there were two convicts. In Africa or in India the exile was sent to bear arms with his countrymen, who would not regard him as disgraced, because they were obliged to associate with him. To be degraded to Brazil was a heavier punishment; the chance of war could not enrich him there, and there was no possibility of returning home with honour for any signal service. They were in one point of view better disposed of, inasmuch as in new colonies ordinary men are of greater value than they can be elsewhere, .. but they became worse subjects²⁷. Their numbers bore a greater proportion to the better settlers; and they were therefore more likely to be encouraged in iniquity than reformed by example; to communicate evil than to learn good. Their intercourse with the savages produced nothing but mischief: each made the other worse; the cannibals acquired new means of destruction, and the Europeans new modes of barbarity. The Europeans were weaned from that human horror at the bloody feasts of the savages, which ruffians as they were they had at first felt, and the natives lost that awe and veneration for a superior race which might have been improved so greatly to their own advantage.

²⁷ Always has this plague persecuted Brazil, and the other conquests of this kingdom, says Balthazar Tellez. Chron. da Comp. 3. 9. § 2.

[page 25]

CHAPTER II.

Voyage of Pinzon and Solis.—Discovery of the Rio de la Plata.—The French trade to Brazil.—History of Caramuru.—Brazil divided into Captaincies.—St. Vicente.—The Goaynazes.—St. Amaro and Tamaraca.—Paraiba.—The Goaytacazes.—Espirito Santo.—The Papanazes.—Porto Seguro.—The Tupiniquins.—Captaincy of the Ilheos.—Bahia.—Revolutions in the Reconcave.—Expulsion of the colonists there.—Pernambuco.—The Cahetes.—The Tobayares.—Siege of Garassu.—Expedition of Aires da Cunha to Maranham.

CHAP. II. 1508.

Voyage of Pinzon and Solis.

Soon after his last voyage Amerigo Vespucci returned to the King of Castille's service, and that King thought it advisable to take possession of the coast which this great navigator had surveyed when under the flag of Portugal. For this purpose he sent out the two royal pilots Vicente Yañez Pinzon, and Juan Diaz de Solis, between whom it is evident that some dissention was expected, from the precautions which were taken to prevent it. The course which they should steer was to be decided by Solis, who was however to consult concerning it with Pinzon, and with the best pilots and seamen in the expedition. The ships were ordered to speak each other morning and evening, or at least in the evening without fail¹, according to custom.

¹ The reason was this. Inferior Captains were sometimes ambitious of making discoveries by themselves, and sometimes disposed to run away from the hardships of the expedition, .. and therefore wilfully parted company. Instances are frequent in the history of maritime discovery.

[page] 26

CHAP. II. 1508.

Herrera. 1.7.1.

Solis was to carry the light, and before they departed they were to agree upon their signals before a public notary. When they came to shore Pinzon was to take the command. They were not to tarry in any port, till they had pursued their discovery as far as should be found expedient; then on their return to trade, and form establishments wherever it seemed best. A salvo was added, that they were not to touch upon any island or continent which belonged to the King of Portugal².

They made Cape St. Augustines, the same land which Pinzon had first discovered; and coasted southward to about 40°, taking possession and erecting crosses wherever they landed. The dissentions which had been foreseen broke out, and they returned without doing any thing farther. In consequence of this misconduct an inquiry was instituted to discover who had been in fault, and Solis was pronounced to be the offender. He was sent to the court prison, and Pinzon was rewarded.

Herrera. 1.7.9.

Discovery of the Rio de la plata.

The King of Portugal complained of this voyage as an infringement upon his limits. These two Powers, between whom Alexander VI. had so liberally divided all the undiscovered parts of the world, seemed to agree that his line of demarcation held good against all except themselves. Hitherto Portugal had reaped most advantage from the division; and the main object

² No person was to trade with the Indians till the Veedor and Escrivano had finished trading for the King; then individuals might make their market, but half their profits were to go to the Fisco, .. the Exchequer. The chests which the men were permitted to take with them were not to exceed five palms in breadth, nor three in depth. Herrera. 1. 7. 1.

[page] 27

CHAP. II. 1515.

at which Castille still aimed, was to partake in the prodigious profits of the spice trade. The hope on which Columbus originally proceeded, of reaching India by a western route, had never been laid aside. Vespucci also was of opinion that such a route was to be found, and had the fine weather continued a few days longer when he was on his first voyage for Emanuel, it is more than likely that the straits of Magalhaens would now have borne his name. The South Sea had now been discovered; this renewed the desire of finding a passage to it; and in 1515 the King of Castille dispatched Solis upon another expedition in its search, accelerating his departure as much as possible that the Portugueze might have no time to prevent his voyage. Solis was now acknowledged to be the most skilful of any man living in his art. He discovered what he at first supposed to be a sea of freth water: it was the river now called Rio de la Plata, though he then gave it his own name: that name it ought to have retained; .. it is hard that the place where he lost his life should neither have afforded him a grave nor a monument. The natives invited him to shore, and he landed with a boat's crew, intending to catch one of them and carry him to Spain. Their intention was worse than his, and better executed. They had stationed a party in ambush, who rose suddenly upon them, seized the boat, broke it to pieces in an instant, and slew every man with clubs. Then they took the bodies upon their shoulders, carried them to a spot which was out of reach of the Spaniards, but within sight, and there dismembered, roasted, and devoured them. Having thus lost their commander, the ships put back to Cape St. Augustines, loaded with brazil, and returned to Spain.

Herrera. 2.1.7.

Pietro Martire. 3.10.

Emanuel immediately demanded that the cargoes of these ships should be given up to him, and that the crew should be

[page] 28

CHAP. II. 1516.

Herrera. 2.2.8.

Herrera. 2.4.10.

delivered into his hands to be punished as interlopers³. It was replied, that the place whereat they had loaded was within the demarcation of Castille, and that seven Castillians whom the Portugueze had made prisoners on that coast, were also trading within their own limits, and therefore wrongfully detained. The business terminated in exchanging these prisoners for eleven Portugueze who had been arrested at Seville. These repeated remonstrances were not however without effect. When Magalhaens, three years afterwards, touched at Rio de Janeiro upon his way, he would purchase nothing of the natives, except provisions, that he might give no cause for complaint. A slave was offered for a hatchet; .. the natives then had already been taught a slave-trade. Eight or nine fowls were given for the King of Clubs, or any of his pictured companions.

The French trade to Brazil.

The French began very early to claim a share in the wealth of the Discoveries. Their usual method of obtaining it was by pirating against the homeward-bound ships from India;

³ Damiam de Goes says, that a Portugueze pilot, by name Jam Diaz Golis, who for some offences had fled his country, persuaded some Castillian merchants that it would be a good speculation to fit out two ships on a trading voyage to Santa Cruz do Brazil. He made the voyage, and returned in 1517. Emanuel complained to Charles V, who gave orders that the persons concerned should be punished as breakers of the peace between the two kingdoms; and this was done with great rigour. Chronica del Rei Dom Emanuel. 4.20.

The Portugueze Chroniclers have so neglected the affairs of Brazil, that I cannot help suspecting this to relate to the voyage of Solis.

Solis, according to Pietro Martire (2 10.) was born in Nebrissa, 'which bringeth forth many learned men.' He calls him Astur Ovetensis, otherwise named Johannes Dias de Solis. As this means an Asturian of Oviedo, he contradicts himself, unless the old translator has made a blunder, which for want of the original, I have not been able to ascertain. These Solises and Pinzons, says Antonio Galvam, (P. 47,) were great discoverers in these parts, till they spent in them at last both life and property.

[page] 29

CHAP. II. 1516.

S. de Vasc. Chron. da Comp. 1. § 33. Gaspar de M. de Dios. p. 6.

and these acts of piracy were sometimes followed by the most execrable cruelty. In vain was remonstrance after remonstrance made by the Kings of Portugal; Portugal was too weak and too distant to enforce its remonstrances, and no other redress was to be had than what could be taken. The French expeditions to Brazil were of a more honourable character. That nation, which has never acknowledged any other law than that of the strongest, nor suffered any opinion or any principle to stand in the way of its ambition or its interest, has always treated the Papal authority either with respect or contempt, just as has suited its own immediate views. France had neglected to ask a share of the undiscovered world when Alexander VI. partitioned it, who would as willingly have drawn two lines as one; and because it derived no advantage from that partition, refused to admit its validity. French vessels soon went in quest of the woods, the parrots, and monkies of Brazil. Two of these traders discovered a magnificent bay, one of the finest in the world, and which no navigator had yet entered. Unfortunately for them, a Portugueze squadron under the command of Christovam Jaques entered it about the same time: he named it All Saints bay⁴ ... Bahia de Todos os Santos; and coasting along its shores and exploring all its creeks and coves, in one of them he discovered these Frenchmen, and proceeded to capture them as interlopers. They resisted, and he sunk them both, with crew and cargo. After this he established a factory farther North, on the main land, near the bar of the Itamaraca.

⁴ More probably after the custom of Portugueze navigators, because he discovered it on that day, than for the reason assigned by Vasconcellos, that he thought it like Paradise. I have in a former note intimated a suspicion that this bay was first entered and named by Vespucci.

[page] 30

CHAP. II. 1510⁵.

Adventures of Diogo Alvarez, or Caramuru.

The first settler in Bahia was Diogo Alvarez, a native of Viana, young and of noble family, who with that spirit of enterprize which was then common among his countrymen, embarked to seek his fortune in strange countries. He was wrecked upon the shoals on the North of the bar of Bahia⁶. Part of the crew were lost, others escaped this death to suffer one more dreadful; the natives seized and eat them. Diogo saw that there was no other possible chance of saving his life, than by making himself as useful as possible to these cannibals. He therefore exerted himself in recovering things from the wreck, and by these exertions succeeded in conciliating their favour. Among other things he was fortunate enough to get on shore some barrels of powder and a musket, which he put in order at his first leisure, after his masters were returned to their village; and one day when the opportunity was favourable, brought down a bird before them. The women and children shouted Caramuru! Caramuru! which signified, a man of fire! and they cried out that he would destroy them; .. but he told the men, whose astonishment had less of fear mingled with it, that he would go

⁵ Herrera (5. 8. 8.) establishes the date. A ship from Simon de Alcazova's expedition, put back to Brazil after the mutiny and the murder of the commander, and entered Bahia in great distress for provisions, when, he says, it was relieved by a Portugueze who had lived twenty-five years among the Indians, having been wrecked there. This was in 1535. Herrera says there were eight others with him, and evidently implies that he had some authority in the land. This must have been after Coutinho's death.

The Portugueze writers are doubtful whether he was bound for India or not at the time of his shipwreck. If this date be right he was not; for of the three outward bound fleets for India in that year, there was none which suffered any loss in this part of the world.

⁶ The native name for them is Mairagiquiig.

[page] 31

CHAP. II. 1510.

with them to war, and kill their enemies. Caramuru was the name which from thenceforward he was known by. They marched against the Tapuyas; the fame of this dreadful engine went before them, and the Tapuyas fled. From a slave Caramuru became a sovereign. The chiefs of the savages thought themselves happy if he would accept their daughters to be his wives; he fixed his abode upon the spot where Villa Velha was afterwards erected, and soon saw as numerous a progeny as an old Patriarch's rising round him. The best families in Bahia trace their origin to him.

Caramuru goes to France.

At length a French vessel came into the bay, and Diogo resolved to take that opportunity of once more seeing his native country. He loaded her with brazil, and embarked with his favourite wife Paraguazu, .. the Great River. The others could not bear this abandonment, though it was only to be for a time; some of them swam after the ship in hopes of being taken on board, and one followed it so far, that before she could reach the shore again her strength failed and she sunk. They were received with signal honour at the court of France. Paraguazu was baptized by the name of Catharina Alvarez, after the Queen, and the King and Queen were her sponsors. Her marriage was then celebrated. Diogo would fain have proceeded to Portugal, but the French would not permit him to go there. These honours which they had shown him were not to be gratuitous, and they meant to make him of use to them in his own dominions. By means however of Pedro Fernandez Sardinha (then a young man who had just compleated his studies in Paris, and afterwards the first Bishop of Brazil) he sent the information to Joam III. which he was not permitted to carry, and exhorted him to colonize the delightful province in which his lot had been so strangely cast. After some time he covenanted with a wealthy merchant to take him back, and leave him the artillery

[page] 32

CHAP. II. 1510.

Sim. de Vasc. Chr. da Comp. 1. § 35. Brito Freyre § 185—138.

and ammunition of two ships, with store of such things as were useful for traffic with the natives, in return for which he undertook to load both vessels with brazil. The bargain was fairly performed, and Diogo having returned to his territories, fortified his little capital.

Progress of the Colonists.

But the Portugueze government, wholly occupied with the affairs of India, thought little of a country in which, whatever profits were to be acquired, must come from agriculture, not from commerce with the inhabitants; for commerce was what they sought as eagerly as the Spaniards hunted for gold. Brazil was left open like a common⁷, and all the care which the Court bestowed upon it was to prevent the French from trespassing there, by representations of their ambassador at Paris, that were never regarded, and by treating them as enemies whenever they met them. Individuals meantime being thus left to themselves, settled in the harbours and islands along the coast; and little towns and villages were growing up.

Brazil divided into Captaincies.

For about thirty years after its discovery the country appears to have been thus neglected; it had then become of sufficient importance to obtain some consideration at court, and in order to forward its colonization, the same plan was adopted which had succeeded well in Madeira and in the Azores, .. that of dividing it into hereditary Captaincies, and granting them to such persons as were willing to embark adequate means in the adventure, with powers of jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, so extensive as to be in fact unlimited. This method was thought to be the easiest, and least expensive to government.

⁷ Vieyra, in his Letters, mentions a received tradition, that Emanuel ordered all the spice plants to be rooted up, least the Indian trade should be injured, and that ginger was the only spice which escaped, .. because it was under ground. He does not appear to have recollected the impossibility of carrying such an order into effect, upon a continent.

[page] 33

CHAP. II 1510.

Manoel Severim de Faria. Vide de Joam de Barros. p. 15

The difference between desert islands and a peopled continent, had not been considered. The Captains of the Islands might easily settle lands in which there could be no opposition, and easily at any time assist each other with supplies; if their means failed they could even borrow from Portugal, those places being so near that they were regarded almost as things within the country. But when Joam divided the coast of Brazil into great Captaincies, each extending along fifty leagues of coast, large tribes of savages were in possession of the country; Portugal was far distant, and the settlements so far asunder, that one could not possibly afford assistance to another.

Captaincy of S. Vicente.

1531⁸

Annaes do Rio de Janeiro. MSS. C. 1.

The first person who took possession of one of these Captaincies was Martim Affonso de Sousa, whose name frequently occurs in the history of Portugueze India, where he was afterwards Governor, and who is famous in Catholic history for having carried out St. Francisco Xavier to the East. He and his brother Pero Lopes de Sousa having each obtained a grant, fitted out a considerable armament, and went to explore the country and form their settlement in person. He began to survey the coast somewhere about Rio de Janeiro, to which he gave that name because he discovered it on the first of January; and he proceeded South as far as the Plata, naming the places which he surveyed on the way, from the days⁹ on which the several discoveries were made.

⁸ The discovery is usually dated a year later; but Fr. Gaspar da Madre de Deos has ascertained it from a letter of the King. Memorias para a Hist. de Cap de S. Vicente. 1. § 16.

⁹ These names correspond in order, and in probable distance of time. Rio de Janeiro, on the 1st. Ilha Grande dos Magos, on the 6th. Ilha de S. Sebastiam, on the 20th. S. Vicente on the 22nd.

Flumen Genabara, a similitudine lacus sic appellatum, says Nic. Barré. Thuanus uses the same words, writing, I believe, with these letters before him. De Lery gives the true reason of the name, and says the savages called it Ganabara. I should not wonder to find the former etymology founded upon this Brazilian corruption, adduced to prove that the French were the first discoverers of this place.

Vasconcellos says the natives called it Nitherô. Vida do P. Anchieta. L. 2. C. 1. § 2.

A pillar which Martim Affonso erected on the Island of Cardoso, opposite the Island of Cananea, was discovered in 1767, by Colonel Aff. Botelho de Sampaio e Souza, who was surveying the place for the purpose of erecting a fort there.

Gaspar da M. de Deos. 1. § 52.

F

[page] 34

CHAP. II. 1531.

Gaspar da M. de Deos. 1. § 43. 51.

Having well examined the coast he fixed upon one of these Islands for his settlement, which, like Goa, are separated from the main land by an elbow of the sea. Its latitude is 24½° S. and its native name was Guaibe, so called from a tree which grew there in great abundance. When the Indians of the adjoining country saw that he was beginning to build there, they collected together that they might expel the invaders, and sent to Tebyreça, a chief who possessed the plains of Piratininga and who was the most powerful of his tribe, to come and assist them. It happened that a shipwrecked Portugueze, by name Joam Ramalho, had lived many years under the protection of this Royalet, who had given him one of his daughters. Ramalho immediately concluded that the new comers must be his countrymen, .. probably a fleet bound for India, and driven here by stress of weather. He persuaded his protector to assist them instead of attacking them, .. went to Martim Affonso, and concluded a treaty of perpetual alliance between him and the Goaynazes.

The Goaynazes.

This tribe differed in many material circumstances from their savage neighbours. They were not cannibals, but made their prisoners slaves. They lived in underground caves, where they

[page] 35

CHAP. II. 1531.

Noticias do Brazil MSS. L. 1. C. 63.

Gaspar da M. de Deos. 1. § 58.

Annaes do Rio de Jam. MSS. c. 10.

kept fires burning day and night; concealment therefore does not appear to have been their motive for preferring these uncomfortable habitations. They slept upon skins and beds of leaves, not in hammocks. They raised no food, trusting wholly to fishing, the chase and wild fruits. The Carios could understand their language: it was entirely different from that of the Tamoyos, and they were at war with both. They were a simple-hearted race, ready to believe any thing, and as they treated the Portugueze kindly wherever they met them, it may fairly be inferred that the first settlers behaved well to them. The spot which had been chosen for the new town was not found convenient, and the colonists round removed to the adjoining isle of St. Vicente, from which the Captaincy derives its name.

Not. do Brazil. MSS. 1. c. 60.

Sim de Vasc. C. C. 1. § 61.

The first sugar comes planted.

Martim Affonso made an unsuccessful expedition southward into the interior, in search of mines, from which he returned with the loss of eighty Europeans. In all other respects his colony was fortunate. Here the first sugar-canes were planted¹⁰, here the first cattle were reared, and here the other Captaincies stocked themselves with both. Whether the honour of having introduced them into Brazil be due to the founder of the colony is not stated; .. a battle or a massacre would have been recorded. He who thus benefits mankind in a savage age is deified; in an enlightened one he receives his due tribute of praise; but in all the intermediate stages of barbarity and semi-barbarity, such actions are overlooked. The King after some time recalled Martim Affonso, and sent him to India; but when he returned to Portugal he watched over the welfare of his Captaincy, sending out supplies and settlers; and it descended in a flourishing condition to his son.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 62.

Wheat and barley were little used here, because the food of the country was liked so well; what little wheat was raised was

¹⁰ They were brought from Madeira.

[page] 36

CHAP. II. 1531.

Gaspar da M. de Deos. 1. § 29. 30.

for delicacies, and for the wafer. Marmalade was made here and sold to the other Captaincies. Oysters of such a size are found here, that their shells are used for dishes, .. and once when a Bishop of Bahia visited this province, they washed his feet in one, as in a bason. The whole coast abounds with shell-fish, which the natives came down from the interior to catch at certain seasons: they built their huts upon some dry spot amid the mango groves, fed upon fish while the fishery lasted, and dried them to carry home. So long had this practice been continued, that hills had accumulated of the shells, soil collected on them, and trees taken root there and grown to maturity. These hills, which are called Ostreiras, have supplied all the lime that has been used in the Captaincy, from its foundation to the present day. In some of them the shells are formed into lime-stone; in others they are unchanged; tools and broken pottery of the Indians are frequently found in them, and bones of the dead; for they who died during the fishing season, were laid on these heaps, and covered over with shells.

St. Amaro and Tamaraca.

R. Pitta. 2. § 106.

Noticias. MSS. 1. c. 14. 61. B. Tellex. C. C. 3.1.5.

Pero Lopes de Sousa was less fortunate than his brother. He chose to have his fifty leagues of coast in two allotments. The one which obtained the name of St. Amaro adjoined St. Vicente, and bordered so close upon the main settlement, the towns being only three leagues asunder, that if they had not belonged to two brothers, the settlers would have but ill agreed. As long as this was the case the neighbourhood was advantageous to both; but when the property devolved to other possessors, between whom there were not the same ties, it became an endless cause of litigation. Tamaraca, the other division, lay between Pernambuco and Paraiba, many degrees nearer the line. Here he had some hard conflicts with the Pitiguares, who besieged him in his town; but he succeeded at length in driving them from the neighbourhood. Soon afterwards he perished by shipwreck.

[page] 37

CHAP. II. 1531.

Paraiba.

A fidalgo, by name Pedro de Goes, had been one of the companions of Pero Lopes, and had suffered shipwreck with him in the Plata, .. but neither this, nor the disastrous fate of his friend disheartened him. He became fond of Brazil, and asked for a Captaincy when the King was disposing of them in such prodigal grants. It seems that he had no great interest at court, for his grant was restricted to thirty leagues of coast, between the Captaincies of St. Vicente and Espirito Santo; if the space between them did not extend to so much, he was to take it such as it was. Goes embarked the whole of his property upon the adventure, and many thousand crowns were advanced by a certain Martim Ferreira, who proposed to have sugar-works established there upon their joint account. The expedition sailed to the River Paraiba, and there Goes fortified himself, and remained two years at peace with the Goaytacazes. After that time war broke out between them, and continued five years to his great loss: peace was made, and soon broken by the savages, .. there is no reason to suspect the Portugueze of being the aggressors in this instance, it was too much their interest to keep the treaty. The colonists were weak and utterly dispirited: they became clamorous to quit the unlucky settlement, and Goes was obliged to yield to their clamours and evacuate it. Vessels were obtained from Espirito Santo to bring them away.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 44.

The Goaytacazes.

The tribe which expelled Goes were probably of the same stock as the Goaynazes¹¹, and like them did not devour their prisoners. They were fairer than the other savages, and their language, it is said, more barbarous, .. which may be understood

¹¹ I should have supposed them to be the same, if they had not on another occasion been both enumerated. Besides this reason for admitting them to be different, there is the fact that the Goaytacazes did not burrow.

[page] 38

CHAP. II. 1531.

Noticias 1. MSS. 45.

to mean that some of its sounds were more difficult. They were a braver race, and fought not in woods and ambushes, but in open field. They would swim off shore with a short stick in the hand, sharp at both ends; with this they would attack a shark, thrust it into his open mouth and gag him, then drown him, drag him ashore, eat the flesh, and head their arrows with his teeth.

Espirito Santo.

Noticias MSS. L. 1. c. 32.

Noticias. MSS. L. 1. c. 52.

The Captaincy of Espirito Santo was at this time next to St. Amaro; for Rio de Janeiro was not settled till a later period. This was asked and obtained by Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, a fidalgo, who having spent the best years of his life in India and amassed a fortune there, ventured and lost the whole in this scheme of colonization. His limits were to begin where those of Porto Seguro ended on the South. He fitted out a great expedition, in which not less than sixty fidalgos and men of the royal household embarked. Don Simam de Castello-branco, and Don Jorge de Menezes, were sent with him as degradados, that is to say, banished men. This latter is called He of the Moluccas, where he had been Governor. Of all shocking tyrannies, that of the Portugueze in the spice islands stands among the foremost in atrocity, and Don Jorge de Menezes in the first rank of their tyrants for diabolical cruelty. Indeed in an age when the cruelties of Vasco da Gama and the great Alboquerque were recorded without one word of reprehension, as doubtless they were without one feeling of humanity, it may well be supposed when a man of family and fortune was banished for such offences to Brazil, what the measure of those offences must have been. They had a prosperous voyage to their place of destination, and began a town, to which they gave the name of Our Lady of Victory, .. before the battle had been fought. The title was for awhile sufficiently verified, and the Goaynazes, the first enemies with whom they had to deal, were, like all savages, defeated in the first engagements. The building went on with spirit; canes

[page] 39

CHAP. II. 1531.

were planted, four sugar-works established, and Coutinho seeing every thing thus prosperous, went to Lisbon to collect more colonists, and procure stores and implements for an expedition into the country, in search of mines.

The Papanazes.

The coast of this and the next Captaincy had been possessed by the Papanazes, but they were now driven back by the Goaytacazes and the Tupiniquins. The language of the Papanazes was scarcely understood by these enemies, notwithstanding their long wars. They were hunters and fishers, and slept upon the ground on leaves. If one of them killed another, he was delivered up to the relations of the dead, and in the presence of all the kindred of both parties, immediately strangled and interred. All parties lamented loudly at the execution; they then feasted and drank together for many days, and no enmity remained. Even if the deed was accidental, the punishment was the same. Should the offender have escaped, his son, his daughter, or the nearest of his blood, was given up in his stead; .. but the substitute, instead of suffering death, remained a slave to the nearest relation of the slain.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 46.

Porto Seguro.

B. Tellez. C. C. 3. 1. § 6.

The Tupiniquins.

The adjoining Captaincy of Porto Seguro was allotted to Pedro de Campo Tourinho, a native of Viana da Foz de Lima, of noble family, and an excellent navigator. He sold all that he possessed in Portugal to embark it in this expedition, and set sail with his wife and family, and a large body of colonists; .. good colonists they are called; and if, as is probable, he raised them in his own province, they would deserve to be called so. They landed in the harbour where Cabral had taken possession of Brazil, and there fortified themselves upon a spot which retains the name of Porto Seguro, given it by that discoverer, and which still remains the capital of the Captaincy. The Tupiniquins made some opposition at first. They possessed the country from the river Camamu to the river Circare, an extent

[page] 40

CHAP. II. 1531.

of nearly five degrees; and the first settlers in this and the two adjoining Captaincies had to maintain their ground against them. Peace however was soon made, and the Tupiniquins observed it faithfully. They were sometimes at war with the Tupinaes, .. but these tribes being of the same stock, did not regard each other as regularly and naturally enemies, and their quarrels were considered as mere accidental circumstances, which were to leave no hatred behind: the two tribes blended at last into one. Of all the Brazilians, these are said to have been the most domestic and the most faithful, indefatigable, and excellently brave. Their manners and language resembled those of the Tupinambas; but it was so long since they had branched apart, that all memory of the common stock was lost, and there was a deadly enmity between them. The Tupinambas were the most powerful; prest by them on the one side, by the dreadful Aymures on the other, and profiting less by the friendship of the Portugueze than they suffered from their tyranny, they gradually forsook the country. Good men were never wanting who lifted up their voices against this tyranny and oppression; but the guilt was so general that it has become a national imputation.

Tourinho is not implicated in this guilt; he had influence enough over the natives to collect many of them into villages, and this is proof that he dealt towards them well and wisely. Sugar works were established, with such success that they produced a considerable quantity for exportation to the mother country. No kine could be kept in this colony, because of an herb which is said to have occasioned hæmorrhoids, whereof they died; yet horses, asses, and goats, were not affected by it. The disease was probably imputed to a wrong cause.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 36.

The Ilheos.

The Captaincy of the Isles owes its inapplicable name to the Rio dos Ilheos, a river so called because there are three islands

[page] 41

CHAP. II. 1531 to 1540.

Noticias. MSS.

Sim. de Vasc. C. C. 3. § 58. 54.

just at its bar. Jorge de Figueiredo Correa, Escrivam da Fazenda to Joam III, was the first Donatory. The office which he held prevented him from going himself to take possession of his grant; he therefore deputed a Castillian knight, by name Francisco Romeiro. Romeiro anchored in the harbour of Tinhare, and began his new town on the height, or Morro de St. Paulo, from whence however he found it expedient to remove it to its present situation. It was first called St. Jorge, in compliment to the Lord of the land; but the same improper appellation which had been given to the Captaincy, extended to its capital. The Tupiniquins soon made peace with the settlers, and being of all the Brazilian tribes the most tractable, lived with them on such friendly terms that the colony soon became prosperous. The son of the original proprietor sold the Captaincy to Lucas Giraldes: he expended considerable wealth in improving it, and it flourished so well that there were in a short time eight or nine sugar works established.

Bahia.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 26. S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 34.

The coast from the great Rio de S. Francisco to the Ponta da Padram de Bahia, was given to Francisco Pereira Coutinho, a fidalgo who had distinguished himself in India; and the bay itself with all its creeks was afterwards added to the grant. He fixed his settlement in the bay at the place now called Villa Velha, which was Caramuru's dwelling place; two of his companions, who were men of noble family, married two of Caramuru's daughters, and as the natives were for his sake well affected towards the Portugueze, every thing went on well for a time.

Bahia de Todos os Santos, or All Saints Bay, wherein the capital of Brazil was afterwards erected, is unquestionably one of the finest harbours in the world. Here, as well as at Rio de Janeiro upon the same coast, the sea seems to have broken in upon the land; or more probably some huge lake has borne down its bazrier, and made way to the ocean. The entrance,

G

[page] 42

CHAP. II.

J. de Last. 15. 22. S. Vasc. C. C. 1. § 28. Lindley. P. 239. Chart in Barlæus.

which is nearly three leagues wide, is from the South, having the continent on the right hand, and the long island of Itaparica on the left. You are then in a bay, extending to the Northward and Westward a whole degree, and branching inland in every direction, with deep water every where, and many navigable rivers discharging themselves into it. This little mediterranean is spotted with above an hundred islands.

Revolutions in the Reconcave.

Noticias. MSS. 2. c. 50—51.

The old natives preserved the memory of three revolutions in this Reconcave, as the Bay with all its creeks and coves is denominated. As far back as the memory of man among savages could reach, the Tapuyas possessed it; but as this part of Brazil is in every respect one of the most highly favoured places under heaven, it was too desirable a land to be peaceably enjoyed, when there was no other law than that of the strongest. The Tupinaes expelled them, and for many years retained possession, still keeping up war on the side of the interior with those whom they had driven there. At length the Tupinambas from the other side of the river San Francisco migrated here, and in like manner thrust out the Tupinaes, who fell back upon the Tapuyas, and drove them again before them. These last conquerors were masters of the country when the Portugueze arrived; but they had quarrelled among themselves. Those who dwelt between the river San Francisco and the Rio Real, or Royal River, were at mortal enmity with those nearer the bay, and the inhabitants of one side the bay, with those on the other; they carried on hostilities both by land and water, and all parties devoured their prisoners. A fresh feud broke out among those who dwelt on the eastern side; the cause was that which in barbarous, and heroic, or semi-barbarous ages, has furnished so much matter for history and song. The daughter of a Chief had been carried off against her father's consent; the ravisher refused to restore her; the father, not being powerful

[page] 43

CHAP. II. 1531 to 1540.

Noticias. MSS. 2.52.

enough to compel him, retired with all his clan to the Island of Itaparica; the hordes upon the river Paraguazu coalesced with the seceders, and a deadly war began between the two parties. The Ilha do Medo, or Island of Fear, derives its name from the frequent ambushes and conflicts of which it was then made the scene. The seceders multiplied and spread along the coast of the Ilheos, and the feud in all its rancour was perpetuated.

Expulsion of Coutinho.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 28. S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 34.

This was the state of the Tupinambas in Bahia, when Coutinho formed his establishment among them. That fidalgo had served in India, and India was not a school where humanity or political wisdom was to be learnt. A son of one of the native Chiefs was slain by the Portugueze; the circumstances are not recorded, but it is admitted that the deed was done wrongfully. Coutinho paid dearly for his offence. These fierce savages, then the most formidable of all the Brazilian tribes, burnt down his sugar works, destroyed his plantations, killed his bastard son, and after more than a seven years war, compelled him, and the wreck of his colony, to abandon the Reconcave. Caramuru followed the fate of his countrymen, and retired with them to the adjoining Captaincy of the Ilheos. When they were gone, the Tupinambas began to feel the want of those articles which they were now accustomed to receive in traffic, and which, from being luxuries, they had suffered to become wants. A treaty was opened, the difference was adjusted, and Coutinho embarked to return in one caravel, and Caramuru in another. They were wrecked within the bar, on the shoals of the Island Itaparica; all got to shore, and there he and his people were treacherously slain by the islanders. Caramuru and the crew of his vessel were spared; a proof how wisely he had ever demeaned himself towards the natives. He returned to his old abode in the¹² bay. The wife

¹² Marcgrave gives Quirimure as another name for the Captaincy of Bahia in his time. This is probably the same word as Caramuru, given by the natives to his domain in memory of him.

[page] 44

CHAP. II. 1532 to 1540.

Pernambuco.

and children of Coutinho did not perish with him; they had probably been left at Ilheos, .. but he had expended the whole of his Indian spoils and of his property: they were left destitute, and came to the hospital for support.

Carta del R. D. Joam 3. Provas da Hist. Geneal. 1.6.p. 318.

1530.

S-Vasc. C.C. 1. § 100. Castrioto Lusitano. 1. §. 16.

One other Captaincy was established about the same time as these others, .. that of Pernambuco. A factory had previously been settled there, which a ship from Marseilles took, and left seventy men in it, thinking to maintain possession; but the ship was captured on her return, and intelligence being thus early obtained at Lisbon, immediate measures were taken for the recovery of the place. The Donatory, Duarte Coelho Pereira, asked it as the reward of his services in India. The line of coast between the Rio de S. Francisco and the Rio de Juraza was granted him: he came himself, with his wife and children, and many of his kinsmen, to begin the colony, and landed in the Port of Pernambuco; .. the entrance is through an opening in a long stone reef, and this the native name implies. O que linda situaçam para se fundar huma Villa! O how fine a situation for founding a town! .. Duarte Coelho is said to have exclaimed on beholding it; and hence the town was called Olinda.

The Cahetes.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 19.

This coast was possessed by the Cahetes, a tribe remarkable for using boats, the fabric of which was something between thatch and wicker-work, being of a long and strong kind of straw, knit to the timbers¹³. These they made large enough to carry ten or twelve persons. They are said to have been more brutal than the other tribes, inasmuch as there was little natural affection to be perceived in them. An instance is related of one who was a slave to the Portugueze, and threw his child into the

¹³ Eram de huma palha comprida, como a das esteiras de taboa que ha em Santarem: a qual ajuntavam em molhos muy apartada com humas varus muito fortes e rijas, e brandas pera apartar. Noticias. MSS. 1. 19.

[page] 45

CHAP. II. 1532 to 1540.

river because she cried. The single fact would prove nothing more than individual brutality; but it is mentioned as an example of their general unfeeling nature.

The Tobayares.

From these people Duarte Coelho had to gain by inches, says Rocha Pitta, what was granted him by leagues. They attacked him and besieged him in his new town. .. The French, who traded to that coast, led them on; their numbers were very great, and had he been less experienced in war, or less able, his colony would probably have been rooted out. He was wounded during the siege, many of his people slain, and the place reduced to extremity; nevertheless they beat off the enemy, and having made an alliance with the Tobayares, had strength and spirit enough to follow up their success. The Tobayares were the first Brazilian tribe who leagued with the Portuguese .. One of their leaders, named Tabyra, possessed great talents for war, and was the scourge of the hostile savages: he went among them himself, to spy out their camps, and listen to their projects: these tribes therefore must have been of one stock, and have spoken the same dialect. He laid ambushes, led on assaults in the night, and harrassed them with incessant alarms .. At length they assembled their whole force, came upon him and surrounded him. Tabyra sallied forth; an arrow pierced his eye. .. he plucked it out and the eye-ball on it; and turning to his followers, said, he could see to beat his enemies with one; and accordingly he gave them a complete overthrow notwithstanding their numbers. Itagybe, the Arm of Iron, was another of these Tobayares, who distinguished himself on the same side; and Piragybe, the Arm of the Fish, (if the name be rightly translated by this unimaginable meaning) rendered such services to the Portugueze, that he was rewarded with the order of Christ and a pension.

S. Vasc C.C. 1. § 100. 103.

Some years of peace and prosperity ensued. Then again a

[page] 46

CHAP. II. 1538.

war broke out, which was occasioned, as usual, by the misconduct of the settlers. This is the first war between the Portugueze and the savages of which any detail has been preserved, and the detail is curious. It is related by Hans Stade, the first person who wrote any account of Brazil.

Hans Stade.

Jan. 28.

Hans, whose after adventures will form an interesting part of this history, was the son of a good man at Homberg, in the Hessian territory. He was minded to seek his fortune in India, and with that intent sailed from Holland in a fleet of merchantmen, going to Setubal for salt; but when he reached Portugal, the Indian ships were gone, so he accepted the post of gunner in a vessel bound for Brazil, on a trading voyage, and carrying out convicts to Pernambuco. There was a smaller ship in company: they were well provided with all kinds of warlike stores, and had orders to attack all Frenchmen whom they might find trading in those parts. They made Cape St. Augustines in eighty-eight days, early in 1548, and entered the port of Pernambuco¹⁴. Here the Captain delivered his convicts to Coelho, meaning to proceed and traffic wherever it might be found most convenient. It happened however that just at this time the natives rose against the Portugueze, and were about to besiege the settlement of Garassu, which was not far distant. Coelho could spare them no support, because he expected to be attacked himself; he therefore requested these ships to assist him, and Hans was sent with forty men in a boat to their succour.

Siege of Garassu.

Garassu was built in the woods, upon a creek which ran about

¹⁴ Hans calls the town here Marino, and the Commander Artus Coelho. He may have mistaken Duarte for this, which was to him a more familiar name: or Duarte may have had a kinsman in command so called. Marim appears to have been the name of a settlement of the natives, upon the spot where Olinda was afterwards built. B. Freire. § 326.

[page] 47

CHAP. II. 1548.

two miles inland; its garrison, including this reinforcement, consisted of ninety Europeans, and thirty slaves, some of whom were negroes, others natives. The force which attacked them was computed at eight thousand, probably an exaggerated number. There were no other fortifications than the palisade, which the Portugueze had adopted from the Brazilians. The besiegers piled up two rude bulwarks of trees, within which they retired at night for security against any sudden attack. They dug pits, in which they were safe from shot by day, and from which they frequently started at different times, and rushed on, hoping to win the place by surprize. When they saw the guns aimed at them, they fell upon the ground. Sometimes they approached the palisade, and threw their javelins over, for the chance there was that some wound might be inflicted by their fall: they shot fire arrows, headed with waxed cotton, at the houses, and whenever they drew nigh it was with loud threats that they would devour their enemies. The Portugueze soon began to want food, because it was the custom to dig the mandioc, of which their bread was made, every day, or at farthest on the alternate days; and now they were blockaded and could not go out to perform this necessary work. Two boats were sent for food to the island of Itamaraca, which is at the entrance of the creek, and where there was another settlement; and Hans was of the party. The creek is narrow in one place, and there the savages endeavoured to obstruct the navigation by laying great trees across: this obstacle the Portugueze removed by main force; but while they were thus delayed, the tide was ebbing, and before the boats could reach Itamaraca they were left dry. Instead of attacking them the savages raised a heap of dry wood between the boats and the shore, set fire to it, and threw into the flames a species of pepper which grows there abundantly, and produces a pungent smoke, by which they thought to suffocate, or otherwise annoy them. A breath of

[page] 48

CHAP. II. 1548.

wind from the opposite quarter would defeat this artifice: .. it failed in this instance because the wood did not burn, and when the tide floated them, the Portugueze proceeded to Itamaraca, and were there supplied with what they sought.

H. Stade, in De Bry. p. 1. c. 2—4.

Meantime the savages cut two large trees nearly through, which grew beside the narrowest part of the creek, and fastened to them the long and limber shoots of a plant which they called sippo, .. these shoots resemble the hop plant, except that they are thicker. When they in the boats drew nigh and perceived this, they called out to their fellows in the fort, to come and help them, for the place was within hearing, though the wood concealed it from sight; the savages knew what this meant, and as soon as they began to shout, shouted also, and effectually drowned their words. All therefore that the Portugueze could do, was for one part of them to endeavour to confuse the enemies attention, while the rowers pulled up for their lives. This succeeded; one of the trees went down in a slant direction on the bank, the other fell behind one of the boats, and brushed it in its fall¹⁵. The siege had already lasted a month; the savages saw themselves thus disappointed in the hope of reducing Garassu by famine; their perseverance was exhausted, and they made peace and broke up. The Portugueze had not lost a single man, and the besiegers not many. After this easy war the colony continued to prosper during the remainder of Duarte Coelho's life.

Expedition of Aires da Cunha to Maranham.

Joam de Barros, the great historian, obtained the Captaincy of Maranham. His means were not large, and for the sake of increasing the capital, he divided his grant with Fernam Alvares de Andrada, father of the Chronicler, and with Aires da

The Payagoaes still use this stratagem. Lettres Edif. T. 8. 266.

[page] 49

CHAP. II. 1539.

Barros. 1. 6 1. Noticias. MSS. 1. 6—10. Man. Severim. Vida de Barros. p. xvii. Ant. Galvam. p. 76.

Cunha. They undertook a scheme of conquest as well as of colonization, and their armament was upon a far more extensive scale than any former one to Portugueze America. Nine hundred men were raised, of whom one hundred and thirteen were horsemen, ten ships equipped; Aires da Cunha took the command, and two sons of Barros accompanied him. The whole fleet was wrecked upon some shoals, which they supposed to be in the mouth of the great river, but which are above one hundred leagues South of it, off the island to which the survivors escaped, and which is now known by the name of Maranham¹⁶, in consequence of their error. They made peace with the Tapuyas, who then inhabited it, and while they waited there for relief, sent up the adjoining labyrinth of islands, channels, and rivers, to traffic for food, .. from which it appears that some of their effects must have been saved. Aires da Cunha was one of those who perished. The survivors remained long time in great misery before they could make their situation known to the nearest settlement. Barros sent to relieve them as soon as he heard the disaster, .. but the relief came too late. They had left the island, and both his sons had been slain in Rio Pequeno by the Pitaguares. The father behaved as was to be expected from so great a man; he paid all the debts for which Aires da Cunha and the others who had perished were bound; and remained in debt himself to the crown for artillery and stores, something about six hundred milreas, .. which after many years were remitted to him by Sebastian, .. an act of liberality so tardy, that it can scarcely be called liberal.

One man from this expedition remained among the savages.

¹⁶ There is no doubt that this is the origin of the name, .. though half a century after this event it was called Ilha das Vacas, .. Cow-Island.

H

[page] 50

CHAP. II. 1539.

Berredo 1. § 48—50. Sim. Estacio de Silveira, Fr. Marcos de Guadalaxara, there quoted.

He was a blacksmith, of all trades the most useful in such a situation; and from the pieces of wreck which were cast ashore, he extracted iron enough to make himself a great personage, and obtain the daughters of many neighbouring Chiefs for his wives. From him they called the Portugueze Peros¹⁷, supposing it to be their common appellation, and this gave rise to a fable, that there existed a warlike tribe between the rivers Mony and Itapicuru, descended from the survivors of this great shipwreck, who wore beards like their fathers, and remembered them by that name.

¹⁷ I have sometimes suspected, that this name has a different origin, and that the Brazilians meant to call their enemies dogs, perros.

[page 51]

CHAPTER III.

Voyage of Sebastian Cabot.—He names the river Plata, and remains there five years.—D. Pedro de Mendoza obtains a grant of the conquest.—Foundation of Buenos Ayres.—War with the Quirandies.—Famine.—Buenos Ayres burnt by the Savages.—Buena Esperanza founded.—The Timbues.—Mendoza sets sail for Spain, and dies upon the passage.—Ayolas ascends the Paraguay.—The Carios.—The Spaniards win their settlement, and call it Asumpcion.—The Agaces.—Ayolas goes in search of the Carcarisos, a people who were said to have gold and silver.—Yrala waits for him as long as possible, and then returns to Asumpcion.—Misconduct of Francisco Ruyz.—Buena Esperanza besieged and abandoned.—Reinforcements sent out under Cabrera.—Yrala marches in search of Ayolas.—The death of that Commander ascertained.—The Payagoaes.—The Spaniards abandon Buenos Ayres, and collect all their force at Asumpcion.

CHAP. III. 1525.

Voyage of Sebastian Cabot.

Meantime the Spaniards had taken possession of the great river which Juan Diaz de Solis had discovered. The expedition which effected this was fitted out for a different purpose. Of the ships which sailed with Magalhaens, one had returned, laden with spice, from the Moluccas; and at the sight of this precious commodity, the difficulties and dangers of thus procuring it were overlooked. Some merchants of Seville resolved to fit out an adventure for this new track, and persuaded Sebastian Cabot to accept the command, who, having left England, was at this time

[page] 52

CHAP. III. 1525.

Chief¹ Pilot to the King of Spain. A twentieth part of the profits of the voyage was to be given for the redemption of captives; one of the most ordinary and most beneficial modes of charity in countries which are exposed to the piratical states. He was to go in quest of Tarsis and Ophir, Cathaia, and Marco Polo's Cipango. Early in April, 1525, he set sail with four ships, under the most unfavourable circumstances. The Deputies, or Committee of Merchant-Adventurers, were already dissatisfied with him, and would have displaced him, if they could have done it without delaying the expedition. Many of those on board also were disposed to undervalue his abilities and thwart his measures. It is said, that, in consequence of his improvidence, provisions failed before he reached Brazil; now Cabot's talents as a navigator had before this been tried and proved; it is impossible that stores, which were laid in for a voyage to the Moluccas, could, by any improvidence, have been consumed before the ships reached Brazil; but it is exceedingly probable that those persons who laid them in had taken especial care that they should fail, or that they were wilfully destroyed by the men on board, who were determined not to proceed to the Straits.

Cabot touched at an island on the coast, called Ilha dos Patos, or Duck Island, and there took in supplies; requiting the good will which the natives had manifested with the usual villainy of an old discoverer, by forcibly carrying away four of them. The discontent of his people continued to increase, and in hopes of subduing it, he left three of the chief persons in the fleet upon a desert island. But this act of cruelty was not sufficient to restore subordination; and after he had reached the River Plata, or Solis, as it was then called, he was compelled to give

¹ Amerigo Vespucci was probably dead.

[page] 53

CHAP. III. 1525.

up all thoughts of proceeding to the South Sea. He had not sufficient provisions to make the attempt, neither would his men go with him: when he had yielded to them in this point, they seem contentedly to have obeyed him.

Cabot goes up the Plata,

and enters the Paraguay.

Cabot was not a man to return without having done something. He entered the great river, and advanced thirty leagues up till he came to a little island about half a league from the Brazil side, which he named St. Gabriel. Here he anchored, and proceeding seven leagues farther with his boats, discovered a safe station for the ships, in a river on the same side, which he called St. Salvador. The ships were brought there and unloaded, the mouth not being deep enough to receive them otherwise. He built a fort, left men enough to defend it, and advanced with the rest in boats and in a caravel rasée, thinking that although the main object of his expedition had been frustrated, he might still make it of some utility by exploring this river. Thirty leagues farther up he came to the mouth of the Carcaraña; the natives were friendly, and he built another fort there, which he called Santespirito, or Fort Holy Ghost, but which retained his own name. Still he went on till he came to the junction of the rivers Paraguay and Parana; the latter appeared to lead in a direction towards Brazil; he left it, therefore, and proceeded four and thirty leagues up the Paraguay², where he first found an agricultural people. But as these people cultivated their lands, so also they knew how to defend them.

² "Paraguay," says Techo, "signifies the Crowned River, so called because the natives on each side of it wear coronets made of feathers." It seems rather to be the same word as Paraguazu, the Great River. The Guarani and Tupi languages are radically the same; and the same word for a river is found from the Para to the Parana.

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CHAP. III. 1527.

Herrera. 3. 9. 3.

Property had produced patriotism: they had something to fight for; and so well did they fight, that having slain five and twenty of his men, and taken three, they prevented him from advancing.

Voyage of Diego Garcia.

Herrera. 3. 10. 1.

While Cabot was taking possession of the country, that his expedition might not be wholly useless, other ships were on their way from Spain, destined for this very service, under the command of Diego Garcia³. Rodrigo de Area was pilot, and it had been stipulated that he should make a second voyage there to instruct other pilots in the navigation of those parts which he might discover. One of their instructions was to make every possible search for Juan de Cartagena and the French priest whom Magalhaens had turned ashore. The squadron consisted of a ship of one hundred tons, a pinnace (patacke) of twenty-five, and one brigantine, with the frame of another. They got among those perilous shoals which are called the Abrolhos⁴, a word implying the vigilant look-out that must be kept to avoid them: from this danger they had the good fortune to escape, and came to the Bay of St. Vicente, where a Portugueze, who bore the degree of batchelor, supplied them with meat, fish, and such other stores as were raised in the country; and his son-in-law undertook to go with them to the River Solis as interpreter. They touched at the Ilha dos Patos; the natives complained of the treatment which they had so unexpectedly endured from Cabot, but returned only good for evil to his countrymen. At

³ Charlevoix converts him into a Portugueze sent by the Captain General of Brazil to reconnoitre the country, and take possession of it for the King of Portugal. Brazil had no Captain General till many years afterwards, nor was there one of the Captaincies founded at this time.

⁴ Abra os olhos, Open your eyes. Los baxos que llaman de Abre el ojo, says Herrera.

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CHAP. III. 1527.

Herrera. 4. 1. 1.

length they entered the river, put together the other brigantine, and sailed up in it. It was not long before they saw signs of the Spaniards. Cabot's people, who were left there with two ships, seeing the brigantine, thought that those persons whom he had set ashore upon the island were coming against him; and they took arms and proceeded to attack it. Garcia recognized Anton de Grajeda, the commander, in good time, and they met as friends. Intelligence had just been received from Cabot, who was fighting with the natives far up the stream, and had slain about three hundred of them. Garcia now sent his ship back under pretence that it was not well adapted for exploring the river; the true motive was, that his Portugueze friend at St. Vicente had secretly agreed to hire of him this vessel of a hundred tons to carry eight hundred slaves to Portugal! He then proceeded with sixty men, in two brigantines, up to the second fort, and summoned Gregorio Caro, the commander, to deliver it up, as that discovery appertained to him and not to Cabot. Caro answered, that he held the fort for the King of Castille and Sebastian Cabot; but that it was at Garcia's service; and he besought him if, when he advanced higher up, he should find Cabot dead (of which apprehensions now began to be entertained), that he would ransom any prisoners whom the Indians might have taken, promising to pay whatever should thus be expended. He also requested that, on his return, he would take him and his people away with him. Garcia, however, when he got a hundred leagues farther up, found Cabot, and they returned together to the upper fort.

The river now named Plata.

They brought down with them a little gold, and more silver⁵,

⁵ These treasures were not the growth of the country; they proved however a destructive bait to many an unhappy adventurer, tantam enim amnis ille vauo suo inanique nomine de se expectationem excitarat, says Peramas.

Prol. ad Sex Sacerd.

[page] 56

CHAP. III. 1527.

which as it was the first that had yet been seen in America, made them name the River Rio de la Plata, supplanting the memory of Solis by this erroneous appellation. Specimens of this metal, of the natives, and of whatever else he had procured, Cabot now sent to Castille, praying the King to send him reinforcements, and grant him powers to settle there. His application was favourably received, and the merchants who had fitted out the former expedition were called upon to bear part in the expences of another; but this they refused to do, chusing rather to lose the whole of their first expence than risk a second. The Court then resolved to take the adventure upon itself. In such things governments are more dilatory than individuals; and weeks and months are wasted before supplies are sent to new colonists, who are daily expecting them, and starving during the delay.

The Guaranis expel the Spaniards.

Cabot had behaved well to the Guaranis, the tribe nearest his settlements. Their villages were pitched round about his fort, and for two years he had remained upon peaceable and friendly terms with them. Garcia's men were not under the same necessary discipline, and they injured the natives. The Guaranis were a fierce tribe: they called all those who did not speak the same language as themselves, slaves, and waged perpetual war with them, never sparing a man in battle. The gold and silver which Cabot obtained from them were spoils which they had brought from Peru, whither they penetrated in the reign of Guaynacapa, the father of the last Inca. These people, according to their custom, dissembled their resentment till they could manifest it effectually. They secretly collected their strength, fell upon the fortress at break of day, and set fire to it. St. Salvador was destroyed in the same manner, and Cabot, weary of expecting succour, and thinking it hopeless to attempt retaining

[page] 57

CHAP. III. 1531.

the country against so resolute an enemy, quitted it after having retained possession five years⁶.

Herrera. 4. 10. 6.

A Portugueze, by name Gonzcalo de Acosta, returned to Europe with Cabo. From him the Court of Portugal made enquiries concerning the River Plata, and then prepared an armament of four hundred men, beside voluntary settlers, for those parts. It was attempted to conceal the object of this expedition, by giving out that it was destined to drive the French from Brazil. The court of Spain suspected the real destination, and remonstrated against it, and accordingly the design was abandoned.

Expedition of D. P. de Mendoza.

Argentina c. 4. st. 2.

It was not long before a far more extensive settlement was projected, by Don Pedro de Mendoza, a knight of Guadix, one of the royal household. Mendoza had enriched himself at the saccage of Rome; ill-gotten wealth has been so often ill expended, as to have occasioned proverbs in all languages; the plunder of Rome did not satisfy him, and dreaming of other

⁶ Techo says he left a garrison in Santespirito, and then proceeds to relate the story of Lucia Miranda, Sebastian Hurtado her husband, and the Chief of the Timbues, Mangora. This Chief, says the story, fell in love with Lucia, and resolved to destroy all the Spaniards for the sake of possessing her. Accordingly he got possession of the fort by treachery and massacred all who were in it, except four women, and as many boys, .. but he himself fell. His brother Siripus succeeded him, and in his turn became enamoured of Lucia, on whom however no persuasion could prevail. After awhile her husband, who had been absent when the fort was surprized, returned; finding the havoc which had been made, he guessed at the cause, and delivered himself up to the Timbues, that he might be conducted to his wife. Siripus would have put him to death: but at Lucia's entreaties he spared him, vowing however, that if she admitted him as her husband, both should die. They were surprized together, Lucia was burnt alive, and Sebastian, like his patron saint, bound to a tree and pierced with arrows. It can scarcely be necessary to say that all this is mere romance, and has not the slightest foundation in fact.

I

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CHAP. III. 1531.

Mexicos and Cuzcos, he obtained a grant of all the country, from the river Plata to the Straits, to be his government, with permission to proceed across the continent to the South Sea; and he undertook to carry out in two voyages, and within two years, a thousand men, an hundred horses and mares, and stores for one year at his own expence, the King granting him the title of Adelantado, and a salary of two thousand ducats for life, with two thousand more from the produce of the conquest, in aid of his expences. He was to build three fortresses, and be perpetual Alcayde of the first; his heirs after him were to be first Alguazils of the place where he fixed his residence, and after he had remained three years he might transfer the task of compleating the colonization and conquest, either to his heir or any other person whom it might please him to appoint, and with it the privileges annexed; if within two years the King approved the choice. A King's ransom was now understood to belong to the Crown; but as a farther inducement, this prerogative was waived in favour of him and his soldiers, and they were to share it, having deducted the royal fifth first, and then a sixth; if however the King in question were slain in battle, in that case half the spoils should go to the Crown. These terms were made in wishful remembrance of the ransom of Atabalipa. He was to take with him a Physician, Apothecary, and Surgeon, and especially eight Religioners. Life is lightly hazarded by those who have nothing more to stake; but that a man should, like Mendoza, stake such riches as would content the most desperate life-gambler for his winnings, is one of the many indications how generally, and how strongly the contagious spirit of adventure was at this time prevailing.

1534.

Mendoza had covenanted to carry five hundred men in his first voyage; such was his reputation, and such the ardour for going to the Silver River, that more adventurers offered than

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CHAP. III. 1534.

Argentina. c. 4. st. 4.

Foundation of Buenos Ayres.

it was possible for him to take, and he accelerated his departure on account of the enormous expence which such a host occasioned. The force with which he set forth consisted of eleven ships and eight hundred men. So fine an armament had never yet sailed from Europe for America: but they who beheld its departure are said to have remarked, that the service of the dead ought to be performed for the adventurers. They reached Rio de Janeiro after a prosperous voyage, and remained there a fortnight. The Adelantado here, being crippled by a contraction of the sinews, appointed Juan Osorio to command in his stead. Having made this arrangement they proceeded to the place of their destination, anchored at isle St. Gabriel within the Plata, and then on its southern shore, and beside a little river, Don Pedro de Mendoza laid the foundation of a town, which because of its healthy climate he named Nuestra Señora de Buenos Ayres. It was not long before he was made jealous of Osorio by certain envious officers, and weakly lending ear to wicked accusations, he ordered them to fall upon him and kill him; then drag his body into the Plaza, or public market place, and proclaim him for a traitor⁷. This murder was perpetrated, and thus was the expedition deprived of one who is described as an honest and generous good soldier.

Experience had not yet taught the Spaniards that any large body of settlers in a land of savages, must be starved, unless they are well supplied with food from other parts, till they can raise it for themselves. The Quirandies, who possessed the country round about this new settlement, were a wandering tribe, who, in places where there was no water, quenched their thirst by eating a root which they called cardes, or by sucking the blood

⁷ Schmidel calls him his brother; brother-in-law he might have been, .. but the case is atrocious enough without this aggravation.

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CHAP. III. 1535.

War with the Quirandies.

of the animals whom they slew. About three thousand of these savages had pitched their moveable dwellings some four leagues from the spot which Mendoza had chosen for his city. They were well pleased with their visitors, and during fourteen days brought fish and meat to the camp; on the fifteenth they failed, and Mendoza sent a few Spaniards to them to look for provisions, who came back empty-handed and wounded. Upon this he ordered his brother Don Diego, with three hundred soldiers and thirty horsemen, to storm their town, and kill or take prisoners the whole horde. The Quirandies had sent away their women and children, collected a body of allies, and were ready for the attack. Their weapons were bows and arrows and tardes, which were stone-headed tridents about half the length of a lance. Against the horsemen they used a long thong, having a ball of stone at either end. With this they were wont to catch their game: they threw it with practised aim at the legs of the animal; it coiled round and brought him to the ground⁸. In all former wars with the Indians the horsemen had been the main strength, and often the salvation of the Spaniards; this excellent mode of attack made them altogether useless: they could not defend themselves; the Commander and six hidalgos were thrown and killed, and the whole body of horse must have been cut off, if the rest had not fled in time and been protected by the infantry. About twenty foot soldiers were slain with tardes. But it was not possible that these

⁸ The Peruvians used a weapon of the same kind but with three thongs, according to Herrera, who says they invented it against the horse (5. 8. 4.). He elsewhere (5. 2. 10.) speaks of it by the same name, Ayllos, but describes it differently, as long spears or rods, with certain cords attached to them, to catch men as in a net, or snare. Ovalle (3. 7.) says that what the Pampas used had the stone bullet at one end only, and at the other a ball of leather, or other light substance, by which the Indian held it, while he whirled the other round his head, taking his aim. The stone bullet is perfectly round and polished.

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CHAP. III. 1535.

people, brave as they were, could stand against European weapons, and such soldiers as the Spaniards: they gave way at last, leaving many of their brethren dead, but not a single prisoner. The conqueror found in their town plenty of flour, fish, and what is called fish-butter, otter skins, and fishing nets. They left an hundred men to fish with these nets, and the others returned to the camp.

Famine at Buenos Ayres.

Herrera. 5. 9. 10.

Schmidel. c. 1—9.

Mendoza was a wretched leader for such an expedition. He seems improvidently to have trusted to the natives for provision, and unnecessarily to have quarrelled with them. Very soon after his arrival six ounces of bread had been the daily allowance; it was now reduced to three ounces of flour, and every third day a fish. They marked out the city, and began a mud wall for its defence, the height of a lance, and three feet thick; it was badly constructed, .. what was built up one day fell down the next; the soldiers had not yet learnt this part of their occupation. A strong house was built within the circuit for the Adelantado. Meantime their strength began to fail for want of food. Rats, snakes, and vermin of every eatable size were soon exterminated from the environs. Three men stole a horse to eat it. Mendoza was cruel enough to hang them for this; they were left upon the gallows, and in the night all the flesh below the waist was cut from their bodies. Of all miseries famine is the most dreadful. One man ate the dead body of his brother; some murdered their messmates, for the sake of receiving their ratios as long as they could conceal their death, by saying they were ill. The mortality was very great. Mendoza seing that all must perish if they remained here, sent George Luchsan, one of his German or Flemish adventurers, up the river with four brigantines, to seek for food. Wherever they came the natives fled before them, and burnt what they could not carry

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CHAP. III. 1535.

away. Half the men were famished to death, and all must have died if they had not fallen in with a tribe, who gave them just maize enough to support them during their return.

Buenos Ayres burnt by the Savages.

The Quirandies had not been dismayed by one defeat; .. they prevailed upon the Bartenes, the Zechuruas, and the Timbues to join them, and with a force which the besieged in their fear estimated at three and twenty thousand, though it did not probably amount to a third of that number, suddenly attacked the new city. The weapons which they used were not less ingeniously adapted to their present purpose than those which had proved so effectual against the horse. They had arrows which took fire at the point as soon as they were discharged, which were never extinguished till they had burnt out, and which kindled whatever they touched. With these devilish implements they set fire to the thatched huts of the settlers, and consumed them all. The stone house of the Adelantado was the only dwelling which escaped destruction. At the same time, and with the same weapons, they attacked the ships and burnt four; the other three got to safe distance in time, and at length drove them off with their artillery. About thirty Spaniards were slain.

1536.

Buena Es. peranza founded.

Argentina. c. 4. st. 22.

The Adelantado now left a part of his diminished force in the ships to repair the settlement; giving them stores enough to keep them starving for a year, which they were to eke out how they could: he himself advanced up the river with the rest, in the brigantines and smaller vessels. But he deputed his authority to Juan de Ayolas, being utterly unequal to the fatigue of command; .. in fact he was at this time dying of the most loathsome and dreadful malady that human vices have ever yet brought upon human nature. About eighty-four leagues up they came to an island inhabited by the Timbues, who received

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CHAP. III. 1536.

The Timbues-

Schmidel. 10—13.

Herrera. 5. 10. 15.

them well. Mendoza presented their Chief, Zchera⁹ Wasu, with a shirt, a red cap, an axe, and a few other trifles, in return for which he received fish and game enough to save the lives of his people. This tribe trusted wholly to fishing and to the chase for food. They used long canoes. The men were naked, and ornamented both nostrils with stones. The women wore a cotton-cloth from the waist to the knee, and cut beauty-slashes in their faces. Here the Spaniards took up their abode, and named the place Buena Esperanza, signifying Good Hope. One Gonzalo Romero, who had been one of Cabot's people, and had been living among the savages, joined them here. He told them there were large and rich settlements up the country, and it was thought advisable that Ayolas should proceed with the brigantines in search of them.

Mendoza returns to Spain.

Meantime Mendoza, who was now become completely a cripple, returned to Buenos Ayres. He waited awhile in hopes of hearing some good tidings from Ayolas, and at length sent Juan de Salazar with a second detachment in quest of him. His health grew daily worse, and his hopes fainter; he had lost his brother in this expedition, and expended above forty thousand ducats of his substance, nor did there appear much probability of any eventual success to reimburse him; so he determined to sail for Spain, leaving Francisco Ruyz to command at Buenos Ayres, and appointing Ayolas Governor, if he should return, and Salazar in case of his death. His instructions were, that as soon as either of them should return he was to examine what provisions were left, and allow no ratios to any persons

⁹ So Schmidel writes the name: .. his own German mouth might perhaps articulate it. By the word Wasu, great, it appears that this tribe was of the same stock as the Tupinambas.

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CHAP. III. 1537.

Schmidel. 14.

Herrera. 6. 3. 17—18.

who could support themselves, nor to any women who were not employed either in washing or in some other such necessary service: that he should sink the ships or dispose of them in any other manner, and if he thought fit, proceed across the continent to Peru, where if he met with Pizarro and Almagro he was to procure their friendship in the Adelantado's name; and if Almagro was disposed to give him one hundred and fifty thousand ducats for a resignation of his government, as he had given to Pedro de Alvarado, he was to accept it, or even one hundred thousand, unless it should appear more profitable not to close with such an offer. How strong must his hope of plunder have been, after four years of continued disappointment and misery! .. Moreover, he charged his successor, if it should please God to give him any jewel or precious stone, not to omit sending it him, as some help in his trouble. And he instructed him to form a settlement on the way to Peru, either upon the Paraguay or elsewhere, from whence tidings of his proceedings might be transmitted. Having left these directions, Mendoza embarked, still dreaming of gold and jewels, and died upon the voyage.

Ayolas ascends the Paraguary.

Ayolas meantime advanced up the river with four hundred men in search of the Paraguay, and the rich countries of which he had heard, where maize and apples were said to grow in abundance, and roots of which the natives made wine; where there was plenty of fish and flesh, and sheep as big as mules. On their way they found upon the banks of the river, a serpent worthy to have stopt a second army; it was forty five feet long, in girth the size of a man, black, and spotted with red and tawny; they slew it with a ball. The natives said they had never seen a larger, and that such serpents were very destructive, coiling round them in the water and dragging them down, and devouring them. They cut it in pieces, and ate it boiled or roast-

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CHAP. III. 1536.

The Carios.

ed¹⁰, but it does not appear that the Spaniards were at this time hungry enough to partake of the banquet. Before Ayolas reached the Paraguay he lost one of his ships; it was impossible to take the men out of it on board the other, so they were compelled to proceed by land, where they suffered so much from want of food, and from crossing marshes, lakes, and lagoons, that if a friendly tribe had not given them provisions and canoes, they must all have perished. Thus sometimes at peace, sometimes fighting their way, and suffering all the extremes of fatigue and hunger, they advanced nearly three hundred leagues up this river, till they came to a tribe called the Carios¹¹, who though as ferocious as their neighbours, were in some respects less savage. They cultivated maize; they planted the sweet potatoe¹², and a root¹³ which had the taste of the chesnut, from which they made an intoxicating liquor, as they did also from honey, boiling it. And here the Spaniards found the swine, ostriches, and sheep as big as mules, of which they had heard. The people were little, but stout: they were naked, and wore a long lip-stone. They devoured all their prisoners except one woman, and if she ever refused to prostitute herself they ate her also. These Carios had a town called Lampere, on the eastern bank of the river, four leagues above the place where the main branch of the Pilcomayo falls into the Paraguay. It was surrounded with two palisadoes about as high as a man could reach with his sword. The

¹⁰ This is a dainty among the Indians, and also among the Mamalucos.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 46.

¹¹ Herrera (5. 10. 15.) says, these are the people who in other parts of the Indies, are called Caribs. But it is probable that the Islanders applied this name indiscriminately to all the cannibal tribes.

¹² Schmidel calls them Padades, and says they taste like apples.

¹³ Mandiochpobion Schmidel calls the root, and the liquor Mandeboere.

K

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CHAP. III. 1536.

stakes were as thick as a man's waist, and set about twelve paces asunder; .. it is difficult to guess of what use they could have been, being so far apart, .. possibly the fortification had not been compleated. They had dug pit-falls, planted sharp stakes in them, and covered them over, as a stratagem against these invaders, whom they were resolved to resist.

The Spaniards win the town, and call it Asumpcion.

Schmidel. c. 15—21.

When Ayolas advanced against the town, he found them drawn up ready for battle. They sent to him, bidding him return to his ships, and to his own country as soon as possible, for which, they said, they would supply him with provisions, and every thing necessary. But the Spaniards were not come as visitors; they had now hungrily subsisted four years upon fish and meat, and having at length reached a cultivated country, they were determined to take and keep possession of it. This they explained to the Carios, and assured them that they came as friends; the natives would listen to no such friendship; but when the guns were discharged, terrified at seeing their people fall without a blow, and wounded so dreadfully, they knew not how, they fled precipitately, and many of them in their flight fell into the pits which they had dug for the enemy. Still they defended their town, and killed sixteen of the Spaniards; but on the third day they sued for peace, because their women and children were with them. They promised to obey the conquerors in all things; presented Ayolas with six stags and seven girls, and gave two women to each of the soldiers. Having made peace upon these terms, the Catholic Spaniards named the town Asumpcion in honour of the Virgin Mary, and in memory of the day upon which they took possession of it¹⁴.

¹⁴ It is remarkable, that Herrera says nothing of the capture of this town, nor of the settling there, though when he next treats of this country, he speaks of it as of a well known place.

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CHAP. III. 1536.

The Agaces.

Schmidel. 22. 19.

The first service in which the Carios were employed, was in building a fort of wood, earth, and stones, to secure their own subjection. They then offered to assist the Spaniards against the Agaces¹⁵, .. a way of asking assistance from them against an old enemy. The Agaces were a tribe of hunters and fishers, who painted their skin with an indelible blue die, extracted from a root. Their settlements were about thirty leagues lower down the stream; they fought better by water than by land, and had annoyed the Spaniards on their way, and slain fifteen of them. Ayolas therefore willingly indulging his own resentment, and that of his new subjects at the same time, descended the river and fell upon them suddenly before day-break. The Carios, according to their custom, spared not a soul alive. They took about five hundred canoes, and burnt every settlement they came to. A few of the tribe happened to be absent, and thus escaped the slaughter: about a month afterwards, when they returned, they put themselves under the protection of the Spaniards, which Ayolas conceded, the laws of the Conquests not permitting him to declare them slaves, till they had rebelled, as it was called, three times. The Cueremagbas, who were the nearest tribe to these, wore a parrot's feather through the nose.

Ayolas in of the .

Ayolas remained six months at Asumpcion. The Carios informed him that beyond their track of territory, which extended eighty leagues higher up the Paraguay, the lands of the Payagoaes began, a people who had the Algarroba, the Carob or Locust Tree¹⁶, whereof they made a flour which they ate with

¹⁵ Aigais according to Schmidel's orthography.

¹⁶ The Germans, says Schmidel, call this Joannebrot; .. this word probably alludes to the erroneous opinion, that the locusts which were the food of the Baptist, were the fruit of this tree.

[page] 68

CHAP. III. 1536.

Schmidel. 23. 24.

fish, and also a liquor as sweet as must. Beyond them he heard of a richer nation, called the Carcarisos: against these he determined to go, and leaving a hundred men at Asumpcion, he proceeded up the river with the rest. The Payagoaes made no resistance; they knew what had befallen their neighbours, and followed a wiser policy. Ayolas enquired of them concerning the Carcarisos; they replied, that they had heard of them; that they dwelt far up the country in a province which abounded with gold and silver; that they were as wise a people as the strangers who were enquiring for them, and that provisions of every kind were plentiful among them; this, they said, they had heard, .. but they had never seen any of that nation. He asked for guides to the country of these people, which they readily gave. Here he dismantled three of his vessels, and left fifty Spaniards in the other two, under Domingo Martinez de Yrala, with orders to wait four months for him at this post (which he named Candelaria), by which time, if he were not returned, they were to fall down the river to Asumpcion. Then taking with him three hundred natives, whom he had brought to carry their food and baggage, he began his march towards the West, with about two hundred men.

Yrala obliged to return to Asumpcion.

The four months elapsed, and Yrala waited two months longer in vain. The vessels required caulking, and for want of oakum he used the men's shirts as a substitute. But there is no finding a substitute for food: the Payagoaes lived upon the chance supply of their rivers and forests, and when this was to be shared with fifty Spaniards, it may well be supposed that it soon began to fail. Yrala endured this dearth as long as he could, and then returned to Asumpcion to repair his vessels and lay in stores. As soon as this was done he came back to Candelaria. Ayolas had not appeared, nor could any tidings be heard of him; the Payagoaes would not provide food, and

[page] 69

CHAP. III. 1536.

Herrera. 6. 3. 17.

the Spaniards could not provide themselves with it by force, as if they had been among an agricultural people. Once more, therefore, he was compelled to return to Asumpcion. There he found news of an unexpected calamity. The locusts had stript the maizals, and no food was to be had except what they could win in war from those tribes whose fields had escaped this destructive visitation.

1537.

Fr. Ruyz comes to Asumpcion.

Meantime Juan de Salazar had set out in search of Ayolas, as Mendoza had instructed him. He came first to the Island of Buena Esperanza, where the Timbues continued on friendly terms with the Spanish settlers, and had taught them their method of fishing, so that they were enabled to provide for themselves better than formerly. Salazar went on some way, but the difficulty of subsisting was such, that he turned back without reaching Asumpcion, and returned to Buenos Ayres. Upon this Francisco Ruyz, whom Mendoza had left there in command, determined to go upon the same search himself with a stronger force: and he began his expedition with two hundred men, on board six vessels, upon the miserable ratio of six ounces of maize per day. After grievous sufferings, they reached Asumpcion at a time when Yrala and the Carios were living by plunder; and so little plunder was to be had, that men were lying dead along the ways, having perished for want. This was no station for two hundred starving adventurers. They prepared to return, but Yrala requested Francisco Ruyz, as his own vessels were now so rotten as to be unserviceable, to leave him one wherein he might again go to Candelaria, in hopes of meeting his commander. Francisco said he would do so, if Yrala would acknowledge himself to be under obedience to him. It was manifest from this that he designed to usurp the government Yrala had in his possession the deed by which Ayolas had appointed him to the command during his absence; but his

[page] 70

CHAP. III. 1537.

Herrera. 6. 3. 18.

force was inferior to that of these new comers, and he wisely forbore to produce it. Had he been less prudent, it is said that Francisco Ruyz would assuredly have slain him, .. for the Spanish discoverers held the lives of each other as cheap as they did those of the Indians. He avoided the danger by saying, that if the other could show any powers from Ayolas which vested the authority in him, undoubtedly he would yield obedience. This seems to have been thought satisfactory: the vessel was given him, and Francisco returned to Buena Esperanza.

Misconduct of Fr. Ruyz.

There this man destroyed the friendship which had so long subsisted between the settlers and the natives. He, with the aid of a priest and a secretary, from what motive does not appear, treacherously and wickedly tortured and put to death some of the Timbues; .. then leaving a garrison of one hundred and twenty men in a little fort, called Corpus Christi, these wretches departed, and escaped the vengeance which fell upon their countrymen. A Chief of the Timbues, who had lived upon terms of great intimacy with the Spaniards, warned him not to leave one of them behind, for it was determined to cut them off, or drive them out of the land. This warning only produced a promise from him to return speedily; but it proved the means of beguiling the garrison. For, a few days afterwards, the brother of this Chief came and requested of them that they would send a few men to escort him and his family, saying it was his wish to come and settle among them. Six men were all be asked for; the Captain, more prudently as it might have been supposed, sent fifty harquebusseers, well-armed, and instructed to be upon their guard. They were welcomed with much apparent good-will; but no sooner had they sate down to eat, than the Timbues fell upon them; large parties rushed out from the huts where they had been concealed, and so well was the slaughter planned and executed, that only one of the fifty escaped. Immediately the

[page] 71

CHAP. III. 1537.

Buena Esperanza besieged and abandoned.

Herrera. 6. 3. 18. Schmidel. 27. 28.

conquerors beset the fort, and assaulted it night and day for fourteen days. On the fourteenth they set fire to the dwellings. The Captain sallied, and was entrapped into an ambuscade, where he was surrounded and killed by a party armed with long lances, in which the swords were set which they had taken from the slain. Luckily for the Spaniards, the besiegers had not sufficient store of provisions to continue the blockade, and were therefore obliged to retire and provide themselves anew. Meantime Francisco Ruyz, forboding the consequences of his conduct, sent two brigantines to their assistance, in which they embarked for Buenos Ayres, and abandoned the station.

Reinforcements sent out under Cabrera.

Herrera. 6. 3. 18.

When the ship, on board which Mendoza died, arrived at Seville, two vessels were lying there ready to set off with reinforcements for him, pursuant to the terms of his contract, and the arrangements which he had made for fulfilling it. These vessels the King ordered to sail under Alonso de Cabrera, granting them permission to proceed on a trading voyage through the Straits, if they should find the settlements in the Plata forsaken. He sent also a galleon laden with arms and ammunition. The first orders from the Court were, that if the Adelantado had not appointed a successor, the soldiers should chuse one; but when it was understood that he had named Ayolas, that nomination was confirmed. Six Franciscans went out in this expedition: they carried with them the King's pardon for those Spaniards who, having eaten human flesh from extreme hunger during the famine, had fled among the savages to escape punishment for it; it was thought a less evil to pardon them, than that they should thus be cut off from all christian communion.

1538.

One of these ships reached Buenos Ayres about a fortnight after the evacuation of Buena Esperanza: its companion, with two hundred men on board, had put into the island of St. Catalina, on the

[page] 72

CHAP. III. 1538.

Schmidel. 29. 30.

coast of Brazil, where a small vessel was dispatched to look for her, and to load with rice, mandioc flour, maize, and whatever other provisions the island afforded. This vessel, on its return, was wrecked in the river, and six only of the crew escaped by clinging to the mast. Hulderick Schmidel was one of the six, a German adventurer, who went out with Mendoza, and who wrote the history of these transactions.

Yrala marches in search of Ayolas.

Herrera. 6. 7. 5.

The Franciscans set out to preach among the natives, and Cabrera, with Francisco Ruyz, and the main body of the Spaniards, proceeded to Asumpcion. No tidings had yet been heard of Ayolas; there could now be little doubt of his death; the question of the succession was to be settled, and Yrala now produced his powers, being encouraged by Cabrera, who hoped to share in them, and therefore lent his influence against Francisco Ruyz. But when Cabrera found that Yrala was not disposed to admit an equal, he instigated the officers of the crown to require that farther search should be made for Ayolas. Yrala needed no compulsion for this service; with nine ships and four hundred men, a stronger force than they had ever before had so far inland, .. he once more advanced to Candelaria. Here nothing was to be learnt: the Spaniards proceeded farther up the river, till they met six Indians in a canoe, who gave them to understand, by signs, that their countrymen were in the interior, dwelling in a strong house which they had built, and employed in digging gold and silver. Upon this good news, about two hundred set out to join them, taking these Indians for their guides. After the first day's march the ways became bad, for the inundations were beginning; they had to wade through water, always up to the waist, and sometimes breast high; and frequently no spot of dry land was to be found where they might lie down at night. At length both their provisions and

[page] 73

CHAP. III. 1539.

strength began to fail, and they gave up this desperate attempt, having wasted a month in it before they rejoined the brigantines.

The death of Ayolas ascertained.

Herrera. 6. 7. 5.

Schmidel. 25.

Two days after their return an Indian came to them, and gave the first information of the fate of Ayolas and all his men. He belonged, he said, to the tribe of the Chanes, by whom the Spaniards had been friendlily received, and where they had learnt that the Chemeneos and Carcaraes¹⁷, who resided still farther inland, used the precious metals. Towards their country they proceeded; they reached it, and saw its riches; but meeting with resistance, turned back, thinking to come again with a greater force. The Chief of the Chanes then gave them much gold and silver, and Indians to carry it, of whom he who related this was one. They arrived at Candelaria, where Yrala had been appointed to wait for them, .. but it was long after the time appointed, and they were greatly exhausted by a long march through a waste country. Here the Payagoaes welcomed them, and as the brigantines were not there, invited them to be their guests till Yrala should return. The Spaniards trusted these people, were decoyed by them into a marsh, and there slain to a man, with all their Indians, this being the only one who escaped.

The Payagoaes.

Yrala could not take vengeance now because of the inundations, nor were the Payagoaes¹⁸ at any time easily to be chastised.

¹⁷ Probably the same name as Carcarisos.

¹⁸ Schmidel always calls them the Paiembos. It is difficult to account for his exceeding inaccuracy in dates and names. All other authors write Payagoaes, a word which certainly has a more Paraguayish appearance. They are spoken of in a manuscript account of the Lake of Xarayes, as infesting those parts in 1786, with canoes of remarkable swiftness.

[page] 74

CHAP. III. 1539.

Jolis. 4. 6. Art. 9.

This nation, which continued for two centuries to be the curse of Paraguay, is divided into two tribes, the Sarigues and Tacambus: the former infest the river above Asumpcion, for more than two hundred leagues up, as far as the Lake of Xarayes; the latter carry their depredations to a still greater distance below it, and into the Parana. No fresh-water pirates have ever been so daring and destructive as these almost amphibious savages. Sometimes they would approach a vessel in the darkness, and so turn it that it should run aground, for they knew every shoal and sand-bank in the stream. Sometimes they would swim to the vessel unperceived, .. head only above water, .. and in an instant board her on all sides. Their canoes usually carried three persons, were exceedingly light, and of beautiful workmanship; when they were pursued and overtaken, they upset them, and used them in the water as pavaises against the weapons of their pursuers; .. as soon as the danger was over, righted them with a touch, and went again upon their way. They were not less insidious by land than by water. Hunters they decoyed into ambush by imitating the cry of whatever game they were questing, whether bird or beast; stronger parties they betrayed by offering to be their guides, giving them food and fruits, and so enticing them on till they had them in their power, and could fall upon them unawares. Even during the last century the Paraguay could not be navigated without infinite danger from these savages. They dwelt chiefly in the islands, or in the bays and creeks, and there lurking under cover of the trees, lay in wait for prey. Their women are handsome, but of low stature, and with feet so remarkably small, that they have been likened to the Chinese women. This is supposed to be occasioned by their peculiar mode of life, passing so much time in their narrow canoes, and never travelling in any other manner.

[page] 75

CHAP. III. 1539.

Buenos Ayres abandoned.

Schmidel. c. 26.

Herrera. 6. 7. 5.

It was impossible, during the inundation, to chastise these Payagoaes for the murder of Ayolas and his companions, and Yrala could do nothing but return. Some time afterwards two of the tribe were made prisoners by the Carios: he tortured them till, whether guilty or innocent, they confessed the fact, and then, with the true barbarity of a discoverer, he roasted them alive! .. But these discoverers were as enterprizing as they were cruel; the gold and silver which Ayolas had collected, though they had only heard of these treasures, encouraged their cupidity, and being determined to tread in his steps, and prosecute their discoveries in the heart of the continent, they thought it advisable to abandon Buenos Ayres, and collect their whole force at Asumpcion. This accordingly was done, Yrala commanding, by virtue of the powers which Ayolas had vested in him, and the stronger title of the people's choice; for he had always, says Hulderick Schmidel, shewn himself just and benevolent, especially to the soldiers. .. There is reason to believe that all his justice and benevolence was confined to them.

[page 76]

CHAPTER IV.

Expedition of Diego de Ordas.—Gonzalo Pizarro sets out in quest of El Dorado.—Voyage of Orellana.—Attempt of Luiz de Mello to settle at Maranham.

CHAP. IV. 1530.

Expedition of Diego de Ordas.

The Maranham, which had proved so fatal to Joam de Barros, was destined to be, for many years, the scene of adventure and mishap. One adventurer had already failed there before his disastrous expedition. This was Diego de Ordas, he who has left a memorable name in Mexican history for having ascended the burning mountain Popocatepec. But neither the glory which he had thus gained, nor his share of the spoils of Mexico contented him, for it is at once the nature and the punishment of ambition to be never at rest. He applied for a commission to conquer and settle the country from Cape de la Vela eastward, two hundred leagues; and it was granted, on condition that he should endeavour to explore the coast as far onward as the Maranham, .. but not trespass upon the limits of the King of Portugal. The title of Governor was given him, with a salary of 725,000 maravedis, from which he was to pay an Alcalde Mayor, a Physician, Surgeon, and Apothecary, thirty Foot-soldiers, and ten Esquires. He was, moreover,

[page] 77

CHAP. IV. 1530.

Herrera. 4. 10. 9

appointed Adelantado and Captain General for life, and the wand of Alguazil Mayor given him for life also; and he had permission to erect four fortresses in such places as he should think convenient: these were to be erected at his own expence, but the command of them was vested in him and his heirs, with the ordinary appointments; he was also to have one thousand ducats yearly during life, in aid of his expences, and a twentieth of the royal rights in his conquests, provided it did not exceed one thousand ducats more. He was privileged to retain his possessions in New Spain, though he did not reside upon them. Five and twenty mares, and as many horses, were to be given him from the King's stock at Jamaica; he had permission to take fifty slaves, and a grant of 300,000 maravedis towards the cost of artillery and ammunition; and he had leave to establish a hospital, and alms given him towards it. Terms so advantageous would hardly have been conceded had it not been for the high reputation which Ordas had already gained.

1531.

Four hundred men were raised for this enterprize. He set sail from Seville early in 1531, and at Teneriffe he engaged three brethren of the name of Silva to follow him with two hundred more: the Spanish Canarians are an active and adventurous race, and have ever supplied the colonies with their most useful subjects. Ordas went on to the Maranham. There he caught a canoe with four natives. They had two stones with them, which the Spaniards supposed to be emeralds; one of them was as large as a man's hand; and the account they gave was, that some days distance up the river there was a whole rock of such stone. They had also two cakes of flour, resembling soap, and seeming as if they had been kneaded with balsam; which they said, they gathered from the boughs of incense trees, of which there was a wood about forty leagues up the stream. Ordas attempted to make his way up; but he found the navigation far

[page] 78

CHAP. IV. 1531.

1532.

Herrera. 4. 10. 9—10. 5. 1. 11.

P. Simon. 2. c. 17—26.

too difficult; and after having been in imminent danger among the shoals and currents, and losing one of his ships, he resolved to try his fortune elsewhere. First he went to Paria, and there interfered with the conquests which had already been taken possession of by another. Then having received a severe reprimand from Madrid, with orders to chuse his two hundred leagues either beginning from Cape de la Vela towards the Maranham, or from the river towards the Cape, he entered the Orinoco, then called the Viapari, from a Cazique whose territories lay upon its banks. This attempt proved as unfortunate as the former; he however persevered in wintering in the river, till at length having lost great part of his men by shipwreck and other mishaps, he abandoned the enterprize, set sail for Spain, and died either on the voyage, or soon after his arrival.

This expedition took place a few years before that of Aires da Cunha and the sons of Barros; .. a few years after it the Maranham was navigated from the mountains of Quito to the Sea.

1541.

Expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro in search of El Dorado.

When Pizarro had secured, as he imagined, the authority of his family in Peru, by the execution of his old friend and comrade and benefactor, he gave the government of Quito to his brother Gonzalo, a man even more bloody and more infamous in history than himself. Eastward of that city there was said to be a rich country, which abounded with cinnamon; and Gonzalo, as soon as he reached his government, prepared to take possession of this land of spice, and then proceed and conquer El Dorado, thinking to anticipate Belalcazar, who was gone to Spain to solicit a grant of these parts. There was no lack of adventurers for such an enterprize. He set out with about two hundred foot-soldiers, one hundred horse, four thousand Indians, to be used as beasts of burthen for the army, and about four thousand swine and Indian sheep.

[page] 79

CHAP. IV. 1541.

He entered first the province of the Quixos, the last people whom the Incas had subdued. They opposed the Spaniards, but finding their inferiority fled in the night, and removed their women and children, so that not one was to be seen. While the army halted here, a violent earthquake happened, which threw down the Indian dwellings, and cleft the earth in many places. This was but a prelude to what they were to suffer from the elements. Violent storms of thunder and lightning followed, with such rain, that a river beyond which they were wont to procure provisions, was no longer fordable, and they began to be in want. At length quitting this station, they crost a branch of the Cordilleras, where many of their Indians were frozen: they threw away their provisions here, and abandoned their live stock, that they might hasten on and save themselves. The country into which they descended was unpeopled. They cut their way through the woods, till they reached the valley of Zumaque, which lies along the foot of a volcano, thirty leagues from Quito. Here they found habitations and food, and here they were joined by Francisco de Orellana, a knight of Truxillo, with thirty horse. He had set out after them from Quito, and suffered even more upon the road, for they had devoured the country before him. Gonzalo appointed him his Lieutenant-General; and leaving the main body of his people in Zumaque, advanced with seventy foot-soldiers towards the East, to reconnoitre the land of spice.

Pedro de Cizza. c. 40.

He found the spice trees¹; their produce resembled the cinnamon of the East in taste, but was of inferior quality; in shape it is described as like an acorn cup, but deeper, thicker, and of

¹ A missionary is at this time endeavouring to introduce the culture of the cinnamon among the Indians of Manoa. Mercurio Peruano. N. 153.

[page] 80

CHAP. IV. 1541.

darker colour, approaching to black; they were in abundance, and those which were cultivated produced better spice than such as grew wild. The natives carried on a considerable trade in it with all the adjoining country, exchanging it for provisions, and the few articles of clothing which they used. They were a poor, unoffending people, contented with little. Their poverty at once disappointed and provoked Gonzalo; he enquired of them if these trees grew in any other country except their own. They replied that they did not, and this they knew, because other tribes came to them for the produce. But when he asked what countries lay beyond them, and they could give no intelligence of El Dorado, the golden kingdom which he coveted, .. with the true spirit of a Pizarro, .. a name never to be uttered without abhorrence, .. he tortured them to extort a confession of what they did not know, and could have no motive to conceal; burnt some alive, and threw others alive to his dogs, .. blood-hounds, which were trained in this manner to feed upon human flesh! During the night a river on whose banks he had taken up his lodging rose so suddenly that he and his men hardly escaped from the inundation. He then returned to Zumaque. For two months that the Spaniards had remained there, it rained day and night, so that they were never dry, and their garments rotted upon them. The natives, who were aware of this inconvenience, went naked, which they could well do in a climate excessively hot.

Gonzalo soon found the evil effects of his accursed cruelty. The tidings had spread from tribe to tribe, and when he enquired for the rich countries of which he was in search, the poor natives, not daring to contradict his hope, deluded him and sent him on. They came at length to the banks of a deep and wide river, along which they proceeded. In one place it made a fall of some hundred feet, and about forty leagues farther on, it was

[page] 81

CHAP. IV. 1541.

contracted to the breadth of twenty feet, between two precipices. The rocks were of tremendous height, .. they guessed it at two hundred fathoms; but for fifty leagues which they had now tracked the river, there had been no place where they could possibly cross, and they resolved to throw a bridge from rock to rock. The natives who attempted to impede them on the opposite side, were soon put to flight. It was with infinite difficulty that the first beam was laid across; when that was done the rest was comparatively easy. One soldier turned giddy on the height, and fell.

But severe as their sufferings had been in the mountainous country, and in the woodland, there was now yet more to suffer. They had marshes to wade through, lagoons and lakes and flooded savannahs to pass, and again to endure excessive rains. By this time their provisions were nearly expended, and they had begun upon their war-dogs. It was determined to build a brigantine which should carry the sick, and ferry them across the river whenever the way appeared more practicable on the opposite shore, or the country more abundant. They built huts before they could make charcoal, on account of the rain; they eked out what iron they had taken with them, with the bits and stirrups of the horses, which had been slaughtered as dainties for the sick; they gathered gum which served for pitch, and for oakum they used their own rotten garments. This was a work of great labour and difficulty for soldiers to perform, and when the vessel was compleated and launched they thought their troubles were at an end.

Still those troubles were very great. They had still to cut their way through thickets on the hill-side, and canes in the flat ground, and to traverse inundated fields where oftentimes man and horse were fain to swim, they in the brigantine anchoring from time to time, that the stream might not carry them on

M

[page] 82

CHAP. IV. 1541.

Herrera. 6. 8. 6—7.

Zarate. l. 4. c. 1—4.

Gomara. c. 143.

Garcilasso. 2. 3. c. 2—3.

Acuña in El Marañon y Amazonas. l. 2. c. 10.

Pizarro y Orellana. Vida de G. Pizarro. c. 2.

faster than their comrades could proceed on shore. Gonzalo, with his wonted tyranny, carried with him as prisoners all the Caziques on whom he could lay hands, whether their tribes had fled from him, or received him with friendly welcoming, making only this difference, that he put those in irons whom he suspected of wishing to escape. These prisoners, partly from fear, partly with a design to rid their own territories of such guests, affirmed that rich and plentiful lands lay before him, a report in which all the natives agreed for the same reasons. They said that he would come into this better country by following the stream till it was joined by a larger river. One day these Caziques, who had long watched for the opportunity, leapt into the water fettered as they were, swam across, and eluded all pursuit. They were then, according to the account of the natives, about eighty leagues from the junction of the two rivers, and the famine among them was by this time excessive. Above a thousand of their Peruvians had already perished. As the best means of obtaining relief which could be devised, Gonzalo ordered Orellana to proceed in the brigantine with fifty men to the fertile country at the point of junction, load there with provisions, and return as speedily as possible to meet and relieve the army.

The stream being joined by many others from the South side, carried them rapidly down. On the second day they struck upon a stump, which stove one of the planks of the vessel: they haled her ashore and repaired the damage. It was on the Coca that they were embarked, and in three days they reached the place where it joins the Napo; the eighty computed leagues of the Indians they judged to be more than a hundred. The country through which they had past was uninhabited, neither were there any signs of culture or of population here. What was to be done? To return against that strong stream was almost impossible, with that vessel, and weak as they were for

[page] 83

CHAP. IV. 1541.

want of sufficient food; and if they waited for the army, what could they expect, already sinking with famine, but to perish? this would be to destroy themselves without benefitting their fellows. Orellana urged this to his men; the plea was strong and reasonable; and he had conceived the adventurous hope of following this great river through the continent, and making his way to Spain, there to ask the conquest of the countries through which he should pass. Fray Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican, and Hernan Sanchez de Vargas, a young knight of Badajoz, opposed his project, representing to him the distress which the army would endure when they should arrive at the appointed place of meeting, and find that their last reliance had failed them. Orellana set this latter ashore between the rivers, alone, and in a desert country, to wait for the army, and probably to perish² with hunger long before they could reach him. He then renounced the commission which Gonzalo Pizarro had given him, and received the command anew from the election of his men, that so he might make discoveries for himself, and not, holding a deputed authority, in the name of another. Fray Gaspar's opposition had been less strenuous than that of Hernan Sanchez, .. perhaps it was not so sincere: .. this is to be suspected because he lent his testimony to all the falshoods which Orellana afterwards reported. The Friar now said mass according to the form appointed for mariners at sea, and they committed themselves to the stream.

It was upon the last day of December 1541, that this voyage was begun, one of the most adventurous that has ever been enterprized. The little stock of provisions with which they had

² He was found alive when the army reached the junction, .. having subsisted upon herbs.

[page] 84

CHAP. IV. 1542.

parted from the army was already exhausted, and they boiled their leathern girdles and the soles of their shoes with such herbs as seemed most eatable. On the eighth of January, when they had almost given up all hope of life, they heard before day-light an Indian drum, .. a joyful sound, for be the natives what they would, this they knew, that it must be their own fault now if they should die of hunger. At day-break, being eagerly upon the lookout, they perceived four canoes, which put back on seeing the brigantine; and presently they saw a village where a great body of the natives were assembled, and ready to defend it. The Spaniards were too hungry to negociate. Orellana bade them land in good order and stand by each other; they attacked the Indians like men who were famishing and fought for food, put them presently to the rout, and found an immediate supply. While they were enjoying the fruits of their victory, the Indians took to their canoes and came near them, more to gratify curiosity than resentment. Orellana spake to them in some Indian language, which they partly understood; some of them took courage, and approached him; he gave them a few European trifles, and asked for their Chief, who came without hesitation, was well pleased with the presents which were given him, and offered them any thing that it was in his power to supply. Provisions were requested, and presently peacocks, partridges, fish, and other things were brought in great abundance. The next day thirteen Chiefs came to see the strangers; they were gaily adorned with feathers and gold, and had plates of gold upon the breast. Orellana received them courteously, required them to acknowledge obedience to the Crown of Castille, took advantage as usual of their ignorance to affirm that they consented, and amused them with the ceremony of taking possession of their country in the Emperor's name.

The account which Orellana and Fray Gaspar gave of their

[page] 85

CHAP. IV. 1542.

voyage is in some respects palpably false, as will presently be seen. Their object was to aggravate the riches of the provinces which they had discovered. It is not probable that these tribes had any gold, .. none of the tribes on the Maranham were so far advanced as to use it. Wherever the American Indians used gold, stationary habitations were found, habits of settled life, a regular government, a confederated priesthood, and a ceremonial religion. Wandering tribes will pick up a grain of gold, like a coloured stone, and wear it for its beauty; but they must cease to be erratic before they fabricate it into trinkets or utensils. One of these Chiefs, according to the Friar, informed them that there was a rich and powerful nation inland, and that farther down the river they would come to another rich country, which was inhabited by Amazons. Seven Spaniards died here in consequence of the hunger which they had endured. Their Captain, who was not deficient in any quality which his desperate enterprize required, thought that as they were on such good terms with the natives, this was a fit place to build a better brigantine than the frail one in which they were embarked, and which would be unserviceable when they reached the sea. Two men who had never before tried the smith's trade undertook the iron work; a third undertook to make the charcoal, and they contrived a bellows out of some buskins which had luckily escaped the stew-pan. All fell to work, Orellana being the first at any exertion that was required. In twenty days they made two thousand nails³, and having done this they proceeded,

³ This was waste of iron as well as of time: tree-nails would have answered the purpose better. It does not appear how the iron was procured, and this is remarkable, since Gonzalo Pizarro had such difficulty in finding enough for the first vessel.

[page] 86

CHAP. IV. 1542.

Herrera. 6. 9. 2.

not thinking it prudent to wear out the hospitality of their friends. The delay was injudicious, for nails might have been made at the same time as the brigantine, and in these twenty days their new stock of provisions was consumed. Twenty leagues onward a smaller river fell from the North into the great stream: it came down with a fresh, and raised such a commotion of waters at the junction that the Spaniards thought themselves lost. From hence they advanced, according to their computation, two hundred leagues, encountering many difficulties and dangers on the way, through an uninhabited country. At last they came again in sight of habitations. Orellana sent twenty men ashore, ordering them not to alarm the natives; they found a friendly people, who admired the strangers, and gave them tortoises and parrots for food: on both sides of the river they were supplied with equal willingness. The country was now well peopled as they proceeded. Four canoes came off to meet them next day; gave them tortoises, good partridges, and fish, and were so well pleased with what they received in return, that they invited the Commander to land and see their Chief, Aparia. Orellana landed and made a speech to this Chief upon the Christian Religion, and the Kings of Castille, to which he and his subjects are said to have listened with much attention. Aparia told them if they went to see the Amazons, whom he called Coniapuyara, or the mighty Chieftains⁴, they would do well to bear in mind how few they were themselves, and that this was a numerous nation. Orellana then requested that all the Chiefs of the province might be convened; twenty

⁴ This name seems to be ill translated, and to afford some support to the story of the Amazons, .. for Cunha (in our orthography Coonia) is the Tupi word for woman. The mighty, women, therefore, is its more probable meaning.

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assembled, to whom he repeated his former topics, and concluded by saying, that as they were all children of the Sun, it behoved them all to be friends. They were delighted with this acknowledgement of brotherhood, and not less so at seeing the Spaniards erect a cross and perform the ceremony of taking possession of the land. And here Orellana finding the people hospitable, and food in plenty, built his new brigantine. There was a carver among the crew, who proved singularly serviceable in this coarser but more useful occupation. They caulked it with cotton; the natives supplied pitch, and in five and thirty days the vessel was launched.

Acuña in El Marañon y Amazonas. l 2. c. 10.

While they were thus employed, four Indians arrived, who were clothed and ornamented, and were of great stature; their hair hung down to the waist. They must therefore have belonged to a tribe whom the Spaniards afterwards named Encabellados, from the great length of their hair, both men and women letting it grow as long as it would, .. in some instances below their knees. They came to Orellana, and with much reverence placed food before him, saying they were sent by a powerful Chief to enquire who these strangers were, and whither they were going. He gave them the usual edifying account of the Christian religion, the authority of the Pope, and the power of the King of Castille, and dismissed them with presents. Lent was over before the Spaniards departed. Fray Gaspar and another Priest who was in the expedition, shrieved all the party, preached to them, and exhorted them to go bravely through all their difficulties to the end. On the 24th of April they once more embarked; for eighty leagues the banks were peopled by friendly tribes; then the course of the river lay between desert mountains, and they were fain to feed upon herbs and parched maize, not even finding a place where they could fish. On May 6th they came to a place which seemed to have

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been inhabited formerly, and here they halted for the purpose of fishing. The carver saw an yguana, which is a large animal of the lizard kind, upon a tree near the river; he took aim at it with a cross-bow, and the nock of the bow fell into the water; a large fish was presently caught, and the nock was found in its inside.

In six days more they came to the populous province of Machiparo, which bordered upon the land of a Chief called Aomagua. Orellana has here mistaken the name of the tribe for that of the Chief, for the Omaguas were then settled in these parts⁵; and he has probably fallen into a contrary error respecting the former appellation, because Machiparo is afterwards stated to be the name of the Cazique. One morning a fleet of canoes was seen coming to attack them: the Indians carried shields made of the skins of the alligator, or the manati, or the anta,

⁵ Condamine wrongly supposes that they had fled here from the Kingdom of New Granada, before the Spaniards, .. the conquest of that kingdom had not yet taken place: and on the contrary it is still a tradition among the Omaguas of Quito, that their stock was upon the Marañon, but that many of their tribes fled at sight of Orellana's vessels, some to the low lands of the river, others by the Rio Negro towards the Orinoco, and the new kingdom of Granada.

(Hervas, quoting a letter from Velasco. T. 1. P. 266.)

Condamine is also wrong respecting their language, which he says bears no resemblance either to the Peruvian or Brazilian. It is radically the same as that of the Guaranis and Tupis. (Hervas. T. 1. P. 30. 121.) Acuña confirms the authority of Hervas by calling them in his marginal note, "nacion descendiente de los Quixos." El Marañon y Amazones. L. 2. C. 10.

The etymology of their name is variously given: Acuña says Omaguas, impropio nombre, que les pusieron, quitandoles el Natibo, por su habitacion, qui es a la parte de afuera, que esso quiere dezir Aguas. (El Maranon y Amazonas. L. 2. C. 10.) Condamine says it means flat-heads in the language of Peru.

The province of Machifaro is mentioned in the subsequent voyage of Orsua.

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they came on with beat of tambour and with war-shouts, threatening to devour the strangers. The Spaniards brought their two vessels close together, that they might better defend themselves; but when they came to use their powder it was damp; they had nothing but their cross-bows to trust to, and plying these as well they could, they continued to fall down the stream, fighting as they went. Presently they came to an Indian town; a large body of inhabitants were upon the shore; half the Spaniards landed to attack it, leaving their companions to maintain the fight upon the water. They drove the Indians before them to the town, but seeing that it was a large place, and that the natives were so numerous, the commander of the party returned to Orellana and made his report. A reinforcement of thirteen men was sent; they won the town and loaded themselves with provisions, but above two thousand Indians, as they guessed them to be, attacked them as they were bearing off their spoil, and it was not till after a hard battle of two hours, that they could regain the brigantines. Eighteen of the party were wounded, of whom Pedro de Ampudia died. They had neither surgeon nor any remedy for the rest: nothing could be done for them except psalming, that is, repeating some verses of the psalms over the wound: this mode of treatment was not unusual, and it was so much more reasonable than the methods which were ordinarily in use, that it is no wonder if it generally proved more successful⁶.

⁶ A soldier in Hernando de Soto's expedition had effected great cures by the help of oil, wool, and psalming; but all the oil had been lost in their retreat, and he had given over practice, as being of no avail without it. However at last he was wounded himself; and as he had sworn not to submit to the surgeon's cruelty, he took lard instead of oil, unravelled an old cloak to supply the place of wool, and psalmed himself. In four days he was well; .. he then declared that the whole virtue lay in the words of scripture, and begged pardon for having let so many perish, through a fond persuasion that oil and dirty wool were necessary to the cure. Herrera (7. 7. 5.) has the same faith as this psalmer, and concludes this story by saying, era este hombre casto, buen Christiano, temeroso de Dios, gran ayudador de todos, y curioso en otras tales virtudes.

N

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As soon as they had embarked their booty, they pushed off. By this time the whole country was upon them. The shore was covered with thousands, who, though they could not reach the Spaniards themselves, encouraged those in the canoes by joining in their war-cry. All night the canoes followed them; in the morning the pursuit was relaxed, and the adventurers, weary with the exertions of the day and night, landed upon an island to rest, and dress their food; they could not do this upon either shore, for both were peopled, and both hostile; and they were not permitted to be at peace here. The canoes came on again, and Orellana perceiving that they were landing to attack him, hastened to his vessels. Even there it required all his efforts to save himself. It seemed as if the whole force of the province had been collected against him, with all their canoes. On they came, beating their rude drums, sounding cornets and trumpets, and with tremendous war-whoops. Four or five Conjurors were among them, whose bodies were coated over with some unction, and who spit ashes from their mouths at the Spaniards, and scattered water towards them, in a manner which they likened to the ceremony of sprinkling holy-water with the hyssop. Their aim was to board the brigantines; but the Spaniards had now dried some powder, and one of their harquebusseers, whose name was Cales, getting a steady mark at the Chief of the Indians, shot him in the breast: his people gathered round him, and while they were thus occupied, the brigantines got a-head. The pursuit was

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not however discontinued for two days and nights, till they had got beyond the territories of this powerful Chief Machiparo. When Orellana saw that the enemies no longer followed him, he determined to land and rest. They put to shore, drove the inhabitants from a little village, and remained there three days.

Herrera. 6. 9. 3.

The distance from the territories of Aparia to this place, they estimated at three hundred and forty leagues, of which two hundred were uninhabited. Many roads branched off from this village, which indicated a state of government more formidable than they were prepared to cope with; they did not, therefore, deem it safe to tarry longer; so putting on board good store of fruit, and of biscuit made from maize and from mandioc, the spoils of the place, they reimbarked on the Sunday after Ascension. About two leagues on, the river was joined by another of considerable magnitude, which they named Rio de la Trinidad, because it had three islands at its mouth. The country was well peopled, and abounded with fruits; but so many canoes came out, that they were fain to keep the middle of the stream. The next day, seeing a little settlement delightfully situated, they ventured to land, and easily forced the place; they found there plenty of provisions; and in a sort of pleasure-house, some jars and jugs of excellent pottery, with other vessels, glazed, and well painted. They also found gold and silver, and the Indians told them there was plenty of all these things in the country. Here were two idols, made of platted palms, after a strange fashion; they were of gigantic size, and round the thicker part of the arms and legs were broad circles of a funnel shape, like the guard of a spear. There were two high roads leading from this place; Orellana went about half a league along each of them,.. and seeing that they widened as he went on, thought it not safe to remain a

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night on shore in such a country. He and his people were not to think of enriching themselves now, but of saving their lives, and discovering what they might return to conquer. For above a hundred leagues further they sailed on through this populous track, keeping alway the middle of the stream, to be at safe distance from the land. Then they entered the dominions of another Chief, called Paguana, where they were received as friends; the land was fertile, and the people had the Peruvian sheep.

On the day of the Holy Ghost they past in sight of a large settlement, which had many streets, all opening upon the river; from these the inhabitants got into their canoes to attack the brigantines, but soon retreated when they felt the effect of fire-arms and cross-bows. The next day brought them to the last place in Paguana's territories, and they entered into another country belonging to a warlike people, whose name they did not learn. On the eve of Trinity they stormed a settlement where the inhabitants used large pavaises for their defence. A little below this a river from the South joined the main stream: its waters, they said, were as black as ink, and for more than twenty leagues after the junction, formed a dark line, keeping themselves unmingled. They past by many small settlements, and stormed one in search of food; it was surrounded with a wooden wall, the gate of which they were obliged to win; .. this can mean nothing more than the common palisade circle. The river was now so broad, that when they were near one bank they could not see the other. In another place they found several dresses of feathers; .. an Indian whom they took said that these dresses were worn at festivals, and that they were now in the land of the Amazons. Wherever they past the people on the shore called out to them, as if defying them to battle. On the 7th of June they landed at a village without opposition,

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none but women being there; they took good store of fish at this place; and Orellana, yielding to the importunity of the soldiers, consented to pass the night ashore, because it was the eve of Corpus Christi. At evening the men of the village returned from the fields, and finding such guests, attempted to drive them out. The Spaniards soon put them to flight; but Orellana wisely insisted upon embarking, and getting off immediately.

A gentler people dwelt beyond these; then they came to a large settlement, where they saw seven pillories as they call them, with human heads set upon spikes; there were paved roads from hence, with rows of fruit trees on either side. The next day they came to another such place, and were necessitated to land there, for want of food: the natives seeing their design, lay in ambush for them and attacked them furiously; but their Chief was slain by a cross-bow-shot, and the Spaniards carried off a supply of maize, tortoises, ducks, and parrots. With this seasonable supply they made off to an island, to take food and refresh themselves. A woman of comely appearance, whom they carried off from this place, told them there were many men like themselves in the interior, and that one of the native Chiefs had got two white women, whom he had brought from the country lower down the river. These women were probably survivors from the wreck of Aires da Cunha's expedition. During the next four days, which was while their provision lasted, they never attempted to land; in that time they past by a settlement from whence, the woman told them, was the way to the country where the white men were. At the next place where they foraged maize was found, and oats, from which the inhabitants brewed a sort of beer: .. they found what they called an ale-house for this liquor, good cotton cloth, and an oratory in which arms were hung up, and two coloured head-dresses, resembling

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episcopal mitres in shape. They slept upon the opposite shore, on a hill, and were disturbed by the Indians in canoes.

Herrera. 6. 9. 4.

On the 22d of June they saw many large settlements on the left bank, but the current was so strong that they could not cross to them. Villages, inhabited by fishers, were now always in sight. On turning an angle of the river they saw the country far before them, and many large places, the people of which had been apprized of their coming, and were collected apparently with hostile intentions. Orellana proffered to them trinkets, at which they scoffed; he persisted in making towards them, to get food either by persuasion or by force. A shower of arrows was kept up from the shore, which wounded five of the Spaniards, and Fray Gaspar among them. They nevertheless landed, and a brave battle ensued, wherein the Indians appeared not to be dismayed by the slaughter which was made among them. Fray Gaspar affirmed that ten or twelve Amazons⁷ fought at the head of these people, who were subject to their nation, and maintained the fight thus desperately, because any one who fled in battle would be beaten to death by these female tyrants. He described the women as very tall and large-limbed, white of complexion, the hair long, platted, and banded round the head; their only article of dress was a cincture, and they were armed with bows and arrows. The Spaniards slew seven or eight of them, and then the Indians fled. A trumpeter whom they made prisoner gave them much information concerning the interior; such bodies however were pouring in from all sides, that Orellana hastened to embark, without obtaining any booty. By

⁷ It is amusing to observe how this story was magnified where it was known only by tradition. In the Noticias do Brazil it is said that Orellana fought with a great army of women. 1. C. 4.

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this time, according to their computation, they had voyaged fourteen hundred leagues.

At safe distance from this perilous place they came to another large settlement, and the men seeing no natives urged their leader to land. He told them that if the people did not appear they were certainly lurking in ambush, and so it proved. The moment the brigantines were near enough, up they started, and discharged a flight of arrows. The brigantines had been pavaised since they left Machiparo's country, or they must have suffered severely now: as it was, Fray Gaspar lost one of his eyes, .. it would have been to his credit if he had lost both before he saw his white Amazons. The towns or villages on the South bank were nowhere more than half a league apart, and they were told that the country inland was equally populous. As Orellana had entered the province on St. John's day, he called it after his name the Province of S. Juan. Its extent he estimated at a hundred and fifty leagues of inhabited coast; he observed it with especial care, as a country which he hoped one day to make his own: it was high land, with many savannahs, and forests of corks and oaks of sundry species. In the middle of the river were many islands, at which he meant to land, supposing them to be uninhabited; but suddenly about two hundred canoes sallied out from them, each carrying from thirty to forty men, some of whom raised a loud discord with tambours, trumpets, three-stringed rebecks, and instruments which are described as mouth-organs, while they attacked the brigantines. The Spaniards, though they repelled these enemies, were so harrassed that they could not take in provisions at any of these islands. The land in them seemed to be high, fertile, and delightful, and they judged the largest to be fifty leagues in breadth. When the canoes had given over pursuit, Orellana landed in an oak-forest, and there by means of a

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vocabulary which he had made, interrogated a prisoner. He learnt from him that this country was subject to women, who lived after the manner of the Amazons of the antients, and who possessed gold and silver in abundance. There were in their dominions five temples of the Sun, all covered with plates of gold; their houses were of stone, and their cities walled. It is justly remarked by Herrera, that Orellana could not possibly in the course of his voyage have made a vocabulary⁸ by which such an account as this could have been understood. The truth is that, like Ralegh, having found a country which he thought worth conquering and colonizing, he invented just such falshoods about it as were most likely to tempt adventurers to join him in his projected enterprize. A few women had been seen fighting with bows and arrows; this had often been seen in America; .. his temples of the Sun were borrowed from Peru, and concerning them it should be observed, that he affirmed they were there, because he hoped and expected to find them there; .. cupidity and credulity made him a liar.

Here they thought again to enter upon an uninhabited country, but presently they saw upon the left bank large and goodly settlements, seated upon high ground. Orellana would not go near them, for he wished to avoid danger whenever it was to be avoided. The natives got into their canoes, and pushed off even into the middle of the river, to look at the brigantines, not offering to attack them. Their prisoner said that this province extended above a hundred leagues, and belonged to a Chief called Caripuna, who had much silver. At length they came to

⁸ Condamine prepared a vocabulary before he began his voyage down the river. He set down all the questions which it could be necessary for him to ask, but he forgot to put any answers. P. 111.

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Herrera. 6. 9. 5.

a village at which they thought themselves strong enough to call for food. The inhabitants stood upon their defence, and slew Antonio de Carranza; .. it was soon discovered that they used poisoned arrows. The Spaniards anchored under a forest, and made barricadoes to protect themselves against these dreadful weapons: .. here they thought they could perceive the tide⁹. After another day's voyage they came to some inhabited islands, and to their infinite joy saw that they had not been deceived, for the marks of the tide here were certain. Two squadrons of canoes issued from a small branch of the river and fiercely assailed them: the barricadoes were now of excellent service, and they repelled the assailants. Gaspar de Soria received a slight arrow-wound, and died within four and twenty hours, such was the force of the poison. This land upon the right shore belonged to a Chief called Chipayo. The canoes attacked them a second time; but a Biscayan, by name Perucho, brought down their Chief by a well aimed shot, and this as usual put an end to the action. The Spaniards then stood across the river to the North shore, the South side being too populous. This other was uninhabited, but it was plain that the interior was peopled. They rested here three days, and Orellana sent some of his men a league in, to explore the country; their report was that they had seen many people who seemed to be hunting, and that the land was good and fertile.

From this place the country was low, and they could never

⁹ Fray Gaspar said that a bird who had followed them a thousand leagues, crying huis, huis, which signified houses, whenever they were near habitations, here cried out huy, huy, (which the good Friar has not explained) and then left them. Cuenta otras cosas maravillosas, says Herrera, who seems to have had the narrative of this veracious Dominican before him.

O

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venture to land except upon the islands, among which they sailed, as they supposed, about two hundred leagues, the tide coming up with great force. These islands were inhabited. One day as they were about to land at one, the small brigantine struck upon a tree, which stove in one of her planks, and she filled. They however landed to seek for provisions: the inhabitants attacked them in such force that they were compelled to retire, and when they came to their vessels they found that the tide had left the only serviceable one dry. Orellana immediately ordered half his men to fight, and the other half to thrust her into the water; that done they righted the old brigantine, and fastened in a new plank; all which was compleated in three hours, by which time the Indians were weary of fighting, and left them in peace. They then embarked what stores they had won, and pushed off into the middle stream, for security during the night. The next day they found a desert place, where Orellana halted to repair both vessels. This took them eighteen days, for it was necessary to make nails: during that time they suffered much from hunger; .. a dead anta which they dragged out of the river proved a seasonable supply. As they drew near the Sea they halted again for fourteen days, to prepare for their sea-voyage; made cordage of herbs, and sewed the cloaks on which they slept into sails: while they were thus employed they lived upon shell-fish. On the 8th of August they proceeded once more, anchoring with stones when the tide-turned, though it sometimes came in with such strength as to drag these unstable anchors. Here the natives were happily of a milder mood than those whom they had lately dealt with; from them they procured roots and maize, and having laid in what store they could, they made ready to enter upon the Sea in these frail vessels, with their miserable tackling and insufficient food, without pilot, compass, or any knowledge of the coast.

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It was on the 26th of August that they sailed out of the river, passing between two islands, which were about four leagues asunder; .. the whole length of the voyage from the place where they had embarked to the Sea, they computed at eighteen hundred leagues. Thus far their weather had been always favourable, and it did not fail them now. They kept along the coast to the northward, just at safe distance. The two brigantines parted company in the night: they in the larger one got into the gulph of Paria, from whence all their labour at the oar for seven days could not extricate them. During this time they lived upon a sort of plum called hogos, being the only food they could find. At length they were whirled through those tremendous currents which Columbus called the Bocas del Dragon, and reached the island of Cubagua on September the 11th, not knowing where they were. The old brigantine had arrived at the same place two days before them. Here they were received with the welcome which their wonderful adventure deserved, and from hence Orellana proceeded to Spain to give the King an account of his discoveries in person.

Herrera. 6. 9. 6.

Orellana undertakes the conquest of the river.

The excuse which he made for having deserted his Commander was admitted. He solicited a grant of the conquest of the countries which he had explored, offering to take out an hundred horse, two hundred foot-soldiers, eight religioners, and materials for building brigantines at his own cost: this also was granted. The name of Nueva Andalusia was given to the province which he was to govern; the Islands were not to be within his jurisdiction; he was to convert the islanders if he could, to traffic with them if he would, but not to conquer or form any settlement among them: and he was instructed not to trespass upon the Portugueze limits. Every thing promised fairly; he raised funds and adventurers for the expedition, and even found a wife who was willing to accompany him. In May 1544, he set sail from San Lucar with four ships, and four hundred men¹⁰.

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Herrera. 7. 9. 8.

But the tide of Orellana's fortune had turned. He stopt three months at Teneriffe, and two at the Cape de Verds, where ninety-eight of his people died, and fifty were left behind as invalided. They proceeded with three ships, and met with contrary winds, which detained them till their water was gone; and had it not been for heavy rains all must have perished. One ship put back in this distress with seventy men and eleven horses on board, and was never heard of after. The remaining two reached the river. They procured food at some islands near the mouth, and would have landed there to refresh themselves and the horses, but Orellana would not permit this, saying the country was well peopled. Having ascended about a hundred leagues, they stopt to build a brigantine: provisions were scarce here, and fifty-seven more of the party died. These men were not, like his former comrades, seasoned to the climate, and habituated to the difficulties of the New World. One ship was broken up here for the materials; the other, when they had advanced about thirty leagues higher, broke her cable; she was then no longer serviceable, and they cut her up, and made a bark of the timbers. This was the labour of thirty perons for ten weeks.

While they were thus employed Orellana endeavoured to discover the main branch of the river, which it had been easy to

¹⁰ A heavy charge has been raised against Orellana; that Gonzalo Pizarro had embarked a great treasure in gold and emeralds in the brigantine, and that he appropriated them to his own use. This is every way improbable. Gonzalo had found no gold and no jewels on the expedition, and for what possible motive could he take any with him? Pizarro y Orellana makes no mention of this charge, which he certainly would have done had it been well founded. This wretched writer delivers it as his opinion, that nothing but the desertion of the brigantine prevented his great-uncle Gonzalo from conquering as rich an empire as had yet been discovered in America.

Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo. Vida de G. Pizarro. C. 2.

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keep when carried down by the stream, but which he now sought in vain for thirty days, among a labyrinth of channels. When he returned from this fruitless search he was ill, and told his people that he would go back to Point S. Juan, for there he thought the main stream would be found, and there he ordered them to seek him, when they had compleated their work. After he had left them his people, who had demeaned themselves well towards the natives, and been well supplied with food, launched their vessel. A Cazique with six canoes accompanied them as far as the islands of Caritan and Marribiuque, and there consigned them to the Cazique of the latter place, who went with them thirty leagues farther as their guide. Here they thought they had found three principal channels; but the shipwrights had done their business ill; the bark was leaky; their men failed at the oar, and their currency of trinkets was almost exhausted. These numerous causes induced them to return. About forty leagues above the mouth of the river, they found a province which the natives called Comao, and which they supposed to be part of the main land; it consisted of extensive savannahs, and a stream ran through it. The inhabitants received them with great kindness, and gave them fish, ducks, poultry, maize, mandioc flour, potatoes, and a root called names: and here a hundred of the party chose to remain among them. They probably expected Orellana's death, or they would not have acted thus independently of him, instead of obeying his orders. A Spanish peacock was found at this place.

Death of Orellana.

The remainder of the Spaniards left the river, and coasted along towards the North, till they came to the Island of Margarita; there they found the brigantine, and learnt the fate of Orellana from his widow. Having in vain attempted to find the main stream, and feeling his sickness increase upon him, he determined to abandon the expedition, and return to Europe. While

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Herrera. 7. 9. 9.

he was seeking provisions for the voyage, the Indians slew seventeen of his men; what with vexation and his disorder, he died in the river; and then his widow and the other survivors made for Margarita. This was the fate of Orellana, who as a discoverer surpassed all his countrymen; as a conqueror he was unfortunate, and the happier it now is for him. He burnt no Indians alive, nor threw them to the war-dogs; and perhaps at his hour of death thanked God that success had never put it in his power to commit these atrocities, from which I do not believe that any one of the conquerors can be acquitted. The great river which he explored was formerly called after his name, and is marked by it in old maps. By that name I shall distinguish it, because its appellation from the Amazons is founded upon fiction, and is inconvenient; and its other name would occasion some confusion, belonging equally to the state of Maranham, and the island wherein the capital of that state is situated, both of which must often be mentioned in the course of this history. These are sufficient reasons for preferring the name of Orellana, even if there were not a satisfaction in rendering justice to his memory, by thus restoring to him his well-deserved honour.

Attempt of Luiz de Mello da Sylva.

Just after the failure of this expedition, Luiz de Mello da Sylva, sailing from Pernambuco, was driven northward along the coast, and entered the great river. He caught one of the natives; all that he saw of the country, and all that he could learn from this prisoner, pleased him well; and when he reached the Isle of Santa Margarita, he found there the survivors of Orellana's party, whom their own sufferings had not so far discouraged, but that they advised him to repeat the attempt which had proved to them so unfortunate. On his arrival in Portugal he applied for permission to form a settlement there; Joam de Barros waived his right to the Captaincy; the King lent assistance to Luiz de Mello, for his own means would have been inadequate, and he

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1573.

Noticias. MSS. 1. c. 4.

Berredo. § 82—3.

set sail with three ships and two caravels¹¹. The armament was lost upon the shoals, just as that of Aires da Cunha had been lost before it. One of the caravels escaped, and by this the Commander was picked up and saved. He returned to Lisbon, went out to India, enriched himself there, and after twenty-five years hard service, embarked for the mother country, with the resolution of once more adventuring himself and his fortune in an attempt to settle the Captaincy of Maranham. But the ship San Francisco, in which he sailed, was never heard of after her departure from India.

¹¹ Rocha Pitta (2. § 40—42) places this expedition before that of Aires da Cunha. He also says that the sons of Barros returned to Portugal. He gives no dates, and is, as usual, as little studious of accuracy in facts as in time.

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CHAPTER V.

Cabeza de Vaca succeeds Mendoza in the Plata.—He marches overland from S. Catalina.—Advances from Asumpcion up the Paraguay, and marches into the country towards Peru in search of gold.—The Spaniards return for want of food, .. mutiny against him, and send him prisoner to Spain.

CHAP. IV. 1540.

Cabeza de Vaca succeeds Mendoza.

After the ill success of Don Pedro de Mendoza it might have been thought that no adventurer would be found sanguine enough to risk his property upon the same enterprize; the vacant post of Adelantado was however solicited by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, .. of all men the one who might least have been expected to expose himself to the dangers of such an expedition, for he had been ten years a slave among the barbarous tribes of Florida. The office was granted him on the supposition that Ayolas was lost; if however that officer should appear again, the government was to vest in him, according to Mendoza's appointment, and Cabeza de Vaca was then to be second in command. He engaged to expend eight thousand ducats in his preparations, and he set sail, November 2, 1540, with two ships and one caravel, carrying four hundred soldiers,

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CHAP. IV. 1541.

Comentarios de Cubesa de Vaca. Co. 1. Herrera. 7.2.8.

all bearing double arms¹. The largest of the ships proved leaky, by which accident much of their stores was spoiled, and they were obliged to work at the pumps day and night till they reached the Cape de Verds: there the vessel was unloaded, and the master, who was the best diver in Spain, stopt the leak. It was remarked, as something almost miraculous, that not one of the fleet died, though they remained five and twenty days at these islands.

The ships saved by means of a Grillo.

Mar. 29. Comentarios c. 2.

When they had crossed the line, the state of the water was enquired into; and it was found that of an hundred casks there remained but three to supply four hundred men, and thirty horses: upon this the Adelantado gave orders to make the nearest land. Three days they stood towards it. A soldier, who set out in ill health, had brought a grillo, or ground-cricket, with him from Cadiz, thinking to be amused by the insect's voice; but it had been silent the whole way, to his no little disappointment. Now on the fourth morning the grillo began to ring its shrill rattle; scenting, as was immediately supposed, the land. Such was the miserable watch which had been kept, that upon looking out at this warning, they perceived high rocks within bowshot; against which, had it not been for the insect, they must inevitably have been lost. They had just time to drop anchor. From hence they coasted along, the grillo singing every night as if it had been on shore, till they reached the island of S. Catalina,

¹ Todos los que se of recieron a ir en la jornada llevaron las armas dobladas.

Coment. c. 1.

It was a part of his instructions, que ningun Governador echasse cavallo a yegua. Herrera. 7, 2, 8. Perhaps this had been complained of, because a soldier who, like Gradasso, rode a mare, would be for a time deprived of her services, and compelled to go on foot.

P

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and there they disembarked. Of forty-six horses, twenty died upon the voyage.

He resolves to march overland from the coast.

Cabeza de Vaca took possession of this island, and of the coast of Brazil from Cananea, which lay about fifty leagues North of it, in 25° South latitude, for the crown of Castille. Having learnt from the natives that there were two Franciscans a few leagues off², he sent for them. They were Fray Bernaldo de Armenta, and Fray Alonso Lebron, men who proved to be little qualified for the service which they had undertaken: the party who were with them had provoked the Indians by setting fire to some of their houses, and the Adelantado made peace between them. He dispatched the caravel to Buenos Ayres to bring him news of the state of the settlements: the season of the year was unfavourable, and the vessel not being able to get into the river, returned. It happened however that nine Spaniards arrived at the island in a boat; by their own account they had fled from Buenos Ayres because of ill treatment³, and from them he learnt the death of Ayolas. This information determined him to march by land to Asumpcion. He sent the Factor, Pedro Dorantes, forward to inspect the way, and waited about fourteen weeks till he returned; then set out on his march, contrary to the advice of some of his officers, who urged him to go in the ships to Buenos Ayres. But he thought the land journey would be more expeditious, and wished to explore the country; and as they were marching to a Spanish settlement, this was the wisest resolution. The Friars he would have sent back to their

² Probably two of those who went out with Alonso de Cabrera.

³ The account which they gave of themselves seems to have been false, .. for Buenos Ayres had been abandoned: they made also complaints of Yrala's conduct, which have a suspicious appearance, coming from Cabeza de Vaca.

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CHAP. V. 1541.

Comentorios 3—6.

mission, but they chose to accompany him, and administer their spiritual services at Asumpcion. He left one hundred and forty men, under Pedro Estopiñan Cabeza de Vaca, to go in the ships, and took with him two hundred and fifty cross-bowmen and harquebusseers, and his six and twenty horse. Immediately on setting out, he crost the river Ytabucu, and took possession of the province.

Oct. 18. Cabesa de Vaca begins his march.

The Guaranies.

No man could be better qualified to command in such a march than this Adelantado, because of the miserable experience which he had acquired in Florida of such travelling, and of the nature of the Indians. He had taken the best possible measure in sending Dorantes first to explore the way, and from his report he knew how long it would be before they could reach an inhabited country. Nineteen days they travelled through woods and over mountains, oftentimes cutting their way before them; then, just as their stores were expended, they came to the first settlement. This part of the interior was possessed by the Guaranies, one of the most numerous and most improved tribes. They cultivated mandioc and maize, of which they had two harvests in the year; they reared fowls and ducks, and kept parrots in their houses; but, like their kindred tribes, they were cannibals, and this accursed practice was, like the slave trade, first the consequence of war, and then the cause of it. Cabeza de Vaca demeaned himself towards them with politick kindness: the gifts which he distributed to their Chiefs, and the liberal price which he paid for food, obtained better treatment and more abundant supplies, than the respectable force of his army could have done, had force alone been trusted to. On the first of December they came to the Yguazu, or the Great Water, and in two days more to the Tibagi, which flows over a bed of rock, lying in such squares as if it had been artificially paved. It was not deep, but the stream so rapid, and

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CHAP. V. 1541.

Comentorios 6—7.

this pavement so slippery, that the horses could not have crost unless they had been fastened one to another. This day they met Miguel, a converted Indian of Brazil, coming from Asumpcion, where he had dwelt for some time, and now on the way to his own country. He offered to turn back and be their guide, and the Adelantado then dismissed the natives of S. Catalina, who had accompanied him thus far.

The means whereby Cabeza de Vaca was able to keep on good terms with the Guaranies were these. He never suffered his people to enter their houses, nor permitted any persons to purchase for themselves; some, who understood the language, were appointed commissaries for this purpose, and the whole was at his expence. The horses struck terror into the natives. They besought the Adelantado that he would tell these tremendous animals not to be angry, for they would give them food in plenty; and they brought out honey and fowls for them, and whatever else they thought might serve as a peace-offering. The horses were however as much the object of curiosity as of fear, and women and children were brought from far to behold them. On the 7th they reached the Taquari, a considerable river, as probably every stream is to which the natives have given a name, .. the smaller ones were innumerable. On the 14th they left the inhabited country, and had once more to contend with woods, and marshes, and mountains. In the course of one day they were obliged to make eighteen bridges for the horse. A thorny cane was a great obstacle to them in this part of their march; twenty men were obliged always to go before, cutting it away. The boughs were often so thick over head, as completely to shut out the sky from sight. After five days of this labour, they came again to a Guarani settlement, where they were well supplied with poultry, honey, potatoes, maize, and flour made from the stone-pine, .. a food which none of the Spanish adventurers had met with till

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CHAP. V. 1541.

Flour made from the stone pine.

Comentarios 7. 9.

Herrera. 7. 2. 9.

now. This tree grows in that country to a prodigious height; four men could not grasp the trunk, in its ordinary growth: the cones are proportionably fine, and the pine-nuts as large as acorns⁴. The monkies fed upon these nuts; they climbed the tree, swung themselves by the tail, and then with hands, or feet, threw down the fruit; but the wild boars understood this, and used to assemble underneath and eat the nuts, while the monkies chattered at them from aloft. In this place, which was called Tugui, the Adelantado halted a few days in honour of Christmas; at other times, though often urged to let the men rest, he had refused; and they now perceived, from the ill effects of a few days remission, how necessary exercise was to preserve them in health.

1542.

A grub used for food.

A winding river, whose banks were beautifully clothed with cypress and cedar, gave them much trouble in crossing and re-crossing it for four days. The potatoes in this country were of three sorts, white, yellow, and red, all large and excellent: there was also plenty of honey. With the new year they entered again upon a desert, and for the first time were in want of food. They found however a good resource in what European prejudice would at another time have rejected. A large white

⁴ The translator of Techo, in Churchill's Collection, absurdly calls them pineapples. These trees, according to that author, shed their boughs, so that only the signs of them appear, and the knots which they leave are so hard, that when polished, they resemble bone rather than wood. The Guaranies of the Reductions turn beads of them for rosaries, and make images of the larger; by laying them at some distance before a fire, the resin which they contain diffuses itself over the surface, and at once dies them red and varnishes them. The native name of the tree is Curiyeh, .. the last syllable of this word is aspirated; this being premised, there is no occasion of a new character to express the sound.

Dobrizhoffer. T. 1. P. 401.

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CHAP. V. 1542.

grub, about the size of a man's little finger, is bred between the joints of a certain species of cane; these grubs are fat enough to be fried in their own grease⁵; the Indians eat them, and the Spaniards being now forced to make the proof, admitted that they were savoury. Other canes grew there, which contained good water. In six days they came again to habitations. It was necessary here to reprimand the two Franciscans; they had brought with them, in defiance of the Adelantado's orders, a useless train of converts, old and young;

⁵ Antonio de Ullos, in his Noticias Americanas (Entretenimiento. 6. §. 11.) says this grub has the singular property of producing milk in women, aunque no esten en positura de tenerla. The Argentina (Canto 3.) adds a stranger fable, .. that they first became butterflies, and then mice. There are two sorts of these, says D. Martin—

De los unos y de otros he comido;
En muy poco defleren sus sabores,
Estaudo el uno y otro derretido;
Manteca fresca a mi me parescia,
Mas sabe Dios la hambre que tenia!

In Ponto et Phrygiâ vermes albos et obesos, qui nigello capite sunt, et nascuntur in lignorum carie, pro magnis reditibus pater-familias exigit, et quo modo apud nos attagen et ficedula, mullus et scarus in deliciis computantur, ita apud illos ξυλофо comedisse luxuria est.

St. Hieron. ad Jovin, L. 2. quoted in Hole's Remarks on the Arab. Nights Ent. p. 94.

The Spaniards of Santiago in Tucuman, when they go seeking honey in the woods, cleave certain palm-trees upon their way, and on their return find large grubs in the wounded trees, which they fry as a delicious food.

Dobrizhoffer. T. 1. P. 410.

The caterpillar, or maggot of the palm-tree snout beetle, (curculio pal) is served up at all the luxurious tables of West Indian epicures, particularly of the French, as the greatest dainty of the western world.

Winterbottom's Account of the Sierra Leone Africans, Vol. 1. 314. note.

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Comentarios 9.

and with these they thought proper to advance before the army, and eat up the provisions. The Spaniards would have driven them and their retinue away, if Cabeza de Vaca would have permitted. He contented himself with strictly forbidding them to pursue this conduct; they regarded this as little as they had done his former prohibition; here, however, they ventured to leave him and take a road by themselves. He had the humanity to send after them, and compel them to come back; otherwise they would soon have met with the fate which they seem to have deserved.

On the 14th they came again to the banks of the Yguazu, a river which is described to be as broad as the Guadalquivir. The inhabitants here were the richest in all these parts; and this word is applied to them in its wisest and truest meaning; they lived in the most fruitful country, and every man partook of the abundance. From hence Cabeza de Vaca sent two Indians forward with letters to Asumpcion, informing the Spaniards of his approach, and here he left four of his men who were unable to proceed, with Francisco Orejon, who was lamed by the bite of a dog. The tidings of his coming ran before him, and his people every where experienced the good effects of their good order. The natives came out to meet them, and made the ways ready when they drew nigh; and the old women received them with great joy, .. a thing of no little consequence, for old women were unaccountably held in high veneration here, which old men were not. On the last day of January they came to the same river Yguazu, a branch of which, bearing the same name, they had crost so long before. This river, known also by the name of Rio Grande de Curituba, falls into the Parana. A party of Portugueze, whom Martim Affonso de Sousa had sent to explore the country, had been cut off by the natives while crossing it. The Adelantado was informed that the tribe which bordered

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Comentarios 10. 11.

upon the river Pequeri, was preparing to cut him off in like manner; and in consequence of this information he determined to go with a part of the army down this river, while the rest marched along its shore, till they reached the Parana. Canoes were purchased of the natives, and he embarked in them with eighty men. They had hardly began their voyage before they were whirled away by the current. It seems as if the natives had wished for their destruction, for they were near the tremendous falls of the Yguazu.

Falls of the Yguazu.

This river, which flows tranquilly through forests of gigantic trees, preserving in its course an uniform breadth of about a mile, takes a Southern direction some three miles before it reaches the fall, its contracted width being four hundred and eighty-two fathoms, its depth from twelve to twenty feet, and its banks little elevated. As it approaches the descent several small islands, and many reefs and detached rocks on the left hand side, confine its channel and direct it a little to the Westward. Not far below them the waters of the middle channel begin their descent. The shallower branch makes its way along the Eastern bank among reefs and rocks, where it falls sometimes in cataracts, sometimes in sheets, till being confined on that side by the shore, it makes its last descent from a small projection, two hundred and eighty fathoms from the point where it began. The waters fall first upon a shelf of rock jutting about twenty feet out, then precipitate themselves into the great bason, which is eight and twenty fathoms below the upper level. The Western branch seems to rest after its broken course in a large bay, formed by the projecting point of an island, then pours itself by a double cataract into the great bason. The breadth of this Western branch is thirty-three fathoms, and from the point where the descent begins on this side to its last fall is a distance of six hundred and fifty-six. On the fall the water

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CHAP. V. 1542.

rises during the floods five feet, and below it five and twenty. The breadth of the channel opposite the island is forty fathoms, and sixty-five a league below the fall, to which distance the waters still continue in a state of agitation. Enormous trunks of trees are seen floating down, or whirled to the edge of the the bason, or entangled among the reefs and broken rocks, or caught by the numerous islands which lie in the midst of the stream, and some in the very fall itself, dividing and subdividing its waters into an infinity of channels. From the bason the collected river flows with a force which nothing can resist, through rocks, eighty or a hundred feet in height, of hard stone, in some places brown, in others of a deep red colour inclining to purple. No fish, it is said, can endure to approach this dreadful place. A thick vapour rises ten fathoms high in a clear day, twenty at morning, when the sky is overcast. This cloud is visible from the Parana, and the sound of the fall is distinctly heard there, .. a distance of twelve miles in a right line⁶.

Passage of the Parana

Aware of danger from the increased rapidity of the stream, and hearing the sound of the Falls, the Spaniards got to shore in time, carried the canoes half a league over land with great difficulty, then re-embarked, and both parties reached the point of junction in safety. The Parana, which they were now to cross, was a long bow-shot in width, and the stream ran with great strength. A large body of Guaranies were assembled on the banks, their bodies painted of many colours, and smeared with oker: their coronals were of parrots feathers; .. it was a pleasure, says the journalist,

⁶ This description is from a manuscript account of the Falls, in the Spanish language. The author remained eight days on the spot for the purpose of making observations; he was well qualified to be correct in his measurements, and the account is to be relied on. The exact situation of the Falls is in latitude 25° 42′ 20″ S.: longitude 3° 47′ 50″ East of Buenos Ayres.

Q

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Comentarios. 11—13.

to behold the show they made. Cabeza de Vaca sent his interpreters to conciliate them, and making presents to their Chiefs he won their good will, and they helped him in his passage. Rafts were made for the horses by fastening two canoes together. There were many whirlpools in the river. One canoe was upset, and one Spaniard carried down by the stream and lost. Here the Adelantado expected to have found brigantines from Asumpcion awaiting him, to secure this passage where he might have been so greatly annoyed by the Guaranies, and to take on board such of his people as were now disabled by the fatigue of so painful a march. None however appeared; there were about thirty sick men who could not proceed, and it was not safe to tarry with them among a tribe suspected to be hostile, and known to be treacherous. It was resolved to send them upon these same rafts down the Parana to the care of Francisco, a converted Indian who lived upon its banks. A Chief, by name Yguaron, undertook to conduct them there; the place was four days distance, and fifty men were sent to protect them.

Arrival at Asumpcion.

Techo in Churchill, P. 36.

The land march which still remained to be performed was computed to be a journey of nine days. Cabeza de Vaca performed the ceremony of taking possession of the Parana, a ceremony which he seems to have omitted no opportunity of performing, .. and then proceeded. The ways were worse because of the number of rivers and marshes which lay between; but the people were still of the same language, and continued to be friendly. The country between the Parana and the Paraguay is divided by a chain of mountains. Towards the South they slope gradually, and all the streams which they discharge into the former river are clear; on the North they are precipitous; the waters roll down into a marshy muddy land, and render the Paraguay turbid. A messenger from Asumpcion met him. He

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Coment. 12—13.

reported that the Spaniards there were in such distress, that although they had received his letters, they could scarcely give credit to tidings so joyful till they had seen him with their own eyes. From this man the Adelantado learnt of the evacuation of Buenos Ayres; he learnt also that the Spaniards repented having evacuated it, because vessels which might arrive would have no place to shelter in, and therefore they had lost all hope of receiving succours. This intelligence made him quicken his march, that he might send to relieve the ships, which he knew must needs be in great distress in consequence of the desertion of that settlement. As he drew nearer the Guaranies came out to meet him, and clear the way for his coming; they supplied him plentifully, and brought their wives and children with them, the surest pledge of amicable intentions. Many among them addressed him in good Spanish. At length, on the eleventh of March, he reached Asumpcion, where he produced his powers, and was received as Governor. The wands of justice were resigned into his hands; he appointed new officers, and there seemed to be general joy at his arrival.

Danger of the sick and their escort.

Meantime the sick and their escort had been in great danger. As soon as the Adelantado was departed, and the Indians had nothing more to fear from his power, nor to hope from his liberality, they attempted to cut off this detachment. One party pursued them in canoes; another assailed them from the banks, striving to drag the rafts to shore with long hooks; could they have effected this, the Spaniards must soon have been overpowered by numbers. Day and night this harrassing warfare was continued for fourteen days: all that the Spaniards could do was to keep the mid stream, shield themselves as well as they could, and let the current carry them down. The whirlpools frequently endangered them, and had it not been for their utmost exertion, must have driven them to shore, where their des-

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Coment. 14.

Orders given to re-settle Buenos Ayres.

truction would have been inevitable. At length the Indian Francisco having heard of their approach, came to their assistance, and took them to an island which he possessed, where their wounds were healed, and they recovered from their fatigue and hunger. Cabeza de Vaca sent brigantines to bring them from hence, and they reached Asumpcion thirty days after him.

Immediately on his arrival he had dispatched two brigantines to Buenos Ayres, to relieve the ships, and ordered two others to be built as speedily as possible, that they might follow them and re-establish that important place, without which any settlements in the interior must always be insecure. For not only did vessels after the voyage from Europe need a port where they could find supplies, and land their sick, but it was necessary also to build brigantines before they could proceed up the river; and how was this to be done where there were no provisions, and the natives hostile? He provided this detachment with a skin of wine for the ceremony of the mass: and gave them strict orders neither to provoke nor injure the Indians on their way.

Coment. 13.

The Guaranies.

The Guaranies who dwelt in the immediate vicinity of Asumpcion differed from the Brazilian tribes in their mode of killing a captive. The women fattened him. He was then tricked with all their adornments of plumery and strings of bone, and led out to dance for an hour. Then a warrior felled him by a blow on the loins and another on the shins, given with the macana, or wooden sword, which was held in both hands. When he had thus been felled, three boys, about six years old, were put to hammer at his head with little hatchets⁷, their parents and kinsmen standing by, and telling them to be valiant, and

⁷ Of copper, it is said in these Commentaries; but this must be erroneous, for there is no metal of any kind found in this part of the country.

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Coment.. 16.

learn how to kill their enemies. It is said that the skulls of these people were so thick, that though one blow with the macana would fell an ox, it required five or six to bring one of them down. He who struck the first blow at one of these butcheries, took from that time the name of the victim. Cabeza de Vaca assembled these Guaranies, and told them that as vassals of the King of Spain they must leave off such abominations, and come to the knowledge of God and the Christian faith.

The Agaces.

The Paraguay was infested by a hunting and fishing tribe, called Agaces, who were the pirates, or free-booters of the country, and exceeded the Payagoaes in cruelty. It was their practice when they had taken any prisoners with their flying squadrons of canoes, to carry them from time to time back to their places of abode, and when their kinsmen, wives, or children came out to treat for their ransom, torture them till provisions were given to purchase a remission of cruelty. They usually killed them at last, and fixed their heads upon stakes, on the shores of the river. This accursed race were terrified at the Adelantado's arrival, and came to request peace. He granted it on condition of their giving up all the prisoners who were then in their power, and promising never more to offend either the Spaniards or their allies, nor even to enter that part of the river which ran through their territories, except by daylight.

Coment. 17.

The Guaycurus.

The allies of the Spaniards complained also of the injuries which they suffered from the Guaycurus, a tribe of whom they stood in great fear. The Guaycurus were hunters, and had therefore no fixed habitations. The mats of which they made their tents were easily removed from one place to another, when they had exhausted the game round about; few beasts escaping them,.. for if their arrows failed they could run down the swiftest. In November they gathered the pods of the Algarroba, or carob

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CHAP. V. 1542.

Coment. 19.

Jolis. C. & 6 A. 11.

Techo in Churchill, p. 32.

tree, which they preserved in flour; and of this they made a strong drink. Each Cazique had his limits of wandering; they sometimes overpassed them in hunting or fishing, and this license was permitted to all of the same nation, but not to borderers of a different stock. They paid singular honours to a Chief; when he was about to spit, they who were near held out their hands to receive his saliva.

Before a Guaycuru can be admitted to the rank of warrior, he must give proof of his courage by showing that he can endure pain as if he were insensible to it. This they do by cutting and piercing themselves in the tenderest parts. Boys are trained up to glory in these exhibitions of fortitude, and to engage in mock wars with real fury. Their attacks were usually made by night, and the darkest nights were chosen. The rank which an individual had attained was distinguished by the fashion in which the hair was cut. The men are naked, but in some degree disguise nakedness by painting their bodies. Such among them as would be coxcombs in Europe wear a net upon the head. The women are decently clothed from the waist with skins, or cloth: above it they tattoo themselves. When a Chief is buried, some slay themselves to bear him company, others are killed. They erect huts in their cemeteries for the dead, and repair them when needful; and here they lay food, clothing, and whatever they think the spirit can require. The Enacagas, one of the tribes into which this nation is divided, are held in abhorrence by the others, because they make no scruple of opening the graves for the sake of what has been buried with the dead. It is their belief that the souls of the wicked pass into the bodies of wild beasts.

They destroy all deformed children, all illegitimate ones, and all twins, probably from a notion that they must needs be feeble. A custom yet more barbarous, and far more singular,

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Coment. 19.

Techo in Churchill, p. 32.

Jolis. C. & 6. A. 11.

is, that a mother rears⁸ only one child; either procuring abortion, or killing the rest as soon as born. The one which they save is indulged in every want and wish, however capricious. A sort of monogamy is established among them; with respect to the men, it is merely having many wives in succession, instead of many at once; because they change as often as they chuse; yet this custom is better than polygamy; the women are not enslaved by it, and it is probably owing to this cause that they are treated with respect. In this remarkable and important point the Guaycurus differed from most other savages; and if the women of their enemies fell into their power, they never detained them prisoners, nor injured them in any way.

Cabersa de Vaca marches against the Guaycurus.

Cabeza de Vaca investigated the truth of the complaints against this nation with ridiculous formality. He examined witnesses to prove the actual fact of hostility committed by the Guaycurus, and required the Friars to pronounce sentence of war against them, as capital enemies. Two Spaniards who understood their language were then sent, with a priest in company and a sufficient guard, to summon them to make peace with the Guaranies, and yield obedience to the King of Castille, which summons they were to repeat three times. The messengers were received with scorn, and driven back by force, and the Adelantado with two hundred men and twelve horse began his march against them. So large a body of Guaranies assembled for this expedition, that they were eight hours crossing the river in two hundred canoes. When the passage was effected and they were about to enter the enemies country, they asked permission of the Adelantado to make him the customary present on such occasions. Every Chief gave him a painted bow,

⁸ Probably only one of each sex is meant: the tribe would otherwise have soon been extinct, as every generation must have halved it.

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Coment. 20—22.

Herrera. 7 6. 14.

and a painted arrow winged with parrots feathers, and every man gave an arrow: the whole afternoon was employed in this ceremony. These allies were smeared with oker and painted with divers colours. They wore white beads upon the neck, coronals of the richest plumery, and a plate of burnished copper upon the forehead, which they said, was meant to dazzle the eyes of their enemies, and confuse them. Hitherto they had brought in store of venison and of ostriches to the army; but now that they were in the country of the Guaycurus, they no longer hunted, for they hoped to fall upon them by surprize.

Coment. 24.

The Spaniards had little confidence in their allies, and thought it as necessary to keep watch against them as against the enemy. The second night a jaguar, the tyger of South America, got into the camp among the Guaranies; an uproar arose, and the Spaniards immediately suspecting treachery, beat to arms, set up the cry of Santiago, and attacked them. They instantly fled: as soon as the cause of the disturbance was discovered, Cabeza de Vaca went to them, and with great difficulty succeeded in convincing them of the mistake, and reconciling them. He himself had narrowly escaped in the confusion; two musquet balls had grazed his face; and this he imputed to design, not to accident; for he thought that Yrala regretted the authority of which he had been dispossessed by his arrival, and that he would scruple at no means of regaining it.

Just as order was restored, one of the scouts arrived with intelligence that the Guaycurus, who had been on the move, were pitching their tents about three leagues off. It was now about midnight; the Adelantado set out immediately, that he might fall upon them at day-break, and he ordered a white cross to be made with plaister upon the backs and breasts of the allies, that they might not be hurt by mistake. They reached the place while it was yet dark, and waited till it should be

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light enough for the attack: there were about twenty of their matted tents, if tents they may be called, each about five hundred paces in length. The number of fighting men in the horde was estimated at four thousand⁹. Cabeza de Vaca gave orders to leave a way by which the enemy might escape, his object being to intimidate, not to destroy them. The mouths of the horses, bridled and bitted as they were, were filled with grass, to prevent them from neighing. Amid these precautions the Guaranies were trembling with fear; even the presence of such allies could not give them any confidence against so formidable a tribe, now that the hour of trial was come. While Cabeza de Vaca was exhorting them to take courage and attack their enemies, the Guaycurus began their morning song and beat of tambour; it was a song of exultation; .. they called upon all nations to come against them if they dared, .. for though we are few, said they, we are braver than all other people, and are lords of the earth, and of all the vson of the woods, and of the rivers, and of all the fish therein. Every day this was their song just before the dawn; and when the break of morning appeared, it was their custom to come out, and fall upon the ground, .. probably in adoration of the rising sun. According to this custom they came out now, holding torches in their hands; they saw the lighted matches of the harquebusseers, and soon discovered the army which was come against them; but instead of running back in alarm, they bravely demanded what men were bold enough to come to their tents. A Guarani Chief made answer, I am Hector (it was the name by which he had been

⁹ There must surely be some great exaggeration in this account; what with old and young women, each dormitory must have contained at least five hundred persons upon this computation. Such tents must be as long as a Bazar, and would be more troublesome to erect than many smaller ones.

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christened) and I am come with my people to take exchange for those whom ye have slain. This was their phrase to signify revenge. You come in a bad hour, replied the Guaycurus, for you will fare after them; and throwing their torches at the Spaniards they went in for their arms, and in an instant rushed out and attacked them, as if they had the utmost contempt for their assailants.

The Guaranies drew back, and would have fled if they dared. By this time the horses poitrals, which were hung with bells, had been put on, and Cabeza de Vaca charged at their head. At this unexpected mode of attack, and the sight of animals which they had never seen before, they instantly took to flight, and set fire to their tents. The smoke secured their retreat, and taking advantage of this they slew two Spaniards and twelve Indians, and bore away their heads as trophies. This mode of killing and beheading at the same time was effected with singular and barbarous dexterity; they clenched the foe by the hair, sawed round his neck, and twirling the head at the same time, it came off with inconceivable facility. The instrument with which they performed this was the jaw of the Palometa. No other animal so small is furnished with such formidable teeth as this fish; for though its ordinary weight does not exceed two or three pounds, and it is half as wide as it is long; it attacks men when swimming, and is far more dreaded in this part of South America than the crocodile. Each jaw contains fourteen teeth, so sharp that the Abipones shear their sheep with the pair¹⁰. One of these brave Indians, like Eleazar with the elephant,

¹⁰ Dobrizhoffer. T. 1. P. 370. Binos milites Hispanos, says this author, qui nantes in flumine nantes equos sequebantur, perfeetissime eviratos a palometis novi. They will bite a man's foot half through. This is donbtless the pery of Surinam, against which Stedman was cautioned by the negro old Caramaca.

Narrative of an Exped. to Surinam. T. 1. P. 151. 157.

[page] 123

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Comentarios 26—26.

was determined to see what the horses were, and whether they were vulnerable; he caught one by the neck and ran three arrows clean through it, nor could the Spaniards make him quit his hold, till they had slain him. But in general it was the custom of these people when they found themselves so utterly overpowered as to have no hope of victory, to yield themselves and not attempt any unavailing resistance. Perhaps they thought it more honourable to be slain at a feast, than to die in battle. The Spaniards made about four hundred prisoners, men, women, and children, and then began their march homeward. It required all their vigilance to protect the Guaranies, for when one of those allies had laid hold of a feather, an arrow, a piece of one of the tent-mats, or any thing belonging to the enemy, off he set with it to his own country as a trophy of victory. This folly threw many into the hands of the Guaycurus, who lost no opportunity of harrassing them on their return.

The Yapirues.

Comentarios 27.

When the Adelantado reached Asumpcion, he found six Yapirues detained there as prisoners. Their tribe were of gigantic stature, hunters and fishers, and enemies both of the Guaranies and Guaycurus, .. of which latter they stood greatly in fear; and having heard that the Spaniards were going against them, sent these deputies to offer their alliance and assistance; but Gonzalo de Mendoza, who had been left in command, suspected they were come as spies, and had therefore detained them. Cabeza de Vaca conversed with them through an interpreter, found that their intention was friendly, and dismissed them with a favourable reply. In a few days the Chiefs of the tribe came to Asumpcion, and left some of their sons and daughters as hostages, whom the Adelantado ordered to be instructed in the Christian religion. He would fain have sent some of the Religioners to convert these people, but they said it was impossible to do any good among them, and declined the

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mission. The truth was, that he had a worthless set of Friars, who had neither zeal nor honesty, and who were far more willing to share in the spoils of the Indians, than to make any effort for their benefit.

Peace with the Guaycurus.

He then set at liberty one of the Guaycurus, told him that none of the prisoners were to be made slaves, and bade him go bring his countrymen that they might establish peace. The whole horde came to the invitation in perfect confidence, and sent twenty men across the river as their representatives, while the rest remained with the women and children on the other shore. The deputies seated themselves upon one foot, as was their manner, and said that hitherto they and their forefathers had been wont to conquer all enemies; but that as the Spaniards had now conquered them, a thing which they never expected, they were willing to serve their conquerors. Cabeza de Vaca received them affably, and explained to them the right of the King of Castille to all that country; they better understood his presents, and the liberation of their countrymen, not only from the Spaniards, but also those whom their old enemies the Guaranies had taken. From this time the Guaycurus were long the most useful allies of the Spaniards, proving themselves as faithful in peace, as they were courageous in war. Every eight days they brought provisions to sell, consisting of game which they had preserved by the Boucan, here called the Barbacoa, fish, and some kinds of butter, which must either mean lard or inspissated oil. They brought also dressed skins, and cloth made of a species of thistle, and stained of many colours. For these they received, from the Guaranies, maize, mandioc, and mandubis, a sort of earth-nut, the product of their agriculture. These markets, or rather fairs, delighted them as much as war had done. They strove which could pass the river first with their laden canoes, of which there were usually about

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two hundred; frequently they ran against each other and upset; such accidents were matter of mirth to the parties, as well as to the beholders. They were as vociferous in trade as in battle, but all past on in the best humour. How soon would the Romans have made such a people as civilized as themselves¹¹!

Comentarios 29—31.

Comentarios 28. 33.

During the Adelantado's absence upon this expedition the Agaces had broken the peace. No sooner was he departed than the women whom they had left as hostages at Asumpcion fled, and told them the town was left defenceless. They attempted to set fire to it, but were discovered by the centinels in time; they then wasted the fields, and carried off many prisoners. Process was made against them as soon as Cabeza de Vaca returned, war denounced with fire and sword; and about a dozen of them who were prisoners, were sentenced to be hung. But these savages who were to suffer for the offences of their tribe, concealed some knives, and when the officers went to bring them out to execution, stood upon their defence, and wounded several of them. Assistance came in time to save them; two of the Agaces were slain in prison, and the rest executed according to their sentence.

¹¹ Jolis divides the Guaycurus, or Mbayas as they are frequently called, into seven tribes, 1. the Guetiadegodis, or inhabitants of the mountain, which divides their territory from the Chiquitos; 2.3. two branches both called Cadiguegodis, a a name taken from the little river Cadiguegui, near which they lived; 4. the Lichagotegodeguis, inhabitants of the Red Land; who dwell about the river Tareiri; 5. the Apachodegoguis, inhabitants of the plain of the Ostriches; 6. the Eyibegodeguis, or Northerns, who are also called the Enacagas, or the Hidden Ones. This latter name Jolis supposes to be derived from their belief that they formerly lived under the earth, till a dog made way out for them. They live upon the river Mboimboi. 7. the Gotocoguegodeguis, they who dwell among the canes. Their territory lies between the rivers Mboimboi and Iguarii. L. 6. Art. 11.

Either these names have been written carelessly, or barbarous as they are, they seem to imply a singular rule of mutation in compound words. The Guaycurus are now an equestrian nation.

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Buenos Ayres a second time abandoned.

1549. Feb. 3.

Comentarios 37—38.

Meantime the ships which carried the remainder of the armament from St. Catalina to the River Plata reached Buenos Ayres, where instead of finding a settlement of their countrymen, and the relief which they expected, they saw a high pole with these words cut upon it, 'here is a letter!' The letter was buried underneath in an earthen pot; it stated that the Spaniards had abandoned the place and removed to Asumpcion. This occasioned them great distress and great danger. The natives harrassed them, they were in want of food, and a party of five and twenty took the boat and fled to Brazil, to escape famine; .. it is no wonder that famine was dreaded at Buenos Ayres! Had the succour which the Adelantado sent, reached them a day later, they must all have perished; for, on the very night of its arrival, the Indians attacked them in great force, and set fire to their camp, nor was it without much difficulty, reinforced as they were, that they were able to repulse them. They began to rebuild the town, but to no purpose; it was the wrong season, and the walls were washed down as fast as they built them up. At length they gave up the attempt, and proceeded to Asumpcion. That settlement caught fire early in the ensuing year; two hundred houses were consumed; fifty escaped, being divided from the other by a brook. The Spaniards lost most of their apparel and stores in this conflagration. They immediately however began to rebuild the town, and by the Adelantado's orders made their dwellings of clay instead of wood, that this calamity might not befall them a second time.

It was not doubted that Ayolas had found gold in the interior, before he was cut off by the Payagoaes. Cabeza de Vaca prepared to follow his steps and pursue the discovery. He ordered a caravel to be built which he might send with dispatches to Spain, and ten brigantines for the river; and he sent Yrala up the stream to learn in what direction the country might most

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Ducks kept to devour the crickets.

Comentarios 34—39.

easily be penetrated. At the same time two detachments went by land upon the same service; both these returned with unsatisfactory intelligence; one party had been deserted by their Indians, the other wandered in a wilderness till they thought it hopeless to wander longer; and subsisted as they returned upon a species of thistle, with no other liquid than the juice which they expressed from herbs. Yrala meantime ascended the river from October 20, to the 6th of January, when he came to a people called Cacocies Chaneses, who cultivated the ground and had domesticated ducks for an odd purpose. Their houses were infested with a species of cricket which bred in the thatch and ate all their skins and other articles of clothing, unless they were secured from them in closed earthen vessels; and the ducks were kept to devour these vermin. Here Yrala saw gold; he went a little way into the country, and having seen no better place from whence to begin their march, returned with this tidings to Asumpcion.

Faction against the Adelantado.

Coment. 43.

Before the Adelantado could commence his expedition, a faction was formed against him, which was abetted by the two Franciscans whom he had brought from Brazil. These vagabonds undertook to return to St. Catalina by their former route, and carry complaints against him to Spain. They chose also to take with them five and thirty young women, daughters of the Chiefs of the land, by whom they had been given as hostages. The girls were unwilling to go, and complained to their fathers; the fathers complained to Cabeza de Vaca, when the party had just set out; he sent after them, and they were overtaken and brought back. The Friars escaped punishment as being churchmen, the sheeps-cloathing in such cases saving the wolf; but some of the King's officers, who were implicated, were thrown into prison, and left there. It would have been better for the Adelantado if he had acted with more decision, and sent them all prisoners to Spain.

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Cabesa de Vaca undertakes an expedition into the interior.

Dobrizhoffer 1. 331.

Com. 44—43.

He now set forth. Two hundred men and twelve horses went by land; as many more with six horses by water. The flotilla consisted of ten brigantines and a hundred and twenty canoes, which carried twelve hundred Indians. At a place called Ypananie they found a Guarani who had been some years a slave among the Payagoaes, and therefore understood their language. This man willingly consented to go with them as interpreter, and they proceeded to Puerto de la Candelaria, where Ayolas had been slain. Hitherto it w s an expedition of pleasure; they who were on shore had plenty of game; the river abounded with fish, and with Capiiguaras, or river-pigs, which live in the water by day, and go on shore during the night; they are gregarious, and the noise they make resembles the braying of an ass. Six canoes were necessary to hunt these animals. When they saw one rise for breath, one half the party stationed themselves above the spot, and the other below it, at good distance; when he rose again they fired, and this they continued to do as often as their prey appeared, till the dead body floated.

The Payngoaes offer to restore what they had taken from Ayelas.

A few Payagoaes came to the banks. The interpreter was sent to them, and they enquired if these were the same people who had formerly entered their country. On being assured that they were new comers, one of them was persuaded to go on board the Adelantado's brigantine. He told him their Chief had deputed him to say he desired to be the friend of the Spaniards, and that all which had been taken from Ayolas was safely reserved for them: it consisted of sixty man-loads, which the Chanes had carried, in plates, bracelets, crowns, hatchets, and little vessels of gold and silver; all this the Chief offered to restore, requesting that what had been done might be forgiven, as having happened in war, and that he might be received into their alliance. The Chief of this horde of fishers exercised a

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The fly into the interior.

degree of power seldom known among the savages of America. If one of his people offended him, he took a bow, and arrowed him till he was dead; then he sent for the wife of the slain and gave her a bead-string, or a couple of feathers, to satisfy her for the loss of her husband. When he chose to spit, the same loathsome mark of reverence was shown as among the Guaycurus. A favourable answer was given to the envoy, and he promised to return with his Chief on the morrow. That morrow and another morrow past without their appearance. The interpreter said they were a crafty tribe, and had only proposed peace for the sake of gaining time to remove with their women and children: he thought they would not stop till they came to the Lake of the Mataraes, a tribe whom they had destroyed, and whose country they had won. Upon this probability the Adelantado proceeded: he found traces of the Payagoaes all along the banks, and when on the eighth day he entered the Lake, there he discovered their sunken canoes, but no people were to be seen. As he advanced up the river he past a grove of cassia-fistula. Higher up was the tribe of the Guaxarapos: Cabeza de Vaca, apprehensive lest he might offend or alarm them by appearing with his whole force, went forward with half of it, leaving Gonzalo de Mendoza to follow him slowly with the rest.

Com. 49—50.

Garcia the Portugueze adventurer.

This tribe received him in peace. They were settled near to the place where a river which was then called Yapaneme¹²

¹² The mouth of this river he places in lat. 19° 3′. I should have supposed that this Yapaneme is the Paraguay itself, and the other, to which he gives that name, the Cuyaba; but this supposition cannot be reconciled with his after course. The original passage is subjoined, en aquel parage do el Governador estaba con los Indios, estaba otro Rio que venia por la Tierra adentro, que seria tan ancho, como la mitad del Rio Paraguay, mas corria con tanta fuerza que era espanto, y este Rio desaguaba en el Paraguay, que venia de acia el Brasil. There is no other means of explaining the difficulty than by supposing that the author's recollection had so far failed, as to make him mistake his right hand for his left.

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Life of the aquatic tribes.

falls into the Paraguay, carrying into it a stream half as broad as its own, and running with surprizing force. Here it was, old people told him, that Garcia a Portugueze had entered the country, fighting his way, at the head of an Indian army: he had only five Christians with him; there was a mulatto named Pacheco in his company, who turned back to the land of a certain Chief called Guazani, and was killed by him. Garcia they said returned to Brazil, but not by that rout; many of his people had remained behind him, and it was likely that the Spaniards might meet with some of them, and obtain intelligence from them concerning the land which they sought. Farther up the Adelantado found another tribe of the same stock, whose canoes were so small as to carry only two paddles; but they plied them so excellently well that it seemed as if they fled upon the water; the swiftest twelve-oared brigantine, though carrying sail at the same time, and built of cedar, the lightest of all wood, could not overtake them. When the Paraguay flows in its ordinary channel, these aquatics tribes build their huts upon its banks, and live upon fish, singing and dancing through the fair season, day and night, like people whose food is provided for them, and who have no need to take thought for the morrow. In January the inundations begin, and the whole lowlands for a hundred leagues into the country, are flooded like a sea. They have large canoes ready, each of which has an earthen fire-place; and every family commits itself in one of these arks to the waters of the flood. The hut is embarked also; about three months they live in this manner, finding store of food by going to the high grounds as the inundation rises,

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Com. 50—52.

and slaughtering the animals who have retreated there. When the waters have returned to their channel, they go back to their wonted places of abode, set up their houses again, and dance and sing through another season of fine weather. So many fish are always left behind by the flood, that while the earth is drying, the atmosphere is pestilential to the natives as well as to strangers; but they recover in April. These people have no Chief. They make the cordage of their hammocks of a thistle, which they bruise, macerate in water for fifteen days, and then dress it with a sort of cockle shell, when it is as white as snow.

Oct. 25.

Above their settlements the river is contracted between rocks, and runs with more rapidity than in any other part; the brigantines however made way against the stream¹³. Higher up the river divided, or rather three branches met; the one was from a great lake, called by the natives the Black River; its course was from the north: the other two soon united; but the Adelantado shortly afterwards came to a labyrinth of streams and lakes, where he lost the Paraguay.

Source of the Paroguay.

This river rises among the mountains of what the Portugueze call the Districto defezo dos Diamantes, the prohibited diamond country, in latitude 14° S. longitude 322° E. from the meridian of Paris. Its waters, during their course among the serras, have a harsh and saltish taste, though beautifully clear; and they cover their banks with a strong incrustation, so that the tree-roots on their margin look like rock-work. Having received

¹³ The dorados were in such abundance here that one man caught forty. Broth made of this fish and taken as diet, was said to cure any scorbutic or leprous complaint. The writer adds that it is a very pretty fish to eat, .. may hermoso pescado para comer.

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Lake of Xarayes.

the Cipotuva¹⁴, which is the most northerly source of the Plata, the Cabacal, and the Jauru, the Paraguay leaves the mountains in 16° 43′ South¹⁵. And here it enters upon that vast track of inundated country which is marked in maps by the name of Lake Xarayes, from the principal tribe which Cabeza de Vaca found settled there; but which the Portugueze Paulistas, who have frequently traversed all this part of the interior, call the Pantanaes, or Flooded Savannahs. These plains are in flower, as they term it (florentes) in June, by which is meant that the waters are then so deep that it is no longer necessary to seek out the vein of the river, but they may navigate boldly in any direction. The wooded islands are inhabited by a species of bearded monkey, remarkably like man in its countenance. They are killed for the sake of their skins, which are covered with a black and glossy fur; the leaner the monkey is the greater is his value, for then the fur is closer, and the skin more easily and effectually cured. The females and young are of a lighter colour. They are social animals; the Portugueze call a troop of them a Choir, from the circumstance which Linnæus has noticed, of their singing in concert at sun-rise and sun-set. Being otherwise defenceless, they are provided with organs of voice which enable them to terrify even man, when he is not accustomed to the terrific sound. That part of the throat which

¹⁴ The Zuputuba of the Spanish map.

¹⁵ At its junction with the latter river is a marble pyramid, bearing these inscriptions. On the East, Sub Joanne Lusitanorum Rege Fidelissimo. On the South, Justitiæ et Pax Osculatæ sunt. On the West, Sub Ferdinando VI. Hispaniarum Rego Catholico. And on the North, Ex Pactis Finium Regendorum Conventis Madriti Idibus Januarii MIOCCL. The Treaty has been abolished, but the monument still remains. Noticias do Lago Xarayes. MSS.

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in many countries is called Adam's Apple, from a vulgar fable, is in these creatures formed of bone instead of cartilage, and shaped like a kettle drum, the hollow side inward. Their cry of fear therefore is so powerful, that it may be heard for miles around; .. it is a deep bray in octaves, .. and during the alarm which this unexpected and monstrous sound occasions, they generally make their escape.

When the floods are out the fish leave the river to feed upon certain fruits: as soon as they hear or feel the fruit strike the water, they leap to catch it as it rises to the surface, and in their eagerness spring into the air. From this habit the Ounce has learnt a curious stratagem; he gets upon a projecting bough, and from time to time strikes the water with his tail, thus imitating the sound which the fruit makes as it drops, .. and as the fish spring towards it, catches them with his paw. This animal traverses with ease the aquatic plants which in many places obstruct the navigation of the Pantanaes. The vein of the river is to be sought among the floating islands of shrubs and trees which seem to block it up; but the stream has brought them: they keep its course, and falling down gradually leave it open.

Noticias de Lago Xarayes. MSS.

It was the Southern verge of this land of waters that Cabeza de Vaca had reached. They who lived among them were often bewildered in these intricate channels. That which he took was on the left hand, and led him Westward. He cut down trees at its mouth, and erected three high crosses, that the half of his flotilla which were behind him might see his course. The natives called this stream Yguatu, or the Good Water. Instead of falling into the Paraguay, it seems to be another branch from the same innumerable sources, for till now the Spaniards had ascended the current, and on entering this, the stream was in their favour. Thus they proceeded through rivers and broads,

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till they came to a shoal, immediately beyond which lay the place which Yrala had reconnoitred, and which he had named Puerto de los Reyes, because he had arrived there on the Festival of the Three Kings. The shoal was about two musquet shot in length; they got out of the brigantines and pushed them over.

Com. 52. 53.

The Sacocies, Xaquesses, and Chaneses.

Coment. 53.

Three tribes dwelt about this place, the Sacocies, the Xaquesses, and the Chaneses, who were fugitives that had settled here. Yrala had left them in good humour, and they were now highly pleased at the arrival of these other strangers, who brought with them such acceptable articles of traffic. Cabeza de Vaca made them the usual harangue about Original Sin, the Pope, and the King of Castille; erected a cross under some palm-trees by the water-side, and took possession of the land in presence of the Public Notary of the province. He and his people took up their lodging on the side of the lake, because these Indians were unwilling that any one should enter their habitations.

Vampire Bat.

These tribes cultivated maize, mandioc, and a species of earthnut called mandubies. They housed their poultry at night; the ducks to catch the crickets¹⁶; the fowls to protect them from the vampire bat, who would else fasten upon their combs. This vampire, the body of which is larger than that of a pigeon, is as great a curse as the fabled harpy, to the countries which it infests. Neither man nor beast is safe from them. The parts

¹⁶ Charlevoix, with his usual carelessness, supposes that these people wished to destroy the crickets because they disliked their noise, and says his author does not explain how the fowls could defend the inhabitants. He refers to the Comentarios of Cabeza de Vaca, and in some form or other had the book before him, .. yet thus does he mistate, or misunderstand it!

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CHAP. V. 1543.

Coment. 54.

of man which they attack are the thumb, the nose, and, in preference to all others, the great toe: the patient is not awakened by their bite, and they continue to hold on like leeches till they have had their fill. Cabeza de Vaca was bit by the toe, .. a coldness in his leg awakened him in the morning, he found the bed bloody, and was looking for the wound, when his people laughed, and explained what enemy had wounded him. The Spaniards had brought with them six breeding sows, meaning to stock the country; these vampires bit off the teats of all, so that it was necessary to kill them and all their young. It was with great difficulty that the horses could be secured from them; they delighted to fix upon their ears, and it may well be imagined how such a pendant would terrify an animal, which of all animals seems to be the most violently agitated by fear.

Plague of Ants.

The ants, which are so great a curse to Brazil, were here more troublesome, though less mischievous. They were of two sorts, red and black, both very large, and the bite of either occasioned such intolerable pain for twenty-four hours, that the sufferer commonly writhed upon the ground, groaning the whole time: no remedy was known, .. but the force of the venom spent itself thus, without leaving any ill effect. The sting of a species of fish found here was of worse consequences; it struck with such force as to pierce through a man's foot; there was an antidote for the poison, but the wound was long in healing.

Coment. 54.

The hideous fashion of stretching their ears prevailed among these tribes¹⁷; this they accomplished by wearing gourds as

¹⁷ Some of the French soldiers who were taken in L'Eissegue's squadron off St. Domingo in 1806, had disfigured themselves as much as these savages, and upon the same principle. They cultivated their whiskers till they stuck out more than a foot on either side the head; and this, one of the Officers said, he did d'etre terrible. This was being what old Ronsard calls

Cruel de port, de moustache, et de cœur.

Franciade.

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CHAP. V. 1543.

First Idolaters.

Coment., 54.

pendants, increasing the size of the gourd from time to time, till the hole in which it hung was so large that a man might put his fist through, and the flap hung down upon the shoulder. As these lop-ears would have offered too convenient a handle to their enemies, they either tucked them up when they went to battle, or fastened them back behind the head. They were social, not gregarious tribes, each family having its own habitation. The settlement contained about eight hundred. The women spun cotton. They had wooden idols: till now no tribe had been discovered either in Brazil, or Paraguay, who were strictly idolaters. Cabeza de Vaca burnt their idols; they denounced the vengeance of the spirit upon them, but seeing no vengeance executed, they did not appear to resent what had been done. The Spaniards supposed that the Devil had taken flight as soon as he saw an altar erected, and mass performed.

Further intelligence obtained of Garcia.

About four leagues off were two settlements of the Chaneses, whom Garcia, the Portugueze, had brought from their own country; here they had taken wives, and thus allied themselves with the natives of the land. Many of them came to the Spaniards, rejoicing to see the countrymen of Garcia, whom they remembered with delight. From one of these men, who was about fifty years of age, some account was collected of this remarkable expedition. The sum of his information was, that the rest of his fellows had been cut off by the Guaranies when they attempted to return; that for this reason he and the others who had escaped could not go back by the route which they had

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taken, and they knew no other way: the Sacocies received them kindly in their distress, and they had remained and married among them. He mentioned the different tribes in the land from whence they came; all were cultivators, and had large sheep, as well as domestic fowls. Women were an article of exchange among them. The Chief of these Chaneses offered to guide the Spaniards there, saying there was nothing which he so earnestly desired as to remove with his wife and children into his own country.

Coment. 50.

Cabera de Vaca sends to the Xarayes.

When the Adelantado understood that there were Guaranies in the land, he sent a party of their countrymen, with a few Spaniards, to find them out, and procure guides among them; but after hunting the country for ten leagues round, they found only their deserted habitations. This the Chaneses said was very likely, for they and their allies had lately made war upon them, killed many, and driven the rest to flight: they were perhaps gone to join some of the same race who bordered upon the Xarayes; the Xarayes had gold and silver, which they received from a people dwelling farther up; and all that country was inhabited. How far was it to their country, was the immediate question. By land the journey of four or five days; but it was a miserable way, where they would have to cross marshes, and yet want water. By water, canoes might go it in eight or ten. Hector de Acuña, and Anton Correa, who understood the Guarani language, were dispatched by land to them, with two Guaranies and ten Sacocies; they took with them articles of barter, and a red cap for each of the Chiefs.

Coment. 57—58.

The Artaneses.

These messengers came the first day to a hideous tribe called Artaneses; the women tattoed themselves and slashed their faces, and the men cultivated their under-lips as successfully as their neighbours had laboured in improving the growth of their ears. They wore in their lip the shell of a fruit as big as a large

T

[page] 138

CHAP. V. 1543.

Journey to the Xarayes.

dish. These ugly people however gave them food and sent a guide with them. The next day's was a dreadful journey, through wide sloughs, in which they sunk at every step knee-deep; and the sun, which had not dried the mud, had yet heated it to such a degree that it was painful. They suffered also from thirst; for though the Indians carried water in calabashes, it was expended before half the day was over. They slept that night on a spot of dry ground amid the sloughs. There was the same sort of country to toil through the third day, but they came sometimes to lakes whereat they could drink, and found one tree, under the shade of which they rested and slept at noon; there also they consumed the last of their provisions. One day's journey more was yet to be performed, and a league of this was through a slough, where they sunk to the middle, and from which they never expected to get out; but having conquered this, the road became good. Just after mid-day they met about twenty Xarayes, whom the Chief, having heard of their coming, sent to meet them with maize-bread, a drink made from the same grain, boiled ducks, and fish. An hour before night-fall they reached the village: four or five hundred persons came out to welcome them, all gaily adorned with parrot feathers, and wearing a fan-shaped apron of white beads: the women were clothed in cotton. They were conducted to the Chief, who sate up ready to receive them in a cotton hammock, in the midst of the area of the town, with the elders round about him. A lane was made for the messengers to approach, and two benches were brought, on which he made signs to them to seat themselves. He then sent for a Guarani who was naturalized among them, and said through him, that he rejoiced at seeing them, having long desired to see the Christians; for since the time when Garcia had been in that country, he had held them as friends and kinsmen. He wished also to see their Chief, who he

[page] 139

CHAP. V. 1543.

heard was liberal to the Indians and gave them many good things; and he said, that if he had sent for any thing from that country, it should be given him. The Spaniards replied, that they were come to learn how far it was to the land of those people who had gold and silver, and what nations dwelt upon the way; they came also to see him, and assure him that the Adelantado greatly desired to have him for his friend. The old Chief made answer, that he should rejoice in his friendship. The way to those settlements, for which they enquired, he could not tell, because in the rainy season the whole country was flooded, and when the floods retired it was impassable. But the Guarani who was now interpreting had been there, and be would send him to the Adelantado, to tell him all he knew. The Spaniards then asked him to give them a guide to the Guaranies; but he replied that these Guaranies were at war with him, and that seeing he was the friend of the Christians, they ought not to go to his enemies and make friendship with them. Nevertheless if they were resolved to go, his people should conduct them there on the morrow. By this time it was night. The old Chief took them to his house, food was given them, each was then shewn his hammock, and women offered them according to the brutal custom of savage hospitality: but from these mistresses the Spaniards excused themselves, pleading the fatigue of their march.

Coment. 59.

An hour before day-break they were awakened by the sound of horns and drums; the Chief ordered his door to be opened, and they beheld about six hundred men, ready for war. This, said he, is the guise in which my people visit the Guaranies; they will conduct you safely there, and bring you safely back; otherwise you would be slain, because you are my friends. When the Spaniards perceived that they could not go in any other manner, and that if they persisted in their intention

[page] 140

CHAP. V. 1543.

The Xarayes.

Schmidel. 36.

Com. 59. 60.

it would probably offend the Xarayes, they said they would go back, tell the Adelantado what they had learnt, and return with his instructions. With this resolution the old Chief was well satisfied; his visitors remained with him that day, and gave him the articles of barter which they had brought, and also the red cap, which was his particular present, and they were as much amused with his admiration, as he was with the gift. In return he gave them coronals of rich plumery for the Adelantado, and thus they separated, being mutually well pleased with each other. The name, or title, of the Chief was Camire; his town contained about a thousand houses¹⁸; and four neighbouring settlements were subject to his authority. The Xarayes lived in separate families; the men cultivated the under lip like the Artaneses; it is more remarkable that they wore mostachos; the women spun cotton, and manufactured webs of it as fine as silk, in which they wrought the figures of animals, .. a waste of ingenuity, for the use of these webs was to wrap round them at night, when the season required it. Both sexes stained themselves from the neck to the knees with a blue die, which they laid on in such exquisite pattern-work, that a German, who saw them, doubted whether the best artist in Germany could have surpassed the nicety and intricacy of the design. They had two harvests in the year. The cricket infested them also, and they also kept ducks in their houses to destroy this mischievous insect.

Great expedition of the Guaranies towards Peru.

The Guarani interpreter accompanied the Spaniards on their return. He told Cabeza de Vaca that he was born at Itati, a

¹⁸ Ribera says one thousand houses, .. the Commentaries one thousand inhabitants. The smallest computation is usually the safest in such cases; but six hundred fighting men could not have been collected from one thousand inhabitants.

[page] 141

CHAP. V. 1543.

Comment. 60.

settlement upon the Paraguay. When he was a lad his countrymen undertook a great expedition, in which he went with his father: they plundered the first settlements, and carried off plates and ornaments of gold and silver; for awhile they went on victoriously, but at length the whole country gathered together against them, and gave them a severe defeat; the enemy then got behind them, took possession of the passes, and cut off their retreat, so that not above two hundred of the whole multitude escaped. Of these the greater number dared not attempt to return, for fear of the Guaxarapos and other tribes, through whose territories they must have passed; they therefore took up their abode among the mountains: he, with the rest, endeavoured to reach his own country; but they were discovered on their way by these hostile tribes, and every one, except himself, slain. In his flight he fell in with the Xarayes, where he had been kindly treated, and adopted into their nation. Cabeza de Vaca asked him if he could find the way to those people whom his countrymen had attacked. He replied that they had cut their way through thickets, and felled trees for land marks; but all this must have been overgrown long since. Still he thought he knew the course. It lay by a high round mountain which was then in sight from the Puerto de los Reyes, and the first settlements were, to the best of his remembrance, about five days distance. He was asked if there was gold there, and answered yes; his countrymen had carried off plates, gorgets, earrings, bracelets, crowns, hatchets, and small vessels both of gold and silver. After this tempting intelligence he consented to go with the Spaniards and guide them as well as he could, saying that to this end his Chief had sent him there.

Cabeza de Vaca follows their route.

Cabeza de Vaca bade this man look well to the truth of what he said; there was however no reason to suspect deceit, and he determined to undertake the journey, taking with him three

[page] 142

CHAP. V. 1543.

Coment. 60. 58.

hundred men, and provision for twenty days. One hundred, with twice that number of Guaranies, he left to guard the brigantines, under Juan Romero. The natives about the Puerto de los Reyes had begun to be discontented with their guests. Gonzalo de Mendoza, who had now joined the Adelantado with the remainder of his force, had been attacked on the way by the Guaxarapos; one of his own people provoked the quarrel, and five Spaniards were slain in it. The Guaxarapos regarded their death as a victory, and called upon their friends, the Sacocies, to take courage and destroy these strangers, who were not valiant, and whose heads were soft. Nothing seems to have encouraged these tribes so much as the discovery that the Spaniards heads were not so hard as their own: they did not recollect that an iron cap was harder.

Nov. 26. March towards Peru.

Coment. 63.

The first day's journey lay through pleasant woods, where there was a track, though but little trodden; they slept beside some springs. On the morrow it was necessary to clear their way before them, and the farther they advanced the thicker they found the woods: they were also greatly impeded by a close grass, which grew to an exceeding height. Their second night's lodging was beside a lake, wherein the fish were so abundant that they caught them by hand. The guide was ordered to climb trees and ascend eminences as they went on, that be might survey the road well; and he maintained that they were in the right way. Honey was found in the trees, and there was plenty of game, but the noise of their march scared it, so that they profited little by this resource. Of all the fruits which they ate, only one proved unwholesome; it was the berry of a tree resembling the myrtle. The palms produced a fruit of which (unlike the date) the kernel, and not the pulp, was eaten, the shell, as of the pistachio, being divided; it is likened to the sweet almond; the Indians made from it a flour of excellent quality.

[page] 143

CHAP. V. 1543.

On the fifth day of their march they came to a little river of hot water, issuing from a mountain. The water was clear and good, and there were fish in it notwithstanding its heat. Here the guide confessed that he was at fault; the old road marks were gone; it was many years since he had been there, and he knew not which way to go. The following morning, however, as they still advanced, cutting their path, two Guaranies ventured to approach them. These people were some of those who had escaped from the great overthrow which the guide had related, and retired into the wildest part of the woods and mountains to hide themselves. Their hut was near, and the whole of this wreck soon made their appearance, consisting of only fourteen persons, the eldest of whom appeared to be about five and thirty. They were children, they said, at the time of the great destruction of their nation, and they knew that some of their race dwelt near the Xarayes, and made war upon them. Two days journey on there was another family consisting of ten persons, the head of whom, this man told them, was his brother-in-law, and he knew the way to the country for which the Spaniards enquired, for he had often been there. Cabeza de Vaca made these people happy by distributing among them a few presents. His business was now to find out this second family, where he was sure of a guide. He sent forward an interpreter, with two Spaniards and two Indians, to make enquiry there concerning the road and the distance, and proceeded slowly after them the next day. On the third he met one of the Indians returning with a letter, stating that from the Guarani's hut, where it had been written, it was the journey of sixteen days, through thickets and close high grass, to a lofty rock called Tapuaguazu, from the top of which much cultivated country could be seen. The road to this habitation was so bad, that they had been obliged to crawl great part of it, and the

[page] 144

CHAP. V. 1543.

Com. 62—53.

master of the Guarani family said it was worse beyond. He was however coming with the interpreter, to tell the Adelantado all he knew. Upon this Cabeza de Vaca retired to the huts which had been set up for the last night's lodging, and there waited for them, till they arrived, on the following afternoon.

The Guarani said he was well acquainted with the way to Tapuaguazu, having often gone there for arrows¹⁹, of which there were plenty there. The smoke of the inhabited country was visible from thence, but he had now for some time ceased to go, because on his last journey he had seen smokes on this side the rock, whereby he knew that they were returning to inhabit this country, which since the great invasion had been left desolate. It would be the journey of sixteen days, the road very bad, and a way to be opened through the woods. He was asked if he would go as guide, and replied, willingly, though he greatly feared the people of that land. Upon this Cabeza de Vaca assembled as usual his Clergy and Captains, and asked their opinion, what was to be done. They answered, the troops had relied too confidently on the guide's assertion that they should reach the inhabited country in five days, and had in consequence husbanded their provisions so ill that most of them had expended all, though each man had taken with him two arrobas²⁰ of flour. The stores only contained enough for six days. It was well known how little the reports of the Indians could be trusted; instead of sixteen days journey, the distance might prove far greater, and the whole party might perhaps

¹⁹ Whether this means that they had been left upon the ground after the destruction of his tribe, or only that reeds grew there, is not explained.

²⁰ About half a hundred weight.

[page] 145

CHAP. V. 1543.

Coment. 64—65.

perish for hunger, as had often happened in these discoveries. They therefore judged it best to return to Puerto de los Reyes, where they had left the brigantines, and there provide themselves for the expedition, now that they were better enabled to calculate what provision it required. Cabeza de Vaca represented to them that it was impossible to procure provisions there, the maize was not yet ripe, nor had the natives where-with to supply them; moreover they should remember what had been told them, that the inundations would soon begin. They persisted in their opinion; it was not easy to determine which evil was the least, to return or to advance, and he found it prudent to yield as the general wish was against him. Francisco de Ribera however, and six others, offered to go with the Guarani and eleven Indians to Tapuaguazu; these Indians were charged on pain of severe punishment not to leave them, till they had returned together and joined the Adelantado, .. and they went their way upon this adventure.

Scarcity at Puerto de los Reyes.

Cabeza de Vaca returned in eight days to Puerto de los Reyes, where he found that the natives, influenced by the Guaxarapos, were beginning to manifest their ill will; they had ceased to supply the Spaniards with food, and threatened to attack them. He assembled their Chiefs, gave them red caps, and pacified them with gentle words and fair promises; and they on their part declared that they would be the friends of the Christians, and drive out the Guaxarapos and all their enemies. The want of food was not so easily remedied; there was none now except what was on board the brigantines, and that would not suffice him and his Indians for above twelve days, however sparingly distributed. The interpreters were sent round to all the adjoining settlements to purchase more; but none was now to be purchased, for food was at this time so scarce as to be above all price. He enquired of the principal natives where it

U

[page] 146

CHAP. V. 1543.

Coment. 65—68.

was to be found. They told him that the Arianicosies had plenty, a tribe who inhabited the shores of some great lake about nine leagues off. He called his council again, and laid their situation before them; his men he said were ready to disperse themselves about the country and take provisions wherever they could find them. What was to be done? They replied, that there was no other remedy than to send the greater part of the people to those places where there was food, which they were to buy if the natives would sell it, and to take by force if they would not; for in case of famine it was lawful to take it from the altar. Gonzalo de Mendoza therefore was sent to the Arianicosies with one hundred and twenty Spaniards and six hundred Indian archers. The natives whom Cabeza de Vaca consulted had also informed him that as the waters were beginning to rise, the brigantines could now go up the river Ygatu to the land of the Xarayes, who had food. There were also many large and winding rivers which fell into the Ygatu, and on the banks of these were tribes who were plentifully stored. Accordingly Hernando de Ribera was dispatched with fifty-two men in a brigantine to the Xarayes, there to make enquiry concerning the country farther on, and then to proceed and explore the waters. Orders were given that neither he nor his men should land, but only the interpreter and two companions, that all occasion of quarrel might if possible be avoided.

Mendoza sent to the Arianicosies in search of food.

When Mendoza arrived at the land of the Arianicosies, he sent an interpreter with beads, knives, fishing-hooks, and iron wedges, which were in great request, as samples of the treasures that he had brought to barter with them: but they replied, they would give the Spaniards nothing, and ordered them to leave their country or they would kill them all; the Guaxarapos, who had already killed Christians would assist them; and they bade the interpreter tell the Spaniards they knew they had soft heads.

[page] 147

CHAP. V. 1543.

Coment. 58.

Mendoza tried a second embassy, which hardly escaped from them. He then landed with all his force, and being received with the same hostility, shot two of them: the rest fled, and he carried off store of maize, mandioc, mandubies, and other roots and herbs from their houses. He dismissed a prisoner, to bid them return to their habitations and he would pay for all that had been taken; but they were not to be conciliated. They attacked his camp, set fire to their houses, and summoned all their allies to assist them. Mendoza sent to the Adelantado for instructions how to act, and was directed still to use every means to pacify them.

1544.

Return of F. De Ribera.

Eight of the Guaranies who had been sent with Francisco de Ribera on his adventure to Tapuaguazu were now returned, and Cabeza de Vaca had given up him and the rest of his companions for lost. But on the 20th of January they arrived; they were all wounded, and this was the account which they gave. One and twenty days they and their guide travelled Westward, through a country so nearly impassable that sometimes they could only get on a league a day through the thickets, and on two days not half as much. Antas and venison and wild boars were in great abundance, whom their Indians shot with arrows; and smaller game was so numerous that they knocked it down with sticks: there was also plenty of honey, and of fruit, so that if the army had proceeded they would have been in no want of food. On the twenty-first day they came to a river which ran Westward, and according to their guide passed by Tapuaguazu: soon afterwards they saw the track of hunters, and came into some maizals, from which the maize had just been gathered. Here before they could conceal themselves an Indian met them; he had golden ear-rings, and wore a silver ornament in his under lip. They did not understand his language; but he took Ribera by the hand, and made signs to him and his companions

[page] 148

CHAP. V. 1544.

to come with him. He led them to a large house, built of wood and straw; the women were emptying it; but when the Spaniards came in, they broke a hole through the straw side, out of which they threw the things, rather than pass by the strangers. Among the things which they were removing were many ornaments and utensils of silver, taken out of large jars. Their host made his guests be seated, and gave them maize-beer to drink, served in gourds from large earthen vessels which were buried to the neck in the floor. Two slaves, Orejones by nation, waited upon them, and made them understand that there were some Christians about three days journey off, among a people called Payzunoes. They showed them also the high rock Tapuaguazu, in sight. By this time the Indians began to assemble round the door, gaily painted and plumed, and bearing bows and arrows as if prepared for war. Their host upon this took bow and arrow himself, and messages passed backward and forward, by which the Spaniards suspected that the country was rising to cut them off; and presently he warned them to hasten back by the way which they had come, before a greater multitude should be collected. About three hundred had already gathered together, and attempted to stop them; they made their way through, but when they were about a stone's throw distant, the Indians set up a cry, discharged their arrows at them, and followed them till they got into the woods, where they defended themselves, and their assailants turned back, thinking, the Spaniards supposed, that they had companions there to assist them. Every one of the party was wounded; the road however was now opened, and though they had been one and twenty days going from the place where they had left the Adelantado, they returned the whole way to Puerto de los Reyes in twelve, which they estimated to be about seventy leagues. A lake which they had forded when they went, and found only

[page] 149

CHAP. V. 1544.

Coment. 70.

knee-deep, was so swoln on their return that it had spread above a league beyond its banks, and with great difficulty and danger they crost it upon rafts. This was all that they had discovered, except that the people from whose country they had been thus rudely expelled were called Tarapecocies, and that they had abundance of tame ducks and fowls.

The Spaniards hear of gold and silver.

This information led to farther knowledge. There were some Tarapecocies here, part of the wreck of Garcia's heterogeneous army. It is greatly to be regretted that the history of this Portugueze adventurer⁴ has not been preserved; a man he must

⁴ The little information which Cabeza de Vaca obtained of Garcia is all that is really known concerning him. The Jesuits Nicholas del Techo and Juan Patricio Fernandez repeat it, with the extraordinary blunder that his expedition took place in the reign of Joam II. .. before Brazil was discovered: and this cannot be an error of the press for Joam III. because they state it to have been before the overthrow of the Incas, as indeed probably it was. Both say he was treacherously murdered by his own people.

They call him Alexo Garcia, and Techo says that he was sent by Martin Affonso de Sousa, who afterwards sent Jorge Sedenho with sixty Portugueze in search of him. When they came near the Paraguay the same Indians who had murdered Garcia, slew the commander and put them to flight: and on their return the Indians on the Parana embarked them in worm-eaten canoes covered with clay instead of pitch, pulled off the clay in the mid-stream, swam to shore themselves, and left the Portugueze to sink. This account is manifestly fabulous. In another place he adds that his Indians returned to the rich country where he had led them, for fear the Portugueze should send and take vengeance upon them; and that there they founded the nation of the Chiriguanos, who were so long the scourge of the Spaniards. According to Jolis, these writers follow the authority of the MS. Argentina of Ruy Diaz de Guzman; and he rightly remarks that the story is disproved by the mention which Garcilasso makes of this tribe in the time of the Inca Yupangui. L. 6. Art. 2.

The Mercurio Peruano (May 8. 1791. T. 2. P. 21.) says that Garcia and his army of Chiriguanos penetrated as far as the valley of Tarija; and that his savage followers killed him because they did not chuse to leave so delightful a country and return. The Essayist calls him a Portugueze of Paraguay, and says that his name, like that of Erostratus, deserves to remain for ever in oblivion. It would be difficult to prove that Garcia was worse than the Spanish conquerors, and it is manifest from what he atchieved, that in ability as well as in enterprize he must have been equal to the greatest of them. The Mercurio refers to no authority, and is probably wrong in dating the expedition after the conquest of Peru, as it assuredly is in saying that Garcia and his army spared neither Spaniard, Indian, nor Mestizo; .. for there could have been no Mestizo there to slay, even if there were any Spaniards.

[page] 150

CHAP. V. 1544.

have been of most extraordinary talents, with only five Europeans to have raised an army, and penetrated more than half way through the continent of South America: and the respect in which his memory was held, shows that as in prudence and courage he must have equalled the greatest men among the discoverers, so it is probable that he exceeded them in humanity. These people were immediately enquired for; one of the arrows which Ribera had brought back with him was shown them; their countenances brightened at the sight, and they said it came from their country. Cabeza de Vaca asked them why their nation should have attempted to kill his messengers, who went only to see them, and converse with them. They replied that their nation were not enemies to the Christians, but on the contrary regarded them as friends since Garcia had been there and bartered with them. The reason why they had now attacked the Spaniards must have been because they saw Guaranies in their company, whom they hated, inasmuch as that race had formerly invaded them, and wasted their borders. But if his messengers had taken an interpreter, they would have treated them well, for it was never the manner of their nation to receive as enemies those who came as friends: and they would have given them food, and gold and silver, which they got from the nations beyond them. It was asked from whom they got this

[page] 151

CHAP. V. 1544.

Coment. 70.

gold and silver, and for what? They replied, in exchange for bows and arrows, and slaves, from the Payzunoes, who were three days journey from them, and who themselves procured these metals from the Chaneses, Chimenoes, Carcaraes, and Candirees, tribes who had abundance. They were shown a bright brass candlestick, and questioned whether the yellow metal of which they spake was like that: no, they replied, it was yellower and softer, and had no such unpleasant smell; a gold ring was then produced, and that they said was the same. In like manner, when a tin vessel was shown them they said their white metal was whiter and harder and without smell, and when they saw a silver cup, declared that in their country they had bracelets and crowns and hatchets of the like.

They return to Asumpcion.

This intelligence made the Adelantado resolve upon attempting the march again, and he sent for Gonzalo de Mendoza to return with all his people that they might prepare for it. But the sickly season was begun, and agues soon prevailed so generally that there were not sound men enough to keep guard. The natives seized the opportunity. They began by laying hands on five Spaniards, who with some fifty Guaranies were fishing about a stone's throw from the camp; they cut them in pieces, and distributed the flesh among the Guaxarapos and their other allies. They then boldly attacked the Spaniards in their camp, and slew nearly three score before they could be repulsed. Weak however as the Europeans were they soon took vengeance for this, and kept them again in awe. Hernando de Ribera now returned from his expedition, but he found the Adelantado too ill to hear his report. Three months they continued in this miserable state; less in want of food indeed than formerly, for Mendoza had brought supplies; but the sickness rather increased than abated, and the mosquitos were now become a more intolerable plague than the ague. At length,

[page] 152

CHAP. V. 1544.

Coment. 71—73.

worn out with sufferings, it was agreed to return to Asumpcion. The stream carried them down in twelve days, and well it was that the stream was in their favour, for they had no strength to row, nor could they have defended themselves. Had it not been for the guns which they carried in the brigantine, they would hardly have escaped from the terrible Guaxarapos.

Mutiny against Cabeza deVaca.

Coment. 74—77.

Cabeza de Vaca had offended some of his people because he would not permit them to bring away a hundred Indian girls who had been given them by their parents, as the means of conciliating their favour. On all occasions he had endeavoured to suppress the infamous practice of taking the men for slaves and the women for concubines, and this made him very unpopular. He asserts that Yrala and the chief persons of his party designed to make themselves independent of Spain, and that this was the main reason why they abandoned Buenos Ayres. The accusation is not very probable; but it is certain that their distance from any efficient authority encouraged them to pay little respect to the King's edicts. A fortnight after their return, a party of the chief officers seized the Adelantado, who was confined by sickness to his chamber, put him in irons, and proclaimed Yrala governor. Cabeza de Vaca had still friends, who contrived to communicate with him by means of a female slave, though whenever she visited him she was searched, stark naked. The slip of paper which she carried was rolled up, covered with black bees wax, and fastened with two black threads between the ball of the foot and the toes. They offered to release him by force, but he forbade this, for he had been threatened with instant death if any attempt was made to rescue him, and the threat would, beyond all doubt, have been executed.

He is sent prisoner to Spain.

This sedition was the cause of great disorders. Many of the natives who relied upon his protection, and were beginning to adopt the religion and language of the settlers, fled. Above

[page] 153

CHAP. V. 1544.

Coment. 78—84.

Herrera. 7.9.13.

fifty Spaniards who were attached to the Adelantado set off by land to Brazil, to escape the intolerable insults and injuries which they endured from the triumphant faction. The Friars took the same road, meaning to get from thence to Spain, and present complaints against him; and they carried with them their female pupils, without any opposition from the new governors. At last, after having kept him in confinement eleven months, his enemies sent him prisoner to Spain. Alonso Cabrera the Veedor, and Garci Vanegas the Treasurer, went to be his accusers. According to the usual delay of justice in that country, Cabeza de Vaca was detained about the Court eight years, before his cause was adjudged, during which time one of his accusers died miserably, and the other became raving mad. He was then acquitted of all the charges which had been brought against him, but was neither reinstated in his government, nor in any way indemnified for the losses he had sustained. Unfortunately for him, the Bishop of Cuenca, at that time President of the Council of the Indies, died soon after his arrival, otherwise summary justice would have been inflicted upon his enemies; for that minister had said that such offences as these must now be punished capitally, and no longer by fines²².

²² The history of Cabeza de Vaca's transactions in Paraguay is related by two authentic writers; Pedro Fernandez, who was with him in that country, and wrote the Commentaries by the Adelantado's order, from the materials which he supplied, and from his own knowledge; and Schmidel, an eye-witness also, who writes more summarily, and with an ill will towards the Governor against whom he had mutinied: there is no difference in matter of fact between the two accounts, and it cannot be supposed that any thing of importance should remain unnoticed by both. Techo however relates a story in many respects different. He says that one of Cabeza de Vaca's first measures was to send to the tribe who dwelt upon the banks of the Ipana, desiring them to restore Garcia's son, whom they still detained in captivity: that they put all his messengers to death except one, who was sent back with a defiance: that he dispatched his nephew Alonso Riquelme against them, and they were defeated with the loss of four thousand slain and three thousand taken: after this victory the deliverance of so interesting a prisoner might have been expected; but he had never been spoken of before, neither is he ever mentioned afterwards. That the Adelantado on his way up the river punished the murderers of Ayolas, and having advanced two hundred and fifty leagues came to an island thirty miles long and nine broad, enjoying an equal temperature throughout all seasons, watered by so many springs of sweet water, and abounding with such exquisite fruits, game so plentiful, and honey in such profusion, that the Spaniards called it Paradise, and forgetting all their dreams of gold and of conquest, would fain have settled there. It was inhabited by the Orejones, a people so friendly and so gentle, that their minds seemed to have been moulded by the influence of the benignant region which they possessed. Cabeza de Vaca had some difficulty in forcing his men from this delicious island; he reproached them for their base desire of rest, asking them whether they had come from Spain only to settle in a delightful country, or to enrich themselves. Having at length made them advance, they marched onward in a northerly direction, till they came to a town containing eight thousand houses, which was deserted at their approach. In the middle of the great market-place there was a round tower made of large timber; the top was pyramidal, and covered with palm-tree bark: within this temple was a serpent, twenty-five feet in length, and about as big as an ox, with two rows of teeth sticking out of its jaws, like sickles. This monster was fed with the bodies of men slain in war, and the Devil used it as his mouth-piece to deliver oracles. The Spaniards killed it, but then a dispute arose concerning the division of the spoils, and in consequence they returned to Asumpcion. This account Charlevoix chuses to follow in preference to that which was written under Cabeza de Vaca's own eye, and to Herrera; Schmidel's book he does not appear to have seen; .. and his reason for this preference is, that Techo, writing in Paraguay, might have derived his information from some person who had been in the expedition, and that it is difficult to believe he would have asserted any thing for which he had not good authority, in a work which he dedicated to the Royal Council of the Indies. Charlevoix ought to have remembered, that no person who had been in the expedition could be better authority than Cabeza de Vaca himself, and that Techo did not write till more than a hundred years after it took place. But all these circumstances are manifestly false. No savages ever left four thousand men upon the field of battle. (The Peruvians and the people of New Spain were not savages.) No savage town ever contained eight thousand houses. As for the Island of the Orejones, which has found a place in De Lisle's maps, there is no such island in existence; .. the Paulistas have repeatedly traversed all that part of the country. In the last year of the Jesuits continuance in Paraguay, P. Joze Sanchez made his way to the Chiquito missions by this route, which had before been vainly attempted; .. he past over the ground which this Paradise ought to have occupied, and found it in the same dreadful state as the rest of that country, swarming with all the curses of a rank and uncultivated soil.

Dobrizhoffer. Peramas, Vita Petri Joanuis Andreu. §54. 55.

X

[page] 154

CHAP. V.

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CHAP. V.

[page 156]

CHAPTER VI.

Expedition of Hernando de Ribera; he hears of the Amazons and marches in guest of them over the flooded country.—Disturbances at Asumpcion.—Yrala conquers the Carios, and attempts a second time to march across the country.—He reaches the confines of Peru, makes his own terms in secret with the President, and then returns.—Diego Centeno appointed Governor; he dies, and Yrala remains with the government.

CHAP. VI. 1543.

Expedition of Her. de Ribera.

It has been said that when Hernando de Ribera returned from his expedition, the Adelantado was too ill to listen to his report, and no measures were taken in consequence of it. Ribera however sent home to Spain an account of his adventures, and Hulderick Schmidel, who was one of his company, published another in Germany. The tale which they relate is another instance of the hopes, the credulity, and the desperate perseverance of the discoverers.

Ribera departed on December 20, from Puerto de los Reyes, in a brigantine with eighty men, on his way to the Xarayes. He found a tribe called Achkeres, who took their name from the Cayman, an animal of which they stood in strange fear: they believed that it killed with its breath, that the sight of one was deadly, and that it could be destroyed in no other manner

[page] 157

CHAP. VI. 1544.

H. de Ribera.

Schmidel. 35—37.

than by holding a mirror¹ before it, that it might kill itself with the reflection of its basilisk eye. They gave Ribera guides, and sent with him eight canoes, which by fishing and hunting supplied him abundantly with food. He had been nine days in reaching them, and was as many more proceeding six and thirty leagues farther to the Xarayes. Old Camire came out with a great body of his people to meet them about a league from his settlement, on a wide plain. A way was made for him some eight paces broad, from whence every straw and pebble was cleared away, and nothing but flowers and fresh herbage left. Musicians attended him, playing upon a sort of flute, like the German schalm. As soon as he had bidden the Spaniards welcome, he entertained them with hunting, and about fifty stags and ostriches were presently brought down. The Spaniards were quartered two and two in the town, and remained there four days; Camire then asked them what they were in search of: they were in a land of plenty, and seem to have forgotten the wants of the Adelantado and their countrymen, and their answer was, gold and silver. Upon this he gave Ribera a few silver² trifles, and a little plate of gold, saying this was all he had, and that he had won it from the Amazons.

Report of the Amazons.

Perhaps there did exist a tribe in South America, whose name bore some resemblance in sound to the word Amazonas, at which the Discoverers eagerly caught in their ignorance and credulity. But most of the accounts which they obtained concerning them can only be explained by supposing that the natives always return-

¹ Had they then stone mirrors like the Mexicans, (Clavigero. L 7. § 56.) or was their pottery so glazed as to answer this purpose?

² The little silver which the Spaniards found in these parts, had been trafficked from one tribe to another, from the country about Potosi.

Pedro de Cieça. C. 115.

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CHAP. VI. 1544.

ed such answers as they perceived were most agreeable, and that they themselves furnished in the shape of questions the information which they fancied they received in reply, the Indians assenting to what they understood but imperfectly, or not at all; a custom this of which the Missionaries often complain. Thus it must probably have been that they heard from Camire how the Amazons cut off the right breast, how their male neighbours visited them thrice or four times in the year, how they sent the boys to their fathers, and retained the girls; that they lived in a large island which was in a huge lake, and that they got gold and silver in great abundance from the main land. How could they get at them, was the next question, by land or water? Only by land, was the reply, but it was a two months journey, and to reach them now would be impossible, because the country was inundated. This they did not regard, but asked him for Indians to carry their baggage; he gave the Captain, twenty, and each of the men five; and these desperate adventurers set off on their march over a flooded country!

March through the flooded country.

Eight days they travelled through water up to their knees, and sometimes up to their middle: nad they not learnt the use of the hammock such a journey must have been utterly impracticable. Before they could make a fire to dress their food they were obliged to raise a rude scaffolding, and this was unavoidably so insecure, that frequently the fire burnt through, and food and all fell into the water. They then came to the Siberis, a tribe having the same language and customs as the Xarayes, who told them they would have four days more to travel through the water, and then five by land, after which they would reach the Urtueses; but they advised them to turn back, for they were not numerous enough for such an expedition. Here they obtained guides, and proceeded another week over the flooded country, the water being so hot as to be unpalateable, and the rain incessant. On the ninth day they came to the Urtueses: ..

[page] 159

CHAP. VI. 1544.

Schmidel. 37.

how far was it to the land of the Amazons? .. a month's journey, and still through floods. But here they found an insuperable obstacle. The locusts during two successive years had devoured every thing before them, and plague had followed the famine which they occasioned. No food was to be had; but the Spaniards thought this plague was their preservation, for that else they should hardly have escaped from the most numerous tribe that they had yet discovered.

Amazons.

H. de Ribera.

Here some Indians of the adjoining tribes came to see the strangers. They wore coronals after the fashion of Peru, and plates of a metal which in Ribera's report is called chafalonia. Of these people the Spaniards renewed their enquiries after the Amazons. Ribera solemnly swears that he faithfully reports the information they gave, and that it was not obtained from them by queries, but spontaneously given. He swears that they told him of a nation of women, governed by a woman, and so warlike as to be dreaded by all their neighbours: they possessed plenty both of white and yellow metal; their seats and all the utensils in their houses were made of them. They lived on the Western side of a large lake, which they called the Mansion of the Sun, because the sun sunk into it. On this side their country was a nation of little people, on whom they made war; beyond it a race of negroes with long beards, who wore clothes, lived in houses of clay and stone, and had also the white and yellow metals in abundance. To the West-South-West there were also large settlements of a rich and civilized people, who used a fleece-bearing animal for burthen and in agriculture, and among them there were Christians. .. How did they know this? .. They had heard from the tribes beyond them that a white and bearded people, riding upon large beasts, had been in the deserts which lay in that direction, from whence for want of water they had been forced to return. All the Indians of that country, they

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CHAP. VI. 1544.

said, communicated with each other, and they knew that far away, beyond the mountains, there was a great salt water, on which there were great ships. This account, when divested of fable, is sufficiently remarkable. The fact that in the centre of South America any knowledge was found of its shores, evinces an internal intercourse which it is not easy to explain.

They return to the Xarayes.

Schmidel. 37—38.

The Cazique of the Urtueses gave Ribera four large bracelets of silver, and four golden frontlets, which were worn as marks of distinction; for which he received in return a present of knives, beads, and such toys as were manufactured at Nuremberg. Having thus taken a friendly departure, the Spaniards marched back, because they could have got no food had they proceeded. On their way they were reduced to live on palmitoes and roots; and in consequence of this diet, and of having travelled so long half under water, the greater number of them sickened as soon as they reached the Xarayes. Here they were well nurst, and the men carried on so good a trade for silver and the fine cotton webs which the Xaraye women manufactured, that Schmidel estimates their profit at not less than two hundred ducats each. When they returned to Puerto de los Reyes, the Adelantado, ill as he was, was exceedingly incensed that Ribera should, in contempt of orders, have proceeded upon an expedition of discovery, leaving the army in such distress, and in expectation of relief from him. He ordered him to be put in irons, and took from the soldiers all that they had gained by the adventure. A sort of mutiny was the consequence, and Cabeza de Vaca thought it best to yield. It is to Ribera's honour that he did not resent this deserved anger, and bore no part in the insurrection against the Adelantado. Of eighty men who accompanied him upon this dreadful march, only thirty recovered from its effects. Schmidel contracted a dropsy, but fortunately for history as well as for himself, it did not prove fatal.

[page] 161

CHAP. VI. 1544.

Misconduct of the Spaniards.

Yrala subdues the Carios.

The sedition against Cabeza de Vaca threw every thing into confusion. Thus far Yrala and the King's officers had gone hand in hand; they quarrelled concerning their usurped authority, for when these officers elected him Governor, it was with the intention of being Governors over him. This struggle between the civil and military powers took place in almost all the Conquests, before the scheme of colonial legislation was fully formed. The Spaniards at Asumpcion were divided into parties, and both parties acted as mischievously as possible. The partizans of either side were allowed to treat the Indians as they pleased, and the Indians were indulged in their accursed cannibalism, the leaders permitting any thing to strengthen their own faction. Frequently they were on the point of deciding the quarrel by arms: from this it is probable that the civil officers were withheld by their fear of Yrala's popularity among the soldiers, and Yrala by a wise unwillingness to weaken the general strength. The Carios and Agaces seeing these dissentions, united to all upon the Spaniards and rid the country of them. This danger intimidated the civil faction, and Yrala was now suffered to exercise that power, which could not be in abler hands. He made an alliance with the Jeperos and Bathac is, tribes who could muster about five thousand men; and with one thousand of them and about three hundred Spaniards, so distributed as that every Spaniard should be assisted by three natives, he marched against the Carios, a large army of whom had assembled under their Cazique Machkarias. They advanced within half a league of the enemy, and then halted for the night, being weary with a march through incessant rain. At six in the morning they proceeded to the attack; after a battle of three hours the Carios fled to their strong hold called³ Fremi-

³ This is Schmidel's word, .. but the F is not used by any of these tribes.

Y

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CHAP. VI. 1544.

diere, leaving many hundreds on the field, whose heads the Jeperos carried off that they might skin them and hang up the whole mask as trophies. The post to which they retired was fortified with three palisadoes, and with pit-falls, and it was so well defended that Yrala besieged it three days in vain. He then made four hundred pavaises of anta-skin⁴, under cover of which he sent as many Indians with pick-axes to level the palisade, and between every two went a harquebusseer. This mode of attack succeeded; after a few hours the assailants entered the place, massacring women and children before them, and making a great slaughter. The greater number however escaped, and fled to another strong hold called Carieba, whither the conquerors, having received a reinforcement of two hundred Spaniards and five hundred allies, pursued them. This hold was fortified in the same manner as the last; and the Carios had also contrived machines which, according to Schmidel's description, were like rat-traps, and each of which had it taken effect would have caught twenty or thirty men. Four days the Spaniards besieged them, without success. A Cario then, who had formerly been Chief of the town, came privately out and offered to betray it, if they would promise not to set fire to it. He then discovered to them two paths in the wood which led into the place, and they by this means surprised it. The women and children had previously been hidden in the woods, the former massacre having taught them this precaution. They who

⁴ I am reminded by a friend, that this word may to many persons require explanation. The Anta is that amphibious animal which is sometimes called the Tapiir, sometimes the Hippopotamos of South America, sometimes the Great Beast. Dobrizhoffer strangely confounds it with the Elk. The prints of this animal differ from each other, and I have seen a drawing, probably more authentic than any, which differs materially from all.

[page] 163

CHAP. VI. 1548.

Schmidel. 41—43.

escaped from this second slaughter fled to a Cazique called Dabero, and wasted the country before them to prevent pursuit. But upon this the Spaniards returned to Asumpcion, and from thence went down the river against them with fresh forces: the Chief who had betrayed Carieba joined them with a thousand of his people, and Dabero, after one defeat, submitted again to a yoke which it was impossible to shake off.

Yrala enters the country.

Schmidel. 44.

After this war was terminated the Spaniards remained at peace and at rest for two years, during which time no succours arrived from Spain. Yrala then, that they might not longer continue idling, as this quiet life was termed, proposed to them to renew the attempt in which his two predecessors had failed, and to ascertain whether gold and silver were to be found or not. Such a proposal was joyfully accepted. He left Don Francisco de Mendoza to command during his absence, and departed with three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and two thousand of the lately conquered Carios. They went up the river in seven brigantines and two hundred canoes; such of the expedition as could not go by water for want of sufficient embarkations, proceeding with two hundred and fifty horses by land. The place of meeting was in sight of the high round mountain called St. Fernando: the same, it may be presumed, by which the Guarani had guided Cabeza de Vaca. Fifty Spaniards were left in two brigantines, with a charge to be more wary than Ayolas had been; the other vessels were sent back, and Yrala began his march.

The Mapais.

Eight days they went on without finding any inhabitants. On the ninth, when they were about six and thirty leagues beyond the mountain St. Fernando, they came to the Meperos, a tall and robust race of hunters and fishers. Four days afterwards they found the Mapais, a tribe far more advanced towards servitude and civilization. The people were compelled to serve

[page] 164

CHAP. VI. 1548.

Schmidel. 44—45.

their Chiefs, like the peasants in Germany, they were cultivators; they made a sort of mead, and had tamed the Ilama. The women were handsome, and were exempt from that hard labour which savages usually force upon the weaker sex; their only employments were to spin and weave cotton, and to prepare food. These Mapais came out to welcome the Spaniards, and presented Yrala with four silver coronets, four frontlets of the same metal, and three girls. The Spaniards set their guard and went to rest. In the middle of the night Yrala missed the girls; immediately he suspected treachery, and ordered the men to be under arms. They were presently attacked, but being thus prepared, repelled the assailants with great slaughter, and pursued them two days and nights, never resting more than four or five hours. On the third day, still following the pursuit, the Spaniards fell in with a large horde of the same nation, who, not suspecting hostility, were surprized, and suffered for the offence of their countrymen. All who were not slaughtered fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and the prisoners were so numerous that nineteen were included in Schmidel's share of the spoil⁵. After this victory, if such it may be called, they rested eight days, having plenty of provisions.

The Zehmie.

The Tohannas.

The Peionas.

They came next to the Zehmie, a sort of Helots to the last tribe. This was a fine country for an army of such adventurers to traverse; the maize ripens there in all seasons, and wherever they went they found maizals fit for gathering. Six leagues farther were the Tohannas, a tribe also in vassalage to the Mapais, whose dominion seems to have extended in this direction as far as the inhabited country. They now passed over an

⁵ There were women among them, says this German adventurer, and not very old ones.

[page] 165

CHAP. VI. 1548.

The Maiegoni.

The Marronos.

The Parobios.

The Simanos.

Schmidel. 43.

unpeopled track of fourteen leagues, and then reached the Peionas. The Cazique came out to welcome them, and earnestly entreated Yrala not to enter his village, but pitch his tents upon the spot. Yrala gave no regard to this entreaty, but marched in, and quartered himself there for three days. The land was very fertile, though there was a scarcity of water, and of gold and silver, which Schmidel thus links with it as articles of equal necessity. The Spaniards thought it politic not to enquire for these precious metals, lest the tribes before them, hearing of what they were in search, should hide their treasures and fly. They took a guide from hence, who led them by a route where there was water, to a tribe, four leagues distant, called the Maiegoni: with them they remained a day, and then obtaining an interpreter and another guide, went on eight leagues farther to the Marronos, a populous nation. Here they rested two days. Their next halt was with the Parobios, four leagues on: there was a scarcity of food here; Yrala and his marauders however remained a day there, to devour what there was. The next people, who were twelve leagues distant, and were called the Simanos, stood upon their defence. Their settlement was upon an eminence, well fortified with a hedge of thorns. When they found themselves unable to resist fire-arms, they set fire to their dwellings and fled; but the country was cultivated, and the Spaniards found food in the fields.

The Barconos.

The Leyhanos.

After marching four days at the rate of four leagues a day, they came suddenly upon a settlement of the Barconos. The inhabitants would have fled, but were persuaded not to be alarmed at strangers who had no hostile intentions; having been thus conciliated they brought poultry, water-fowl, sheep, (the llama or vicuna is meant,) ostriches, and stags, in great abundance, and were well pleased at having the Spaniards four days or their guests. They departed laden with provisions, and in

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CHAP. VI. 1548.

The Carchuonos.

The Suboris.

Schmidel. 46.

three days, at their usual journey of four leagues, came to the Leyhanos, with whom they made only a night's stay, because the locusts had stripped their fields. In four days more, travelling at the same rate, they came to the Carchuonos, who had suffered from the same plague, though not so severely; and here they learnt that in the next thirty leagues they would find no water. Had this information been concealed, it is probable that they must all have perished. They therefore took water from hence, and began a march which continued six days; some Spaniards died of thirst notwithstanding the supply which they carried, and many more would have been lost had they not found a plant growing there, which retained the rain and dew in its leaves, as in a reservoir; each holding about a quarter of a pint. At last they reached the settlement of the Suboris; it was night, and the people began to fly, till they were assured by an interpreter of the peaceable intention of the strangers. Little relief did the Spaniards find here. The Suboris and their neighbours were often at war for water. There had been a three months drought, so that the stock of rain-water which they used to reserve, was exhausted. The greater part of the people had no other drink than the juice of the mandepore root, which was white as milk. When water was to be had, they made a fermented liquor from this root, .. now they were fain to support life with the simple juice. There were no running streams, and only one well in the place. Schmidel was stationed as centinel over this, to distribute it by measure: gold and silver were now no longer thought of; .. all the cry was for water.

Here the hearts of the adventurers failed them: they deliberated whether to proceed or turn back, and determined the doubt by casting lots. The lot was for advancing. They remained two days at the cost of the Suboris well, and then began a

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CHAP. VI. 1548.

The Peisenos.

Schmidel. 46.

march of six days more, taking guides, who said there were two running streams in the way. The guides fled during the first night; they were however fortunate enough to find the road, and came to the Peisenos, according to the information which they had procured. This tribe received them as enemies, and would listen to no persuasions. They were soon put to flight; but their sufferings did not end with their defeat. Some prisoners who were taken in the action told the Spaniards, that Ayolas had left three of his men sick in this place, where they had been put to death only four days ago, at the instigation of the Suboris. Yrala remained there fourteen days, inquiring where these people had fled, in order to take vengeance upon them; and having at length discovered part of them in the woods, attacked them, killed many, and made slaves of the rest.

The Maigenos.

Schmidel. 47.

The Maigenos were the next tribe, a people four days journey distant. Their town was on a hill, and surrounded with a thorn hedge about as high as a man could reach with his sword. They refused to admit the Spaniards, and killed twelve of them, besides some of the Carios, before the place could be forced: then they set fire to their houses and fled. The loss which they sustained here provoked the Carios, who served the Spaniards more resolutely than they had resisted them; they thirsted for vengeance, and five hundred of them secretly set off to take it, thinking to prove that they needed no assistance from the strangers, their fire-arms, and their horses. When they had got about three leagues from the camp they fell in with a large body of the Maigenos; a desperate battle ensued, and it was not till three hundred of the Carios had fallen, that they sent for succour, for they were beset on all sides, and could neither advance nor retreat. The Maigenos fled as soon as the horsemen appeared in sight, and the surviving allies returned to the army perfectly well pleased with their exploit.

[page] 168

CHAP. VI. 1548.

Carcokies.

They reach the Spanish Conquests.

Schmidel. 47—48.

They remained here twelve days, having found plenty of provisions. Then they marched thirteen days without intermission, during which time those of the party who understood the stars computed that they had advanced two and fifty leagues. A tribe of the Carcokies were settled here. In nine days more they came to a track of country covered with salt, so that it appeared like snow: they halted two days, in doubt how to proceed, then struck to the right, and in four more came to another horde of the same nation. Fifty Spaniards and as many Carios were sent forward to the town to procure lodging and food; when they entered it they were alarmed at finding a more populous place than they had ever seen before in that country, and sent with all speed to Yrala, desiring him to advance and support them. The sight of this force made the inhabitants submissive. Both sexes here wore lip-stones; the women were habited in sleeveless garments of cotton; they spun, and were employed in household affairs; agriculture was the work of the men. The Spaniards took guides from this place, who deserted them on the third day. They proceeded without them, and came to a river which is called Machcasies⁶, and is described as being half a league wide. Rafts of stakes and basket-work were made for this dangerous passage; each carried two persons; .. four men were lost in crossing. There was a settlement four leagues beyond the river, from whence some Indians came out to meet them, and welcomed them in Spanish. They belonged to a Spaniard named Pedro Ansures. And here, having reached the Spanish settlements on the South side of the

⁶ Probably the Pilcomayo. Schmidel has written his proper names with exceeding inaccuracy; there is however in many cases no alternative but to follow him. All that is to be wondered at is that such an adventurer should have written at all.

[page] 169

CHAP. VI. 1548.

continent, the adventurers halted, after a march of three hundred and seventy-two leagues, according to their own calculation. Intelligence of their arrival was immediately dispatched to the seat of government.

Secret agreement between Yrala and the President of Peru.

C. 48.

The Licentiate Pedro de la Gasca was at this time President of Peru. He had just defeated Gonzalo Pizarro, and put him and the bloody leaders of his party to death. The arrival at such a time of a body of men so long accustomed to be lawless he justly considered dangerous, and sent orders to Yrala not to advance, but wait where he was for instructions. He apprehended that if a new insurrection had broken out, these adventurers would have joined with the partizans of Pizarro, .. as Schmidel says, they certainly would have done. Yrala deputed Nuflo de Chaves to confer with the President; and that wise Governor, well knowing what the lure was which had brought this usurper so far, sent him gold enough to induce him to return contentedly. The soldiers knew nothing of these dealings; .. if we had, says Schmidel, we would have bound him hand and foot, and sent him to Peru. All that was publicly known was, that they were ordered to return by the same route, for the sake of marking it distinctly.

Yrala returns.

The province which they had reached was more fertile than any other that they had seen even in this fertile country. Scarcely a tree could be cleft, but fine honey flowed from the aperture⁷, a species of small and stingless bee was so numerous. Yrala's men would have desired no better fortune than to help themselves in this land; the natives had silver vessels; they eyed these with avidity,

⁷ This honey was the chief diet of the famous Francisco de Caravajal, who when he was put to death at about eighty years of age, had all the vigour and activity of youth. He drank it like wine. Pedro de Cieça. C. 99.

Z

[page] 170

CHAP. VI. 1548.

Schmidel. 49.

but did not dare touch them, because these people were subject to the Spaniards. Their Commander had now effected his purpose, and gratified both ambition and avarice. He had opened a communication with Peru, had ascertained that there were no golden kingdoms to be plundered in the intermediate regions, and had secretly secured what he was in quest of. There was another cause which induced him to return with as little delay as possible. Diego Centeno was designated by the President to be Governor on the Plata, and of all the countries from thence to the frontiers of Cuzco and Charcas. When therefore Yrala was ordered to return by the same route, he was perhaps willing to obey in this instance, that he might prepare to support his usurpation. Accordingly he contrived to keep his men short of provisions, and ignorant of Centeno's appointment; Schmidel declares they would not have left the province if they had known it, but they were duped and starved into obedience.

Schmidel. 49.

When they came again to the Carcokies, they found the village abandoned. Yrala sent to invite the natives back: their reply was, that if the Spaniards did not speedily leave the place, they would drive them out. Many of his men advised him not to resent this, for if it was intended to establish a communication between the Plata and Peru, any hostilities here would be impolitic, inasmuch as supplies would no longer be procurable upon the road. He thought otherwise; either being determined to strike terror into the tribe, or perhaps designing to bring about the mischief which they apprehended, and thus impede the march of his successor. He made a great slaughter of these Indians, captured about a thousand of them, and remained two months in their town. This was the only event occurring upon their return. The whole expedition occupied a year and half, and the Spaniards brought back with them about twelve thou-

[page] 171

CHAP. VI. 1549.

sand slaves⁸, men, women and children .. evidence enough of the devastation they must have made upon their march.

Disturbances at Asumpcion.

Charlevoix. t. . P. 112.

Schmidel. 50.

Herrera. 8. 2. 17.

On reaching the brigantines they learnt that Diego de Abrego had usurped the government, and publicly beheaded Francisco de Mendoza. This hidalgo had left Spain with his kinsman Don Pedro, because in a fit of jealousy he had murdered his wife and his domestic chaplain. The divine vengeance was upon him, and upon the anniversary of the murder he himself suffered a violent and undeserved death. He made a public confession of his crime upon the scaffold, and expressed a hope and trust that God, who had thus inflicted due punishment upon him in this world, would remit it in the next. When the Spaniards approached Asumpcion Abrego refused them admittance, and Yrala immediately besieged him. Whatever may have been the misdeeds of this intrepid adventurer, he was popular in his government; and Abrego finding that the people were beginning to desert him, fled with fifty followers, and continued a sort of banditti warfare, till his troop was hunted down. He himself was found in the woods, alone and blind, and the Alguazil who discovered him put an end to his miseries with the stroke of a fisherman's harpoon.

Yrala's history has been written by his enemies. They accuse him of many enormities, .. of which few or none of the conquerors have been innocent; but it is manifest even from their account that he was a man of great enterprize and great prudence. After having effected the journey to Peru, and thus opened a communication between the two sides of South America, he sent Nuflo de Chaves to put a stop to the wars upon the confines of Brazil, in which the Indians who were subject to

⁸ Schmidel had fifty to his share.

[page] 172

CHAP. VI. 1549.

Herrera. 8. 2. 17.

the different crowns had now begun to engage as borderers. This was done, and the limits between the Spanish and Portugueze colonies for the first time defined. He divided the land into repartimientos, as in the other Conquests, .. a mode by which the country and its native population were portioned out among their European masters, as Europe itself had formerly been under its Gothick and Slavonick conquerors; with this difference, that in America the slavery was more intolerable, and that the gulph between master and slave has hitherto been found impassable. By the Castillian laws these repartimientos were restricted to Spaniards: Yrala, feeling how feeble his European force was, ventured to break this restriction, and gave them indiscriminately to adventurers of all nations. This act of wisdom is imputed to him as a crime, and a device for confirming himself in his usurpation. He has crimes enough to answer for, nor does it appear that his ambition extended farther than the wish of remaining Governor; .. a post in which, as no mines had yet been discovered in the province, he thought it little likely that he should be superseded. So far from attempting to make himself independent, he requested the Court to send visitors who might enquire into his conduct; .. aware perhaps that the request would be the best means of preventing the measure. The settlers meantime went on in those habits of lasciviousness and cruelty which characterize the Creoles of every stock whatsoever. He made little or no attempt to check them, perhaps because he knew that any attempt would be ineffectual, .. perhaps because he thought that all was as it should be, .. that the Creator had destined the people of colour to serve those of a whiter complection, and be at the mercy of their lust and their avarice.

Every thing favoured Yrala. Centeno, who was appointed

[page] 173

CHAP. VI. 1549.

Herrera. 8. 4. 12.

8. 5. 2.

by the President Gasca to supersede him, died just as he was preparing to set out and take possession of his government. His death was a calamity to Paraguay, for he was loyal, honourable, and humane, a man of tried worth and talents, one of the best of the conquerors. About the same time Juan de Senabria accepted the same command in Spain, prepared an expedition, and died when it was ready. His son Diego acceded to the terms which his father had made, and set sail. He lost his ships, and only a few of his people reached Asumpcion by a march over land from the mouth of the Plata. To those however who investigate the history of Brazil this was an important voyage, for Hans Stade, one of the persons who were deluded by lying reports of the riches of the country to embark in the expedition, settled in Brazil after being shipwrecked. His adventures lead us back to the Portugueze colonies, and supply the earliest and best account of the native savages.

[page 174]

CHAPTER VII.

Hans Stade sails with Senabria for Paraguay, and reaches St. Catalina.—Shipwrecked on St. Vicente.—He is made Gunner at St. Amaro, and taken prisoner by the Tupinambas.—Their ceremonies towards a prisoner; superstition and weapons.—He effects his escape.

CHAP. VII. 1549.

Nov. 24.

Hans Stade was at Seville when Senabria was fitting out his expedition for Paraguay. They who were interested in procuring adventurers spread about lying reports of the riches which abounded in that happy country, and Hans, like many others, swallowed the gilded bait. The vessel in which he sailed soon parted company from the squadron, and then, through the ignorance of the pilot, they lost themselves. At length, after a wretched voyage of six months, they made land in 28° S. not knowing where they were; they kept in shore, searching for a port, and a storm arose from which they expected nothing but destruction, for it blew directly upon the land. In such circumstances they did the wisest thing that could be done; filled their barrels with powder, fastened them down as closely as possible, and tied musquets to them, that they who should escape to shore might have a chance of finding arms there. There was a reef of rocks

[page] 175

CHAP. VII. 1549.

H. Stade in De Bry. p. 2. c. 6. 7.

a-head, lying about four fathom under water; all their efforts to keep off were unavailing; the wind and tide carried them right on, when, just as they thought themselves driving upon the reef, one of the crew espied a harbour, and they got safely in. A boat which saw them entering, immediately made off and got out of sight behind an island; but they, without pursuing it, dropt anchor, and gave thanks to God for their merciful deliverance. In the evening a party of natives boarded, who could not make themselves understood, but returned well pleased with a few knives and fishing hooks. Another boat came off soon afterwards with two Portugueze. These men told them their Pilot must be wonderfully skilful to enter that port in such weather, .. well acquainted as they were with the place, they durst not have attempted it. They were inhabitants of St. Vicente, which was eighteen leagues distant, and this harbour was called Suprawai; the reason why they had fled in the morning on seeing the ship, was because they supposed her to be French. The Spaniards then enquired how far they were from the Island of St. Catalina, or Catharine, which they meant to make for, that being their appointed place of rendezvous. It lay thirty leagues South, and they were warned to beware of the Carios there. The natives here were Tupiniquins, from whom they had nothing to apprehend.

They reach St. Catalina.

For St. Catalina therefore they made sail; they overshot it, being ignorant of the coast, were driven back by a gale from the South, and when the wind abated, could not find the port which they had left. They found however another delightful harbour, where they anchored, and the Captain went in the boat to explore it. The river widened as the boat advanced; they looked round in hope of seeing smoke, but in vain; at length they perceived some huts in a solitary valley between the hills; they went up to them and found them deserted and in ruins. By this

[page] 176

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Stade. p. 2. c. 8. 9.

time night was coming on; there was an island in the river, and having ascertained as well as they could that it was uninhabited, they landed, kindled a fire, cut down a mountain cabbage-tree¹, supt upon its top, and past the night there. In the morning they renewed their search: one of the party fancied he saw a cross upon a rock; others thought this impossible; they drew nearer to see, and there they found a large wooden cross firmly built into the crag, with half the head of a barrel suspended from it, bearing an inscription which appeared to be illegible. However they took it with them, and as they went on one of the crew continued to pore over it, till letter by letter he made out these words, Si ven por ventura aqui la armada de su Majestad, tiren un tiro y averan recado. .. "If his Majesty's ships should come here, let them fire a gun and they shall know more." Back they went to the cross and fired off a falconet, then got into their boat again. Presently five canoes full of savages were seen making towards them, and they pointed their guns in apprehension of an attack. As the canoes drew nearer, they distinguished a man among the Indians who was cloathed and had a beard, by which they knew him to be a Christian, and called out to him to stop. He then advanced in his canoe. Their first question was, where were they? Schirmirein, he replied, was the native name of the port, but they who discovered it called it St. Catalina. They then gave thanks to God for having found the place which they sought, confidently believing that it was in consequence of their prayers, because it happened to be St. Catharine's day. This man had been sent from Asumpcion three

¹ The cabbage-tree, and all of its kind, would probably have been extirpated if it had not been so laborious to cut it down. It was the hard work of half a day for a man with an axe to get the tree down and cut off its head.

Pedro de Cieça. ff. 19.

[page] 177

CHAP. VII. 1552.

years ago to live here with the Carios, and persuade them to cultivate mandioc, that when Spanish ships bound for the Plata touched here they might find provisions; another instance this of Yrala's wisdom.

Stade. p. 2. c. 10.

Hans was now sent in one of the canoes to bring the vessel up. When the sailors saw him among the savages they called out to know where his comrades were, and why he came without them. To these questions he gave no reply, the Captain having told him to put on a sorrowful countenance that he might see how the ship's company would act. They cried out that beyond a doubt the rest had been slain, and this was a device to decoy them, and they ran to arms. Hans then laughed at the success of his stratagem, got on board, and sent the canoe back. He carried the ship in, and here they waited for the other two vessels. The name of this settlement of the Carios was Acutia; the Spaniard who lived with them, and who may be considered as the first settler in St. Catalina, was Juan Hernandez of Bilbao. Here they procured fish and mandioc flour in abundance, for which they bartered fishing-hooks.

One of the ships wrecked.

The ship with Senabria on board, arrived three weeks after them; the other was never heard of. They took in stores for six months, but just when they were about to proceed on their voyage the store-ship was wrecked in the port. The Carios supplied them well with food till they were sufficiently rich in hooks, knives, and other such real treasures, then they migrated, and left the Spaniards to support themselves upon shell-fish, lizards, dormice, and whatever they could catch. After having struggled two years with these difficulties, they came to a resolution, which might as well have been taken at first, that the greater part of them should march overland to Asumpcion, and the rest follow them in the remaining vessel. The land party set out, and all who did not die on the way of hunger, reached the place

2 A

[page] 178

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 2. c. 11. 12.

of destination; .. when the other party came to embark it was found that the ship was not capable of carrying them. What was to be done? St. Vicente was about seventy leagues off; thither they determined to send and procure a larger ship, in which they might all proceed to the Plata. None of the party knew the navigation; one Roman however thought he could pilot them.

They send to St. Vicente, and the ship is lost.

Stade. p 2. c. 12.

Hans was one of the crew. On the second day they came to the Ilha dos Alcatrazes, where contrary winds compelled them to anchor. They found fresh water here, deserted houses, and broken pottery; knocked down as many as they pleased of the poor birds from whom the island took its name, and feasted upon them and their eggs after their long famine. But when the feast was over, a gale from the South arose, and they put off in imminent danger. At day-break they were out of sight of the island; other land soon appeared; Roman thought it was St. Vicente, and they made towards it; but it was so thick with mist and clouds that it was impossible to ascertain whether this was the place which they were seeking. Meantime the gale continued, .. the sea ran tremendously high, .. when we were on the top of a wave, says Hans, it seemed as if there were a precipice under us, and the ship laboured so much, that they threw overboard whatever they could to lighten her, still holding on in hopes of hitting the port. The clouds cleared and Roman affirmed it was in sight, but that they were going straight upon the rocks which lay before it. There was no port; but concerning the inevitable destruction of the ship he was not mistaken. The wind drove her right upon shore, and nothing was left then but to commit themselves to the mercy of God. At the first shock she went to pieces. Some of the crew leapt into the water, others clung to pieces of the wreck, and all got safe to land.

[page] 179

CHAP. VII. 1552.

They escape to shore near S. Vicente

Stade. p. 2. c. 13.

Here they were, wet, shivering, without food, without fire, without the means of procuring either, not knowing where they were, and in dread of the Savages. A lucky Frenchman, who was of the party, took a run to warm himself, and saw something through the woods which looked like Christian houses; such a sight made him run the faster. It proved to be a Portugueze settlement called Itanhaem². As soon as the inhabitants heard his story they went to the sufferers, brought them in, and gave them clothes and food. They were on the main land, two miles only from St. Vicente; there they went as soon as they had recovered strength, and there they were received as men ought to be in such circumstances, and supported at the public expence while they looked about them to find some means of supporting themselves. The remainder of the party, who were waiting at St. Catalina, were sent for.

State of St. Vicente.

There were at this time two fortified settlements upon the Isle of St. Vicente, and several sugar works. The Tupiniquins³, who inhabited the neighbouring coast, were in alliance with the Portugueze, but this friendly tribe were at war with the Carios on the South, and with the Tupinambas on the North; and these last were active and dreadful enemies, not only to them but to the Portugueze also. There is an island called Bertioga, about five miles from St. Vicente, half way between the main land and St. Amaro. This was the place where the Tupinambas used to rendezvous before they made their attack; five brethren, the sons of Diogo de Braga and of a Brazilian woman, determined therefore to secure it, and they and their native friends made a set-

² If Fray Gaspar da Madre de Deos had perused these Travels he would have seen that there was a settlement at this place in 1555, .. which he denies.

³ It seems that the Goaynazes had left the country.

[page] 180

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Settlement formed at Bertioga.

Stade. p. 2. c. 14.

p. 3. c. 15.

tlement there, about two years before Hans was shipwrecked, which they fortified after the manner of the natives. These brethren had learnt both languages in their infancy, and were perfectly well acquainted with every thing relating to the natives, which, as they considered themselves to be Portugueze, made them excellent subjects for the colony. A few colonists, when they saw a settlement formed here, removed to it, for the situation had many advantages. It could however have none sufficient to counterbalance the evil of its vicinity to the Tupinambas, whose borders were little more than a league distant.

A fort built at Bertioga, and also at St. Amaro.

Hans appointed gunner.

Stade. p. 3. c. 15. 16.

One morning before day-break (as usual in their expeditions) seventy canoes of these savages attacked the place. The five brethren and the other Christians, who were about eight in number, defended themselves successfully in a mud house. The Tupiniquins were not so fortunate; they fought bravely as long as their strength lasted, but were overpowered. The conquerors set fire to the houses, devoured their prisoners upon the spot, and returned in triumph. Bertioga had been found of too much use to be quietly resigned; the Portugueze rebuilt it, and fortified it better. They now became too confident in the protection which it afforded them,.. and it was found necessary to secure St. Amaro also, which lay opposite, by the water-side. A fort was begun, but it had been left unfinished, because nobody would venture to undertake the post of gunner, who was the commander in these little forts. The settlers seeing that Hans was a German, and knew something of gunnery, prest him to take the situation, offering a good salary, and promising the royal favour; for the King, they said, never failed to requite those who were useful in these colonies. Hans agreed to take charge of it for four months, by which time Thome de Sousa, the first Governor-General of Brazil, was expected to arrive. For this post had been deemed so essential to the security of these establishments,

[page] 181

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that application had been made to the Court concerning it, and it was understood that when the Governor arrived a stone fortress was to be erected there.

It was a service of no little danger to defend half-finished works of mud and timber, with only two comrades. The Savages made some attempts to surprize them by night. They however kept good watch; the Governor came, inspected the place, approved the situation, and gave the expected orders for erecting a stone fort. Hans would now have given up his situation, the term for which he had engaged having expired; the Governor requested him to retain it, the neighbouring settlers urged him also, and he engaged anew for two years, receiving a written assurance from the Governor, which the Gunners in the King's service were entitled to demand, that at the end of that time he should be permitted to return in the first ship to Portugal, and receive the price of his services. It was necessary to be especially vigilant twice in the year. In August the fish, which the natives called Bratti, and the Portugueze Lysses, ascended the rivers; the Savages then laid in store of them, which they dried over a fire, and preserved either whole or in powder. Just before this time, when their stock began to grow short, they were accustomed to attack their neighbours for the sake of plundering their provisions. The danger was still greater in November, when the fruit of the auati⁴ ripens, from which they make one of their intoxicating liquors. This was the carnival of the Brazilian Savages, and always when it was near they made an expedition to procure prisoners for the feast.

Stade. p. 3. c. 17.

He is caught by the Tupinambas.

Hans had a German friend settled at St. Vicente as overseer of

⁴ Probably the Acayaba of Piso and Marcgraff, which bears the acajou, or cashew nut.

[page] 182

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 18.

some sugar-works, which belonged to Giuseppe Adorno⁵, a Genoese. His name was Heliodorus, and he was son of Eoban, a German Poet of great celebrity in his day; he was from the same country as Hans, and had received him into his house after the shipwreck, with that brotherly kindness which every man feels for a countryman when they meet in so remote a land. This Heliodorus came with another friend to visit Hans in his Castle. There was no other market where he could send for food to regale them except the woods, but this was well stocked. The wild boars were the finest in the whole country, and they were so numerous that the inhabitants killed them for their skins, of which they made a leather that was preferred to cow-hides for boots and chair bottoms. He had a Cario slave who used to hunt for him, and whom he never feared to accompany to the chase; him he sent into the woods to kill game, and went out to meet him the next day, and see what success he had had. The war whoop was set up, and in an instant he was surrounded by the Tupinambas. He gave himself up for lost, and exclaimed, Into thy hands O Lord do I commit my spirit. The prayer was hardly ended before he was knocked down; blows and arrows fell upon him from all sides; but he received only one wound, in the thigh.

Their first business was to strip him; hat, cloak, jerkin, shirt, were presently torn away, every one seizing what he could get. To this part of the prize possession was sufficient title; but

⁵ Ornio, he writes the name. Three brothers of the Adornos were among the first settlers here. One removed to Bahia, and married a daughter of Caramuru. Giuseppe lived to be more than a hundred, .. the story which S. Vasconcellos tells, (C. da Comp. L. 1. §. 76.) is known to relate to him. The descendants of these brothers are very numerous. Gaspar da M. de Deos. P. 52.

[page] 183

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 18.

Hans's body, or carcase, as they considered it, was a thing of more consequence. A dispute arose who had first laid hands on him, and they who bore no part in it amused themselves by beating the prisoner with their bows. It was settled that he belonged to two brethren; then they lifted him up and carried him off as fast as possible towards their canoes, which were drawn ashore, and concealed in the thicket. A large party who had been left in guard advanced to meet their triumphant fellows, showing Hans their teeth, and biting their arms to let him see what he was to expect. The Chief of the party went before him, wielding the Iwara Pemme, the club with which they slaughter their prisoners, and crying out to him, Now Pero (as they called the Portugueze) thou art a most vile slave! now thou art in our hands! now thou shalt pay for our countrymen whom thou hast slain! They then tied his hands; but another dispute arose, what should be done with him. The captors were not all from the same dwelling place; no other prisoner had been taken, and they who were to return home without one, exclaimed against giving him to the two brethren, and were for killing him at once. Poor Hans had lived long enough in Brazil to understand all that was said, and all that was to be done; he fervently said his prayers, and kept his eye upon the slaughter-club. The Chief of the party settled the dispute by saying, We will carry him home alive, that our wives may rejoice over him, and he shall be made a Kaawy-pepike⁶; that is, he was to be killed at the great drinking feast. Then they tied four cords round his neck, fastened them to the ends and sides of a canoe, and pushed off.

Vida de Anchieta. 4. 13. § 5.

There was a little island near, in which the sea fowl called Goarazes bred. The down of the young bird is of the grey

⁶ As we say, a Michaelas Goose, or Christmas Ox.

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 19.

colour of ashes; their feathers for the first year are brown, then they become of a bright and glowing red. These red feathers were the favourite ornament of all the savage tribes. They enquired of their prisoner whether the Tupiniquins had been that season to take the brooding birds, and though he assured them that they had, they made towards the island. Before they reached it they saw canoes coming in pursuit of them. The slave of Hans, who had seen his master taken, fled and gave the alarm, and the Tupiniquins, and a few Portugueze with them, were hastening to his assistance. They called out to the Tupinambas to stop and fight, if they were men. Provoked at this defiance they turned, loosened their prisoner's hands, and giving him powder and ball, which they had got from the French, made him load his own gun and fire at his friends; the ropes round his neck prevented him from leaping overboard. They soon however perceived their own rashness, and fearing that other forces would speedily come against them, made off. As they past within falcon-shot of Bertioga two shot were discharged at them, which just fell short; boats were put out from thence, but the Tupinambas pulled for their lives and outstripped them.

About seven miles beyond Bertioga they landed upon an island where they meant to sleep. Hans's face was so swoln with the blows which he had received that he could not see, and he could not stand because of the wound in his thigh; so he lay on the ground, and they stood round, telling him how they would eat him. Being in this condition, says he, I began to think, which I had never done sufficiently before, what a miserable life this is, and how full of changes and troubles! .. and he began to sing the 130th Psalm, de profundis. Lo! said they, now he is bewailing his unhappy fate. The place which they had chosen not being a convenient station, they removed to the main land to some deserted huts of their own, drew their canoes

[page] 185

CHAP. VII. 1552.

ashore, and kindled a fire, to which they brought their prisoner. They laid him in a hammock, fastened the cords which were still kept round his neck, to a tree, and from time to time through the night informed him, in their mirth, that he was now their beast. The next day a storm arose, and they called upon him to pray that it might not destroy them. Hans obeyed, beseeching God to shew the savages that his prayers were heard, and presently he heard them say the clouds were passing off, .. for he was lying along in the canoe, and could not lift his head, so severely had he been bruised. This change of weather he willingly attributed to his prayers, and returned thanks for it. A second night was passed like the first, and they congratulated each other that on the morrow they should reach home: .. but I, says he, did not congratulate myself.

On the third evening they came to their town, which was called Uwattibi. It consisted of seven houses, .. a town seldom had more, but each house contained twenty or thirty families, who as they were generally related to each other, may not improperly be called a clan. They are about fourteen feet wide, and one hundred and fifty long, more or less, according to the number of the clan. Each family has its own birth and its own fire, but there are no partitions whatsoever between them. The usual height of the roof is about twelve feet; it is convex, and well thatched with palms. These houses are built to inclose an area, in which they slaughter their prisoners: to each house there are three low doors, all towards the area. The town is surrounded first with a close palisado, in which loopholes are left for their arrows; this palisado is so constructed as to form alternately two sides of a triangle and three of a square; and without this is a circular one of high, strong stakes, not so closely set as the inner, neither far enough apart to leave room for passing through. At the entrance they set up a few heads

2 B

[page] 186

CHAP. VII. 1552.

of those whom they had devoured, stuck upon spikes upon these pales.

Ceremonies used with the prisoner.

When the canoes arrived the women were digging mandioc. The captors made Hans cry out to them in Brazilian, Here I am, come to be your meat! Out came the whole population, old men, children and all. Hans was delivered over to the women, who were if possible more cruel than the men on these occasions. They beat him with their fists, they pulled his beard, naming at every pluck and at every blow, some one of their friends who had been slain, and saying it was given for his sake. The children also were suffered to torment him at their pleasure; and all expressed their joy to him at the thoughts of the feast they were to have. The men meantime regaled themselves with potations of kaawy. They brought out the rattles which they regard as oracles, and thanked them for having truly said that they should return with prey. This lasted for about half an hour, during which time Hans was at the mercy of the women and children. The two brethren Yeppipo Wasu and Alkindar Miri, to whom he had been adjudged, then came and stated to him that their uncle Ipperu Wasu last year had given Alkindar a prisoner to kill, in order that he might have the glory of making a feast; but it was with this condition, that Alkindar should repay him with the first prisoner whom he took. He was the first, and therefore the glory of making a feast of him was to be Ipperu Wasu's. Having explained this matter to him, they added that the girls would now come and lead him out to Aprasse. What Aprasse was he did not know, but this he knew, that it could be nothing good.

The young women came, and led him by the cords which were still round his neck, into the area: the men went their way, and all the women of the settlement gathered round him. He had been stript naked at the time of his capture; they handled him

[page] 187

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 22.

till they had satisfied their curiosity; then some took him up in their arms while others pulled the ropes, till he was nearly strangled. Then, says he, I thought what our Lord had suffered from the perfidious Jews, and that gave me strength and resignation. They carried him to the house of their Chief, Uratinge Wasu, the Great White Bird; a little hillock of earth had just been raised at the entrance, upon which they seated him, holding him lest he should fall. This he expected was the place of death, .. he looked round to see if the slaughter-club was ready, and asked if he was to die now. Not yet, they told him. A woman then approached with a piece of broken glass set in a stick, with which instrument she scraped off his eye-brows, and began to perform the same operation upon his beard, but Hans resisted this, and declared that he would die with his beard. They did not persist now, but some days afterwards sheared it off with a pair of French scissars.

Stade. p. 4. c. 23. 24.

Then they led him before the door of the tabernacle wherein the Maraca, or rattles of divination, were kept; they fastened a string of little rattles round each leg, and placed upon his head a square coronal of straight feathers. Two women stood on each side of him, the rest made a circle round, and bade him dance to their singing. He could scarcely stand for the pain of his wound, nevertheless dance he must, and keep time in his steps, that the anklets might rattle-in in tune. This dance was the Aprasse, .. it seems to have been a religious ceremony in honour of the Maraca. After it was performed he was delivered into the hands of Ipperu Wasu, in payment for the prisoner with which that Chief had accommodated his nephew. From him Hans learned that he had yet some time to live.

The Maraca.

All the Maraca were now brought out. This familiar oracle of the Brazilian Savages is made of a fruit so called, which resembles a gourd, and is capable of containing about three pints

[page] 188

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Sim. de Vasc. Chr. da Comp. Not. Ant. 2. § 16.

He pleads that he is not a Portuguese.

in its cavity. This is fixed upon a handle; human hair is sometimes fastened on the top, and a slit is cut in it to represent a mouth, through which their jugglers, whom they call Payes, make it utter its responses. A few pebbles are inserted to make it rattle, and it is crowned with the red feathers of the Goaraz. Every man had his Maraca. They were now all produced; Hans was set in the midst of them, and the captors addressed them, saying, their prediction had been verified; it had promised them a Portugueze prisoner, and lo! they had brought one home. Upon this Hans spake up, and denied that the prediction could be verified in him. The Maraca, he said, lied if it called him a Portugueze; he was a German, and the Germans were friends and allies of the French. The Tupinambas calmly replied, it was he who was the liar, for if he was the friend and ally of the French, how came he to live among the Portugueze? We know, said they, that the French are as much the enemies of the Portugueze as we are; they come to us every year, and bring us knives, scissars, axes, combs, and looking-glasses, for which we give them wood, cotton, pepper, and feathers. The Portugueze are a very different people. When they came first to the country they went to our enemies, and made alliance with them, and built towns among them, wherein they still reside; afterwards they came in ships to us, to trade with us as the French do now, and when our people, suspecting no danger, went on board as guests, they seized them, carried them away, and gave them to our enemies to be devoured. Many of our brethren have since been killed by their bullets, and we suffer great injuries from them. The two brethren then told him that their father's arm had been carried away by a ball, of which wound he died, and that death was now to be avenged upon him. Hans protested again; there could be no reason, he said, to revenge it upon him; he was not a Portugueze, but

[page] 189

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Stade. p. 4. c. 24. 25.

having been shipwrecked in a Castilian vessel, was by that means cast among them. The Tupinambas were not without some sense of justice. There was a lad among them who had once been taken by the Tupiniquins; they had surprized a settlement and captured all its inhabitants; all who were grown up were eaten; the children were made slaves, and this boy had belonged to a Gallego at Bertioga. He knew Hans, and they called upon him to give evidence concerning him. The lad said a ship had been wrecked there belonging to the Castilians, who were friends to the Portugueze, and this prisoner was in the ship; but this was all he knew. Hans, when they began to enquire into the truth of his demurrer, saw some hope of escaping. He knew there were some French interpreters in the country, left there to collect pepper for the traders; he repeated, that he was the friend and brother of the French, and protested against being eaten before he could be seen by some of that nation and acknowledged by them. This was thought reasonable, and he was carefully watched till an opportunity should occur of submitting him to this proof.

The interpreter, pronounces him a Portuguese.

It was not long before one of these interpreters came to Uwattibi; the Savages hastened to their prisoner; .. a Frenchman is come, they cried, and now we shall see whether thou art French or not. Great was his joy at hearing this. I thought, says he, the man was a Christian, and that it was not possible he could speak against me. He was led to him, the Cannibals stood round, and the Interpreter, who was a young Norman, addressed him in French. Hans's reply made it plain that he was no Frenchman; this the Tupinambas could not discover, but the wretch immediately said to them in their own language, Kill the rascal and eat him: he is a Portugueze, as much our enemy as yours. Hans besought him for the love of God to have compassion and save him from being devoured, but the Frenchman replied, that eaten he should be. Then, said he, I called to

[page] 190

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Stade. p. 4. c. 26.

mind the words of the prophet Jeremiah, Cursed is he who putteth his trust in man. He had a linen cloth over his shoulders which the Savages had given him, being his only covering; in his agony he cast it off at the feet of the Frenchman, and exclaimed, If I am to die why should I preserve this flesh of mine to be food for them! They led him back, and he threw himself into his hammock. I call God to witness, says he, what my pain was! and with a sorrowful voice I began to sing a hymn⁷. Truly, said the Savages, he is a Portugueze, for he is howling with the fear of death. That he was to die was determined, and every thing was made ready for the ceremony.

Stade. p. 4. c. 27.

While, says Hans, I lived in this misery, I experienced the truth of the saying, that misfortunes never come alone. The new misfortune which occasioned this reflection, was a grievous tooth-ach, so grievous as to emaciate him, by his own account; but fear and suffering would have done that without the tooth-ach. His master observed with concern that he did not eat, and when he learnt the cause, produced a wooden instrument with which he would have knocked⁸ the tooth out; Hans cried out the pain was gone; a struggle ensued, and he succeeded in resisting the operation. His master however kindly admonished him to eat, telling him that if he continued to lose flesh instead of fattening properly, he must be killed before the appointed time.

⁷ Sanctum precemur Spiritum
Verâ beare nos fide,
Ut nos in hac reservet,
In fine nempe vitæ
Hinc quando commigramus
Doloribus soluti.
Kyrie eleison!

⁸ It is said in the Noticias MSS. (2. 51.) that the teeth of these people were not liable to decay. But the readiness with which tooth-drawing was recommended in this instance, certainly implies a knowledge of tooth-ache.

[page] 191

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Konyan Bebe the Tupinamba Chief.

After some days had elapsed, Hans was sent for by Konyan Bebe, the Chief of the whole Tribe, who was then at a town called Arirab. When he drew nigh there was a great noise of horns and rejoicings, and fifteen heads of the Margaias whom they had lately eaten, and which were fixed upon stakes at the entrance, were significantly pointed out to him. One of his guards went before him into the house of the Chief, crying out, We have brought your Portugueze slave that you may behold him. He and his companions were drinking, and were heated with their drink; they looked sternly at Hans, and said, O enemy, thou art here! He made answer, I am here, but not an enemy; and they gave him of their liquor.

Stade. p. 4. c. 28.

Hans had heard of this Chief, who was famous in his day and a cruel cannibal. He addressed himself to the one whom he judged to be him by his large necklace of shells, and asked if he was not the great Konyan Bebe? Being answered that he was, he began to praise him as well as he could, telling him how greatly his name was celebrated, and how worthy his exploits were of all praise. A woman could not have been more delighted with flattery. The Savage rose, swelling with pleasure, and strutted before him to display himself. When he returned to his place he asked what the Tupiniquins and Portugueze were designing against him, and why Hans had fired at him from the fortress, for he knew that he had been the gunner. Hans replied, that the Portugueze had stationed him there and ordered him to do his office; but the Chief replied, that he was a Portugueze himself, and witnessed his son the Frenchman, as he called him, saying the truth was manifest, for he did not understand French. Hans admitted this, and alledged that he had forgotten it from long disuse. I have eaten five Portugueze, said Konyan Bebe, and they all said they were Frenchmen. Presently he asked what sort of man the Portugueze thought him, and if they stood in

[page] 192

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Stade. p. 4. c. 28.

fear of him. Hans answered they had good reason to know what sort of man he was by what they had suffered, but Bertioga was now made a strong place. Ah, they said, they would lie in wait in the woods, and catch others as they had caught him. Hans then told him that the Tupiniquins were soon coming to attack him with five and twenty canoes. He did not scruple at this sort of treachery, in hopes of winning favour by it, and saving his life. By this time all the kaawy in that house was exhausted, the drinkers therefore removed to another, and he was told to follow; the son of Konyan Bebe tied his legs together, and he was made to jump, while they laughed and shouted, See our meat is jumping. He turned to Ipperu Wasu, and asked him if this was the place where he was to die. No, his master replied; but these things were always done with foreign slaves. Having seen him dance, they now ordered him to sing; he sung a hymn; they bade him interpret it; and he said it was in praise of God: they then reviled his God: their blasphemies shocked him, and he admired in his heart the wonderful indulgence and long suffering of God towards them. The next day, as the whole town had had a full sight of him, he was dismissed. Konyan Bebe enjoined his captors to watch him well, and they pursued him with fresh mockery as he departed, saying, they should soon come to visit his master and settle every thing for the feast. But his master took great pains to comfort him, and assured him the time was not yet near.

The Tupiniquins made their expedition, and Uwattibi happened to be the place which they attacked. Hans besought his captors to let him loose, and give him bow and arrows, and they should see how he would fight for them, though they believed him to be their enemy. This he did in hopes that he should be able to break through the palisade and escape to his friends. They let him fight, but watched him too narrowly for him to effect

[page] 193

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 29. 30.

this: the invaders failing to win the place by surprise, and being vigorously resisted, took to their canoes and retired. Poor Hans had been frustrated in his hope, and met with no thanks for his services. They led him back to his place of confinement as soon as the assault was over; and in the evening brought him out into the area, formed a circle round him, and fixed the time for killing him, insulting him as usual with their cannibal expressions of joy. The moon was up, and fixing his eyes upon her, he silently besought God to vouchsafe him a happy termination of these sufferings. Yeppipo Wasu, who was one of the Chiefs of the horde, and as such had convoked the meeting, seeing how earnestly he kept gazing upwards, asked him what he was looking at. Hans had ceased from praying, and was observing the Man in the Moon, and fancying that he looked angry; his mind was broken down by continual terror, and he says it seemed to him at that moment as if he were hated by God, and by all things which God had created. The question only half roused him from this phantasy, and he answered, it was plain that the moon was angry. The Savage asked who she was angry with, and then Hans, as if he had recollected himself, replied that she was looking at his dwelling. This enraged him, and Hans found it prudent to say that perhaps her eyes were turned so wrathfully upon the Carios, in which opinion the Chief assented, and wished she might destroy them all.

News came the next morning that the Tupiniquins had burnt the settlement of Mambukabe, which had been deserted at their approach. Yeppipo Wasu prepared to go with the greater part of his clan and assist the inhabitants in rebuilding it: he charged Ipperu Wasu to look well to the prisoner, and said he would bring back potters clay and mandioc flour for the feast. During his absence a vessel from Bertioga arrived, anchored off the coast, and fired a gun. The Tupiniquins had seen Hans in the battle,

2 C

[page] 194

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Stade. p. 4. c. 32.

and given intelligence where he was, and this ship was sent to obtain his release if it were possible. See, said the captors, thy friends the Portugueze are come to look for thee, and offer a ransom. He replied, perhaps his brother was come, who lived with the Portugueze as he had done; and this he said to remove their persuasion that he was a Portugueze himself. A party went off to the ship, and answered their enquiries in such a manner that the master returned, concluding he had already been devoured. Hans saw her sail away, while the cannibals rejoiced over him, exclaiming, We have him! we have him! he is what we would have him to be! they have sent ships to look after him!

And now the party from Mambukabe were daily expected to return. Hans heard a howl in Yeppipo Wasu's house; it is the custom of the Brazilian Savages, when their friends return after a few days absence, to welcome them with tears and cries; he therefore thought they were arrived, that the feast was now to be made ready, and that his death would no longer be delayed. Presently he was told that one of the Chief's brothers was returned alone, and all the rest were lying sick; at which he rejoiced in secret, hoping that God would miraculously deliver him. This man soon made his appearance, sate down beside him, and began to lament for his brother and family, all of whom, he said, were stricken with sickness, and he was come to request him to pray for them, for Yeppipo believed that his God had done this in anger. Hans made answer, his God was indeed angry, because they meant to eat him, who was not their enemy, and not a Portugueze: he promised however to do his best in prayer if the Chief would return to his own house. The brother replied, he was too ill to return, but that he knew Hans could cure him if he would but pray. Hans answered, if he had strength enough to come home he would cure him there. Ac-

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cordingly home they all came. Yeppipo called for Hans and said to him. You told me that the moon looked angrily upon my house, and now behold we are all stricken with sickness. Your God has done this in his wrath. Hans had forgotten the conversation about the moon; being thus reminded of it, he himself believed it to have been prophetic, and replied, that God was angry because they meant to eat one who was not their enemy. The Chief protested that he should not be eaten if he would but heal them. In these protestations Hans had but little confidence: the return of that cannibal's appetite was to be dreaded, but his death not less so, for the rest of the settlement would suppose he had occasioned it, and probably kill him lest he should bring upon them further evil. He therefore, as they desired, tried what the imposition of hands would do for the sick, not without some faith himself in the application. A child died first; then Yeppipo's mother, an old woman who had been making drinking-pots at Mambukabe to be used at the feast; two of his brothers died; another of his children, and in all eight of his family. Instead of shaking his faith in Hans this only made him more urgent with him to save him and his wife. Hans told him there might be some hope if he were truly determined on no account to suffer him to be eaten, but otherwise there was none. The sick Savage protested he had not the slightest intention of eating him, and called the clan together and forbade them ever to threaten him with death, or even to think of killing him. This contagion had made Hans a dreadful personage: one of the Chiefs saw him menacing him in a dream, and came to him in the morning, faithfully promising, if he would be pleased to spare him, that he would never be the occasion of his death and, even if he were killed, that he would not eat a bit of him. Another, who had never thoroughly recovered a surfeit from the last Portugueze whom he had eaten,

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 33—35.

dreamt of him also, and in like manner came and implored him not to be his destroyer. The very old women who had tormented him like fiends, now called him son, and begged his favour. They said that all the harm which they had done or intended to do to him, was in mistake, because they supposed him to be a Portugueze, and they hated that people. But they had eaten many of them, and their God was never angry with them for so doing. The beard which Hans had been so unwilling to part with now also appeared as good evidence in his favour: it was red like a Frenchman's, and they observed that the beards of the Portugueze were black. This was a happy sickness for him. Yeppipo and his wife recovered; there was no longer any talk of the feast, but he was still strictly guarded.

After some time the French Interpreter came again to Uwattibi; he had been collecting pepper and feathers, and was now on his way to the port where the ships were to meet him. Hans told him his plain story, and besought him to tell the Savages what he truly was, and to take him with him to the ships; and he adjured him, if he had in him any spark of Christian humanity, or any hope of salvation, not to be guilty of his death. The man replied, that he had really taken him for one of the Portugueze, and those people were so cruel that they hung every Frenchman whom they took in the country. He now, however, said to the Tupinambas that he had been mistaken, that their prisoner was a German and a friend of the French, and proposed to take him in his company. Their gratitude did not extend so far. No, they replied, he was their slave notwithstanding, for they had caught him among the Portugueze. Let his father or his brethren come for him in a ship, with hatchets, knives, scissars, combs, and looking-glasses, to ransom him like their child or brother, and then he should go. The Frenchman told them this should be done, and promised Hans to be his friend when the

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Stade. p. 4. c. 36.

ships arrived. When the Interpreter was gone Alkindar asked if that man was his countryman, and being answered that he was, Why then, said he, did he not give you a knife, or something of that kind, which you might have presented to me? The wholesome effects of the contagion seemed to be wearing away. His mistress said that the Anhanga, or Evil Spirit, came to her in the night and asked where the slaughter-club was? where had they hidden it? There were some who murmured about him, and said, that whether Portugueze or French, the meat was the same.

The inhabitants of Tickquarippe⁹, which was at some little distance, were about to kill a Margaia slave; a party from Uwattibi went to the feast, and took Hans with them. He went to the prisoner the evening before the slaughter, and observed to him, that his time was nearly come. The man smiled, and said Yes, every thing was ready except the Mussarana, .. the cotton rope which was to be fastened round his waist; but the Mussaranas here, he said, were nothing like what they were in his country. And he spake of what was to be done to-morrow, as if it were a festival of which he was to be a partaker. Hans left him, and sate down to read a Portugueze book; the Savages got it from a prize taken by the French, and had given it him: but unable to drive away the thoughts of this Margaia, and not perhaps quite satisfied with himself for what he had said to him; he returned, and said, Do not think, friend, that I am come hither to devour you, for I also am a prisoner, and my masters have brought me here; and he endeavoured to give him the best comfort by saying, that though his body would be eaten his soul would enter into a better world, and there be happy. The Savage enquired if this was true, and remarked that he had never seen

⁹ Iguarippe?

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 37.

God; That, said Hans, you will do in another life. A storm arose in the night. The Savages cried out it was that wicked Conjurer's doing to save the prisoner, because the Margaias and the Portugueze were friends: We saw him yesterday, said they, turning over the skins of thunder, .. by which they meant the leaves of the book. Luckily for him it cleared in the morning, and the feast was performed without interruption.

Stade. p. 4. c. 38.

As Hans and his master were returning by water, the wind was violently against them, and the rain incessant, and they called upon him to give them fair weather. There was a boy in the canoe who had carried off a bone from the feast and was now picking it; he bade him throw it away; but at this they all cried out that it was a dainty. The weather continued wet and stormy, so that having been three days on their way, though it was only a day's distance, they were obliged at last to haul their canoes ashore, and go the remainder of the way by land. Every one took what food he had before they began their march, and the boy finished his bone, and having well polished it, cast it from him. The clouds dispersed as they proceeded, and Hans then asked them if he had not spoken truly when he affirmed that God was angry with that boy for eating human flesh? But, they replied, there would have been no evil consequences if he had not seen him eating it. They looked upon him as the immediate cause, and looked no further.

Mode of trading during war.

When he had remained five months in this miserable captivity another vessel came from St. Vicente, for the Portugueze and Tupinambas used to carry on trade and hostilities with each other at the same time. They wanted mandioc flour for the numerous slaves who were employed in their sugar-works; when a ship was sent to procure this, a gun was fired on her arrival; two Savages then put off towards her in a canoe, held up what they had to sell, and settled the price in knives, reaping-hooks,

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or whatever else was on board for barter. Other canoes kept at a distance till the exchange was fairly compleated; as soon as that was done and the two brokers had returned, then they began to fight, .. a barbarous, but convenient arrangement. When the two traders went off the Portugueze enquired if Hans was yet alive, and said that his brother was on board and had brought some goods for him. When Hans heard this he besought them to let him speak to his brother, saying that he would desire him to beg his father to send a ship for him, and goods for his ransom; the Portugueze, he affirmed, would not understand their conversation; .. this he said because the Tupinambas had planned an expedition on the side of Bertioga for the ensuing August, and he feared they would suspect his intention of giving intelligence of it. They in their simplicity believed him, and carried him within stone's throw of the vessel. Hans cried out immediately that only one must speak to him, for he had said none but his brother could understand him. One of his friends took upon him this part, and told him they were sent to ransom him if they could, and if that proposal was rejected, to seize some of the Tupinambas, and so recover him by exchange. He begged them for God's sake not to attempt either means, but to say he was a Frenchman, and give him fishing-hooks and knives. This they readily did, and a canoe was sent to take them in. He then told them of the projected expedition, and they on their part informed him that their allies designed to attack Uwattibi again, and bade him be of good heart; he expressed himself thankful that his sins were to receive their punishment in this world rather than in the next, and implored their prayers for his deliverance. The parley was then broken off. Hans gave his masters the knives and fishing-hooks, and promised them more when the ship came for him, for he had told his brother how kindly they had treated him. They were of opinion that they

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 39.

had treated him with great kindness, but now they said, it was plain he was a Frenchman of some worth, and was therefore to be treated still better: so they permitted him to accompany them to the woods, and bear his part in their ordinary employments.

Stade. p. 4. c. 40.

There was a Cario slave in the town, who having been a slave among the Portugueze, had fled to these Tupinambas, and lived three years with them, a longer time than Hans had been in Brazil; nevertheless from some strange hatred which he had conceived against him, he frequently urged his masters to kill him, declaring that he had oftentimes seen him fire at the Tupinambas, and that he was the person who had killed one of their Chiefs. This man fell sick, and Hans was desired to bleed him by his master, who promised him if he cured the patient, a share of all the game which he should kill, for his fee. Their instrument for bleeding is a sharp tooth, with which, not being used to it, Hans could not open a vein. They then said he was a lost man, and that there was nothing to be done but to kill him, lest he should die and so become uneatable. Shocked at this, Hans represented that the man might yet recover, .. but it availed not: they took him out of his hammock, two men supported him upright, for he was too ill to stand or to know what they were doing, and his master knocked out his brains. Hans then endeavoured to dissuade them from eating him, observing that the body was yellow with disease, and might produce pestilence: they threw away the head and intestines on this account, and devoured the rest. He did not fail to remark to them that this slave had never been ill since he came among them, till he had endeavoured to procure his death.

He swims off to a French beat, and the French refuse to take him in.

The time of their expedition, for which they had been three months making preparations, was now at hand; he hoped they would leave him at home with the women, and then he had de-

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 41.

termined to fly. Before the time of their departure was come, a boat arrived from a French ship which was lying at Rio de Janeiro; it came to trade for pepper, monkeys, and parrots. One man who spake the language of the Tupinambas landed, and Hans intreated him to take him on board; but his masters would not permit him to go, for they were resolved to have a good ransom for him. He begged them then to go with him to the ship; this also they refused, observing that these people were no friends of his, for though they saw him naked they had not even given him a cloth to cover him. .. Oh, but his friends were in the ship, he said. .. The ship, they replied, would not sail till their expedition was over, and it would be time enough then to take him there. But when Hans saw the boat push off, his earnest wish to be at liberty overpowered him; he sprang forward, and ran towards it along the shore. The Savages pursued, some of them came up to him, he beat them off, out-stript the rest, ran into the sea, and swam off to the boat. The Frenchmen refused to take him in, lest they should offend the Savages, and Hans, once more resigning himself to his evil destiny, was compelled to swim back. When the Tupinambas saw him returning they rejoiced, but he affected to be angry that they should have supposed he meant to run away, and said he only went to bid them tell his countrymen to prepare a present for them when they should go with him to the ship.

Ceremonies before they go to war.

Their hostile expeditions are preceded by many ceremonies. The old men of every settlement frequently addressed the young, and exhorted them to go to war. An old orator, either walking abroad, or sitting up in his hammock, would exclaim, What! is this the example which our fathers have left us, .. that we should waste our days away at home! they who went out and fought and conquered, and slew and devoured! Shall we let the enemies who could not formerly stand in our sight, come

2 D

[page] 202

CHAP. VII. 1552.

De Lery. c. 1.

now to our own doors, and bring the war home to us? .. and then clapping his shoulders and his hams, .. no, no, Tupinambas! let us go out, let us kill, let us eat! Such speeches were sometimes continued for some hours, and were listened to with the deepest attention. Consultations were held in every town of the tribe concerning the place which they should attack, and the time was fixed for assembling and setting off.

Religious ceremonies of the Tupinambas.

Div. Avis. ff. 39.

Once in the year the Payes visited every settlement. They sent notice of their coming, that the ways might be made clear before them. The women of the place which was to receive this visitation went two and two through every house, confessing aloud all the offences which they had committed against their husbands, and demanding forgiveness for them; and when the Payes arrived they were received with song and dance. They pretended that a Spirit which came to them from the remotest parts of the world, gave them power to make the Maraca answer questions and predict events. The house was cleared, the women and children excluded, and the men were then told to produce their Maracas, adorned with red feathers, that they might receive the faculty of speech. The Payes sat at the head of the room, and fixed their own in the ground before them; near these the others were fixed, and every man made a present to the jugglers, that his might not be forgotten. This essential part of the business being performed, they fumigated them with petun through a long cane; the Paye then took up one, put it to his mouth, and bade it speak; a shrill feeble voice then seemed to proceed from it, which the Savages believe to be the Voice of the Spirit, and the jugglers bade them go to war and conquer their enemies, for the Spirits who inhabit the Maracas delight to be satisfied with the flesh of prisoners. Every one then took up his oracle, called it his dear son, and carefully replaced it. The Savages from the Orinoco to the Plata have no other visible object of worship.

[page] 203

CHAP. VII. 1552.

On some occasions there is a greater ceremony, at which Jean De Lery happened once to be present. He and two other Frenchmen went early in the morning to a town of the Tupinambas, thinking to breakfast there. They found all the inhabitants, in number about six hundred, collected in the area: the men went into one house, the women into another, the boys into a third; the Payes ordered the women not to come out, but carefully to listen to the singing, and they put the Frenchmen with them. Presently a sound was heard from the house into which the men had retired; they were singing He-he-he-he, which the women in like manner repeated: the singing was not in a loud key at first, but they continued it a full quarter of an hour, till it became one long and dreadful yell, jumping the whole while, their breasts shaking, and foaming at the mouth: some of them fell down senseless, and De Lery believed they were actually possessed. The boys were making the same hideous howling by themselves; and the three Frenchmen were, as they well might be, in grievous consternation, not knowing what the Devil might think proper to do next. After a short pause of silence, the men began to sing in the sweetest and most delightful ones; De Lery was so charmed that he resolved to go and look at them; and though the women endeavoured to prevent him, and a Norman interpreter said that during seven years which he had past among them he had never dared be present, he, relying upon his intimacy with some of the elders, went out and made a hole in the roof, through which he and his companions beheld the ceremony.

The men were disposed in three distinct circles, one close to another. Every one lent forward, the right arm resting on the small of the back, the left hanging down straight; they shook the right leg, and in this attitude they danced and sung; their singing was wonderfully sweet, and at intervals they stamped

[page] 204

CHAP. VII. 1552.

De Lery. c. 15.

with the right foot, and spat upon the ground. In the middle of each circle were three or four Payes, each holding a Maraca in one hand, and a pipe, or rather hollow cane, with petun in the other; they rattled the oracles, and blew the smoke upon the men, saying, Receive the spirit of courage, that ye may conquer your enemies. This continued two hours. The song commemorated their ancestors; they mourned for them, but expressed a hope, that when they also were gone beyond the mountains, they should then rejoice and dance with them; it then denounced vengeance upon their enemies, whom the Maraca had declared they should soon conquer and devour. The remainder of the song, if the Norman interpreter is to be credited, related a rude tradition of the deluge.

The authority of their Priests and Oracles was however to be confirmed by other modes of divination. They consulted certain of their women who had been gifted with the power of predicting future events. The mode of conferring this power was thus. The Paye fumigated the aspirant with petun, then bade her cry out as loud as she could, and jump, and after a while whirl round, still shouting, till she dropt down senselessly. When she recovered he affirmed that she had been dead and he had brought her back to life, and from that time she was a cunning woman. When these women also had promised victory, the last appeal was to their dreams. If many of the tribe dreamt of eating their enemies, it was a sure sign of success; but if more dreamt that they themselves were eaten the expedition was given up.

Their weapons.

About the middle of August Konyan Bebe set out with thirty canoes, each carrying about eight and twenty men; Hans was taken with them; they were going towards Bertioga, and meant to lie in wait and catch others, as they had caught him. Every one carried a rope girt round him, with which to bind the prisoners whom they should take. They were armed with a wooden

[page] 205

CHAP. VII. 1552.

weapon, called the Macana; it was from five to six feet long; its head shaped like the bowl of a spoon, except that it was flat; this blade was about a foot wide in the widest part, about the thickness of the thumb in the middle, and brought to an edge all round: such an implement, made of the ironwood of Brazil, was not less tremendous than a battle-axe; and they wielded it so skilfully, that De Lery remarks, a Tupinamba thus armed would give two swordsmen enough to do. Their bows were of the same wood, which was either red or black, longer and thicker than what were used in Europe, nor could any European bend them. They used a plant called Tocon for the string, which, though slender, was so strong that a horse could not by fair pulling break it. Their arrows were above a full cloth yard in length, and curiously constructed in three parts, the middle part being of reed, the two others of heavy hard wood; the feathers were fastened on with cotton; the head was either of bone, or it was a blade of dry reed cut into the shape of an old lancet, or the sting of a certain species of fish. They were incomparable archers; .. with leave of the English, says De Lery, who are so excellent in this art, I must say that a Tupinamba would shoot twelve arrows before an Englishman could let fly six. Fire-arms terrified them till they comprehended their nature; but when they learnt that the gun must be loaded before it could be fired, they thought little of such a weapon, saying they could dispatch six arrows while a gun was loaded once. Nor did they consider them as more destructive than their own shafts, against which no shield or breast-plate was of sufficient strength. In fact fire-arms were not so deadly in their hands as they were when levelled against them: the French sold them gunpowder; but it was such gunpowder that when three savages filled a barrel to the brim, one held it, another aimed it, and a third applied the match, there

[page] 206

CHAP. VII. 1552.

was no danger that the gun would burst¹⁰. Their shields were pieces of the Anta's hide, about the size and shape of a drumhead. Their canoes were made of bark; they worked them standing, holding the paddle in the middle, and pressing its broad blade back through the water. They made no haste, but took their pleasure as they went, and stopt to fish at the mouths of the rivers, some blowing horns, others a rude trumpet formed of a species of long gourd, others playing upon fifes which were made of the bones of their enemies.

Stade. p. 4. c. 42.

When Konyan Bebe halted the first night, the Maracas were produced; they rattled them, and danced till it was late, and then the Chief bade them go and dream. Hans was ordered to dream too; but when he said there was no truth in dreams, he was desired to prevail upon God to let them take plenty of prisoners. At sunrise they breakfasted upon fish, and when that was done every one related his dream, .. it may be supposed of what materials they were composed; blood and slaughter, and cannibal banquets. Poor Hans was trembling with hope that they might meet the stronger expedition which the Tupiniquins were preparing, or that he might effect his escape when they reached the scene of action. Unhappily, instead of this, they fell in with five canoes from Bertioga, and after a hard chase came up with them. Hans knew all the ill-fated crew; there were six Christian Mamalucos, as the mixed breed are called, among them. The Tupinambas, as they gained upon them, held up their fifes of human bone, and rattled their necklaces of human teeth, shouting and exulting with the certain hope of victory. Great as was the disparity of numbers, the

¹⁰ Some of the miracles which S. de Vasconcellos records are explainable by the nature of the powder.

[page] 207

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Mamalucos kept off the enemy for two hours, till two of them being desperately wounded, and the others having expended their shot and their arrows, they were finally made prisoners.

The conquerors, as soon as they had secured their prey, rowed back with might and main to the place where they had swung their hammocks the last night. Those prisoners who had been mortally wounded were then killed, and cut in pieces. Four forked stakes were driven into the ground, sticks were laid across, and on this they rather dried than broiled the flesh. This wooden frame was called the Boucan; food thus smoked and dried was said to be buccaneered, and hence the origin of the name applied to that extraordinary race of freebooters who were so long the scourge of the Spaniards in South America. Two Christians were slaughtered that night, Jorge Ferreira, son of the Captain of Bertioga, and one Jeronymo, a kinsman to two of the other prisoners. When the cannibals were asleep Hans went to the survivors; there were among them Diogo and Domingos de Braga, two of the brethren who first settled at Bertioga, and he had been intimate with them. Their first question was, whether they were to be eaten. He had poor comfort to give; all he could say was, it was as God pleased, in whom and in his Son they must put their trust: it had pleased God to preserve him among the Savages, as they perceived. They enquired for their kinsman Jeronymo; .. his body was then upon the Boucan, and part of Ferreira had already been devoured. Upon this they began to weep. Hans told them they ought not to despair, seeing that he had been miraculously preserved for eight months; and he not very reasonably attempted to convince them, that, at the worst, it could not be so bad to them as it would have been to him, for he was a stranger coming from a part of the world where there were no such cruel and barbarous customs, but they were born in Brazil, and used to it

[page] 208

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 43. 44.

He might have fled that night, but he remembered that his flight would provoke the Tupinambas to put their prisoners instantly to death; it was his duty therefore to await some other means of deliverance, because their escape was not impossible. It is greatly to his honour that he felt and acted thus. The next day he went into Konyan Bebe's tent, and asked him what he designed to do with the Christians: .. to eat them, was the answer; .. they were fools to come with our enemies when they might have remained at home; .. and he forbade Hans to have any intercourse with them. Hans advised him to ransom them; this he refused. There was a basket full of human flesh beside him, from which he took a broiled thigh, and put it to Hans's mouth, asking him if he would eat; but Hans answered, that even beasts did not devour their own kind. The Savage fixed his teeth in it, exclaiming, I am a tyger, and I like it.

Konyan Bebe gave order in the evening that all the prisoners should be produced. The captors formed a circle on a level piece of ground between the woods and the river, and placed them in the midst: the Maracas were rattled, and they sung. When this was over, the Tupiniquins said, We came from our land like brave men, to attack ye our enemies, and kill ye and devour ye: the victory has been yours, and you have us in your hands. We care not; .. brave men die valiantly in the land of their enemies. Our country is wide, and it is inhabited by warriors who will not let our deaths go unrevenged. The others made answer, You have taken and devoured many of our people, and now we will revenge them upon you. On the third day they reached their own border, divided the prisoners, and separated. Eight savages, and three of the surviving Christians, fell to the share of Uwattibi. The remaining flesh of the two who had been buccaneered was carried home to be reserved for a solemn feast; part of Jeronymo was hung over a fire in

[page] 209

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 4. c. 51.

p. 5. c. 54.

the house where Hans was an inmate, for three weeks. They would not take him to the ship till their feast was over, and before that time she sailed. He had now no other hope than the consolation which they gave him, that ships came every year. There came however a time when he was grateful to Providence for this merciful disappointment. This vessel had captured a Portugueze one in Rio de Janeiro, and given one of the prisoners to the Savages to be devoured: the boat's crew belonged to her who had refused to take in Hans when he swam off to them, and the Norman interpreter who had advised the Tupinambas to eat him, embarked to return in her. It may be some satisfaction to the reader, as it was to Hans, to learn that the vengeance of God was upon them, and they perished in the sea.

Hans was now transferred to another master, a Chief of the settlement called Tacwarasutibi. Before he left Uwattibi, he gave the Portugueze prisoners the best directions he could which way to travel, if they could find means to fly¹¹. He was dismissed with an excellent character for predicting future events, healing diseases, and procuring fine weather; and received with the respect which such qualifications deserved. He told his new master that his brother was to come for him; and luckily in the course of a fortnight a gun was heard from the near harbour of Rio de Janeiro. He besought them then to take him to the ship, but they were in no hurry. The Captain however heard he was there, and sent two of his men to see in what manner he could be delivered from this wretched bondage. Hans told them

¹¹ He heard afterwards that the two brethren had fled; but whether they effected their escape he never knew. Probably they did, because a Domingos de Braga is mentioned by Vasconcellos as living a few years afterwards at St. Vicente.

2 E

[page] 210

CHAP. VII. 1552.

Stade. p. 5. c. 52.

that one of them must be his brother, and say that he had brought out goods for him, get permission for him to go on board and receive them, and feign that he must stay in the country till next year to collect a cargo for them, because he was now the friend of the Tupinambas.

Hans escapes.

Stade. p. 5. c. 53.

The scheme was well laid and well executed. Hans and his master went on board, and remained there five days: the savage then asked for the goods, and wanted to return. Hans ordered them to be produced, declaring that he was ready to accompany him, but begged a little longer time to feast with his friends; and thus by plying him with meat and drink they kept the Chief on board till the ship had compleated her cargo. Then as they were on the point of sailing, the Captain thanked this Tupinamba for having treated his countryman so kindly, and said that he had invited them there to give him presents in acknowledgment, and likewise to deliver other goods into Hans's care, that he might remain in the country as their factor and interpreter. But he had ten brothers on board, who could not bear to part with him, now that they had recovered him. Ten of the crew played their parts well; they insisted that Hans should return to his own country, that their father might see his face before he died. Nothing could have been better contrived to effect his deliverance, and leave his master satisfied. The Captain said he wished Hans would remain in the country, but these brethren of his were many in number, and he was but one. Hans himself said he would willingly stay, but his brothers would not let him. The honest Tupinamba and his wife wept over him, received a rich present of combs, knives, and looking-glasses, and departed perfectly well contented.

In this manner did Hans Stade recover his liberty, after so many dangers and diappointments. He was yet unlucky

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CHAP. VII. 1552.

enough to receive a grievous wound in an action with the very Portugueze vessel which had formerly been sent to treat for his ransom. He recovered, reached his own country, and wrote the history of his adventures. It is a book of great value, and all subsequent accounts of the Tupi tribes rather repeat than add to the information which it contains.

[page 212]

CHAPTER VIII.

Thome de Sousa appointed Governor General of Brazil.—He takes out with him the first Jesuits to America.—City of St. Salvador founded.—The Jesuits begin the attempt of converting the natives.—Obstacles to that attempt.—Cannibalism.—Language, and state of the Tupi tribes.

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Evils of the existing system in Brazil.

Cast. Lus. . . § 18.

Half a century had now elapsed since the discovery of Brazil, and so much capital in the course of that time had been vested there, that these colonies began to be regarded as possessions of considerable importance. The evils of the present system of government were very great: the Governor of every Captaincy exercised uncontrolled authority, and consequently abused it; the property, and honour, and lives of the colonists were at the mercy of these Lords¹, and the people groaned under their intolerable oppression. Their complaints reached the king; he took into consideration the advantages which the country promised, especially from the cultivation of sugar, and the danger there was lest the

¹ This is the exact language of F. Raphael de Jesus. All the other writers either merely say the system was inconvenient, or that the King thought proper to change it.

[page] 213

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

A Governor General appointed.

Noticias MSS. 2. 2.

Andrada. Chr. del R. D. Joam III. 4. 32.

Noticias. MSS. p. 2. c. 5.

Do. 2. 1.

Do. 1. 44.

French should succeed in establishing themselves there, and in winning the natives to their party; and he resolved to revoke the powers of the several Captains, leaving them in possession of their grants, and to appoint a Governor-General², with full authority civil and criminal. The person appointed to this high station was Thome de Sousa, a fidalgo, though a bastard, who had been tried and approved in the African and Indian wars. .. He was instructed to build a city in Bahia de Todos os Santos, strong enough not only to keep the natives in awe, but also to resist the attack of any more formidable enemy; .. a wise foresight this of European competition. It was to be called St. Salvador, and here the seat of government was to be established; the arms which were given to the new city were a white dove with three olive leaves in her bill, in a field vert. An expedition was fitted out consisting of three ships, two caravels, and one brigantine, on board of which were three hundred and twenty persons in the king's pay, four hundred degredados, or banished men, and colonists who made up the whole number a thousand. Pedro de Goes, the unsuccessful Donatory of Paraiba, went out as Captain of the fleet; he had, at least, the consolation of seeing a capital founded in the country which he liked so well, and in which his own fortunes had been ruined. Six Jesuits embarked in this expedition, the first who ever set foot in the New World.

The King desires the conversion of the Brazilians.

Joam III. was the great benefactor of the Jesuits, their first, steadiest, and most useful friend. He had already sent out S.

² Gaspar da Madre de Deos, 1. § 15. is of opinion that Martim Affonso de Sousa had borne the title of Governor of Nova Lusitania, .. because he finds him called Goveruador das terras do Brazil in one deed, and Governador em todas estas terras do Brazil in another, both executed at St. Vicente. The inference does not seem to be necessary, and it is certain that the several Captains exercised an authority entirely independent of each other.

[page] 214

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

A Jesuit mission appointed.

First Jesuits in South America.

Francisco Xavier to the East, and now the souls of his Brazilian subjects became a cause of concern to him. Joam was superstitious to the lowest depth of degradation, but he was pious also; his misdirected faith occasioned in him a slavish observance of absurd forms, and a cruel intolerance towards those of a different belief; .. but it produced good as well as evil. He was truly and righteously anxious to spread his religion, such as it was, among the Heathen; and Christianity, even when so disfigured and defiled, is still, from those moral and domestic precepts which are inseparable from it, a great and powerful engine of civilisation, a great and inestimable blessing. .. This concern he imparted to Father Simam Rodriguez, one of Loyola's earliest disciples, who had introduced the order into Portugal, and was the King's especial favourite. Father Simam had long been ambitious of becoming a missionary among the heathen; he had formerly been chosen as the companion of Xavier, but detained in Lisbon for services less splendid, though not less important to the Society; and he now hoped that as his work in Portugal was done, and the Company had taken root there, he might be permitted to devote the remainder of his life to the Savages of Brazil. The Company has had many more illustrious members, but none who have served it better, or more devotedly. The King, unwilling as he was to part with him, yielded to his pressing entreaties; Loyola assented, and it was determined that he should depart as soon as Father Martinho de S. Cruz was returned from Rome, whither he was gone upon matters of great import to the Jesuit-Province of Portugal. Martinho died, and his death left such a weight of business upon Father Simam, and made his presence in the Province so indispensable, that he was obliged to resign the hope of being the Apostle of Brazil, and appointed Father Manoel de Nobrega in his stead, chief of the mission. His companions were Father Juan

[page] 215

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Vasc. Chr. da Comp. 1. § 5—7.

B. Tellex. C. da Comp. l. 3. c. 2.

de Aspilcueta, Father Antonio Pires, Father Leonardo Nunes, and the lay brethren Vicente Rodriguez and Diogo Jacome. The Jesuits have borne so great a part in the history of South America, that the names of these first adventurers deserve to be recorded. Nobrega was a Portugueze of noble family, who being disappointed of some collegiate honour for which he was a candidate, and to which he thought he had a better claim than his successful opponent, renounced the world in a fit of disgust³; little then aware that this renunciation would make him act a more important part in it, than could else with all his talents and fair prospects have been within his reach.

City of St. Salvador founded.

Noticias. MSS. p. 2. c. 2.

Nobrega. Div. Avisi. 33.

Andrada. 4. 32.

The fleet reached Bahia early in the April of 1549. Old Caramuru was, at this time, quietly settled at some little distance from Coutinho's deserted town. He was of great service to the Governor, and conciliated the minds of the natives for him. .. They assembled in great numbers to see the landing, and were made to lay down their bows before they approached; .. this being their token of peace. The Portugueze took up their abode in the old settlement, as in a sort of camp; Sousa was not satisfied with the situation: the mass of the Holy Ghost was celebrated before they proceeded to chuse a better, and then a place was chosen, about half a league off, abounding with springs, and almost surrounded with water. The Tupinambas, won by Caramuru's influence, the good conduct of the Governor, and the treasures which were brought out for barter, worked willingly at the buildings. Two batteries were planted towards the sea, four towards the land; a Cathedral was begun, a College for the Jesuits, a Governor's residence, and a Custom-house; the

³ Determinou despicarse com o mundo, affrontallo e repudiallo, como o mundo o fizera com elle. Sim. Vasc. C. C. 1. § 9.

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CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Nobrega, Div. Av. 33.

Nobrega Do. Noticias. MSS. 2. c. 3—4.

S. Vasc. C. C. 1. § 94.

Div. Avis. 45. 49.

Noticias. MSS. 2. c. 4.

King had taken the colony into his own hands, and every thing went on accordingly. Within⁴ four months a hundred houses were built, and sugar plantations laid out in the vicinity. Just at this time one of the colonists was killed by a native, about eight leagues from the new city, a circumstance which greatly endangered the settlement. The Governor could not pass over the offence without demanding the offender, for that would have encouraged the natives, and taught them to despise his power; and if the Tupinambas should happen to protect the criminal, the city was not yet in a state of defence. Luckily the savage had been manifestly the aggressor, .. for he was delivered up; and Sousa had him tied to the mouth of a cannon, and blown to pieces. No mode of execution can be devised more humane to the sufferer, nor more awful to the beholders. It struck terror into the Tupinambas: the settlers also had received a useful lesson, and abstained from going imprudently among them. In a short time they ran up a mud wall, as a temporary fortification of sufficient strength against such enemies. Next year supplies of all kinds were sent them; the whole expence of both armaments was estimated at 300,000 cruzados. Another fleet came the third year, on board of which the Queen sent out many female orphans of noble family, who had been educated in the Convent of Orphans; they were to be given in marriage to the officers, and portioned with negroes, kine, and brood mares from the royal property. Orphan boys also came out to be educated by the Jesuits; and ships followed every year with the like supplies and reinforcements. Such measures ensured success; the new colony prospered rapidly, and the other Captaincies partook of its prosperity. The Governor visited them, saw

⁴ Nobrega's letter is dated August 10.

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CHAP. VIII. 1549.

to their fortifications, and regulated the administration of justice.

Conduct of the Jesuits.

Cannibalism.

The Jesuits immediately began that system of beneficence toward the natives, from which they never deviated till their extinction as an order. The obstacles to the task which they had undertaken were great and numerous. They could not here, as they have politicly done in the East, accommodate what they taught to the established belief of the country, so as to persuade the people that they were rather reforming or elucidating an old religion, than introducing a new, and thus win them to conform to what they deemed the essentials of Christianity, by conforming themselves to whatever their own latitudinarian prudence could tolerate. The religion, the pride, and the joy of the Brazilian Savages were in their cannibal feasts; and it was the more difficult to abolish this custom, because the Europeans had hitherto made no attempt to check it among their allies. It has been seen how the French Interpreter advised the Tupinambas to eat Hans as a Portugueze, and the Portugueze in like manner permitted their allies to consider their enemies as beasts whom they were to destroy and devour. Nay, as these banquets made the feud more deadly, they conceived it to be good policy to encourage them, and for this policy, the common shudderings of humanity were, as usual, repressed and ridiculed, and the holiest injunctions of religion set at naught. Priests, warriors, women, and children, regarded the practice of cannibalism with equal delight and equal interest. It was the triumph of the captor, it was an expiatory sacrifice to the spirits of their brethren who had been slain; it was the public feast in which the old women displayed their domestic mysteries; and it was the day of merriment for the boys. If the Devil of Romish mythology had invented a stumbling block in the way of their conversion, he could not have devised one more effectual, .. and ac-

2 F

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CHAP. VIII. 1549.

cordingly the Jesuits gave him the whole merit of the invention.

Ceremonies observed with a captive.

The first acts of this tragedy have been represented in the history of Hans Stade; his beard and eye-brows had been shaved, and he had gone through the ceremony of the dance; the concluding scenes followed in this order.

Stade. l. 2. c. 20.

De Lery. c. 14.

Consequences from their theory of generation.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 69.

While preparations were making for the feast a woman was appointed to watch the prisoner and to cohabit with him, the captor not scrupling thus to bestow his sister or his daughter. If she became pregnant, this was what they wished. It was their opinion that the child proceeded wholly from the father, receiving nutrition indeed and birth from the mother, but nothing more⁵. This opinion produced a horrible consequence; the offspring of a captive was suffered to grow up; the circumstances of his birth-place and up-growing occasioned no human feelings towards him; it was always remembered that he was of the blood and flesh of their enemies, and when they thought him in the best condition they killed and devoured him⁶; the nearest kinsman to the mother officiated as slaughterer, and the

⁵ Their language exemplifies this in a curious manner. The father called his son Taîra, and his daughter Tagïra; the mother called both Menbîra. The vocabulary which Marcgraff has given by the help of Manoel de Moraes, scanty as it is, discovers the etymology of these words, and explains their difference. Tagui signifies blood, and Menbirara is to bring forth; .. the paternal word, therefore, means child of my blood; the maternal one, child whom I have brought forth.

⁶ These feasts were called Cunhamenbira, which is explained to mean son of an enemy, in the Noticias do Brazil. 2. 69. Its literal meaning is child of a woman, which upon their system means the same thing. The dialogue which De Lery gives was given him by an interpreter who had lived seven years among the Tupinambas, and was well versed in Greek; from which language, he said, many of their words were derived. It is not a little extraordinary that a man who understood Greek should have been in that situation: .. except, however, in these words, Cunha and γυν, I can discover no remarkable resemblance: in these the resemblance is nearer than appears to an English eye, the nh of the Portugueze having the sound of our ny.

[page] 219

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Herrera. 4. 3. 13.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 69.

first mouthful was given to the mother herself. But human nature partakes too much of that goodness from which it hath proceeded, ever to become totally perverted. The women often took drugs to cause abortion, that they might be spared the misery of seeing their offspring butchered; and they often assisted these husbands to escape, laid food for them in the woods, and sometimes fled with them. This happened frequently to the Portugueze prisoners; the Brazilians held it dishonourable to fly, and could not always be persuaded to save themselves. A mother, also, was sometimes found who resolutely defended her child, till he was able to make his way to his father's tribe.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1295.

Pedro Corra. Div. Avis. ff. 142.

De Lery. .

The women prepared their earthen vessels, made the liquor for the feast, and twisted the Mussurana, or long cotton cord, in which the victim was to be bound. There was nothing on which they bestowed so much pains as upon these cords; some tribes made them of so beautiful a texture that it is supposed to have been the work of a year's industry; several of these were united in one noose, with an intricate nicety of which few were masters; they were then dipt in a sort of white lime, dried, rolled carefully up, and deposited in a new painted bowl. Some of the chief personages were drest for the ceremony: the body was covered with gum, upon which small feathers were stuck⁷, and skilfully arranged according to

⁷ Tarring and feathering, therefore, is one of the aboriginal fashions of the Americans. De Lery supposes that the first persons who saw some of these feathered savages at a distance, mistook the feathers for hair, and that thence arose the error of representing them as hairy. But this opinion prevailed before the discovery of America, and the savage of the old masques probably derived his skin from the Satyrs.

[page] 220

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Stade. l. 2. c. 29.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1295.

their colours. They made feather tassels with which they decorated the Ywara-pemme, the slaughter-club, adorned it with bracelets of shells, and smeared its blade with gum, over which a fine powder was laid, composed of egg-shells, the colour of ashes; on this one of the women traced some rude figures with a style, while the rest danced round her; and the head and face of the victim were then in the same manner ornamented to the pattern of the club. This weapon was then hung up. The drinking feast commenced, at which the prisoner was present, and partook of the potations. The next day was a day of rest, .. probably the effects of drunkenness made it necessary; they erected however a sort of hut for the prisoner in the area, and there under good watch he past the last night of his life. In the morning the hut was demolished and the area levelled. The women brought out the Mussurana in the bowl, and set it at his feet: the old woman who presided at these devilish mysteries began a death song, in which the rest joined in, while the men put the noose round his neck and fastened it there, coiled up the ends, and laid them upon the arm of the woman who had him in charge, and who had sometimes one to assist her in bearing the weight. The song alluded to the weight of the noose: We are they, it said, who make the neck of the bird stretch; .. and in another part it mocked him for wanting power to escape, .. Hadst thou been a parrot injuring our fields, thou wouldst have fled. Presently several men laid hold of the ends of the Mussurana, and tightened them on all sides, keeping him in the middle. During all these ceremonies he, who was as willing to meet death as they were to inflict it, insulted them, telling them how bravely he had fought against them, calling out to one that he had slain his father, to another that he had buccaneered her son. They now bade him take his fill of looking at the sun, for he would see it no more. Stones and broken pottery were placed by

[page] 221

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Stade. l. 2. c. 29.

De Lery. c. 15.

him, and he was told to revenge his death before he died, which, covered as the sacrificers were with their shields, and impeded as he was by the cords with which he was pulled on all sides, he not unfrequently did to their cost. This done, the fire at which his limbs were to be drest was kindled before him. A woman then came out, bringing the Ywara-pemme, round which there had been singing and dancing since the earliest break of day; she brought it dancing and shouting also, and sported with it before the face of the victim; one of the men took it from her, and held it straight out to him that he might behold it well. He who was to be the slaughterer came now into the area, with fourteen or fifteen chosen friends, drest for the ceremony in gum and feathers, or in gum and ashes. He himself was in feathers. He who had the club proffered it to this chief personage of the feast; but the head of the clan interposed, took it himself, and passing it with many antic gestures backward and forward between his legs, delivered it in that manner to the Matador; and he advanced towards the prisoner saying, Lo, here I am who am about to kill thee, because thou and thy people have killed many of our brethren and devoured them. The other made answer, It is the chance of life; my friends are many, and they will take vengeance for me. This done, the Brazilian Cannibal (far more merciful than the northern tribes of men-eaters) stunned him, or knocked his brains out with one blow.

De Lery. c. 15.

Instantly the body was seized by the women; they dragged it to the fire, scalded it and skinned it. She who had cohabited with the prisoner, forced out a few tears over him, and thought it a point of honour to get, if possible, the first mouthful. The arms were cut off close to the shoulder, and the legs above the knee, and four women took each a limb and danced with them about the area. The trunk was then split. The intestines were left to the women, who boiled and eat them in broth; the head

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CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Div. Av. 57.

also was their share; but the tongue and brains were allotted to the children, who were also smeared with the blood. The thumb was cut off because of its use in archery, an art concerning which they were singularly superstitious: what was done with it does not appear, except that it was not eaten like the rest. The fleshy parts were placed upon the Boucan, and having been buccaneered, were frequently laid aside for other feasts. At all these operations the old women presided, and they derived so much importance from these occasions, that their exultation over a prisoner was always fiend-like. They stood by the Boucan, and caught the fat as it fell, that nothing might be lost, licking their fingers during this accursed employment. Every part of the body was devoured; the arm and thigh bones were reserved to be made into flutes; the teeth strung in necklaces; the skull set up at the entrance of the town; or it was sometimes used for a drinking-cup, after the manner of our Scandinavian ancestors.

De Lery. c. 7. 14.

Stade. l. 2. c. 29.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1297.

The founder of the feast took an additional name as an honourable remembrance of what had been done, and his female relations ran through the house, shouting the new title. The chief of the clan scarified the arms of the Matador above the elbow, so as to leave a permanent mark there; and this was the star and garter of their ambition, .. the highest badge of honour. There were some who cut gashes in their breast, arms, and thighs, on these occasions, and rubbed a black powder in, which left an indelible stain. After this he got into his hammock and remained there the whole day, practising with a little bow at a mark, from a superstitious fear lest the act of slaughtering should have deprived him of his skill in archery. Among some tribes they rubbed his pulse with one of the eyes of the dead, and hung the mouth upon his arm like a bracelet.

They had learnt to consider human flesh as the most exquisite

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CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Nobrega. Div. Avis. ff. 34.

De Lery. c. 10. 13. 9.

of all dainties⁸. Delicious however as these repasts were deemed, they derived their highest flavour from revenge; and it was this feeling, and the sense of honour connected with it, that the Jesuits found most difficulty in overcoming. The native Brazilians had made revenge their predominant passion, exercising it upon every trifling occasion, to feed and strengthen a propensity which is of itself too strong. They ate the vermin which molested them, not like monkeys, for sport, but professedly for the sake of vengeance. If a savage struck his foot against a stone, he raged over it and bit it like a dog; if he were wounded with an arrow, he plucked it out and gnawed the shaft. When they took a beast of prey in a pitfall, they killed it by little wounds, that it might be long in dying, and suffer as much as possible in death.

Customs of the Tupi tribes.

The native Brazilians were not all cannibals. The Tupi race seem to have brought this custom from the interior, and it is found in all the branches of that stock. It was with them that the Jesuits began; much has already been incidentally said of their customs, and it will be proper to add here whatever more can be collected concerning them.

Their language.

The Tupis of Brazil, the Guaranis of Paraguay, and the

⁸ A Jesuit one day found a Brazilian woman in extreme old age, and almost at the point of death. Having catechized her, instructed her as he conceived in the nature of Christianity, and compleatly taken care of her soul, he began to enquire whether there was any kind of food which she could take. .. Grandam, said he, that being the word of courtesy by which it was usual to address old women, .. if I were to get you a little sugar now, or a mouthful of some of our nice things which we get from beyond sea, do you think you could eat it? .. Ah my grandson, said the old convert, my stomach goes against every thing. There is but one thing which I think I could touch. If I had the little hand of a little tender Tapuya boy, I think I could pick the little bones; .. but woe is me, there is nobody to go out and shoot one for me! Vasc. Chr. da Comp. 1. § 49.

[page] 224

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Hervas Int. Art. 3. § 13.

Tr. 1. § 3.

Do. 6. § 17.

Tr. 1. c. 5. § 7.

P. Chomé. Lett. Edif. t. s. p. 239.

Hervas. Tr. 2. c. 3. § 162.

Omaguas of Peru, (between whom and the nearest Guaranis there intervenes, as Hervas says, a chaos of nations) speak dialects of the same tongue, traces of which are found through an extent of seventy degrees⁹. The Guarani is the parent language, being the most artificial; as the Greek is more so than the Latin, the Latin than all the modern dialects which have grown out of its ruins. It bears the marks of a primitive tongue, for it abounds with monosyllables; one word, as in the Chinese, serves for various meanings as it is variously accented; and every word is said to explain itself, which probably means that many are imitative sounds, and that all composites and derivatives are regularly formed. Yet from the variety of its accentuations, it is the most difficult of all the American languages.

Tr. 1. c. 2. § 17. 19.

Guerreiro. Rel. Ann. 1603. p. 111.

Hervas enumerates sixteen¹⁰ Brazilian tribes or nations speaking dialects of this tongue, and fifty-one¹¹ whose languages are

⁹ This dispersion is probably in some measure owing to the Spaniards and Portugueze. Some have fled from the Mamalucos. The Omaguas of Quito say that their stock was upon the Orellana, but that many tribes fled at sight of the vessels sent down by Gonzalo Pizarro, some to the low lands upon that river, some by the Rio dos Tocantins, others by the Rio Negro towards the Orinoco, and the New Kingdom of Granada.

Ab. Velasco, in a Letter to Hervas. Catal. de las Lenguas. T. 1. C. 5. § 87.

¹⁰ The Carios, Tamoyos, Tupiniquins, Timiminos, Tobayares, Tupinaes, Amoipiras, (their name is derived from the Guarani word Amboipir, people on the other side) Ibirayares, Cahetes, Pitiguares, Tupinambas, the Apantos, Tupigoais, Aroboyares, and Rarigoarais, who with other hordes on the Orellana are said to be tribes of the Tupis, and the Tocantins.

¹¹ The Goaytacazes, Aymures, Guayanas, Goanazes, and Yuguaruanas; (these tribes are supposed to speak different tongues because they were inimical to each other, an inference by no means necessary;) Cararius and Anaces, who are about Ibiapaba; Aroas, about the mouth of the Para; Teremembres, on the coast between the rivers Parnaibo and Seara; Payacus, of Seara; Grens, in the interior of the Ilheos; Kiriris, who once infested Bahia; .. from a brief vocabulary of their language, Hervas fancied he could trace some shadow only of affinity with the Tamanaco, a most corrupt dialect of the Carib tongue; Curumares, inhabitants of an island in the Araguaya, which falls into the Rio dos Tocantins, .. Aunim is their name for the Supreme Being, and they pronounce it with respect; Tapirapez and Acroas, in the same island, which is twenty leagues in length; Bacures or Guacures, about Matto Grosso, probably the Guaycurus of the Paraguay; Parasis, of the same country; Barbudos, to the North-east of Cuyaba, .. probably a Portugueze name to imply that they wear beards; Bororos, East of Cuyaba; Potentus; Maramomis; Payayas; Curatis, of Ibiapa; Cururus, bordering on the Curumares, and supposed to be of the same stock; Barbados, of Maranham; Carayas, upon the Pindare, in the same Captaincy; Yacarayabas; Arayos; Gayapas; Cavalheiros and Imares, upon the Tacuari, which falls into the Paraguay, .. one of them is supposed to be a branch of the Guaycurus, the other of the Guachcihos; Coroados, so called either from some chaplet, or from the manner in which their hair is shorn; Machacaris and Camanachos, behind and about the serra which runs parallel with the coast, between 18° and 20° South latitude; Patachos, North of these last; Guegues, Timbiras, Acroamirims, Paracatis, Jeicos, and Amapurus, inhabitants of the extensive Piagui country, in the government of Maranham; Guanares, Aranhis, and Caicaizes, belonging to the missions on the Orellana; Aturaris and Menharis, on the Rio Grande de Norte, .. these are supposed to be a branch of the Aymures.

None of these tribes speak a dialect of the Guarani or Tupi tongue, and though some of their names have a signification in that language, it is merely because the Tupis have named them. Hervas found seventy other Brazilian tribes mentioned in the papers of the Jesuit missionaries, but without any notice of their language, for which reason he could not catalogue them: he had no accounts from the missionaries of the other orders. He supposes, however, that there may be, as some writers have stated, a hundred and fifty barbarous languages spoken in Brazil.

[page] 225

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different; but many of these latter had not been sufficiently investigated, nor has the number of their roots been ascertained. The Tupi is spoken along the whole coast of Brazil, and far into the interior, probably extending over a wider surface than any

2 G

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CHAP. VIII.

Anchieta, quoted in Meregraff. l. 8. c. 9.

other of the native American languages. It is a remarkable peculiarity in this language, that b never occurs at the beginning of a word without m before it, and that mb, nb, nd, and ng, are the only consonants which are ever used in sequence. They have either the f, l, nor rr. By the double r Anchieta probably meant to express a guttural sound; it frequently occurs in the Portugueze of his age, but has long become obsolete, and the sound with it which it was designed to mark. This deficiency in the Tupi language has furnished the Portugueze authors with a favourite jest, which they have repeated one after another, that the Savages had neither of these letters because they had neither Fe, Ley, nor Rey, f aith, l aw, nor r oyalty among them. Anchieta says they have neither s nor z, but used the ç instead: the Spanish Academy have discarded this character, and substituted the z for it: the Portugueze still retain it, but it is not to be distinguished from the s in their pronunciation. Anchieta would not thus have used it as the representation of a distinct sound, unless it had been so in his time, and I believe it had then the power of the soft theta, as is still sometimes given to the z in Spain. The superabundance of vowels in a language is perhaps the most decisive mark of its simple and imperfect state, for it evinces an ignoranoe of the extent of our powers of utterance. It explains how it is that so many languages exist among the South American tribes, manifestly cognate, yet so dissimilar that one tribe cannot understand another. Consonants are the fixtures, .. the bones, as it were, of speech; take them away, and the slightest alteration destroys the form and texture of the fluid materials which remain. Their names for the numerals were very barbarous¹², and ex-

¹² Auge-pé, mocouein, mossaput, oioicoudie, ecoinbo. De Lery. L. 20. Condamine is therefore wrong in affirming that for any number beyond three they are obliged to borrow of the Portugueze. P. 65.

[page] 227

CHAP. VIII.

tented only as for as five; all beyond was expressed by help of the fingers.

Their Religion.

Payes or Priests.

Tupa is their word for Father, for the Supreme Being, and for Thunder¹³; it past by an easy process from the first of these meanings to the last, and the barbarous vanity of some tribes compounded from it a name for themselves. In these words their whole Theology is at once comprized and explained. They addressed no prayers to this Universal Parent; he was neither the object of hope nor of fear. Their diabolism was rooted deeper: dreams, shadows, the night-mare, and delirium had generated superstations which a set of knayes systematized and increased and strengthened. The Payes¹⁴, as they were called, were at once quacks, jugglers, and priests: the ceremonial part of their priesthood was confined to making the Maraca and the mummery connected with it; but there is reason to believe that the secrets of the craft were of a bolder character. It is expressly asserted, by those who were most conversant with the Savages of Brazil, that they were in this life grievously tormented by the Devil¹⁵. These stories come from

¹³ I do not recollect any superstition which attributes Thunder to its Evil Spirit. It seems to be always considered as the manifestation of power, frequently of anger, but never of malignity.

¹⁴ This word, Paye, is found in all parts of Guiana. Caraiba, which is sometimes used for the Priest, means his priestly power.

Marcgraff. 8. 11. Dobrizhoffer. T. 2. § 81.

¹⁵ Miserrimi nostri Barbari, says De Lery, in hac ethiam vita misere ab Cacodæmone torquentur. Whoever wishes to see how a true traveller may be made to look like a liar is referred to De Bry's illustration of this passage, p. 223, where several varieties of the Cacodæmon are exhibited.

Anhanga, Juripari, and Kaagere, are names for the Evil Spirit. The former of these is the Aygnan of De Lery.

[page] 228

CHAP. VIII.

H. Stade. 2. 39.

Div Avis. 39.

H. Stade. 2. 7.

so many parts of the world, and are affirmed by such numerous and weighty witnesses, that nothing but that contented ignorance which contemptuously disbelieves whatever it does not readily comprehend, can reject them. The master of a dormitory used sometimes to go round early in the morning and scratch the childrens legs with the sharp tooth of a fish, passing on unseen from hammock to hammock. This was done that they might the more easily be terrified when their parents sought to quiet them by saying the bugbear was coming. Something like what they did to the children there is every reason to believe the Payes did to them; it is scarcely to be doubted that they appeared to them in hideous shapes, and beat and tormented them when a favourable opportunity occurred. There is nothing which Devils of this description would fear so much as light; and this the Savages had discovered, .. they kept fire burning all through the night in their houses, for which their chief reason was that Evil Spirits could not come near it; nor would they, if it could be avoided, ever venture out in darkness without a firebrand, for the same reason. There is abundant proof in the history of all false religions, and especially in that of the Romish Church, that the knaves of this world delight in insulting those whom they dupe.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 64. 2. 66.

Each Paye lived alone in a dark hut, the door of which was very small, and into which no one dared enter. Whatever they wanted was given them. They taught that it was an abominable sin for any one to refuse them his daughter, or any thing else which they chose to ask; and few ventured to incur the sin, for if they predicted the death of one who had offended them, the wretch took to his hammock instantly in such full expectation of dying, that he would neither eat nor drink, and the prediction was a sentence which faith effectually executed. Their mode of quackery was that which is common to all

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CHAP. VIII.

Savage conjurers; they sucked the part affected, and then produced a piece of wood, bone, or other extraneous substance, as what they had extracted by the operation.

St. Thomas the Apostle.

The Jesuits, who found St. Thomas in the East, traced him here in the West also. The Thomas of Coromandel was a Syrian. Who was the Thomas of Brazil?

Div. Avisi. ff. 34. 41.

Nobrega learnt from the Tupinambas that two persons, one of whom they called Zome, taught them the use of the mandioc. Their forefathers, they said, quarrelled with these benefactors, and shot their arrows at them; but the arrows turned back and slew those by whom they had been aimed, and the woods made way for Zome in his flight, and the rivers opened to give him passage. They added that he had promised to visit them again, and they pointed out his miraculous footsteps imprinted upon the shore. The name may, with much probability, be traced to the Zemi of Hayti, a divinity, or divine person. In Paraguay they called him Payzume, and this compound word was the appellation of their Priests.

De Lery. c. 16.

An old Tupinamba, after listening attentively to an exposition of the Christian system, told the French the same things had been preached there so many moons ago that the number could not be remembered, by a stranger apparelled as they were, and having a beard. Their fathers gave no heed to his words, and there came another soon after him who delivered them a sword as a symbol of malediction. The memory of this, he said, had been handed down from father to son. What is most worthy of notice here, is the reference to times before the age of the sword; wherever a tradition of a golden age is to be traced, it is at once an acknowledgement and proof of degradation in the race.

Thevet. ff. 46. 51.

Thevet speaks of the Great Caraiba, whom they held in as much veneration as the Turks did Mahommed, and who taught

[page] 230

CHAP. VIII.

Calancha. Cr. de. St. Augustin en Peru. 2. 2. 5.

them the use of fire as well as of their edible roots. He gave the mandioc to a girl, and instructed her how to cut it into slips, and set them. Had Thevet sought to indentify this person with St. Thomas, his known rascality might discredit his evidence; but he knew nothing of this hypothesis (which indeed had not then been invented), and it seems certain that such traditions were preserved among them of one who had been the greatest benefactor of their race. The ingenuity of a Catholic Priesthood would wish no better materials than the resemblance between Zome and Thomas¹⁶, especially as the history of St. Thomas was yet a chasm in ecclesiastical romance. Accordingly they mapped out his travels from Brazil to Peru, discovered baptism and the tonsure still in use among the natives from his time, invented traces of his pastoral staff, crosses, and inscriptions in Greek and Hebrew, and even brought his sandals and his mantle unconsumed out of the volcano of Arequipa. Nothing is too impudent for the audacity of such a priesthood; nothing too gross for the credulity of their besotted believers.

The Mandioe.

If Ceres deserved a place in the mythology of Greece, far more might the deification of that person be expected who in-

¹⁶ S. de Vasconcellos makes out this case logically. Christ, he says, said to his apostles, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth it not shall be damned. Mark xvi. 15. 16. Now, says the Jesuit, with what reason could the American Indian be damned, if the Gospel had never been preached to him? He who said all the world, could not mean to leave out America, which is mearly half of it. The Gospel therefore must have been preached there by one of the apostles, in obedience to this command. But by whom was it preached? .. not by St. Peter, not by St. Paul, not by St. John, neither by St. Andrew, St. Philip, St. James, St. Matthew, St. Thaddeus, St. Simon, St. Mathias, St. James the Less, nor St. Bartholomew. It must therefore have been by St. Thomas.

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CHAP. VIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 35.

De Lery. c. 8.

Thevet ff. 111.

Piso. p. 48.

Piso. L. 4. c. 2.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 35.

Piso. p. 48.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 35.

Monardes ff. 103.

structed his fellows in the use of the mandioc. This root, if eaten raw, or in any manner with the juice in it, is deadly poison; it is difficult to imagine how it should ever have been discovered by Savages that a wholesome food might be prepared from it. Their mode of preparation was by scraping it to a fine pulp with oyster-shells, or with an instrument made of small sharp stones set in a piece of bark, so as to form a rude rasp: the pulp was then rubbed or ground with a stone, the juice carefully expressed¹⁷, and the last remaining moisture evaporated by fine. The operation of preparing it was thought unwholesome, and the slaves, whose business it was, took the flowers of the nhambi, and the root of the urucu in their food to strengthen the heart and stomach. The Portuguese soon adapted mills and presses to this purpose. They usually pressed it in cellars and places where it was least likely to occasion accidental hurt; in these places, it is said, that a white insect was found, generated by this deadly juice¹⁸, and itself not less deadly, with which the native women sometimes poisoned their husbands, and slaves their masters, by putting it in their food. A pon of mandioc, with its own juice, was considered as excellent for inpost-homes; it was administered for womens, I know not in what form, and it was applied to old wounds to eat away the discased flesh. For some poisons also, and for the bite of certain snakes, it was esteemed a sovereign antidote. The simple juice was used for cleaning iron. The poisonous quality is confined

¹⁷ The Indians of Guiana put it, after it is rasped, into a long tube or bag made of reeds; this they suspend from a tree and hang at the bottom a heavy weight; the bag being stretched by this weight is narrowed in preportion, and the juice is squeezed through the platted seeds. Stedman, vol. 1. 405.

¹⁸ Piso says the liquor was kept till it became putrid, and then this worm was found in it. Tapuru, they called it: it was dried and given in powder.

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CHAP. VIII.

to the root, for the leaves of the plant are eaten, and even the juice might be made innocent by boiling, and be fermented into vinegar, or inspissated till it became sweet enough to serve for honey.

African Memorands. p. 232. 346.

Monardes. ff. 103.

Noticies. MSS. 2. 35.

De Lery. c. 9.

Piso. l. 4. c. 2.

Marcgraff, who has given the fullest account of this important root, distinguishes twenty-three species, nine of which have the word mandibi compounded in their name, and the others all begin with aipi. Neither he, nor any of the writers upon Brazil, have noticed a species which is perfectly innocent in its crude state, and which is described by that most able man, and most interesting writer, Captain Philip Beaver, as cultivated in Africa, but unknown in the West Indies¹⁹. It is however indigenous in the Spanish Main; and, I believe, in Brazil also, where its existence will explain some assertions which would otherwise be contradictory. For it is said, in the Noticias, that cattle would eat these roots and thrive upon them, though it is presently added, that the juice is mortal to all animals; and De Lery, after giving the same terrific account of the poison as other authors, says, that the juice, which in its appearance resembled milk, coagulated in the sun, and the curd was drest in the same manner as eggs. The sediment which the juice deposits is that article of diet for invalids so well known by its native name, Tipioca.

Piso. l. 4. c. 2.

The crude root cannot be preserved three days by any possi-

¹⁹ Stedman speaks of both kinds in Surinam, and calls them the sweet and the bitter; yet, he says, many persons had, to his knowledge, been poisoned by using the one for the other, the distinction between them consisting chiefly in a tough ligneous fibre, or cord, running through the heart of the sweet or innocent cassava root, which the fatal or bitter has not. Vol. 1. 406. If these roots are actually the one sweet, the other bitter, it should seem hardly possible to mistake them.

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CHAP. VIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 35.

Stade. 2. 11.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 35.

ble care, and the slightest moisture spoils the flour. Piso observes that he had seen great ravages occasioned among the troops by eating it in this state. There were two modes of preparation by which it could more easily be kept; the roots were sliced under water, and then hardened before a fire; when wanted for use they were grated into a fine powder, which being beaten up with water, became like a cream of almonds: the other method was to macerate the root in water till it became putrid, then hang it up to be smoke-dried; and this, when pounded in a mortar, produced a flour as white as meal; .. it was frequently prepared in this manner by the Savages. The most delicate preparation was by pressing it through a sieve, and putting the pulp immediately in an earthen vessel on the fire; it then granulated, and either hot or cold, was excellent.

Stade. p. 2. c. 11.

De Lery. c. 9.

Marcgraff. 3. 6.

The native mode of cultivating it was rude and summary; they cut down the trees, let them lie till they were dry enough to burn, and then planted the mandioc between the stumps. They ate the dry flour in a manner which baffled all attempts at imitation; for, taking it between their fingers, they tossed it into their mouths so neatly that not a single grain fell beside. No European ever tried to perform this feat without powdering his face or his cloaths, to the amusement of the Savages. When the mandioc failed, what they called stick-flour (in Portugueze farinha de pao) was made from the wood of the Urucuri-Iba, which they cut in pieces and bruised; and this being less liable to corrupt than the mandioc, is now generally used in the Brazilian ships.

Their fermented liquors.

The mandioc supplied them also with their banquetting drink. They prepared it by a curious process, which savage man has often been ingenious enough to invent, and never cleanly enough to reject. The roots were sliced, boiled till they became soft,

2 H

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CHAP. VIII.

Stade. 2 13.

De Lery. 9.

De Lery. 13.

Marcgraff. 87.

Claude d'Abbeoille. ff. 304.

and set aside to cool. The young women²⁰ then chewed them, after which they were returned into the vessel, which was filled with water, and once more boiled, being stirred the whole time. When this had been continued sufficiently long, the unstrained contents²¹ were poured into earthen jars of great size, which were buried up to the middle in the floor of the house; these were closely stopt, and in the course of two days fermentation took place. They had an odd superstition, that if it was made by men it would be good for nothing. When the drinking day arrived, the women kindled fires round these jars, and served out the warm potion in half-gourds, which the men came dancing and singing to receive, and always emptied at one draught. At such times they smoked an herb which they called Petun, some in pipes of clay, some in the shell of a fruit hollowed for the purpose; or three or four dry leaves were rolled up within a larger one, as tobacco is commonly smoked in Spain: it was a hideous sight to behold them, as the smoke issued through all the holes in their cheeks, or was forced through the nostrils. While they drank the young unmarried men danced round with rattles on their legs and the maraca in their hands. They never ate at these drinking parties, nor ever desisted from drink-

²⁰ The Chicka, or maize-drink, is prepared in the same way. But among many tribes it is only old women who are allowed to prepare it, .. fæminas juniores quod impuris humoribus scatere videantur, honorifico mayz grana dentibus terendi munere, Barbari excludunt. Dobrizhoffer. T. 1. 465.

²¹ A Moravian Missionary describes this potion, after he had "conquered his squeamishness, as being of a very pleasant refreshing taste, something like a mixture of beer, brown sugar, and crumbled rye bread, called in German Kalte Schale."

Periodical Accounts of the Miss. of the United Brethren. 1. 422.

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CHAP. VIII.

De Lery. 9.

ing while one drop of liquor remained; but, having exhausted all in one house, removed to the next, and so on till they had drank out all in the town; and these meetings were commonly held about once a month. De Lery witnessed one which continued for three days and nights.²² There were two kinds of this liquor, which was called Caou-in or Kaawy²³, red and white; they must have been made of different roots. In taste it is said to resemble milk.

Acayaba Tree.

Wherever the mandioc is cultivated this is the drink with which the Savages usually stupify themselves at their carousals. Many of the Brazilian tribes, however, prepared a better liquor from the Acaju, the fruit of the Acayaba²⁴, the finest of all the American trees. It is beautiful, says Vasconcellos, to behold its pomp, when it is reclothing itself, in July and August, with the bright verdure of its leaves; when, during our European autumn, it is covered with white and rosy-tinged blossoms, and when, in the three following months, it is enriched with its fruit, as with pendant jewels. Its leaves have an aromatic odour, its flowers are exquisitely fragrant, its shade deep and delightful. A gum exudes from it, in nothing inferior to that of Senegal, and in such abundance as to have the appearance of rain-drops upon the tree: this is used by the Indians as a medicine, being

²² He exclaims, Procul estote Germani, Flandri, Helvetii, omnesque adeo qui strenue potando palmam petitis; vos enim audito Barbarorum potandi modo, sponte illis cessuros esse video.

²³ The resemblance of this word to the kava of the Otaheiteans is remarkable.

²⁴ Marcgraff, or his excellent editor, (L. 8. C. 7.) enumerates nine kinds of fermented liquor made by the Brazilian tribes; one was from the pine-apple, which was cut for this purpose before it was quite ripe (Noticias MSS. 2. 41.); the juice of the green fruit was applied as a corrosive to wounds: it was also used by the Europeans to clean rusty swords, and take iron-moulds out of linen.

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Sim. Vase. Chr. de Comp. Nos. Ant. 2. § 81—84.

Piso. l. 4. c. 6. p. 7.

Marcgraff. 3. 2.

pounded and dissolved in water. It is not common in the interior, but towards the coast whole tracks of country, which would else be barren, are covered with this admirable tree, and the more sandy the soil, and the drier the season, the more it seems to flourish. The possession of a spot where it grew abundantly was of such importance as often to be the cause of war. The fruit something resembles a pear in shape, but is longer; it is spungy, and full of a delicious juice; in any form it is excellent, whether in its natural state, or drest, or preserved. The kidney-shaped seed which grows at the end of the fruit is well known in England by the name of the Cashew nut, (a word less corrupted to the ear than to the eye) and was often cast up upon the Cornish shores, before the discovery of the New World. Some tribes numbered their years by the fruitage of the Acayaba, laying by a nut yearly. The gathering season was a time of joy, like the hop-gathering of this, and the vintage of happier climates. The liquor was simply extracted, either by squeezing the fruit with the hand, or bruising it in a wooden mortar; at first it is white as milk, but becomes paler in a few days; it is of an astringent taste, strong and intoxicating: in about half a year it becomes vinegar, still however retaining its vinous flavour. The pulp, after the juice was expressed, was dried, and made into a flour, which the natives preferred to any other, and reserved as their choicest dainty. The wood is hard, and has been much used for the curved timbers of large boats, .. a practice which must greatly have diminished the number of these invaluable trees. The outer bark affords a black, the inner a yellow die. The leaves have a melancholy appearance in the rainy season. What a blessing would this tree be to the deserts of Arabia and of Africa!

The natipes nice in their choice of water.

Fond as the native Brazilians were of fermented liquors, they were as nice in the choice of water as we are respecting wine,

[page] 237

CHAP. VIII.

Piso. p. 11.

Piso. p. 10.

and wondered at the imprudence or ignorance of the Europeans in seeming to be indifferent concerning the quality of what they drank. They preferred the sweetest, lightest, and such as deposited no sediment, and they kept it in vessels of porous pottery, so that it was kept cool by constant transudation. Pure water exposed to the morning dew, and to the air, was a favourite remedy both with the native and Portugueze empiricks; the air and dew were supposed to temper it, and to separate its terrestrial from its aerial parts: .. the philosophy of this quackery cannot have been of Savage growth.

Their knowledge of poison.

Piso. p. 40.

Strange tales are related of their exquisite knowledge of poison; with respect to simple poisons they probably possessed this knowledge, for they must have discovered many in the course of those long experiments upon herbs to which savage man is compelled by hunger, even if he were not excited by natural curiosity, and the instinctive desire of finding remedies for sickness. But compound or recondite forms of poison cannot have been known to them, for to what purpose should they have been sought for? These are the devices of a people highly civilized and highly vicious: Savages do the work of death in a shorter way. It is said they were as obstinate in keeping these deadly receipts secret, as they were officious in pointing out antidotes: there is reason to suspect that this knowledge was like witchcraft²⁵, a tremendous power, claimed by the

²⁵ This may fairly be inferred from a passage in Piso, L. 3. P. 46. Supplicium quidam Brasiliani venefici subituri, mihi obnixe roganti, ut me horum arcanorum priusquam è vitû discederent, participem facerent, inviti panciora quædam revelarunt, fassique sunt, impune non solum se hæc et similia vcneficia exercere, sed et regium esse, laudemque mereri inter suos, ingenii solertia excellere, novasque veneni miscelas excogitasse. Illi namque sagittas, aquam, aërem, vesles, cibos et fructus crescentes inficiunt, ut tardius et pedetentim, non statim homines extinguant.

[page] 238

CHAP. VIII.

Piso. p. 18.

crafty, because it was previously believed by the credulous. If they had known compound poisons, they would have known compound remedies; but all their remedies were simple. The Dutch physician, Piso, perceived this essential difference between their pharmacy and his own; that able observer perceived also the superiority of their principle of practice, and strenuously recommended it.

Ceremonies at the birth of a child.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 57.

De Lery. c. 3.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 57.

De Lery. c. 16.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1291.

The dreadful consequence which they deduced from their theory of generation has before been stated: this theory led also to a ridiculous custom which prevails over great part of South America, and was formerly found among the savages of Europe and of Asia. Immediately upon a woman's delivery the father takes to his hammock, covers himself up, and is nurst there till the navel-string of the infant has dried away; the union between him and his progeny is regarded as so intimate that the utmost care must be taken of him lest the child should suffer²⁶. The first operation upon the child is to flatten the nose by crushing it with the thumb; the lip is then bored if it is a boy; the father paints him black and red, and lays by him in the hammock a little mecana and a little bow and arrow, saying, My son, when thou growest up be strong and take vengeance upon thine enemies. Sometimes a bundle of herbs was added, as a symbol of those whom he was to kill and devour. The Euroropean method of swaddling and cramping infants, which continued even in this country till within our own remembrance, ap-

²⁶ Their notion is, that whatever they do affects the infant. Dobrizhoffer relates a story of a Spaniard who offered a pinch of snuff to a lying-in Cazique, and asking why he refused that of which he was so fond at other times, was answered, Do you not know that my wife was delivered yesterday, .. how then can I possibly take snuff, when it would be so dangerous to my child if I were to sneeze!

T. 2. 232.

[page] 239

CHAP. VIII.

Piso. p. 6.

Knivatt in Purchas. p. 1226.

De Lery. c. 11.

Thevet ff. 33.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1290.

peared to them monstrous. They washed them frequently in cold water, not merely for the love of cleanliness, but for the purpose of making them robust and strong. A singular superstition was, that no Savage would kill any female animal while his wife was pregnant, for if it happened to be with young, he believed his own offspring would be cut off, as a punishment for the sin which he had committed against the mystery of life. Akin to this feeling was the abhorrence with which they regarded the eating of eggs; it was not to be borne, they said, that the bird should be eaten before it was hatched; the women, in particular, would never suffer it to be done in their presence. A more ridiculous notion was, that man is entitled to a tail, and would be born with one if the father of the bridegroom did not perform the ceremony of chopping sticks at his marriage, in order thereby to cut off this appendage from his future grand-children.

Their names.

Stade. p. 2. c. 18.

p. 2. c. 22.

p. 2. c. 17.

The child was named as soon as born. Hans Stade was present on one of these occasions; the father convoked his next neighbours in the dormitory, and asked them to tell him a name for his son which would be at once manly and terrible; none of those which were proposed happened to please his humour: he then said he would call him after one of his four immediate ancestors, for that would be lucky for the boy; and repeating the four names aloud he chose one of them. Another name was given when a youth was of age to go to war, and he added one to his titles for every enemy whom he brought home to the slaughter. The wife also took an additional name when her husband gave a man-feast. They selected their appellations from visible objects²⁷, pride or

²⁷ De Lery's name happened to have a meaning in their language. The Interpreter who introduced him to the Tupinambas, knowing this, bade him, when he was asked his name, say that it was Lery-oussou, the Great Oyster. They liked him the better for it, saying it was an excellent name, and they had never known a Frenchman with such a one before. C. 11.

[page] 240

CHAP. VIII.

ferocity influencing their choice. The epithet great was frequently compounded with the word.

Harmony in which they lived.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1290.

De Lery. c. 18.

De Lery. c. 20.

It is worthy of notice, that although no other principles were inculcated than those of revenge and hatred, the boys rarely or never quarrelled among themselves. Savages are never quarrelsome when they are sober; and in the Tupinambas the feeling of good-will towards each other was so habitual, that they seem not to have lost it even when they were drunk. De Lery lived among them a year, and witnessed only two quarrels: the bye-standers looked quietly on without in any way interfering; but if on these rare occasions any injury was inflicted, the law of retaliation was rigorously executed by the kinsmen of the sufferer. There was a word in their language to express a friend who was loved like a brother; it is written Atourassap²⁸. They who called each other by this name had all things in common; the tie was held to be as sacred as that of consanguinity, and one could not marry the daughter or sister of the other.

Marriages.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1290.

Stade. p. 2. c. 20.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 59.

No man married till he had taken an enemy, nor was suffered to partake of the drinking-feast while he remained single. As soon as a girl became marriageable, her hair was cut off and her back scarified, and she wore a necklace of the teeth of beasts till the hair had grown again. The scars thus made were considered honourable ornaments. Cotton cords were tied round her waist and round the fleshy part of both arms; they denoted

²⁸ Erroneously, beyond a doubt, because their speech is without the r.

[page] 241

CHAP. VIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 55.

Stade. p. 2. c. 19.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 59. 2. 58.

a state of maidenhood, and if any but a maiden wore them they were persuaded that the Anhanga would fetch her away. This seems to have been a gratuitous superstition; it cannot have been invented for the purpose of keeping the women chaste till marriage, for these bands were broken without fear, and incontinence was not regarded as an offence. Chastity, like compassion, is one of the virtues of civilization; the seeds are in us, but will not grow up without culture. Their custom of herding together in large and undivided dormitories produced an obvious and pernicious effect²⁹: all decency was destroyed by it; universal lewdness was the consequence, and this in its turn led to the most loathsome of all outrages against human nature. If a man was tired of a wife he gave her away, and he took as many as he pleased. The first had some privileges; she had a separate birth in the dormitory, and a field which she cultivated for her own use. These privileges however did not prevent her from being envious of those who supplanted her; and the wives who found themselves neglected, consoled themselves by initiating the boys in debauchery. The husbands seem to have known nothing of jealousy; it cannot, perhaps, exist without love; and love also is a refinement. There prevailed among them the Jewish custom that the brother, or nearest kinsman of the deceased, took his widow to wife.

Anon. in Purchas. p. 1291.

Fashion of the women.

Some tribes were distinguished by the fashion in which their heads were shorn. The women were proud of long hair, and fond of combing it. They used the shell of a certain fruit for this purpose, till combs were shown them by the Portugueze and

²⁹ D. Francisco Requena, who was Governor of the Maynas in 1793, particularly advises the Missionaries that they should make their converts dwell in separate habitations. Mercurio Peruano, No. 279.

I 2

[page] 242

CHAP. VIII.

Stade. p. 2. c. 17.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 44.

De Lery. c. 8.

French, and were then eagerly demanded. Sometimes they let it flow loose, more frequently tied it close to the root in one or two huge tails, like a French postilion's. They painted their cheeks in red, blue, and yellow, beginning with a spot in the middle, and drawing a spiral line till the whole side of the face was covered: this however was less splendid than the skin and bright orange-coloured plumage of the Toucan's breast, which the men fastened on their cheeks in two broad patches. They painted also the places of the eye-brows³⁰ and eye-lashes, which had been so absurdly eradicated. The necklace was an ornament which they were not permitted to wear, that, as well as the cheek and lip-stones, being among the privileges of the men; but they were indulged with bracelets, and the common address to a Frenchman was, Mair³¹, you are a good man; give me some beads.

Condition of women among them.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 36.

The more brutal the tribe, the worse always is the treatment of the women. The Tupinambas were in many respects an improved race; their wives had something more than their due share of labour, but they were not treated with brutality, and their condition was on the whole happy. They set and dug the mandioc; they sowed and gathered the maize. An odd superstition prevailed, that if a sort of earth-almond, which the Portugueze call amendoens, was planted by men, it would not grow. The Tupinambas were fond of acting upon a physical theory, and it is probable that in this allotment of agricultural la-

³⁰ Ainsi qu'on dit que font semblablement en France quelques impudiques, says D^e Lery. It is not unlikely that the Eastern fashion of blackening the inside of the eye-lid should have travelled from Greece to Italy, and thence into France.

³¹ Probably their way of pronouncing Maistre, .. the corruption is not greater than that of the French from Magister.

[page] 243

CHAP. VIII.

Gumills. c. 45.

bours they proceeded upon the same hypothesis as the more barbarous Savages of the Orinoco, who explained it to Gumilla, when he remonstrated against it. Father, said they, you do not understand our custom, and that is the reason why you do not like it. Women know how to bring forth, which is a thing that we do not know. When they sow and plant, the stalk of maize produces two or three heads, the root of mandioc two or three baskets full, and every thing multiplies in like manner from their hands. Why? .. because women know how to bring forth, and to make the seeds and roots bring forth also.

De Lery, in Lat. edit. c. 18.

De Lery. c. 15.

Spinning and weaving, for they had a sort of loom, were properly the women's work. Having taken the cotton from the pod, they pulled it abroad; no distaff was used; the spindle was about a foot long and a finger thick; it was passed through a little ball, and the thread fastened to the top; this they twirled between the hands and sent spinning into the air: they could do it as they walked. In this manner they made cords strong enough for their hammocks, and likewise so fine a thread, that a waistcoat woven of it, which De Lery took to France, was mistaken there for silk. When their hammock was dirty, as it must soon have been soiled by the smoke of their everlasting fires, they bleached it by means of a sort of gourd, which, when cut in pieces, boiled, and stirred, raised a lather, and being used as soap, made the cotton white as snow.

Their pottery.

Stade. l. 2. c. 14.

Noticias. MSS. de Lage de Xarayes. Dobrishoffer.

The women were skilful potters. They dried their vessels in the sun, then inverted them, and covered them with dry bark, to which they set fire, and thus baked them sufficiently. Many of the American tribes carried this art to great perfection; there are some who bury their dead in jars large enough to receive them erect. The Tupinambas, by means of some white liquid, glazed the inside of their utensils so well, that it is said the potters in France could not do it better. The outside was ge-

[page] 244

CHAP. VIII.

De Lery. c. 18.

nerally finished with less care; those however in which they kept their food were frequently painted in scrolls and flourishes, intricately intertwisted and nicely executed, but after no pattern; nor could they copy what they had once produced. This earthenware was in common use, and De Lery observes, that in this respect the Savages were better furnished than those persons in his own country who fed from trenchers and wooden bowls. They made baskets both of wicker-work and of straw.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 37.

Stade. p. 2. c. 25.

The men were not deficient in ingenuity. They cut the trunk of the Goayambira, a tree which is about the girth of a man's leg, in lengths of ten or twelve palms, and slipt the bark off whole; this served them as a case for their bows and arrows. Bark canoes they made whole. The tree which was used for this purpose is called by Stade Yga-ywera; they took off the bark in one piece, then keeping the middle straight and stretched by means of thwarts, they curved and contracted the two ends by fire, and the boat was made. The bark was about an inch in thickness; the canoe commonly four feet wide, and some forty in length; some would carry thirty persons. They seldom went more than half a league from the coast, and if the weather was bad, they landed and carried the canoe on shore.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 68.

Stade. 2. 8.

De Lery. 12.

Damiam de Goes. 1. 56.

Their modes of fishing evinced much dexterity; yet it is remarkable that they had not applied the net to this purpose, as their hammocks were of net-work. They pierced the fish with arrows, and if a larger one carried the arrow down, would dive to the depth of six fathom in pursuit. .. Such was their power in the water that they caught fish by the hand, and did not fear to attack the great water-snake in its own element. Another method was by beating the water, while some of the party were ready with gourds, scooped like a bowl, to slip under the smaller fry, as they rose, stunned or stupified, to the surface. For angling they used a thorn, till hooks were introduced among

[page] 245

CHAP. VIII.

De Lery. 12.

De Lery. Lat. ed. 11.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 62.

Period. Ac. of the Moravian Miss. v. 3. p. 36.

Stade. 2. 28.

them; these were what the children were particularly desirous of obtaining from the Europeans. You are a good man, give me some fishing-hooks, was their usual salutation, and if they did not obtain what they asked for, the little Savages would say, You are good for nothing, you must be killed. When they went on the water to angle, it was upon a raft composed of five or six lengths of wood about arm thick, fastened together with withes, just long and wide enough to support them; on this they sate with their legs extended, and paddled out to sea. Sometimes they dammed a stream and poisoned the water. This art, though generally known among the American Indians, seems no where to have been generally used; partly perhaps because they had discovered that it was destructive to the young fry; and also because it requires no exertion of skill, and affords none of the pleasure and uncertainty of pursuit. They preserved fish by drying it on the boucan³², and then reducing it to powder.

Their domestic animals.

De Lery. 11.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 45.

Thevet. ff. 91.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 46.

De Lery. 8.

In catching monkeys for their European customers they were less ingenious; they had no better device than to bring the animal down with an arrow, and then heal the wound. They were fond of taming birds and of teaching parrots to talk. Some of these birds were at perfect liberty, and flew whither they would, yet were so familiar with those who fed and fondled them, that they would come from the woods at a call. Lizards were suffered to live in their houses; so, also, was a large species of harmless snake. Dogs were soon obtained from the Portugueze, and in less than half a century after the discovery of the New World, European poultry were domesticated among half the tribes of South America. The Tupinambas had a method of dying their feathers with Brazil wood: they kept them in

³² This method preserves it from becoming putrid, and from worms, .. but not from a species of mite which is very destructive. Moravian Missions. 3. 56.

[page] 246

CHAP. VIII.

De Lery. 11.

large hollow canes which were closed with wax, to preserve them from a mischievous species of moth called Arauers: these insects made quick work with leather; cuirasses and bucklers were soon skinned by them; and if the carcase of a beast was left uncovered for a single night, they would make the bones clean by the morning.

Their treatment of strangers.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 65.

As soon as a guest arrived at one of their villages, he went, if he was a stranger, to the dwelling of the Chief, at the entrance of whose birth a hammock was swung for him. The Chief then came and questioned him, while the others sat round and listened in silence. The Elders afterwards consulted apart concerning him, whether he were an enemy who was come to spy out their weakness: an enemy had little chance of escaping their penetration, and if he were detected he was put to death. But if the new comer had formerly been a guest, he went to the same family which he had before visited, and whose privilege it was to exercise the rights of hospitality towards him for ever after: if he betook himself to another host, it was an affront to them. The master of the family resigned to him his own hammock, and the wife brought him food before they asked any questions. Then the women came round, and seated themselves on the floor, hid their faces with their hands, and began to lament, he also joining in the lamentation, and not unfrequently shedding real tears. This custom prevails extensively among the Indians, and is more natural than may perhaps immediately be perceived: for the feeling which first rises is of the lapse of time since their last meeting, of the friends whom they have lost during that interval, and of the changes and chances of human life. When this condolence was ended³³,

³³ De Lery relates one instance when they washed his feet, (C. 18.) but this does not appear to have been usually practised.

[page] 247

CHAP. VIII.

De Lery. c. 18.

they began to praise their guest: "You have taken the pains to come and see us! you are a good man! you are a brave man!" If he was a European, "You have brought many good things for us of which we were in want."

De Lery's Dialogue.

De Lery. c. 18.

Marcgraff. 8. 6.

De Lery. c. 18.

c. 12.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 63.

De Lery. 18.

"Our forefathers," said the Tupinambas, "left us nothing good: whatever they left us we have thrown away, because the things which you bring us are so much better. How much better is our condition than theirs! .. now our plantations are larger! now the children do not cry when they are sheared!" Scissars for trimming the hair, and tweezers for plucking out the beard and eye-lashes, were eagerly requested, and with looking-glasses they were delighted beyond measure. It is remarkable, that they had no propensity to thieving. On De Lery's first visit to them, one took his hat and put it on; another girded on his sword to his naked side; a third drest himself in his doublet. He was a little alarmed at being thus undressed, but it was their custom, and every thing was soon restored. They were a grateful race, and remembered that they had received gifts, after the giver had forgotten it. They were liberal, .. as ready to bestow as to ask; whatever the house contained was at the guest's service, and any one might partake their food³⁴. They were willing, and even watchful to oblige; if a European whom they liked was weary when travelling in their company, they would chearfully carry him.

Treatment of the sick.

Noticias MSS. 2. 69.

It is among the worst parts of their character, that they were unfeeling to the sick, and when they thought the case hopeless, neglected to give them food, so that many died rather of want than of disease. It is even said that they carried them some-

³⁴ An excellent people for the Franciscans, says the author of the Noticias.

[page] 248

CHAP. VIII.

Their male of burial.

Thevet. ff. 70.

Noticias MSS. 2. 69.

Nobrega. Div. Avis. ff. 34. 40.

Burial of a Chief.

Noticias MSS. 2. 69.

De Lery. 19.

times to be buried before they were actually dead; and that persons have recovered after they had been taken down in their hammocks for interment. The sight of the grave would occasion a salutary effort of nature, when recovery was possible; but this fact also implies that there were some who felt compassion, and endeavoured to preserve them. The corpse had all its limbs tied fast, that the dead man might not be able to get up, and infest his friends with his visits; and whoever happened to have any thing which had belonged to the dead produced it, that it might be buried with him, lest he should come and claim it. The nearest relation dug the grave: when the wife died it was the husband's office, and he assisted to lay her there; it was in the dwelling, and in the very birth of the deceased, .. a round pit, wherein the body was placed in a clean hammock, and in a sitting posture, with food before it: for there were some who believed that the spirit went to sport among the mountains, and returned there to eat and to take rest. A Chief was interred with greater ceremony. His corpse was anointed with honey, and then coated with feathers. The sides of the grave were staked, so as to form a vault, and it was capacious enough for the hammock to be slung there: his maraca and his weapons were placed by his side, food also and water, and his pipe; a fire was made below, as if he were living; the vault was then roofed and covered up, and the family lived upon the grave as before. It was their belief that the Anhanga would come and devour the dead, unless provisions were laid upon the grave for him; and this superstition was confirmed by the French interpreters, who used to steal the food. These offerings were continued till it was supposed the body had decayed, and was therefore no longer in danger. There is a night-bird, about the size of a pigeon, of dusky plumage and mournful voice, which the Tupinambas never hurt, nor will suffer any one else to injure,

[page] 249

CHAP. VIII.

Thevet. ff. 81.

De Lery. c. 11.

Their mourning.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 69.

for they believe that it is sent by their dead kinsmen and friends, to condole with them, and give them comfort. De Lery happened to speak sportively one evening to one of his countrymen, as they were standing by while a horde of these Brazilians were listening intently to the melancholy cry of the sacred bird. An old man reproved him, saying, Hold thy peace, and disturb us not while we are hearkening to the happy messengers of our forefathers; for as often as we hear them our hearts rejoice and are strengthened. The women cut off their hair in mourning, and stained the whole body black; when the hair had grown till it reached the eyes they cut it again, to show the mourning was at an end: a widower, on the contrary, suffered his hair to grow. All the relations blackened themselves, and every one, when his term of mourning expired, made a feast, at which songs were sung in praise of the dead.

De Lery. c. 8.

"They are a stronger race than we," says De Lery, "robuster, healthier, and less liable to diseases. There are few lame persons among them, few that are one-eyed, scarcely any who are deformed; and though there are many who live to six score years of age (for they keep account by moons) yet few become grey. This shows the temperature of that region, which is neither afflicted with cold nor with heat, and hath its trees and herbage always green; and they themselves, being free from all care, seem as if they had dipt their lips in the Fountain of Youth." In this account of the longevity to which they often attain, and the green and vigorous old age which they enjoy, all testimonies, ancient and modern, accord³⁵. Living almost like animals in a

³⁵ The Mercurio Peruano, No. 159, notices these instances of longevity among the Indians; one of 117, one of 121, 135, 141, 147, 151, all living, and in strong health.

2 K

[page] 250

CHAP. VIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 67.

state of nature, their senses had that acuteness which the habits of civilized life destroy³⁶. If a Tupinamba were lost in the woods, he laid down and snuffed for fire, which it is said they could scent half a mile off, then climbed the highest tree to look for smoke, which they could perceive at a distance where it was invisible to the keenest European eye. But where they had once been before, they knew their path again by a sort of dog-like faculty. Such faculties are generally possessed in greatest perfection by the rudest tribes; but among them the Tupi race is certainly not to be classed.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 54.

De Lery. 18.

One cause which retarded their improvement was the practice of frequently removing their habitations. They never remained longer in one place than the palm-thatch of their houses lasted; as soon as that rotted and let in the rain, instead of repairing it, they migrated. This was not because the adjoining soil had been exhausted, but from a persuasion that change of abode was essential to health; and a superstition, that if they departed from the custom of their forefathers they should be destroyed. When they removed, the women were the beasts of burthen, and carried the hammocks, pots, wooden pestles and mortars, and all their other household stock. The husband only took his weapons, and the wife, says Marcgraff, is loaded like a mule. She swings a great basket behind her by a band which passes over the forehead, carries another on her head, and has several empty gourds, which are for drinking vessels, hanging at her side; one of these serves as a saddle for the child, who

³⁶ Claude d'Abbeville says that they could distinguish two persons of different tribes by the smell. ff. 311. Those who went with him to France perceived land long before any of the other persons on board, .. and frequently when the French fancied they saw it, told them it was only the dark sky. ff. 312.

[page] 251

CHAP. VIII.

Marcgraff. 8. 7.

sits astride it, and holds on. Being thus equipped, she carries the parrot in one hand, and leads the dog with the other. If it rained while they were on their way, they fixed two stakes in the ground, and made a thatch with palm-leaves, sufficient against wind and weather for the service of the night.

The main cause why the Tupis were not farther advanced was the state of their Payes. The Catholics, who see nothing but the work of the Devil in all religions except their own; and the Philosophists, who see nothing but error and deception in any religion whatsoever, have vied with each other in representing the horrible effects of priestcraft. Yet when man has been degraded to the savage state, it is only by priestcraft that he has ever yet been reclaimed. When America was discovered, the civilization of its different nations was precisely in proportion to the degree of power and respectability which their priests possessed; and this authority of the priesthood was not the consequence of an improved state of society, but the cause of it. As long as the Priest continues a mere juggler, the people continue Savages; his triumph is but the ascendancy of vulgar cunning over bodily strength, and though he is feared he is not respected. But when a more commanding spirit arises, who, connecting old fables and dimly-remembered truths with the devices of his own imagination, lays the foundation of a mythological system, from that moment the improvement of his tribe begins. A ritual worship creates arts for its embellishment and support; habits of settled life take root as soon as a temple is founded, and the city grows round the altar. The men who are set apart for the service of the Gods, and who are exempted from all ordinary occupations, being considered as superior to other men, soon learn to consider themselves so, and in reality become so. They have leisure to acquire knowledge, and to think for the people: it is among them in all

[page] 252

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

countries that the rudiments of science have sprung up, and no nation has ever yet emerged from a savage state till it had a regular priesthood.

Conduct of the Jesuits.

These were the people whom the Jesuits went to convert. They began by winning the affections of the children, giving them store of trifling presents; by this sort of intercourse they acquired some use of the language themselves, and soon qualified these little ones for interpreters. They visited the sick, and while they believed that every one whom they sprinkled at the hour of death was a soul rescued from the Devil, the charitable services which accompanied such conversions were not lost upon the living. The Portugueze, on their arrival in Brazil, had been welcomed by the natives as friends; but when the original possessors of the land perceived that their guests were becoming their masters, they took up arms, suspended their internal quarrels, and attempted to expel them. European fire-arms repulsed them, and European policy soon broke their shortlived union. But even peace with the Portugueze settlers afforded them no security; when it is permitted to reduce enemies to slavery, no friends can be secure. It was in vain that humane edicts were enacted in Portugal; while the atrocious principle is acknowledged, that man can by any circumstances lawfully be considered as the slave of man, all edicts and all formalities will be ineffectual protections against violence and avarice. Many tribes were in arms against this oppression when the Jesuits arrived; won first by the report that men were come who were the Friends and Protectors of the Indians, and afterwards by experiencing their good offices, they brought their bows to the Governor, and solicited to be received as allies.

These missionaries were every way qualified for their office. They were zealous for the salvation of souls; they had disen-

[page] 253

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

gaged themselves from all the ties which attach us to life, and were therefore not merely fearless of martyrdom, but ambitious of it; they believed the idolatry which they taught, and were themselves persuaded that by sprinkling a dying Savage, and repeating over him a form of words which he did not understand, they redeemed him from everlasting torments, to which he was otherwise inevitably, and according to their notions of Divine justice, justly destined. Nor can it be doubted that they sometimes worked miracles upon the sick; for when they believed that the patient might be miraculously cured, and he himself expected that he should be so, faith would supply the virtue in which it trusted.

Nobrega and his companions began their work with those hordes who were sojourning in the vicinity of St. Salvador; they persuaded them to live in peace, they reconciled old enemies, they succeeded in preventing drunkenness, and in making them promise to be contented with one wife; but the cannibalism they could not overcome: the delight of feasting upon the flesh of their enemies was too great to be relinquished. All efforts at abolishing this accursed custom were in vain. One day they heard the uproar and rejoicing of the Savages at one of these sacrifices; they made way into the area, just when the prisoner had been felled, and the old women were dragging his body to the fire; they forced the body from them, and in the presence of the whole clan, who stood astonished at their courage, carried it off. The women soon roused the warriors to revenge this insult, and by the time the Fathers had secretly interred the corpse, the Savages were in search of them. The Governor received timely intelligence, and sent in haste to call the Jesuits from the mud hovel which they inhabited, upon the spot whereon their magnificent College was afterwards erected. When the Savages had searched here in vain, they were on the

[page] 254

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Sim. de Vase. Chr. da Com. 1. § 51—53.

point of attacking the city; the Governor was obliged to call out his whole force, and partly by the display of fire-arms, and partly by fair words, he induced them to retire. This danger over, the Portugueze themselves began an outcry against the Jesuits, saying, that their frantic zeal had endangered the city, and would soon make all the natives their enemies. Thome de Sousa, however, was not to be deterred by any such short-sighted policy from protecting and encouraging Nobrega: and it was not long before these very Savages, remembering the true kindness which they had alway experienced from the Jesuits, and that those Fathers were indeed the friends of the Indians, came to solicit their forgiveness, and beseech the Governor that he would command the Fathers to forgive them, and visit them as before; .. and they promised not to repeat these feasts. But the practice was too delightful to be laid aside at once, and they continued it secretly. When the Fathers had obtained sufficient authority over them to make themselves feared, they employed the children as spies to inform against offenders.

Thome de Sousa. Div. Avisi. ff. 150.

Pedre Corrca.

Div. Avisi. ff. 240.

One of the Jesuits succeeded in effectually abolishing it among some clans by going through them and flogging himself before their doors till he was covered with blood, telling them he thus tormented himself to avert the punishment which God would otherwise inflict upon them for this crying sin. They could not bear this, confessed what they had done was wrong, and enacted heavy punishments against any person who should again be guilty. With other hordes the Fathers thought themselves fortunate in obtaining permission to visit the prisoners and instruct them in the saving faith, before they were put to death. But the Savages soon took a conceit that the water of baptism spoilt the taste of the meat, and therefore would not let them baptize any more. The Jesuits then carried with them wet handkerchiefs, or contrived to wet

[page] 255

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Sim.de Vasc. Ch.doComp. I.§ 54.

1. § 137.

the skirt or sleeve of their habit, that out of it they might squeeze water enough upon the victim's head to fulfil the condition of salvation, without which they were persuaded that eternal fire must have been his portion. What will not man believe, if he can believe this of his Maker!

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. §. 37.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 113.

Div. Av. ff. 153.

If the Missionaries, overcoming all difficulties, succeeded in converting a clan at last, that conversion was so little the effect of reason or feeling, that any slight circumstance would induce the proselytes to relapse into their old paganism. An epidemic disorder appeared among them; they said it was occasioned by the water of baptism, and all the converts whom Nobrega and his fellow labourers had with such difficulty collected, would have deserted them and fled into the woods, if he had not pledged his word that the malady should cease. Luckily for him it was effectually cured by bleeding, a remedy to which they were unaccustomed. Some time afterwards a cough and catarrh cut off many of them: this also was attributed to baptism. The Jesuits themselves did not ascribe greater powers to this ceremony than they did; whatever calamity befel them was readily accounted for by these drops of mysterious water. Many tribes have supposed it fatal to children, .. the eagerness with which the Missionaries baptize the dying, and especially new-born infants who are not likely to live, has occasioned this notion. The neighbouring hordes now began to regard the Jesuits with horror, as men who carried pestilence with them: if one was seen approaching, the whole clan assembled, and burnt pepper and salt in his way; .. a fumigation which they believed good against plagues and evil spirits, and to keep death from entering among them. Some, when they saw them coming, carried away all their goods, and forsook their habitations; others came out trembling, say the Fathers, like the leaves of a tree which is shaken by the wind, intreating them to pass on, and hurt them

[page] 256

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Ant. Pires. Div. Av. ff. 40. 44.

Theme de Sousa. Div. Avis. ff. 158.

not, and showing them the way forward. The Payes, as may be well supposed, used every effort against these persons who were come to spoil their trade, and they persuaded the Indians that they put knives, scissars, and such things in their insides, and so destroyed them; .. a belief in this kind of witchcraft seems to have prevailed every where. The farther the Jesuits advanced into the country, the stronger did they find this impression of fear. But it yielded to their perseverance, and the superstition of the natives led them into the opposite extreme; they brought out their provisions to be blest, and waited to receive their benediction wherever they were expected to pass.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 91.

Nobrega. Div Av. ff. 34.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 48. I. §. 90.

When the Jesuits succeeded, they made the converts erect a church in the village, which, however rude, fixed them to the spot; and they established a school for the children, whom they catechised in their own language, and instructed to repeat the Pater-noster over the sick: every recovery which happened after this had been done, both they and the patient accounted a miracle. They taught them also to read and write, using, says Nobrega, the same persuasion as that wherewith the enemy overcame man; .. ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil, .. for this knowledge appeared wonderful to them, and they eagerly desired to attain it; .. good proof how easily such a race might have been civilized. Aspilcueta was the aptest scholar among the Missionaries; he was the first who made a catechism in the Tupi tongue, and translated prayers into it. When he became sufficiently master of the language to express himself in it with fluency and full power, he then adopted the manner of the Payes, and sung out the mysteries of the faith, running round the auditors, stamping his feet, clapping his hands, and copying all the tones and gesticulations by which they were wont to be affected. Nobrega had a school near the city, where he in-

[page] 257

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 93. 1. § 118.

P. Correa. Div. Avis. ff. 239.

Ant. Pires. Div. Avis. ff. 44.

structed the native children, the orphans from Portugal, and the Mestizos or mixed breed, here called Mamalucos. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught them; they were trained to assist at mass, and to sing the church service, and frequently led in procession through the town. This had a great effect, for the natives were passionately fond of music, so passionately that Nobrega began to hope the fable of Orpheus was a type of his mission, and that by songs he was to convert the Pagans of Brazil. He usually took with him four or five of these little choristers on his preaching expeditions; when they approached an inhabited place, one carried the crucifix before them, and they began singing the Litany. The Savages, like snakes, were won by the voice of the charmer; they received him joyfully, and when he departed with the same ceremony, the children followed the music. He set the catechism, creed, and ordinary prayers to sol, fa; and the pleasure of learning to sing was such a temptation, that the little Tupis sometimes ran away from their parents to put themselves under the care of the Jesuits.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 65.

The Fathers had greater difficulties to encounter in the conduct of their own countrymen than in the customs and disposition of the natives. During the half century that the colonization of Brazil had been left to chance, the colonists were almost without law and without religion. Many settlers had never either confessed or communicated since they entered the country, .. the ordinances of the Church were neglected for want of a Clergy to celebrate them, and the moral precepts had been forgotten with the ceremonies. Crimes which might easily at first have been prevented, had thus become habitual, and the habit was now too strong to be overcome. There were indeed individuals in whom the moral sense could be recovered; but in the majority it had been utterly destroyed; they were of that description of

2 L

[page] 258

CHAP. VIII. 1549.

Div. Avis. ff. 47.

men over whom the fear of the gallows may have some effect; the fear of God has none. A system of concubinage was practised among them worse than the loose polygamy of the Savages; the Savage had as many women as consented to become his wives, .. the Colonist³⁷ as many as he could enslave. There is an ineffaceable stigma upon the Europeans in their intercourse with those whom they treat as inferior races; there is a perpetual contradiction between their lust and their avarice. The Planter will one day take a slave for his harlot, and sell her the next as a being of some lower species, .. a beast of labour. If she be indeed an inferior animal, what shall be said of the one action? If she be equally with himself a human being, and an immortal soul, what shall be said of the other? .. Either way there is a crime committed against human nature. Nobrega and his companions refused to administer the sacraments of the Church to those persons who retained native women as concubines, or men as slaves. Many were reclaimed by this resolute and Christian conduct; some because their consciences had not been dead, but sleeping; others for worldly fear, because they believed the Jesuits were armed with secular as well as spiritual authority. The good effect which was produced upon such persons was, therefore, only for a season. Mighty as the Catholic religion is, avarice is mightier; and in spite of all the efforts of some of the best and ablest men that ever the Jesuit order, so fertile of great men, has had to glory in, the practice of enslaving the natives continued.

³⁷ Some of the Portugueze thought to lessen the sin by immediately having the women baptized. A question upon this arose for the Casuists. The Jesuits thought that to set these women at liberty and let them return to their hordes would be an offence against the sacrament of baptism; and on the other hand, if they let them remain, both parties were in a state of mortal sin.

Div. Avisi. ff. 47.

[page] 259

CHAP. VIII. 1550.

1552.

Div. Avis. ff. 49. 59.

The number of Jesuits soon began to increase; a few lay coadjutors they admitted in the country, who being men that were thoroughly conversant with the language and manners of the Indians, and who bitterly repented of the sins which they had committed against them, had the best qualifications of knowledge and zeal. The fleet which came out the year after their arrival brought four Fathers, and the title of Vice Provincial of Brazil for Nobrega, subject to the Province of Portugal. Two years afterwards D. Pedro Fernandes Sardinha arrived as Bishop of Brazil, bringing with him Priests, Canons, and Dignitaries, and Church ornaments of every kind for his Cathedral; he had studied and graduated at Paris, had held the office of Vicar-General in India, and, unhappily for himself, was now sent to Bahia. At this time no better colonists could be sent out than the Clergy, for none were employed upon this mission except such as were selected for their peculiar fitness for the service. The cells had not yet been built, nor the honey deposited for the drones of superstition. Nobrega had anxiously expected the Bishop's arrival. No Devil, he said, had persecuted him and his brethren so greatly as some of the Priests had done whom they found in the country. These wretches encouraged the Colonists in all their abominations, and openly maintained that it was lawful to enslave the natives because they were beasts, and then lawful to use the women as concubines because they were slaves. This was their public doctrine! well might Nobrega say they did the work of the Devil. They opposed the Jesuits with the utmost virulence; .. their interest was at stake; they could not bear the presence of men who said mass and performed all the ceremonies of religion gratuitously.

During Thome de Sousa's government four settlers went, without his permission, to trade at one of the islands in the

[page] 260

CHAP. VIII. 1552.

Ant. Pires. Div. Avis. ff. 45.

Bay, where they had formed connections with some of the native women. These Islanders had formerly been at war with the Portugueze, but peace had been made: a mood of revenge however came upon them, probably not without provocation, and they killed and eat all four. This circumstance was discovered, a party of Portugueze attacked them, and carried off one woman, and two old men who were uncles to the chief offenders, and these men were put to death. The inhabitants forsook the island, but they had left store of food there, and returned, with a body of allies from the mountains, thinking by their help to defend it. The Governor sent against them all the force he could muster, remaining with only a sufficient guard for the city. Nobrega accompanied the expedition, carrying a crucifix, which dismayed the Savages as much as it encouraged his own people. They fled without attempting resistance, and two settlements on this and an adjoining island were burnt. This struck terror into the natives, and they would have submitted to any terms, if they could have believed that any terms would be kept.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 120. 122.

During the same government search was made for mines; Vasconcellos conjectures that it was in the interior of Porto Seguro, or Espirito Santo. The adventurers endured great difficulties, and returned without success.

[page 261]

CHAPTER IX.

D. Duarte da Costa Governor.—Anchieta comes out.—Brazil erected into a Jesuit Province.—School established at Piratininga.—Death of Joam III.—Mem de Sa Governor.—Expedition of the French under Villegagnon to Rio de Janeiro.—Their island is attacked and the works destroyed.—War with the Tamoyos.—Nobrega and Anchieta effect a peace with them.—The French finally defeated at Rio de Janeiro, and the City of St. Sebastian founded.

CHAP. IX. 1553.

D. da Costa Governor.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 3.

Anchieta, arrives in Brazil.

When Thome de Sousa had been Governor four years, he petitioned to be recalled, and D. Duarte da Costa was sent out to succeed him. Seven Jesuits accompanied the new Governor; among them were Luis da Gram, who had been Rector of the College at Coimbra, and Joseph de Anchieta, then only a Temporal Coadjutor, but destined to be celebrated in Jesuitical history as the Thaumatourgos¹ of the New World. Loyola, the Patriarch, as he is called, of the Company, or more probably Laynez, by whose master-hand the whole machine was set in motion, had already perceived the importance of this mission,

¹ The reader will find the history of Anchieta here. The mythology of his life is touched upon in the account of the biography of this wonder-worker, by Simam de Vasconcellos.

[page] 262

CHAP. IX. 1553.

Brazil made a Jesuit Province.

S. Vasc. C.C. 1. § 147.

and delegated new powers to Nobrega, erecting Brazil into an independant Province, and appointing him and Luis de Gram joint Provincials. As neither of these Fathers had yet taken the fourth vow, which is the last and highest degree in the order, they were instructed now to take it before the Ordinary; and they were directed to chuse out Consultores, or Advisers, from their companions, one of whom was to go with them upon all their journeys.

Establishment at Piratininga.

Nobrega's first act, after this accession of power, was to establish a College in the plains of Piratininga². Such an establishment was necessary because the Society was now numerous; they had very many children of both colours to support, and the alms upon which they subsisted were not sufficient to maintain them all in one place. The spot chosen was ten leagues from the sea, and about thirteen from St. Vicente, upon the great Cordillera which stretches along the coast of Brazil. The way was by a steep and difficult ascent³, broken with shelves of

² The residence of Tabyreça was so called, .. that Royalet who was the father-in-law of Joam Ramalho, and who made an alliance with Martim Affonso de Sousa, and was baptized by his name. Piratinim, or Piratininga, was the name of a stream which falls into the Tyete, formerly the Rio Grande; .. hence the settlement upon its bank was so called, .. and then the whole district.

F. Gasparda Madre de Dios. Memor. para a Hist. da St. Vicente p. 106.

³ A century afterwards, when a road had been made in the best direction, Vasconcellos thus describes it: The greater part of the way you have not to travel, but to get on with hands and feet by the roots of trees, and this among such crags and precipices, that I confess, the first time I went there, my flesh trembled when I looked down. The depth of the vallies is tremendous; and the number of mountains, one above another, seem to leave no hope of reaching the end, .. when you fancy you are at the summit of one, you find yourself at the foot of another of no less magnitude, .. and this in the beaten and chosen way! True it is that from time to time the labour of the ascent is recompensed; for when I seated myself upon one of those rocks and cast my eyes below, it seemed as though I were looking down from the heaven of the Moon, and that the whole globe of earth lay beneath my feet, .. a sight of rare beauty, for the diversity of prospect both of sea and land, plains, forest and mountain tracks, all various and beyond measure delightful. This ascent, broken with shelves of level, continues till you reach the plains of Piratininga, in the second region of the air, where it is so thin, that it seems as if they who newly arrive there could never breathe their fill.

[page] 263

CHAP. IX. 1553.

Vasc. C C. 1. § 148.

level ground, and continuing about eight leagues, when a track of delightful country appeared in that temperate region of the air. Here were lakes, rivers, and springs, with rocks and mountains still rising above, and the earth as fertile as a rich soil and the happiest of all climates could render it. The best fruits of Europe thrive there, the grape, the apple, the peach, fig, cherry, mulberry, melon, and water-melon, and the woods abound with game.

1554. August.

Thirteen of the Company, under Manoel de Paiva, were sent to colonize here, where Nobrega had previously stationed some of his converts. Anchieta went with them as schoolmaster. Their first mass was celebrated on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and from this, as from a good omen, they named their College after the Saint, .. a name which extended to the town that arose there, and has become famous in the history of South America. The plains of Piratininga had not yet been improved by European culture: nature indeed had fitted them for an earthly Paradise, but they were as nature left them, unassisted by human art. "Here we are," says Anchieta, in a letter written to Loyola, "sometimes more than twenty of us in a little hut of wicker work and mud, roofed with straw, fourteen paces long and ten wide. This is the school, this is the infirmary, dormitory, refectory, kitchen, and store-room. Yet we covet

Vasc. Chr. da Comp. 1. § 148.

[page] 264

CHAP. IX. 1554.

Vasc. C. C. 1. § 153.

Do. Vida de Anchieta. I. 5. 1.

not the more spacious dwellings which our brethren inhabit in other parts, for our Lord Jesus Christ was in a straiter place when it was his pleasure to be born among beasts in a manger; and in a far straiter when he deigned to die for us upon the Cross." It was not however for want of room that Anchieta and his brethren and pupils were thus crowded. They herded together in this way to keep themselves warm, for against the cold they were miserably provided. Fire indeed they had, but they had smoke with it, not having contrived a chimney; and sometimes cold was thought the more endurable evil of the two, and they studied in the open air. They slept in hammocks, and had no bed-clothes: for door there was a mat hung up at the entrance: their dress was calculated for a lower region; what little clothing it consisted of was of cotton; they were barefooted, and without breeches. Banana-leaves served them for a table, and napkins, says Anchieta, may well be excused when there is nothing to eat, .. for they had no other food than what the Indians gave them, sometimes alms of mandioc flour, and less frequently fish from the brooks, and game from the forest.

Labours of Anchieta.

Many scholars, both Creoles and Mamalucos, came here from the nearest settlements. Anchieta taught them Latin, and learnt from them the Tupinamban, of which he composed a grammar and vocabulary, the first which were made. Day and night did this indefatigable man, whose life, without the machinery of miracles, is sufficiently honourable to himself and to his order, labour in discharging the duties of his office. There were no books for the pupils; he wrote for every one his lesson on a separate leaf, after the business of the day was done, and it was sometimes day-light before this task was compleated. The profane songs which were in use he parodied into hymns in Portugueze, Castillian, Latin, and Tupinamban; the ballads of

[page] 265

CHAP. IX. 1554.

Vasc. V. de Anch. l. 1. c. 10.

Vasc. C. C. 1. § 38. 1. § 161.

the natives underwent the same travesty in their own tongue; .. how greatly should we have been indebted to Anchieta had he preserved them! In this language also he drew up forms of interrogations for the use of Confessors, suitable to all occasions, and wrote dialogues for the Cathecumens, expounding the whole Christian, or rather Catholic faith. "I serve," says he, "as physician and barber, physicking and bleeding the Indians, and some of them have recovered under my hands when their lives were not expected, because others had died of the same diseases. Besides these employments, I have learnt another trade which necessity taught me, that is, to make alpergatas; I am now a good workman at this, and have made many for the brethren, for it is not possible to travel with leathern shoes among these wilds." The alpergata is a sort of shoe, of which the upper part is made of hemp, or any such substance, .. here they were of cordage from a species of wild thistle, which it was necessary to prepare for the purpose, and which served also for disciplines, the poor boys being, according to the frantic folly of Catholicism, taught to consider self-tormenting as a Christian virtue, and made to flog themselves on Fridays. For bleeding he had no other instrument than a penknife; there was a scruple about this branch of his profession, because the clergy are forbidden to shed blood⁴; they sent to ask Loyola's opinion, and his answer was, that charity extended to all things.

Attack upon Piratininga.

About three leagues from Piratininga, was a settlement called St. Andre, inhabited chiefly by Mamalucos. This breed, so

⁴ It is for this reason that when the Romish clergy delivered up a heretick to be punished, they requested that no blood might be shed, .. and then sung Te Deum with a safe conscience while they saw him burnt alive!

2 M

[page] 266

CHAP. IX. 1554.

Vasc. C. C. 1. § 163—166.

far from being a link which should bind together the two races in friendly intercourse, was more desperately inimical to the natives than even the Portugueze themselves were. They hated the Jesuits for opposing the custom, as they termed it, of the land, and for interfering with what they called the liberty of making slaves. The conversion and civilization of the Indians were regarded by these wretches as measures necessarily destructive to their interests, and they devised an ingenious mode of prejudicing them against Christianity. Cowardice, they said, was the motive which induced them to be baptized; they were afraid to meet their enemies in battle, and so took shelter under the protection of the Church. Of all reproaches, this was the most cutting which could be made to a Savage; .. they added, that the Jesuits were a set of fellows turned out of their own country as idle vagabonds, and that it was disgraceful for men who could use the bow to be under their control. Some of the adjoining tribes, instigated by these ruffians⁵, advanced to attack Piratininga, but were met and defeated by the converts. During the night they returned to the field to carry off the dead bodies of their enemies, and feast upon them. They found fresh heaps of earth, and concluding that the bodies which they sought were buried there, dug them up and carried them away in the darkness. At daylight, when they reached their settlements, they recognized the features of their own dead, and their expected feast was changed into lamentation.

Dispute between the Governor and Bishop.

D. Duarte was not so well disposed to cooperate with the Clergy in their benevolent views as his predecessor had been. The Bishop had proceeded against the offending Colonists with rigour, which the Governor would have seconded had he under-

⁵ Or by the Devil, says Vasconcellos;:. it is not certainly known which.

[page] 267

CHAP. IX. 1554.

Ant. Pires. Div. Avis. 247.

Rocha Pitta. 3. § 8.

Noticias. MSS. I. 18. The Bishop killed by the Cahetes.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2. § 18.

stood the real interests of the colony; but on the contrary, he opposed him upon a plea that he was intruding upon the authority of the crown. Little can be traced concerning this dispute; it is stated that the Bishop was at the head of one party, and the Governor and his son of another, which became the occasion of much enmity and many tumults. F. Antonio Pires reconciled them, and persuaded the son to ask pardon of the Bishop, a difficult thing to effect, because the young man stood upon his point of honour. This submission proves him to have been in fault. The reconciliation however was of little avail, for in the ensuing year the Prelate embarked for Portugal, meaning to lay the matter before the King. He was wrecked upon the Baixos de D. Francisco, .. shoals close in shore, in a bay between the rivers St. Francisco and Currupe. The crew got to land, but they fell into the hands of the Cahetes, and men, women, and children, an hundred white persons in all, with all their slaves, were massacred and devoured by these merciless cannibals. Only two Indians and one Portugueze who understood their language, escaped to bear the tidings. It is a common tradition, says the Jesuit historian, that from that day no beauty or natural ornament has been produced upon the place where the Bishop was murdered; .. till then it was adorned with herbs, and trees, and flowers; now it is bare and blasted, like the mountains of Gilboa, after David had cursed them in his lamentation. Such a tale was easily invented, and would be readily as well as usefully believed any where in Brazil, except upon the spot. The vengeance which was taken upon the Cahetes removes our indignation from them to their unrelenting persecutors. The whole people and all their posterity were condemned to slavery, and this iniquitous decree not only involved the innocent with the guilty, but afforded a pretext for enslaving any Indian whatsoever. It was but to affirm that he belonged to this tribe,

[page] 268

CHAP. IX. 1554.

S. Vasc C. C. 3. § 43.

and the accuser was judge in his own cause! When these consequences were perceived, the sentence was mitigated, and all who should be converted were exempted from its rigour: this proved of no avail, and it was at length entirely revoked; but before this act of tardy justice, the tribe was almost extirpated.

1557. Death of Joan III.

1558. Mem de Sa Governor.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2 § 49.

During the government of D. Duarte da Costa, Joam III. died. The Queen Regent pursued awhile his plans for the improvement of Brazil, and his loss was not immediately perceived. In the ensuing year Mem de Sa came out to supersede D. Duarte. He had been appointed in the King's lifetime, and it was said in his commission, that he was to hold the government not merely for the ordinary term of three years, but as much longer as his Majesty might think good. On his landing he shut himself up with the Jesuits, and, according to their account, spent eight days in studying the Spiritual Exercises of Loyola, under Nobrega. They libel Mem de Sa, and they libel themselves, in supposing that this retirement was not employed in obtaining information of the state of the country from the best politician in it.

Outcry against his attempts in behalf of the natives.

The first acts of the Governor were to prohibit the allied natives from eating human flesh and from making war, except upon such grounds as he and his Council should previously approve; and to collect them together in settled habitations, where they should build churches for those who were already converted, and houses for their Jesuit instructors. A great outcry was raised against these measures, not by the natives themselves, but by the settlers, who could not bear to see the Savages considered as human and reasonable beings. .. They inveighed against his proceedings as violations of the liberty of the Indians, .. said it was absurb to dream of forbidding tygers to eat human flesh; that the more they warred with each other, the better it was for

[page] 269

CHAP. IX. 1558.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2. § 50—53.

the Portugueze; and that to collect them in large settlements, was to form armies with which they should ere long have to contend. To such arguments it was easy to reply, and for any danger which might be apprehended the Jesuits rightly said, that they who were to live among the natives would be most exposed to it, but they had no fears. One Chief resisted the decree; his name was Cururupebe, the Swelling Toad; he boldly declared, that in spite of the Portugueze he would eat his enemies, .. and them too if they attempted to prevent him. Mem de Sa sent a force against him; they fell upon him in the night, routed his people, and brought him prisoner to the city, where the Toad was kept in confinement.

2. § 54.

Vigorous measures against the refractory natives.

At the time when these laws were enacted, orders were issued also that all Indians who had been wrongfully enslaved should be set at liberty. One powerful Colonist refused obedience: Mem de Sa gave command to surround his house and level it to the ground if he did not instantly obey. This summary justice, followed up as it was by every where enforcing the observance of the edict, convinced the allies of his good intentions towards them. They had soon another proof. Three friendly Indians were seized, when fishing, by their enemies, carried off, and devoured. The Governor sent to the offending tribe, commanding them to give up the criminals that they might be put to death. The Chiefs would have consented, but the persons implicated were powerful; the adjoining clans made a common cause with them; two hundred hordes who dwelt upon the banks of the Paraguazu united in defence of their favourite custom, and the answer returned was, that if the Governor wanted the offenders he must come and take them. This, in despite of the opposition made by the settlers, he resolved to do. The allied natives took the field with him, with a Jesuit at their head, and a cross

[page] 270

CHAP. IX. 1558.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2. § 55—59.

for their standard. They found the enemy well posted and in considerable strength, but they put them to flight. After the battle it was discovered that an arm had been cut off from one of the dead; .. as this was evidently taken by one of the allies to eat in secret, proclamation was made that that arm must be laid by the body, before the army took food, or rested after the battle. The next morning the enemy were pursued, and suffered a second and more severe defeat, after which they delivered up the criminals, and petitioned to be recived as allies upon the same terms as the other tribes.

Villegagnon's espedition to Brazil.

Thuanus. l. 4. t. 1. p. 144.

Mem de Sa had now to turn his arms against a more formidable enemy. From the time of its earliest discovery the French had frequented the coast of Brazil; they were now attempting to establish themselves in Rio de Janeiro, under Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, a native of Provence, and Knight of Malta. This adventurer was a bold and skilful seaman; .. when the Scotch determined to send their young Queen Mary into France, and it was justly feared that the English might intercept her, Villegagnon, having the command of a French squadron of Gallies at Leith, feigned to depart for his own country; instead of which, he sailed round Scotland, a navigation which was thought impracticable for such vessels, took her on board on the Western coast, and thus eluding the English, conveyed her safe to Bretagne. On many occasions he had given equal proof of ability and courage; and he had the rare merit, for a soldier, of possessing no inconsiderable share of learning. He, through Coligny, represented to Henri II. that it was for the honour and interest of France to undertake an expedition to America; that such an attempt would distract the attention and weaken the strength of the Spaniards, who derived so large a portion of their wealth from thence; that the natives groaned under their intolerable yoke,

[page] 271

CHAP. IX. 1558.

Thuonus. 16. 1. 460.

and that it would be for their good and the good of the world to deliver them, and open the commerce of America to Europe. I know not by what logic this could apply to Brazil, a country not possessed by the Spaniards; and to the Portugueze, a people not at war with France. This however was the public plea, and Coligny was induced to lend all his influence to the project, by secret assurances from Villegagnon that he would establish an asylum for the Protestants in this new colony.

1556. Brite § 61.

Villegagnon had previously made a voyage to Brazil, established an intercourse with the natives, and chosen a spot to his settlement. Henri II. gave him, at the Admiral's request, two vessels of two hundred tons, and a storeship of half that burthen. A good company of artificers, soldiers, and noble adventurers was raised, and they sailed from Havre de Grace, then called Franciscople, in honour of its founder Francis I. Villegagnon's ship sprung a leak in a gale, and was obliged to put into Dieppe; there was great difficulty in entering, the port having scarcely depth for vessels of such draught, and the gale continuing; but the inhabitants, who had obtained an honourable character for their activity on such occasions⁷, came off to their assistance and warped them in. By this time many of the artificers, soldiers, and noble adventurers had become sick of the sea, and they abandoned the expedition as soon as they got on shore: to this desertion its ultimate failure may in great measure be imputed.

N. Barré in De Bry.

Rio de Janeira.

After a long and miserable voyage Villegagnon entered Rio de Janeiro: his expedition was wisely planned, the place well chosen, and the native tribes were hostile to the Portuguese, and

⁷ Pro solito et laudabili ipsorum more. Nic. Barré.

[page] 272

CHAP. IX. 1556.

Vasc. Vid. de Anchieta. l. 2. c. 1. § 2. Pimentel 305.

had long traded with the French. Rio de Janeiro, like Bahia, seems to have been formerly a great fresh-water lake, which has broken down its barrier. The water almost touches the foot of the Organ mountains, so called from some resemblance which has been fancied in their form, and the whole bay is surrounded by one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Cordillera. The entrance is between two high rocks, through a strait about half a mile wide, .. by so narrow a pass is this harbour defended, which is seventeen leagues in circumference. Just in the middle of the strait is a rock about an hundred feet long and sixty wide, of which Villegagnon took possession, and erected a wooden fort there. Could he have maintained this post, the French would probably have kept their footing in Brazil; but the rock was not sufficiently elevated above the surface of the sea, and the waves drove him away. Some hundreds of the natives assembled on his arrival, kindled bonfires in token of their joy, and offered every thing which they possessed to these allies, who were come to protect them against the Portugueze.

Arrival of the French there.

FRANCE ANTARCTIQUE.

The French, with their usual arrogance, looked upon the whole continent as already their own, and gave it the name of Antarctic France⁸. At the time when they thus in imagination took possession of South America, their force consisted of fourscore men; their leader was too prudent to trust himself upon the main land, and the whole territory of Antarctic France was

⁸ Nic. Barré dates his letter Ad flumen Genabara, in Brasiliû, Franciæ Antarcticæ Provinciâ, .. and Thevet entitles his book, Les Singularités de la France Antarctique, autrement nommée Amerique, .. so called, he says, pour estre partie peuplée, partie decouverte par noz pilottes.

[page] 273

CHAP. IX. 1556.

N. Barré. De Lery. c. 6.

Thuanus. 1. 461.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 77.

confined to an island about a mile in circumference, whither he had removed when the rock was found untenable. This island lies near the entrance of the harbour, and has only one landing place, being surrounded with rocks. On each side of its port are two little eminences commanding it; these he fortified, and in the centre of the island fixed his own residence upon a rock about fifty feet high, in which he excavated a magazine. This strong hold he named Fort Coligny, in honour of his patron. As soon as he had thus established himself he dispatched advices to the Admiral⁹ of his arrival, the riches of the country, and the friendly disposition of the natives; requested reinforcements, and also some good theologians from Geneva.

Conspiracy against Villegagnon.

How convenient soever the island might be for a settlement in other respects, it had the great disadvantage of wanting water. The expedition had been sparingly stored and victualled; immediately on their arrival the allowance of liquor was stopt; Villegagnon stopt the allowance of biscuit also, and made his men subsist wholly upon the food of the country, before they had accustomed themselves to it, or perceived the necessity of the change. The consequence was, that the artificers became discontented. The Commander had brought out with him as Interpreter, a wretch from Normandy, who had acquired the ferociousness as well as the language of the Savages, among whom he had lived seven years. This man cohabited with a native woman: the law of the Colony permitted intermarriages with the Brazilian women, but all illicit intercourse with them was prohibited; and in conformity with this decree, the Interpreter was ordered either to marry her, or put her away. It might have been thought that as such a man would pay no

⁹ The salted tongue of a whale was sent him as a delicacy. De Lery. C. 6.

2 N

[page] 274

CHAP. IX. 1556.

N. Barré.

De Lery. 6.

regard to the restrictions of marriage, he would not object to the ceremony. He was however so offended, that he began to plot against Villegagnon, and easily seduced all the artificers and mercenaries, thirty in number. The first proposal of this villain to his associates was, that they should poison all the rest; but to this some of the conspirators would not consent. He then proposed to blow them up, for they slept over the magazine: the objection was, that all the stores of every kind which they had brought out would by this means be destroyed, and they should be left without any thing wherewith to conciliate the favour of the Savages, and to barter with them. It was therefore determined to massacre them in the night. There were three Scotchmen in the expedition, whom Villegagnon reserved for his own guard, knowing their fidelity; the conspirators endeavoured to corrupt them, but they revealed the treason to Barre, and four of the ringleaders were immediately seized and put in irons. One of them contrived to crawl to the edge of the shore and throw himself into the sea, .. the other three were hung, and the rest of the culprits kept to hard labour, like slaves. The Interpreter escaped; all the other Interpreters in that part of the country, who were about a score, leagued with him, and endeavoured to prejudice the natives against the French, hoping thus to make them leave the country. With this intent they asserted that a contagious fever which raged among them was sent by Villegagnon: .. it had been brought by him¹⁰, and he returned thanks to the Lord for it in one of his public prayers, as a providential dispensation, which had weakened the Savages and thereby tended to his preservation. This artifice of the Interpreters succeeded at first, and it was well for the colonists that they had taken their

¹⁰ Barré elsewhere mentions that Villegagnon's ship was infected.

[page] 275

CHAP. IX. 1556.

post upon an island. But the wise conduct of the Commander soon reestablished peace.

De Lery. 15.

De Lery. 8.

In his intercourse with the Savages, Villegagnon did what he could to prevent them from devouring their prisoners; but these endeavours were of little avail, and the French made no scruple to supply them with iron chains for the purpose of securing their victims beyond all possibility of escape. Among their articles of traffic were clothes of the brightest colours, red, green, and yellow, and made according to the most approved fancy of their customers. The male Savage is generally a coxcomb; sometimes they were seen strutting about in breeches of enormous circumference, or in a jerkin of which the sleeves were of different colours, and which left all below the waist bare. But they were soon weary of such confinement, and threw off these incumbrances that their limbs might be again at liberty. The women never could be persuaded to wear any garment whatsoever, though store had been taken out as baits for female vanity; delighting as they did to bathe their heads, and plunge into the water, which they would do ten times a day, they could not endore the custom of wearing clothes, because it was inconvenient for their frequent ablutions. Even the female slaves whom Villegagnon purchased, and whom he and his Calvinists, in their zeal for the suppression of immorality, flogged till they submitted to be drest, would throw off all at night that they might enjoy the comfort of walking about the island naked, and feeling the free air, before they laid down to sleep.

De Lery to Brazil.

Coligny, meantime, was indefatigable in providing supplies for all the wants of his colony, ghostly or bodily. Calvin himself, with his elders in convocation, appointed Pierre Richier and Guillaume Chartier to this mission; many respectable adventurers were induced to accompany these famous ministers of their own persuasion; among them was Jean De Lery, to whom we are

[page] 276

CHAP. IX. 1556.

De Lery. 1. Thuanus. 16. 461.

De Lery. 2.

Andrada. Chr. del R. D. Joam III. 1. 67.

indebted for an excellent account of that Brazilian tribe which he had thus an opportunity of observing. Three ships were fitted out at the expence of the crown, on board of which were embarked two hundred and ninety men, six boys who were to learn the language of the natives, and five young women under a matron's orders; these, it is said, were greatly admired by the Tupinambas. Bois le Conte, the nephew of Villegagnon, commanded the expedition. Whatever ships they met with on their way, whether belonging to friend or foe, they plundered, if they were strong enough. Off Teneriffe they took a Portugueze vessel, and promised the Captain to restore it to him if he would contrive to put them in possession of another; the man, with selfishness more to be expected than excused, put himself into a boat, with twenty of these pirates, and captured a Spanish ship laden with salt. The French then turned all the prisoners, Spanish and Portugueze, into the first prize, out of which they had taken the boat and all the provisions of every kind, tore their sails to pieces, and in this manner exposed them to the mercy of the sea. It should be said, to De Lery's honour, that he relates this with due abhorrence, and that many of his companions remonstrated in vain against it. The mode of maritime warfare, in those days, was even more atrocious than that of the old Vikingr: the conqueror usually put his prisoners to death, and in most cases with circumstances of heinous cruelty. De Lery accuses the Spaniards and Portugueze of having flead alive some of the French whom they had taken trading to America; .. if this be true, the wickedness was perpetrated upon the dreadful principle of retaliation. The French have always been a cruel people, and it is certain that, in 1526, when some of their pirates had captured a Portugueze ship, homewardbound from India, and almost within sight of her own coast, they plundered her and set fire to her with all her crew on

[page] 277

CHAP. IX. 1557.

board, .. above one thousand persons, .. not one of whom escaped¹¹.

Treachery of Villegagnon.

Thuanus.

Villegagnon had deceived Coligny. .. The zeal which he had manifested for the reformed religion was feigned for the purpose of obtaining the Admiral's influence and his money; having effected this, and thinking it more for his own interest to take the other side, won over as is believed by Cardinal Guise, he threw off the mask, quarrelled with the Genevan ministers, and demeaned himself so tyrannically and intolerantly, that they who had gone to Antarctic France to enjoy liberty of conscience, found themselves under a worse yoke than that from which they had fled. They therefore demanded leave to return, and he gave written permission to the master of a ship to carry them to France. When they got on board, the vessel was found to be in such a state, that five of the party went again ashore, rather than put to sea in her; De Lery was one of the others, who thought death better than this man's cruelty, and pursued their voyage. After having endured the utmost misery of famine, they reached Hennebonne. Villegagnon had given them a box of letters wrapt in sere-cloth, as was then the custom; among them was one directed to the chief magistrates of whatever port they might arrive at, in which this worthy friend of the Guises denounced the men whom he had invited out to Brazil to enjoy the peaceable exercise of the reformed religion, as heretics worthy of the stake. The magistrates of Hennebonne happened to favour the reformation, and thus the devilish malignity of Villegagnon was frus-

¹¹ A Portugueze pilot, who had been one of the pirates, confessed this at his death, and left six thousand crowns, being his share of the pluuder, to the King of Portugal, as some restitution. The brother of the French Captain was afterwards taken off the coast of Portugal, and in like manner burnt with his whole crew!

[page] 278

CHAP. IX. 1557.

De Lery. 21.

trated, and his treachery exposed. Of the five who had feared to trust themselves in a vessel so badly stored, and so unfit for the voyage, three were put to death by this persecutor. Others of the Hugonots fled from him to the Portugueze, where they were compelled to apostatize, and profess a religion which they despised as much as they hated.

Inattention of the Portugueze government.

De Lery. 20.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 13.

Though the Portugueze were so jealous of the Brazilian trade that they treated all interlopers as pirates, yet they permitted this French colony to remain four years unmolested; and had it not been for the treachery of Villegagnon to his own party, Rio de Janeiro would probably have been, at this day, the capital of a French colony. A body of Flemish adventurers were ready to embark for Brazil, waiting only for the report of the ship-captain who carried De Lery home, and ten thousand Frenchmen would have emigrated, if the object of Coligny in founding his colony had not thus wickedly been betrayed. The Jesuits were well aware of the danger, and Nobrega at length succeeded in rousing the Court of Lisbon. Duarte da Costa received orders to discover the state of the French fortifications, .. when his orders should have been to destroy them; .. and in consequence of his report, it was part of Mem de Sa's instructions to attack, and expel the French. But when he proposed to carry these instructions into effect, men were found weak enough to raise an opposition; they urged that it would be wiser to suffer the aggression yet awhile longer, than to risk the shame of a defeat, which there was reason to apprehend when the strength of the French fortress, the stores which they received from vessels of their own nation frequenting that harbour, and the number of their allies, were compared with their own deficiency, both of ships, men, and means. These timid councils were over-ruled by Nobrega. Two ships of war and eight or nine merchantmen were fitted out for the service. The Governor took the com-

[page] 279

CHAP. IX. 1560.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 74. 76.

Vid. de Anch. 2. 2 § 9. 10.

mand in person, though he was solicited not to expose himself, and Nobrega accompanied him; for Mem de Sa, giving the best proof of his own good sense by this deference to superior ability and experience, undertook nothing without his advice. Another motive or plea for his attendance in an expedition so little accordant with his missionary duties was given by the physicians, who recommended his removal to the colder climate of St. Vicente for a spitting of blood with which he was then afflicted.

Expedition against the French.

Early in January they reached Rio de Janeiro. The Governor's intention was to enter in the dead of the night, and surprize the island; they were espied by the centinels, and obliged to anchor off the bar. The French immediately made ready for defence, forsook their ships, and with eight hundred native archers retired to their forts. Mem de Sa now discovered that he was in want of canoes and small craft, and of men who knew the harbour. Nobrega was sent to St. Vicente to solicit this aid from the inhabitants; he performed his commission with his usual skill, and soon dispatched a good brigantine, canoes, and boats, laden with stores, and manned by Portugueze, Mamalucos, and natives; men who knew the coast, and were inured to warfare with the Tupinambas and Tamoyos. Two Jesuits conducted the reinforcement. With this succour Mem de Sa entered the port, and won the landing-place of the island. Two days and nights they vainly battered fortresses whose walls and bulwarks were of solid rock; thus uselessly they expended all their powder and ball, many of their people were wounded, and they were about to reimbark their artillery, and retreat. But though they had hitherto displayed little skill in directing their attacks, there was no lack of courage in the Portugueze, and the shame of returning from a bootless expedition provoked them to one desperate exertion. They assaulted and won the largest of

[page] 280

CHAP. IX. 1560.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 77.

V. de Anch. l. 2. c. 3.

The French works demolished.

the outworks which commanded the landing, then they stormed the rock in which the magazine had been excavated, and carried that also. This so intimidated the French, that in the ensuing night they and the Tamoyos abandoned the other posts, and got into their boats and fled, some to the ships, some to the main land. A converted Brazilian whose baptismal name was Martim Affonso, signalized himself so honourably in this expedition, that he was rewarded with a pension, and the Order of Christ. The Portugueze were not strong enough to keep the island which they had taken; they demolished all the works of the French, carried off all their artillery and stores, and sailed to the port of Santos, where every thing needful for the sick and wounded, and provisions for all, had been provided by the indefatigable exertions of Nobrega.

July 17, 1560.

Annoes do Rio Janeiro. MSS. c. 7.

Villegagnon was at this time in France, where he was gone with the avowed intention of bringing back a squadron of seven ships to intercept the Indian fleet, and take or destroy all the Portugueze settlements in Brazil. The disturbances in France happily prevented this; the Catholics were too busy to attend to his representations, and he had betrayed the Hugonots, who would else have enabled him to effect his plan. He vaunted that neither all the power of Spain nor of the Grand Turk could dislodge him, and Mem de Sa, in a letter to his Court, expressed a fear that if the French returned to occupy their island, the boast would be true. Villegagnon, said he, deals not with the Gentiles as we do. He is liberal with them to excess, and observes strict justice; if one of his people commit any fault he is hung up without ceremony, so that he is feared by them, and loved by the natives. He has given orders to instruct them in the use of arms; they are very numerous, and one of the bravest tribes, so that he may soon make himself exceeding strong.

[page] 281

CHAP. IX. 1560.

S. Vasc C.C. 2. § 84—5.

While Mem de Sa remained at Santos he gave order, by advice of his great counsellor, to remove the town of St. Andre to Piratininga. Being situated at the edge of the woods, it was exposed to the hostile tribes who inhabited the banks of the Paraiba; but in its new site it flourished so greatly as soon to become the most considerable town in that part of the country. The College of Piratininga was at the same time removed to St. Vicente; and as the road to Piratininga, or rather St. Paul's, was infested by the Tamoyos, a new one was with very great labour made in a safe direction by the Jesuits.

Naufr. da Nao. S. Ped. Hist. Mar. t. 1. p. 373.

The Aymores.

Rel. Ann. 1603. ff. 120.

The Governor's return to St. Salvador was celebrated with bull-feasts, the favourite but inhuman sport of the Portugueze and Spaniards, which had seldom or never before been exhibited in Brazil. Mem de Sa however had but a short respite from war. The Captaincies of the Ilheos and of Porto Seguro, were dreadfully infested by the Aymores, a new enemy, of all the Brazilian tribes the most savage, and the most terrible. It is said that these people were originally a branch of the Tapuyas, who had formerly possessed a line of country in the interior, running parallel with the coast from the River St. Francisco to Cape Frio, and that the Tupiniquins and Tupinambas had driven them still farther inland, where they multiplied, while the maritime tribes were thinned by the Portugueze. According to this traditional account, they had so long been separated from their kindred nations, that their language was no longer understood by them. Such was the received opinion of the origin of the Aymores; but no language could undergo so great a change without having incorporated some radically different one: and as they were of greater stature than their neighbours, it seems more reasonable to infer that they were a tribe from the South, where the natives are a taller race, and of ruder habits. Their speech is described as unusually harsh and guttural, having so

2 O

[page] 282

CHAP. IX. 1560.

Rel. Ann. 1603. ff. 120.

Noticias MSS. I.32.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 93.

deep a sound as if it were pronounced from the breast. They had the custom common to most of the Americans, but not, as it appears, to the Brazilians, of eradicating the hair every where except upon the head; there they kept it short, with a kind of razor made of cane, and sharpened to an edge almost as keen as steel. They had neither garments nor habitation. Naked as beasts, they laid down like beasts in the woods, and like beasts could run upon hands and feet through thickets, where it was not possible to follow them. During the rainy season they slept under the trees, and had just skill enough to form a roofing with the boughs. They lived upon wild fruits, upon what they killed with their arrows, from which, says Vasconcellos, not a fly could escape, and upon their enemies, whom they slew not like the other tribes at a triumphant feast, but habitually for food, regarding them merely as animals on whom they were to prey. If they had a fire they half-roasted their meat; at other times ate it as willingly raw. Their mode of warfare was as savage as their habits of life; they had no chief or leader; they never went in large companies, they never stood up to an enemy face to face, but laid in wait like wild beasts, and took their deadly aim from the thickets. In one point they were greatly inferior to the other tribes, for being an inland people they could not swim, and such was their ignorance or dread of the water, that any stream which they could not ford was considered a sufficient defence against them. It may well be supposed that such men would be impatient of slavery; some who were taken by the Portugueze refused to eat, and died by that slowest and most resolute mode of suicide.

Unable to withstand such assailants, the Tupiniquins fled before them, and the Ilheos and Porto Seguro were exposed by their flight. Mem de Sa was called upon by the inhabitants of these Captaincies for protection; he embarked in person with an

[page] 283

CHAP. IX. 1560.

Expedition against them

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 95—7

adequate force, sailed to the port of Ilheos, and from thence marched towards the place to which the enemy were said to have retreated. On the way there was a marsh or labyrinth of waters to be past; it was discovered that the Aymores had crost it by a bridge of single trees, laid the whole length, which exceeded a mile; and over this the army proceeded. In the night they reached the Savages, fell upon them, slew men, women, and children, sparing none; and, to render their victory complete, set fire to the woods. Mem de Sa was returning in triumph and had reached the coast, when a body of Aymores rose up from ambush, but they were driven into the sea. The allies, who were as active in the water as on land, followed them, and drowned all whom they did not chuse to take prisoners. After this second victory the Governor entered Ilheos, and went straight to the Church of the Virgin to return thanks for his success. Many days had not elapsed before the shore was covered with Savages. The Aymores had collected a great force both of their own nation and of the mountaineers, and were come to take vengeance: they were again defeated, and then humbled themselves, and asked for peace, which was conceded on the usual terms. It is added, that in this expedition Mem de Sa destroyed and burnt three hundred villages of the Savages, and forced those who would not submit to the yoke of the Church to retire above sixty leagues inland; and even at that distance they did not feel themselves safe from the fire and sword of the Portugueze. There is, beyond a doubt, much exaggeration in this account, and probably some falshood: these villages cannot have belonged to the Aymores, nor is it by any means probable that they were the persons conquered, .. for before they could meet the Portugueze in the field they must have essentially changed those habits of warfare which are uniformly ascribed to them; and no lasting advantage was obtained by these victories, but

[page] 284

CHAP. IX. 1561.

in a very few years the Captaincy of the Ilheos was almost destroyed.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 106.

The Tamoyos

Noticias. MSS. 1. 58.

The Jesuits, aided as they now were by a zealous and able Governor, carried on their labours with success: they had already formed five settlements or towns of converted natives, and in the course of this year added six to the number. But while they were thus successful in one part, the Savages became more formidable than ever in another. Mem de Sa had done but half his work at Rio Janeiro. The French whom he had driven from Villegagnon's island had escaped to the main land, and the Tamoyos, assisted by them, and in some degree disciplined by them, were now inflicting cruel retaliation upon the Portugueze for the wrongs which they had endured at their hands. They were a branch of the great Tupi stock, but claimed affinity with none except the Tupinambas, and were enemies to all other tribes, .. especially to the Goayzacares and Goaynazes, with whom they were at deadly war on the side of St. Vicente. Their dwellings were well fortified with palisades, and stronger than those of the Tupinambas, whom they resembled in most of their habits. That which made them most remarkable was their skill in delivering extemporaneous poetry, for which, wherever they went, they were held in high estimation. From the mountains they infested those who dwelt about Piratininga, and from the coast all who were within reach of their canoes. In this bloody visitation the Jesuits confessed the righteous vengeance of Heaven, for the Portugueze had deserved all which they now suffered. The Tamoyos would have been faithful friends could they have been safe from the slave-hunters; made enemies by injustice, they were the most terrible of enemies; they ate all whom they took prisoners, except such women as they reserved for concubines; .. one who was pregnant they spared till her delivery, and then devoured mother and child. Not con-

[page] 285

CHAP. IX. 1561.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2. § 113.

1562.

Da. § 132.

tented with vengeance, they now aimed at rooting out the Portugueze from the country, and it can scarcely be doubted that if the ten thousand Hugonots, or a tenth of that number, who would have colonized in Brazil could they have enjoyed their religion there, had actually emigrated, this object might have been accomplished, harrassed as the Colonists were on the other side by the dreadful Aymores. The Portugueze raised all the force they could to attack them, and were miserably defeated; upon this the tribes who had hitherto remained neutral joined the conquerors, and the Tupis of the interior, who had been in alliance with the Portugueze, renounced their friendship and did the same.

A great body of the confederated tribes assembled to attack St. Paul's: they hoped to surprize it, but one who had formerly been baptized by the Jesuits, fled from them, and revealed the design. All the converted Indians of the neighbourhood were immediately collected within the town, under Martim Affonso Tebyreza, who was the Chief in those parts. His brother, and his nephew Iagoanharo, the Fierce Dog, were with the confederates. The Dog was one of their leaders, and sent to his uncle beseeching him not to expose himself to certain destruction, but to forsake the Portugueze, and bring away all who belonged to him. So confident were they of success, that the old women took with them their seething pots for their cannibal feasts of victory. The Jesuits saved Piratininga; their disciples marched out under the banners of the Church, and fighting like the first Saracens, in full belief that Paradise was to be their reward, their zeal was invincible. The Dog was killed in attempting to force a Church into which the women had retired. His uncle, Martim Affonso, demeaned himself with his usual valour, and with a ferocity which his conversion had not abated;..two

[page] 286

CHAP. IX. 1562.

S. Vasc. C. C. 2. § 132—139.

of the vanquished cried out that they were Catechumens, and called for their spiritual fathers to protect them; but he exclaimed that their crime was too great for forgiveness, and knocked out the brains of both. This Chieftain soon died of a dysentery brought at this time to Piratininga by the slaves of the Portugueze from the adjoining towns. The Jesuits mention him with due honour and gratitude as the person who first received them there, gave them land, assisted them all his life, and finally preserved them in this last and most imminent danger.

Espirito Santo raiaged by the Tamoyos.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 52.

The Portuguese defected.

S. Vasc. C.C. 2. § 144.

1563.

S. Vasc. C. C. 3. § 1.

In other parts the Savages were victorious. The Tamoyos, in their long canoes of twenty oars, baffled all pursuit, and ravaged the coasts with impunity. Coutinho returning from Portugal to his Captaincy of Espirito Santo, which he had left in a state of prosperity, found it almost destroyed. It had been attacked by the Tupinambas on one side, and the Goaynazes on the other; they burnt the sugar-works and besieged the town. Menezes, who had been left with the command, was killed; his successor, D. Simam de Castello-Branco, shared the same fate. Coutinho with his new forces struggled during some years to make head against the enemy, till the solicitations of the Colonists, and the sense of his own inability longer to resist without aid, induced him to request the Governor's assistance. Mem de Sa sent his own son Fernam with a flotilla of coasting vessels. They landed at the mouth of the River Quiricare, where they were joined by the forces of the Captaincy, fell upon the Savages, and made some slaughter among them. Before the conquerors could reimbark, the enemy rallied, attacked them, threw them into confusion, and routed them with great loss, Fernam de Sa himself being among the slain. One calamity followed another. The small-pox was carried to the Island of Itaparica, and from thence to St. Salva-

[page] 287

CHAP. IX. 1563.

dor; it spread along the coast northward, and above thirty thousand of the Indians whom the Jesuits had reclaimed were cut off by the contagion.

Nobrega arul Anchicta ga to treat for peace.

During the long war with the Tamoyos, Nobrega repeatedly preached aloud, both from the pulpit and in the market-place, that they were prosperous because the right was on their side, and therefore God was with them. The Portugueze, he said, had, in contempt of treaties, fallen upon them, enslaved some, and suffered their allies to devour others; and this vengeance was the allotment of Divine Justice. At length he and Anchieta, having consulted with the Governor, resolved to put themselves into the hands of these Savages, with the hope of effecting a peace. A more perilous embassy was never undertaken. Francesco Adorno, a noble Genoese, one of the rich men of Brazil, took them in one of his own vessels, .. as soon as it approached the shore, a shoal of canoes came off to attack it. But when the Tamoyos saw the dress of the Jesuits, they knew that these were the men whose lives were innocent, who were the friends of God, and the protectors of the Indians: this, though it is Jesuit's language, is here also the language of truth. Anchieta addressed them in their own tongue; and in spite of all the treachery which they had experienced from the Portugueze, their confidence in the character of the Company was such, that some of them came on board, listened to what was proposed, and carried the vessel safely into port.

The next day the Chiefs of two settlements came to treat with these Ambassadors, sent twelve youths to St. Vicente as hostages, and took Nobrega and Anchieta on shore to a place called Iperoyg, where Caoquira, an old Chief, received them for his guests. They erected a church here, such as they could, thatched with palm leaves, and daily performed mass. They awed the Savages by these ceremonies, and by the mysteries

[page] 288

CHAP. IX. 1563.

which they preached; they excited their admiration and respect by the decency and holiness of their deportment, and they won their love by manifesting a disinterested good-will towards them, of which all their conduct in Brazil bore testimony. It is more than probable that this embassy was the salvation of the Portugueze colonies. Their hosts told them that a new and more terrible attack had been intended; that two hundred canoes were ready to lay waste the coasts, and that all the archers who inhabited the banks of the Paraiba had leagued together, and bound themselves never to cease from war till they had destroyed the Captaincy and made themselves lords of the land once more. This danger was still to be averted. Many of the confederated clans heard with great displeasure that these advances for peace had been received, and one Chief, by name Aimbere, set out with ten canoes to break off the treaty. He had given his daughter to a Frenchman, and beside this alliance with their enemies, had a stronger motive for hating the Portugueze, for in one of their slaving parties he had fallen into their hands; they put him in irons, and forced him on board their vessel, but he leaped overboard fettered as he was, and escaped by swimming¹². On the day after his arrival a conference was held to determine whether the proffered peace should be accepted. Aimbere demanded, as a preliminary, that three

¹² The Jesuits say this Aimbere was so ferocious that when one of his twenty wives had offended him he ripped her open. They say, also, that he came to Iperoyg with an intent to kill Nobrega and Anchieta, and all the Portugueze who manned the bark which brought them. His subsequent conduct seems to disprove this charge; and the former crime, barbarous as the Brazilian savages were, would have been more credible if related of a Portuguese, .. for among that people the murder of a wife is even now scarcely regarded as an offence against the law.

[page] 289

CHAP. IX. 1563.

S.Vasc. C.C. 3. § 7—12. V. de Anch. 2. 5.

Chiefs who had seceded from the alliance and taken part with the Portugueze against the allies, should be delivered up, that they might be killed and eaten. The Jesuits replied, it was not possible to comply with such a demand. The Chiefs in question were members of the Church of God, and friends of the Portugueze; the first duty which his countrymen regarded, was to keep inviolate their promised faith, and the resoluteness with which they should do so, in the present instance, ought to be regarded favourably by the Tamoyos, as proof of their fidelity; for were it otherwise, reasonably might they conclude that men who broke their faith with their friends, would not keep it with their enemies. Aimbere's answer was, that if the Portugueze would not give up these men who had slain and devoured so many of his friends, there should be no peace; and as he spoke for a large part of the hordes of Rio de Janeiro, the conference seemed to be at an end. But old Pindobuzu, the Great Palm, chief of the village wherein the meeting was held, took him by the hand, and using the authority to which his age entitled him, prevented him from committing any act of violence, to which he seemed inclined. Nobrega found it best to procrastinate; he agreed that the demand should be made to the Governor of St. Vicente, and Aimbere chose to go and make it in person; his intention was, if he did not succeed in his immediate object, to promote a quarrel and break off the negociations. Nobrega, on his part, wanted an opportunity to communicate what he had learnt, and his injunction to the Government was, that on no account should they accede to so impious a proposal, whatever the consequences of the refusal might be to himself and his companion.

Meantime the Great Palm's son, Paranapuzu, the Great Sea, who was absent when the Jesuits arrived, heard of their arrival and the influence which they had obtained over his father, and

2 P

[page] 290

CHAP. IX. 1563.

S.Vasc. C.C. 3. § 13. 14.

he hastened home with a determination to kill them, .. saying his father was an old man, and would not put him to death for it. Nobrega and Anchieta saw his canoe coming, and soon perceived they were aimed at; they fled as fast as they could, got into the house of the Great Palm, who was unluckily from home, and there, on their knees, began the service of the Eve of the Holy Sacrament, the next day being the festival of the Body of God. To the efficacy of these prayers, and to the eloquence of Anchieta, they ascribed their preservation; for the Savage plainly told them he came to kill them, but that seeing what manner of men they were he had altered his mind.

Nobrega goes to St. Vicente.

Anchieta's vow.

S.Vasc. C.C. 3. § 19—22.

When they had been two months at Iperoyg, the Provincial Government of St. Vicente wished to consult with them, before peace was finally concluded: the Tamoyos did not think it prudent to part with both hostages, and it was agreed that Anchieta should remain. The continence of these fathers, when women, according to custom, were offered them, had occasioned great admiration in their hosts, and they asked Nobrega how it was that he seemed to abhor what other men so ardently desired. He took a scourge out of his pocket, and said that by tormenting the flesh, he kept it in subjection. Nobrega was now an old man, and well nigh worn out with indefatigable exertions, but Anchieta was in the prime of manhood, and being thus left alone, without any one to stay him if his foot should slip, he made a vow to the Virgin that he would compose a poem upon her life, trusting to preserve his own purity by thus fixing his thoughts upon the Most Pure. It was no easy matter to sing the Song of Zion in a strange land; he had neither paper, pen, nor ink; so he composed his verses while walking on the shore, then traced them in the sand, and day by day committed them to memory.

3. § 18.

1. § 69.

Nobrega on his arrival at St. Vicente found that the fortress

[page] 291

CHAP. IX. 1563.

Sim. de Vasc. Chr. da Com. 3. § 24—25.

had been taken by assault, the Captain killed, and all his family carried away by the Savages. One of the Jesuits had obtained from the natives the name of Abare Bebe, the Flying Father, because of the rapidity with which he hastened from one place to another, wherever his services were needed. Nobrega deserved the same appellation. He rested not till he had carried the deputies of the Tamoyos to Itanhaem, and reconciled them with the reduced natives there; then to Piratininga, where in like manner a solemn reconciliation was effected in the Church, and peace established between all the various hordes in the adjoining country. This was the work of three months, during which time Anchieta was in a perilous state among the Savages. Those who were inimical to peace were eager to break off the treaty, and even fixed a day for eating him, if by that time their deputation did not return. One party, impatient of longer inactivity, undertook a hostile expedition, and brought back some Portugueze prisoners. Anchieta agreed for their ransom; it did not arrive as soon as the captors expected, and they determined to devour them. The Jesuit had now no other resource but prophecy, and he boldly averred that the ransom would come on the morrow, before a certain hour. The boat arrived accordingly. He had given a lucky, and as it should seem no difficult guess, at the persons who would come in it, and the nature of the ransom, .. of which he could not well be ignorant, having made the bargain himself, .. such however as the prophecy is, it is registered among his miracles. A bolder prediction was, that he should not be eaten, when he was threatened with that fate; nothing was risked by the assertion, and it probably contributed to his preservation.

That Anchieta could work miracles was undoubtedly believed both by the Portugueze and by the natives, each according to their own superstitions. The former sent volumes of attestations

[page] 292

CHAP. IX. 1563.

S. Vasc. C.C. 3. § 29. 30.

to Rome after his death, surnamed him the Thaumatourgos of the New World, and endeavoured to get him canonized; but never did he derive so substantial a benefit from his miraculous character as now, when he was in the hands of the Tamoyos. They called him the Great Paye of the Christians, and said there was a power in him which withheld the hands of men; and this opinion saved his life. Those persons who had gone to St. Vicente with Nobrega, came back suddenly, disgusted and alarmed; they had been told by a slave that there was a design of murdering them, and upon this fear they fled, fully believing the false intelligence; in which belief they were confirmed because one of Aimbere's companions, they said, had been slain by a certain Domingos de Braga¹³. The men of Rio de Janeiro hearing this, concluded that the treaty was broken, as they wished, and returned to their own villages. They would have taken Anchieta with them, if he had not been protected by the Great Palm. Another party were restrained from killing him only by their persuasion that he was a Conjurer, an argument which the Great Palm urged with excellent effect, enforcing it with all his authority, and a threat of vengeance. There was one Antonio Dias with him, who was come to ransom his wife and children; he happened to be a mason, and the plea which preserved his life was, that he built the houses of the Christian Payes, and of their God, and therefore that God would protect him. Anchieta had won the affections of those with whom he had now thus long been domesticated, for, besides his prophecies and conjurations, he healed their diseases both by the lancet and the not

¹³ This is probably the person mentioned by Hans Stade, as one of the prisoners whom he directed how to steer their course in case they could fly, and who, he afterwards heard, had fled.

[page] 293

CHAP. IX. 1563.

S. Vasc. C.C. 3. § 27.

less effectual instrument of faith. His earnest zeal for their salvation must also have procured the respect of those who could not but perceive its evident sincerity. A child was born misshapen, .. the mother instantly buried it, .. Anchieta hastened to open the grave and sprinkle it before it was quite dead. In another instance the same zeal was more usefully directed. A woman was delivered who had changed husbands during her pregnancy; a child born under such circumstances was called Maraba, signifying of a mixed or doubtful breed, and it was the custom to bury all such children alive: he was in time to save this after it had been laid in the earth, and to make the mother nurse it; the awe with which he was regarded prevailing over this cruel practice.

Peace with the Tamoyo.

S. Vasc. C. C. 5. § 31. 3. § 35.

At length the very Tamoyo made his appearance who was said to have been killed by Domingos, and the origin of a report which had so greatly endangered the Missionary was found to be that, being afraid of this Mamaluco, he had fled into the woods. Shortly afterwards the terms of peace were concluded, and Anchieta left Iperoyg, after a residence there of five months. His first leisure was devoted to the fulfilment of his vow, and he wrote down the poem which he had composed on the sand, comprizing the whole history of the Virgin¹⁴ in more than five thousand Latin verses.

¹⁴ En tibi quæ vovi, Mater sanctissima, quondam

Carmina, cum sævo singerer hoste latus;

Dum mea Tamuyas præsentia mitigat hostes,

Tractoque tranquillum pacis inermis opus.

Hic tua materno me gratia fovit amore,

Te corpus tutum mensque regente fuit.

This poem is not without some gleams of passion and poetry, though he praises and prays to the Virgin through the whole A.B.C.

[page] 294

CHAP. IX. 1564.

Pestilence and famine.

S. Vasc. C. C. 3. § 38.

Board of Consicience.

The small-pox had now carried off three-fourths of the natives of the Reconcave. Pestilence was followed by famine, nor was the famine in this instance the effect of plague, but it seemed as if there was some prevailing principle in the atmosphere¹⁵, destructive alike to animal and vegetable life; the fruits withered and fell before they ripened. A second mortality took place, six of the eleven settlements which the Jesuits had formed were destroyed, so many of their inhabitants died, and so many fled into the interior. The Portugueze, in the true spirit of a people who permit the traffic in human flesh, profited by the misery of their neighbours, and purchased slaves with food. Some sold themselves, some their children, and some the stolen children of others. The validity of this purchase was made a case of conscience, and there was at this time a Board of Conscience¹⁶ at Lisbon, to which the question was referred. The use of such a tribunal was to find out excuses for things plainly in defiance of that law which is the revealed will of God, and that moral sense, which, if unperverted, is its infallible expounder: the decision was, that in extreme distress a man might lawfully sell himself or his children for food. The right of purchasing was never questioned; though it seems the purchasers were not without some scruples upon this score, and some wholesome anticipations of death-bed remorse. The Governor, the Bishop, the Ouvidor Geral, and Luis de Gram, now sole Provincial, (for Nobrega because of his years and infirmities had been relieved from the office) met together when this answer was

¹⁵ A like remark is found in the Lettres Edif. T. 9. P. 379. La peste ayant cessé d'affliger nos Neophytes, s'etoit repandue dans les campagnes; le bled qui etoit deja en fleurs, se trouva tout corrompu par l'infection de l'air.

¹⁶ Tribunal da Mesa da Consciencia.

[page] 295

CHAP. IX. 1564.

S. Vasc. C.C. 3. § 41. 42.

received, and promulgated it to quiet those conscientious slavedealers, who did not think that a mess of pottage was a sufficient price to pay for the best birth right of man, till the casuists had approved the bargain. There arose however another difficulty: a great proportion of these slaves had been sold neither by themselves nor their parents, consequently they could not be retained under this sentence; but their owners were not willing to part with them; it was thought dangerous to let them join the unreclaimed hordes, and a convenient scruple was started concerning the probability of their apostatizing if they were set free. The result was a compromise between conscience and knavery; these slaves were told that they were actually free, but that they must serve their possessors for life, receiving yearly wages; and if they fled, they were to be pursued, brought back, punished, and forfeit one year's hire: the masters, on the other hand, were neither to sell, give, nor exchange them, nor take them out of Brazil. These regulations produced no relief to the oppressed; the only effect was, that the slave-holders added perjury to their other crimes, and when they registered a slave, made him swear whatever they pleased to dictate. After the famine had ceased, many of the converts returned to the Jesuit settlements, and those who could not find their wives, would fain have taken others; but as it could not be ascertained whether the former were dead or astray, they were not permitted to marry again till a considerable time had elapsed; a circumstance which dissatisfied them and greatly embarrassed the Missionaries.

The Queen Regent and her Council were not pleased that Mem de Sa had not retained possession of Villegagnon's island; and when intelligence arrived of the peace which Nobrega and Anchieta had concluded with the Tamoyos, they resolved not to let slip the opportunity of establishing themselves at Rio de Janeiro, and finally excluding the French. Estacio de Sa, the Go-

[page] 296

CHAP. IX. 1564.

S. Vasc. C. C. 3. § 56. 57. Do. Vida de Anch. 2. 10. § 1. 2.

vernor's nephew, was sent out with two galeons to Bahia, and carried with him orders for his uncle to supply him with the force of the colony for this service. Mem de Sa collected all the vessels he could, and instructed Estacio to enter the bar of Rio de Janeiro, observe the force of the enemy and the number of their ships, and, if there were good hope of victory, decoy them out into the open sea; but by all means to preserve peace with the Tamoyos, and if it was possible to have Nobrega's advice, to do nothing of importance without it.

Expedition of Estacio de Sa against the French.

Estacio reached his place of destination in February, and immediately dispatched a bark to St. Vicente, requesting Nobrega to come to him as speedily as he could. He then began to reconnoitre the coast. They took a Frenchman, and learnt from him that the Tamoyos in that part of the country had broken the peace, and were again in alliance with his countrymen. This intelligence was not generally credited; a party of boats went over the bar to water, and it was confirmed, for one which had advanced beyond the others up a fresh-water stream, was attacked by seven canoes, and lost four of its men before it could escape. Every place where the French vessels could be attacked was protected by the Tamoyos, and the beach was covered with them. Estacio tried some slight skirmishes with little success; he found that the enemies ships would not put out to sea, that he could not land for want of small craft, and indeed that his force was not sufficient for the enterprize; and having learnt from a prisoner who escaped to him, that St. Vicente was at war also with the Savages, he thought it most prudent to proceed there, strengthen that Captaincy, consult with Nobrega (whose delay he attributed to the hostilities in that quarter) and there reinforce himself. In the month of April therefore he set sail. On the midnight of the following day Nobrega entered the harbour in a gale of wind, and cast anchor, glad to have escaped

[page] 297

CHAP. IX. 1564.

S. Vasc. C. C. 3. § 58—60. V. de Anch. 2. 10.

the storm. He thought the fleet were here; but when day broke the enemies canoes were seen on all sides; .. the wind which had driven him in still continued; it was impossible to fly; his people gave themselves up for lost, and commended their souls to God; when presently sails appeared in the offing, and Estacio, driven back by the same gale, came up and anchored with the fleet beside them. The next day, which was Easter, the whole expedition landed upon Villegagnon's island, and there Nobrega preached a thanksgiving sermon for his providential deliverance. Estacio now consulted with him, and the result was a confirmation of the resolution he had before taken, to refit at St. Vicente, lay in stores, and provide row-boats, without which many posts which it would be necessary to conquer could not be attacked.

Nobrega prevents him from abandoning the attempt.

They set sail accordingly and reached Santos. Here it was found that the Tamoyos of Iperoyg, with whom Nobrega and Anchieta had been left, were true to their engagements, that many of them had come to aid the Portugueze, and that Cunhambeba¹⁷, who had an especial friendship for Anchieta, had taken post with all his people upon the frontier of the Tupis to defend his friends. But the Colonists here were unwilling to make any farther exertions than were necessary for their own immediate preservation: they magnified the strength of the French and their allies, and dwelt upon the difficulty of the enterprize with such effect that Estacio himself was staggered, and said to Nobrega, What account, Father, could I give to God and the King if this armament should be lost! Sir, replied the Jesuit, I will render account to God for all, and if it be necessary,

¹⁷ This is the same word as the Konyan Bebe of Hans Stade, and not improbably the same person, though he now appears as the friend of the Portugueze.

2 Q

[page] 298

CHAP. IX. 1564.

Vasc. C. C. 3. § 60—63.

I will go to the King and answer for you before him. Having persuaded him, it was necessary to encourage the soldiers also; them he influenced by his spiritual authority, and won by his policy: he took them to Piratininga, where they were encouraged by seeing so many converted Indians disciplined and ready for war, and where their own appearance contributed to reduce others, who during this visit brought their bows, made peace, supplied provisions, and offered their aid for the expedition.

They reach Rio de Janeiro.

1565.

Great part of the necessary force and stores was collected here: he then descended to the coast, and went from place to place, preaching to the people upon the necessity of bringing this expedition to the end desired, and promising, in the name of the Governor, forgiveness of temporal sins to all who should embark in it: in a colony which was continually supplied with convicts this pardon was no inefficient bounty. Mamalucos and Indians were raised, canoes made ready, and stores provided: others came from Bahia and Espirito Santo, forming altogether a more considerable force than those persons who opposed the expedition had thought it possible to raise. These preparations lasted till the end of the year. In January they were ready with six ships of war, a proportionate number of small craft, and nine canoes of Mamalucos and Indians, with whom Nobrega sent Anchieta and another Jesuit, being the best commanders that could be appointed over these people. They sailed from Bertioga on the twentieth of January, St. Sebastian's day, and taking this for a good omen, they chose that saint for their patron in the expedition, thereby complimenting their young King, and thus at once gratifying loyalty and superstition. The weather was against them; the canoes and light vessels did not reach the bar of Rio de Janeiro till the beginning of March, and then they had to wait for the Commander and the storeships, who came on

[page] 299

CHAP. IX. 1565.

Vasc. C.C. 3. § 64—73.

slowly, beating against unfavourable winds. This delay exhausted the patience of the Indians, especially as their provisions began to fail, and they told Anchieta that they would not stay there to die for hunger. Upon this he had recourse once more to those bold promises which Catholic historians so willingly record as miracles; the storeships, he said, would arrive before such an hour, and the Captain soon after them. There is good reason to suspect that he had been upon the look-out, for he was absent when these allies formed their determination of withdrawing, and had hardly finished his prophecy before the vessels hove in sight.

March 6.

3 Sam. 2. 4.

As soon as the fleet had joined they entered the bar, and the troops were landed at the place afterwards called Villa Velha, near the Sugar Loaf Rock, which with another rock protected them on two sides. Here they entrenched themselves. After they had cleared the ground it was discovered that there was nothing but standing water at hand, and that thick and bad, so as to be judged unwholesome; but Giuseppe Adorno, one of the Genoese settlers, and Pedro Martins Naorado, undertook with their people the additional labour of digging a pit in the sand, which supplied them. Hardly had they intrenched themselves before the Tamoyos attacked them. One Indian convert fell into their hands, and instead of carrying him away, they tied him to a tree and made him a butt for their archers. By this they thought to intimidate his companions, but it exasperated them; they sallied, put them to flight, and won their canoes. Six days afterwards intelligence was received that the Tamoyos lay in ambush with seven and twenty canoes, in a place where the Portugueze must necessarily pass them: they went prepared for this attack, and routed them a second time. These trifling successes encouraged them, and they sung in triumphant hope a verse from the scriptures, saying, "The bows of the mighty

[page] 300

CHAP. IX. 1565.

Vasc. C.C. 3. § 74.

men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength." Well might they speak of the bows of the mighty, for an arrow sent by a Tamoyo, would fasten the shield to the arm which held it, and sometimes it has past through the body, and continued its way with such force as to pierce a tree and hang quivering in the trunk.

1567.

The war was carried on with little vigour. After more than a year had been wasted in idleness or petty skirmishes¹⁸, Nobrega came to the camp, and dispatched Anchieta to Bahia there to be ordained, for as yet he was only a temporal coadjutor, and to look after the affairs of the Company. He had more important business to transact with the Governor. To him he represented that nothing could be effected with so small a force, and that either one effort more must be made to strengthen it, or the attempt must be abandoned. Mem de Sa raised all the succours he could, and arrived with them in person on the eighteenth of January in the ensuing year, two years, saving two days, since the expedition had sailed from St. Vicente. As St. Sebastian's day was so near, it was determined to defer the

¹⁸ It was observed in all the skirmishes which took place that the balls of the French frequently made no wound where they struck. This miracle is easily explained, .. the gunpowder was what they brought out for traffic; .. and had it been good at first, it must have been materially injured, if it had remained any length of time in that damp climate; .. an effect frequently experienced by English ships of war in the West-Indies. To make the wonder complete Anchieta remarks, and Vasconcellos after him, how easily shot-wounds, when made, were healed. A surgeon, Ambrosio Fernandes, took the credit of this to himself, and he was killed in the very next engagement, as if to show that the whole merit belonged to the Virgin and St. Sebastian. Vasc. C. C. 3. § 80.

There was an intention about twenty years ago of forming a public establishment either at Barbadoes or Jamaica for re-making gunpowder. I do not know if the plan was effected.

[page] 301

CHAP. IX. 1567.

Victory of the Portugueze.

Death of Estacio de Sa.

Vasc. C. C. 3. § 74—105.

Rocha Pitta 2. § 63.

attack till that auspicious morning, and then assault Uraçumiri, the strong hold of the French. The place was stormed: not one of the Tamoyos escaped; two Frenchmen were killed, and five being made prisoners, were hung, according to the ferocious system of warfare which was then pursued by the Europeans in America. Immediately the victors proceeded to Parana-pucuy, the other fortress of the enemy, which was in Cat Island, and here they were obliged to cannonade the fortifications, which were remarkably strong. This also was carried. But Estacio de Sa received in the first action an arrow in his face, of which wound, after lingering a month, he died. His kinsman, Salvador Correa de Sa, was appointed Chief Captain in his stead. Few of the French fell in these conflicts; they had four ships in the harbour, and in these, after their allies were thus totally defeated, they sailed to Pernambuco, and took possession of Recife, meaning to establish themselves there. This choice of place proves how well they had surveyed the coast; and how wisely their plans were laid, had they possessed strength to support them. But Olinda, then one of the most flourishing towns in Brazil, was too near; the commander of that settlement attacked them, and once more compelled them to fly. One of them, before he embarked, expressed his despondency at the hopeless state of their affairs, by graving these words upon a rock, Le munde va de pis ampi¹⁹, .. things get from bad to worse.

Never was a war in which so little exertion had been made, and so little force employed on either side, attended by consequences so important. The French Court was too busy in

¹⁹ This is probably his own kakography rather than Rocha Pitta's, because it has evidently been written by ear.

[page] 302

CHAP. IX. 1567.

burning and massacring Hugonots to think of Brazil; and Coligny, after his generous plans had been ruined by the villainous treachery of Villegagnon, regarded the Colony no longer: the day for emigration from his country was over, and they who should have colonized Rio de Janeiro were bearing arms against a bloody and implacable enemy, in defence of every thing dear to man. Portugal was almost as inattentive as France. The death of Joam was to Brazil an irreparable loss; for though the Queen Regent had pursued his plans awhile, it was with diminished zeal, and diminished power: and when she was compelled to resign the administration into the hands of Cardinal Henrique, he discovered the same utter lack of resolution and activity, which was afterwards manifested during his short and wretched reign. Had Mem de Sa been less earnest in his duty, or Nobrega less able and less indefatigable, this country, which now contains the capital of Brazil and of the Braganzas, would have been at this day French.

S. Sebastians founded.

Ret. Arn. 1603. p. 114.

Immediately after his victory, the Governor, conformably to his instructions, traced out a new city, which he named St. Sebastians, in honour of the Saint under whose patronage they had taken the field, and of the King. He began also to fortify both sides of the bar. The whole of the works were completed by the Indians under the Jesuits, without any expence whatever to the state. In the midst of the city he assigned the Company ground for a College, and in the King's name endowed it for the support of fifty brethren, a donation which they had well deserved, and which was ratified at Lisbon the ensuing year. The Alcaide Mor of the new city was put in possession of his office with all the usual formalities. The Governor gave him the keys of the gates, upon which he went in, locked them, and the two wickets also, and bolted them, the Governor remaining without. Then the Alcaide called out to him, asking if he wished to enter, and

[page] 303

CHAP. IX. 1567.

An. do Rio de Jan. MSS. c. 8.

who he was; to which he replied, that he was the Commander of that city of St. Sebastian, in the King's name, and would come in. The gates were then opened, in acknowledgment that he was the Capitam Mor of that city and fortress of the King of Portugal.

A Protestant put to death.

S. Vasc. C.C. 3. § 1 16.

V. de Anch. 2. 14. § 67.

Mem de Sa stained the foundations of his city with innocent blood. Among the Hugonots who had been compelled to fly from Villegagnon's persecution, was one whose name looks more like that of an English than of a Frenchman; the Portugueze write it Joam Boles. He was a man of considerable learning, being well versed both in Greek and Hebrew. Luis da Gram caused him to be apprehended, with three of his comrades, one of whom feigned to become a Catholic; the others were cast into prison, and there Boles had remained eight years, when he was now sent for to be martyred at Rio de Janeiro, for the sake of terrifying his countrymen, if any should yet be lurking in those parts. The Jesuits boast that Anchieta convinced him of his errors, and reconciled him to the Holy Catholic Church; but the story which they themselves relate, seems to show that he had been tempted to apostatize by a promise that his life should be spared, or at least that his death should be made less cruel; for when he was brought out to the place of execution, and the executioner bungled in his bloody office, Anchieta hastily interfered, and instructed him how to dispatch the heretic as speedily as possible, fearing, it is said, lest he should become impatient, being an obstinate man and newly reclaimed, and that thus his soul would be lost. The priest who in any manner accelerates the execution of death, is thereby suspended from his office, and therefore this is enumerated by his biographer among the virtuous actions of Anchieta.

The Indian converts who had assisted in the conquest were settled near the city upon the lands of the Jesuits; the settlement

[page] 304

CHAP. IX. 1568.

prospered, and became a good advanced post against the Tamoyos, and the French and English interlopers. The Indian Chief, Martim Affonso²⁰, was stationed with his people about a league from the city, at a place now called St. Lourenço. The Tamoyos cherished a deadly hatred toward this Chief, and eagerly desired to take him alive and devour him. It happened that four French vessels arrived at Cape Frio, perhaps those which had been successively expelled from Rio de Janeiro and Recife: the Savages asked them to assist in attacking their common enemy. Mem de Sa had returned to St. Salvadors; there was no force at St. Sebastians of which they could stand in fear, and it was no new thing for the French to deliver up prisoners to their cannibal allies. They entered the bar without opposition, for the forts were incomplete, and not yet provided with artillery. The Governor, Salvador Correa, sent to St. Vicente for assistance, and learning what was the main object of the enemy, dispatched what succour he could to Martim Affonso, and prepared himself to defend the city, which was not yet walled.

Martim Affonso was not easily dismayed. He had time to send away the women and children before the French and the Tamoyos landed; and fortunately for him, after they had landed, they delayed the attack till the following morning. During the night, the little succour which Salvador Correa could spare, arrived, and they resolved to sally and surprise the enemy; this attempt was completely successful. The ships meantime had been left by the tide, and heeled so that their guns could not be brought to bear; the Portugueze therefore fired at them at pleasure from a falcon²¹, which was their only piece of artillery; and

²⁰ Perhaps the son of Tebyreça, whose death is before related.

²¹ Falcam pedreiro. The falcon peterero, or falconet, carried a bullet of one pound five ounces.

[page] 305

CHAP. IX. 1568.

S. Vasc. C.C.

3. § 129—136.

when the tide returned, the French made off, having sustained considerable loss. This was the last alarm which they gave to Rio de Janeiro. When the reinforcements arrived from St. Vicente, Salvador pursued them to Cape Frio; they were gone, but another ship of two hundred tons had arrived there, well manned, and mounting so many guns, that the crew thought themselves in no danger from a flotilla of canoes. They made a brave defence. Salvador himself, in attempting to board, was three times beaten down into the sea, and every time his Indians saved him, though he was heavily armed. The French Captain maintained the deck in complete armour, and with a sword in each hand. One of the allies, provoked at seeing the arrows glance off him, asked if there was no place to be aimed at, and was told, the visor; his next arrow pierced him in the eye, and slew him. The ship soon yielded; and its guns were planted to fortify the bar. When Sebastian was informed of Martim Affonso's gallant conduct, he sent him presents, among which was one of his own garments, as a token of particular esteem.

Rel. Ann. 1603. ff. 113.

Another party of French attempted to establish themselves at Paraiba, where for some time they carried on a profitable trade, and became formidable by their alliance with the natives. Martim Leytam was sent to reduce these allies: he took with him some Jesuits, the best volunteers on such a service. The enemy were found too well entrenched to be forced,.. one of the Fathers however leapt over their palisado into the midst of them, safer in his habit than he would have been in the completest panoply. They listened to his persuasions, laid down their arms, and expelled the French. Paraiba was colonized, the Indians were brought together in settlements, and eight or nine sugar works soon established. A new Captain came of the slave-hunters faction; he expelled the Fathers; their converts were harrassed and dispersed, and the colony declined as rapidly as it had prospered.

2 R

[page 306]

CHAPTER X.

Luiz de Vasconcellos appointed Governor.—Martyrdom of the forty Jesuits.—Vasconcellos killed.—Death of Nobrega and of Mem de Sa.—Luiz de Brito, Governor.—The Colonies neglected.—Division of Brazil into two Governments, and re-union.—Final Defeat of the Tamoyos.—Expedition in search of Mines.—Portugal usurped by Felipe II.—State of Brazil at that time.

CHAP. X. 1569.

Luis de Vasconcellos appointed Governor.

Rocha Pitta. 3. § 46.

Azevedo is appointed Provincial.

S. Vasc. C. C. 40 § 9.

Sebastian had now, at the age of fourteen, assumed the government. He prolonged yet for two years the administration of Mem de Sa, which had been so long and so successful, and then sent out D. Luiz de Vasconcellos to succeed him. A great reinforcement of Jesuits went out with the new Governor, under F. Ignacio de Azevedo, who had once before been in Brazil as Visitor, and was now appointed Provincial. Azevedo was the eldest son of an honourable family; he entered the order in 1547, and had held sundry offices in it before he was nominated to this high and important station, by the famous Francisco de Borja, then General. Pius V. granted a plenary indulgence to all who should accompany him, gave him some valuable relics, among which was a head of one of the eleven thousand Virgins; and, as an especial favour, permission to have a copy taken of St. Luke's portrait of the Virgin, which had never been permitted to any

[page] 307

CHAP. X. 1570.

one before. The General authorized him to take as many Missionaries from Portugal as the province could spare, and three volunteers from every other which he should pass through.

The Santiage leaves the flect.

S. Vasc. C.C. 4. § 18—25.

Azevedo embarked with nine and thirty brethren in the Santiago; Pedro Diaz, with twenty in the Governor's ship, and Francisco de Castro, with ten others, in the ship of the Orphans, so called, because she carried out a number of girls, whose parents had died of the plague, and who were therefore sent by the Court to marry and settle in Brazil. Besides these, there were several aspirants on board, who were to be upon trial during the voyage, and then, if they were found worthy, to be admitted into the Society. The fleet consisted of seven ships and one caravel. They reached Madeira, and there the Governor resolved to wait for a favourable season, because he dreaded the calms of Guinea. Azevedo had freighted half the Santiago for himself and his comrades; unhappily for them the other half her cargo was to be disposed of at the Isle of Palma (one of the Canaries), and a fresh lading taken in there for Brazil. The Master therefore, conformably to his owners instructions, asked and obtained permission to run for the island. Short as the passage was, it was known to be dangerous, because French pirates were always cruizing in those parts; the Brethren besought Azevedo to remove into another ship, and not expose himself thus unnecessarily; this he would not consent to do, but he gave permission to any of his comrades to take the precaution if they pleased, and four novices accepted it. Their places were supplied by four others, who were ambitious of martyrdom, and that ambition was soon gratified.

Azevedo and his companions massacred by the French.

The day after they had departed, five sail of the French appeared off Madeira. D. Luiz put to sea, and endeavoured to bring them to action; their business was to plunder, and never to fight when they could avoid it; and they stood off towards the

[page] 308

CHAP. X. 1570.

S.Vasc C.C. 4. § 25—111.

Tellos. C.C. 4. 9.

Canaries. It was a squadron from Rochelle, under Jacques Soria, a Hugonot, a man as little disposed to show mercy towards any Catholic priests, as they would have been to show it towards him. The Santiago had the start of these enemies, and reached the island in seven days; but the wind was fresh and unfavourable; they could not make the city, and were obliged to put into a port by Terça-corte. From hence to Palma was only three leagues by land; by sea the distance was considerably greater. A French colonist who had been a playfellow of Azevedo's at Porto, earnestly advised him and his companions not to trust themselves in the ship, but to go by land, because it was not improbable that some pirate might fall in with them. His advice was given in vain, and they re-embarked. The Santiago sailed with a bad wind in the morning of one day, and at day-break on the following was off Palma, three leagues out at sea, with the French in sight. The Portugueze made an unavailing resistance, and Jacques Soria did by the Jesuits as they would have done by him and all of his sect, .. put them to death. One of the novices escaped, being in a lay-habit; the rest were thrown overboard, some living, some dying, some dead.

Fate of the other Missionaries.

These tidings soon reached Madeira, and the remaining Missionaries celebrated the triumph of their comrades; .. a triumph which many of them were yet to partake. The fleet, notwithstanding they had waited for the healthy season, suffered dreadfully from the pestilential climate of the Cape de Verds; and when, after a long and deplorable voyage, they came in sight of Brazil, the wind blew so violently along shore, that they could neither weather Cape St. Augustines, nor make the land, but were driven as far as New Spain, where they were dispersed. One vessel got into Hispaniola, one into Cuba; what became of the others is not mentioned: it only appears that, after another ineffectual attempt to reach their destination, the fleet drifted to

[page] 309

CHAP. X. 1570.

S. Vasc. C.C. 4. § 112—114.

Cien-Fuegos. Vida del S. Pr. De Borja. 1. 5. c. 12.

Miracles attending this great martyrdom.

the Azores. By this time the ships were disabled, and the men so reduced in number, that when D. Luiz once more tried his evil fortune, one vessel was sufficient for the miserable remains of his force. Fourteen Jesuits were with him, under Pedro Diaz. They had not left Tercera a week, when they fell in with one English and four French cruizers, under Jean de Capdeville. Hopeless as resistance was, the Portugueze fought; the Governor¹ fell in the action, and Pedro Diaz, with his brethren, suffered for the intolerance and cruelty of their merciless church. Of sixty-nine Missionaries whom Azevedo took out from Lisbon, only one who was left behind at one of the ports where they touched, arrived at Brazil. The Company never, either before or since, sustained at one time so severe a loss; in their own language they never obtained so glorious a triumph; and this was as much the language of policy as of fanaticism. The machinery of miracles was soon added to a story, which surely needed not the aid of falsehood to render it impressive. It was first said, then sworn to, that after Azevedo was killed, the heretics could not force out of his hand the picture of the Virgin, .. a copy more miraculous than its miraculous original: that when his body was thrown overboard, it stretched out its dead arms, and placed itself in the posture of one crucified; that they took the body on board, bent the limbs by main force out of that hated attitude, and cast it again into the sea; .. it then stood upright upon the waves, extended its arms again in the same manner, holding out the picture as a banner, and so continued till the

¹ Rocha Pitta says, that D. Luiz died at sea of disease. This carelessness is surprising, because it implies ignorance of the martyrdom of Pedro Diaz and his comrades, .. the only kind of facts of which such writers may be supposed not to be ignorant.

[page] 310

CHAP. X. 1570.

Cien-Fusgos. 1. 5. c. 11.

heretic squadron were out of sight, when the prisoners in the Santiago saw it sink plumb down. Shortly afterwards, as a Catholic ship was sailing over the place of martyrdom, the body rose in the same posture, put the picture on board, and descended again; and this picture, with the print of Azevedo's bloody fingers upon it, was shown by the Jesuits at St. Salvador with heroic impudence, and venerated by the people with implicit faith. There is this wide difference between civil and ecclesiastical historians; .. the former narrate those events most fully which have passed in their own times, and later writers always have to condense the materials left them by their predecessors; .. the latter enlarge as they go on, and the last writer is uniformly the most copious, because every one adds his lie to the heap.

Death of Nobrega.

S.Vasc. C.C. 4. § 115.

Nobrega did not live to hear the fate of Azevedo and his companions. He died four months after their murder, in the fifty-third year of his age, worn out with a life of incessant fatigue. It was his happy fortune to be stationed in a country, where none but the good principles of his order were called into action. There is no individual to whose talents Brazil is so greatly and permanently indebted, and he must be regarded as the founder of that system so successfully pursued by the Jesuits in Paraguay; .. a system productive of as much good as is compatible with pious fraud. The day before his death, he went abroad, and took leave of all his friends, as if he were about to undertake a journey; they asked him whither he was going, and his reply was, Home, .. to my own country. No life could be more actively, more piously, or more usefully employed, and the triumphant hope with which it terminated was not the less sure and certain, because of the errors of his belief.

Death of Mem de Sa. Luiz de Brito Governor.

When the death of D. Luiz was known at Lisbon, Luiz de Brito de Almeida was appointed to succeed him. Mem de Sa just lived

[page] 311

CHAP. X. 1572.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 5.

to see his successor arrive, and then died, after an able and prosperous administration of fourteen years. He had the mortification in his latter days of seeing the country neglected. No sooner had the Queen Dowager been compelled to make way for Cardinal Henrique, than every thing began to decline under his imbecil government. Had Joam III. lived ten years longer, such measures were in his time pursued, that towns, fortresses, and cities, would have been built in every direction; .. now, instead of new establishments rising, the old were falling to decay. The annual fleets which used to bring out young, and healthy, and industrious settlers, were discontinued, and the mother country seemed to have become indifferent to the fate of these colonies. Not only were no means taken to forward their progress, and ensure their prosperity, but they were treated with ingratitude as well as neglect, and past services were unrewarded and unremembered. Nothing was done for the children of those colonists who had fallen in expelling the French, .. an event of the utmost importance to the very existence of the Portugueze in America, and which had been chiefly effected by volunteers serving at their own cost. Their descendants, whose property was impaired, and whose claims were disregarded, were of course disgusted, and little likely to make such sacrifices themselves, in case of similar necessity.

Brazil divided into two Governments.

Luiz de Brito did not succeed to the whole authority of his predecessor. The growth of the colony had been so rapid under the able administration of Mem de Sa, and the favour of Joam III. and his Queen after him, that it was now thought advisable to divide it into two governments; St. Sebastians being the seat of the new one, which began with the Captaincy of Porto Seguro, and included every thing south of it. This division was assigned to Doctor Antonio Salema, who was promoted here from Pernambuco. The French still continued to trade at

[page] 312

CHAP. X. 1572.

Final defeat of the Tamoyos.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 55.

Cape Frio, and the Tamoyos were faithful to their alliance with them. Salema determined to rid his district of these enemies. He collected a force of four hundred Portugueze, and seven hundred Indians, and with Christovam de Barros, who had signalized himself in the expulsion of the French from Rio de Janeiro, attacked the Tamoyos and their European allies. Their villages were strongly palisadoed; they made a brave resistance with arrows and harquebusses, and the victory would probably have been doubtful, if Salema had refused quarter to the French, according to the usual system of cruelty upon which they carried on their war. He promised them their lives, and they submitted. Of the Tamoyos a dreadful carnage was made; their loss in killed and in captives is said to have amounted to eight or ten thousand; it was so severe, that the remains of this formidable tribe forsook the coast, and retired to the mountains².

Tourinho's expedition in search of mines.

The Governor of Bahia meantime directed his attention towards making discoveries inland. An opinion prevailed that there were mines of precious stones in the interior of the Captaincy of Porto Seguro, where it bordered upon Espirito Santo. Sebastiam Fernandes Tourinho was sent with a party of adventurers to ascertain this. They went up the river Doce, and having travelled westward for about three months³, sometimes by

² Salema wrote an account of this expedition, to which the author of the Noticias refers, saying, he may be excused from treating upon it more at large. But neither his work nor Salema's has ever been printed; and of the latter, if it be still in existence, I have seen no manuscript. Rocha Pitta, negligent and ignorant as usual, neither mentions this final defeat of the Tamoyos, important as the fact is, nor the division of the government. And Vasconcellos does not carry on his Chronicle farther than the death of Nobrega.

³ Their course is thus described in the manuscript Noticias. From the Doce they entered the Mandij; there they disembarked, and having travelled twenty leagues W.S.W. came to a great lake, called by the natives the mouth of Mando Mandij; or, according to another account, the Mouth of the Sea, because of its magnitude. From hence a river ran to the Doce; its course was West; and forty leagues from the lake was a cataract. They went thirty leagues along this river, then left it; and struck Westward for forty days, during which they travelled about seventy more, and then reached the place where the river fell into the Doce. Here they constructed boats of bark, each capable of containing about twenty men, and went up the river as far as its junction with the Aceei, up which they went four leagues, then left their boats, and held a N. W. course for eleven days, crost the Aceci, and proceeded along its banks fifty leagues, when they found the rocks with the supposed turquoises. This was written so soon after the expedition, that the geography is likely to be as accurate as can be expected.

[page] 313

CHAP. X. 1572.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 40.

Adorno's expedition upon the same secret.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 37.

S.Vasc. C.C. 3. § 51.

land, sometimes by water, found rocks, in which were stones of a colour between green and blue, which they supposed to be turquoises: the natives told them, that on the top of these rocks others were found of brighter colour; and some, which it was thought, from their description, must have contained gold. At the foot of a woody mountain, they found an emerald and a sapphire, each perfect in its kind; and seventy leagues farther, they came to other serras which yielded green stones. Five leagues farther were mountains, in which, according to the report of the natives, there were larger stones, red and green; and beyond them a serra consisting wholly of fine crystal (such is the story) in which they were assured that blue and green stones were found, exceedingly hard and brilliant. With this account Tourinho returned. Antonio Diaz Adorno was then sent upon a second expedition; he had with him one hundred and fifty white men, with four hundred slaves and allied Indians, and he went up the Rio das Caravelas. His people seem to have separated on their return, for some of them came down the Rio Grande in bark-canoes. He brought back a confirmation of Tourinho's account, adding only that on the east side of the serra of crystal there were emeralds, and on the west sapphires. The samples

2 S

[page] 314

CHAP. X. 1572.

Rocha Pitta. 3. § 78—79.

Vasc. Not. Ant. 1. § 51—55.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 75.

which he had collected were imperfect. Brito sent them, together with what Tourinho had brought, to the King; but the information was not attended to at the time, and the evil day of Portugal was drawing on. A third expedition was performed by Diogo Martins Cam, whose appellation of Matante-Negro, or Kill-Negro, marks him for a wicked and cruel man, however enterprizing he may have been. After him Marcos de Azevedo Coutinho went, and brought back a considerable number of stones. Their descendents, and many other persons also, attempted to reach these mines, but the paths which they had opened were over-grown, and the way could no longer be found. Brito began also to search for copper, but soon desisted. The Bahians marvelled at his desisting, for they said that sixty leagues inland, there was a serra where the ore lay in large lumps upon the surface; .. and only at half the distance, they affirmed there were other mountains in which iron was to be found, of finer quality than Milan steel.

Settlement made at Rio Real, and abandoned.

Noticias. MSS. 1 25—26.

The French, driven from the ports which they formerly frequented, now traded to Rio Real, and orders were sent from Portugal to form a settlement there for the purpose of excluding them. Garcia de Avila was sent upon this service; he was of Bahia, and his wealth consisted in great herds of cattle, which fed upon the low lands about Fatuapara Bay, and the Rio de Jacoipe. He had ten folds of kine and horses, and had built in the Reconcave⁴ a considerable settlement, with a stone church of the Virgin, where he maintained a chaplain, and where his name is

⁴ His stock-farm there was infested by two prodigious snakes, one of whom carried off a bull in his presence. His herdsman killed one, and found in its belly ninety-three young pigs, weighing altogether eight arrobus, .. two hundred and fifty-six pounds. Noticias. MSS. 2.46.

[page] 315

CHAP. X. 1572.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 24. R. Pitta. 3. § 61—62.

still preserved. A good body of adventurers was raised in Bahia and the Ilheos, and they colonized three leagues within the bar. The spot was ill chosen, .. no vessel of more than sixty tons could enter; and the land, as far as the tide reached, which was six or seven leagues, was fit for little but cattle: higher up it was very good. Brito was soon obliged to come to their assistance against the Savages: he gave them a severe overthrow, but the situation of the Colony did not please him, and he broke up the settlement. It was not possible to maintain it without a fortress, and he did not build one because the term of his administration was now at an end. Good sugar canes had been found in the plantations of the natives; and, at any other time, the place would not have been so lightly abandoned.

The two Governments reunited.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 56.

Diogo Lourenço da Veiga, Governor.

1 573.

Ericeyra. Port. Rest. t. 1. p. 16.

Brazil offered to the Duke of Braganza.

The division of Brazil into two governments had been found inconvenient, and two years before the expiration of Brito's term, that of Rio de Janeiro was again made subordinate to Bahia. Diogo Lourenço da Veiga was the new Governor⁵. The year of his arrival was that fatal year for Portugal, in which Sebastian and the whole flower of the kingdom were cut off. This event might have been productive of extraordinary consequences to Brazil. Felipe II. of Spain, while he and the different claimants, were harrassing the last miserable days of Henrique's life, by urging him to decide the question of succession, offered all these colonies in absolute sovereignty, with the title of King, to Braganza, if he would waive his claims upon Portugal. Neither he when he made the offer, nor Braganza when he rejected it, was sensible of its importance. The French made a politic

⁵ Que naò volio neste negocio por respeitos que aquí se naò devem declarar, says the author of the Noticias, speaking of the settlement at Rio Real, .. who did not move in the business, for reasons which must not here be spoken of.

[page] 316

CHAP. X. 1578.

Attempt of Antonio the Prior, upon Brazil.

Noticias, MSS. 1. 56.

trial to profit by the disturbances which followed; they dispatched three ships to Rio de Janeiro, and sent in to inform Salvador Correa de Sa, the Governor, that they came with letters from Antonio, the Prior of Crato, whom they called King. He would neither receive the letters, nor permit them to enter, and the bar was too well fortified for them to force their way. Thus ended Antonio's attempt upon Brazil, less disastrously than any of his other enterprizes.

Introduction of the Carmelites,

1580.

and of the Benedictines.

1581.

R. Pitta. 3. § 63. 81—82.

Veiga's administration is distinguished by the introduction of the Carmelites into Brazil, who founded their first convent in the town of Santos. Fr. Domingos Freire led this swarm of drones, whose cells were soon stored for them with honey. Fr. Antonio Ventura led a swarm of Benedictines the following year, who settled at St. Salvador. Veiga died the same year. No provision had been made for such a contingency, though he was at a very advanced age; he, therefore, when he found himself dying, vested his authority with the approbation of the Nobles and People, in the Senado da Camera,.. the Chamber of the City,..and in the Ouvidor Geral,.. the Auditor General, Cosme Rangel de Maeedo. They held the government two years, and Manoel Telles Barreto then came out to supersede them.

State of Brazil at this time.

It was at this time that that account of Brazil was written, which has so often been referred to in this history as the best, oldest, and sometimes the single authority for many of its leading facts. The author had resided seventeen years in that country, and was owner of some sugar-works in Bahia. His materials were written upon the spot, and were arranged at Madrid, to be laid before D. Christovam de Moura, the Portugueze Minister, for the express purpose of informing him of the actual state of these colonies, their infinite importance, and their alarming insecurity. From this very curious and hitherto unprinted memorial, it will here be expedient to describe the state of Brazil as it then was,

[page] 317

CHAP. X. 1581.

adding thereto such particulars as can be collected from other sources.

St. Salvador.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 8.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 19.

Force of the Reconcave.

The city of St. Salvador contained at this time eight hundred inhabitants; the whole Reconcave something more than two thousand; but neither Negroes nor Indians are⁶ included in this enumeration: for it is added, that between them five hundred horse and two thousand foot could be brought into the field. There were forty pieces of small artillery for the defence of the town, and as many larger ones; some of these were planted by the bar, where the channel was so wide, that they could be of no use. If the King's service required it, more than fourteen hundred boats of different sizes could be collected, among which were an hundred capable of carrying artillery, and above three hundred large caravels⁷: there was not a man in the Reconcave but had his boat or his canoe, and no sugar-work had less than four. Had Joam III. lived, who is now in glory, says the Memorialist, he was so fond of this country, and especially of Bahia, that he would have made Brazil one of the finest kingdoms in the world, and St. Salvador, one of the noblest cities in all his dominions. The cathedral church had a pompous but poor establishment, consisting of five Dignitaries, six Canons, two Minor Canons, four Chaplains, one Cura and Coadjutor, four Choristers, and a Master of the Choir; but few of these ministers were in full orders, and it cost the Bishop a considerable portion of his revenue to provide priests for the regular service. The reason of this deficiency was, that the Canons had only thirty milreis a year, the Dignitaries thirty-five, and the Dean forty; and it was a better thing to be chaplain to the Misericordia, or to a sugar-

⁶ Unless there is an error in the manuscript, of two thousand for twenty thousand.

⁷ Caraveloens. Square-sail shipping, i. e. not gallies, which had triangular sails.

[page] 318

CHAP. X. 1581.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 8.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 30.

work, where sixty milreis were given, and the priest was boarded also. The cathedral was in great want of ornaments; of which, says the author, his Majesty ought to be informed, for he takes the tithes with this charge, and it becomes him to remedy the want. There were sixty-two churches in the city and Reconcave, of which sixteen were freguezias, .. parish churches; nine were vicarages paid by the King; the rest cures, at the expence of the parishioners. The greater part of these had their chaplains and fraternities as at Lisbon. There were also three monasteries. What a church-establishment for such a population!

Sugar works in the Reconcave.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 30.

Live Stock.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 31.

The country, for two leagues round St. Salvador, was covered with good plantations, like the farms⁸ in Portugal. The number of sugar-works in the Reconcave was thirty-six without water-mills, with them twenty-one, fifteen which were worked by oxen, and four at that time erecting: there were also eight establishments for making treacle, which were very profitable concerns. The quantity of sugar annually exported amounted to more than one hundred and twenty thousand arrobas, .. about two thousand four hundred hogsheads, besides what went in sweet-meats, an article in great request among the Portugueze. Kine, which had been carried there from the Cape de Verds, multiplied prodigiously; butter and cheese were made there, and milk used in every way that it was in the mother country, the climate occasioning no material difference. Horses also had been imported from the Cape de Verds, and though they bred fast, the importation was still kept up: there were persons who had forty or fifty brood mares in their stock: their price was from ten to twelve milreis; but if carried to Pernambuco, they sold there for thirty ducats, or sixty cruzados. Sheep and goats had been brought both from

⁸ Cazaes.

[page] 319

CHAP. X. 1581.

the Cape de Verds and from Europe; butter and cheese were made from their milk.

Fruits. De Lery. 13. Piso. p. 10.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 32.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 31.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 32.

Vase. V. de Anch. 5. 13. § 5.

Maregraff. l. 7. c. 6.

A. de Ulloa. Not. Amer. 7. § 39.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 45. 2. 31.

Oranges and lemons had been introduced by the Portugueze, and were become plentiful, especially the lemons; the climate enlarged the fruit. It was a proverb, that the physician did not enter that house before which plenty of orange-peel was to be seen in the morning. The palm was produced from date stones, brought from Portugal. The cocoa, which had come from the Cape de Verds, bore well for a few years, then began to wither; this, it is said, was caused by an insect; the tree however was little valued, because it was not wanted, in a country already abounding with the choicest fruits. The pomegranates and melons, which would otherwise have thriven, were almost destroyed by the ants; so also was the vine, .. fruit and leaf would be stript clean in one night by them; and wine, as well as flour, for sacramental uses, was brought from Portugal. So numerous were the ants, and so great was the mischief which they committed, that the Portugueze called this insect the King of Brazil; but it is said by Piso, that an active husbandman easily drove them away, either by means of fire or of water; and the evil which they did was more than counterbalanced by the incessant war which they waged against all other vermin. In some parts of South America they march periodically in armies, such myriads together, that the sound of their coming over the fallen leaves may be heard at some distance. The inhabitants, knowing the season, are on the watch, and quit their houses, which these tremendous but welcome visitors clear of centipes, forty-legs, scorpion, snake, every living thing; and, having done their work, proceed upon their way. Another remarkable plague, was an insect called broca, which is described as a flea, that fled without visible wings: it bored all wooden vessels which contained any liquor except oil; and in this manner did great mischief,

[page] 320

CHAP. X. 1581.

especially in lands that were newly settled. Snakes were particularly destructive in the pigeon-houses, eating both eggs and young.

Tea and Coffee indigenous in Brazil.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 44.

Culture of Ginger prohibited.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 32.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 31.

Tea⁹ had lately been discovered in Bahia, of which, says the author of this manuscript, great profit might be made. Coffee also grew there. The mention of these commodities, at a time when both were so little known in Europe, that they had not perhaps been heard of beyond the limits of Portugal, is remarkable; and it shows how early the Portugueze had acquired Oriental customs. Ginger had been brought from their Island of St. Thomas, and throve so well, that in the year 1573, four thousand arrobas were cured; it was better than what came from India, though the art of drying it was not so well understood: great use was made of this root in preserves, .. but it was prohibited, as interfering with the Indian trade, in that wretched spirit of policy which regards immediate revenue as its main object. The sugar-cane had been brought to Bahia from the Ilheos, but it was

⁹ Tea is also indigenous in Hayti; it grows abundantly in and about the city of St. Domingo, where it is known by the name of Muñiga, and considered as a pectoral. It is also found on the North of the Island, near Monte Christi, and it is said that the French exported it between twenty and thirty years ago from Guarico.

Idea del Valor de la Isla Española, por D. Antonio Sanchez Valverde. C. 8. P. 49.

In Paraguay and in Peru it is called Paico; Monardes attributes to it the same virtue for which it is still used there, that the leaves "being made into powder, and taken in wine, take away the griefe of the stone in the kidneys, which cometh of windiness or colde causes; and being sodden and made into a plaister, and layde upon the griefe, they take it away also." (English translation, ff. 92.) The identity of this shrub with the Tea of China, is not known in that country, but was recognized by our countryman, Falkner the Jesuit, and by some of the Ex-Jesuits of Paraguay, when they reared the tea-tree at Faenza from seed. Jolis. L. 2. Art. 4.

[page] 321

CHAP. X. 1582.

The sugarcane indigenous.

indigenous in Brazil, and grew plentifully about Rio de Janeiro. The French, who were ignorant of its culture, and knew not how to extract sugar, made a pleasant beverage, by steeping the cane in water; and they were greatly astonished to find, that if this infusion was kept long enough, it served them for vinegar also.

De Lery. c. 13.

Naufr.da N.S. Paul. Hist. Trag. Mar. 1. p. 373.

Piso. l. 4. c. 20.

Leafless parasite.

Stedman. 1. 175. 1. 242.

Piso. 4. 89.

Condamine. p 75.

No hemp grew in the country. The wild palm afforded one substitute; and the bark of the embira, supplied cordage and cables, and answered better for oakum, because it lasted longer under water. Gun-matches also were made of this bark. The seeds of the embira were chewed fasting as a corroborant; were applied, when bruised, to the bite of a serpent; and were used instead of pepper for culinary purposes. The leafless parasite plants, which are all comprehended under the general name of timbo, served for basket-work, and were beaten into tow. Their juice was used in tanning; being bruised and cast into the lakes or rivers, they stain the water with a dark colour, and intoxicate or poison the fish. These plants form a singular feature in the scenery of Brazil. They twist round the trees, climb up them, grow downward to the ground, take root there, and springing up again, cross from bough to bough, and tree to tree, wherever the wind carries their limber shoots, till the whole woods are hung with their garlanding, and rendered almost impervious. The monkeys travel along this wild rigging, swing from it by the tail, and perform antics which might make the best rope-dancer envious. This vegetable cordage is sometimes so closely interwoven, that it has the appearance of a net, and neither birds nor beasts can get through it. Some are thick as a man's leg, their shape three sided, or square, or round; they grow in knots and screws, and every possible form of contortion; any way they may be bent, but to break them is impossible. Frequently they kill the tree which supports them, for which reason the Spaniards call them Matapalos; and sometimes they remain

2 T

[page] 322

CHAP. X. 1582.

Gumilla. c. 47.

Stedman. 1. 277.

Piso. p. 6.

standing erect like a twisted column, after the trunk, which they have strangled, has mouldered within their involutions. There are some which, being wounded, give forth a cool, pure, and wholesome water, and these grow in the stinking marshes of the Orinoco country, or in sandy places, where without such a resource the traveller would perish for thirst. The ivy also creeps to the summit of the highest trees, and covers the forest with a canopy of brighter green. When a path has been opened, this shade is beyond measure delightful.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 75.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 48.

Produce of the fishery.

Roch. Pitta. 1. § 71.

Ambergris.

Roch. Pitta. 1. § 68.

S. de Vasc. Not. Ant. 2. § 97.

There were large tracks of ground in the Reconcave which produced saltpetre; the author of the manuscript says, ship loads might be sent to Spain, instead of bringing it from Germany at so great an expence. They had no lime there but what was made from oyster shells, as at St. Vicente; these however were in such abundance, that boats might be filled with them at all times. To no part of the world has the sea been more bountiful than to Bahia. The principal diet used at the sugar works consisted in crabs, sharks, and a fish called the chareo; the roe of this latter is salted, prest, and dried for a sea store, in which state it is much esteemed. Oil was extracted in considerable quantities from the shark-liver. Whales were not uncommon; and ambergris was frequently cast up. One of the first settlers here, received four arrobas of it in dowry with his wife¹⁰. It was still more abundant at Seara. The natives believed it to be the food of the whale, which had been received into the stomach, and afterwards vomited; and this opinion, which approaches so nearly to the truth, was believed by the Portugueze, because sixteen arrobas of this substance, part of which was perfect, and

¹⁰ About 1660 the whale fishery here was let by the crown at forty three thousand cruzados, for three years. Sim. de Vasc. Not. Ant. 2. § 97.

[page] 323

CHAP. X. 1582.

Piso. p. 10.

Mermen. De Lery. c. 11.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 47.

part in a corrupt, that is, in an imperfect state, were found in the stomach of a large fish which was cast ashore near Bahia. All birds are voracious after ambergris; and during a storm they frequently devoured it before the people could get down to the beach. If mermen, that is, as De Lery sensibly observes, sea-apes, exist any where, they are to be found here. I see no sufficient reason for discrediting positive testimony of their existence, since the analogy of nature renders it probable. The natives call them Upupiara, and represent them as mischievous animals, who go up the rivers in summer, and if they find a man swimming, or fishing on one of those rafts, upon which he sits half in the water, drag him down, in sport it appears, just as men would catch them, rather than for food, for the bodies have been afterwards found, greatly mangled.

Rumours of emerald mines.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 75.

The rivers of the Reconcave brought down pieces of crystal after rain, and stones which resembled diamonds. Here also there were rumours of emerald and sapphire mines, which arose from the reports of Mamalucos and Indians. They were said to be found far inland, at the foot of a serra, on its eastern side, embedded in crystal; on its western, other stones were found embedded in the same manner, but of a dark purple, and it was supposed that these also were precious; and the natives affirmed that there was another serra near, where small stones were found which were bright red, and of singular lustre.

People of Bahia.

There were above an hundred persons in Bahia whose income was from three to five thousand cruzados, and whose property from twenty to sixty thousand. Their wives would wear nothing but silk. The people were generally characterized by extravagance in their apparel; even men of inferior rank walked the streets in breeches of satin damask: their wives wore kirtles¹¹ and

¹¹ Vasquinhas e giboens..

[page] 324

CHAP. X. 1582.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 13.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 12.

gipeons of the same, and were trinketted with gold. Their houses were as prodigally ornamented as themselves. There were some settlers who possessed plate and gold to the amount of two and three thousand cruzados. The market at St. Salvador was never without bread made of Portugueze flour, and varieties of good wine from Madeira and the Canaries.

Pernambuco

Bento Texeira. Pinto. Hist. Trag. Mar. t. 2. p. 8.

The Cahetes driven into the interior.

Olinda.

Pernambuco was not less flourishing than Bahia. After the death of the first Donatory, a general confederacy was formed by the natives against the Portugueze. The Queen Regent, upon receiving intelligence of this, ordered Duarte Coelho de Alboquerque, who had succeeded to his father's right, to go immediately and succour the Captaincy in person; and he besought her to order his brother Jorge de Alboquerque Coelho to accompany him. They reached Olinda in 1560; the Jesuits in that city were called to council with the chief men of the place, and though the younger brother was only twenty years of age, he was elected General, and Conquistador da Terra. This election to be conqueror of the land he made good by five years of continual warfare: when he and his brother reached Olinda, the inhabitants durst not venture two lèagues from the town; at the five years end, the whole extent of coast was safe, and the whole country for fifteen or twenty leagues inland. This advantage having been once gained, was kept. It is said in the Noticias, that the Cahetes had been driven fifty leagues into the interior, that is, that they had abandoned the country; and that though Duarte Coelho had expended many thousand cruzados upon his Captaincy, the money had been well bestowed, for his son had at that time a revenue of ten thousand cruzados arising from what the fisheries and sugar-works paid him. There were fifty sugar-works in Pernambuco, the tenths of which were leased for nineteen thousand cruzados. Olinda contained about seven hundred inhabitants; the single houses in its vicinity, and the sugar-works,

[page] 325

CHAP. X. 1582.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 16.

each of which had from twenty to thirty residents, were not included in this amount. Three thousand men could be brought into the field, of whom four hundred were horsemen. From four to five thousand African slaves, besides native ones, were employed in this Captaincy. It had more than an hundred colonists, whose incomes were from one to five thousand cruzados, and some from eight to ten. Men, says the author, return from hence to Portugal full rich, who came out here full poor. About five and forty ships came annually to load with sugar and brazil, which was of the best quality, and was rented of the crown at twenty thousand cruzados. Yet this important Captaincy was almost without any works of defence; and the author of the manuscript concludes his account of it, by expressing his apprehension of the danger to which it was exposed, and enforcing upon the Government the necessity of well securing it.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 23. 1. 21.

It was supposed at this time that no trade could be carried on between Bahia and Pernambuco, on account of the regular winds. Such an exchange however of rogues and murderers went on by land between St. Salvador and Olinda, that when the author of the Noticias recommended the formation of a settlement upon the river Seregippe, one of the reasons which he assigned was, that it would tend materially to check this passage of criminals from one Captaincy to another.

St. Vicente.

St. Vicente also continued to flourish. This Captaincy was far enough to the South for wheat and barley to grow, but they were little cultivated, because the settlers were satisfied with the food of the country; a little wheat only was raised for the wafer and for delicacies. Marmalade was made here, and sold to the other parts of Brazil. In these colder Captaincies they were free from the plague of ants, and could produce wine: there were some settlers here who made three or four pipes yearly, which they boiled to prevent it from turning sour. They were

[page] 326

CHAP. X. 1582.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 62. 2. 32.

beginning to have some vineyards at St. Paul's also; and in this province and in St. Amaro, says the manuscript, there is another better fruit, which is gold and silver, if the mines were searched for.

Espirito Santo.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 52.

Porto Seguro.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 26.

B. Telles. C. C. 3. 1. § 6.

Espirito Santo was reestablished after the defeat of Fernam de Sa, but not till Coutinho had been utterly ruined in the contest. He expended the whole of his hereditary fortune, as well as all that he had acquired in India, and was reduced to such extreme poverty as to be dependant upon alms for food. I know not, says the author, whether he was worth a winding-sheet when he died. The Captaincy, with all its rights and titles, descended to his son, and these were his only inheritance. Porto Seguro was in a worse state. After the death of Tourinho, every thing declined under the mismanagement of his son; that son left a daughter, who never married, and sold her right to the first Duke of Aveiro, for an yearly charge of an hundred milreis. The capital and influence which the new proprietor was able to employ, restored the colony; to which also the establishment of a Jesuit convent greatly contributed; for wherever these Fathers went, they collected the natives. But then the Aymores began their ravages, and when the Noticias were written, only one sugar work was left, and the Captaincy was almost depopulated. Twice also in one year a fire broke out in the chief town, the second consuming all that had escaped the first. Perfumed waters of the finest quality were made here, and sold at St. Salvador.

The first settlers suffered terribly from the chiguas, or jiggers. This insect, which seems to have been more formidable here than in the sugar islands, got under the nails of both hands and feet, and even attacked all the joints. De Lery says, that notwithstanding he took the greatest care to guard against them, above twenty were extracted from him in one day. Many persons, before they knew the remedy, lost their feet in the most

[page] 327

CHAP. X. 1582.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 46

Stade. 2. 83.

De Lery. c. 11.

dreadful manner. The natives anointed the parts which were most exposed to this plague, with a thick red oil¹², expressed from the couroq, a fruit which resembles a chesnut in its husk; the French were glad to learn this preservative. For wounds and bruises the same oil was a sovereign unguent.

Diseases. Piso. p. 8.

Piso. p. 1.

Piso. 2. 8.

Wholesome as the air of Brazil is, it proved hurtful to many persons whose habits both of life and living had been formed in a different temperature; even, says Piso, as plants will frequently die in transplantation, though their removal may have been to a richer soil and happier climate. Whosoever, he adds, would attain to a happy old age in this country, let him, whether he be a new-comeling, or Brazilian born, abstain from the daily use of meat and wine. This very able man observes, that the mixture and intermixture of three different races, the European, American, and African, had produced new diseases, or at least new constitutions, by which old diseases were so modified, that the skilfullest physicians were puzzled by new symptoms. A liver complaint was endemic among the lower classes, and as peculiarly their disease, as gout is that of the rich. It was particularly frequent during the wet months; the sufferers were tormented with a craving for food, and their countenances were meagre and death-like. Affections of the sight were also prevalent, chiefly among the soldiers and the poor; the most frequent was that evening blindness which our own men sometimes experience between the tropics; the remedies were tobacco smoke, charcoal

¹² This oil, says De Lery, is in as great estimation among them, as that confection which we call the Holy Oil, is with us. Our Surgeon, when he was about to return to France, took with him twelve large jars of it, and as many more of human grease, which he had collected when the Brazilians were broiling their prisoners! C. 11.

[page] 328

CHAP. X. 1582.

Piso. 2. 2.

Piso. 2. 4.

made from the bark of the Guabiraba, or white lead in human milk, which was often in those days exhibited as a medicine. Another common disease, was what the Portugueze called ar, the air, as supposing that to be its cause, and which Piso denominates stupor: it seems to have been a general listlessness, a universal sense of weight and relaxation: a bath was used for this, or rather a hot-bed of horse-dung, frankincense, and myrrh. Friction and unction were good preventatives, and good remedies, adopted from the natives. But the most tremendous disease in Brazil was a malignant ulcer of the anus: opium was the best medicine, but unless the ulcer was speedily stopt in its progress, it proved fatal, and no form of death was ever more loathsome or more painful¹³.

Piso. 2. 16.

Piso. 2. 20.

Piso. p. 43.

Piso. 2. .

Oils, ointments, and plaisters, were thought less efficacious for wounds and ulcers here than in Europe, and applications of astringent herbs were preferred. The fat of the cayman was in great request as a remedy. For affections of the throat and breast, the Portugueze used a mixture of the juice of oranges and sugar-cane, with album græcum; and for small-pox, plentiful

¹³ Lues quædam ex coitu non tantum per contagium vel parentum hæreditario malo in liberos, sed ex leviori attaclu atque per se contrahitur, orta potissimum ex alimento fœtido et salso, potu rancido et corrupto. Inter Afros non solum atque Indos, sed Lusitanos et Belgas quoque sævit, tumoribusque schirrosis et virulentis ulceribus, totum corpus infestat. Quæ quidem lues huic regioni est endemia, et Bubas ab Hispanis et Brasilianis appellatur. Et sicuti citius sanatur a solis remediis indigenis; ita citius contaminat, quam illa quæ lues gallica vulgo vocatur et ad incolas huc defertur.—Gonorrhæa simplex, sicut haud difficilis habetur curationis, ita facile acquiritur, modo a sola equitatione sub sole meridiano. Piso. 2. 19.

This curious passage seems to imply, that Siphilis is originally an American disease, modified by transplantation to the European constitution; .. an opinion which agrees with his remarks upon the physical effects produced by the mixture of different races.

[page] 329

CHAP. X. 1582.

Piso. 2. 17.

doses of powdered horse dung given in any liquid. Physicians who exhibited such medicines, would neither kill nor cure. The empirics frequently did both; they used the cold water affusion in incipient fever, and Piso¹⁴ gives them credit for their knowledge of efficacious drugs. At first the Portugueze women reared very few of their children, not one in three; but they learnt at last from the Savages to throw aside the load of swaddling clothes, to leave the head bare, and use cold affusion freely, and the climate was then no longer complained of as destructive to infant life. In these things, and in the knowledge of herbs, which are all that they can teach us, we have yet learnt little from our intercourse with Savages.

Anchieta's Miracles. Passim.

These were the diseases which prevailed among the settlers in Brazil during the first century after the discovery; in no other instance have white men suffered so little in their physical nature by transplantation beyond those limits which have been assigned them. Their moral nature suffered more; this deterioration however arose from causes, some of which were temporary, and all removable, as indeed there exists no cause of moral evil which may not be removed. The same crimes which were frequent in Portugal became more frequent in Brazil, because colonies receive the runaways as well as the outcasts of the mother country; fraudulent debtors fled there, and men who deserted their own wives, or eloped with the wives of others. Murder was here as it is in Portugal, and wherever the Catholic religion flourishes in all its privileges, .. a mode of revenge commonly practised, seldom punished, and regarded without horror, because the guilt might easily be wiped away by confession and absolution.

¹⁴ Semper enim condonandum est Empiricis, utpote exquisitioribus in exhibendis medicamentis quam in distinguendis morborum causis. 2. 19.

2 U

[page] 330

CHAP. X. 1582.

Dobrizhoffer

Meantime a race of men were growing up, fierce indeed and intractable, but who acquired from the mixture of native blood, a constitutional and indefatigable activity. While the Spaniards on the Paraguay remained where Yrala left them, .. neglected the discoveries which the first conquerors made, .. suffered the paths which they had opened to be overgrown, .. and almost laid aside the manners and even the language of Spain, the Brazilians continued for two centuries to explore the country; months and years would these persevering adventurers continue among the woods and mountains, hunting slaves, or seeking for gold and jewels after the reports of the natives; and ultimately they succeeded in securing for themselves and for the House of Braganza, the richest mines, and largest portion of South America, the finest region of the whole habitable earth.

[page 331]

CHAPTER XI.

Disputes on the frontier of Brazil.—Asumpcion made a Bishopric.—Expedition of Chaves.—The Chiquitos.—Death of Yrala.—March of Vergara to Peru, and his Deposition.—Death of Chaves.—The Itatines.—Caceres sent home Prisoner.—Zarate sails from Spain to take the Government: misconduct and sufferings of his Armament.—Deposition and Death of his successor Mendieta.—Buenos Ayres founded for the third and last time.

CHAP. XI.

Paraguay.

Disputes on the frontier of Brazil.

A settlement formed in Guayra.

1554.

The progress of Paraguay did not keep pace with that of Brazil; but it is rather to be wondered at that this colony should have continued to exist, than that it did not flourish, remote as it was from the sea, and from every other Spanish settlement. Happy would it have been for Paraguay had it been equally remote from the Portugueze. The Guaranies on the Parana were infested by the Tapuyas of the Brazilian frontier, whom the slave-hunters of that country headed in their expeditions. They called upon Yrala for protection; he went to their assistance, drove back the assailants, and made them promise to leave the subjects of the King of Spain in peace. He judged it however expedient to found a town there, for the purpose of securing the frontier, and opening a readier communication with the sea; and as soon as he had returned to Asumpcion, he dispatched Garcia Rodriguez de Vergara, with eighty men, upon this service. The site

[page] 332

CHAP. XI. 1557.

Charlevoix. t. 1. p. 118.

Charlevoix. 1. 123.

chosen for the new settlement was on the Parana, above the great falls. Vergara called it Ontiveros, after his own birth-place in Castille; but it obtained the name of Guayra, from the province in which it stood. After a few years Ruy Diaz Melgarejo removed it three leagues higher, and to the opposite bank, near the place where the Pequeri falls into the Parana, and from that time it was called Ciudad Real.

Asumpcion made a Bishopric.

Charlevoix. t. 1. p. 122.

Asumpcion was, soon after its establishment, considered to be a place of such importance, that in 1547, Paul III. erected it into a Bishopric, under the name of the Town of the River Plata; a name however which even this authority could not impose. The first Bishop never set foot in his diocese, and being translated to the Nuevo Reyno, seven years after his first consecration, Pedro de la Torre, a Franciscan like himself, was appointed to succeed him. It is a proof of the good order which Yrala had established, that when the ships which brought out the Bishop arrived in the Plata, the intelligence was communicated to Asumpcion by a chain of beacon fires. By this fleet Yrala received a legal appointment to that authority which he had so long exercised. He received at the same time instructions to distribute the Indians among the conquerors, after the manner practised in the other conquests. This destructive system he had already begun; more claimants were now found than could be satisfied; it was expedient therefore to form new settlements, and for this purpose Melgarejo was sent into Guayra; and Chaves, with two hundred and twenty soldiers, and three thousand five hundred Indians, to colonize among the Xarayes.

Chaves enters the Province of the Chiquitos.

Chaves was an adventurer of Yrala's own stamp. He received his orders without any intention of obeying them; went to the Xarayes, and not finding an eligible situation in those parts, because he was determined not to find one, struck westward towards Peru, and entered what is now called the country

[page] 333

CHAP. XI. 1557.

Coleti.

Fernandez. c. 2.

Muratori. t. 2. p. 172.

The Chiquitos.

of the Chiquitos. This province extends from East to West, about one hundred and forty leagues, between the low lands of the Xarayes and the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. To the North the mountains of the Tapacuras divide it from the country of the Moxos; to the South it reaches the mountains of the Zamucos, and of the old town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It is watered by two rivers, the Guapaix, which rises in the mountains of Chuquisaca, bends round the existing town of Santa Cruz, then turning to the N. W. winds over the plains, and is received into the Mamore; .. the Ubai, or St. Miguel, is the other: its sources are in the mountains of Peru; from thence flowing through the land of the Chiriguanos, where it is called the Parapituy, it passes the site of old Santa Cruz, and having encreased to a considerable stream fall_s into the Apore, which then joins the Mamore, and with it forms the great river Madeira. From December till May the low lands are inundated, and then the natives store themselves with fish, having the art of drugging the waters; .. but the greater part of the country is hilly. The name Chiquitos, signifying Little Ones, was given by the Spaniards to the inhabitants, because the doors of their huts were so low, that a man could not enter unless he crept in on all-fours. For this strange custom they assigned two reasons; that their enemies could not shoot arrows at them in the night, and that it preserved them from the mosquitos, and all those kindred plagues with which South America is infested. The appellation is singularly improper, inasmuch as these Indians are rather above the middle stature. The men go naked, except the Chiefs, who wear a half-sleeved frock of cotton, like the women, the only difference being that the womens is the longest. They adorn themselves with strings of coloured stones round the neck and legs, and with a girdle, if so it may be called, of feathers, the colours of which are beautifully arranged. Feathers are also stuck in their ears, and a lump of tin in the under

[page] 334

CHAP. XI. 1557.

lip. They who are proud of their archery, bedeck themselves with the tails of the beasts whom they have killed. Their Chiefs, whom they call Iriabos, are their Physicians also; a gainful practice, because, during the continuance of the disease, they are feasted at the patient's expence. The common mode of cure is by sucking the part affected, to extract the malignant humour. They also ask the sufferer if he has spilt any liquor on the ground; if he has given to the dogs the feet of a tortoise, deer, or any other animal, for in that case the soul of the offended creature is supposed to have entered his body in revenge, and therefore they beat the earth round about him, to drive it away. Sometimes a crueller superstition prevails; they pronounce that a woman¹ has caused the malady, and she upon whom suspicion falls is beaten to death.

Polygamy is the privilege of the Chiefs; other men are restricted to one wife at a time, but permitted to change her as often as they please. The best recommendation of a suitor is skill in the chase: he lays his game at the door of the maiden whom he woos, and the parents estimating from its quantity his qualifications, give or refuse their daughter. The male youth are sooner at their own disposal. From the age of fourteen they quit their father's hut, and dwell together under a great shed, which is open on all sides. This is the place where strangers are received and feasted. On such occasions the whole horde assemble. They begin by issuing out and striking the ground with their macanas, uttering at the same time loud cries, to drive away the evil spirits; but in spite of this precaution, their drunken meetings commonly end in quarrels, blood, and death.

¹ It may be, says the Jesuit Juan Patricio Fernandez, that their ancestors had some light how, through a woman, death entered the world.

[page] 335

CHAP. XI. 1575.

At day-break they rise, breakfast, and play upon a kind of flute, till the dews have disappeared, before which they hold it unwholesome to be abroad; then they go afield till noon, and cultivate the ground, using instruments of a wood so hard, that it is almost as effectual as iron for their purpose. The rest of the day is devoted to feasting and merry-making. Their favourite sport is a game at ball, which must require great skill and great exertion, for they strike it with the head. At sun-set they eat again, and retire to bed; but those who are unmarried dance by night, forming a great circle round two persons who play upon flutes, while the rest wheel round and round; the maidens form an outer ring round the young men, and thus they continue till they are weary. The women, who are always well treated in proportion as the system of sexual intercourse approaches to monogamy, lead here an easy life: their business is to provide the hut with wood and water, to manage their simple cookery, and to manufacture the frock and the hammock.

J. P. Fernandez. c. 2.

They call the moon Mother; during an eclipse, they shoot arrows upward, and cry aloud to drive away the dogs, who, they believe, hunt her through heaven; and when they overtake her, the darkness of the orb is caused by the blood which runs from her wounds. Thunder and lightning they hold to be produced by some of the departed, who dwell in the stars, and thus manifest their anger. They bury food and arrows with the dead, that hunger may not force the spirit to return among them. Earth and Heaven are full of signs and tokens to their superstitious imaginations; a dream, or an evil omen, will make a whole horde forsake their place of sojourn, and even induce an individual to abandon his wife and family. Witchcraft is held in as much abhorrence as it is by the Negroes, and the wretch who is suspected of possessing this baleful power, meets with no mercy.

By this nation Chaves was opposed; he wished to spare his

[page] 336

CHAP. XI. 1557.

Death of Yrala.

Charlevoix. t. 1. p. 124.

Foundation of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

men, his object being to settle in the land, and therefore he turned aside. This prudence did not avail him; repeated conflicts ensued; some of the tribes used poisoned arrows, and the Spaniards disheartened by their loss, and by the hardships which they suffered, called upon him to return and colonize among the Xarayes, according to the original plan of the expedition. Meantime Yrala died, having enjoyed his lawful authority not quite a year. The people assembled in the church to appoint his successor, till a new Governor should arrive. They delegated twelve Cavaliers, who then nominated four persons, among whom the people were to chuse; their election fell upon Francisco Ortiz de Vergara, Yrala's son-in-law. He was desirous to pursue the plans of his predecessor, and having probably learnt that Chaves was following his own projects instead of obeying the instructions which had been given him, sent after him to bid him execute what he had in charge. These messengers reached him when his men were clamouring to return; but his resolution was taken to advance with as many as would share his fortune. Eighty Spaniards and two thousand Indians left him and returned to Asumpcion; while he, with fifty Europeans and the remainder of the allies, or servants, proceeded. It so happened that Andres Manso was at the same time advancing from Peru, with a commission from the Marquis de Cañete, then Viceroy, to conquer and colonize in these parts. Wide as the land was, it was not sufficient for the ambition of both; but they were moderate enough to refer their dispute to the Viceroy, to whom Chaves himself went, .. presuming perhaps upon his favour, because his own wife was of the Mendoza family, the daughter of that D. Francisco who was beheaded at Asumpcion. His influence prevailed; the Viceroy appointing his own son, D. Garcia, to the Government of the Moxos, nominated Chaves to be Lieutenant Governor, and sent him back with full powers to settle there.

[page] 337

CHAP. XI. 1557.

Herrera. 3. 5. 2. Coleti.

Accordingly he returned to his people, and built a town to the East of Chuquisaca, at the foot of the mountains, and on the side of a pleasant rivulet. He named it Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in memory of a village near Truxillo, where he had been bred up, .. a place so beautifully situated under a high mountain, where corn-fields and olive-groves are interspersed among the rocks, that he might well love to remember in a foreign land the lovely scenes of his childhood. Forty years afterwards the town was removed to its present situation, fifty leagues to the North, upon the river Guapay, and it was then made a Bishopric.

Insurrection of the Guaranies.

1560.

Vergara marches to Peru.

The Guaranies who forsook Chaves to return to Asumpcion, having seen the effect of the poisoned arrows of the Chiquitos, gathered up all they could find, and thinking that these deadly weapons would give them an advantage over their oppressors, raised an insurrection against them. This hope was baffled, because the poison, being now a year old, had lost its efficacy; yet Vergara was obliged to exert his whole force before he could reduce them, and then found it expedient to affect clemency, rather than attempt to punish the revolt with the usual rigour. On his return he found an Indian from Guayra, whom Melgarejo had sent from Ciudad Real, where he was hard prest by the Guaranies, to request succour. The messenger past through the middle of the enemy's force, stark naked, and bearing only his bow, where the letter was inserted in a slit. Having dispatched troops and relieved him, Vergara recalled him to Asumpcion, meaning to send him to Spain, as a person on whom he could rely, to solicit a confirmation of his appointment. The caravel in which he was to embark, and which was the finest vessel that had yet been built in Paraguay, was ready to depart, when it took fire and was consumed: some enemy of Vergara, it was supposed, had set it on fire. That Governor then took the hasty resolution of going to Peru, to obtain powers from the

2 X

[page] 338

CHAP. XI. 1561.

Viceroy; the Bishop, and fourteen of his Clergy, thought proper in like manner to forsake their duty and attend him, and they set out with a considerable force. Chaves, who had come to Asumpcion for his wife and children, set out in their company. When they came among the Itatines, he persuaded three thousand of that tribe to follow him and settle in his province. As soon as he entered it, he insisted upon his rank, asserting that the Governor of the province of the River Plata had no authority there. This occasioned much confusion; there was no longer any order observed, nor any precautions taken, because no person knew whom he was to obey: provisions ceased to be regularly provided, and a great mortality took place, especially among the Indians. Such of the Itatines as survived, halted and settled themselves in a fertile country. The rest of the expedition proceeded with difficulty to Santa Cruz, where there were no means of subsisting such a multitude, and famine and sickness continued to reduce them. The natives, seeing their country ransacked for food, rose in despair. When Chaves marched against them, he left instructions with his Lieutenant to disarm Vergara and his people, and prevent them from proceeding to Peru; but Vergara found means of sending a messenger to Chuquisaca to complain of this violence, and orders were sent to Chaves not to detain him.

Vergara accused and superseded.

He had soon reason to repent of this most imprudent journey. No sooner had he arrived at Chuquisaca, than above an hundred articles of accusation against him were presented to the Royal Court of Audience of that city, among which the dereliction of his post, the danger to which he exposed Asumpcion by with-drawing so large a part of its force, and the waste of life upon his march, were included. The Court would not pronounce upon these charges, but referred them to Garcia de Castro, then Governor of Peru, and President of the Court at Lima. There

[page] 339

CHAP. XI. 1561.

Vergara appeared; he was declared to have forfeited his Government, and sent home to Spain to answer for himself before the Council of the Indies. Juan Ortez de Zarate was appointed to succeed him, if it should please the King to confirm the appointment. Zarate embarked for Panama on his way to Europe to solicit this confirmation, having named Felipe de Caceres to be his Lieutenant meantime at Asumpcion, and ordered him to return there with the remains of Vergara's unfortunate expedition.

1565.

Chaves killed.

Herrera. 3. 5. 2.

Dobrizhoffer. 1. 185.

Caceres, the Bishop, and their retinue, were welcomed on their way back by Chaves with apparent cordiality, and he escorted them as far as the settlement of the Itatines, under pretext of doing them honour, but in reality for the purpose of tempting their people to remain with him. Shortly after his return to Santa Cruz, the Chiriguanos rose upon the Spaniards, slew Manso², and destroyed Nueva Rioja, and Barranca. Chaves marched to chastise them, as it was called; then went back with miners and tools to explore some mines which he had discovered among the Itatines. Leaving these men at work, he continued his endeavours to pacificate the country; and while he was haranguing some Chiriguano Chiefs, one of them came behind him, and with a single blow of his macana, brought him dead to the ground. Such a death Nuflo de Chaves had righteously deserved; for under his government hunting parties were made to catch the Indians, that they might be carried to Peru for sale, and they were sold in the public market-place of his city, mother and child, like ewe and lamb together.

The Itatines.

Caceres, after Chaves left him, had to fight his way through

² It is from him that the wide plains between the Pilcomayo and the Rio Bermejo, are still called Llanos de Manso. Charlevoix. 1. 161.

[page] 340

CHAP. XI. 1568.

Dobrizhoffer. 1. 71.

Techo in Churchill. 86.

the Itatines³, a nation of the great Tupi or Guarani stock. The men let their hair grow in a circle on the crown, and shear the rest of the head; their ornament is a reed stuck through the lip, which is pierced to receive it when the boy is seven years of age: the women tattoo themselves in streaks; and both sexes wear a triangular shell in their ears. The men have no other clothing than a short apron: the women wear a complete dress of cloth made from the bark of the pino; it is white, takes any dye easily, and retains it long, being in all these respects far superior to what other tribes manufacture from the caraquata. Their coronals are of parrots feathers. Their arrows are unnecessarily armed with many barbs; with these they bring down birds; and they decoy the anta within reach of their weapons by imitating its cry. They cultivate maize, and have sometimes a hedge of tobacco round their habitations, which are of palm boughs thatched with grass, having eight doors and sixty inhabitants. Each family, as usual with the gregarious tribes, has its separate fire, with pots, gourds, and pitchers in abundance about it. Before they lie down at night the pot is put on, that food may be ready as soon as they rise. The women carry their infants over the shoulder in a sort of basket, or rather frail. They bury the dead in large jars, and at their funerals the kindred of the deceased throw themselves from high places, to the hazard, and sometimes the loss of life. The mode in which they vie with each other is, by racing with a heavy log upon the

³ This is the name which they give themselves, and by which they are mentioned in all the old writers. Latterly the Spaniards more frequently call them Tobatines. "The rebounding balls of Itatina," says Techo, "made of the gum of trees, are famous all the world ever, and being toasted are used for curing the flux." P. 86. It was probably, therefore, from this tribe that we first received the gum-elastic.

[page] 341

CHAP. XI. 1568.

Muratori. 1. 4.

Dobrizhoffer 1. 65. 71.

Dobrizhoffer 1. 83.

shoulder. The most remarkable circumstance relating to this tribe is, that they had a mode of communicating at a considerable distance by means of trumpets or pipes; this was not upon the common principle of the speaking trumpet, because no person could understand these signals however versed in their language, unless he had previously been instructed in the system⁴. The Itatines are now greatly reduced in number; they have been driven from the open country, and have remained in the woods so long that they are afraid of broad sun-light, and their skins are blanched by being in perpetual shade. They will poison guests whom they fear, and therefore food which they offer is never to be received without suspicion.

When Caceres was on his march they were a formidable nation: he fought his way through them⁵ till he came within fifty leagues of Asumpcion; there he found friendly tribes, and

⁴ Tubis, tibiisque certâ inflatis ratione, ita quod volunt significant, ut et longe audiantur, et perinde ac si expressis vocibus loquerentur, intelligantur. Neque tamen ab iis, qui eorum linguam norunt quæ significantur, percipiuntur, nisi apud eos versati sint. These are the words which Muratori quotes from a Missionary's letter written in 1591, .. and he understands them to describe a speaking trumpet, which was in his time a new invention of the English. To me the passage seems rather to imply a system of musical signals, .. just as the Mexicans gave orders in battle by whistling, and the Peruvians had their love-language of the flute, .. de manera, says Garcilasso, que se puede dezir que hablavan por la flauta.

P. 1. L. 2. C. 16.

⁵ This he accomplished by the help either of Santiago or St. Blaise, .. it is not ascertained which. Les Histoires d'Espagne, says Charlevoix, sont remplies de semblables merveilles, et la piete de cette nation doit, ce semble, former un préjugé plus fort en faveur de ce qu' elle publie des graces, qu' elle croit avoir reçues d'en haut, que contre sa trop grand credulité; a quoi il faut ajoúter, que dans toutes ces occasions, elle combattoit contre des Infideles, et que le Ciel etoit interessé, ce semble, a soutenir sa querelle.

[page] 342

CHAP. XI. 1570.

Charlavoix. 1. 133.

Disputes between the Governor and Bishop.

was enabled to rest and refresh his weary men. He reached the city early in 1569, and a year afterwards went with his brigantines to the Plata, there to meet the reinforcements from Spain which Zarate had appointed to send him by that time. He waited till his hopes and patience were exhausted; then erected a cross on Isle St. Gabriel, from which he suspended a letter in a bottle, and reascended the river to Asumpcion. There had long been ill-will between Caceres and the Bishop; it daily became more violent, parties were made, and personal feelings prevailed over political, for the clergy sided with the Governor, and the chief civil officers with his adversary. Caceres himself, or his father, had been one of the main movers of the sedition against Cabeza de Vaca, and he now thought to triumph by the same violent means, which would indeed be less lawless in appearance, because the legal authority was now in his hands. He seized the Provisor, Segovia, and put him in irons, beheaded Pedro de Esquivel and exposed his head upon the pillory like a traitor's, deprived the Bishop of all his Indians, rents, and rations, so that no one dared give him even a draught of water, arrested him in the church, and confined him to his own house, where he was proceeding to block up the windows, till the Bishop gave sureties for his quiet continuance there. But the fear of being sent prisoner to Europe, which Caceres threatened, made him break his promise and attempt to conceal himself: he was discovered, and Caceres prepared to put the threat in execution. This Governor had not attended to the state of popular feeling: the women were clamorous in behalf of their pastor, and began to talk of Judith and Holofernes; the Clergy themselves took alarm at the violence which had been offered to their order, and an insurrection was planned at the house of Segovia, who had now been liberated; it was well concerted and boldly executed; they seized Caceres in the name of the

[page] 343

CHAP. XI. 1570.

Inquisition, and embarked him for Spain, for which country the Bishop embarked also, not as prisoner, but as accuser. The vessel touched at St. Vicente, and there the Bishop died in full odour of sanctity⁶. The deposed Governor attempted to make his escape; but here also the people were against him, he was again apprehended, and sent to Spain in irons, and he never returned to Paraguay.

Argentina. 7.

Zarate sails from Spain.

Argentina. 6.

1572.

Zarate meantime had been delayed by a series of misfortunes. He set off from Peru with a property of eighty thousand pieces of gold, the collected rapine of many years⁷; a French cruizer fell in with him on his passage from Nombre de Dios to Carthagena, and he lost the whole. He made his way however to Spain; his appointment was confirmed, and the title of Adelantado granted him; and, notwithstanding the lamentable fortune of so many expeditions to the Plata, he found adventurers enough, married and single, of both sexes, to fill three ships and two smaller vessels. In this armament D. Martin del Barco went out, the only contemporary historian of these parts for this half century. One of the smaller vessels was lucky enough to lose the fleet and reach St. Vicente. The others, after various sufferings, occasioned by bad weather and by want of skill, got into St. Catalina. Here the adventurers were landed, and here

⁶ Anchieta was present at his death, and he told me, says D. Martin del Barco, that his body, and his feet, and his hands, and his grave, gave out a great fragrance. It is laid down by Morales as one of the axioms on which he proceeds in his history, that whatever one saint relates of another is implicitly to be believed.

⁷ Que sabe Dios qual el las ha juntado. Argentina. C. 6.

God knows how he had collected them, .. is the significant expression of D. Martin.

[page] 344

CHAP. XI. 1572.

Argentina. 9.

Argentina. 10.

Zarate left them, to suffer all the miseries of short allowance, while he went to a settlement called Ybiaça, which was not far distant on the main land, and there supplied himself plentifully by plundering the Indians. No man could have behaved worse under such circumstances than this Adelantado; there he remained, leaving his people to endure horrors little less dreadful than those which had destroyed so great a part of Mendoza's expedition. The daily ratio was only six ounces of flour⁸. Many endeavoured to escape from this misery: some, after wandering three or four weeks on the main land, returned in a dying state of hunger; others were pursued and forcibly brought back, and death was the punishment of their desertion, though the famine was so grievous, that the intestines were secretly taken from one of their starved bodies as it hung upon the gibbet. At length, after an unaccountable tarriance here of many weeks⁹, the remains of this unhappy expedition were once more embarked, and they made sail for the Plata, without any pilot among them who knew the navigation of that most dangerous river. Zarate, however, more fortunate in this respect than he deserved, reached St. Gabriel's; he was blown off in the night by a gale from the South, and two of his ships were driven ashore; but the people were saved.

⁸ A poor lad, the drummer of the expedition, was caught by two women in the act of stealing from their hoard, and they cut off one of his ears and nailed it over the door. He obtained damages against them, but they managed so well with Zarate's deputy, that their fine amounted to only six ratios of flour, .. not quite four pounds. The drummer recovered his ear, and used to pawn it for food. Argentina. C. 10.

⁹ Some of the runaways had wandered thirty days before they returned, .. there is no other intimation of the length of time which was past here.

[page] 345

CHAP. XI. 1572.

The Charruas.

Argentina. 10.

This bank of the river was possessed by the Charruas¹⁰, a wandering tribe, who exercised no kind of agriculture. They were so fleet that they could run down their prey, and such marksmen with the thong and ball that nothing escaped their aim. They flayed the faces of those whom they slew, and preserved the skins as trophies; but they only enslaved their prisoners. At the death of a kinsman they had the custom, which is found in so many parts of the world, of cutting off a finger. Zarate, instead of conciliating these people, seized the nephew of their Chief, a young man who came unsuspiciously to visit the Spaniards in the huts which they had erected for shelter. Twenty of his tribe came in search of him, and brought a Guarani to be their interpreter, and this Guarani was seized also. Having taken these base precautions for the sake of having a good hostage in his hands, Zarate was weak enough to set him free at his uncle's solicitation, .. not with a show of generosity, but in exchange for a runaway sailor and a canoe. What was well deserved, and might have been foreseen, ensued; as soon as Capicano, the Chief, had got his nephew out of the Spaniards power, he took the first opportunity of falling upon them. A party of foragers were suprized, forty were slain, one was made prisoner, and only two escaped to give the alarm; it had scarcely been given before the Savages attacked the camp. Zarate, from that jealousy of his own people which no good commander can ever feel, had thought proper to keep their weapons, instead of trusting them in their own hands; .. in consequence of this wretched suspicion the guns now, when they were wanted,

¹⁰ Or Charuahas, .. who are now with the Yaros, Bohanes, Minoanes, and Costeros, collectively called Quenoas. Dobrizhoffer. 1. 143. They have become equestrian tribes.

2 Y

[page] 346

CHAP. XI. 1572.

Argentina. 11.

were found rusty, and the powder was damp; they had nothing but the sword and lance to trust to, and their defensive armour stood them in little stead, for a common helmet was no defence against the stone balls of the Charruas. Night came on soon enough to save them from destruction;..in the morning, before the attack could be renewed, they fled to one of the ships which was aground near the shore, and from thence got over in a boat to the Island of St. Gabriel.

Argentina. 10.

Here they must inevitably have been famished had it not been for a supply which they had no reason to expect. Melgarejo, who had carried the Bishop and Caceres to St. Vicente, was still in that port when the vessel which had parted company from Zarate's fleet arrived there:..supposing that they would need provisions, though far from anticipating the misery which he should witness and afterwards partake, he set sail with a cargo for their relief. He touched at St. Catalina, where the fresh graves and the standing gibbet told their tale of the horrors which had been endured there: from thence he proceeded to the Plata, and reached St. Gabriel's in time to save them. This supply however would only have protracted their fate, if the Spaniards had not at this time begun to settle in Tucuman; Juan de Garay, having been sent from Asumpcion to colonize in that direction, had founded the City of Santa Fe; he heard that a party of his countrymen were in the river, and came down to their succour.

Argentina. 15.

Repeated calamities had neither cured Zarate of insolence toward his people, nor of injustice toward the natives. The son of a Chief, called Cayu, was seized by one of his parties; Cayu came to intreat that his son might be restored; he besought it passionately and with tears, and brought, besides a present of fish, a girl, whose beauty he extolled, to be given in exchange for the boy; thinking thus to influence the bad feelings of a man who

[page] 347

CHAP. XI. 1573.

Argentina. 18.

seems to have had no good ones. Zarate took the girl, .. and refused to give him his son. His own people meantime groaned under his insolent cruelty; .. when the ratio of six ounces of stinking flour was weighed out daily with a niggard hand, he used to stand by, cursing them while they took the wretched dole for a set of hungry and helpless wretches, and cursing himself for having brought them from Spain to be obliged to feed them here. The famine still continued, till Garay reached Asumpcion, and sent down such supplies that the wreck of the expedition was enabled to ascend the stream, and proceed to its place of destination. When Zarate left the Plata he thought himself entitled to new name that river, and ordered that it should from thenceforth be called Vizcaya, the Biscay, he himself being a Biscayan.

Argentina. 15.

Death of Zarate.

Argentina. 19.

Soon after his arrival at the seat of government he died, regretted by nobody, till the vices of Diego Mendieta, his nephew, whom he appointed Governor as long as his daughter should remain unmarried, made even Zarate regretted. The insolence and cruelty of this young successor soon became insupportable. He was seized at Santa Fe and embarked on board a caravel to be sent prisoner to Spain. The Pilot was his partizan, and made for Rio de Janeiro; there he found friends, and was encouraged to return in the same vessel and recover his authority. But this man's vices were proof against adversity: the moment he acquired power he became a tyrant; the caravel, in consequence of the disturbances which his tyranny occasioned, put into Ybiaça, a port near St. Catalina, and there Mendieta consummated his crimes and his own perdition. A soldier who fled from him was persuaded by fair promises to return; no sooner had he returned, than this wretch split him down from the shoulder to the fork, and hung up one half by the neck, the other by the arm. At this atrocious

[page] 348

CHAP. XI. 1573.

Argentina. 24.

sight the Pilot and crew hoisted sail and left him with seven others, probably his agents in blood, among the Savages, and at the instigation of a Mamaluco, whose wife he had taken away, they were all put to death.

Re-establishment of Buenos Ayres.

1580.

Garay slain.

The history of this part of South America differs from that of any other colony in one remarkable circumstance; the first permanent settlement was formed in the heart of the country, and the Spaniards colonized from the interior towards the sea. The ill effects of thus reversing the natural order of things had been so grievously experienced by Zarate's armament, that an attempt was once more made to people Buenos Ayres. Garay had the conduct of this expedition; his success was facilitated by the previous establishment at Santa Fe, and the town was a third time founded upon the spot which Mendoza had chosen. Its former name had been Nuestra Señora de Buenos Ayres; .. Garay, with a strange disrespect to the Magna Mater of Catholic mythology, altered its invocation and called it La Trinidad de Buenos Ayres: long titles, whether of place or person, are always curtailed by the common sense, and for the common convenience of mankind; the one invocation is now as little remembered as the other, and Buenos Ayres is the name of the city. The natives remembering that they had twice demolished the works of the Spaniards upon that ground, and twice compelled them to abandon their purpose of settling there, once more attacked it; they burnt the tents and temporary huts with fire-arrows, but their leader was slain, and they were routed. Success made Garay too confident. Going up the river in a brigantine he chose to pass the night ashore, and neglected to set a guard: the Manuas, a tribe so inconsiderable as hardly to be named upon any other occasion, killed him in his sleep, and cut off with him forty persons of both sexes, who were of the best settlers in Pa-

[page] 349

CHAP. XI. 1580.

Argentina. 24.

21.

raguay. Elated by this victory, as it was deemed, they called upon the neighbouring tribes to join them in a general attack upon the new settlement. One of their councils was held and distinguished by a remarkable single combat. Two women, by name Tupaayqua and Tabolia, quarrelled because the former asserted that her husband was a better drinker than Tabolia's. They were proceeding to take their bows and arrows when the bye-standers interfered, and it was agreed upon, probably to prevent the quarrel from spreading, that they should determine their dispute by a regular duel. The lists were surrounded with a palisade, and they fought naked with the macana, till the husbands, seeing them both covered with blood, cried out to them to hold, and their anger being somewhat reduced by bleeding, they submitted to be parted and became good friends at a drinking bout. The result of the council was a confederacy against Buenos Ayres; but it was now well garrisoned, and sufficiently fortified against such enemies: their leader was slain, and they were totally defeated. The city immediately began to prosper, and the ship which sailed for Castille with tidings of its refoundation, took home a cargo of sugar, and the first hides with which Europe was supplied from the wild cattle which now began to overspread the open country, and soon produced a total change in the manners of all the adjoining tribes.

[page 350]

CHAPTER XII.

The French driven from Paraiba.—The Pitagoares.—Intercourse of the English with Brazil.—Fenton's Expedition.—Commencement of hostilities.—Withrington ravages the Reconcave.—Death of Barreto.—D. Francisco de Sousa Governor.—Search after Silver Mines.—Expedition of Cavendish. He takes Santos, burns St. Vicente, is repulsed at Espirito Santo, and dies of a broken heart.—Lancaster takes Recife.—Ralegh diverts adventurers towards Guiana.—El Dorado.

CHAP. XII. 1583.

French at Paraiba.

The Pitagoares.

The French, driven as they had repeatedly been from Brazil whenever they attempted to form even a factory there, would not abandon the trade of that country. They now made the Paraiba their port, where they allied themselves with the Pitagoares, who possessed the country between that river and the Rio Grande. On the one side they were always at war with the Cahetes, whom they regarded as their natural enemies, though they spake the same language; on the other, sometimes at war sometimes at peace with the Tapuyas, who were however leagued with them in the interior against their borderers the Tabarajas. They were of the great Tupi race, and some of the cruellest of that race; for they never spared a prisoner. These Savages, assisted by the French, committed dreadful devastation upon the adjoining settlements, burning the sugar works, and massacring

[page] 351

CHAP. XII. 1583.

Barbosa defeated.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 11.

and devouring all on whom they could lay hands. The people of Pernambuco and Itamaraca applied to Government for protection, and orders were given to colonize upon the Paraiba and fortify it. Forces for the expedition were raised in the neighbouring Captaincies. Fructuoso Barbosa had the command, and great expectations were indulged of its success. The Pitagoares and French decoyed him into an ambuscade, and cut off great part of his men; the others became discontented, they complained of his misconduct, and many forsook him. After this desertion and the loss which he had sustained, his force was no longer adequate to the service; the enemy, elated at having driven him out, renewed their ravages, and the people of Pernambuco and Itamaraca earnestly implored the Governor to send them succours.

Flores wins the landing and builds a fort.

Barreto was too old to attempt any thing in person, neither indeed could he leave St. Salvador's; for it was only six months since he had arrived, and business which had probably accumulated under the provisional government, made his presence necessary. There chanced however to be at Bahia a part of that formidable and most disastrous expedition sent out under Diego Flores de Valdes, by Felipe II, to secure the Straits of Magalhaens, after Drake had alarmed him for the safety of Peru. Twenty-three ships sailed from Seville, and after repeated attempts to reach the Straits, Diego Flores had finally put back to Bahia with only six. Barreto requested him to expel the French from Paraiba; two ships under Diogo Vaz da Veiga were also lying at Bahia, on their way home from Goa; with these in addition to his own fleet Flores sailed to Pernambuco; and troops were collected there who advanced by land while the maritime force proceeded. There were four French vessels in the river. Flores entered to attack them with his own ship, that of Diogo Vaz, and all the boats; the French abandoned

[page] 352

CHAP. XII. 1583.

The post abandoned by Castrejon, and again occupied by Barbosa.

Noticias. MSS. 1. 12.

Herrera. His. Gen. 2. 14. 18.

Rocha Pitta 3. § 84—86.

their ships, having set fire to them, and then joined the Savages on shore, with whom they made a show of defending the landing; but it was only a show. The troops landed without opposition, the land forces arrived, they constructed a wooden fortress, and Flores left an hundred and fifty men in it, under Francisco Castrejon. Barbosa and this Captain could not agree; the former expected to be Governor of the new settlement by virtue of his former appointment; and finding that his claim was not acknowledged, he retired to Pernambuco and from thence sent a memorial to the King. Castrejon maintained his authority better than he did his post: the Pitagoares, as soon as Barbosa was gone, besieged him: war with these fierce Savages was what he had not been accustomed to, and having once or twice repulsed them, he made a hasty retreat to Itamaraca, losing some of his people by the way. When this was known at Pernambuco another force was raised, and Barbosa again took possession of the fort: succours were speedily sent him, and a horde of Tupinambas pitched their villages near, to assist and be assisted against the common enemy.

Intercourse of the English with Brazil.

The unhappy subjection of Portugal to Spain had now involved Brazil in hostilities with the English, who till now had never appeared there as enemies, though they had traded with the Indians before the foundation of St. Salvador¹. In later

¹ The first Englishman who is mentioned as having traded to this country is Master William Hawkins of Plymouth, father of Sir John Hawkins, "a man much esteemed by King Henry VIII, as a principal Sea Captain. He armed a ship of his own of two hundred and fifty tons, called the Paul of Plymouth, wherewith he made two voyages to Brazil, one in the year 1530, and the other in 1532; in the first of which he brought a Brazilian King, as they termed him, to present him in his wild accoutrements to King Henry, .. at the sight of whom the King and all the nobility did not a little marvail, and not without cause." One Martin Cockeram, of Plymouth, was left behind in pledge for him. The Brazilian remained nearly twelve months in England, and died on his passage home, which was feared would turn to the loss of the life of Martin Cockeram his pledge. Nevertheless the Savages being fully persuaded of the honest dealing of our men towards their Prince, restored him without any harm.

Hakluyt: Vol. 3. P. 700. Purchas. L. 6. C. 4. P. 1179:

About 1540 the commodious and gainful voyage to Brazil was ordinarily and usually frequented by M. Robert Reniger, M. Thomas Borey, and divers other substantial and wealthy merchants of Southampton. One Pudsey of the same place is said to have made a voyage to Bahia in 1542, and to have built a fort not far distant from it. Hakluyt. V. 3. 701.

[page] 353

CHAP. XII. 1581.

Hakluyt. 3. 701—705.

years a circumstance had happened which promised to bring on a regular intercourse between England and these colonies. An Englishman, by name John Whithall, married and settled at Santos; and having, by means of his father-in-law, obtained license for an English ship to bring out goods, he wrote to his friends, sent them a list of commodities which would produce three for one upon sale², and undertook to load the vessel back with fine dry sugar. The Minion of London was sent out upon this adventure. These traders were well received: the utmost confidence existed on both sides. There was an alarm that four French ships which had been driven from Rio de Janeiro were about to attack Santos, and the English lent guns and ammunition for its defence. Even bigotry did not interrupt this good understanding; an Englishman was buried in the church, and when orders came from St. Sebastians that the English were not to be permitted to enter the church because they were heretics, the Clergy of Santos, in communicating this prohibition, expressed their sorrow for the edict as well as for its cause, and besought the English not to have an ill

² This curious document will be found among the additional notes.

2 Z

[page] 354

CHAP. XII. 1581.

opinion of them in consequence. But these fair beginnings were blasted; the usurpation of Felipe took place at this time, and Brazil soon had its share of those calamities which England, in the worst spirit of predatory warfare, had now begun to inflict upon South America.

Expedition of Fenton.

1582.

An expedition destined for the East Indies and China, under Edward Fenton, stood for the coast of Brazil. They were in want of refreshment, and having learnt from a Spanish vessel which they took and released off the mouth of the Plata, that though provisions were to be had in that river, wine was not, they then made for St. Vicente³, without any hostile intentions. Giuseppe Doria, the father-in-law of Whithall, came off to them with two of the principal inhabitants, and after this friendly visit Fenton went ashore to look out a place where the smith might erect a forge, and the portable ovens might be set up to bake their biscuit. The next day Whithall came on board, told them the Portugueze had sent their women away, and had been fortifying the town, and advised them to come up without loss of time and anchor before it. Doria and a Portugueze came off soon after him; they said that the Governor would meet Fenton in a few days and talk with him, and that meantime the English might proceed with their business of cooperage, carpentering, fishing, and such necessary work, but advised them not to erect forge or oven till they had seen the Governor. Fenton entertained these guests at dinner, left them in the cabin, and went on deck to consult with his officers

³ D. Martin del Barco (Argentina. C. 2.) rejoices that Fenton (whom he calls Fontano .. perhaps for the sake of making it rhyme to Lutherano,) did not know of the foundation of Buenos Ayres, where he might have done much mischief. But it is certain both that he knew there were settlements in the river, and that he did not design to commit any hostility.

[page] 355

CHAP. XII. 1582.

whether he should detain them as prisoners. In reply to this proposal it was represented by Ward, the Vice-Admiral, that their instructions forbade them to use violence except in their own defence; the Minion, he said, had opened a trade here, which such proceedings would destroy, and indeed would render the English nation hated; and more was to be gained by friendly dealing than by force. This opinion prevailed,..and a present which had before been prepared was offered accordingly; it consisted of fine black cloth for Doria and their two former visitors, three yards to each for a cloak, and the same quantity to the Governor in scarlet and in murrey.

Commencement of hostilities.

Argentina. 24.

Herrera. Hist. Gen. 2. 14. 17.

Luke Ward in Hakluyt. 3. 757—768

Lopez Vaz. Do. 794.

But the evil which Ward anticipated from hostile proceedings had already been produced by Drake; our nation was hated, and by all the Spaniards in America Englishmen were considered as pirates. The vessel which Fenton had taken and released fell in with Flores, and gave information that there were enemies in those seas. He cruised in pursuit of them without success; three of his ships however put into Santa Catalina, and there received intelligence from St. Vicente. It was said that the English meant to settle there and fortify themselves; that Whithall had invited them for that purpose; that they were spreading about news how Felipe was dead, and Antonio in possession of Portugal; and that they were making great promises in the name of their Queen to induce the people to receive them. A little of this story may have been true, and Whithall's enemies invented more; but the fresh recollection of Drake's exploits made the whole credible, and therefore it was easily credited. Two hours after Doria had left Fenton's ship, the Spanish squadron came bearing in, anchored upon the bar, and made preparations to attack him. He had only two ships, but they were in better trim. The action began in the evening, and continued as long as the moon gave them light; by that time

[page] 356

CHAP. XII. 1582.

one of the Spaniards was sunk⁴: and in the course of the following day the English warped out and put to sea.

Withrington's expedition

1586.

This was the first act of hostility which the English committed in Brazil, and in this they were not the aggressors; but Brazil was now become a Spanish colony, and therefore exposed to the depredations of every freebooter. Three years after Fenton's return another expedition was destined for the South Sea, and its instructions were not equally pacific. The Earl of Cumberland was at the charge of this adventure, of which Robert Withrington had the command; it was joined by two other privateers, one of which was fitted out by Ralegh. They captured two small Portugueze vessels off the Plata, bound for Santa Fe⁵; the information which they collected from the prisoners

⁴ "By reason," says Lopez Vaz, "that these three ships were weakened with former tempests, and were manned with the refuse of all the Spanish fleet, (the sicke men and women being embarked therein) the Englishmen easily put them to the worst, and sunk one of them, and might also have sunk another if they had been so minded; but they desired not the destruction of any man: and doubtless it is the greatest valour that any man can show, that when he may do hurt, he will not." This part of the "Discourse" is previously inserted by Hakluyt, who probably, when he printed the extract, had no intention of afterwards inserting the whole. As the original has never been published, this oversight occasions one advantage, .. the translation is not the same, and as this compliment to the English occurs in both, a fair presumption arises that it has not been interpolated by the translator. It is gratifying to meet with such an acknowledgment of English generosity in the age of Drake and Cavendish. Herrera underrates Fenton's force, and relates this action with remarkable fairness, .. good proof how well this invaluable author may be relied on.

⁵ "From thence," says Sarracoll, "by horse and carts, the marchants and part of their goods were to be transported into Peru. This ship had for master or pilot an Englishman called Abraham Cooke, borne in Lee, who had been left by the Minion of London. We examined him and the rest concerning the state of the river, and they told us that there were in the river five towns, some of seventy household, and some of more. In these towns is great store of corn, cattle, wine, and sundry fruits, but no money of gold or silver; they make a certain kind of slight cloth which they give in truck of sugar, rice, marmalade, and sucket, which were the commodities that this ship had. They had aboard also forty-five negroes, whereof every one in Peru yieldeth four hundred duckets a piece. Concerning this voyage of the Portugals, they told me it was the third voyage that was made into the River of Plate these thirty years.—At Santa Fe their ships do discharge all their goods into small barks which come and tow up the river to another town called Ascension (Asumpcion). In the towns of Ascension and Tucaman (Cordova I suppose) a rapier of twenty rials of plate is worth thirty duckets, a box of marmalade twenty duckets, a looking-glass a foot over is worth thirty li, pictures in tables of fourteen inches thirty and forty li a piece."

[page] 357

CHAP. XII. 1586.

Rel. Ann. ff. 114.

made them suppose they could take St. Salvador, and accordingly the Commander, who had more inclination for plunder than for the passage of the Straits, over-ruled the opinion of his Vice-Admiral, and made for Bahia. No sooner was the approach of the enemy perceived, than Christovam de Gouvea, the Jesuit visitor, sent for all the converted Indians in the adjoining country, and these formidable archers preserved the city and its immediate vicinity; but the English remained six weeks in the Bay, ravaging the Reconcave, and committing great havoc with little profit to themselves.

Sarracoll in Hakluyt. 3. 769—778.

Death of Barreto.

1587.

Rocha Pitta. 3. § 87. 88.

These unfortunate events happened under Barreto's government. He died after an administration of four years, and the sealed succession-papers which had been sent out with him to be opened in case of his death, were found to nominate D. Antonio Barreiros the Bishop, and Christovam de Barros the Provedor Mor da Fazenda, joint Governors. Francisco Giraldes was appointed to supersede them: he was Lord of the Captaincy of the Ilheos, which his father, Lucas Giraldes, had purchased from the son of the original Donatory. This higher

[page] 358

CHAP. XII. 1587.

honour was one of which he was not ambitious, and having twice embarked from Lisbon, and twice been driven back, he requested permission to resign; the resignation was accepted, and D. Francisco de Sousa chosen to succeed him.

D. Francisco de Sousa Governor.

Rumour of Silver Mines.

The new Governor set out with higher expectations than any of his predecessors. A descendant of Caramuru, by name Roberio Diaz, was at this time one of the richest and most powerful men in Bahia. He had services of plate for his chapel and his table, and it was confidently reported that the silver of which they were made had been dug from mines which he had discovered in his own lands. This rumour became so general that he thought it no longer prudent to keep his knowledge secret; and accordingly he went to Madrid and offered the King to find for him more silver in Brazil than there was iron in Biscay, provided he would give him for his reward the title of Marquis of the Mines. This demand was thought too high; the office of Administrador of the Mines was granted him, and other advantages held out with which he might perhaps have been contented, if Felipe had not, somewhat unjustly, promised the new Governor the title which he refused Roberio. The promise could only be effected if the mines were found; this depended upon Roberio, and he was determined not to put another in possession of the honours to which he conceived himself entitled. He returned with Sousa to Brazil, and immediately obtained permission to go to his estates and prepare for the expedition. This time he employed, as is supposed, in destroying all vestiges which might lead to the discovery, and when Sousa set out upon his search of the mines⁶, in full expectation of finding them, not a

⁶ J. de Laet, in his additions to Marcgraff, (8. 2.) has inserted a brief and unsatisfactory account of a nine months expedition in search of silver mines, undertaken by this Governor's orders. It is related by Wilhelm Glimmer, a Dutchman, who was one of the persons employed. Whether this expedition be the same which Roberio Diaz frustrated I know not; but there is nothing to be extracted from the Dutchman's narration. This Glimmer throws no light upon the subject.

[page] 359

CHAP. XII. 1591.

trace was to be found. Roberio had manifestly deceived the King, either in his promise, or in his non-performance, and Sousa, provoked at the disappointment and at the loss of his expected Marquisate, dissembled his anger, but sent home complaints against him. Before orders for his punishment arrived he died, and the secret with him, even his heirs being left ignorant of it.

Rocha Pitta. 3. § 89—92.

Expedition of Cavendish.

Sir W. Monson in Churchill. v. 3. 212.

Dec. 16.

Argentina. 16.

Santos taken.

Jane in Hakluyt. 3. 842.

While the Portugueze were thus searching for mines, Cavendish came to annoy their coast. This adventurer having wasted his paternal substance, thought to repair a ruined fortune by privateering; and during a former voyage, in which he sailed round the world, the ravages which he committed were such as long left a stain upon the character of the English nation. The plunder which he then made tempted him to a second expedition, and he had so squandered it that he set out without a sufficient stock of provisions, and sent two of his squadron forward to attack the town of Santos, for the sake of storing himself there. The people were surprized at mass, .. only one man attempted resistance, and was slain; .. the rest were kept prisoners in the church during the remainder of the day. But instead of bargaining for a supply as their ransom, Cocke, the Vice-Admiral, contented himself with making good cheer upon what he found; they took the opportunity not merely to escape, but to carry away whatever was portable, and when Cavendish arrived, eight or ten days after the place was taken, he found a

[page] 360

CHAP. XII. 1591.

Kuivett in Purchas.

Argentina. 1.

town without either inhabitants or provisions. Many Indians came to him and offered him their alliance if he would destroy the Portugueze, and keep the country for himself; these however were not views for a freebooter; and the natives would not expose themselves to the vengeance of their former oppressors by making any exertions to befriend a people from whom they perceived that it was in vain to expect protection. An unavailing attempt was made to allure the settlers by inviting them in Antonio's name; that cry was too old, and his cause too hopeless; yet with improvidence deserving the fate which it occasioned, the squadron remained here several weeks⁷, and departed at last worse furnished in every respect than they came.

Jane. 842.

1592.

St. Vicente burnt by Cavendish.

They burnt St. Vicente on their way, proceeded to the Straits, failed in their attempt to pass, and were separated by stress of weather. Cavendish put back alone to the coast of Brazil, and landed five and twenty men about three leagues from Santos, with instructions to seize some provisions as speedily as they could and bring them on board for the relief of their sick and starving comrades. Of this party, which consisted of the principal persons in the ship, not a man returned. The Indians collected, attacked them as they were preparing to re-embark,

⁷ There was a clay image of St. Catharine, which Luiz, the brother of the Donatory Pedro de Goes, jointly with his wife, had given to the town of Santos; it stood in a little chapel at the foot of a hill, which was called after her name. This idol the English tost into the sea. Many years afterwards the drag-net brought it out unbroken: a new chapel was built for its reception, and the oystershells which adhered to it were suffered to remain in remembrance of its long immersion in the deep. There it is worshipped at this day, and they who show the image, remark that the greatest wonder in its history is, that the English Iconoclasts did not break it before they threw it into the sea.

Gaspar da Madre de Deos. 1. § 71.

[page] 361

CHAP. XII. 1592.

Argentina. 28.

and cut off the whole⁸, sparing only two, whom they carried prisoners to Santos, and entered the town in triumph with the heads of the slain. Shortly afterward Cavendish was joined by the Roebuck, one of his unfortunate squadron; they continued to coast along, ravaging in their progress houses and plantations, till a Portugueze prisoner undertook to carry both ships over the

⁸ Cavendish seems to have cast an imputation upon these unfortunate adventurers which they did not deserve. "They were all such," he says, "as neither respected me, nor any thing that I commanded. Instead of seizing provisions as hastily as possible to relieve their comrades on board, they did nothing but eat hens and hogs, which they had there in abundance, till the Portugueze collected and cut them all off." Purchas. L. 6. C. 6. P. 1195. The author of the Argentina seems to have been at Santos at the time, and was well acquainted with both the prisoners. One of them, he says, was a Surgeon, a very great Philosopher and Latinist, and very Christian-like in all his actions.

El uno de ellos era Cirujano,

Grandissimo Filosofo y Latino,

Mostraba ser en obras muy Christiano

Que yo trate con el muy de contino.

Argentina. C. 28.

One of the slain, he says, was the son of an English Count, and Cavendish could not return without him, for if he did he would be put to death, and he therefore sent a letter on shore to recover him if he were living. A finger with a valuable ring was cut from one of the bodies by an Indian. Don Martin adds, that this 'pleasant affair,' as he calls it, happened on the Eve of Peter.

Vispera de San Pedro ha sucededo

El succeso jocundo y placentero.

Who can doubt, he says, that St. Peter called upon Christ to revenge him on these heretics? they treated with scorn a head of one of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, .. who can doubt that the Virgin to whom it belonged cried for vengeance? They broke the Crucifix, .. who can doubt that the Incarnate Word, benignant Lamb as he is, cried out to the Father, and exclaimed, Let this malignant Spirit perish? He describes the ravages which the English committed at Santos on their former visit, as an eye witness, having arrived there a few days after their departure; and his account, (which is followed in the text) of their loss in the adjoining country, seems to acquit the sufferers of the imprudence which Cavendish imputes to them.

3 A

[page] 362

CHAP. XII. 1592.

Cavendish in Purchas.

1195.

Kuivet in Purchas.

bar at Espirito Santo, a place which they especially desired to win, thinking that they should there find abundance of every thing. The Commander not deeming it prudent to rely implicitly upon the assurances of his prisoner, anchored and sent a boat to sound the bar. The depth which they found was judged to be insufficient; the poor Portugueze in vain protested that he had never sounded it, but that he had taken in ships of an hundred tons: he deserved hanging, either from the English for designing to wreck them, or from his own countrymen for undertaking to pilot their enemies, and Cavendish without ceremony or farther examination hung him.

Attempt upon Espirito Santo.

The boats rowed in and discovered three ships at anchor near the town. The Commander, without loss of time, would have sent to cut them out, but night was drawing on, and his men refused to go till the morning. Every hour's delay was dangerous; the roadstead was very bad; .. never ships, says Cavendish, rid in worse; to cross the bar was impossible, and the country was fired round about. Yet there was no remedy for their disobedience, and, provoked as he was, he was compelled to wait the pleasure of his crew. In the morning they offered to go, and the boats departed with eighty men under Captain Morgan. His orders were not to land, on pain of his life, whatever opportunity might be offered; little danger was apprehended from the ships⁹, but if he saw any he was to return; and if, on the other hand, he should discover good open landing near the town, even then he was to put back, that the Commander himself might make the attempt with as many men as he had boats to

⁹ "I knew," says Cavendish, "that no ships use Brazil that be able to defend themselves from a cock-boat, .. much less that they should be of force to offend those boats wherein there were so many musketeers as could sit one by another."

[page] 363

CHAP. XII. 1592.

carry. With these instructions Morgan departed. During the night the Portugueze had haled their vessels up before the town, where the river was not above a bird-bolt-shot across: half a mile below they had thrown up two small trenches, each commanded by overhanging rocks and woods. That on the western side fired at them, and Morgan, in obedience to his orders, would have returned. Some of the sailors swore that they always thought him a coward, and now he had proved himself to be so: upon this he was greatly moved, and declared that whatever might be the consequences he would land.

Cavendish is repulsed and dies of a broken heart.

Upon this they continued to advance; the sconse on the eastern side, which hitherto they had not seen, opened upon them, and with one shot killed one man and wounded two. .. They then determined that the smaller boat should attack the west battery, and the larger one make for the other. The small boat landed first, and finding little resistance carried the post without loss. The other, which drew much water, got aground, .. the men however waded above their knees to shore. The sconse was built with stones, about ten feet high. Morgan and ten of his comrades scaled it; the Indians and Portugueze then showed themselves, rolled down stones from above, and killed him and five others. The rest, most of them sorely wounded, fled towards the boat, which was by this time quilled with arrows. Of the five and forty men who were on board, not one escaped unhurt, and some had three arrows in them. Unable to stand this desperate discharge they pushed off, and left some of their fellows on shore, a prey to the Savages. Having thus got off they called to those on the opposite side to come and help them. This party hastily embarked for that purpose; their boat grounded and could not be set afloat till ten of her crew got out. By that time the Indians returned to the forsaken battery, and began to shoot at them. The ten Englishmen,

[page] 364

CHAP. XII. 1592.

Purchas. 6. 6.

seeing the arrows fly about them, ran up to the battery, and poured their shot in through the lower hold; but while they were thus employed, the Master of the Roebuck, a most cowardly villain, says Cavendish, that ever was born of a woman, made the boat row off, and left these brave men a spoil for the enemy. They waded up to their necks to be taken in, but their rascally comrades had no compassion, and "thus vilely were these men lost." After this unfortunate attempt Cavendish left the coast of Brazil, and died on his way home, as much of a broken heart as of disease.

Lancaster's expedition.

1594.

This expedition had no plan and was miserably misconducted: that which followed seems to have been designed and executed with greater ability than any other of these privateering adventures. Certain Aldermen and Citizens of London victualled three ships, of which the largest was computed at two hundred and forty tons, the smallest at only sixty, and the other at one hundred and seventy. James Lancaster, a Gentleman of London, was appointed their Admiral. He had by his own account been brought up among the Portugueze, lived among them as a gentleman, served with them as a soldier, and dwelt among them as a merchant; there was therefore what may be called moral treason in bearing arms against a people with whom he had so long been domesticated. Pernambuco was the place which he determined to attack; he procured two Frenchmen from Dieppe who were well versed in the language of the Indians, and set sail with a company of two hundred and seventy-five men and boys. One of his ships, twice upon the voyage, sprung a mast, and having therefore put back to refit, the men in the other vessels would fain have persuaded Lancaster to give up his project, saying they were now too weak to accomplish it; but he replied that Barker, his Vice-Admiral, was too resolute a man not to join them at the place appointed as soon as his damage was repaired, and that nothing should make him go any other

[page] 365

CHAP. XII. 1595.

course than that on which he had determined; for it was by such changes of purpose that most expeditions were frustrated. He was not deceived in his confidence. Barker joined them off Cape Blanco, where with his little vessel he had already captured four and twenty sail of Spaniards and Portugueze. From one of the prisoners they learnt that a carrack richly laden from India, had been wrecked on the coast of Pernambuco, and that all her cargo was stowed at Recife, the port of Olinda. Elated by this intelligence, they took with them five of their prizes, to be employed as occasion might require, plied for the Isle of Mayo, and there put together a galley-frigate, having fourteen banks¹⁰ on a side, which was designed for landing, and of which they had brought out the frame. Here they fell in with another squadron of privateers under Captain Venner, consisting of two ships, a pinnace, and a Biscayan prize. Venner readily consorted with Lancaster, and their bills, according to the manner of the sea, were made and signed on either part; Lancaster to have three shares, and he the fourth of all that should be taken.

They arrive at Recife.

Mar. 29.

From thence they stood for Recife, and arrived before the harbour one midnight towards the end of March. There were three large Dutch ships lying at the entrance, from whom some resistance was apprehended. Lancaster manned his five prizes, which were each about sixty tons, and ordered his men, if the Hollanders offered any opposition, to run aboard them, set their own ships afire, and take to their boats, that thus they might win the entrance. His intention was to land with the boats as soon as it was day, leaving his ships off the harbour till he had won the forts and the town. The men were embarked for this purpose, and he himself took the command of the galley, which

¹⁰ Bank, a bench; Bancus Regis, the Court of King's Bench. This Galley-frigate had consequently twenty-eight oars.

[page] 366

CHAP. XII. 1595.

he manned with eighty of his own ship's company. But when morning was come, they found that the boats had drifted some half a mile to the north of the entrance; before they could get up the ebb came, and they were forced thus to remain off the port in full sight of the town: they had however the satisfaction of seeing the Hollanders lay out haulsers and wind themselves out of the way, thus removing their main cause of apprehension. About noon the Governor sent off a messenger to know what this fleet would have. Lancaster made answer, he wanted the goods of the carrack, for them he came, and them he would have, as the Governor should shortly see. Meantime the Portugueze garrisoned the fort or platform at the mouth of the harbour, and mustered all the force that was at hand, consisting of about six hundred men. Lancaster ordered his men to run their boats ashore with such violence as to cast them all away, that they might have nothing to trust to but God and their weapons. These privateers were exceedingly religious in their profession, .. the name of God was always in their mouth, and they had great hope of his blessing them in the performance of their voyage, .. a voyage of which the whole and sole purpose was plunder.

He wins the town.

About two in the afternoon the tide served. Lancaster led the way; they past the Hollanders, the fort began to play upon them, and struck away great part of the ensign of the galley. They ran her aground right under the battery within a coit's cast of it; her back was broken with the shock, the sea made a breach over her, and she sunk instantly; the other boats did the like. There were seven brass guns in the fort, which the Portugueze pointed so steep downwards that their shot was spent in the sand, only one man being wounded. Lancaster exulting at this, for a well-aimed discharge must have been murtherous, exclaimed, Upon them! Upon them! all by God's help is ours!

[page] 367

CHAP. XII. 1595.

They ran forward to storm the place; the Portugueze lost heart, retired into some near bushes, and being pursued, fled by a way which was still dry, the tide not having reached it. Lancaster then made signal for the ships to enter. He left a garrison in the fort, planted its guns against Olinda, from which quarter he apprehended most danger, and marched to the base-town, as he calls Recife, which contained at that time rather more than an hundred houses. The people, at his approach, embarked in caravels and boats and abandoned the place¹¹, leaving the rich lading of the carrack, and great store of country produce, to the conquerors.

He engages the Dutch in his service,

and is joined by a squadron of French.

The Admiral displayed as much prudence in the management of his conquest as valour in winning it. Not the slightest disorder was committed, nor any private pillage; perhaps no freebooters ever before or since behaved with such strict order and regularity. So great a booty could not hastily be removed, and it was necessary to keep possession of the town for some time. The isthmus upon which Recife stands was immediately fortified with a palisado about nine feet high, for which materials were found in the town, and a fort was constructed there to which five pieces of artillery were removed from that at the mouth of the harbour. This done Lancaster opened a treaty with the Hollanders, and offered to freight them to England upon terms which they found advantageous, and therefore joined heartily with the English. Within a few days three ships and two pinnaces hove in sight; they proved to be a squadron of French privateers, and it happened that one of their Captains,

¹¹ "The day of our arrival," says the narrator of this "well governed and prosperous voyage," "was their Good Friday, when by custom they usually whip themselves; but God sent us now for a general scourge to them all, whereby that labour among them might be well spared."

[page] 368

CHAP. XII. 1595.

no longer ago than the preceding year, had taken Lancaster on board from the Island of Mona, in the West Indies, on which he had been wrecked. Lancaster now requited this service by giving him a cargo of Brazil-wood for his ship and pinnace, and a caravel of fifty tons laden with the same commodity. The other Frenchmen were glad to take their share of duty for a share of the spoil, and thus Lancaster obtained a large body of auxiliaries, whom he amply gratified by paying them with what he could not have taken away himself, and would therefore otherwise have destroyed.

The third day after their coming, three or four of the chief persons of Olinda came down, and proposed to treat with the Admiral. Immediately upon hearing this, he said he must go aboard the Hollanders; and there he went and remained in spite of repeated messages, till the patience of the Portugueze was exhausted, and they went away. When Lancaster was asked by his own men the reason of this extraordinary conduct, his reply was, that he knew these people well, having been brought up among them. "When they cannot prevail with the sword, said he, then they deal with their deceivable tongues, for faith and truth they have none. And what shall we gain by parley? by the help of God we have gotten that for which we came, and there were no wisdom in letting them try to win back by policy what we have won by force." He therefore informed the Portugueze that he would receive no proposals from them, and would hang the first person that attempted to bring any. Meantime the work of lading his convoy went on. In an attack which was made upon the invaders they took five of the little carts of the country, a greater prize to them than the artillery and ammunition which they won in the same action, for without these carts they could not have shipped many of the bulkiest commodities. The following morning a ship, unsuspicious of what had happened,

[page] 369

CHAP. XII. 1595.

entered the harbour, having on board forty Portugueze and about three score negroes. Lancaster let the negroes go whither they would, and kept the Portugueze to draw the carts; by this insolent usage of the prisoners relieving his own men, who were incapable of hard labour in that hot climate.

Attempts to burn his ships.

They had now been twenty days in possession of Recife, and though they had sustained repeated attacks, and were always obliged to fight for their water, they had received little hurt. The Portugueze however were not idle; they set five caravels on fire and sent them down the stream. This attempt Lancaster had expected, and had accordingly stationed six boats about half a mile above the ships, provided with grapnels and iron chains; with these they grappled the caravels, towed some aground, and brought others to anchor, where they burnt out. Six days afterwards, about an hour before midnight, three huge rafts, blazing furiously, came down the stream; long poles were fastened to their sides to keep the English from grappling them, and there were also projecting tubes, charged with fire-works, which the men dared not approach, lest their own powder should be kindled by the shower of sparks. But unless these rafts were towed aside, the ships must inevitably be burnt. They therefore laid wet cloths upon their flasks and bandelers, and ventured upon them; succeeded in grappling them, blazing as they were, and towed them aground, where they continued burning till day. The Portugueze now tried to cut the cables of the enemy, and in this also they were baffled, such excellent watch was kept. A third attempt, by means of fire, was prepared, and Lancaster was well assured it would not be possible to prevent its success; but by this time he had shipped his plunder, and was ready to depart. It so happened that the tide would not serve till evening. Lancaster observed a bank of sand newly thrown up opposite the place where the ships lay, and he per-

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[page] 370

CHAP. XII. 1595.

ceived some people upon it. Immediately he went to the town, called his Captains together, and telling them what he had seen, consulted whether they should sally and see what the enemy were about: his own opinion was, that as they were to set sail that night it was but folly to seek war when there was no necessity. There were however others who argued reasonably enough, that the wind might possibly prevent them from clearing out so soon as they intended, and therefore it was best to take every precaution. To this argument Lancaster assented; he had been indisposed for the last two days, and could not go in person, not being able to march upon those heavy sands. But though he apprehended little danger, for the place was so near the ships that forty pieces of cannon could have been brought to play upon the enemy had they attacked them there, he said they should go out strong, for fear of the worst; and accordingly three hundred men, French and English, went upon this service. Their orders were to destroy whatever works they might find, and then to return. A few shot were fired as they approached, and the post was then abandoned. They found the beginning of a platform which was designed for a battery, and their whole business was to burn the planks; but seeing some ensigns about a mile off, out of reach of the ships, where Lancaster himself was in readiness to assist, these rash men pushed forward; they thought they were hastening to certain victory, and in their eagerness to be among the enemy some outran the rest. The Portugueze decoyed them on till they found themselves in the midst of the whole force of the country. Five¹² and thirty of the foremost

¹² The only notice of Lancaster's expedition which I have found in the Portugueze writers is an incidental mention of this circumstance in the Relaçam Annual for 1601—2. It is there erroneously said that the English were about to attack Olinda when they received this repulse, .. and, rightly perhaps, that the Portugueze were indebted to the native converts for their victory. ff. 114.

[page] 371

CHAP. XII. 1595.

Hakluyt. vol. 3. p. 70—715.

were slain, a greater loss than had been sustained in ten former skirmishes; among those who fell were the Vice-Admiral Barker, and his Lieutenant, and two of the French Captains; .. the others were closely pursued till they came under protection of the ships. That evening they weighed anchor and sailed out, eleven ships in company, all richly laden, and all reached their ports safely. Freebooters when they have enriched themselves have rarely been contented, that passion for plunder which is first their crime being righteously appointed to be their punishment. There is however reason to believe that Lancaster was satisfied with his fortune, for no farther mention is made of him; and the good sense with which he conducted the whole expedition renders it probable that he knew how to profit wisely by what he had won.

El Dorado.

The success of this undertaking would probably have occasioned others, had not a more tempting lure been held out to the English adventurers by Ralegh, and the fable of El Dorado, which has cost Spain a greater expence of life and treasure than all her conquests in the New World, now served to draw off these enemies from Brazil. The scene of Ralegh's expedition is not within the limits of this history; but the fabulous land of gold which he professed to seek was sought with equal credulity on the side of Brazil, and the origin of a fiction which produced such remarkable effects may fitly be here explained. There were along the whole coast of the Spanish Main rumours of an inland country which abounded with gold. These rumours undoubtedly related to the kingdoms of Bogota and Tunja, now the Nuevo Reyno de Granada. Belalcazar, who was in quest of this country from Quito,

[page] 372

CHAP. XII. 1595.

Feyjoo. Suplement. p. 134.

Merc. Per. N. 78.

Federman, who came from Venezuela, and Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada, who sought it by way of the River Madalena, and who effected its conquest, met here. But in these countries also there were rumours of a rich land at a distance; similar accounts prevailed in Peru; in Peru they related to the Nuevo Reyno, there they related to Peru; and thus adventurers from both sides were allured to continue the pursuit after the game was taken. An imaginary kingdom was soon shaped out as the object of their quest, and stories concerning it were not more easily invented than believed. It was said, that a younger brother of Atabalipa fled, after the destruction of the Incas¹³, took with him the main part of their treasures, and founded a greater empire than that of which his family had been deprived. Sometimes this imaginary Emperor was called the Great Paytiti, sometimes the Great Moxo, sometimes the Enim or Great Paru. An impostor, at Lima, affirmed that he had been in his capital, the city of Manoa, where not fewer than three thousand workmen were employed in the silversmiths street: he even produced a map of the country, in which he had marked a hill of gold, another of silver, and a third of salt. The columns of the palace were described as of porphyry and alabaster, the galleries of ebony and cedar; the throne was of ivory, and the ascent to it was by steps of gold. When D. Martin del Barco was writing his Argentina, which was about the time of Ralegh's first expedition, a report was current in Paraguay, that the court of the Great Moxo had been discovered; D. Martin

¹³ The Great Quivira was to Mexico what the Enim was to Peru, the imaginary successor of the fallen Dynasty. Feyjoo (Th. Crit. T. 4. 10. § 15.) attributes the origin of this fable, with some probability, to accounts of the French settlements in Canada, given by the Indians.

[page] 373

CHAP. XII. 1595.

Argentina. C. 5.

communicates it as certain intelligence, and expresses his regret that Cabeza de Vaca had turned back from the Xarayes, for, had he proceeded in that direction, he would have been the fortunate discoverer. This palace, he says, stood in a lake island. It was built of white stone; at the entrance were two towers, and between them a column five and twenty feet in height; on its top was a large silver moon, and two living lions were fastened to its base with chains of gold. Having past by these keepers you came into a quadrangle planted with trees and watered by a silver fountain, which spouted through four golden pipes. The gate of the palace was of copper; it was very small, and its bolt was received in the solid rock. Within, a golden sun was placed upon an altar of silver, and four lamps were kept burning before it day and night. Manifestly as such fictions were borrowed from the romances of Amadis and Palmerin, they were not too gross for the greedy avarice of those to whom they were addressed.

Oviedo's Letter to Bembo, in Ramusio. 3. ff. 416.

This imaginary kingdom obtained the name of El Dorado, from the fashion of its Lord, which has the merit of being in savage costume. His body was anointed every morning with a certain fragrant gum of great price, and gold dust was then blown upon him, through a tube, till he was covered with it: the whole was washed off at night. This the Barbarian thought a more magnificent and costlier attire than could be afforded by any other potentate in the world, and hence the Spaniards called him El Dorado, or the Gilded One. A history of all the expeditions which were undertaken for the conquest of his kingdom would form a volume not less interesting than extraordinary. It is not possible that Ralegh could have believed the existence of such a kingdom, .. credulity was not the vice of his nature; but having formed the project of colonizing Guiana, he employed these fables as baits for vulgar cupidity. By thus

[page] 374

CHAP. XII. 1595.

attempting to cheat the nation into an enterprize which was undoubtedly of considerable national importance, he ruined himself; his accounts were received with discredit, his misfortunes were imputed to him as crimes; and in spite of his great and unquestionable talents, and even of that iniquitous death which would else have made his name venerable, there is a stain upon his memory. But his followers would have been buccaneering in some other direction if he had not led them to the Orinoco, and he was the means of procuring a long respite for Brazil, for his projects diverted adventurers elsewhere, and finally his fate deterred them.

[page 375]

CHAPTER XIII.

Attempts on the side of Maranham.—The Tapuyas.—Success of the Jesuits, and diminution of the natives.—The Aymores pacified.—Settlement formed at Seara.—French expedition to the Isle of Maranham.—They are expelled by Jeronymo de Albuquerque.—Foundation of the Captaincy of Para, and the City of Belem.—Settlements of the Dutch and other nations at the mouth of the Orellana destroyed.

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

Attempts on the side of Maranham.

Berredo. 2. § 93.

While the English were seeking for El Dorado in Guiana, an attempt at the same discovery was made from Brazil by Gabriel Soares; he reached the head of the river San Francisco, and advanced almost to the province of Charcas; but he had endured such hardships, and the number of men whom he had lost was so great, that he was compelled to return. Pedro Coelho de Sousa, a settler at Paraiba, then attempted it by water; it is not said in what direction, .. probably by the Orellana. In this fruitless enterprize he expended a great sum, but ill success did not deter him from making a second expedition. Sousa, after having administered the government eleven years, was now superseded by Pedro Botelho; the new Governor encouraged Pedro Coelho, and gave him a commission to conquer and colonize, with the title of Capitam Mor. About eighty adventurers were found, who embarked their property and per-

[page] 376

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

sons in this discovery; many of them were versed in the native languages, and eight hundred Indians accompanied them as allies. Part of this force coasted along in two large caravels, under the direction of a French pilot who knew the coast well: the main body advanced by land towards Seara; there their leader increased his force by taking with him some of the more civilized Indians, and they proceeded towards the Serra de Ibiapaba. The natives opposed them. Mel-Redondo, one of the Chiefs, was assisted by a few Frenchmen under M. de Mombille; they could not prevent the Portugueze from winning three of his strong holds, but they obtained favourable terms for him, and he submitted with more than thirty settlements. Another Chief of the Serra, by name Juripari, or the Devil, was more fortunate in his resistance, and after a month's warfare against him the invaders were glad to receive orders for abandoning their fruitless enterprize.

Villainy of Pedro Coelho.

Pedro Coelho retired to Jaguaribe, which was in the jurisdiction of Pernambuco. Not yet disheartened, he removed his family to this place, and began a new colony which he called Nova Lusitania, and a town which he named New Lisbon. But he proceeded with great injustice; the Tapuyas whom he took in war he sold as slaves, and adding ingratitude to injustice, he exercised the same tyranny over those who had faithfully served him as allies. This conduct was in defiance of the existing laws. The laws respecting slavery had been mitigated, in consequence of the excesses which were perpetrated under cover of the general sentence against the Cahetes; and it was then enacted, that no Indians should be made slaves, unless they were taken prisoners in lawful war; and that those who were ransomed from their enemies should recover their freedom after a term of service, equivalent to the price paid for them. Such provisions were easily evaded: kidnapping was

[page] 377

CHAP. XIII. 1595.

Vasc. C.C. 3. § 44.

Berredo 2. § 97.—104.

called lawful war, hordes were instigated to hostilities against each other that they might make prisoners for the purpose of selling them, and if the ransomed captive was not worked to death before his term of servitude expired, how was he to obtain the benefit of law, being ignorant of its existence, and at the mercy of his master? Felipe II. being informed of these practices, annulled all former laws upon the subject, and enacted that no Indians should be made slaves except those who were taken in lawful war, and that no war should be deemed lawful, till orders for it were issued by the Crown, and signed by the King. Coelho had acted in open defiance of this law; complaints were made against him at Madrid, which though they did not provoke the Court to punish him, made them withhold all succour, and he soon suffered for his crimes. His friends deserted him; he had offended the Tapuyas, and was at last so utterly abandoned, that he set out to return to his former dwelling in Paraiba, on foot, with his wife and children, who were of such tender years, that two of them died of fatigue upon the way. Orders came from Madrid to set at liberty the natives whom he had wrongfully enslaved, and to recompense them for what they had endured: .. such orders have been more frequently issued by the Court of Spain, than obeyed by its Governors.

The Serra de Ibiapaba.

The Jesuits, who had anxiously beheld Coelho's attempt upon the Serra de Ibiapaba, now prepared a peaceable expedition in hopes of reducing and civilizing its inhabitants. These mountains extend about eighty leagues in length, and twenty in breadth; they rise in waves, one towering above another; their sides are in some places rocky, and in others clothed with verdure. To ascend them is the hard labour of four hours, in which hands and knees, as well as feet, must frequently be exerted: but having gained the summit, the traveller is in a region which is diversified with every kind of beauty; he beholds rocks,

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[page] 378

CHAP. XIII.

Vieyra, quoted in his Life. l. 2. § 211—214

peaks, hills, and vallies, woods, and wide savannahs, clouds below hanging over the flat country, and ocean in the distance. The days there are short, morning being always cloudy, and evening hastened by the mountains on the western side, which overtop the others. The nights are cold, and in winter could not be borne without fire. It is remarkable that there is little water here, but what there is is excellent. To this circumstance the Tapuyas and Tobajaras, who inhabited this region, imputed the scarcity of all kinds of game; they did not consider that tribes who live by hunting must find their food fail, unless they frequently shift their ground.

The Tapuyas.

The Tapuyas were the oldest race in Brazil, and had possessed the whole coast from the Orellana to the Plata, till they were driven from it by the Tupis, at a time which could not be far remote, because it was within the memory of savage man. They were supposed still to spread in the interior, along a line from one river to the other, and to be more numerous¹ than any

¹ Vasconcellos says, some persons believed them to be more numerous than all the other tribes. This writer divides all the Brazilians into two sweeping classes, .. the tame Indians and the wild ones. All who spake the Tupi tongue he includes under the former denomination, and calls all the others Tapuyas. Later writers appear to use the name still more loosely, instead of the old generic appellation of Indians. Vasconcellos says they have above an hundred different languages among them, and he specifies the Aymores among their subdivisions; in this last assertion he is evidently erroneous; the Aymores first appeared in the Southern provinces, and not till threescore years after the discovery of America; they came from the South, .. of this their stature is some presumption, and their complexion proof, .. and they spoke a language which had never before been heard in Brazil. It appears therefore, according to all the facts which have been recorded, that three great tribes or nations, successively migrated from the interior towards the coast, .. the Tapuyas first, then the Tupis, lastly the Aymores.

[page] 379

CHAP. XIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 73.

Jacob Rabbi in Marcgraff. l. c. 12.

Elias Herckmann in Marcgraff. s. 13.

S. Vasc. Not. An. 1. § 148.

Jacob Rabbi.

other tribe. Their name signifies The Enemies, so called from the everlasting warfare in which they were engaged against all the other natives, and even among themselves. Yet of all the Brazilians they were the least cruel; the Portugueze traded with them for slaves, for they put no prisoner to death; and the enemy who could take shelter in one of their dwelling houses was safe; no Tapuya ever violated that sanctuary, however strong his anger, or however great his provocation. Cannibals they were, but their cannibalism was of a peculiar kind: the Tupis devoured their enemies as the strongest mark of hatred, the Tapuyas ate their own dead as the last demonstration of love. When an infant died² it was eaten by the parents; when an adult, all the kindred were partakers; the bones were reserved for marriage feasts, when they were pounded, and taken as the most precious thing which could be offered. The Royalet of a horde was distinguished by his crown or tuft of hair, and by his thumb nails; long nails were in high estimation, and worn by his relations, and by those who had signalized themselves in war; but their privilege extended only to finger nails, .. to let those of the thumb grow, was exclusively the Chief's prerogative. In some respects he seems to have encroached upon the practice of the Conjurer. A great gourd was kept upon a mat in the middle of his tent, and covered over, no person but himself being permitted to behold it; the people fumigated it when they smoked, and laid before it the game and honey which they brought from the woods, till he gave permission that these offerings might be removed. There were pebbles in the gourd, and from this the maraca worship seems to have

² Faminæ, ubi pepererunt, secedunt in silvam, & infanti umbilicum concha præcidunt, et una cum secundinis coctum, devorant.

Jacob Rabbi ut supra.

[page] 380

CHAP. XIII.

Jacob Rabbi.

been borrowed and improved. The Chief pretended to heal diseases by friction and tobacco-spittle; and when a maiden being of marriageable years had no suitor, the mother marked her with red under the eyes, and led her to him, that he might lay a charm upon her. They celebrated the rising of the Pleiades with songs and dances, seeming to consider them as divinities.

S. Vasc. Not. An. 1. § 144.

The Tapuyas shifted their dwelling place more frequently than any other tribe. On the evening before a removal, the Chief assembled the Conjurers to know in what direction they should journey, and where they should halt. Before they set out they bathed, rubbed their bodies with fine sand, and bathed again; then cracked their joints, and scratched themselves before the fire with the teeth of certain small fish, so as in many places to draw blood; this operation was believed both to prevent and remedy fatigue³. As soon as they reached the appointed place, the young men cut down boughs, and erected with them their bowers or hovels⁴: that done, the men went out to hunt, to fish, and to seek for honey; the elder women to gather fruit and search for roots, and the younger prepared the food as it was brought in. Hunting was with them sure work, carried on for the prey not for the sport. Their conjurers advised them in what direction to look for game; they who were most expert in the science undertook this office, and when they had detected lair or den, the place was surrounded, and if the animal escaped

³ Rabbi Jacob, who lived many years among the Tapuyas, often tried this remedy, and was convinced of its efficacy.

⁴ These, according to Vasconcellos, are called Tapuyas, like themselves; .. therefore it is not in their own language that this word has the signification of enemies.

[page] 381

CHAP. XIII.

S. Vasc. Not. An. 1. § 144—6.

Rabbi Jacob.

their arrows, which was almost impossible, the dogs surely seized it. When the chase was ended they carried home their game, dancing and singing as they went, and the rest of the horde came out to meet them with the like demonstrations of joy. Their meat was laid in a pit, or earth-oven, which was lined with leaves; it was then covered with leaves and earth, and a fire kindled above, .. an excellent and not unusual mode of baking. The ground served them for table, and leaves were their only napery, but it was not always that they used them. All that was before them was usually consumed, savage appetite continuing as long as the food lasted: the rest of the day was past in sport; the youths went about singing, the maids dancing and singing behind them, each behind him whom she loved. A trial of strength took place when they were on their march; the trunks of two young trees, of equal length and girth, were used for this purpose; .. the horde divided into two parties, and one from each took up one of the beams, and bore it as far as he could; they were relieved whenever they began to fail, and whichever party first reached the place where they were to take up their quarters, exulted over the other. The beams were then deposited beside the Chief's hut, to be again used upon the next removal.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 73.

S. Vasc. Marcgraff. 8. 10.

Their agriculture was left to the women, .. another circumstance in which they differed from the other Brazilians; but there were some tribes who removed their habitations every day, and therefore never cultivated the ground. Some hordes used the throwing-stick instead of the bow. There was a tribe called Maraques, whose haunts were in the interior of Bahia, about eighty leagues inland, among whom the women wore a sort of apron; all the others were naked. These people fished with the net, of which the Tupinambas were ignorant; they made it of a long lithe creeper; and while one party dragged the stream,

[page] 382

CHAP. XIII.

Noticias. MSS. 2. 74.

S. Vasc. Not. An. 1. § 148.

Rabbi Jacob.

S. Vasc. Not. An. 1. § 147.

another beat the water. There was a serra containing saltpetre in their territories; they used to burn the earth, boil the ashes, and then collect the crystallized salts. The Tapuyas are said to have been longer lived than the other nations, though longevity is attributed to all; their children were able to walk surprisingly soon, and could swim almost as early as they walked. It was the privilege of the male sex to be beautified; their ears were bored, and the under-lip cut through longitudinally to form a supplementary mouth⁵, when they were boys. When this operation was to be performed the boys were led to a place where all the people were assembled to witness it, dancing and singing as at a religious ceremony. One conjurer laid the patient on the ground, and tied his hands and feet, and another made the incision with a wooden instrument, the mother meantime weeping aloud. The cheeks were not bored till the youth was about to marry.

Jesuits at the Serra de Ibiapaba.

The Tapuyas who possessed the Serra de Ibiapaba are described as the most indolent and improvident of all the Brazilian tribes. They seem however to have known the value of their mountain situation, and instead of migrating to the flat country in quest of more abundant game, cultivated mandioc, maize, and some species of pulse, .. little indeed of either, but enough to prevent absolute want. Their Jugglers had invented for them a curious opinion, that the world would one day be turned upside-down, so that the sky would be lowermost, and then the

⁵ This custom is as filthy as it is hideous. When they travel through the wilderness, says Knivett (Purchas. L. 6. C. 7. P. 1226,) they do carry great store of tobacco with them; and continually they have a leaf laid along their mouth, between the lip and the teeth, and as they go, the rume rumneth out of the hole that they have in their lips.

[page] 383

CHAP. XIII.

Vida de Vieyra. 2. § 240.

Do. 2. § 239.

Berredo. 2. § 105—8.

Indians were to be masters over the white men. They had devised also an ingenious objection to Christianity: the Incarnation, they said, was for the sake of the white men only; when it should please God to redeem the Indians, he would be incarnate of an Indian virgin, and then they would willingly receive baptism. These were the people whom the Jesuits Francisco Pinto, and Luiz Figueira set out to reclaim, having seventy Indians to accompany them. The minds of the Tapuyas had been fortified against them by these new superstitions; Pinto and most of the party were slain, the rest fled into the woods, and effected their escape to Seara. Yet the very people who had murdered Pinto, placed his spirit in their Paradise. Their Chiefs, they believed, had each a great village under the earth, where all his subjects went after death, and there they supposed this Father was gone, to be their friend and teacher.

The Pitagoares brought against the Aymores.

In other parts of Brazil the Company were more successful. The Aymores were ravaging Bahia, and Botelho besought the Captain of Pernambuco to provide a force of Pitagoares against them. None but a Jesuit could raise this force: F. Diogo Nunes went among them, and eight hundred chosen warriors put themselves under his guidance, upon his promise, that as soon as the war was ended, they should return to their families. When they reached St. Salvador, the pressing danger was over: but the Commanding Officer, instead of recompensing these allies and dismissing them, resolved to quarter part of them in Bahia, and send the others to Ilheos, for the protection of those Captaincies,..not forgetting to assign them a portion of labour. The Pitagoares waited patiently a few days, and then seeing the war was at a stand and yet no preparations making for their dismissal, they demanded permission to return, saying that if it was not given they would take it. The Commander, accompanied by some of the chief persons of the city,..men who

[page] 384

CHAP. XIII. 1602.

Rel. Ann. 114.

expected to make these poor savages cultivate their estates, .. went out to them, and made a long harangue to persuade them to remain; but they, who had the fear of slavery before their eyes, replied, "they came there upon condition of returning as soon as the war was ended." The man who had conceived so unjust an intention, was not likely to be dissuaded from it by any remonstrance against its injustice; he could not cajole the savages and he determined therefore to effect his purpose by force; the soldiers were called out, and the Pitagoares made ready for battle. The city was now in confusion; two councils were held during the night, in both which it was decreed, that these injured men should be declared rebels, and as such immediately attacked and reduced to slavery. Success, however, was not quite so certain as to remove all apprehension concerning the event from the Commander, and he sent to the Jesuits in the adjoining villages, calling upon them to hasten to his assistance with all the archers they could muster, for the service of God and his Majesty. The Jesuits came, .. they knew the nature of the men in power too well to have a hope of influencing them by motives of justice and sound policy, and for the sake of preventing greater immediate evil, they intreated the Pitagoares to consent to remain. Their instant reply was, that they would do whatever the Fathers desired. Shortly afterwards the Commander thought it prudent to send for the greater number of their Chiefs into the city, as hostages; they refused to go, saying they understood his meaning, and that it did not behove them to forsake their companions. Again the Jesuits were called in, and again their influence prevailed; the Pitagoares said they would do what was desired for their sake, and not for the Commander's. In this whole transaction the power which the Missionaries had gained over the Indians is more to be admired than the use to which it was applied. They became accomplices in injustice for the sake of preventing immediate evil.

[page] 385

CHAP. XIII. 1602.

Ravages of the Aymores.

Rel. Ann. 121.

Knivet in Purchas. 1227.

Rel. Ann. 121.

By whatever circumstances the state of tranquillity was produced, which rendered the immediate service of the Pitagoares unnecessary, it neither extended far, nor continued long. The Southern Captaincies were overrun by the Aymores. In St. Amaro properties to the amount of thirty, forty, fifty thousand cruzados were deserted: ..; the labourers had been devoured by these savages, and the owners fled. Their strength was not less marvellous than their desperate ferocity, ..; a handful would attack sugarworks where there were not fewer than an hundred persons: .. one of them has been seen to catch up a man, and defend himself with the living body, which he wielded and shifted as manageably as though it had been a shield. The Captaincy of Ilheos was almost destroyed. Porto Seguro had been well defended, as long as the friendly Indians were left to the Jesuits. Under their wise government, they were collected in settlements strong enough to protect themselves and the Portugueze of the colony. A new captain destroyed this system; in his blind rapacity he broke up the villages, and divided these poor Indians among the settlers, who made them work, and left them to provide themselves with food. Thus were they obliged to expose themselves alone or in small parties, and those who were not consumed by hard labour, were cut off by the Aymores. The Jesuits being deprived of their flock, and unable to subsist without it, abandoned their establishments; all who had the means of removing fled also, till at length there were scarcely twenty families left in the Captaincy; poor wretches who could not fly, who had no slaves to work for them, and who lived only upon herbs and roots. The Aymores were thus masters of this whole part of the country, and Bahia itself was not safe from their assaults.

Alvaro Rodriguez conciliutesthem.

Some twelve leagues South of Bahia, a wealthy Portugueze, by name Alvaro Rodriguez, dwelt on his estate, and made vigor-

3 D

[page] 386

CHAP. XIII. 1602.

ous war upon these perilous borderers. In one of his expeditions against them he captured two women, whom he brought home to his house. One died; gentle usage tamed the other, she learnt the Portugueze language, and liked her new way of life so well, that when Alvaro would have let her return to her tribe, she refused to go. It then occurred to him that this woman might be employed to bring about peace: she entered readily into his views, and going to a place where it was likely that her countrymen in the woods might hear her, she called out to them with a loud voice, relating the kind treatment which she had experienced, praising the Portugueze, and affirming that they wished to be the friends of the Aymores, and to make them partakers of the good things which they enjoyed: then would she lay food upon the ground, iron tools, and such trinkets as would be most acceptable, and return. This was repeated till some of them acquired confidence enough to visit Alvaro, who meantime had informed the Captain of Bahia of the hope he entertained, and requested the prayers of all good people for its happy accomplishment. Some of the woman's relations were at length persuaded to go to St. Salvador; the presents which they received there, and the wonders which they related on their return, induced fifty others to visit the Commander; and their peaceable appearance in that city was considered as an event so little to have been expected, and so important to the welfare of the state, that one of the spectacles with which they were entertained was a thanksgiving procession for this visit, concluded by a thanksgiving sermon.

The Aymores stationed in the island of Itaparica.

The Aymores were now so well pleased, that they came in hordes to quarter themselves upon Alvaro, and he called upon the Governor to relieve him speedily from these ravenous friends. Easily persuaded when they had no suspicion, the savages agreed to go anywhere where they could enjoy the comforts of

[page] 387

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

Rel. Ann. ff. 121—2.

their new mode of life, and they were removed to the Island of Itaparica, and placed under the care of three Jesuits, .. an island was chosen because no danger could then be to be dreaded if they should relapse into their former habits. But the change was too sudden: an endemic disease broke out among them, and the Jesuits could scarcely find time to baptize the dying, and dig graves for the dead. After they had continued these pious toils for ten weeks, they informed the Governor that unless their flock was removed they must all perish. Some were sent back to Alvaro, the rest dispersed among the civilized Indians, whose villages were stationed as so many outposts against the Aymores themselves. From thence, as had been apprehended, they went into the woods and rejoined their kindred; but such were the comforts of domestication, that they frequently returned, bringing others with them; and thus some going, some coming, a continual succession of guests was to be found there. Some of them learnt the Tupi language, to serve as interpreters, and this frontier was delivered from the dreadful warfare to which during so many years it had been exposed.

Domingos Rodriguez pacifies them at Ilheos.

There was at this time in the College of St. Salvador, a Jesuit, by name Domingos Rodriguez, newly arrived from Portugal; he attached himself to the Aymores, learnt their language, and requested, in obedience to the inward impulse which he felt, that his superior would sense him to Ilheos, where he hoped in like manner to effect a peace. Accordingly he was removed to the convent there. The people ridiculed his project, thinking it impossible that the Aymores, fleshed as they were with human meat, could be reclaimed from their habits of cannibalism: or that they would ever consent to forego the hopes and the pleasures of revenge for the losses which they had sustained. Domingos was not to be dissuaded by such reasonings. The first

[page] 388

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

time a party of Aymores was seen, he got into a canoe with the Superior of the convent, the Captain of Ilheos, and two rowers; other canoes followed, keeping fearfully at a distance. When they arrived within hearing of the place where the savages were concealed, Domingos called out to them, telling them he came in peace, and as their friend. After awhile they came out from the thicket with their bows ready, told him that he, but no other person, might come out to them, and pointed out where the canoes were to stop. He therefore putting his companions into the other boats, advanced in his canoe alone, and the Aymores then laid down their bows; he paddled up to the bank, told them for what purpose he was come, and gave them flour, and they thankfully received it. Then he asked some of them to go with him to the town, promising that he would bring them back on the morrow with a greater quantity of provision for their friends. Four persons readily embarked with him, being all that his canoe could hold. On the morrow he and the superior returned with them; about two hundred Aymores with their families, were assembled on the banks of the river, expecting them. One of the visitors began as soon as he landed to take the arrows from his countrymen, and break them, saying, The war was over, .. the fathers were good men who had neither bows or arrows, nor ever did wrong to any one, and that nothing which they requested was to be denied. Thirty savages now accompanied them to the town, where such was the joy of the inhabitants, that they took the two Jesuits out of their canoe, and carried them in triumph to the convent. Peace was now easily made, and the new allies were desired to bring others of their nation from the interior, that they in like manner might be benefited by the friendship of the fathers. It was not long before a horde containing two hundred and fifty archers, allured by this invitation, appeared near a

[page] 389

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

Rel. Ann. ff. 123—5.

village of converted Pitagoares; the men were of great stature, and many of both sexes were of as fair complexion as the Germans; they were therefore from the South; for these people were too numerous and too warlike to have been blanched by living perpetually under cover of the woods. The Pitagoares fled at the sight, but presently two of the former clan, who had been the messengers to these their countrymen, hastened forward to say they were come in friendship: the Jesuits were sent for and came out to meet them, bringing from the town store of iron tools and of food, and receiving in welcome exchange the bows of the Aymores. They were led to their fellows, whom they embraced with a warm feeling of national love. The effect produced upon them by seeing and experiencing the comforts of settled life was as great as the Jesuits expected: they spread the tidings, and two villages were soon formed, the one containing twelve hundred Aymores, the other four; and the Captaincy which had hitherto with difficulty been preserved from utter destruction by the help of frequent succours from Bahia, was effectually delivered from its enemies.

Success of the Jesuits.

Noticias. MSS.

So well had Nobrega's system been followed by Anchieta and his disciples, that in the course of half a century all the natives along the coast of Brazil, as far as the Portugueze settlements extended, were collected in villages, under their superintendance. Their work indeed had been facilitated by the slave-holders, who consumed their victims so fast, that in many parts of the country they left little for the missionaries to do. Every artifice which could inflame the animosity of one horde against another was practised by these wretches, that the natives might have no breathing time of peace in which to gather strength and combine against their common enemies; and also, that being thus perpetually at war, they might always have slaves for the market. In pursuance of this policy, they taught the Tupinambas of the Re-

[page] 390

CHAP. XIII. 1603.

Rel. Ann. 113.

concave and Itaparica to dig up the skulls of their dead enemies, break them in pieces, and burn them at a feast with the same ceremonies as if they had gained a victory. By these arts they had so wasted the population, that now when they wanted slaves, it was necessary to make long expeditions into the country to procure them, and the Jesuits in like manner had to penetrate into the interior in search of converts. In one of these missions a Father was not a little surprised at finding that the Chief of a horde had formed a system of Christianity for himself, founded upon such instruction as the Indians who had fled from the coast could give him. He had christened all the males Jesus, all the women Mary, and had composed a sort of Liturgy, of which all that the Jesuit could understand, was an invocation to Mary the Wife of God. He had instituted an order of Priests, who were bound to chastity, on pain of dismissal from their office; the cross was used among them, though they regarded it with little reverence; but the only image which was discovered was a waxen one of a fox. He wanted power or cunning to spread the system which he had devised, and his mythology probably died with him.

1608.

D. Diogo de Menezes Governor.

Botelho held the government five years, and was then succeeded by D. Diogo de Menezes, who directed his thoughts towards the Orellana. That part of the coast was frequented both by the French and Dutch, and it needed little foresight to perceive that if Portugal did not speedily possess herself of those countries to which she laid claim in virtue of the line of demarcation, possession would be taken against her. Some information of a design to this effect on the part of the French, which he learnt from a pirate-ship of that nation, was of such importance that he dispatched a pressing memorial to Madrid. The reply which he received empowered him to pursue his own plans of prevention; but both men and means were wanting.

[page] 391

CHAP. XIII. 1608.

Settlement formed at Seara.

Berredo. 109—119.

His first measure was to ascertain the disposition of those Indians at Jaguaribe, whom Coelho had so villainously oppressed, and who had so well revenged themselves. Martim Soares Moreno, who had served in the expedition to the Serra de Ibiapaba, had demeaned himself so wisely towards these Tapuyas, that Jacauna, one of the Chiefs, still called him Son; in consequence of this, and of his known ability, Menezes appointed him Captain of Seara. He set out to establish this new Captaincy with only two soldiers, expecting that men and supplies would follow him as soon as they could be raised, and trusting in the interim to his influence over the natives. Jacauna provided labourers, and he began a church in honour of Nossa Senhora do Amparo, Our Lady of Protection, and a fort under the same invocation. He soon greatly increased his reputation, by surprising a Dutch ship with a body of Tapuyas so disguised and disciplined as to be mistaken by the enemy for Portugueze. But when the Governor left Pernambuco for Bahia, the inferior officers, to whom he deputed the charge of sending succours to Martim Soares, neglected him; nor was this his only danger; attempts were made to alienate the Tapuyas, by a Portugueze who preferred them to his countrymen, perhaps because the frequent sight of oppression had produced in him a hatred of his own nation, .. perhaps because the society of savages was better suited to his own wild habits. This man warned them to be on their guard, or the tyranny which Coelho had exercised would be renewed; and his representations were so successful, that the destruction of Martim Soares was frequently attempted, and any one less intimately versed in the language and disposition of the natives, and less able to deal with them, must have perished. Menezes had proceeded no farther in his plan of colonizing these parts, when the French once more appeared, to try their fortune in Brazil.

[page] 392

CHAP. XIII. 1611.

French expedition to Maranham.

Berredo. 20—22.

Some years back a French adventurer, by name Rifault, had pirated upon this coast, and so far ingratiated himself with the natives, that Ovyrapive, one of their most powerful Royalets, advised him to attempt discoveries, and make a settlement in the country, in which enterprize he offered to accompany and assist him. Rifault eagerly caught at the project; he went to France, and there, with the amount of his spoils, and the help of others, who were easily persuaded to join in the adventure, he fitted out three vessels, and returned to Brazil in 1594. His men were refractory, he suffered from bad weather, and having lost his best ship, was obliged to put into the Isle of Maranham. This island extends seven leagues⁶ from North-east to South-west, and four from North-west to South-east. A great bay separates it on two sides from the continent, from which it is two leagues distant on the East, three on the West. On the South it is insulated by the Rio dos Mosquitos, or Mosquito River, which is not a musket shot across. The eastern entrance, through the Boca do Piria has a dangerous bar, though vessels have frequently crost it; there is no danger in the Western entrance, for though the water there is low at the ebb, ships of the greatest burthen may enter safely with the tide.

Here Rifault was well received by the inhabitants, who were Tupinambas; after awhile he returned to Europe, leaving part of his people under the command of Charles Sieur des Vaux. What became of Rifault does not appear, .. Des Vaux won the good will of the islanders, and persuaded them to submit themselves to the French, promising to protect them, and to instruct them in the true religion, and in the customs of Europe. Hav-

⁶ Other accounts make it much larger; but Berredo writes from his own undoubted knowledge, having been Governor of Maranham.

[page] 393

CHAP. XIII. 1611.

Berredo. § 117.

Berredo. §111—113.

Do § 120—123.

ing thus prepared the way for obtaining possession of the island, he went to France and communicated his project to Henri IV. The great Henri listened to the fair prospects which were thus held out, but not chusing to rely implicitly upon the account given by an adventurer, he sent Daniel de la Touche, Sieur de la Ravardiere, back with Des Vaux, to ascertain the truth of his representations, and promised, that if things were as he reported them, he would plant a good colony there. They reached Maranham, and remained there six months: all that Des Vaux had said appeared to be fully warranted, and they returned to France. Henri had been assassinated during their absence, and the Queen was too much occupied in affairs of nearer interest, to have leisure for attending to them. Ravardiere however obtained permission to form a company for the purpose of colonizing the island. Nicolas de Harlai, Sieur de Sancy and Baron de Molle and Gros-Bois, and Francis, Sieur de Rasilly and des Aumelles, were the persons who associated with him. The Queen appointed them by patent Lieutenants General for the most Christian King, in the West Indies and territories of Brazil. She gave them a splendid flag, having the arms of France upon a ground of celestial blue, with a ship for a device, herself standing at the helm, and her son at the prow, with an olive branch which he had received from her hand; the motto Tanti Dux fæmina facti: and at Rasilly's desire, who was induced to embark in this adventure more by motives of piety than of ambition, she ordered the Parisian Provincial of the Capuchins to chuse out four missionaries for this service. Claude D'Abbeville, who wrote the history of the expedition, went out as Chief of the mission. Ravardiere was a Huguenot, and many of his followers were of the same persuasion; but this difference of religion seems not to have occasioned any dissention.

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[page] 394

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 126—133.

The expedition was fitted out at Cancalle in Bretagne, where the Bishop of St. Maloes went to give it his blessing. On the 25th of January 1612, he consecrated four crosses, and delivered them to the four missionaries, then blest the banners, and lastly the arms of Rasilly. His main intention had been to bless the ships; but this it was feared would tempt the patience of the Huguenots too far, and bad weather afforded an excuse for leaving the ceremony to the Capuchins. Before they set sail all the adventurers made a solemn protestation of obedience to their officers, which was written and signed by each individual. The squadron consisted of three ships, La Regente, on board of which were the two Lieutenants General, Rasilly, and Ravardiere; La Charlotte, under Baron de Sancy, son or brother of the third associate, and the St. Anne, which a brother of Rasilly commanded. The whole force consisted of something less than five hundred men. They sailed on the 19th of March; a gale came on immediately after they had quitted their port, and drove one ship into Falmouth, one into Plymouth, and the third into Dartmouth; each thought its companions had been lost; the news of their safety however was soon communicated, and the other two ships joined the Admiral at Plymouth, where they received such willing assistance from the Governor, that in a few days they were enabled to proceed upon their destination.

The French reach Maranham.

June 23.

Berredo.

South of the line they fell in with three large Portugueze ships, homeward bound from India; neither party thought it prudent to come to action after looking at the other, and so each continued its way. A few days afterwards the French anchored off the Island of Fernam de Noronha, where they found a Portugueze, with a few Tapuyas of both sexes. By their own account they had been banished there from Pernambuco; it is however more probable that they were fugitives; the Friars

[page] 395

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 137—147.

found them easy converts, baptized them all, and married a couple of them. As soon as they learnt what was the object of the expedition, they besought the French to take them off the island⁷, a proposal too useful to be refused, for they gave information respecting the state of Maranham. They left this island on the evening of the eighth of June, and on the morning of the eleventh saw the coast of Brazil; then having lingered many days upon the coast to refresh themselves after so long a voyage, they entered the bar of Peria, and anchored twelve leagues from Maranham, off the Island of Upaonmery, since called St. Anna; that name being given it by Rasilly, because he arrived there upon St. Anne's day. Two ships from Dieppe were in the same roadstead; they learnt nothing from these ships which indicated any change in the disposition of the Maranham Tupinambas, nevertheless it was thought prudent that Des Vaux should go forward to his old friends before the expedition advanced. There were three and twenty hordes or villages upon the island; Des Vaux entered the largest; he was received with as glad a welcome as he could have wished, and went back to the quadrons with tidings that their coming was joyfully expected.

Rasilly and the Friars had meantime made a great cross, which this commander and the chief persons of the fleet carried nearly a mile upon their shoulders, to a little rising ground in St. Anna's, and there blessed it and erected it; then blessed the island, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. The Capuchins

⁷ It appears in the Tratado do Successo do Galeam Santiago, that in 1602, (ten years before this time) a Portugueze resided upon this island as factor, with thirteen or fourteen negro slaves. There were wild cattle there, and a great number of rats (as they are called), whose legs are so short, that they move by leaps. Can this be the Jerboa? Cap. 10. Historia Tragico Maritima. T. 2.

[page] 396

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 143—150.

were well aware how expedient it was to impress the natives with reverence for their character; they therefore remained on St. Anna's, while Rasilly and Des Vaux proceeded with the greater part of their men to Maranham, and informed the Tupinambas that the Fathers who came from France, for the purpose of instructing them in the true religion, would not land among them unless they were assured of being received with that profound veneration which was their due. In reply to this, Iapy-Wasu the Chief⁸ Royalet of the island, who was about an hundred years old, but still in full vigour, thanked Rasilly for bringing the French Payes; For, said he, when the accursed Peros committed so many cruelties upon us, they brought no other accusation against us than that we did not worship God, .. how should we worship him if we are not taught to know him⁹?

⁸ Claude d'Abbeville calls him Chief of Juniparan, and Great Bourouuichaue of the Island.

⁹ What follows is too suspicious to be inserted in the text: "We know as well as the Peros that there is one who has created all things, who is all good, and that it is he who hath given us the soul which is immortal. We believe also that because of the wickedness of men God sent a deluge over all the world, to punish them, and he preserved only one good father and one good mother, from whom we are all descended, and we and you were then one. But some time after the deluge God sent his bearded Prophets to instruct us in his law. These Prophets offered to our father two swords, the one of wood, the other of iron, and bade him chuse one of the two; he found the iron sword too heavy, and chose that of wood. But the father from whom ye are sprung took the iron sword, being wiser. And afterwards we became wretched, for the Prophets seeing that our nation would not believe them, fled to Heaven, leaving the marks of their persons and of their feet, and crosses, all cut in the rock near Potyiou. After that time the difference of tongues began among us, for till then there was but one; and from thenceforward, not understanding each others speech, we have always massacred and devoured one another, the Devil Ieropary mocking us. And to fulfil our miseries, the cursed race of the Peros came to take our country, and have wasted our great and ancient nation, and reduced us to the few we are."

This whole part of the speech is probably of French invention. It is manifest that the Tupinambas could have no tradition about an iron sword, before they had seen iron, .. and the tradition is clumsily forged for them, because the wooden sword is considerably the heaviest.

[page] 397

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Claude d'Abbeville. ff. 68.

He and his people, he said, had been weary of expecting help from France, and had resolved, because of the fear of their mortal enemies the Peros, to retire so far into the country, that no Christian should ever see them more, and there to pass the remainder of their lives, caring no farther for bells, hatchets, knives, and what else they used to receive from the French; but contenting themselves with the old miserable ways of their forefathers, who tilled the earth and cut down trees with stone tools. Then addressing himself to Rasilly, he said, "Thou wilt acquire great renown for having left so good a country as France, and forsaken thy wife, and thy children, and all thy kin, to come and inhabit this land; and though it be not so fair a land as thine own, and thou canst not have all the good things to which thou hast been accustomed, nevertheless when thou considerest its goodness, how full it is of birds, and venison, and fruits, its sea, and fair rivers which abound with fish, and the brave people who will obey thee, and make thee conquer all the neighbouring nations, thou wilt be content. As for our manner of food, thou wilt soon use thyself to it, and find that our flour is not a whit worse than thy bread, which I have often eaten."

Foundation of St. Luiz.

The Capuchins were now sent for. A French Pirate who used to deposit his plunder here, assisted with the crews of three other Dieppe ships at the ceremony of their landing,

[page] 398

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 151—8.

and gave them so splendid an entertainment at night, after the French fashion, that they had no reason to wish for the delicacies of Europe. A fort was presently begun, and mounted with twenty great pieces of cannon: close to this a warehouse for the goods which the French had brought out, and at a little distance a house for the missionaries, which in their joyful expectation they called the Convent of St. Francesco. They blessed the earth in order to purify it from the pestiferous paganism by which it had been so long defiled; a cross was planted, and Rasilly contrived to combine courtliness and devotion, by naming the fort St. Louis, in honour of the King and of his canonized ancestor; the bay he called St. Marie, by which he complimented the Queen Regent through the Virgin Mary.

Disposition of the natives.

Claude d'Abbeville. ff. 149.

A main object of the French was to encourage the natives in their enmity to the Portugueze. It needed no exasperation. The wars of Coelho in the Serra de Ibiapaba, and his infamous slave-dealing at Jaguaribe, were still fresh in their memory. Des Vaux and Rasilly went from horde to horde, haranguing upon their cruelties, and exaggerating the blessings which were to arise from French protection. In one of the villages an old man, by name Mombore-Wasu, made a sensible reply, in which he recounted what he remembered of the Portugueze. They began, he said, by trading, and they freely lay with the daughters of our brethren at Pernambuco, who thought it a great honour to have children by them. Next they seemed to grow scrupulous, said they must have a Paye to marry them; and then they asked for slaves to cultivate the ground for them and for the Paye. Having thus clearly set before their eyes that the Portugueze had begun just as the French were now beginning, and drawing the irrefragable inference, that the French would proceed just as the Portugueze had proceeded, he warned his countrymen to profit by experience, and distrust all such strangers.

[page] 399

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 159—171.

Rasilly perceived that no sophistry could overcome the immediate effect which this old man produced, and he prudently devised some excuse for retiring; but the effect was transient, as he expected. Savages are retentive only of their affections, whether good or evil; they are too little accustomed to reasoning to be long mindful of it. Mombore-Wasu having delivered his opinion, was too old to feel any ardour for its prevalence: it was soon forgotten; all the Tupinambas on the Island put themselves under the protection of France, and their example was followed by two tribes on the main land; one at Tapuitapera, consisting of ten villages, one at Cuma of eleven. By way of legalizing their right to the country, which, under the plea of protecting it, they came to take possession of for themselves, Ravardiere and Rasilly prevailed upon six of the Chiefs to plant the French flag beside the Cross.

Conduct of the French

Claude d'Abbeville. ff. 61.

Do. ff. 314.

Rasilly returns to France.

Iapy-Wasu complained that the Portugueze killed his countrymen because they slit their lips and wore long hair, and that they made all whom they subdued be shorn, in sign of ignominy. The Capuchins dealt with them more wisely concerning their fashions. If, said they, you choose to bore your faces, bore them as much as you please, and if you choose to paint your skins, we will bring you finer colours from France than any which you possess. But why do you do these things which are so troublesome? Had it been necessary that there should be a slit in the lip, God would have made one there; and if holes in the ears were of any use, holes there would have been, as well as in the nose; and just so if it had been better to have no beard, none would have grown. The Tupinambas of Maranham perceived the common sense of this language, and are said to have listened to it. Things went on well, and the joint Commanders, who proceeded with the utmost unanimity, now agreed that Rasilly should go to France to transact what business was

[page] 400

CHAP. XIII. 1612.

Berredo. § 175—186.

immediately requisite for the colony; which done, he was to return and take upon himself the sole management, and Ravardiere was then to reside in France. The latter pledged himself to maintain all things as they were left, during the absence of his colleague, and also to farther with his best endeavours the progress of the Catholic faith. Claude d'Abbeville went to Europe with Rasilly, taking with him six Tupinambas, unbaptised, that the Parisians might make a raree show of their christening. This part of the plan succeeded admirably; three of them indeed died soon after their landing, but the other three occasioned a holyday wherever they appeared, and the King and Queen Regent stood sponsors at their baptism.

1613.

Gaspar de Sousa, ordered to colonize towards the Orellana.

First expedition of Jeronymo de Albuquerque.

Unfortunately for the French, the Brazilian Government had turned its attention towards the side of Maranham, and long before any tidings of these interlopers reached Madrid, orders had been dispatched to Gaspar de Sousa, the new Governor, instructing him to prosecute the discovery and conquest of the River Orellana and the parts adjoining, and holding out promises of especial favour to all who should go upon this service. The Governor was enjoined to fix his residence at Olinda, that he might accelerate the expedition, and Jeronymo de Albuquerque was nominated to the command. In the whole history of Spanish and Portugueze America nothing appears so remarkable as the apparent inadequacy of the exertions made and means employed to the objects in view, and the effects which were attained. This expedition, for facilitating which the Governor General of Brazil was ordered to change his residence, and to which a man of the first rank and importance in the country was appointed, consisted of only a hundred men in four armed vessels. Jeronymo sailed from Recife, took Martim Soares from Seara on the way, leaving Estevam de Campos in his stead, and proceeded to the Buraco das Tartarugas, which

[page] 401

CHAP. XIII. 1613.

Berredo. § 188—193.

empties itself into the Shoals or Parcel de Jericoácoára; there at the mouth of the river he made a palisadoed fortress which he called N. Senhora do Rosario, and from thence he dispatched Martim Soares in one of the vessels to reconnoitre the Island of Maranham. Having waited a long time in expectation of his return or of receiving intelligence from him, Jeronymo grew weary, and leaving forty soldiers under his nephew in the new fort, he marched back to Pernambuco by land, about ten weeks after he had left it, to the great displeasure of the Governor, who expected from him more zeal and better service.

Diogo de Campos sent out.

1614.

Berredo. § 194—5.

The Dutch were at this time fitting out an armament which was supposed to be intended for these coasts. Diogo de Campos Moreno, the Sargento Mor of Brazil, (a near kinsman to Martim Soares) was then at Madrid, soliciting the reward of long services; as was usual for men who had nothing but services to plead, nothing but promises could he obtain; the Court, however, did not scruple to require fresh services from him, though they withheld the recompense of the former, and he was requested to return and cooperate in the plans for settling Maranham. Four hundred soldiers were promised him as soon as he should reach Lisbon; after waiting for them in that city some months, he departed with all he could get, which amounted not to a fourth part of the number. He arrived at Recife in May 1614, and found another expedition preparing, under the same commander, and for the same purpose as the last.

The Presidie do Rosario attacked.

The new fort meantime had been neglected, .. for three months the garrison had had no provisions except what they could provide for themselves. They had however repelled a formidable attack of the natives, and compelled them to sue for peace. These good tidings quickened the Governor, and he presently sent off a large caravel to their assistance, with three hundred soldiers and supplies of all kinds. Never did reinforcement come more oppor-

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[page] 402

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

June 9.

Berredo. § 197—200.

tunely. Three days after their arrival, a French ship commanded by the Sieur de Pratz came up, having on board twelve Capuchins and three hundred men for the colony in Isle Maranham. They had heard of the reduced state of the garrison, and expecting that these wooden works were defended by only five and twenty half-starved Portugueze, landed two hundred men, and set up their shouts of victory before the battle was begun. The Portugueze took possession of a pass, and beat them back to their ship.

Martim Soares driven to Europe.

Berredo. § 219.

Berredo. § 201—8.

More than a year had now elapsed since Martim Soares was sent to reconnoitre the Island of Maranham, and nothing had yet been heard of him; nor does it appear that the government of Brazil was apprized of the settlement which the French had formed there, till his tidings at last arrived. That officer, after discovering the colony and acquainting himself well with its strength, endeavoured to beat back against the regular winds. It is almost impossible to effect this; the winds set in so constantly the other way, that a wind from Maranham to Pernambuco is regarded as almost miraculous. He carried away one of his masts in the attempt, was driven to the Spanish Main, and from thence sailed for Spain, as the most expeditious way home: from thence he immediately dispatched his Pilot to Brazil with the news, and went himself to lay the account before the Ministers at Madrid. Upon this intelligence fresh dispatches were sent off to Sousa, with positive orders that he should direct his whole attention towards the Conquest of Maranham. The preparations had long been going on; Jeronymo de Albuquerque was at Paraiba, raising a body of Indians, and Diogo de Campos seeking in vain for transports to convey the troops, of whom there were three hundred beside Indians, and for stores to supply them. Diogo, from his greater age and experience, felt a becoming reluctance at being under Jeronymo's command; for

[page] 403

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

this the Governor devised a salvoby appointing him Collateral Commander, a title which gave him rank without authority, but with which he was satisfied.

Second expedition of Jeronymo de Albuquerque.

Aug. 23.

Berredo. § 208—14.

New difficulties occurred; it was only from the dizimas, or tenths, that the funds for the expedition could be raised, and just at this time an order arrived for the remission of that impost. It was impossible to obey the order, and the Governor expedited the departure of the forces. Two Caraveloens were immediately sent off to join Jeronymo, whom it was supposed they would find at Rio Grande. With these, new instructions were sent; .. the Governor began to fear that his projects had extended too far, and therefore limited Jeronymo's attempts between the river Titoya, and the Island of Peria; there he was directed to fortify himself, and not to advance farther without orders either from him or from the Court. Great things were expected from an expedition in which so much more activity than usual had been displayed. The Capuchins of St. Antonio sent two Missionaries to accompany it. Gregorio Fragoso de Albuquerque, the Commander's nephew, set the honourable example of taking a Captain's commission, with only a private's pay, and it was followed by all the other officers. Four companies were formed consisting of sixty men each; the volunteers were in a separate corps. Just as they were embarking, some ships from Rio de Janeiro, laden with flour, came into the port: Diogo de Campos immediately made pressing application for additional supplies, urging that the armament required stores for six months, and it would ill do to rely for subsistence upon the most earnest promises of supply. In consequence of this application he obtained six thousand alquieres¹⁰, and the expedition set sail in better spirits.

¹⁰ Three hundred quarters. Two and a half alquieres are equal to our bushel.

[page] 404

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Junction of Jeronymo and Diogo.

Berredo. § 215—25.

They met on their way the ship which had succoured the Fort das Tartarugas, and which had been seventy five days endeavouring to beat up to Pernambuco. On the third day they reached Rio Grande, crossed its dangerous bar safely, and anchored within the river. Here the Commanders reviewed their collected force; it consisted of two ships, one caravel, and five caraveloens; the united troops did not exceed three hundred; of Indians there were only two hundred and thirty four, under twelve Chiefs, though it was known that there were not less than five hundred archers in the dependancy of the fort at Rio Grande. Camaram¹¹, a native Chief whose name will often appear hereafter, was to join them with about forty more, marching by land. The women and children of the allies were above three hundred. When they were ready to embark, it suddenly occurred to Jeronymo that the vessels were too small, that there would be great danger of their sinking, and that if they should fall in with any of the Pirates who continually infested the coast, their destruction was certain; because the ships were not fitted for battle, and the three small pieces of cannon which were all they had, could not be got at. For these reasons he resolved to march by land, with the greater part of the troops. Diogo de Campos admitted the force of his reasons, but he observed, that as the most important objection related to the incapacity of the vessels, proof ought to be made of that, by embarking the men; for otherwise a satisfactory account could not be rendered to the Governor. He observed also, that by this new arrangement, Jeronymo would make himself responsible for the safety of both parts of the expedition, each exposed to danger; the land party liable to suffer the want both of food

¹¹ I know not whether this be his Tupi name, or a translation of it, meaning the Prawn; or, which is more probable, a nickname given him by the Portugueze.

[page] 405

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

and water before they could reach the fort at Seara, which was the place appointed for their junction; and they who went by sea, sure to become a prey to the pirates, if they fell in with them, being deprived of their main force.

They reach the Presidio das Tartarugas.

Berredo. § 226—34.

The Commander yielded to these reasons, after two days had been lost in vacillation. Two days after their departure from Rio Grande, they put into Bahia do Iguape; by that time, sea-sickness had come in aid of Jeronymo's opinion: he and the Indians landed, and after two days march joined the fleet at N. Senhora do Amparo; from thence a vessel was dispatched to the Fort das Tartarugas, with news of their arrival. The Captain of the Presidio do Seara had been fourteen months expecting them; he and some of his best men joined the expedition, and their places were supplied by others who were glad to be released from crowded ships. Camaram also arrived, having marched from Rio Grande, and suffered so much upon the way, that he made it a pretext for obtaining leave to remain there with his brother Jacauna, the friend of Martim Soares. But all Jacauna's persuasions could not make him send more than twenty Indians under one of his sons, .. a poor supply for forty deserters, who had taken refuge in his territories. This was found a bad station; the neighbourhood of Indian villages occasioned a relaxation of discipline, the place was unhealthy, and the cables were gnawn by rats. Diogo de Campos therefore removed to Bahia de Paramerim, three degrees South of the Line, and there landed his men, and waited for the Commander. Five days were expended after Jeronymo himself arrived, before the allies could be again collected; they then doubled the great point of the Parcel de Jericoácoára, (which is of the finest jaspar of many colours) and landed at the Fort, or Presidio das Tartarugas. This was a bad place for the ships, though the French frequented it, for there was no shelter. Jeronymo thought the river

[page] 406

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Disappointed of the Great Devil's aid.

Camussy might be a safer station; but on examination, the entrance was found so difficult, and the land so poor, that it was judged better to remain where they were.

Berredo. § 335—7.

Before they advanded farther, it was expedient to secure the good will of the Tapuyas of the Serra de Ibiapaba, with whom a friendly communication had again been opened, .. and the Taramambezes of Titoya, whom Martim Soares had conciliated, when he went to inspect the state of Isle Maranham. Much was not expected from their friendship, but their enmity would be highly dangerous in case the Portugueze should be obliged to proceed by land. The powerful Chief, Juripariguazu, the Great Devil, was sent for, Jeronymo thinking to persuade him that this enterprize was equally for the interest of both, and to obtain from him the succours which he had already offered, .. when he did not expect they would be required. But they who had been in garrison there, assured the Commander, that such hopes were altogether vain, and that the Great Devil had not chosen a worse appellation than was fit for him. It was not long since he had by pressing intreaties, obtained from them two soldiers, to assist him against some other Tapuyas; and, after he had won the victory by their help, and eaten the prisoners, he would have eaten them also, if the supplications of his wife had not, by good hap, been persuasive enough to save their lives. When Jeronymo heard this, he was prepared to receive an evasive answer, and to be satisfied with it. Accordingly, when two of the Great Devil's Ambassadors came to say that a contagious sickness prevailed among his people, but whenever it should cease, he would immediately fulfil his promise, the Commander thought it politick to appear well pleased, and dismiss them with presents.

They reach the island of Peria.

The failure of this succour made the expedition much weaker than had been calculated: the Indians in the vicinity of Maranham would doubtless be in alliance with the French, and no

[page] 407

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Oct. 12.

Berredo. § 238—42.

cooperation could be expected as they advanced. If, on the other hand, they retired, it would be with loss of reputation, and the forts would be exposed. They held a council, and the unanimous determination was, to take possession of, and fortify, the river Titoya, the first place marked in their instructions. The Pilots were called in, and it was discovered that not one among them knew the entrance of this river. This had never been thought of. One Sebastian Martins affirmed that he knew the port of Peria, a little island which was also named in their instructions, and to Peria therefore they resolved to proceed. Early in the morning after their departure, Sebastian Martins said the land which they saw was three leagues from Peria; the other Pilots declared they did not know it, and he himself, after awhile, acknowledged that he had been mistaken; but had the wind been fresh, that mistake would probably have occasioned the destruction of the fleet. They stood off the coast again, making all sail, for he now supposed the port to be more than sixteen leagues off. They could not possibly reach it till an hour after night; still nothing could be done but to stand for it, and enter in the dark, for he knew no other road-stead where they could lie to and wait for day: the coast was a labyrinth of shoals, and if they stood out, their vessels were too heavily laden to live in a rough sea, and indeed too crazy, even if their lading had been taken out. The wind was favourable; they hit the channel in the dark, and entered it safely¹², though often

¹² Their good fortune may be estimated from the directions given by Pimentel for this perilous navigation. "With all hands on deck and aloft, enter from N. E. to S. W. between reef and reef, avoiding every thing you see, and as soon as you are within the reefs, have your lead in hand, and fear not, but steer for the Cabedelo, (a spit of sand) and drop your anchor opposite it." Brazil Pilot, . 32.

[page] 408

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Irresolution of Jeronymo.

touching upon sand banks, and at ten o'clock they anchored about three leagues up.

The two Commanders landed immediately with part of the troops, to secure a landing for the rest, on the morrow, in case they should meet with any opposition. When day broke, it appeared that the Island was uninhabited; they took possession of it with the customary forms, and Francisco de Frias, the Chief Engineer, began to search for a spot on which to erect a fort. He found many good situations, except that they all wanted water. This might be obtained, by digging pits in the beach; but the soldiers who had been in garrison at N. Senhora do Rosario, attributed all the sickness which they had suffered there to the use of such water: the account which they now gave of their sufferings spread from man to man; this island of Peria became immediately hateful to them: they looked upon it as a place that must needs be deadly, and qualifying their fear with a show of bravery, they raised a cry, that some other situation ought to be looked for nearer the enemy, .. here they had no enemies to combat, except wild beasts, and nothing to do but to die for thirst. The Alferes, Sebastian Pereira, was at the head of these clamourers, emboldened perhaps by perceiving that Jeronymo inclined to the same opinion. That Commander had persuaded himself that he could soon win over the Tupinambas of Maranham from the French interest; and being undecided what to do, he took no measures whatever for defending his present position. Diogo de Campos, an older soldier, and taught by experience always to provide against danger, besought him to let the lines which were already drawn, be compleated. To this Jeronymo replied, that there was no enemy to guard against; for, as for the French of Maranham, either the whole story was only an invention of the Tapuyas, to deceive Martim Soares, or if there were any there, they were so

[page] 409

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 243—6.

few, that they did not dare stir out of their forts. It was utterly impossible, he said, that a people skilled in war, like the French, should have left this port open, so near them, and so important as it was, if they had strength to take possession of it. He was resolved therefore, to make at once for Maranham, that being the ultimate object of the Governor, and of the Court of Madrid; and if the navigation was thought too dangerous for the ships, he would go with only the caraveloens.

Diogo advises that they fortify themselves on the Island.

Berredo. § 247.

This language was as unexpected by Diogo de Campos, as it was unwelcome to him. He replied, that the project of attempting Isle Maranham was rash, if they abandoned their present station, which secured them free access to it. At all events, whether the intelligence which had been received from Martim Soares were accurate or not, it would not be losing time to fortify this place, which, even according to his own arguments, was essential to the security of Maranham. It ought to be remembered, that the large ship which had attempted the Presidto or Station of Tartarugas, would be at this time anchored by the French settlement, with many other vessels of more or less force, and that their own fleet, not being fitted out for action, was in ill plight for encountering them. The best thing which could be done, was to fortify themselves where they were, and dispatch advices both to Portugal and to the Governor. The French, however powerful, could not prevent them from receiving reinforcements while they held this post; and the Tupinambas in the French interest, hearing that they were allied with their mortal and terrible enemies, the Taramambazes, would be dismayed at that alliance, even more than at their force.

Rangel sent to reconnoitre.

This remonstrance seemed to produce some effect upon Jeronymo, and he sent six soldiers in a six-oared boat, to reconnoitre Isle Maranham, examine its bar, and if possible bring off a

3 G

[page] 410

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 248—252.

prisoner. Belchior Rangel had the command of this party, a native of Rio de Janeiro, who was a young man of great promise, and excellently versed in many of the Brazilian languages. On the following morning the Commander began to look out a place for his encampment, taking Diogo with him; but Diogo's patience was well nigh exhausted, when four days were wasted in these unavailing and frivolous delays, and not a spade set to the trenches. His exclamations against this utter imprudence were of no avail, till Jeronymo himself began to be alarmed at the long absence of Rangel; and sending for Diogo to his tent, he told him, he feared the boat had been taken, but whether that were the case or not, they ought to provide for their own security. The Collateral Commander, hoping that Jeronymo might not have time to change his mind again, called for the Chief Engineer, and they set out, though it was night, to look for a situation nearer the bar. They found one with a lake of fresh water adjoining: orders were given to begin the works in the morning; but just at this time, a light appeared at the entrance of the bay, and Rangel arrived in the boat. His report was, that he had explored all the channels near Maranham, without seeing either French man or French vessel; but that opposite to that Island, there was a place called Guaxenduba, which was well adapted both for encamping the troops and subsisting them, being watered by a delightful river, which made the country fit for any kind of cultivation. The way to it was perfectly safe from the enemy, lying among a number of islands which effectually covered the passage from sight. While Rangel was making this report to the Commander, the soldiers learnt all this from his men; they renewed their outcry against the plan of entrenching themselves where they were; regardless of all discipline, they insisted upon being led nearer the enemy, and Jeronymo, without making the slightest attempt to suppress their clamours, retired to his tent.

[page] 411

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

They remove to Guaxenduba.

Oct. 28

Berredo. § 253—6.

Diogo de Campos still understood that the works were to be commenced in the morning, according to the last resolution. But the weathercock of Jeronymo's opinion had veered again, and after two days more of irresolution and idleness, he gave orders to re-embark, and set off for Guaxenduba, in spite of all the dissuasions of the Collateral Commander. They were four days in effecting this troublesome passage, the vessels frequently touching, and sometimes sticking in the mud. At length, however, they reached the port, making such a show with their pavaises and streamers, that it was seen in Maranham, and the alarm immediately communicated to Fort St. Louis, by a line of smoke along the coast. Here the Portugueze landed without opposition, and here they resolved to fortify themselves. Before the Engineer could begin his work, Jeronymo's resolution was again unsettled. Some of the Tapuyas had told him of another station on the river Mony, near the mouth of the Itapicuru, which has sometimes erroneously been called the Maranham, and there he was inclined to go. Diogo and the Engineer made him at length relinquish this new project, and remain where he was; and two days after their arrival, he ordered lots to be drawn during mass, to determine under what invocation the Fort should be built. The Nativity of Our Lady was drawn, and the works were begun that evening, according to their belief, under her sovereign protection.

Presumption of Jeronymo.

A Tupinamba Chief soon came over from the Island, who complained of the treatment which he had received from the French, and gave an account of their force. The account which his companions gave did not agree with his, but Jeronymo was of a temper to believe whatever accorded with his own views, and not to listen to anything which thwarted them. This savage offered to bring over some of the hordes in Maranham to the Portugueze party, and the Commander, in full

[page] 412

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

True information obtained from a Tupinamba prisoner.

reliance upon his veracity, sent five of the trustiest allies back with him, retaining as hostages two of his party, who were said to be sons of another of the Island Chiefs. He was now persuaded, that merely by thus treating with the natives, he should get possession of the Island, and all the warnings of Diogo could not shake this absurd confidence. Luckily his infatuation did not impede the works; the few cannon which they had, were mounted, and the outworks were thrown up. While they were thus employed, some of the Indian women and children ventured incautiously out of the camp, and though they were but little distant, a party of the Island savages landed, and fell upon them. They began by killing four girls; a Tapuya who happened to be near, and attempted to defend them, shared the same fate, but the alarm was given, and they hastened away with their prisoners,. Among these were the wife and son of Mandiocapúa, a Chief of the allies, and he exerted himself so strenuously for their deliverance, that all the prisoners were recovered, and a canoe full of the enemy taken, in which was one of their Leaders. This man had preserved the lives of Mandiocapúa's wife and son, and his own was saved in return. He was put in confinement, but treated so well in consequence of the humanity which he himself had shown, that of his own free accord, he told the Portugueze all he knew concerning the strength of the French, and the measures which they were taking. All the passes, he said, both by sea and land, had been taken possession of by these enemies, to cut off their retreat: the Tupinambas who had visited them, and the five Indians who returned in their company, were in irons in Fort St. Louis, having been put to the torture, and made to confess all they knew. He added, that on the following morning, two armed launches would come to reconnoitre their quarters, which it was determined shortly to attack; and that the

[page] 413

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 257—262.

appearance of these launches would confirm the truth of his intelligence. Jeronymo's hopes were not so easily shaken as his resolutions; he was still persuaded that the Islanders would come over to him, and believed, it was only because the French had taken the precaution of blocking up the ports, that they had not already declared in his favour. So far, however, he acknowledged the peril of his situation, as to order two caraveloens to make ready for carrying dispatches to Pernambuco.

Treachery of the French.

In the morning the armed launches appeared, as the prisoner had said, and the French from a fort called St. Joseph, at Itapary, on the opposite shore, fired two guns in sign of war, to which the Portugueze replied with a like discharge, and at the same time hoisted all their flags. With the evening tide, one of the launches drew near, to reconnoitre, having on board five and twenty men, under the Sieur de Pratz, a distinguished officer, and Gentilhomme de la Chambre to the King of France. Jeronymo sent to attack them; but as the launch drew little water, the French got among shoals, where they could not be pursued. Three days afterwards, the caraveloens under orders for Pernambuco, were convoyed out by three others; a large French ship lay at anchor in Arassagi Bay, but could not intercept the return of the convoy, which passed to windward of her. Shortly after, a white flag was hoisted upon a sand bank in the midst of the channel of Guaxenduba. The Commander supposing this to be done by the native Islanders, sent Rangel in one of the caraveloens with a jangada, a sort of raft or catamaran, with which to reach the bank, when the vessel could proceed no farther. He and his soldiers were already on the jangada, when the men refused to land, till they had some better proof of fair dealing, than the white flag of the French, .. for they could now distinguish many French in disguise, among the Indians who were waiting to receive them; presently a sharp discharge of

[page] 414

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Jeronymo duped by his prisoners.

Berredo. § 263—9.

musketry was opened upon them, and if the launch had not come speedily to their assistance, they must all have been made prisoners, .. which was the sole object of the French in this base proceeding. Indignant as Jeronymo was at such a breach of those common laws of war, which it is the common interest of all nations to observe, he imputed it wholly to the French, and still believed that the Tupinambas were secretly in his favour. A large canoe full of these islanders soon landed at Mamuna, not far from the Fort; they were surprised, two of them ran into the sea, and swam the channel, which is two leagues wide; the rest put themselves into the hands of the Portugueze, and with dissimulation, which the flight of their companions had nothing daunted, feigned that they came as friends, not prisoners. Jeronymo was duped by this bold artifice; he treated them handsomely, and let them return in their own canoe. But one of these men had a mother living at Pernambuco, .. probably a slave there, and for the hope of recovering her, he refused to go back with his companions: this man confessed to the Capuchin F. Manoel da Piedade, that the canoe was sent to reconnoitre; that on the next morning, the French meant to attempt the ships, and that if they succeeded, as they fully expected to do, they would forthwith attack the Fort both by sea and by land.

Diogo would have defended the ships.

The Friar immediately hastened with this intelligence to Diogo de Campos. Night was closing in, but Diogo hastily collected a good part of the soldiers, and sent word to the Commander, that he was going on board the ships, to defend them to the last drop of his blood. Just as he was about to embark, Jeronymo came down to the beach and stopt him, saying, the soldiers were not to be sacrificed for the defence of four rotten planks; they were to be spared for the purpose of defending that country, of which he had taken possession in

[page] 415

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 270—1.

the King's name. Diogo angrily asked him in reply, what account he could give to the King of such a loss, and of the honour which the Portugueze arms would lose, especially among the Tapuyas? To this the Commander made answer, that as for rendering account to the King, he would take that upon himself, and the honour of the Portugueze arms needed no new proof; but he trusted to establish it by ultimately rooting out these French. He then ordered the vessels to be hauled up with their heads ashore.

Three of the ships taken by the French.

Berredo. § 272—7.

Ravardiere, since the first appearance of the Portugueze at Guaxenduba, had been meditating this attack, but he was in want of information concerning their force, and means of defence. Some he obtained from the five Tapuyas whom he put to the torture; the Tupinambas whom Jeronymo had imprudently set at liberty brought him all the farther intelligence that he wanted: boats of all kinds had been previously made ready, and without delay he now dispatched M. de Pizieu, his Lieutenant General, the Sieur de Pratz, and the Chevalier de Rasilly. They came upon the Portugueze by break of day: the sailors, who were still busy in mooring the vessels, leaped overboard; two of the larger ships, and one small one were taken; the remaining three had been secured. With this cheap victory the French returned. Frequent skirmishes now took place both by sea and land, but the Portugueze immediately were straightened for provisions; their allies could not go into the country to procure food, for fear of ambushes; and the general cry was, "Let us put an end to the war by victory, or to our sufferings by death."

Plan for desertion communicated to Diogo.

Diogo de Campos meantime, like an old soldier, was devising how to secure the supplies from Pernambuco, when they should arrive: he laid his plans before the Commander, and they agreed, that the best means would be to erect a redoubt at the

[page] 416

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Nov. 16.

Berredo. § 278—280.

bar of Isle Peria, an important post, which the French had still overlooked, and which the supplies must needs make for, because it was the only port with which the Portugueze pilots were acquainted; and that to keep open a correspondence between that place and Guaxenduba, some channel should be sought, which communicated with the neighbouring Isle das Guayabas, unknown to the French, .. a thing not difficult to be discovered, by help of the Indians. The next day was appointed for this service; but this very evening, a soldier came to Diogo, and told him in secret, that their present miseries were not to be borne, and he and seventy others were determined to make their way back by land; their respect for him, he said, induced them to let him know this, and to enquire of him whether they had any good reason to expect speedy relief, for if not, they would blow up the powder, and thus compel the rest of the army to follow their plans. Diogo assured this man that every means had been taken to secure immediate supplies, and told him, he hoped they would not set fire to the powder till the enemy were upon it, in case they should arrive before the stores. He thanked him and his friends for the confidence with which they had trusted him, and promised not to betray their secret. Jeronymo approved this prudent answer of Diogo, and precautions were privately taken to secure the magazine.

Rangel sent again to reconnoitre.

Rangel was now sent with threescore soldiers, and thirty of the best Indian bowmen, to examine all the entrances of Isle das Guayabas, that being the first step towards effecting Diogo's plans. They took with them guides to the shore from which they were to embark, and which was four leagues distant: nevertheless they lost their way, and after the incessant labour of four and twenty hours, wading sometimes through brooks, and sometimes through mud breast-high, they came back to the camp. Diogo, vexed at this delay, offered to go himself with

[page] 417

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 281—3.

the Chief Engineer, by water, the whole way; .. while they were waiting for the tide, the enemy appeared at the mouth of the harbour, and the Portugueze then perceived what reason they had to rejoice, that Rangel and his company had missed their way, and that their whole strength, such as it was, was concentered.

The French invest the Portugueze.

Berredo. § 284—9.

Ravardiere was come in person with seven ships and forty-six canoes, four hundred French, and four thousand Tupinambas. This Commander saw that the Portugueze were irregularly encamped, and that their fort was unskilfully erected near an eminence which compleatly commanded it. Immediately he ordered half his force to take possession of this important post. They were divided into two detachments, the one under De Pratz, the other under Pizieu, and with the usual ardour of Frenchmen, they leapt into the water, each impatient to be first at landing. Jeronymo had no force which could prevent them from winning their object; every Tupinamba carried a bundle of fascines, and they began to fortify themselves there, while Pizieu opened trenches from thence to the shore, to keep up a communication with the fleet. These works cut off the Portugueze from their water, and Jeronymo perceiving that he had no other possible means of escape but by a general action, resolved to fight. This resolution was applauded by all his officers, and he marched out, leaving only thirty invalids in the fort.

Diogo encourages his troops.

He divided the chief part of his little force into two corps, of seventy Portugueze and forty Tapuyas each, himself lead-the one, Diogo the other; most of the allies were added to a small body of reserve under Gregorio Fragoso. Diogo was to attack the enemy on the beach. Jeronymo undertook to force the hill. The former advanced under cover of the thicket; some of his men moved forward with so slow and unwilling

3 H

[page] 418

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 290—4.

a step, that it was evident they would rather have been running the other way; .. he turned to them, and asking sternly if they were not the same men who had mutinied at Peria, because they were not near enough to the enemy, swore he would shoot the first who dared attempt to fly. This threat from a man of such well known resolution, with a pistol in his hand, had its desired effect. He cheered them too by saying, that the courage of the French never lasted longer than the first spirt. The men took heart, and he ordered the body of reserve to attack the enemy in flank, at the same moment that he charged them in front.

Berredo. § 295—7.

Just as they were expecting the signal, a trumpet landed with a letter from Ravardiere to the Commander. Diogo opened it, for Jeronymo did not understand French, and moreover there was no time to be lost. It was a long summons for the Portugueze to lay down their arms. He sent word to the Commander of its contents as briefly as possible, told him it was one of Ravardiere's maxims to go forward with his preparations while he was treating, and besought him not to allow the enemy the advantage of any delay, but to give the signal. Jeronymo had no weakness when he came into the field of battle, and the attack was begun on the beach.

Defeat of the French.

Diogo forced the first trenches; the French on the hill (not aware of their own danger, for the Commander had taken a sweep round through the wood,) came to succour their countrymen below, and for a short time he was exposed to two fires; but Fragoso with the Tapuyas charged them in flank, and Jeronymo also perceiving Diogo's situation, changed his march and fell unexpectedly upon them. After a short but bloody struggle Pizieu fell, and the French and their allies abandoned the beach and retired to their works on the hill. The Portugueze followed up their victory, stormed these works also, and compleatly

[page] 419

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 298—314.

routed the enemy. Ravardiere made no attempt at first to succour that half of his force which was engaged, so great was his confidence in their numbers, and such his contempt of those to whom they were opposed; when he saw their danger, it was too late. He could not reach them in his launches, because now that the tide had fallen there was not sufficient depth of water; his canoes were left dry and out of reach, and a muddy shore intervened. He attempted to effect a diversion by attacking the fort; but there also the shoal water impeded his approach, and the invalids kept up a brisk fire with their poor artillery. An hundred and fifteen of the French were left dead upon the field, nine were made prisoners. From them Jeronymo learnt that six or seven hundred Indians from Cuma on the main land were every hour expected to join the armament. Such a junction would have rendered it still formidable to the conquerors, and they made ready against a second attack. In the morning these expected succours appeared in sixteen large canoes, making for the river Mony, where they meant to land; .. the shore for which they made was occupied in time by a hundred musqueteers; .. being thus prevented, they crost to the other bank; there many of them landed, but they met fugitives from the defeat of yesterday, and as soon as they learnt the ill fortune of their friends, they re-embarked and returned more hastily than they came.

Ravardiere opens a correspondence with Jeronymo.

Ravardiere's anger broke out in a letter to the Portugueze Commander, wherein he accused him of having violated the laws of war by detaining his Trumpet, and reproached him for the cruelty of the Tapuyas. Jeronymo's reply was written with more temper; he insisted upon the right of the King of Spain and Portugal to all those countries, and complained of unprovoked aggression on the part of the French, and especially of the treacherous flag of truce. As for the barbarity which was

[page] 420

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 315—19.

imputed to his allies, he said, he had buried the French who had fallen as well as he could, and it was not true that any of their bodies had been mutilated, though one of the Portugueze who was slain within the trenches had an arm cut off by Ravardiere's Tupinambas, and went without it to the grave: but I do not wonder at this, he added, for I am an old man, and have for many years been used to these things. One of the vessels which the French had captured was about to sail for Portugal, and letters had been found on board in which the men related, and perhaps exaggerated their difficulties and dangers. Ravardiere sent these letters to the Commander, thinking this a likely means of doing mischief; but Jeronymo sent them back with an ambiguous answer, saying, the letters contained what was true; yet some persons might be deceived by them, and therefore he returned them that they might be inspected more leisurely.

Terms made greatly to the advantage of the Portugueze.

This produced a more temperate letter from the French Commander, in which he requested Jeronymo would let him know the names of the prisoners, and invited him to open a negociation; he desired him also to write either in French or Spanish. Jeronymo in his reply regretted that more of the French had not trusted to him, and thus preserved their lives. "I have buried the slain," said he, "like my own people, to whom the forest is an honourable and goodly monument. The Trumpeter will tell you of our plight; we should have treated him better had we been in our own country, but here we are men who live upon a handful of flour, and a piece of a snake when it is to be had, and they who do not like such fare, must not seek our company." The correspondence became more and more courteous. Ravardiere complimented Jeronymo upon his bearing the name of the great Alboquerque, removed his fleet to the Island das Guayabas, and expressed a wish that Diogo de Campos

[page] 421

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

might be deputed to confer with him, because he spoke French, and they had formerly fought against each other, when Diogo served under the Prince of Parma. Accordingly the Collateral Commander and Gregorio Fragoso de Albuquerque went on board Ravardiere's ship, two French officers putting themselves into the hands of Jeronymo as hostages. This interview, which was rather a visit than a conference, was taken up with mutual exculpations and mutual civilities; on the following day however Ravardiere proposed these terms: That there should be peace till the end of the ensuing year, during which time all those acts of hostility should cease, which had been commenced between the two parties for want of understanding each other's intention, and to the great loss of christian blood: That two Cavaliers, one French the other Portugueze, should go to France, and two other such to Spain, to lay the matter before their most Christian and most Catholick Majesties: That none of the Portugueze or their allies should set foot within ten leagues of the French forts or ports, unless they had permission; the Commanders and their servants however having full liberty to pass and repass: That when the final determination of the two Courts arrived, that party which then received orders to remove, should immediately prepare for its departure, and evacuate the country within three months: Finally, that the prisoners on both sides should be released. Ravardiere bound himself to withdraw his ships immediately, and allow free ingress to the supplies which the Portugueze expected; and he required from them a promise, that if they received reinforcements they should not renew hostilities. Highly advantageous as these terms were to the Portugueze, yet when Jeronymo laid them before his officers they observed, that as a necessary preliminary, Ravardiere must be called upon to produce his commission from the King of France, otherwise he was to be regarded as a pirate,

[page] 422

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Nov. 29.

Berredo. § 320—351.

outlawed from France for heresy, and one with whom no Catholick could treat. This formality was soon performed, Jeronymo first producing his own commission, and thereby palliating the insolent bigotry of such a demand. The articles were then signed, and on the following day the French broke up the blockade.

Tumult among the Tupinambas.

Berredo. § 352—360.

As soon as the Portugueze saw themselves thus delivered, they made a procession in thanksgiving, and began a church to their divine protectress under the invocation of N. Senhora da Ajuda, Our Lady of Help. The French surgeon was sent to assist the wounded Portugueze, and Ravardiere requested that Diogo de Campos, and Fr. Manoel da Piedade would come over to Maranham and appease the Tupinambas, who were in a state of tumult, supposing that by the treaty they were to be divided between the two contracting powers and sold for slaves, as Pedro Coelho had sold the Tapuyas after his expedition to Ibiapaba: .. for that detestable action was still fresh in their remembrance. Diogo and the Friar succeeded in appeasing them, and having done this they went to the Capuchin Convent, which though unfinished was large enough to hold twenty missionaries, under F. Arcangel de Pembroch, who had arrived with seventeen brethren a few months ago. From him they learnt that the Queen Regent had recalled Ravardiere, whose conduct, the Franciscan said, was not to be borne in a Catholick colony among savages; for though he was adorned with many virtues, the abominable errors of his heresy rendered them all of no avail. M. de Pizieu was to have succeeded him in the command. Perhaps this had disgusted Ravardiere, and the little interest he now felt for the colony may in some degree account for his having proposed terms to the Portugueze so much more advantageous than they were entitled to demand, or had any reason to expect.

[page] 423

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Instructions to the Portugueze Commissioners.

Gregorio Fragoso was chosen for the embassy to Paris, in company with the Sieur de Pratz. His instructions contain some curious facts, which he was to lay before the Spanish Ambassador. He was to insist upon the long-known and long asserted right of the Portugueze to these countries, of which their various expeditions to this very part of the coast were good proof. Brazil could not be said to be unoccupied, for it had above three thousand Portugueze inhabitants, and many towns and cities, which were well known; and indeed, if lack of inhabitants could render any place liable to be taken possession of and held by right of occupancy, Silves in Algarve, and Algeziras near Gibraltar, might as well be taken by that title. He was to represent the flourishing state of the French colony; they had found new woods and new dies, a pearl fishery, precious stones concerning which they were already at litigation with each other, and by their own account, mines of lapislazuli. Nor was he to forget the mischief which arose from their having formed a port, where the Pirates who came to infest Brazil and the opposite coast of Africa, were sure at all times to be welcomed and to find provisions. Many Portugueze had been found there in irons, who with their fetters on had been compelled to work a-field like slaves, .. a worse tyranny, it was stated, than even that of the Barbary Moors. These unfortunate people had been taken by Pirates, and carried in there, and they were kept in this cruel captivity that they might not carry news to the Brazilian settlements, for the French were desirous of remaining undisturbed as long as they possibly could, that they might root themselves the firmer. It was added, that the colonists were certainly soliciting protection from England, in case France should neglect them, and this was imputed to Ravardiere's religion, and his connection with Count Montgomery, who had a thousand kinsmen in England. These instruc-

[page] 424

CHAP. XIII. 1614.

Berredo. § 364—372.

tions were drawn up with the certain knowledge that Spain never would desist from its claims to Maranham, and Jeronymo calculating upon the expulsion of the French as an event which must take place, explained to the Ambassador how desirable it would be to retain as many of them as could be induced to transfer their allegiance, because they were settled there, familiar with the country, and connected with the natives; and he urged him to use all his endeavours that the prohibition against foreign colonists might be suspended in their favour. If this measure were adopted, he said, there would be less difficulty in settling the country; the Tupinambas would remain quiet, and they might proceed to expel the Dutch from the Cabo do Norte, where they were then fortifying themselves at the mouth of the Orellana.

Berredo. § 373—4.

With these instructions, Fragoso and De Pratz embarked for France in a French vessel. Diogo de Campos offered to go to Spain, and this offer was so willingly accepted by Jeronymo, that malicious men thought he wished to be rid of him. The Commander did not deserve this imputation; Diogo went because he thought he could most effectually serve the expedition by going, and the other gladly let him go, because he knew the negociation could not be entrusted to any one more zealous for its success, nor more able to forward it. The Portugueze were obliged to purchase of the French for the voyage, at the price of two hundred milreis, the caravel which had been taken in Guaxenduba bay¹³.

¹³ Here ends the excellent journal of this expedition, which Berredo has incorporated in his history. From its ending here, it appears not improbable that it was written by Diogo de Campos himself, his departure being the last circumstance which is mentioned. It begins August 23, 1614, and ends Jannary 4, 1615. When it is remembered that the account of the conspiracy, which could at that time have been known only to the two Commanders, is related in this diary, this suspicion amounts almost to certainty.

[page] 425

CHAP. XIII. 1615.

The treaty broken by the Portugueze ..

July 31.

Berredo. § 376—380.

The terms of the treaty were not long observed; little infractions, if not openly countenanced, were at least permitted on both sides. After awhile succours poured in to Jeronymo, some from Bahia and Pernambuco under Francisco Caldeira de Castello Branco, others from Portugal under Miguel de Sequeira Sanhudo. Upon receiving these reinforcements, he informed Ravardiere that instructions were come out to him from his Court, declaring those countries to be the lawful patrimony of the Crown of Portugal, and therefore he found himself under the necessity of saying, that the treaty between them must be at an end: he hoped nevertheless that their friendship was not so, and that Ravardiere would still preserve it by delivering up the Island, in which case he promised good treatment and good conveyance for his soldiers. The French Commander had made too sure of victory at first, and been too lightly cast down by one defeat. He desired to treat for farther terms. Caldeira was sent to him, and he agreed to evacuate the Island of Maranham with all its forts within five months, on condition that the Portugueze should pay for the artillery which was left there, and supply transports for all his people. The Portugueze historian says he was not without hopes of receiving such reinforcements in the mean time as would enable him to break the terms; but as security for his good faith, he surrendered the fort of Itapary, and Jeronymo immediately took possession of it.

French forces sent out from Lisbon.

Meantime Diogo de Campos had reached Lisbon, and leaving his companion M. Malhart to make representations and complaints as loudly as he pleased, he prest upon the Government the necessity of sending out strong reinforcements without loss of

3 I

[page] 426

CHAP. XIII. 1615.

Berredo. § 381—7.

time. D. Aleixo de Menezes, that Archbishop whose name is so memorable in the history of the Malabar Christians, was at this time Viceroy of Portugal, and he, reputing the French in Maranham as pirates, affected to be indignant that any treaty should have been made with them, though that treaty had in fact delivered over the colony into the hands of the Portugueze as effectually as if they had won it in fair and open war. No time however was lost. Diogo had left Maranham in January, and arrived at Lisbon in March. He returned with his nephew Martim Soares and with adequate succours to Pernambuco, where he found the Governor Gaspar de Sousa equally forward with his preparations, in consequence of the advices which he had received from Guaxenduba. The whole force amounted to nine hundred men in seven ships, and two caravels. Alexandre de Moura, the late Chief Captain of Pernambuco, was appointed to the command; Diogo had the charge of Admiral, and on the fifth of October they entered that same port in the Isle of Peria, where the French had anchored on their first arrival, but which by their neglect, and to their own ruin, was thus twice left open to their enemies. Jeronymo went on board; he found that Moura was come with supreme powers as General, and that express orders were sent to break the existing terms, and compleat the conquest without delay.

St. Louis surrendered .

Berredo. § 419—427.

Jeronymo submitted to this impolitic curtailment of his own authority without a murmur, and he proceeded to obey the orders of the Governor as complacently as if no breach of his own word and honour were committed in obeying them. He invested Fort St. Louis, whither all the French had retired. Ravardiere, who was now in the habit of submitting to whatever terms were imposed upon him, consented to surrender the fort immediately and unconditionally. It was accordingly delivered up. The command was given to Diogo, and the French General, with more than four hundred of his

[page] 427

CHAP. XIII. 1615.

Berredo. § 338—400.

countrymen, sailed for France. A few others who had intermarried with the natives remained on the island. Thus was Maranham lost to France by the misconduct of Ravardiere: had he contented himself at first with cutting off supplies from the Portugueze, which his superiority at sea enabled him effectually to do, they would either have attempted to march back overland, in which case most of them would have perished by the way, or they must have capitulated without a blow.

Expedition of Caldeira to Para.

Berredo. § 401—3.

The Friars who accompanied the expedition took possession of the Capuchine Convent. Moura, by virtue of the authority which had been vested in him, appointed Jeronymo Capitam Mor of the conquests of Maranham, and Caldeira Capitam Mor of the Discovery and Conquest of Gram Para, by which name, half Portugueze, half Tupi, they designated the great river Orellana. They were in possession of all the information which Ravardiere had collected concerning this discovery, and before the end of the month, Caldeira began his expedition with two hundred men in three vessels.

Foundation of Belem.

Berredo. § 408

De. § 26.

They entered the dangerous bar of Seperará, now that of the city of Belem, and after landing at many places in spite of the Indians, Caldeira fixed upon a spot for his new settlement, and gave these conquests the name of Gram Para, thinking that he was on the banks of the great river; but he was mistaken, for he was in a great bay formed by the mouths of the Moju, the Acará, and the Guamá. Here he landed on the third of December, St. Francisco Xavier's day; he set up the image of that Saint, and began to build a city under the name and invocation of N. Senhora de Belem, Our Lady of Bethlehem. The spot was ill chosen: seven or eight leagues behind him he had left an Island called Ilha do Sol, which is said by Berredo to be the best situation for a colony in all those parts; but Belem is seated among marshes, and in a place so indefensible,

[page] 428

CHAP. XIII. 1616.

Berredo. § 407. 417—18.

that according to the same competent authority, its best protection, notwithstanding all its outworks and fortifications, consists in the difficulty of the bar, which is six leagues from the city. What resistance Caldeira met with from the natives was soon overcome, and he won them to his wishes so well, that they assisted him in building the fortress. The tidings of his success he resolved to communicate by land, and the Alferes Pedro Teixeira was sent to Maranham, on this difficult but important service. The natives of Cayte attempted to cut off him and his party, but he reduced them to obedience, and took possession of that district, which is now one of the subordinate Captaincies of Para. At St. Luiz (for so that place must be called now that it became Portugueze,) he was received with as much wonder as joy, being the first person who had performed this journey; and he returned by sea, taking with him supplies of artillery and ammunition, and pay for the troops.

Teixeira burns a Dutch ves. sel.

Berredo. § 419—27.

Teixeira was soon dispatched upon a different service. The Dutch had begun to trade on the North side of the Orellana, and had established factories in many of the islands at its mouth. The trade was prosperous, and they assured the natives that a great fleet would speedily arrive and form a permanent colony there. These reports reached Caldeira: and at the same time he learnt that a large Dutch ship was at anchor on the coast, about forty leagues from Belem, and he sent Teixeira with twenty men in two canoes to board her. The Dutch defended themselves like men who knew they had little mercy to expect, and the Portugueze had no other means of conquering than by setting fire to the ship while they themselves were on board, and then retiring to their canoes. Only one of the Dutch escaped. The hulk went down in shallow water, and Teixeira, as soon as the wounds which he received in the action were healed, returned and got up the guns, .. an addition to the

[page] 429

CHAP. XIII. 1616.

strength of the new colony which will be thought important, when it is recollected with how little artillery Jeronymo had been supplied.

Insurrection of the Tupinambas.

Berredo. § 428—442.

Moura meantime having garrisoned all the forts in the Island of Maranham, and on the adjacent main, returned to Pernambuco, and Jeronymo began to build a city round Fort St. Luiz, retaining the same name, and the same tutelary Saint. Every thing went on well for the first year; but the natives of this part of the country consisted chiefly of tribes who had fled hither from Brazil, to escape the tyranny of the Portugueze; they remembered what their fathers had told them, and the more recent atrocities of Pedro Coelho, and little instigation was needed to make them throw off their forced obedience. Mathias de Albuquerque, son of Jeronymo, commanded at Cuma, a populous district near the island; the savages appeared to be well contented, and even gave hopes of their conversion, and he left every thing in appearance safe, when he was called over to St. Luiz by his father. During his absence some Tupinambas of Para came there on their way with letters from Caldeira to Jeronymo. There was an Indian of Cuma, by name Amaro, who had been bred up by the Jesuits in Brazil, but who was greatly attached to the French, and remembered his old masters with an evil will. He took the letters, and affecting to read them before the Chiefs who could not convict him of falsehood because they themselves could not read, made them believe that all the Tupinambas were to be declared slaves as soon as those dispatches were received. No farther instigation was needed. That very night they fell upon the garrison, which consisted of thirty men, and killed them in their sleep; .. then they dispatched messengers to all their hordes, to excite a general insurrection. But Mathias de Albuquerque checked their attack on one side, and Caldeira anticipated it on the other; being

[page] 430

CHAP. XIII. 1618.

informed that they meant to attack his new city, or feigning such information, he spread fire and sword among the Tupinambas of Para, and the punishment taken was heavier than the offence.

Death of Jeronymo.

Berredo. § 446—450.

At this time Jeronymo de Albuquerque died; he was seventy years of age, and the cares of government, and his anxiety about supplies which came less regularly than they were expected and wanted, are supposed to have accelerated his death. He appointed Antonio his eldest son to succeed him, with Bento Maciel Parente, and Domingos da Costa Machado, as his assistants: Antonio thought he needed none. Domingos da Costa was not disposed to force upon him the presence of an unwelcome adviser; Maciel was of a different temper, and expressed his resentment at the neglect with which his authority was treated, in such language that Antonio first put him in confinement, and then sent him to Pernambuco in company with Domingos, who was going there to embark for Portugal and claim the reward of his services.

Disturbances at Belem.

The new Captaincy of Para was disturbed with more serious dissentions. Antonio Cabral, Caldeira's nephew, was at enmity with a Captain called Alvaro Neto, a good soldier, and in general estimation; and one day in the most public part of the settlement, he fell upon him unawares and assassinated him. At the outcry which was raised, Paulo da Rocha, and Thadeu de Passos, great friends of the deceased, came up, and seeing Caldeira in the crowd they called upon him for justice; but Caldeira had been no friend of Neto's, and was not disposed to take any due measures for punishing the murderer. These Captains could not but see this, and they gave loose to their just indignation so freely, that perceiving they had thereby put their own persons in danger, they retired into the Convent of the Friars of St. Antonio. Caldeira suppressed his resentment for the present, and ordered his nephew into custody; in a few days

[page] 431

CHAP. XIII. 1618.

he suffered solicitations to be made for suspending the process against him, listened to entreaties in his behalf upon the plea that his services were wanted against the rebellious Indians, and set him at liberty. He then gave way to his anger against the two Captains who had taken sanctuary, and sent a party of soldiers to seize them there.

Caldeira deposed by the people.

1619.

Berredo. § 454. 461—468.

The Portugueze think little of murder: a bad police and a worse religion have removed all fears of vengeance, human or divine; .. but any thing like sacrilege shocks them. The soldiers went reluctantly upon their errand, and returned without performing it; one of the Friars received an accidental hurt from them, and this increased their horror. The Commander then sent seventy men to break open the Convent; they contrived to employ themselves upon an outward palisade till night closed in, and then returned, saying, it would be rash to enter in the dark. Caldeira waited impatiently for the morning, that he might have his enemies in his power; at day-break he heard the whole garrison in mutiny; they seized him and put him in irons, and nominated in his place Balthazar Rodriguez de Mello, the officer whom he had sent to force the Convent. Balthazar accepted the command under the plea of necessity, restored order, and dispatched intelligence of what had happened to D. Luiz de Sousa, now Governor of Brazil, and to the Court of Madrid. The war with the rebellious Indians, as they were called, still continued, nor were these brave and injured people dismayed by repeated defeats. Amaro, who had by his artifice occasioned the insurrection, was taken prisoner, and blown from the mouth of a cannon. They attacked the fort of Belem, and all the efforts of the Portugueze were necessary for its defence; but a lucky shot killed the leader of the assailants, and they then retired.

Meantime Domingos da Costa had delivered Maciel into the

[page] 432

CHAP. XIII. 1619.

Domingos da Costa Captain of Maranham.

Berredo. § 469—471.

hands of the new Governor, D. Luiz de Sousa, at Olinda, that being still the residence of the Governor General, because of its vicinity to Maranham, now the scene of action. But the charges which Antonio de Albuquerque made in writing, were less efficacious than the personal defence of the accused; Maciel was acquitted of any fault, and sent to take the command against the Tupinambas, and D. Luiz confirming by patent the nomination of Antonio to the Captaincy, appointed Domingos da Costa to be his coadjutor, giving a casting vote in case their opinions upon any important point should not agree, to the Ouvidor Geral, or Auditor General, Luiz de Madureira. He suspected that Antonio would not hold the Captaincy upon these terms, and therefore named Domingos to succeed him in case of his resignation. This expectation was well-founded; Antonio pleaded that it was necessary for him to go to Madrid in consequence of his father's death, and he resigned the government.

The mutineers of Belem sent to Portugal.

Cruelty of Bento Maciel.

The same vessel which carried Domingos to St. Luiz, carried also Jeronymo Fragoso de Albuquerque, Antonio's cousin, who was appointed to the Captaincy of Para. His orders were to send prisoners to Portugal, the assassin Cabral, his uncle Caldeira, Balthazar Rodriguez who had accepted the government from the hands of the mutineers, and the two officers who had headed the mutiny. As soon as this was done the new Capitam Mor began to prosecute the war against the unhappy Tupinambas on one side, while Maciel, who brought eighty soldiers and four hundred native archers from Pernambuco, began his career of devastation from the shore opposite St. Luiz, and continued it to Belem, killing or dragging into captivity all upon his way. He brought with him instructions to enquire farther into the mutiny; and though all the most culpable were either sent to Portugal, or had fled, a few poor wretches, who had

[page] 433

CHAP. XIII. 1619.

1620.

Berredo. § 472—484.

unluckily remained, thinking the part which they had borne was too insignificant to deserve notice, were apprehended for want of any of more importance, and shipt off for Portugal, there to remain years and years in prison, with little probability of ever being brought to trial. Having executed this part of his commission, Maciel fell again upon the natives. The Capitam Mor remonstrated against this, saying, that vengeance enough had been taken, and it was time to grant them peace; but Maciel replied, that as he was appointed to the command in this war, it belonged to him to say when it should end. Jeronymo Fragoso felt the whole insolence of such an answer; he had however no time to procure the recall of this mischievous and bloody man, for in a few weeks he died, having nominated his cousin Mathias de Albuquerque to succeed him. They deposed him, pretending that no Captain had power to dispose of the succession, and they elected Custodio Valente, and a Friar, as joint Commanders. Teixeira exclaimed against these measures, but was reconciled to them by being admitted as a third. Maciel pretended a light to the authority; this claim was denied, and he went on in his detestable trade of hunting down the Indians and selling them for slaves. It was not long before Valente embarked for Portugal; the Friar finding himself not popular in his new capacity, returned to his convent, and the government remained in Teixeira's hands. Maciel then came to Belem and attempted to raise an insurrection against him; he was again foiled, .. the new Commander was as active and vigilant as himself; and finding all his plans frustrated, he returned to Maranham, and founded a fort at the mouth of the Itapycuru.

Colonists from the Azores arrive at Maranham.

Maranham went on prosperously under the administration of Domingos da Costa. The Government of Madrid seems to have thought these new settlements worthy of more attention

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[page] 434

CHAP. XIII. 1621.

Berredo. § 485—88.

than Brazil had ever experienced since the death of Joam III. Jorge de Lemos Bitancourt, upon the promise of a Commenda worth four hundred milreas, carried over two hundred colonists from the Azores, and forty more soon followed, whom the Provedor Mor of those islands, one of the same family, contracted also with the crown to supply. These reinforcements arrived seasonably to supply the ravages which the small pox had made in the colony. The Indians suffered dreadfully, few of them surviving the third day after the appearance of the disorder. But it does not appear that the disease extended to those natives who were at enmity with the Portugueze, .. so wide an interval of desolation had been made between them.

1622.

Barreiros Captain of Maranham.

In the following year Diogo de Mendoza Furtado came out as Governor General. He brought out with him Antonio Moniz Barreiros, a wealthy inhabitant of Pernambuco, who had bargained with government for the office of Provedor Mor da Fazenda Real, stipulating to erect two sugar works in the Conquests of Maranham. To make this bargain more advantageous in every way to himself, he found means of persuading the Governor to give his son the Captainship of St. Luiz, though there were many other claimants, every one of whom must have had better pretensions, and though the young Barreiros was manifestly not old enough to be entrusted with such a charge. This objection was obviated by enjoining him to consult upon all important affairs with F. Luiz Figueira, a Jesuit, who, with another of the society, accompanied him. These Jesuits had no sooner set foot in Maranham, than a tumult was excited against them. The Company had so resolutely and perseveringly opposed the iniquitous conduct of the Portugueze toward the natives, and the wicked system of slavery, that they were necessarily both feared and hated by the slave-holders. Their religious character was not sufficient to protect them, and the Senado

[page] 435

CHAP. XIII. 1622.

Berredo. § 492—96.

da Camara, or municipality of St. Luiz, was compelled to require the Capitam Mor to turn them out of the Captaincy as speedily as possible; but Figueira, who was present when this demand was made, replied that he must be cut in pieces before he would abandon the exercise of his duty in that place. Both the new Captain and his predecessor Domingos exerted all their authority and influence to pacify the people. Their clamours were quieted by a concession on the part of the two Jesuits, who signed a paper, purporting that they would never interfere with the domestic Indians on pain of immediate banishment, and the loss of all the possessions with which their order might then be endowed there.

Maciel Captain of Para.

Berredo. § 489—90.

1623.

Berredo. § 499—501.

Maciel about this time, after having twice attempted to make himself Capitam Mor of Para by illegal means, was duly appointed to the office. The people dreaded his well-known cruelty; he however found vent for it upon the unhappy Indians, among whom Teixeira, by his orders, made dreadful destruction. In the spring of the ensuing year, Luiz Aranha de Vasconcellos arrived on an especial commission from Madrid, to explore the Orellana, and reconnoitre all the places which were occupied by the Dutch or by any other interlopers. His instructions were to repair to Belem and communicate with Maciel, and there decide in council with him, the master of his caravel, and the two pilots, on which side to begin the survey, whether from the side of Belem, or from the north, where these interlopers were supposed to be. It was resolved that he should begin with the south-side.

Expedition to the Curupa, and the mouth of the Orellana.

Repeated reports soon came to Belem that Aranha was surrounded by enemies in the river Curupa, and Maciel immediately set out to succour him with seventy soldiers and a thousand native bowmen in one caravel, and two and twenty canoes. They met Aranha on his return; the news that he had

[page] 436

CHAP. XIII. 1623.

Berredo. § 501—13.

been surrounded was false, but he had found settlers on the Curupa, and on the other branches of the great river, and had not been able to effect his survey for want of sufficient strength. They then determined that he should turn back, and Teixeira in the vessel with him, while Maciel coasted along with the canoes and sounded all the rivers as far as the Curupa, which was to be the place of junction. The junction was effected, after Teixeira, having parted company, had been in great danger from shoals, currents, storms, the want of a pilot, and the numerous vessels of the enemy which frequented these parts. At the same time another detachment which Maciel had directed to follow him, arrived from Belem. They found Dutch, English, and French adventurers in the Curupa, with trenches to defend the port, and a great body of natives to assist them. Maciel drove them from this post, attacked many of their other factories and burnt them, and then proceeded to the Ilha dos Tocujuz, one of the islands in the mouth of the Orellana. Here there were many well-fortified factories, but they had all been abandoned at the approach of the Portugueze. While Maciel was preparing to hunt out the fugitives in the interior of the island, he was informed that a ship of considerable force was coming to their assistance; he attacked the ship and burnt her, .. all the crew perished except one boy, .. with such atrocious cruelty was maritime war at this time carried on! It had been his intention to establish a settlement on the Ilha dos Tocujuz; but relinquishing this project he returned to the Curupa, and there, at a place called Mariocay, erected a fort which still retains the name of St. Antonio, under whose tutelage it was built. Having thus effected the objects of his expedition, he returned to Belem. From this time Maciel assumed the title of First Discoverer and Conqueror of the Rivers of Amazons and Curupa; Luiz Aranha, because he had entered the Curupa before him, took the same boastful and

[page] 437

CHAP. XIII. 1623.

false appellation; both chusing to forget that they had found Europeans in the latter river, that the great stream had been navigated from the other side of the continent by Orellana, and the desperate adventurer Lope de Aguirre; and that this very labyrinth of islands and channels which was all that they had entered, had been explored above half a century before by one of their own nation, a pilot of the coast, whose name was Meirinho, and whose directions for such as should attempt the same difficult navigation were still preserved.

Net. MSS. 1. 5.

1624.

Maranham and Para formed into a state independent of Brazil.

Berredo. § 515—16.

These new Conquests were rightly considered at Madrid as of great importance, and because the old Captaincies were sufficiently extensive for one Governor, and the communication from Maranham to Pernambuco was so difficult because of the regular wind from the Eastward, the Conquests of Maranham and Para were separated from the general government of Brazil with the title of Estado or State, and Francisco Coelho de Carvalho was appointed the first Governor. But the evil days of Brazil were now drawing on, and the Portugueze, instead of extending their settlements in that country, were on the point of losing all that they possessed there.

[page 438]

CHAPTER XIV.

Establishment of a West Indian Company in Holland.—St. Salvador taken by the Dutch, and recovered by the Spaniards and Portugueze under D. Fadrique de Toledo.—Affairs of Maranham.—The Dutch send out a second expedition, and obtain possession of Olinda and Recife.

CHAP. XIV.

Had Felipe IV. fallen into the hands of a wise minister, the twelve years truce with Holland would have been terminated by a peace, the Palatinate restored, the marriage of the Infanta with the English prince effected; Europe would have been saved from many years of misery, and Spain might have had time to recover its exhausted strength. But the pacific dispositions of Felipe and of James I. were counteracted by their favourites, and Olivares and Buckingham are the authors of the crimes and sufferings which ensued.

Establishment of the Dutch West Indian Company.

The Dutch rightly regarded liberty as the best thing; next to liberty they valued profit. By attacking the Spanish colonies, they at the same time cut off the supplies of their enemy, and enriched themselves; this they had done so successfully in the East, that they now turned their attention towards America, and the establishment of a West Indian Company was proposed,

[page] 439

CHAP. XIV. 1622.

of which the chief object should be, to make conquests in Brazil. There were weighty objections against this proposal. It was urged that Holland was not large enough for such ambitious projects; that if two Companies existed it would be difficult to raise men for both; and that the produce of Brazil and of their Asiatic possessions were so much alike, that one Company would injure the other by bringing similar commodities to market. Success, if indeed they succeeded, would excite the envy of those European powers who were now their friends, and envy would soon produce hostility. But success was not to be expected. The Portugueze settlements in Brazil were not like those in India; the Brazilian colonists had in the course of a century connected themselves with the natives who would afford them a powerful support against any invaders; and it was to be remembered, that conquests upon a continent could not be defended so easily as captured islands. In reply to these objections it was asserted, that the natives would eagerly throw off the yoke of the Portugueze, and that the Portugueze themselves, some from their hatred to Castille, others because of their intermarriage with the New Christians, and their consequent dread of the Inquisition, would either willingly join or feebly oppose them; and all that was needful was to treat them well, and grant full liberty of conscience. St. Salvador and Olinda, the two places which it was of most importance to win, were accessible by sea; having won them, the way to the Pacific became easy, and the treasures of Peru were at their mercy. Thus might they deprive Spain of the very means of war. And what, they asked, was hazarded by the attempt? for nothing was required from the States except men, who were to be raised and maintained at the Company's expence, and who, if they were not thus usefully employed abroad, would probably be dangerous at home. Christianity, as usual, was perverted to serve

[page] 440

CHAP. XIV. 1623.

Barlæus. p. 10.

G. Giuseppe p. 5.

Cespedes. l. 5. c. 14.

the purposes of avarice and ambition, and it was pleaded as one motive for invading Brazil, that a pure religion would thus be introduced into America. These arguments prevailed; the Company was formed, full powers were given them, and all other subjects of the United States were prohibited during a term of twenty four years from trading to America, or to the opposite coast of Africa between the Cape of Good Hope and the Tropic of Cancer. The Company were to render an account of their proceedings every sixth year.

A fleet equipped against Brazil.

G. Giuseppe p. 57.

Cespedes. l. 5. c. 14. c. 19

A fleet was speedily fitted out under the command of Jacob Willekens; his Admiral was the famous Pieter Heyne, who from being a common sailor had risen to that rank; Hans Vandort was to be General on shore. By means of the Jews in Brazil every kind of necessary information was obtained, for Holland was in those days the only part of Christendom where this much injured people were at rest: and Dutch Masters were of all things what they had most reason to hope for. But as the Dutch bought intelligence, so also did they sell it; and there were merchants of Amsterdam who sent intelligence to Lisbon warning the Government there, that though the threat was against India, the blow was for Brazil. The Infanta Isabel sent the same warning from Flanders to Madrid. But nothing could rouse Olivares; it was the system of the Spanish Court to weaken Portugal in every way, and they either did not believe the intelligence, or did not yet consider what would be the consequence to their own colonies, if those of the Portugueze should fall.

The fleet separated.

The fleet sailed in December, was scattered when in sight of Plymouth by a storm, and did not join company till they had reached the Cape de Verds. When they had crossed the Line they opened their sealed instructions, and found orders to attack St. Salvador, the capital of Brazil. No service could have

[page] 441

CHAP. XIV. 1623.

been more welcome; but another storm interrupted their hopes, and the fleet was again separated. Vandort was driven back to Serra Leoa; Willekens beat on against the wind, and made the Morro de St. Paulo, twelve leagues from Bahia, where he remained off the coast waiting for Vandort: he expected that this delay would lessen the alarm which his appearance occasioned, and that the Portugueze would suppose he had been driven there by stress of weather.

St. Salvador taken.

The Brazilians were almost as negligent for themselves, as the Court of Madrid was for them. The Dutch had been three days hovering about the coast within twelve leagues of the Capital, before the Governor received any intelligence, and the first account spoke of only a single ship. Truer tidings soon followed; he then began to strengthen posts which had been too long neglected, and he assembled all in the vicinity who were capable of bearing arms. These men would have fought if an enemy had immediately appeared; a few days exhausted their ardour and their patience; they began to think of their farms, argued that the Dutch were only come to pirate as usual upon their ships, became mutinous, and finally deserted the city¹. Thus what Willekens had hoped came to pass, and when, having once more collected his fleet he came before St. Salvador, he found little preparations, and little means of defence. The Governor's son made a slight resistance at an un-

¹ Brito Freire (2. § 120.) imputes this desertion to the Bishop, who according to him inveighed both in conversation and from the pulpit against the conduct of the Governor, for calling in the force of the Reconcave. G. Giuseppe, on the contrary, says that the Bishop offered to take arms and head the clergy himself; that his services were not accepted, and therefore he and all the clergy returned into the country.

3 L

[page] 442

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

G. Giuseppe 60.

Cespedes. 5. 19.

tenable post: it was presently forced, and the Dutch lodged themselves in the suburbs. During the night the city was deserted, and on the following morning they entered without opposition. The Governor attempted to maintain his own house, as if this idle ostentation of personal courage could excuse or atone for the inertness of his previous conduct. The Dutch however were not provoked to kill him²; and thus almost without a struggle, or even show of resistance, the capital of Brazil fell into their hands; nor did their good fortune end here, for twelve ships sailed into the port, before it could be known that it was conquered.

The Dutch strengthen the city.

Vandort took the command, according to his instructions, and began to strengthen the place; he had learnt the art of war in Flanders, and was a soldier of great reputation. He repaired the old fortifications, and added new ones, on which two able engineers were employed. It was even designed to make a cut across the point of land on which the city stands, and thus insulate it, but the distance was found to be too great. Proclamations were dispersed offering liberty, free possession of their property, and free enjoyment of religion to all who would submit; this brought over many negroes, many natives, and about two hundred Jews, who exerted themselves to make others follow their example. Exposed as they were to the insults of a bigoted people, and having the fear of the Inquisition before their eyes, nothing could be more desirable for them than such a change of masters.

The Portugueze had at first supposed that this expedition of

² G. Giuseppe says, he would not surrender till it had been promised him, that he should be set at liberty; .. in spite of which, Willekens, with brutal infidelity, kept him prisoner. This accusation is refuted by its own absurdity.

[page] 443

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

The Portugueze rally.

Cespedes. 5. 20.

R. Pitta. 4. § 33.

the Dutch was designed merely to plunder, not to make conquests; and this perhaps was one reason why they abandoned the city with so little resistance. But now that they found themselves in the woods, without home or shelter, and with their wives and children round them, shame came upon them; and when they saw that the enemy instead of loading ships and embarking with their booty, were strengthening the walls and making preparations to settle as masters in Brazil, their national spirit revived, and they began to take measures for recovering their own and their country's honour. The Bishop and the chief persons civil and religious, met together in one of the Indian villages of the Reconcave, and considering Mendoza as dead to all purposes of state, opened the succession-papers, which they had taken the precaution of securing when they fled. Mathias de Albuquerque, who was at that time Governor of Pernambuco, was the person named. They dispatched advice to him of his appointment, and proceeded to nominate a Commander during the time that must elapse before he could arrive. Antam de Mesquita de Oliveira, the Ouvidor Geral, was first chosen; his advanced age rendered him unequal to the office. The two colonels Lourenço Cavalcante de Albuquerque, and Joam de Barros Cardoso, were next appointed: two heads were found not to agree; this election was therefore soon afterward set aside, and the command vested in the Bishop D. Marcos Teixeira.

The Bishop appointed to the command.

This Prelate did not pass abruptly from the episcopal to the military character. He put on the garb of a penitent, and performed public ceremonies of supplication, then took arms, and hoisted the crucifix for his standard. His first measure was to prohibit the cultivation of sugar and tobacco, .. for which the Dutch, before a week had elapsed, were begining to trade. His force consisted of fourteen hundred Portugueze, and two

[page] 444

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Vandort slain.

Jornada da Bahia. c. 23.

Cespedes. 5. 28.

hundred and fifty Indians³; he took post upon the Rio Vermelho, about a league from the city, and fortified his camp with the guns of a ship which had escaped capture by striking up one of the rivers of the Reconcave. His people had taken heart, and the first skirmishes were in their favour. Vandort went out with a reconnoitering party; he fell into an ambush, and Francisco de Padilha slew him hand to hand. Albert Schoutens, who succeeded to the command, had no better fortune, being soon killed by a musket shot. His brother Willem, upon whom it then devolved, did not possess sufficient talents for his situation, and every day added to the reputation of the Portugueze arms, and diminished that of the Dutch. The Bishop omitted no means spiritual or temporal which might spur on the courage of his people; and by virtue of his office as Commander in Chief, he knighted Padilha and three other officers who had distinguished themselves.

Expedition of Heyne against Angola.

Cespedes. 5, 20.

Yet notwithstanding these reverses, which ought to have repressed their confidence, the Dutch conceived themselves to be so strong, the Brazilians so weak, and Spain so supine, that Willekens sailed for Holland with eleven ships, leaving the rest under the famous Admiral Heyne, who a few days afterwards departed upon a fruitless expedition against Angola. The schemes of the West India Company were on a great scale; they thought to make themselves masters of Loanda, and thus at once secure negroes for their own conquests in Brazil, and cut off the Portugueze from their accustomed market. But Loanda had received timely succours, and the vigilance of the Governor Fernam de Sousa, baffled all the enemies projects. Heyne was

³ Cespedes says about 1200 in all; but this statement is given in the Jornada, da Bahia, upon the authority of the Bishop's own dispatches.

[page] 445

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Espirito Santo attacked.

Jornada da Bahia c. 21.

not more fortunate in an attempt which on his return to Bahia he made upon Espirito Santo, instigated by a Fleming, who having formerly resided there and received sentence of death for some criminal offence, had been pardoned, returned into his country, and entered the Dutch service. Salvador de Sa, son to the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, happened to be in that town on his way with succours to the Reconcave, and Heyne having lost above threescore men in two unsuccessful attacks, abandoned the enterprize and proceeded to Bahia. He found the fleets of Spain and Portugal in possession of the Bay, and not being strong enough to oppose them, made sail for Europe.

Measures of the Spanish Government.

Brito Freire. § 233.

Cespedes. 5. 20.

Jornada da Bahia. c. 5.

The news of the loss of Bahia excited great alarm at Madrid. That Court, which when forewarned of the blow had taken no measures to prevent it, perceived its whole consequences after it was struck, and was probably the more alarmed because there prevailed a rumour that the English were to unite their forces with the Dutch, and establish the Elector Palatine as King in Brazil. The measures which the Spanish Court adopted were worthy of its superstition, and of its power. Instructions were dispatched to the Governors of Portugal that they should examine into the crimes which had drawn on this visitation of divine vengeance, and punish them accordingly. Prayers, which from their repetition on nine successive days were called novenas, were ordered over the whole kingdom, and a litany and prayers, framed for the occasion, were to be said after the mass. On one of the nine days there was to be a solemn procession of the people in every town and village, and the Religioners in every cloister. The sacrament was exposed in all the churches of Lisbon. The great ocean-fleet, as the Spaniards called it, was equipped to recover the city which had been lost, and four squadrons sailed from the Tagus with immediate succours to those places which were considered to be most in danger. D.

[page] 446

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Zeal of the Portugueze.

Jornada da Bahia c. 9.

G. Giuseppe p. 64.

Jornada da Bahia c. 4.

Franscisco de Moura went in one to take the command in Bahia, another was destined to Pernambuco, the third to Rio de Janeiro, the fourth to Angola. The Portugueze were aware of the value of their colonies; a hundred thousand crowns were given by the city of Lisbon towards the expences of government for the deliverance of St. Salvador; the Duke of Braganza made a voluntary contribution of twenty thousand, the Duke of Caminha of sixteen thousand five hundred. The nobles, perceiving that for the first time the Court of Madrid was zealous for the welfare of Portugal, and flattered in that the King had written to them with his own hand requesting their exertions, offered with unexampled readiness their persons and property to the public service. Men who had held the highest offices embarked as volunteers, among others Affonso de Noronha, who had been viceroy in India. There was not a noble family in Portugal but had some of its sons in this armament, and in many instances brethren decided it by lot between themselves which should be the adventurer, each being too ambitious of the service to resign his claims to it by any other means. The utmost dispatch was used at Lisbon; persons were appointed to relieve each other in superintending the equipment night and day. D. Manoel de Menezes was appointed to the command of the Portugueze force, consisting of four thousand men in six and twenty ships⁴; they were to join the Spaniards at the Cape de Verds.

⁴ F. Bertolameu Guerreiro enumerates the stores of this armanent: 7500 quintaes of biscuit, 84 pipes of wine, 1378 of water, 4190 arrobas of meat, 3739 of fish, 1782 of rice, 122 quartos of oil, 93 pipes of vinegar. Cheese, raisins, figs, pulse, almonds, dried plumbs, sugar, sweetmeats, spices and salt in abundance; 22 medicine chests, 2 physicians, a surgeon in almost every ship, 200 beds for the sick, and store of stockings, shoes, and shirts; 310 pieces of artillery, 2504 round and chain-shot, 2710 musquets and harquebusses, 209 quintaes of lead in bullets, 1355 pikes and half pikes, 202 quintaes of matches, 500 of powder, and 300 more the Spanish fleet was to bring out to them from Cadiz and Seville. The money which they took out for contingencies was 20,000 cruzados in reales. Jornada da Bahia, C. 17.

[page] 447

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Relaçam que fez hum. Emb. de Veneza Disc. 5. § 24.

1625.

Cespedes. 5. 20.

Olivares for once had the interest of both countries at heart, and when an astrologer, at that time in high reputation, told him he was afraid the January Moon would find the fleet out of harbour, the favourite replied, I am more afraid it will find them in. He hastened the expedition, but it was equipped with less activity than had been exerted at Lisbon, and the Portugueze waited nearly nine weeks, at a heavy expence of men, in the fatal climate of the Cape de Verds, before the Spanish fleet joined them. It consisted of forty sail and eight thousand soldiers under D. Fadrique de Toledo. So powerful a fleet had never before crossed the line.

The Bishop is superseded, and dies.

Jornada da Bahia. c. 24.

Cespedes. 5. 20.

Meantime Mathias de Albuquerque received tidings of his nomination to the government in consequence of the succession-papers, and also by a direct appointment from the mother country. To have repaired in person to the scene of action would not have been prudent; troops enough could not have been collected to expel the Dutch; the present system of harrassing them, attacking their out-posts and cutting off their foragers, had the sure effect of weakening and disheartening them; a more regular force would have been less serviceable, and exposed to greater loss. He therefore contented himself with sending Francisco Nunez Marinho de Sa to take the command, that the Bishop might give his whole attention to spiritual concerns, and in particular prevent the enemy from disseminating their heretical opinions, of which the Portugueze were in more dread than of their arms. Orders were sent from Madrid to be especially vigilant against this danger. The Bishop had now been

[page] 448

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Rocha Pitta. 4. § 35—37.

six months in the field, during three of which he held the command; the unusual fatigues of a military life, and of such service, were more than he could bear, and he died soon after the arrival of Francisco Nunez. As he died in the field they buried him in a little chapel at Tapagipe, from which he had driven the Dutch; no stone was placed to mark his grave in those times of confusion, and afterwards when the Portugueze would have shown due honour to his remains, the spot was forgotten.

Arrival of the Spanish and Portugueze fleet.

1625.

G. Giuseppe p. 68.

The same system of warfare was carried on with the same success by Francisco Nunez, and afterwards by D. Francisco de Moura when he arrived from Lisbon to take the command. On the 28th of March the united fleets of Spain and Portugal appeared off the Bay. The sight animated and intoxicated the Brazilians; they fancied that it would intimidate the Dutch as greatly as it had encouraged them, and thinking to have the whole glory of recovering the city themselves, they precipitately attacked it, and were beaten off with great loss. The fleet advanced more cautiously; D. Fadrique knew that powerful reinforcements had been raised in Holland, and was apprehensive that they might have arrived before him. Having ascertained that this was not the case, he entered the Bay with trumpets sounding, colours flying, the ships pavaised and ready for action. The Dutch vessels also, and the walls and forts, were drest with all their banners and streamers, hoisted either to welcome friends or defy enemies, whichever these new comers might prove to be. The city had been fortified with great care according to the best principles of engineering, a science in which no people had had such experience as the Dutch; it was defended with ninety-two pieces of artillery, and from the New Fort upon the beach they fired red-hot shot. There were ten ships of war and eighteen merchantmen in the harbour. D. Fadrique, who saw the strength of the place, and knew that the fleet

[page] 449

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Jornada da Bahia. c. .

Cespedes. 6. 11.

G. Giuseppe p. 68.

from Holland must soon arrive, called a council of war, and proposed to land three thousand men, and leave the main force of the expedition on board to intercept the enemy's succours. It was objected, that only one encampment could be formed with that number of troops, and then it would be impossible to harrass the besieged by keeping them on the alarm at different points. The conclusion was, that half the army should be landed, and that the fleet should stretch over from Tapagipe to St. Antonio, thus at once blockading the ships in port, and cutting off all supplies. They effected their landing without opposition; for the garrison, which consisted of from two to three thousand men of all nations, besides a great number of negroes, were divided among themselves and in want of an able leader.

The Dutch make a successful sally.

Cespedes. 6. 12.

G. Giuseppe p. 69.

One part of the fortifications had been left imperfect, partly because Willem Schoutens relied upon the depth of the ditch, and still more, because he calculated with too much confidence upon the activity of his own government, and the supineness of Spain. He was wont to say that all they had to do was to quell the natives, for it was impossible the Spanish fleet should arrive before the Dutch; and when the fleet entered the bay he affirmed it was Dutch, till the truth became so manifest that he could no longer delude himself with this obstinate prepossession. Immediate exertions were then made to strengthen this post. Its weakness did not escape notice, and the General was advised to storm it: to this advice he inclined at first, but reflecting that in such attempts, the loss always falls upon the flower of the army, and that the enemy, aware of their vulnerable point, were then fortifying it and would be ready to defend it, he determined upon slower and safer advances. The troops held the enemy in less respect than their Commander did: their camp was in confusion, and little or no watch kept. The besieged discovered this, and one morning Jan Quif sallied with two

3 M

[page] 450

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

bodies of three hundred men each, surprised the camp, and made considerable slaughter before he thought it prudent to retire. The Camp-Master D. Pedro Osorio fell in this affair.

Mutiny of the Dutch troops.

The Dutch capitulate.

The next attempt of the besieged was to burn the blockading fleet. They sent out two fire ships by night; the Spanish guard-boats gave the alarm, that the enemy were flying by sea; the fleet in this belief got under weigh to pursue them, and thus escaped the danger. Having however discovered from what a danger they had been thus preserved, they resolved without farther delay to destroy the Dutch ships. The Dutch to avoid this drew near the forts; but by obtaining this protection they exposed themselves towards the shore; a way was hewn through the rocks to bring down artillery against them, and the greater number were sunk. Meantime the garrison grew discontented; they became clamorous against the misconduct of their Commander, and at length displaced and put him in confinement, appointing Quif to be his successor. This mutiny only served to make the factious spirit of the soldiers more violent. Schoutens had still a powerful party; the French and English mercenaries were tired of the siege; they were sure of quarter, and having no character either of their own or of their country at stake, weary of waiting for succour, and worst of all being convinced that without unanimity resistance must be ineffectual, they declared they would fight no longer. Under these circumstances Quif's courage was of no avail, and deputies were sent to capitulate. The terms were that D. Fadrique should give them shipping and stores to carry them to Holland, safe conduct, and sufficient arms for their defence upon the way. There was a register in which those persons entered their names, who were willing to retain their property by submitting to the Conquerors: the General demanded this, that he might punish the offenders; but the Dutch either concealed or destroyed it, for which

[page] 451

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Brito Freire. § 161.

Cespedes. 6. 13.

Ereceyra. l. 2. p. 50.

honourable as well as politick conduct they are deservedly praised by the Portugueze themselves. But the Negroes and New Christians, that is to say the Jews, who had been compelled to profess Christianity, who trusted to the Hollanders proclamation were abandoned; and five of the latter and some Indians were put to death. On the first of May the gates were thrown open. The city suffered less at its capture than at its recovery. The Dutch came to win the country and to keep it; it had therefore been their endeavour to conciliate the natives, and the long war in which they were engaged at home had not demoralized the nation, because it was sanctified by such a cause. But the Spaniards and Italians of D. Fadrique's army had been trained up in all the excesses of a military life; the Portugueze were not slow in acquiring the vices of their companions, and no place private or public, was safe from their violence.

Difficulty of sending the Dutch to Europe.

There was some difficulty in executing the terms. Time had been when a Spanish General would have had no intention of executing them; but Spain had no longer that confidence in her own strength which promised impunity for any breach of treaty; the nation, though it pertinaciously denied the guilt of Alva, was sensible of the infamy which he had brought upon his country, and its old honourable character had returned. D. Fadrique was anxious to keep his word to the full extent in which he had pledged it, and as solicitous to dismiss the Dutch as they were to feel themselves at liberty. Provisions were scarce; the country round Bahia had been the seat of war; in spite therefore of all its natural abundance, stores were wanting, not merely to victual the prisoners, but also for his own fleet. He lost no time in sending to the other Captaincies for all the supplies which they could afford: old ships were repaired, and the completion of new ones hastened.

[page] 452

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Cespedes. 6. 13.

The coming of the expected armament from Holland had been so long delayed that various conjectures were afloat to account for its delay; .. it was bound elsewhere, or it had been scattered by storms. Tidings however arrived that it had past the Canaries on the fifth of April, and shortly afterwards a Portugueze which had been taken by the Dutch fleet, and recaptured, brought intelligence of their approach. The two thousand prisoners were immedidiately embarked on board dismantled ships, and anchored under the guns of the fortress. It was more difficult for the General to decide in what manner his own force should be disposed: many of their best ships were laid down, others without water and stores: as many as could be equipped were made ready, and it was determined to wait in port for the enemy.

A Dutch fleet arrives.

Cespedes. 6. 14.

On the twenty second of May, the Dutch fleet of thirty four sail, under Baldwin Henrik, hove in sight, and stood into the bay, supposing that St. Salvador was still in possession of their countrymen. The sight of the Catholick colours soon undeceived him, and in the surprise which was thus occasioned, Henrik let slip an opportunity of obtaining a signal victory, for all was in confusion among the Spaniards and Portugueze. But his own force was not sufficient to retake the city; he had many sick on board, and he thought it of more consequence to seek a port where they might recover, than to inflict unavailing injury upon the enemy, at the risque of crippling his own fleet in the action. He therefore stood off to the North and passed Olinda in a gale of wind, where the people expected to be attacked, and made ready for defence. The gale drove him on till he anchored in Bahia de Traiçam; here the natives⁵ were disposed to join with

⁵ Brito Freire, (§ 286) speaks like a good man of the rigour with which these natives were punished for having welcomed the Dutch. "Inasmuch," says he, "as we had failed to give them their reward when they formerly served us, so ought we now to have moderated their chastisement." They were probably Pitagoares.

[page] 453

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Berredo. § 517—18. 55.

G. Giuseppe p. 76.

Cespedes. 6. 14.

Barlæus. p. 16.

any who appeared as their deliverers; he landed his sick, and fortified their quarters as well as he could. Francisco Coelho de Carvalho, the first Governor of Maranham and Para, since they had been separated from the other Captaincies and formed into a State, was at this time at Recife. He had just arrived there on the way to his new government, when news came of the capture of St. Salvador, upon which he was requested to remain where he was, for the defence of provinces more in danger than his own. No sooner did he hear that Henrik had landed his men, than he collected forces from Pernambuco and Paraiba to dislodge them. The Dutch Commander could have resisted, but the sickness among his people increased, and seeing himself daily weakened, and fearing that the Spanish fleet might pursue him, he re-embarked and sailed away. His ill fortune had only begun in Brazil. Half his fleet attacked Porto Rico, from whence they were driven with great loss; the other half attempted to surprise S. Jorge da Mina, and were in like manner repulsed. Henrik died of the contagion; the survivors being weary of buccaneering, and dispirited, mutinied at last, and compelled their officers to return to Holland.

Disasters of the Portugueze fleet.

This expedition to Bahia proved equally destructive to both parties. D. Fadrique left D. Francisco de Moura Rolim, the new Governor, with a sufficient garrison in the city, and sailed for Europe, taking the Dutch troops with him. He had received advice from the Marques de la Hinojosa, that the English meant to intercept him on his way, and in consequence of this ill-founded intelligence, he steered to the Eastward in latitude 35°,

[page] 454

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Cespedes. 6. 16.

G. Giuseppe p. 79.

Ereceyra. p. 50.

thinking to avoid an enemy whom he was not in a state to encounter. The result was even more disastrous than if he had fallen in with them. The fleet was scattered by storms; three Spanish and nine Portugueze ships sunk at sea, only a single person escaping from the whole, .. a Trinitarian Friar, who was picked up after clinging two days to a plank. The Admiral's ship reached the Island of St. George, and sunk immediately after the men had left her; they had previously suffered so much from incessant fatigue and want of due sustenance, that very few recovered. Two others of the fleet fell in with a Dutch squadron and were taken. The Almirante de Quatro Villas, with D. Juan de Orellana on board, had a more unhappy fate. This vessel with another in company engaged and captured a rich Hollander from Africa; the prize took fire, and the Almirante was burnt with it, the greater part of her crew perishing. Menezes, who had sailed out of the Tagus with six and twenty ships, returned to it with none but the single one in which he himself escaped. The King of Spain acknowledging the zeal with which the Portugueze had served him in this expedition, gave to all the fidalgos whatever pensions or places they held from the crown for another life, and this with due justice was extended not merely to those who returned, but to all who went in the expedition. The Spanish historian, Cespedes, remarks that this grant exceeded in liberality all that all the former Kings of Portugal had ever made; Ereceyra admits the extent and liberality of the grant, but he observes that it seemed as if Felipe had foreseen the emancipation of Portugal, and was therefore thus liberal at another's expence.

Effect of these losses in Holland.

Barlæus. p. 16.

The Dutch prisoners had parted from the fleet early enough to escape its disasters. In Holland their defeat was imputed to their own dissoluteness and want of obedience, more than to the superiority of the Spaniards, and they were looked upon as men

[page] 455

CHAP. XIV. 1626.

Brazil still neglected by the Spaniards.

Brito Freire. § 301.

who had disgraced their country, and deserved the contempt of their enemies. But the recovery of St. Salvador, and still more the unfortunate expedition of Henrik, discouraged the Dutch: the arguments which had been used against the establishment of the West India Company were revived with new force, and even those who favoured the ambitious projects of the Company, confessed that the farther soldiers were employed from home, the less was their respect for authority, and the more difficult it was to restrain them. The Prince of Grange, steady in his views, opposed the pacific party, and as war to a strong maritime power is a lottery which will always tempt adventurers, his politicks prevailed. The Spaniards having recovered Bahia, relapsed into their wonted supineness, and no means were taken for securing Brazil, lamentably as its insecurity had now been made manifest. Repeated losses by sea made them at length consult concerning some remedy, and it was agreed that the best plan would be to keep up a powerful naval force in America; the next question was, where should this fleet be built and equipped, .. in Europe where stores were at hand, or in Brazil and the Spanish Indies, where there was abundance of better timber? .. This question was not decided, and the ministry, satisfied that they had done their duty by taking the matter into consideration, left it as they found it, and suffered things to take their course.

Oliveira. Governor.

1627.

Francisco de Moura held the government without molestation, till in the ensuing year he was superseded by Diogo Luiz de Oliveira. This new Governor had served many years in the Low Countries, and held various important situations, in all which he had acquired great reputation, and much experience, both as soldier and statesman. But he had now to deal with a maritime enemy, against whose desperate spirit of enterprize, no military skill was of any avail. Heyne once more entered the Bay. It was already known that he was off the coast, and

[page] 456

CHAP. XIV. 1626.

Exploit of Heyne at Bahia.

Brito Freire. § 305.

sixteen ships which were in the harbour were, in fear of this visit, drawn up under the guns of the fort, and four of the largest were manned with troops, and placed outermost as batteries to protect the rest. Oliveira did not even think this sufficient, and planted two and forty large battering pieces in different points to bear upon the Dutch, should they venture to make the attempt. The wind was off shore; Heyne beat up against it, and ran his own ship between the two largest of the enemies floating batteries. None of his fleet could make way to him, but on the other hand neither from the forts nor from the shore could the Portugueze fire at him⁶, without hurting their countrymen. In the course of half an hour he sent one of these batteries to the bottom; the others immediately struck, and the twelve smaller vessels could make no resistance. The Dutch came in boats, cut their cables, and carried them all out except three of the smallest, which were empty. They could not however get off Heyne's ship; she had suffered greatly in the action, and struck when the tide went out, and they set fire to her: another⁷ of their vessels was

⁶ J. de Laet says, they did fire at him, .. evidently exaggerating the wonder of an action sufficiently wonderful. It is good proof to the contrary that some of the Portugueze writers blame Oliveira for not ordering the forts to fire, inexcusable as it would have been, to have thus sacrificed his own people.

⁷ J. de Laet says nothing of the loss. Brito Freire's authority is however confirmed by a short account of the action, printed in a little tract, with this title. Le Siege de la Ville de Croll, au pays de Frise, par le Prince d'Orange. Ensemble La Deffaitte de la Flotte Espagnolle dans la Baye de Todos los Sanctos, au Bresil, par les Hollandois. 1627. This bulletin, as it may be called, makes the number of ships which Heyne attacked, thirty-two; Laet makes them twenty-six; Brito Freire says they were only sixteen, and accuses Laet of wilful exaggeration: he himself is trust worthy in the highest degree. It was inferred from the stores and artillery which were found in the two wrecks, that the intention of the Dutch was to take the city a second time.

[page] 457

CHAP. XIV. 1627.

J. de Last p. .

Brito Freire. § 310.

blown up; in the two they lost above three hundred men. The next day the Admiral inspected his prizes; the four largest he loaded and sent home to Holland, four others were added to his own fleet, and the rest were burnt. Four and twenty days he remained in the Bay. He returned to it again after a cruise to the Southward, and attempted to cut out four ships from one of the rivers of the Reconcave. This atchievement was more perilous than even the former. The vessels were some miles up the river, and every precaution had been taken both to secure them, and intercept his return. He covered his boats with raw hides out of the prizes which he had taken, made his way up, and though he could not bring all the four out, brought off one of them, and the best part of the lading of all. In this action Padilha, who slew Vandort hand to hand, was killed. After this exploit, Heyne finding that nothing farther was to be done there, sailed away, fell in with the fleet from Mexico, and captured the whole. The West India Company by this capture, the greatest which has ever been made at sea, were amply reimbursed for all their former losses; they were now enabled to lend money to the States, and their plans of conquest were renewed with more ambition than ever. One of their captains⁸ who infested the coast of Brazil, took possession of the Isle of Fernam Noronha, fortified, and began to colonize it; this, had it been done effectually, would have proved a serious annoyance to the Portugueze; they took the alarm in time, and the Governor immediately sent out an expedition of sufficient force, which made most of the settlers prisoners, burnt their dwellings, and destroyed their plantations.

⁸ Cornelis Jol, a man of great celebrity in his day. The Portugueze write his name Jolo: they usually call him Pe de Pao, or timber-toe, from his wooden leg. Our sailors are not more addicted to giving nicknames, nor more happy in affixing them, than the Portugueze.

3 N

[page] 458

CHAP. XIV. 1624.

Affairs of Maranham.

Berredo. § 519—522.

Do. 529—533.

A reinforcement of Capuchin Missionaries for Maranham came out with Francisco Coelho, under Frey Christovam de Lisboa, who had the rank of Custodio, or Guardian of his order, equivalent to that of Provincial, in these Conquests. While the Governor was detained at Olinda, Fr. Christovam, thinking his presence more needful at St. Luiz, proceeded with his brethren to their place of destination. He took with him a decree which deprived the settlers of their grants over the allied Indians, who with the name of freedom⁹, differed in reality little from slaves; the settlers submitted to it, perhaps because they stood in fear of his ecclesiastical powers, for he came out as Visitor and Commissary of the Inquisition. Having accomplished this, he proceeded to Belem, and attempted to put the same decree in execution there. But the people of Belem were even more disposed than those of Maranham to resist whatever it did not suit their immediate interest to obey, and the Senado da Camara, or Chamber of the City, devised an excuse for suspending the royal edict: it was addressed, they said, to the Governor of the State, and therefore nothing could be done towards carrying it into effect till he arrived. Fr. Christovam thought it prudent to submit to this delay, and went meantime on a missionary expedition to explore the River of the Tocantins. On his return he resolved to try whether the settlers could be frightened into obedience, and just as he was about to leave Belem, published a pastoral letter, whereby he excommunicated all persons who still retained their administrations, as these grants were called. The Chamber repeat-

⁹ Removia todas as merces das administraçoens dus Aldeas dos Indios. These administraçoens must be equivalent to what the Spaniards call encomiendas. The Indians were not given to the holder of such a grant as slaves, .. but their services were, .. it was more like serfage than slavery, with this difference, that the serfs were worked like slaves.

[page] 459

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Berredo. § 546—548.

Do. § 564.

ed their plea for delay, justly observing, that he himself had admitted its validity by patiently waiting seven months: they added, that as the edict specified only the administrations of St. Luiz, those of Gram Para were not necessarily included; that even if it were so, they appealed to the King against the decree, and that if the Custodio persisted in his excommunication, they appealed against that also, for they had conquered the country themselves, and could not keep it unless they were allowed to make the natives work for them. Fr. Christovam was a Franciscan, and his order was in those days hostile to the Indians, because Las Casas, who first stood forward as the defender of that oppressed race, was a Dominican; this may perhaps account for the facility with which he yielded, and withdrew his denunciation, .. an action which long made his memory popular among the Portugueze of Para. Shortly after his departure the Jesuits applied to the Chamber for permission to found a convent in Belem; the Procurador, on the part of the people refused, alledging that there were already two convents, and as all the ground was now granted away, there was no room for a third. The true cause of the refusal was, their dread of the system which the Jesuits pursued in favour of the natives; .. the impolicy of establishing monastic institutions in a new colony was not considered.

Attempts of the Dutch.

Berredo. § 523.—27.

Do. 530. 542.

After the recovery of St. Salvador, Francisco Coelho, as his services were no longer necessary in those parts, proceeded to take possession of his new government; he was accompanied to St. Luiz by Manoel de Sousa de Eça, the new Capitam Mor of Gram Para. These northern provinces had had their share of the general danger. The Dutch had twice attacked the fort of Seara, and on both occasions Martim Soares repelled them with great loss. A party of two hundred Dutch again entered the Curupa; Teixeira routed them from thence, pursued them into

[page] 460

CHAP. XIV. 1625.

Berredo. 562.

1626.

Cruelty of Maciel.

Berredo. 565.

the Rio de Felipe, destroyed two fortified magazines there, and razed to the ground a third, to which the fugitives had retired. Maciel meantime had made himself deservedly unpopular by his tyrannical temper; but as often as the people were ready to break out in open mutiny, he had art enough to divert them by setting on foot some new expedition against the unhappy Indians, whom he hunted down with unrelenting and indefatigable barbarity. A party of Tupinambas happened at one of their great drinking bouts to fall in talk of their own valour, and how easily they could destroy the Portugueze, if they were so minded; and some of them vauntingly pointed out the manner in which it might be accomplished. This was the mere talk of drunkenness, an idle boast of what could be done, not the betrayal of what they meant to do: but the ferocious Maciel in consequence seized four and twenty of their Chiefs, and had them the same day literally cut to pieces by the hands of some of their old enemies the Tapuyas. Barbarous as the people of Belem were, they were shocked at this barbarity; and had they not been in daily expectation of their new Governor, all the talents and resolution of this wretch could not long have preserved him from the righteous effects of popular indignation.

Oppressive conduct of the Portugueze.

Manoel de Sousa had already served with distinction in these conquests, and was received with universal joy. He too, like his predecessors, believed that the colony could not subsist without slaves; but he was less bloody than Maciel, and preferred the way of trading to that of open violence. It furnished the friends of slavery in Portugal with a better plea, but it was in truth more wicked and even more detestable, for it added treachery to the guilt of war. Teixeira was sent on these expeditions, accompanied by the Capuchin Fr. Christovam de St. Joseph. They advanced some way up the Orellana to a settlement of the Tapuyusus, and learning from them that they traf-

[page] 461

CHAP. XIV. 1626.

Berredo. 566—68.

ficked with a populous nation in the river Tapajos, who took their name from it, they left the great stream, struck up the Tapajos, and found this new tribe of Tapuyas in a situation which had every charm of wood and water to render it delightful. These people were in a state of higher advancement than their neighbours; Teixeira, from what he saw and could learn from them, thought they had been improved by commerce with the Spanish territories, .. this however cannot have been possible. This information was the only result of his voyage; he brought away some mats of nice workmanship, and a few other trifles; they valued their slaves too much to sell them. The prisoner, in fact, who is spared from slaughter, is usually regarded as one of the tribe, and mere inferiority of condition where there is no other real or imaginary inequality, is soon forgotten among savages.

Berredo. 578—81.

1629.

Berredo. 585—592.

This expedition was accomplished without any excesses; but the iniquities which were usually perpetrated became so crying, that the Governor of Maranham absolutely prohibited them; the obstinacy of the people, and the avarice of all the persons in power, soon obtained such modifications of his prohibition as in fact to render it nugatory. Teixeira was next employed to destroy a new establishment which the interlopers had formed upon the Isle dos Tocujos; of what nation they were does not appear, farther than that the Commander was an Irishman, by name James Purcel¹⁰. After a long and gallant defence they capitulated, and the conditions which they obtained were unusually favourable, being permitted to remove all their property, and promised a free passage to Portugal. In spite of all these efforts to root them out, the English and Dutch per-

¹⁰ Gemes Porcel.

[page] 462

CHAP. XIV. 1629.

sisted in sending ships to these parts, and in forming settlements, for the sake of cultivating tobacco; and the trade of Para was materially injured by this competition.

The Dutch prepare an expedition against Pernambuco.

G. Giuseppe p. 89.

Cast Lus. 2. § 3.

Meantime the West India Company were projecting attemps upon Brazil. It was not advisable to attack Bahia a second time, they had experienced too severely the spirit of the Portugueze in that province, and could never more hope for assistance from the Negroes and Jews whom they had first to revolt, and then abandoned. By the prizes from Olinda, which were frequently sent in, they obtained good proof of the riches of Pernambuco, and good intelligence of its state¹¹. They calculated that a hundred and fifty vessels might annually be freighted with sugar from this Captaincy; its harbours too were so many stations from whence their cruisers might sail to intercept the Indian ships. In order to keep their design as secret as possible, the fleet was equipped at different ports, and dissailed in small squadrons, being to rendezvous at the Cape de Verds. But secrets of this kind can never be concealed if able agents are on the watch for them. The Infanta Isabel a second time warned the Court of Madrid, and assured them that Pernambuco was the place which was aimed at. Intelligence was immediately sent to Oliveira; he was instructed to strengthen the fortifications of Bahia, for it was possible that this might still be the object of the Dutch, and also to provide for the security of Olinda. Accordingly the Governor dispatched Pedro Correa to that city, and the works of defence went on there with a slackness at once attributable to the character of the people, the

¹¹ It is said (Castr. Lus. 1. § 28.) that here also the Jews invited them; this is so little probable, after what had been done at St. Salvador, that it may safely be regarded as a false accusation.

[page] 463

CHAP. XIV. 1629.

dullty with which they received the alarm, and their secret persuasion that if the Dutch should come, there was nothing at Olinda which could resist them.

Mathias de Albuquerque sent out.

G. Giuseppe p. 90.

R. Pitta. 4. § 58.

Mathias de Albuquerque was at this time in Madrid; the Captaincy of Pernambuco was his brother's, .. no man therefore could have such an interest in defending it, and this was one reason for appointing him General, with powers independent of the Governor. Another motive has been ascribed to Olivares, .. the reinforcements which he designed to send were so trifling, that he believed any person less implicated than Albuquerque would refuse the charge. The Portugueze historians load the memory of this wretched minister with supererogatory offences. If sufficient forces were not given, the fault lay at Lisbon, not at Madrid. One of the Governors of Portugal was connected by marriage with the Albuquerques; it may therefore be affirmed that there was neither wanting interest to obtain an adequate force, nor inclination to grant it; but the councils of that government have generally lacked vigour, and now means also were probably deficient, for the heavy loss of the last great armament had not been recovered. Mathias obtained a few men and stores, and sailed for Recife in October¹².

Barlæus. p. 65.

State of Olinda.

The town of Olinda was built upon such unequal ground, that it was thought almost impossible to fortify it securely; its strongest defence seems to have been a fortified convent of Benetictines, near the shore. On the South, the river Beberibe forms the port of Varadouro; a narrow isthmus of sand is its Southern bank, and upon this another town had grown up, called St. Antonio de Recife, or of the Reef. This was the place

¹² Rocha Pitta says three caravels. G. Giuseppe only one. The former is too careless to be trusted, the latter too malicious.

[page] 464

CHAP. XIV. 1629.

G. Giuseppe p. 91.

R. Pitta. 4. § 62.

which Lancaster had captured, and which from its situation he called the Base Town. It had grown there, because within the sand reef and another which was of rock, there was a safe and commodious harbour. When Mathias de Albuquerque arrived he found Correa proceeding slowly with insufficient works; a garrison of an hundred and thirty men; the fortresses such as they were, out of repair; the little artillery which there was almost useless for want of carriages and gunners; few arms, and none who were expert in using them. Forty years ago the author of the Noticias had pointed out the necessity of securing this important place; but neither his memorial nor the success of Lancaster's expedition, had produced any effect upon the government. A few of the more thoughtful inhabitants saw their danger; it was proclaimed from the pulpit that unless the people repented of their sloth and their sins, Olinda would soon be enslaved by the Dutch¹³; and the chief persons who heard this warning were so exasperated that they drove the preacher out of the church. The General lost time on his arrival; it seems as if he himself doubted the reality of the danger against which he was sent out to provide. The Queen of Spain had lately been delivered of a son; her former children had been daughters, who died so soon, that before¹⁴ the gala clothes were made, which had been ordered for their birth, mourning was required for their funerals; the birth of a Prince and Heir, at all times a

¹³ The preacher Fr. Antonio Rosada was a punster; his words were, Sem mais differença que a de huma so letra, esta Olinda clamando por Olanda; e por Olanda ha de ser abrasada Olinda; que aonde falta tanto a Justiça da terra nao tardara muito a do Ceo. B. Freire. § 337.

¹⁴ This is the language of Raphael de Jesus, .. it will a little remind the reader of Shakespere.

[page] 465

CHAP. XIV. 1629.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 5.

R. Pitta. 4. § 60.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 6.

subject of rejoicing, was now therefore especially so. Mathias brought out the news; and as flattery is too often more acceptable at court than real services, instead of exerting himself to put Olinda in a state of defence, he set the whole town merry-making, and no other business was thought of than festivals and pageants. In the midst of these ill-timed occupations, a pinnace arrived, sent by the Governor of the Cape de Verds, with intelligence that the Dutch fleet, which had been two months assembling at that station, had sailed towards Brazil. The very imminence of the danger afforded an argument for disbelieving it; if the Dutch had been bound for Pernambuco, it was said, they must needs have got there before the advice-boat, which did not sail till after them. The feasts went on vigorously, and a little unwilling labour was wasted upon the works of defence.

Arrivel of the Dutch fleet.

J. de Laet. l. 15. c. 26.

The Dutch fleet consisted of more than fifty sail, under Henrick Loncq, as General in Chief; Pieter Adrian was Admiral; Colonel Wardenburg commanded the troops. They sailed from Holland in small divisions; eight ships, with the General on board, fell in with the Spanish fleet¹⁵ off Teneriffe, and, inferior as they were in numbers, beat it off. They reached the Cape de Verds in September, but the forces under Wardenburg did not sail from the Texel till late in the succeeding month. The whole expedition consisted of about seven thousand men¹⁶, half of whom were soldiers. Having formed a junction, they finally sailed the day after Christinas, and on the fifteenth of February appeared before Olinda, eight days after the advice-boat. During

¹⁵ J. de Laet says it consisted of more than forty ships, .. of course be is not to be believed.

¹⁶ Rocha Pitta says, eight thousand soldiers, .. G. Giuseppe six.

3 O

[page] 466

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 7.

J. de Lact. 15. c. 26.

J. de Lact.

the interval, it had been debated whether any part of the inhabitants or property should be removed; some advised this precaution, saying, that men would fight the better if they knew their families were safe, and had no fears for them. The opinion, that where most was at stake, most effort would be made to protect it, prevailed, and an edict was issued, forbidding any person to leave the town, or to remove any part of his property. Those persons are not to be blamed for disobeying this edict, who seeing their danger, saw also the little likelihood there was that any effectual defence would be attempted; the main wealth of the place was secretly sent away. As soon as the fleet had been seen from Cape St. Augustines, tidings were dispatched to Olinda, and the whole force of the town, such as it was, was ready when the enemy appeared. The summons which Loncq sent in was answered by a discharge of musquetry at the boat; a cannonading was then begun on both sides; the Dutch were near enough to have plied their guns with effect, had the weather been favourable; but the sea was so rough that it was impossible to point them aright. They could not enter the harbour, because vessels had been sunk at the entrance to block it up against them. While the cannonading was carried on, Wardenburg, with sixteen ships, left the fleet to amuse the enemy, and landed without opposition at Pao Amarello, between three and four leagues north of the town. His first measure was to dismiss the ships, that the might not look to them as a means of retreat, .. a few gunboats only were retained, which carried in all eleven pieces of cannon. He divided his troops into three divisions, whose whole artillery consisted of four field pieces. It was now towards evening, and not chusing to advance rashly along a coast which was covered with thickets, and where there were rivers to cross, he lay upon his arms all night, keeping such watch as no wise leader will ever neglect, against any enemy however inferior. In the early

[page] 467

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

G. Giuseppe p. 92.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 14. 15.

Do. § 21.

part of the night the news of his landing reached Olinda. Many who had not hitherto removed with their families and possessions in obedience to the edict, could not resist the panic which now seized them; the women and children fled into the country; husbands followed their wives, and sons went to protect their parents; such property as could immediately be removed was snatched away, and half of it dropt in the precipitation of flight. Some fell to plundering the women and children, and it is said that the Portugueze suffered more from their own rabble than from the enemy. The slaves forsook their masters, and seized with just and natural eagerness the opportunity of emancipating themselves.

Saturday, Feb 16.

Wardenburg advances.

B. Freire, § 332.

On the following morning Wardenburg began his march, the gun-boats accompanying him along shore. Some little annoyance he suffered from a few men who took advantage of the cover to oppose him, .. enough to prove how easily he might have been defeated by an active enemy. When he came to the river Doce the tide was too high for him to attempt the passage. Some works had been thrown up on the opposite bank, and troops stationed to defend this advantageous post; the situation was strong, and every thing in their favour; but when the tide fell, and they perceived the Dutch beginning to ford the stream breast high, their courage failed; the gun-boats opened upon them, not indeed so as to take effect, but a cry arose that their retreat would be cut off by this attack from the sea, and upon this they took to flight. Mathias, who had remained at Recife, deceived by the firing which the fleet kept up after Wardenburg had left it, came to the real point of danger, just in time to witness the shameful defeat of this detachment. In vain did he attempt to rally them; and to renew the action with his own troops, who were just as little to be depended on, was hopeless: he determined therefore to fall back and defend the passage of the river

[page] 468

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

Cast. Lus. 2. 16. 17.

Tapado, which still lay between the Dutch and Olinda. This was hopeless also; they who had lost their courage on the banks of the Doce, were not likely to recover it by the Tapado; most of his men fled before he got there, and the officers and few soldiers who remained, advised him to return to the town.

The Dutch enter the town.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 18. 19.

Rooha Pitta. 4. § 66—68.

B. Freire, § 388.

J. de Lact. l. 15. c. 16.

Wardenburg might have used the flying enemy as his guides; a mulatto prisoner conducted him by a safer way, and he entered the upper part of the town unopposed. Salvador de Azevedo was the only Portugueze officer who did his duty; he collected a handful of brave men, took possession of the Jesuits' College, and there defended the post resolutely, till the doors were beaten down. The redoubt, at the entrance of Olinda, for a while checked the conquerors. Elated by success, they thought their appearance before it would be sufficient to make the garrison surrender; a sharp discharge of musquetry and great guns undeceived them; but there were two Dutchmen in the redoubt, by name Adrian Frank, and Cornelis Jan, who betrayed it. The town was now given up to be plundered, and the rest of the day was spent by the conquerors in those excesses which disgrace not only victory, but human nature. One Portugueze, whose name was Andre Pereira Themudo, could not endure to behold the profanation of the churches; singly, with the fury of a devoted Malay, he attacked a party of these plunderers, and slew many before he was overpowered. The booty was little in comparison of what the Dutch expected; had they thought of intercepting the fugitives instead of plundering houses and churches, fifteen thousand prisoners, and all the moveable riches of Olinda would have fallen into their hands.

Mathias abandons Recife.

Mathias de Albuquerque had intended first to retreat to the river Tapado, then to the town; without making a stand, or even halting at either place, he was compelled, rather by the cowardice of his own troops than the courage of the enemy, to

[page] 469

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 20. 21.

fall back upon Recife. This place was of less extent than Olinda, and better fortified. The force which he took out was sufficient to have defended it, but so many deserted him on the retreat, that he did not bring back with him enough to man the works. Nothing could be done but to guard the pass between the two towns; he ordered a trench to be cut across the road, thinking at least to impede the Dutch: they found another path, and the Portugueze as usual retired. As there was now no hope of preserving Recife, the General set fire to the ships and warehouses: thirty vessels were consumed, and above two thousand casks of sugar, besides the valuable merchandize. The Dutch beholding the conflagration, were less pleased at this proof that the enemy no longer intended to resist them, than grieved to witness the destruction of their spoils. If, however, there was little left for rapacity, there was enough for intemperance. They found store of wine in the houses both at Olinda and Recife, and indulged their beastly appetites to such excess, that the very slaves, who regarding them as invincible, had crowded to them for deliverance, now robbed them of their plunder as they lay senseless upon the ground. There were some who hastened to the Portugueze General, and told him that he might now destroy the Dutch, for he need only prick them like so many wine skins. A peasant offered to fall upon them with a few of his comrades; but Mathias suspected treachery, and let the opportunity go by.

Attack of the Forts.

The two forts of St. Francisco and St. Jorge were still to be reduced, and while these remained in the power of the Portugueze, the fleet could not enter the harbour. The latter, which being on the side of Olinda, would first be attacked, had only three iron guns, without carriages, mounted rudely upon beams, just as the first settlers of Pernambuco had placed them to repel the savages. The fort was not capable of holding more than

[page] 470

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

fourscore persons, and its construction was as little formidable as its force; but the situation was important. Antonio de Lima had the command; the general panic infected his men, and all except seven deserted him. He sent to acquaint Mathias of the desertion, and to request a reinforcement. When this message was delivered to the General, a youth of seventeen, by name Joam Fernandez Vieira, happened to be present. He was a native of Funchal in Madeira, and when only eleven years of age, had embarked to seek his fortune in Brazil, with little other capital than his own talents. This youth immediately volunteered his services; twenty others followed his example: their offer was accepted, and with this handful of men, Lima prepared to defend his post. Five days elapsed before any attack was made; on the fifth night the Dutch attempted to surprize the fort. But men who had volunteered upon such duty were not likely to sleep at their post; they were ready with beams which had been laid in for repairing the fortress; these they let fall upon the scaling ladders; the hand grenades which were thrown among them, they threw out again before they exploded, and thus they beat off the assailants with considerable slaughter; but ten of their own little company were killed or wounded. Some of the very men who had lately deserted from this post, because they thought it indefensible, returned to it now, being ashamed that others should defend it, and gathering courage from sympathy as easily as they had in the same manner learnt cowardice. Such works however could not long be maintained; the Dutch battered the walls till they were little more than a heap of ruins. Mathias made a feeble show of relieving it; his men had no heart, they lingered till the tide came in, and it became difficult to ford the Beberibe, and then they made that difficulty a pretext for retiring without having attempted any thing. The fort therefore surrendered; the garrison were allowed to march out

[page] 471

CHAP. XIV. 1630.

G. Giuseppe p 93.

B. Freire. § 343.

Cast. Lus. 1. § 9—10.

Do. 2. § 21—8.

with guns loaded, and matches lighted, .. and Joam Fernandez Vieira saved the flag, by wrapping it round him. The Dutch required an oath from these brave men not to bear arms against them for six months: they had not surrendered upon such conditions, neither would they now submit to them; the conquerors put them in confinement, but liberated them after a few days.

Cast. Lus. 2. § 29.

G. Giuseppe p. 99.

Fort St. Francisco was summoned next. A Lieutenant opposed the pusillanimous inclination of the Captain, telling him that better terms were always to be made with the sword in the hand than in the scabbard; but baser counsels prevailed, and all that the besieged demanded was permission to send to Mathias de Albuquerque, and a respite of three days; at the end of which, they promised to surrender if they were not relieved. Not three hours, was the reply, and they were threatened that no quarter should be given if the place was stormed; so the Captain yielded, and the Dutch fleet entered the port in triumph. Nine days afterwards a fleet with reinforcements¹⁷ arrived from Holland.

¹⁷ Ericeyra's brief account of the loss of Olinda is full of misrepresentations. He says that Mathias, before he left Portugal, protested against the inadequacy of the forces given him; that he lost no time in putting every thing in the best state of defence, and that he defended the passage of the river Doce a long time bravely, against superior numbers. The Carmelite throws the whole blame upon Olivares, with his usual, .. yet be allows that the danger was disbelieved by the people of Olindst. Raphael de Jesus and Rocha Pitta agree in censuring Mathias; the former speaks the opinion of Joam Fernandez Vieira, .. unquestionably a competent judge; the latter probably represents the conduct of the General according to the feelings with which it was remembered in Brazil.

[page 472]

CHAPTER XV.

Camp of Bom Jesus formed.—Calabar deserts to the Dutch, and turns the fortune of the War.—Negroes of the Palmares.—The Island of Itamaraca, Rio Grande. Paraiba, Tamaraca, the Camp, and Nazareth reduced.

CHAP. XV. 1630.

The Portugueze really.

Brito Freire. § 315.

But in Pernambuco, as in Bahia, the Portugueze had no sooner abandoned the city, than they began to recollect themselves and recover heart. Their previous misconduct is rather attributable to ill management than to any want of courage; there had been no foresight, no preparations against the danger, and when it came upon them, the first thought of every man was to secure a retreat for his family, because there was no hope of saving the town. When all was lost, and they had retired into the woods, it was the voice of the brave which was heard, for then none but the brave gave counsel; and those men took the lead whom Nature had qualified to take it. It was also the character of their General to act wisely when he had time for consideration, though sudden events confused him; .. a slow and politic man, who wanted presence of mind. He now told the Portugueze that the Dutch made conquests for gain and not for glory that they coveted Pernambuco for the sugar and tobacco which

[page] 473

CHAP. XV. 1630.

B. Freire. § 355.

and form the Camp of Bom Jesus.

Bast Lus. 3. § 1—7.

G. Giuseppe p. 95.

it produced; the wisest plan of operations was therefore to maintain the country against them, and prevent them from cultivating it. Works were immediately begun upon a little eminence, equidistant from Olinda and Recife, being a long league from each; four pieces of cannon, from the wreck of a Dutch ship, were all their artillery. The works were prosecuted with the utmost alacrity, and as they advanced, the number of labourers increased, some coming to take up their abode under its protection, others to join the Camp: such speed was made, that the Camp of the Good Jesus, as they called it, was defensable before the Dutch knew that it had been begun. The conquerors were well pleased at this; the more Portugueze were assembled, the more effectual they expected would be their blow, and the greater their prize. Hadrian Frank, who knew the country, offered to guide them to the camp by a circuitous route, so that they might surprise it; but Mathias was on his guard, and instead of waiting for the assault, sent out a party to meet the assailants. The Dutch were not prepared for this; they could not resist the impetuosity with which they were attacked, and they fled, leaving forty upon the field.

Bush Companies formed.

B. Freire. § 374—375

This success emboldened the Portugueze; they knew that the Dutch General, with a guard of six hundred men, was going from Recife to Olinda, and they laid an ambush and surprised him; his men were put to flight, and he himself had actually surrendered, when his horse having received a slight wound, plunged so desperately as to clear a way for him, and he gallopped off. The danger of passing from one town to another soon became so great as to occasion a regulation, that whenever a party was about to make the attempt, two guns should be fired, and a detachment from each side be sent to secure the road. The Portugueze now established a number of out-posts, communicating with each other, under officers, who from the bush-fighting which

3 P

[page] 474

CHAP. XV. 1630.

B. Freire. § 360.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 11. 12.

B. Freire. § 367.

they were to practise, were called Capitaens de Emboscadas. One was entrusted to the Jesuit Manoel de Moraes and his flock of Indians, whom he had made Christians and soldiers at the same time; Camaram, the Carijo Chief, with his people, had charge of another; Joam Fernandez Vieira had the command of a party who were to keep the field night and day. The main force consisted of peasants, who came to the camp when they could spare time from their occupations, and left it when their presence was necessary at home, so that they were continually coming and going; but they who had been driven out of the town, or whose houses were in the immediate vicinity of the enemy, took up their abode in the Camp. They had great hardships to endure there. Food was necessarily scarce, when such numbers were unexpectedly assembled in such a place; the soldiers had sometimes nothing but a single head of maize for their ratio. Raiment was still scarcer than food; for driven as they had been from their habitations, they had saved nothing. What they were most ashamed of was, to appear without shoes, .. considering them perhaps as a mark of distinction between themselves and their slaves: it was also at first a real evil, and especially in a country infested by chiguas: against these the native preservatives were adopted, and to remove the ideal grievance, the officers cast off their shoes also, that they might appear bare-footed like the men. This was afterwards found so convenient in a land full of rivers and lakes, that the custom continued long after the necessity ceased.

Distress of both parties.

Meantime the Dutch fortified themselves in their new possessions, which they were enabled to do without interruption, after the Portugueze had twice suffered severely in attempting to prevent them. No succours arrived from Portugal, and Mathias, weary of expecting them, made, in despair, an assault upon Olinda, from which he was repulsed with great loss. In irregular warfare, the advantage was altogether on his side, and the Dutch

[page] 475

CHAP. XV. 1630.

B. Freire. § 367. 392. 385.

soon began to want provisions; the sea indeed was open to them, but the land was the enemy's; they had no water at Recife except what was collected in pits dug in the beach, and so imperfectly filtered, as scarcely to serve any purpose of fresh water; they were obliged to eat Dutch bread; and, though the forest was at their very gates, to burn Dutch wood, so well did the Portugueze keep the country. If they ventured out for food or fruits, they were cut off by the bush-fighters. The Portugueze were short of ammunition, and were obliged to melt their pewter dishes, and the lead of their fishing nets, into shot; but the unerring weapons of the Indians did not fail; and the loss which the Dutch suffered in this harrassing and desultory mode of war was considerable.

Some Colonists incline to submit.

B. Freire. § 362.

Do. § 368.

Do. § 336.

Mathias had other enemies beside the Dutch. There were some of the inhabitants who, provided they could sell their produce, cared not who were the purchasers; they had no sense of patriotism, and were eager to trade with the conquerors. Three persons who ventured to begin this traffic were detected and hanged. There were, however, many whose wishes were the same, and one night the house in which the General slept was set on fire: he found it more prudent to say the fire was accidental, than to seek out and punish the guilty. In fact, the yoke of the Dutch might perhaps have been willingly received, had it not been for the difference of religion. That evil, which of all others, renders a people most discontented, the want of justice, was grievously felt at Olinda; the greatest acts of iniquity were committed by the powerful, and no redress could be obtained. A little before the Dutch arrived, one of the inhabitants cried aloud in the market-place—"Where are the Brethren of the Misericordia? Justice is dead here in Pernambuco, .. why do not they come and bury her?" This perversion of law, and a general corruption of manners in this unhappy Captaincy, are acknowledged by the Portugueze. Bahia was better governed, because it was

[page] 476

CHAP. XV. 1630.

the seat of Government, and none except the New Christians there wished well to the invaders.

Expedition against Isle Itamaraca.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 26.

B. Freire. § 393.

The Dutch, while they endeavoured to increase the number of their partizans in the country, exposed themselves as little as they could to the desultory and destructive warfare in which their enemies were so skilful. They fortified the strongest posts in the vicinity of Recife, and prepared to extend their conquests by sea: their first expedition was against the island of Itamaraca, eight leagues south of Olinda. This island, which is about ten leagues in circumference, was better cultivated than peopled; it contained three and twenty sugar works; but the principal settlement, which was called the town of Conceiçam, or the Conception, consisted of only a hundred and thirty inhabitants, besides a garrison of sixty men, under Salvador Pinheiro, the Governor. Trifling as this force was, the Dutch did not find it easy to conquer it, and instead of persevering in the attempt, they built a strong fort about musket shot from the opposite main land, commanding the entrance of a port in which ships of three hundred tons might enter. In this, which they named Fort Orange, they left eighty men, with twelve pieces of cannon, and then returned to Recife. The old town of Garassu, ill peopled, and ill fortified, was nearly opposite to the fort: the Portugueze immediately sent to strengthen it, and prevent the enemy from passing over.

Proceedings at Madrid.

B. Freire. § 385—86.

Meantime the Court of Madrid, though less solicitous for the recovery of Recife than it behoved them to have been, were not wholly unmindful of it. Nine caravels were dispatched at different times, to land where they could, and make their way to the Camp of Jesus. Some of these were taken by the enemy's cruisers, and of the men who effected their landing, only a part reached the place of destination. No greater effort was made, because the Court were willing to let the Pernambucans deliver

[page] 477

CHAP. XV. 1631.

Do. § 402.

G. Giuseppe p. 112.

A fleet sent out under Oquendo.

themselves if they could, and expected that the harrassing war which they carried on, as it defeated the main object of the Dutch, would finally induce them to abandon the country. It was said also, that the Albuquerques encouraged the Court and the Governors of Portugal in this opinion, because they believed that they should in time recover by this slow system what they had lost; whereas it was to be apprehended that if the Crown sent out a great force to reconquer the Captaincy, it would not be restored to their family, upon the plea that it had been lost by the chance of war¹⁸. This policy was changed, as soon as it was known at Madrid that the Dutch were fitting out a strong fleet for Pernambuco, under Hadrian Patry, an admiral of great reputation; its force consisted of three thousand five hundred troops, and many Dutch families were going out in it as settlers, and many rich Jews, to take up their abode in this western land of promise. It was supposed also that they meant to cruize for the Mexican galleons, in hopes of a second prize like Heyne's. Upon this intelligence a fleet was equipped at Lisbon: most of the ships were Castilian, but the whole expence was borne by Portugal. D. Antonio de Oquendo had the command; the fleet was destined for Spanish America, but was first to throw succours into Brazil. Ten caravels containing a thousand men, Portugueze, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, with twelve pieces of brass cannon, were destined for Pernambuco; Duarte de Albuquerque the Lord of the Captaincy, went with them: two hundred men in two vessels, with an equal number of guns, were for Paraiba, and eight hundred for Bahia. The fleet was ordered

¹⁸ The manner in which Brito Freire mentions this report, shows how generally it was believed. He says, Creyo, que só da malicia nasceu esta murmuraçam, mas como foi tam publica, os veneraveis respeitos da Historia me obrigaram a escrevella; querendo omitilla. § 402.

[page] 478

CHAP. XV. 1631.

B. Freire. § 403—9.

to make Bahia first, .. ill-judged instructions, unless there was no design of meeting the enemy; for it gave the Dutch Admiral time to reach Recife, to land his troops and supplies, make every thing ready for battle, and sail in quest of it with sixteen good ships.

Navalaction.

Death of the Dutch Admiral.

Oquendo's fleet consisted of twenty ships of war, the twelve caravels with troops for Pernambuco and Paraiba, and four and twenty merchantmen laden with sugar from Bahia, and proceeding under his convoy. When the enemy came in sight he was advised to take the troops out of the transports, and distribute them among the ships of war and the larger merchant vessels; he thought himself strong enough already, and ordered them to fall to leeward. When the action began, he got the weathergage of Patry's ship, and grappled with it; a desperate engagement ensued: the Dutch would fain have got clear, but Juan Costelho, one of the Spanish Captains, got on board the enemy, and past a cable round her formast, a service which cost him his life. A second ship bore up to attack Oquendo on the other side. Cosme do Couto Barbosa, perceiving this, ran his little vessel between them; it was presently sunk; he himself was picked up and made prisoner; .. but this daring manœuvre seems to have saved the Spanish General. Ere long Patry's ship took fire, and the Spaniards kept up such an incessant discharge upon it, that there was no possibility of stopping the flames. Oquendo now cut the cable which held him close to the enemy's ship, .. its destruction was inevitable, and his own was so compleatly disabled, that without assistance he could not have escaped being involved in the same fate: Juan de Prado came up and towed him away. To save the Dutch ship was impossible; Patry, like many others, might probably have saved his life by swimming to the Spaniards; instead of attempting this, he took the colours, wrapt them round his armour, and then plunged into the sea headlong. Meantime the Spanish Admiral engaged the Dutch, and was sunk.

[page] 479

CHAP. XV. 1631.

G Giuseppe p. 112.

B. Freire. § 407—23.

It was a bloody action, bravely fought on both sides; the Spaniards had the advantage in numbers, the Dutch in the size of their ships, and in weight of metal; the loss on either side was equal, in all about three thousand men. At nightfall the fleets were still in sight of each other. Oquendo ordered the Conte de Bagnuolo, Giovanne Vincenzo San Felice, who had the command of the succours for Pernambuco, to stand in shore and make the first port he could; but first he found it necessary to take three hundred men out of the thousand, for the purpose of supplying in part the loss which he had sustained. In the morning the enemy's fleet was not to be seen, and Oquendo, in obedience to his orders, stood for the Spanish Main, to convoy home the galleons; these orders would not have been so readily obeyed if he had wished to renew the action.

The Dutch burn Olinda.

Bagnuolo meantime stood for the shore, and gained the port of Barra Grande, which was thirty leagues from the Camp of Jesus. One caravel, commanded by Antonio de Figueiredo, parted company, and was chased a long way to the North till she got into the River Potengi¹⁹. No attempt was made to reach Paraiba, it is therefore plain that the enemy were masters of the sea. The troops however were safely landed, and after a difficult and painful march, they joined Mathias de Albuquerque. The Dutch Commander knew that the Portugueze had received succours, and did not know how inadequate they were. He thought it necessary to centre his forces at Recife, lest he should be attacked there, and resolved to abandon Olinda, .. a resolution, the more willingly adopted because the danger of passing from one place to the other was so great. Having thus determined, he sent

¹⁹ The native appellation of what is usually called Rio Grande. It is to be preferred because the Portugueze name serves equally for the river, the province, and the principal settlement, and because there are many other Rio Grandes.

[page] 480

CHAP. XV. 1631.

B. Freire. § 423—27.

Cast Lus. 3. 27—28.

G. Giuseppe p. 116.

to Mathias and asked if he would ransom the town, for otherwise it should be burnt. Mathias replied, burn it if you cannot keep it, we can build it better²⁰. Accordingly the Dutch set it on fire, and the whole of this flourishing city was consumed, except a single mud hovel which remained unhurt, when houses, churches, and convents, were blazing round about.

Paraiba attacked.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 32—34.

It was not long before the Dutch learnt how small the reinforcement was which had reached the Portugueze, and that by the misconduct of the leaders, it was rather likely to weaken than to strengthen them. Bagnuolo was lodged apart, and Duarte de Albuquerque took up his quarters with his brother, each with his own men. In one thing both these new Commanders agreed, in favouring the regular troops whom they had brought out, and treating the armed inhabitants with contempt, though in fact they were the strength and hope of the Captaincy; by them the country had been defended, and by them it must be recovered, if it were recoverable. The Dutch soon discovered this wretched impolicy, and prepared to profit by it: they opened an intercourse with Bagnuolo, which that General improvidently permitted them to continue, and which gave them opportunities of sounding and tampering with such as were discontented. Hitherto, by confining themselves to Recife, they had enabled the Portugueze to bring their forces to one point, and remained themselves like men besieged, though they had a large disposable force, and were masters of the sea. Bolder measures were now resolved on, and accordingly three thousand men were dispatched to attack Paraiba. The ill consequences of having destroyed Olinda were now felt; while that place was in the hands of the Dutch, part of the Portugueze

²⁰ This is the substance of a bombastic speech made for him by Raphael de Jesus.

[page] 481

CHAP. XV. 1631.

force was necessarily employed in watching it: it so happened that this had been the station of those men who had been raised in Paraiba, and when they were no longer wanted for it, Mathias suffered them to return home; at the same time he sent thither the two hundred men destined to reinforce that Captainy. Figueiredo's caravel, which had been chased to the Potengi, and was given up for lost, sailed also from thence for Paraiba, and reached it in safety just at this important point of time; it had on board eight pieces of cannon, and some good engineers, and was laden with ammunition, of which the place was in great want.

Lichthart lays siege to Fort Cabedello.

Brito Freire. § 440.

A fort called Cabedello defended the bar; it was in a miserable state, for old works had been demolished, and the new ones intended to replace them were not completed. Lichthart, who commanded the sea forces, would have attempted to force the entrance; but the land commander persuaded him that this was a needless danger, and that the troops could speedily make themselves masters of the place. His advice was unfortunate; the fort might easily have been past, and then Paraiba must have fallen. Joam de Matos Cardoso, the Captain of the Fort, was an old man of much experience and reputation; he had with him sixty men of his own garrison, and a hundred and sixty had reached him from Pernambuco; and they drew out to oppose the invaders. The Dutch, when they prepared to land, observed that such of the Portugueze as were farthest from the fort were in the best order, while those who were stationed nearer were more careless, because they fancied themselves safe under its protection: on this side therefore they landed, and threw up a trench on the sand to cover themselves. This trench impeded the march of six hundred men who were on their way from the town; a hot skirmish took place, and the Portugueze were driven into the woods, from whence however they made their way into the fort. In the night the Dutch erected a redoubt, which

3 Q

[page] 482

CHAP. XV. 1631.

B. Freire. § 434.

the Portugueze attacked and carried in the morning with the loss of Jeronymo de Albuquerque Maranham, brother to Antonio the Captain of Paraiba. Godinho who commanded the succours which came out with Oquendo, perished in consequence of a ridiculous confidence in his own diminutive size; he was desired to leave the walls on which he was walking, because the enemy from a distance had brought two guns to bear in that direction, and his answer was, that no marksman could hit so small a mark; within a few minutes he was shattered to pieces.

The Dutch break up the siege.

B. Freire. § 428—40.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 35—37.

G. Giuseppe p. 117.

As soon as the object of the Dutch expedition was known, Mathias dispatched four companies to the relief of Paraiba. They made an assault upon the enemy on the evening of their arrival, and the next morning began to throw up trenches in the face of those which the besiegers had erected. Some severe fighting ensued; the Dutch endeavoured without success to prevent them from compleating these works; they attacked them at night with the same ill fortune, and again at noon the next day, when they knew that the Spaniards and Portugueze would be either at table, or taking their mid-day sleep, and only the common guard would be at their post. This was an obstinate conflict; the Portugueze lost nearly an hundred men, among whom were the Commander of the last reinforcements, and a bare-footed Franciscan who encouraged the soldiers by giving them absolution for their sins, and fighting at their head. One more attack and the fort would have fallen; but the Dutch had suffered so greatly that they broke up the siege, leaving good part of their stores behind them.

Unsuccessful attempt upon Rio Grande.

Their next attempt was upon Rio Grande. For this settlement, Portugal was indebted to the Jesuit Missionaries. The natives here had grievously infested Pernambuco: the Commander of that Captaincy, Manoel Mascarenhas, was at length obliged to march against them in person; he defeated them,

[page] 483

CHAP. XV. 1631.

Rel. Ann. 1603. ff. 113.

G. Giuseppe p. 119.

B. Freire. § 44—43.

but it was doing little to put to flight a few savage tribes, who as soon as he was gone returned to their former haunts, and their old habits of devastation. The Jesuits pacified them, and brought a hundred and fifty hordes into alliance with the Portugueze. One of the fathers was as well skilled in military, as in church architecture, .. he traced the plan of a fort; his brethren set the Indians the example of working at it, carrying stones upon their backs; by them it was begun and finished; and when finished it was the strongest fortress in Brazil, not from any advantage of situation, but from the solidity of its works and the excellence of their construction. It was built upon a rock at the entrance of the river Potengi, and half a league off were a few habitations, which in this thinly peopled country had obtained the name of a city. The Dutch thought to surprise this place; but a Portugueze vessel had seen them, and carried intelligence to Paraiba time enough for the Governor there to send his brother Mathias de Albuquerque Maranham, with three hundred men, and the same number of natives for its defence; the fortifications thus manned were too formidable to be attacked with any probability of success.

Importance of the port of Nasareth.

The trade between Portugal and Pernambuco was still considerable, notwithstanding the loss of the capital and its important harbour. Of the ships which ventured, a great proportion were captured, and few escaped without an action; nevertheless the profits of those who reached their destination were so great, that one successful voyage encouraged adventurers more than many failures deterred them. They sold their European commodities at enormous prices, because there were so many purchasers, and so few to supply the demand; and they bought the produce of the country as much below its value, because all the inhabitants wanted to sell. A port about seven leagues North of Recife was the great mart of this trade; it was called Pontal de Naza-

[page] 484

CHAP. XV. 1632.

Cast. Lus. 3 § 38—39.

B. Freire. § 444—9.

Do. § 446.

reth, from a mountain with a famous Church upon its summit where an image of our Lady of Nazareth worked miracles and was visited by Brazilian pilgrims. The mouth of the harbour was formed by an opening in that reef which extends along the coast of Pernambuco; four iron guns were planted here to command it, and two redoubts had been thrown up by Bagnuolo, on his march from the place where he landed to the Camp of Jesus. The garrison consisted of sixty men, and they had just been reinforced with twice that number from Port dos Affogados. This place the Dutch attempted next, but perceiving a show of greater resistance than they expected, they coasted on half a league, thinking to land in a creek which ran some way inland. It so happened that a party of fifteen musqueteers were passing along, escorting a considerable sum of money sent by the merchants of Bahia to their correspondents here, to be laid out in sugar, such being their mode of payment. These men seeing the Dutch prepare to land, took their station securely in the thicket and kept up a steady and unerring fire upon the boats, which presently put back, terrified at the great loss that they received from unseen enemies. Their Commander immediately concluded that a strong detachment had been sent from the redoubts to oppose him, the force left there would therefore be materially weakened, and he might surprise and overpower it. Nothing could be more specious than such reasoning; but when he made the attack, he found the whole force of the Portugueze there, and was repulsed with the loss of seventy men, .. an event which added one more miracle to the history of our Lady of Nazareth. Notwithstanding this success Bagnuolo thought it prudent to build a fort here, and he went himself to construct it, being an old and experienced engineer. No person except himself was satisfied with his work; the spot was ill chosen, and too distant from the bar.

[page] 485

CHAP. XV. 1632.

Calabur deserts to the Dutch

He surprises and sacks Garassu.

Hitherto the Dutch had little reason to pride themselves upon the success of their arms. They had been two years in possession of Recife and had made no farther progress, except in building a fort in the island of Itamaraca: all their other attempts had been baffled, and the Portugueze, whom they defeated at first almost without a struggle, had now acquired the habits and the confidence of military life. Their superiority was restored by a deserter. This man was a Mulatto, born in Pernambuco, by name Domingos Fernandes Calabar, who had served two years among his countrymen, received some wounds, and gained some reputation. Whether he had committed some crime, and fled to escape punishment; or if the insolence of the ungrateful Commanders disgusted him; or, which is more likely, he was influenced by the hope of bettering his fortune by the treason, is not known; but he was the first Pernambucan who deserted to the Dutch, and could they have chosen one from all others, Calabar would have been their choice, so active was he, sagacious, enterprizing, and desperate, and no man knew the country and the coast so well. He was received with ostentatious encouragement. Bagnuolo's indiscretion gave the Dutch opportunity to tamper with others, whom Calabar's reception tempted, and in a short time every movement of the Portugueze was known to the enemy before it took place. Some of the Neapolitan soldiers deserted; Bagnuolo wished to recover them, and sent to Recife proposing to give Dutch prisoners in exchange. His messengers were detained some days without audience; this led the Portugueze to suspect that some expedition was on foot, and they sent to all the posts which they thought most exposed, warning them to be upon their guard, especially to Nazareth, Serinhaem, and Garassu. The warning came too late: Calabar had undertaken to guide the Dutch to this latter town, and deliver it into their hands; so sure was he of success that he took

[page] 485

CHAP. XV. 1632.

May 1.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 40—41.

B. Freire. § 430—31.

with him four hundred negroes to load with the spoil. They set out at midnight, went through the ruins of Olinda, and surprised the town while the inhabitants were at mass. The ill success which the Dutch had hitherto experienced, made them treat the Portugueze here as enemies on whom they were to take vengeance, not as people whose good will it was their policy to conciliate. The men who came in their way were slaughtered, the women were stripped, and the plunderers with brutal cruelty tore away ear-rings through the ear-flap, and cut off fingers for the sake of the rings which were upon them. Having plundered and burnt the town they set out on their return, taking with them as prisoners some Franciscans, whom for their profession they especially hated; and driving in mockery before them the priest in his vestments, just as they had forced him from the altar. Boats had been appointed to meet them at the nearest shore, and their salute of joy was heard in the Portugueze camp when they reached Recife in triumph. Presently the men who had gone to warn this ill-fated place of its danger, returned with tidings of its destruction; and shortly afterwards Bagnuolo's messengers, who had been detained so long in Recife without obtaining audience, were sent back with an insolent message from the Dutch Commander, that he could not attend to the proposals now, being just returned from an excursion to Garassu, and weary with his day's work.

Rio Fermoso surprised.

Before the terror which this destructive expedition struck into the Portugueze had abated, Calabar led the Dutch upon a second, ten leagues to the South, where they plundered and burnt another settlement; he then guided them to Rio Fermoso and surprised five ships which had nearly compleated their cargoes. Warned by this disaster, the Portugueze built a fort there, mounted two guns, and manned it with twenty men, under Pedro de Albuquerque, an inadequate defence against such an

[page] 487

CHAP. XV. 1632.

B. Freire. § 432—5.

enemy. Calabar returned and attacked the fort; but never did soldiers more resolutely perform their duty than this handful of Portugueze. They held out till nineteen were killed; the twentieth, though wounded in three places, swam the river, and the Commander was found lying upon the earth, with a musquet shot through the breast. The Dutch were generous enough to show their esteem for so brave a man; they treated him with especial kindness, and after his recovery set him ashore upon the Spanish Main, from whence he went to Europe, and was rewarded with the Government of Maranham.

Embarrasment and indecision of Bagnuolo.

Cast. Lus: § 42.

These were not the only services which Calabar rendered to the Dutch; he instructed them in that mode of warfare by which they had suffered most, and taught them how to oppose ambush to ambush; so that the Portugueze in their next attempt to surprise them, fell into a snare themselves. Confounded by repeated losses, Bagnuolo knew not what to attempt, nor on which side to prepare for defence; his detachments always arrived too late, .. they came every where to behold the devastation which they were dispatched to prevent. Thus harrassed and perplexed, he remained for some time in a state of continual alarm, and yet of inaction; ashamed of this he made preparations for attacking Fort Orange, but with so little precautions, that his intention was known and the Fort reinforced. He however made the attempt, stript the nearest Portugueze settlement of its guns for his batteries, and when he found that nothing could be done against the strong works which had been thrown up, he retired and left these guns to the enemy. It is no wonder that the Brazilians suspected him of treachery; there is a degree of imbecility which may easily be mistaken for treason, because it produces the same effects.

The Dutch send out Commissaries.

Meantime the West Indian Company sent out two Commissaries to Brazil, investing them with full powers either to eva-

[page] 488

CHAP. XV. 1633.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 43—5.

B. Freire, § 459—63.

cuate the country if they saw no prospect of greater success, or to prosecute the conquest with fresh spirit. They brought with them three thousand men, with stores and ammunition in abundance. Wardenberg was less pleased with this additional force than he was offended at the curtailment of his authority; he therefore resigned the command and sailed for Holland, being succeeded by Laurens de Rimbach, an old and experienced soldier, who willingly accepted the chief military command, subject to the direction of the Commissaries. Their resolution was soon taken; the chances of war were now in their favour, and they hoped by pursuing their good fortune to obtain possession of the country. There was a post by the Rio dos Affogados, which was of considerable importance, being situated where the fertile plain of Capibaripe began; they had attacked it the preceding year, and been repulsed with considerable loss; they now attempted it with a greater force, carried it, and pushed on under the guidance of a deserter to a second station, which they carried also. Frey Belchior, a Franciscan distinguished himself in its defence; with a pike for his weapon, he slew every Dutchman who came within his reach, and for this and other such services, his religious merits being likewise taken into consideration, he was afterwards made a Bishop. It was not long before the Dutch stormed a third station, with more loss to the Portugueze and less to themselves; they had now adopted that execrable mode of warfare which the Spaniards first practised against the Indians, and trained dogs to pursue the fugitives when they sought to save themselves in the morasses. Having won these stations, they erected a fort at the first, which they called Fort Willem, and garrisoned with a sufficient force.

They assault the Camp, and arerepulsed.

Encouraged by these successes they now resolved to attempt the Camp; and Calabar, in the true spirit of a deserter, recommended them to make the assault upon Good Friday, when the

[page] 489

CHAP. XV. 1633.

Cast. Lus. 3 § 46—48.

Brito Freire. § 464—77.

Portugueze would be employed in the ceremonies of their religion. If they won the Camp, it was urged, the province was their own. Rimbach went in person upon this service at the head of three thousand men: but the Portugueze had obtained early information of the design; their forces were called in from the country, and on the approach of the assailants a tremendous fire was opened upon them. The guns were loaded with musquet balls, perhaps for want of other shot; the discharge proved very destructive, and Rimbach himself fell. His death threw the Dutch into confusion, and had they been pursued in their retreat, a signal victory would have been gained; but Bagnuolo, who being crippled with the gout, sate in a chair to see the action, repressed the ardour of his people, saying, that the flight of the enemy was probably preconcerted for the purpose of decoying them into an ambush; .. and thus the irrecoverable opportunity was lost. It is a proof how little care was bestowed by Spain upon these colonies, that though cavalry would have been of the utmost service to the Portugueze, and have given them a decided superiority over the invaders, Mathias could obtain nothing more from the ministers than one company, and that rather nominal than real, for only twenty of the men were mounted.

Isle of Itamaraca reduced,

and Garassu in consequence abund

As Calabar had advised this unfortunate attack upon the Camp, he was fearful that it might indispose the Dutch toward him; and to recover his credit he proposed to Sigismundus Van Schoppe, the new commander, to conquer the Island of Itamaraca. Their former failure in this attempt had been rather owing to their own fault than to the means of defence which the Portugueze possessed; they now dispatched such a force as rendered resistance hopeless; the town of Conceiçam was yielded to them, and with it the whole Island. Mathias de Albuquerque was on his march to relieve it when intelligence reached him

3 R

[page] 490

CHAP. XV. 1633.

B. Freire. § 478. 482—5.

that it was lost; .. in such marching and remarching were the Brazilian troops exhausted both in body and spirit. Garassu had been reoccupied by the Portugueze after its destruction by Calabar: Figueiredo, the same officer who had so seasonably thrown supplies into Fort Cabedello, and distinguished himself in its defence, commanded here; but it was impossible to defend this post against so superior an enemy, and therefore it was abandoned.

The Dutch attempt to besiege the Camp.

It was in vain that the Brazilians called upon their government for effectual aid; the Court of Madrid, believing or affecting to believe that the Dutch would soon be weary of maintaining a Conquest which was so obstinately disputed, seemed by its supineness to yield it to them. The loss which the Portugueze sustained in so many conflicts was not made up by any reinforcements; their whole force was now reduced to twelve hundred men, whereas the enemy were continually receiving new supplies both of men and stores. The Commissaries perceived the weakness of the Portugueze, and thinking to win the Camp by slower, safer, and surer means than assaulting it, they resolved to besiege it in form. Bagnuolo was at this time absent, inspecting his new works at Nazareth. Mathias, as soon as he discovered what was intended, recalled him, collected all the little force he had, sent away from the Camp all persons who were not capable of bearing arms, and set fire to the canes in that direction where they served to screen the motions of the enemy. The besiegers took their stations; but one difficulty was still to be surmounted. Their quarters were but half a league from Fort Willem, yet it was almost impossible to drag the guns even that little distance through a country full of trees and sugar canes, among which the Portugueze and their Indians were always on the watch. The river Capebaripe was at this time swoln with rain which had fallen among the mountains; they embarked eleven

[page] 491

CHAP. XV. 1633.

B. Freire. § 494—8.

Cast. Lus. 3 § 51—2.

pieces of cannon in the hulk of a ship, and began to tow it up; the depth of water, from the fresh, was in their favour, but the increased rapidity of the stream was as much against them; and the difficulty which this occasioned was so great, that though they set off at sunset, they were at sunrise a long cannon shot distant from their nearest station. A party of the Portugueze who were on the watch heard them, and immediately attacked this important convoy; succour came on both sides, but after a conflict of four hours, the Portugueze remained masters of the artillery, and the Dutch in consequence of losing their guns and the difficulty of bringing up others, gave up their intention of besieging the Camp.

Expedition of Calabar to the Logoas.

Faste of the succours under Vasconcellos.

The next expedition of Calabar was to a greater distance. Six and forty leagues South of Recife are some salt water lakes upon the coast, by which some considerable settlements had grown up, because fish was abundant there, and the land fertile. These places were called the Lagoas or Alagoas, that is to say, the Lakes, from their situation. Remote as they were from the scene of war, they were not out of Calabar's reach, and that restless Mulatto led the Dutch thither and burnt the first village, which contained about six score inhabitants. The second, which was a day's journey distant, was successfully defended. This kind of warfare was dreadful to the inhabitants, but it suited better with the revengeful spirit of a deserter, than with the views of the Dutch; in them it was as impolitic as it was cruel to lay waste the country which they hoped to possess. It was not long before they gained more important advantages. Francisco de Vasconcellos da Cunha came out with two ships and five caravels from Lisbon, bringing six hundred men, and good supply of stores, .. succours of great importance to the feeble force of the Portugueze. They came in sight off Paraiba, three leagues North of the bar, by the river Maman-

[page] 492

CHAP. XV. 1633.

B. Freire. § 307—11.

goape, where a Portugueze officer was stationed, with some of the best pilots of the coast, because this land was frequently made by ships from Lisbon. One of these Pilots had spied a Dutch vessel, which fired several guns and then stood to the Southward: as soon as the squadron came in sight, he went off to tell them this, and that these guns were signals to collect other ships, cruising in company. He therefore advised them to take shelter in that river, and said he was come to pilot them in. Vasconcellos, instead of immediately following this advice, called a council, and was persuaded by his officers to proceed thirty leagues North, to the Potengi. In the morning he found himself near the Bahia da Traiçam, and three Dutch ships bearing down to attack him. Some of the caravels ran aground, others got into the Potengi, and were there taken. The Dutch did not attempt to board the ships because they were afraid of the troops; but they kept up such a fire upon them, that they drove the smallest ashore; the men got to land, and saved part of the cargo and ten pieces of cannon. The other ship maintained the action during the remainder of the day, and in the night got into Bahia Fermosa, where Vasconcellos immediately landed his men. In the morning the Dutch came in after him, and at the first broadside, sunk his ship, already shattered in the fight of the preceding day.

Vasconcellos removed his men and such stores as he had saved, from this desert beach to some sugar works which were five leagues inland. As soon as this was known at the Camp, Mathias directed that the articles which were least bulky and most valuable should be sent by land, and ordered Vasconcellos to embark the rest at Cunhau, a port six leagues from his present lodgement, where four barks from Paraiba would be ready to receive them. Accordingly he convoyed them to the shore, saw them put on board, and then thinking all safe, returned

[page] 493

CHAP. XV. 1633.

B. Freire. § 511—14. 513.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 55.

to his quarters. The barks had hardly got under weigh, before they perceived a Dutch ship and four sumacas, or smacks, coming in; .. this kind of small craft was used for entering rivers which would not admit vessels of greater draught. The Portugueze in vain attempted to escape; they set fire to three of their barks, the fourth was taken. But the captors were now endangered in their turn; the tide left them upon the bar, within blunderbuss shot of the shore. Vasconcellos was speedily advised of this, and returned to attack them: night came on when he was about a league from the scene of action, and then he was persuaded by his officers to turn aside to some pastures, where his men might rest and refresh themselves. Neither he nor his officers chose to recollect that the tide would not wait for them, and when they reached the shore next morning, the Dutch were gone. They in their haste to escape had left untouched one of the barks which the Portugueze had set on fire, but which had not been burnt, and the stores which thus escaped, were all which were saved from this convoy; Vasconcellos having lost not only the seven vessels which he brought out, but also three more which came to his assistance. During the whole course of the war the Portugueze never suffered a greater loss, and scarcely a greater disgrace. Of the six hundred men who went out in this expedition, only a hundred and eighty reached the Camp.

Rio Grande reduced.

Bagnuolo now went to Paraiba to see a new fort, called St. Antonio, which was being erected on the opposite side of the river to Fort Cabedello, the better to command the entrance. Mathias de Albuquerque accompanied him. While they were thus employed a Dutch squadron sailed from Recife against Rio Grande: the detachment was strong, and the more formidable because Calabar was on board. Pedro Mendes de Govea commanded this important place; he had thirteen guns and eighty five men, enough to defend so good a fortress, and he

[page] 494

CHAP. XV. 1633.

Brito Freire. § 515—17.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 56.

sent for succour to Paraiba, that being the nearest station. Strong as the fort was, it had the great disadvantage of being commanded by a sand hill, which all the labour of the Portugueze could not remove, for as fast as they cleared it away, the wind heaped another in its place, owing perhaps to the fort itself; Calabar, aware of this, led the besiegers here. On the second day Govea was wounded on the walls, and disabled from all exertion; the garrison then relaxed in their defence, being influenced by a deserter from Bahia, and a prisoner who was at large within the walls. With these men Calabar made his bargain, and they sold the place. Three caravels fell into the conquerors hand. On the following day five hundred men arrived from Paraiba, and had the mortification to behold Dutch colours flying upon the strongest fortress in Brazil.

Fidelity of an Indian Chief.

B. Freire. § 316—21.

An Indian called Jagoarari by his countrymen, and Simam Soares by the Portugueze, had lain eight years in irons at Rio Grande. His offence was, that he had gone over to the Dutch when they were in possession of St. Salvador, but he had protested that his only motive was to bring away his wife and child, who were by some accident in their power. The Portugueze wanted virtue to believe him, and notwithstanding he was the uncle of Camaram, their best ally, they had kept him eight years in this cruel confinement. The Dutch set him free. Immediately he went to his clan, .. The marks of my chains, said he, are still bleeding; .. but it is guilt which is infamous, and not punishment. The worse the Portugueze have used me the more merit will be yours and mine in persisting faithfully to serve them, especially now that they are in distress. They listened to his persuasions, and he brought to the assistance of his oppressors a body of constant allies, with whom he served them so well as to obtain, and deserve, a place in history.

[page] 495

CHAP. XV. 1633.

The Dutch make allies among the savages.

Brite Freire. § 522—4.

But the Dutch also found allies among the natives, and the Portugueze suffered tenfold more injury than they inflicted by the Indians. Nine years ago Baldwin Henrik had taken some young natives from Bahia da Traiçam to Holland; they were carefully educated for political missionaries, and five of them at different times were sent to the Janduis, a clan of Tapuyas, dwelling in the interior, and more barbarous than any other of the race. These savages were invited down to take vengeance upon the children of those who had driven them from the coast. Little persuasion was needed, now that Rio Grande was no longer in the possession of their enemies. They came down, and a dreadful vengeance they took upon women and children, the sick and the aged, .. the men who should have defended them being in arms elsewhere, unsuspicious of this dreadful attack.

The Palmares.

The Portugueze had at the same time another harrassing enemy behind them. About thirty leagues inland, was a large track of palm forest, called the Palmares; it was the resort of the negroes who from time to time were able to escape from slavery; and probably they were at first induced to chuse it, because of its resemblance to the scenery of their own country. Of the myriads who had been imported into Brazil, many had in process of time found shelter here; here they multiplied: their numbers were continually increased by new desertions, and it was supposed that at this period they amounted to thirty thousand. They lived in villages which they called Mocambos; the largest of them was computed to contain six thousand inhabitants; it consisted of three streets, each being a half-hour's walk in length; the huts were contiguous, and had each its garden behind. The forest supplied them with fruit and game; they were however a provident and industrious people, and cultivated the land, so that at all times they abounded with food. Twice in the year they gathered in their maize, and celebrated

[page] 496

CHAP. XV. 1633.

Marcgraff. L. 9. c. 1.

B. Freire. § 525—8.

both harvests with a week's festivity. Some appearance of Christianity was kept up amongst them; .. a religion which they had received in so corrupt a form, that it was scarcely possible for them, ignorant as they were, to make it more unlike its divine original. They had their forms of justice as well as of religion. Every evening it was their custom in every village to call over the muster roll, and see if any of the people were missing; that done they began their dance, and continued it till midnight. This occasioned a singular deviation from the ordinary habits of natural life, for in consequence of retiring thus late to rest, they slept till nine or ten in the forenoon. The track of woodland which they inhabited had however two material disadvantages; it was liable to want water in the dry season, and it was not far enough in the interior. At present indeed this vicinity to the Portugueze settlements was attended with little danger; it facilitated the escape of their brethren, and allowed of that incessant predatory warfare which seems to constitute the highest enjoyment of man in the semi-barbarous stages of his progress. Sometimes the colonists attacked them, way-laid them on their watering parties, and destroyed their fields: they on their part carried destruction among the back settlements, and inflicted more injury than they endured; their own district was a labyrinth with which none but themselves were well acquainted; but the fugitives who continually joined them served them as guides, and gave information where they might best direct their incursions. The war which they waged was merciless, except towards those of their own colour; with them it was their avowed practice to receive all who fled to them upon equal terms, but to retain all as slaves whom they made prisoners. Harrassed by these enemies, and by the merciless Janduis, the Portugueze were little able to make head against the Dutch, who were now victorious on all sides.

[page] 497

CHAP. XV. 1634.

Attempt to surprise Recife.

P. Freire. § 540—6.

Toward the close of February, the Dutch Commander left Recife, taking with him so large a force that Mathias thought the place might be surprised. This enterprize would have succeeded, had it been executed as boldly as it was planned. There was a place where the Beberibe was fordable at low water; the best of the enemy's forts commanded this ford, which was also defended by a vessel with eight guns and fifty men. Martim Soares Moreno was sent with five hundred men to attempt the passage at midnight; half swimming, half wading, about an hundred of the party effected it, and believing that their comrades were following them, got upon the isthmus of sand which connects Olinda and Recife. The works here were incompleat; the sentinels gave the alarm, and at the same moment the Portugueze attacked them and forced their way. The Dutch were thrown into the utmost confusion at this unexpected assault. One of the Commissaries who had been left with the command got into the first boat which he found, and fled to the Island; others fled from the Island to the town. Unfortunately the Portugueze were in as much confusion as the Dutch; the forts and the guardship had opened fire upon the ford, and though their random shot could do little execution, it terrified the great body of the assailants. They who were in the water turned back: they who had not begun the passage did not chuse to attempt it, and thus four hundred of the party left those who were braver than themselves to their fate. These brave men seeing the day at hand, and finding themselves unsupported, were fain to retreat, carrying the wounded upon their shoulders over the ford. Had all behaved with equal resolution Recife would that day have been recovered.

Nazareth attacked.

Meantime the Dutch force landed at Paraiba, pitched their tents, and began to open trenches before Fort Cabedello: there they remained five days, not having any design of prosecuting

3 S

[page] 498

CHAP. XV. 1634.

March 4.

the siege, but meaning to draw the attention of the Portugueze to this point, and put them off their guard at Cape St. Augustines, the place at which they aimed; for they were well aware that this was the main step to be taken towards the subjugation of Pernambuco; here it was that the Brazilians received stores and succours; and here it was that they shipped their produce. Having therefore made this false demonstration, they hastily reembarked, and appeared off the Cape. Pedro Correa da Gama had the command there with three hundred and fifty men, including the inhabitants; part of this force was stationed in Fort Nazareth, Bagnuolo's useless work, which was too far distant to command either the town or the bar. The two redoubts at the bar were manned, and four companies dispatched to Tapoam, a league Northward, where the enemy might else have landed, and thence have marched to Pontal, the town, which was out of gun-shot from the bar. This place, for want of other force, was left wholly to the inhabitants, almost all of whom were seamen.

The Dutch pass the batteries and win the town.

B. Freire. § 547—52.

Tapoam, as had been supposed, was the place where a landing was attempted. The Dutch found it too well guarded, and coasted on till they came to a place called As Pedras, or the Stones, where they made a second attempt. A hundred men came in sight on their way from the Camp, to the defence of this important station; they ran to the spot, and forty of the fleetest reached it in time to prevent the landing. Eleven of the enemy's ships now stood off from the rest of the fleet, and though the bar was very narrow, and the passage difficult, ventured to run in between the batteries. One of them had her rudder carried away, and grounded; the rest got in and anchored against the town; the sailors who had been left to defend it presently took flight, and all the stores and sugar were abandoned to the conquerors.

[page] 499

CHAP. XV. 1634.

Calabar brings the launches

B. Freire § 33—.

Calabar was with the launches, on board of which a thousand troops were embarked. Half a league towards the South, there was an opening into the port through the reef, so narrow indeed that it had never been supposed the smallest canoe could pass it; but nothing escaped this man's observation; he had formed a better judgment, brought the launches in, and landed the men at Pontal, where they immediately began to fortify themselves. The situation of the contending powers was now a curious one; the port was in possession of the Dutch, and ten of their ships were lying there, but they could only communicate with their main force by boats through the new channel which Calabar had discovered, for the bar was still in the power of the Portugueze. By this time Mathias with his brother Duarte, and Bagnuolo, arrived from the Camp with three hundred men. From the moment that they were apprised of the enemy's intention, they had lost no time in sending off reinforcements to this important post, and in following them; their collected force was now considerable, and they proceeded with eight hundred men to attack the Dutch in the town. They got possession of a battery, and pushed on to the trenches which the invaders had thrown up for their defence. The Dutch knew the insufficiency of these hasty works; they were thrown into confusion, and many of them swam off to their ships. Just at this moment a party of Portugueze who had been ordered to march through the wood, and distract the attention of the enemy by alarming them on that side, made their appearance; a cry arose among their own countrymen, that they were Dutch posted there to cut off their retreat; it was in vain that their leaders attempted to undeceive and rally them; the panic was too strong. They took to flight, the guns of the ships were brought to bear upon them, and in this disgraceful manner they lost nearly fourscore men, when nothing but their own groundless terror prevented them from recovering Pontal.

[page] 500

CHAP. XV. 1634.

and gets the ships out.

B. Freire. § 358—9.

Notwithstanding this repulse, the Portugueze were so strong, that the Dutch perceived no farther advantages could here be gained against them. The ships lay at present out of reach of shot; the bar was so narrow that there was but just room for a vessel to pass, her yards almost touching the land on either side. There was no hope that they could get out with as little loss as they had got in; the redoubts were now prepared, and Mathias with his troops was posted there. That General was confident that they must fall into his hands, and expressed his confidence to Bagnuolo. He, who knew the Dutch better, shook his head, and warned him not to be too sure of his prey. A criminal, said he, was condemned to death in Flanders, and was confined in a high tower. One of his friends observed that the swallows flew in and out there, through an open window; he caught one of these birds in a trap, tied a string round it, and let it fly. The bird, as usual, returned to the tower: the prisoner seeing the string drew up by it a rope which his friend had fastened to the end, and by that rope descended and made his escape. Bagnuolo had seen how unexpectedly the Dutch launches had entered, and he now feared they would get their ships out by some means as little to be foreseen. He was not deceived. They enlarged the channel through which Calabar had brought the launches; then unloading the ships, and heaving them down, for there was not sufficient depth of water for their keels, hauled them on their sides through.

Fresh reinforcements arrive from Holland.

Having thus saved their ships, they left two thousand men to defend the town. Nazareth was thus lost to the Portugueze as a port; it was however of great importance that they should retain the redoubts and the fort, and they had still the hope of recovering it. The Generals therefore remained there to take advantage of every opportunity, and sent pressing entreaties to Spain for effectual succour. The Dutch, on the other hand,

[page] 501

CHAP. XV. 1634.

B. Freire. § 500—71.

dispatched Commissioners to Holland, to represent their fair prospect of success, and encourage the West Indian Company to make greater exertions for acquiring an empire, which if they exerted themselves they could not fail to conquer. Meantime it was supposed at Recife, that while the main force of the Portugueze was thus employed at Nazareth, the Camp of Jesus might be won: and an unsuccessful attempt was made against it. Mathias concluded in like manner that the garrison at Pontal had been weakened when this attack was made, and he in his turn as ineffectually attempted the town. Two hundred men arrived from Bahia; trifling as this reinforcement was, it was difficult to find provisions for them, nor had they either pay or cloathing, but what the General advanced from his own property. Never were colonies more cruelly neglected by their Government. An hundred and thirty men reached Paraiba about the same time from Lisbon; they brought tidings that another great armament was preparing in Holland, and in fact it was not long before the Commissioners returned with three thousand five hundred men, so that the force which Holland sent out to conquer Brazil, exceeded what Spain would send to protect it in more than the proportion of ten to one.

Paraiba again attacked.

Having been thus strengthened the Dutch determined again to attack Paraiba. The river upon which it is situated gives name to the town and to the whole province, though Spanish flattery would have called the place Felippea, and Dutch flattery in like manner would have renamed it Frederica. Paraiba was at this time a flourishing town, with seven hundred inhabitants of its own, and many others who had taken shelter there from those parts of the country which the enemy had subdued. It contained a Misericordia, a Benedictine Convent, a Carmelite, and a Capuchine, and there were twenty sugar-works in its neighbourhood. The situation was ill chosen, .. three leagues from the port.

[page] 502

CHAP. XV. 1634.

B. Freire. § 571—6.

up the river, in low ground and surrounded with thickets: it was therefore not a healthy place, and Fort Cabedello, which commanded the entrance, was of more consequence than the town itself. This Fort stood on the South side of the bar, and had been strengthened since the last attack; on the other side was the new Fort of St. Antonio, not yet compleated; between them both, and about gun-shot from each, on the sand bank of a river-island called St. Bento, was a battery of seven guns, manned with forty soldiers. The number of men at these posts in the town and in the various redoubts amounted to nine hundred. Antonio de Albuquerque Maranham, the Captain of the Province, had lost no time since the failure of the last attack, in preparing for a second, and he had sent his brother Mathias to lay the state of the Captaincy before the King and his ministers. These representations were of little effect, and Paraiba, like Pernambuco, was left to its fate.

Dec. 4. Nicuhoff in Churchill. p. 22.

Siege of Fort Cabedelle.

The Dutch appeared before the port with two thousand four²¹ hundered men, in thirty two vessels. Against numbers so superior, it was impossible to defend the shore at all points, and they effected their landing with no other loss than that of four boats, which were upset by the surf. A skirmish ensued in which the Portugueze were worsted, and which was of little consequence, except that Bento do Rego Beserra was made prisoner in it, one of the principal persons in the Captaincy, who soon made his terms with the Dutch, and contributed greatly to reduce the country to their obedience. Antonio judging that Cabedello would be attacked first, threw reinforcements into it, and fixed his own quarters at St. Antonio, there to receive and dispose of the supplies from the town. The Dutch, as he had expected,

²¹ The Portugueze writers swell their numbers to more than five thousand.

[page] 503

CHAP. XV. 1634.

B. Freire. § 579—91.

began by laying siege to the main fort; but they were exposed to the battery on the sand bank of St. Bento, and it was of importance that they should secure that post, not only because it annoyed them, but because boats from the town could pass safely while it was in possession of the Portugueze. A detachment from the fleet under Lichthart, crossed the bar in a thick fog, which covered them so luckily that they were not seen by the forts till they were between them; they landed eight hundred men upon the island; of the forty who were stationed there, six and twenty fell, the rest swam off to some launches which arrived too late to succour, but in time to save them, and when the Dutch won the battery they found only the Captain there. They erected a second battery here against Cabedello, and in the first day killed and wounded thirty men from it. It was now exceedingly difficult to throw supplies into the fort; by land the distance was nine leagues, and the terrible Calabar was there to instruct the enemy in all the windings of the country; the only chance was to go by water, and the only hope that boats might escape under the smoke of the batteries. They went by night, and were defended with thick hides as well as they could. Antonio Perez Calhao had the command of a launch which was crossing from St. Antonio to Cabedello; a ball that killed one of his comrades and wounded two, wounded him also in the right arm, with which he was steering. His brother came to take the rudder, but he refused to yield it, saying, "I have a nearer brother²² to succeed," and showing his left hand. Presently a musquet ball went though his breast, and he fell. His brother now went to the helm; he too was wounded in the right hand, and

²² Para me succeder em o posto, ainda tenho este Irmam mais chegado. There is more point in the speech than can be translated, for the Portugueze use the word brother (Irmam) as we use fellow.

[page] 504

CHAP. XV. 1634.

then put his left to the tiller. The launch effected her passage, and both brethren recovered of their wounds; but the reputation which they obtained was their only recompence.

The Fort surrendered.

B. Freire. § 592—600.

The besiegers had now brought four batteries to bear upon the fort; they played upon it night and day, till most of its guns were dismounted, all the artillery-men killed or wounded except their captain, and when he at last received a musquet shot, there was no person who could serve the few pieces which might still have been serviceable. At this juncture Bagnuolo reached the town with three hundred men, too small a number to do any thing effectual against the enemy. He sent for Antonio and detained him four days at Paraiba in useless consultations, at a time when his presence was so needful at the scene of action. When he was returning on the fifth morning he learnt that Cabedello had capitulated, having in fact no longer been tenable. He would now have maintained Fort St. Antonio; but Bagnuolo's Italians refused to be stationed there: the Commander also protested that it was not possible to defend it; there were but seven barrels of powder, most of the gunners were Germans and English, and had deserted, and many of the men also had left him to look after their own concerns. Another Commander was appointed, one who had been in Cabedello during the siege, and who would have died in the ruins here; but the men were not equally willing to sacrifice themselves thus desperately; they declared they would not fight under circumstances which were altogether hopeless, and the place was of necessity surrendered.

Paraiba taken.

Bagnuolo had foreseen this; it was the complaint of the Brazilians, that he always foresaw evils though he could not prevent them; but this was his misfortune, not his fault; with forces so inferior to the enemy, his military experience could be of no other use. He now told the inhabitants of Paraiba

[page] 505

CHAP. XV. 1634.

Cast. Lus. 3 § 73—4.

B. Freire. § 601—4.

that it was not possible to defend the town, and advised them to lose no time in retiring with their families. His soldiers immediately began to plunder; they were Spaniards and Italians, whom the people regarded equally as foreigners; .. it mattered little where they were born, .. they were mere mercenaries, who would have plundered friend or foe with the same rapacity, and for whom this excuse is to be made, that if they did not pay themselves for their hard services they had now no other payment. These wretches gutted the town. Some of the more resolute inhabitants set fire to their houses, and followed the army in its retreat; but what little property they could carry away they were spoiled of by the soldiers, and their disgust at this cruelty made many of them return and submit to the Dutch. A greater number remained, weary of ill fortune, and glad to rest under any authority that could protect them. Beserra's example influenced them, and that of another wealthy Brazilian, by name Duarte Gomez de Sylveira, who after expending great property, and having lost his only son in the defence of Paraiba against the Dutch, went over to them now, served them as a secret agent, and obtained passports from the Dutch General, which he distributed among those whom he could persuade to make their peace. He promised them in the the name of the General, the free exercise of the Catholick religion, peaceable enjoyment of their property, and European goods from the magazines at Recife, which they might receive on credit, and pay for in produce.

Treachers of Sylveira.

Antonio, when the last fort had surrendered, retreated towards the town, not knowing that it was abandoned, and thinking to make a stand there; .. it was already occupied by the Dutch, who were firing salutes there for their victory. He would then have taken post where he might defend the country, but his men had lost all confidence and all heart; they said farther exertions

3 T

[page] 506

CHAP. XV. 1634.

B. Freire. § 602—3.

Do. 605—6.

were useless, and nothing could be done. Two companies of natives, raised from the nearest villages, deserted him and joined the conquerors; all the Indians of the Captaincy welcomed their new masters, and those of Rio Grande also chose the same party. It is not to be wondered at that the people of Paraiba submitted to a yoke which they had long and bravely resisted, abandoned as they were by their own Government, and now without hope. Antonio discovered that Sylveira was secretly acting as the agent of the Dutch, seized him, and sent him prisoner to the Commander in Chief. He found means to apprize the Dutch of his arrest, and they dispatched a force which rescued him upon the road. This good fortune might well have contented him; but he thought to revenge himself upon Antonio, and enhance his own services to the enemy by betraying him into their hands. With this intent he boldly went to meet him, saying, Providence had now put evident proofs of innocence in his power, first by letting the Dutch rescue him when he was unjustly made prisoner, and afterwards by enabling him to escape from them. They were few in number, he said, and if Antonio waited for them he would have an easy prey. Antonio was deceived; but there were others who formed a different judgment, and Martim Soares in particular urged him to lose no time in leaving the place. He took this fortunate advice, and Sylveira lingered behind to join the Dutch. They, however, provoked that he had not performed what he promised, and suspicious that one who attempted to deceive his countrymen by such complicated treachery, might perhaps be playing a deeper game against themselves, arrested him, and kept him some years in close prison. Antonio meantime retreated into Pernambuco, and because it would not have been politick, even had it been possible, to punish all whom he suspected of corresponding with the enemy, affected to believe that none but Sylveira had been guilty.

[page] 507

CHAP. XV. 1634.

Siege laid to the Camp and to Nazareth.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 89.

Schoppe followed up his success, and reduced the whole Captaincy of Tamaraca, which lies between Paraiba and Pernambuco. It was now plain that both Nazareth and the Camp of Bom Jesus were in danger; there were some who advised that the Camp should be abandoned, and their whole force removed to Nazareth, where the sea was open to them, and succours could be introduced. But the Camp was now grown to a town, and Mathias could not consent to destroy what he had erected, and so long maintained against a superior enemy. Nazareth was the more important post; he and his brother and Bagnuolo remained there, leaving Andres Marim to defend the Camp with four hundred and fifty men, .. in which number however the country force is not included. Both places were attacked at once; Schoppe in person commanded the division which advanced against Nazareth, the other was under Artisjoski. Many skirmishes were fought before the Camp while the besiegers were advancing their works: in one of them a Portugueze musqueteer encountered the Dutch Commander; the musquet was at his head, and Artisjoski surrendered. His captor took the reins of his horse, and was leading him away; he had neglected, probably from a false reliance upon his prisoner's honour, to demand from him a long truncheon which he carried, and which served him for a weapon, as well as a badge of command, being headed like a hammer with one end sharp. The Dutchman seeing his opportunity, struck his unsuspicius captor with this, and at the same moment clapt spurs to his horse and escaped.

The Camp capitulates.

Day and night the besiegers kept up an incessant fire upon the Camp. Bombs and grenades were showered in, some of which half poisoned the Portugueze by their noxious smoke. The very impossibility of escaping from these dreadful weapons, taught the besieged to sender them less destructive; they threw

[page] 508

CHAP. XV. 1635.

wet hides over them as soon as they fell, which either extinguished the fuze, or broke the force of the explosion; and they dug cellars in which the wounded were laid, and the powder was deposited in safety, the earth from these excavations serving to throw up new works as the old ones were demolished. Food and ammunition began at last to fail them; they apprized Mathias of their distress, and he knew not how to remedy it; the country between Nazareth and the Camp was in the power of the enemy, and he was not strong enough to force a passage. The nearest inhabitants were called upon for this service, and there were not wanting some who undertook it, perilous as it was; there was no other way but that of conveying the stores on Negroes shoulders, and the Dutch had denounced the punishment of death against any person who should attempt to supply the Camp, and promised liberty to all slaves who would give information of any such attempt. One Portugueze they put to death for thus discharging his duty to his country. Marim took some revenge for this murder, by executing three persons who were convicted of giving intelligence to the enemy. Under such circumstances it was impossible to hold out long, and after a three months siege the Camp of Bom Jesus was surrendered, on condition that the garrison should march out with the honours of war, and be furnished with a free passage to the Spanish Indies.

Nejarious conduct of the Dutch.

Fair terms were demanded for the provincial force. Schoppe, who came to witness the capitulation, would grant none, because, he said, no terms were necessary; they became subjects of Holland upon the capitulation, and it was the duty as well as the interest of Holland to protect them, and conciliate them by all possible means. Notwithstanding this, the most atrocious cruelties were exercised upon these brave people by the conquerors, and they who possessed any property were tortured till they

[page] 509

CHAP. XV. 1635.

B. Freire. § 609—35.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 86—92.

paid the full sum which was demanded as a life-ransom; for by some piece of martial logic, they were said to have forfeited their lives, as traitors to the Prince of Orange. By these means the Dutch raised twenty eight thousand crowns; and it is by such means that they have rendered their history as infamous, and their names as detestable in the East and in the West, as in their own country their deeds have been glorious, and to be remembered with admiration by the latest posterity. The fortifications of the Camp were razed.

Attempts to relieve Nazareth.

The other division of the Dutch army meantime was posted at the Ingenio dos Algodoaes, about a league from Fort Nazareth, where they could command the country, and cut off supplies from the fort and the redoubts, expecting thus to reduce them with little loss. Mathias had taken his head quarters at Villa Fermosa, an unfortified place six leagues to the South, from whence he dispatched Bagnuolo twenty five leagues farther still Southward, to defend and fortify Porto Calvo. This was a town of considerable consequence because of the extensive farms and pastures in its vicinity; it was at Barra Grande, hard by, that the succours which came out with Oquendo's fleet had landed: the Dutch had secured this post, as the first step towards extending their conquests in this direction, and the inhabitants of Porto Calvo expecting to fall under their dominion, were already secretly making their terms. It was necessary, if possible, to maintain this place, yet Mathias could ill afford to weaken himself by sending away so large a detachment. The enemy were near, and he had to provide himself with ammunition, and to throw provisions into the Fort. Two sacks of ammunition had been secreted by some of the inhabitants of Paraiba, before their flight; some Indians were sent for them, but they were intercepted by the Dutch and put to death. A

[page] 510

CHAP. XV. 1635.

B. Freire. § 636—40.

single arroba²⁶ of powder was now all that he had left, and to conceal this want from his own men, he filled barrels with sand, and set the usual guard over them. Seven bush-companies were formed of the neighbouring peasantry, each of fifteen men, one excepted, which consisted of thirteen brothers, and was therefore called after their name, the Bautistas. By land no supplies could be introduced into Nazareth; Mathias attempted it in all ways, alike in vain; he sent Indians with flour upon their shoulders, or with draught oxen, who were more easily guided than any other beasts; they took the most unfrequented routes, but to no purpose, for the Dutch scoured the country in all directions. There were three dismantled barks lying in the river Serinhaem, by Villa Fermosa; Mathias fitted one of them for sea and loaded it with provisions; Diogo Rodriguez, who had come with advices from Nazareth, took the command, sailed at sunset, and arrived safely about midnight, having past boldly through a number of Dutch cruisers. To get out of the port was impossible, though the bar was still in possession of the Portugueze. Rodriguez therefore, with imminent hazard, returned to Serinhaem by land, and got on board the second bark, which by this time was repaired, laden, and ready for sea. The enemy discovered and pursued him, but his good fortune had not abandoned him, and he ran the vessel aground near the bar, in a situation where nothing was lost.

Bagnuolo abandons Porto Calvo, and retreats to the Lagoas.

When the Dutch knew that Bagnuolo was fortifying himself at Porto Calvo, Lichthart who commanded their naval force, landed part of his men, and with a detachment from the garrison of Barra Grande marched against him, hoping to win the works before they were compleated. Bagnuolo was informed of their

²⁸ Thirty-two pounds.

[page] 511

CHAP. XV. 1635.

B. Freire. § 641—2.

approach, and advanced to meet them, with all his men and some of the inhabitants; those of the inhabitants whom he could trust best, or rather those of whom he had the least suspicion, all being suspected; nor was it to be wondered at when the inhabitants of the country could no longer rely upon the General for protection, if he could no longer rely upon their fidelity. His guides misled him into a situation, where only a part of his force could act; they were presently routed, and he retreated to the Lagoa do Norte, or North Lake, nineteen leagues to the South, chusing this measure so readily, that it was surmised he had resolved upon abandoning Porto Calvo, before he marched out of it, and that his encounter with the enemy was concerted merely as a pretext. Lichthart did not molest his retreat; the Dutch first employed themselves in pillaging the place, then in securing it. They fortified two of the largest houses, and the new church; the old one, which stood on an eminence, they included within the lines of a regular fortress; five hundred men were left to garrison the conquest, and thus they became masters of this important district.

Heroism of Maria de Seusa.

An attempt was next made to dislodge Mathias, he being the only obstacle to the siege of Nazareth. The enemy attacked his out post, consisting of an hundred and thirty men. Mathias and his brother Duarte advanced to support them with an equal number, being the whole force they had left; they were overpowered by numbers, and retreated to the river; the Dutch pursued; .. till the Portugueze seeing no safety in retreat, turned upon their pursuers with courage collected from despair, routed them, and recovered the post which they had lost. In this action Estevam Velho fell, son of Maria de Sousa, one of the noblest women of the province. Already in this war she had lost two other sons, and her daughter's husband; when the tidings of this fresh affliction arrived, she called her two

[page] 512

CHAP. XV. 1635.

B. Freire. § 643—5.

remaining sons, one of whom was fourteen years of age, the other a year younger, and said to them: "Your brother Estevam has been killed by the Dutch to day; you must now in your turn do what is the duty of honourable men in a war wherein they are required to serve God, and their King, and their Country. Gird on your swords, and when you remember the sad day in which you girt them on, let it be not for sorrow, but for vengeance; and whether you revenge your brethren, or fall like them, you will not degenerate from them, nor from your mother." With this exhortation she sent them to Mathias, requesting that he would rate them as soldiers. The children of such a stock could not degenerate, and they proved themselves worthy of it.

Nazareth taken.

B. Freire. § 646—50.

The third bark had attempted four times to get from Serinhaem to Nazareth, and had as often been compelled to put back; at length it effected its passage. A vessel which was sent from the Lagoas was taken. No other means of sending provisions now remained than by the jangadas, or Indian rafts, which could only carry about two bushels of rice each; twenty of these got in. By this time the garrison were reduced to great distress; some deserted, .. most of these were Neapolitans, who had no interest in the cause which they were defending, and to whom Dutch pay or Spanish pay was alike indifferent. They who remained faithful bore their sufferings with heroic constancy, and many men died at their posts for want of food. It is at all times painful to read of such sufferings, it is especially so when they have proved unavailing. Two caravels with supplies from Portugal reached the Lagoas, and brought intelligence that great succours were ready to sail. Bagnuolo sent this news to Mathias, and advised him. at the same time to give up the Fort and join him, his station being the best place for their head quarters at present,

[page] 513

CHAP. XV. 1635.

B. Freire. § 649—50.

the ports being their own, and the country fruitful. Mathias called a council of war: his officers were unanimously of opinion that in their present circumstances nothing better could be done, and as soon as this determination was known, the Fort and the Bar capitulated upon the same terms as had been granted to the Camp.²⁴

²⁴ Rendida a constancia aos pes da impossibilidade, says Raphael de Jesus, 3. § 95.

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[page 514]

CHAPTER XVI.

Emigration from Pernambuco.—Porto Calvo recovered, and Calabar put to death.—Succours sent out under Roxas, who is defeated and slain.—Bagnuolo succeeds to the command, and carries on a harrassing warfare with success.—Mauritz Count of Nassau arrives as Governor General of the Dutch; his wise measures: he pursues the Portugueze to the River St. Francisco, and Bagnuolo, abandoning the Captaincy of Seregipe, retreats to Bahia.

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

Emigration from Pernambuco.

Mathias de Albuquerque apprized the inhabitants of Pernambuco of his determination to evacuate that part of the Captaincy, and offered to convoy all who chose to emigrate. By far the greater number preferred remaining under the dominion of the conquerors. The Dutch were indebted for this as much to the ingratitude of the Court of Madrid, as to its carelessness. Antonio Ribeiro de Lacerda had fallen in battle, and nothing had been done for his family; .. it was a common case, but Lacerda was one of the chief persons of the province, and one of the most esteemed, and they who were of less estimation inferred from this instance, how little chance of requital there would be for themselves. This was the reason which many persons assigned for now chusing to become subject to the Dutch, and

[page] 515

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

B. Freire. § 651—7.

preferring any government to the ungrateful one of Spain. Yet about eight thousand persons, among whom was the widow of Lacerda, emigrated. These with their moveable property, their cattle and their negroes, made a great train. Sixty Indians preceded them opening the way, a body of troops went next, then came the emigrants, having troops to protect them in the rear; and last of all the faithful Cameram with eighty of his people. It is remarkable, that the two men who had hitherto most distinguished themselves on the side of the Portugueze, were this Carijo Chief, and Henrique Diaz, a Negro, who at the head of a body of his countrymen, signalized himself on every occasion. To the honour of the Brazilians, all those among them who had the greatest possessions in Pernambuco, forsook them now, rather than live under a foreign yoke; they complained of Spain for having abandoned them, but not of their own ill fortune; that they bore resolutely, like men worthy to retrieve it. .. It was a dismal emigration: babes were born in the woods, and the weak and the aged were buried there, upon the march.

Treachery of Souto towards the Dutch.

B. Freire. § 655—9.

Their way lay near Porto Calvo, and it was not to be expected that the Dutch garrison would let such a convoy pass, without attemping to plunder these poor emigrants of the little they had saved. Sebastiam de Souto, a native of the place, who had submitted to the Conquerors when it was taken, thought this a good opportunity to serve his countrymen; and when Mathias halted at a little distance from the town to repel any sally which might be made, and placed six score soldiers with some Indians in ambush, he offered to reconnoitre. Picard, the Dutch Governor, let him go; he rode out, advanced so far among the Portugueze sentinels as to expose himself to their fire, and dropt a letter in their sight. It was delivered to Mathias, and informed him that Calabar had arrived at Porto Calvo the preceding day with a reinforcement of two hundred

[page] 516

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

men; but the Portugueze were desired to be upon the watch, and take advantage of the opportunity which the writer said, he would run all risks to give them.

Porto Calvo recovered.

July 12.

Souto having thus effected his purpose, galloped back, and told Picard it was but a handful of soldiers and Indians sent there to prevent him from occupying the pass, and winning all the moveable wealth of Pernambuco. This Commander was easily persuaded, and sallied out about three in the afternoon with what he deemed a sufficient body of men, and Souto in his company; their treacherous adviser forsook them, joined the Portugueze who were in ambush, and charged the Dutch with such vigour that they fled leaving fifty upon the field. The conquerors pursued them at their heels, entered the gates of the chief fortification with them, and won it after a desperate carnage, five and forty being all that were left alive of the garrison, which had consisted of an hundred and ten. By this time Mathias came up with the remainder of his troops, and thinking to compleat the victory, he proceeded to attack the New Church, and the two fortified houses which remained to be won. It was now darkening fast; success had made the Portugueze confident, they advanced imprudently and lost about eighty men. This however did not discourage them; during the night they secured every pass by which the enemy could send for succour, for otherwise, in four days, a force far superior to their own would have been brought against them: and knowing that the Dutch must necessarily ere long surrender for want of water, they proceeded to besiege them. On the sixth night they stormed the smaller house; they who escaped from it fled to the other, and there Picard and Calabar retreated also from the New Church, which they had till now occupied, collecting all their remaining strength, in this which was their strongest position. But it was impossible to hold out without water, and Calabar now

[page] 517

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

B. Freire. § 659—65.

perceived that his hour was come. Good terms were offered to the Dutch, but it was insisted that this deserter should be delivered up; they told him they would rather perish than consent to this; this however he well knew was neither to be believed nor expected; he replied, that he was a lost man, but it was God's mercy to punish him now, that he might not be lost for ever; and he advised them to accept the proffered terms, which were, that they should be sent to Spain, and from thence to Holland. On these conditions they capitulated, being three hundred and eighty men, a greater number than their besiegers. Mathias would fain have exchanged them, but the Dutch General refused; he could spare men better than the Portugueze, and could have little confidence in these after their misconduct.

Calabar put to death.

At this place Calabar was born; here he had formerly committed some atrocious crimes, and here he terminated his career, being hanged, and his head and quarters exposed upon the palisado of the town. He received his death so patiently, and discovered such marks of sincere contrition for all his misdeeds, accompanied with so devout a hope of forgiveness, that the priests who attended him to the last, entertained no doubt of his salvation. The belief that these means had been appointed for his salvation, was confirmed by the remembrance of a remarkable accident which had once preserved him. Immediately after his desertion, Mathias made him great offers if he would forsake the part of the enemy; the answer which he returned was insolent, and exasperated the General, who then condescended to use base and detestable means of taking vengeance; he employed Antonio Fernandez, who was Calabar's cousin, to go over to the Dutch, as if he was induced by his example, and there take an opportunity to murder him. Accordingly Fernandez seeing Calabar in one of his incursions, invited him with voice and gestures to tarry and receive him into his

[page] 518

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

B. Freire. § 666—67.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 102.

company, and ran down the valley to join him with this villainous design. His belt got entangled as he was running; the sword fell out of its scabbard, his foot slipt at the same time, he fell with his breast upon the point of the sword, and died immediately. It was now believed that Calabar had been thus preserved to be the scourge of Pernambuco, and that he received his punishment as soon as his work was done.

Mathias retreats to the Lagoas.

B. Freire. § 657.

Do. § 648. 669.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 104.

Mathias razed the fortifications of Porto Calvo, and buried in the woods the guns which he had taken there. He then effected his march to the Lagoas, and there the emigrants dispersed, each going whither he thought best, some to Rio de Janeiro, the greater number to Bahia. The wreck of the Portugueze force now collected at the Lagoas, consisted of four hundred soldiers, besides Indians; it was determined to fortify the Southern settlement, that being by nature the most defensible, and there to wait for succours. They had not been here a fortnight before Artisjoski came with a large detachment to take possession of Peripueira, a high place upon the coast; he erected one redoubt upon the height, and another upon the beach, thinking thus to cut off the communication between Mathias and the people of the country; but this had no other effect than to make them open a way through the interior.

Alarm of the Spanish Court.

Meantime the Dutch were making such use of Recife as at length to alarm the Court of Madrid, notwithstanding its supineness. They had by this time formed such naval arsenals there, that it was no longer necessary to fit out those fleets in Holland which were designed to intercept the Indian ships, .. they could be built and equipped here. Cornelis Jol, who had already obtained great reputation by the many successful cruises which he had made, went out from Holland in a single ship, and took the command at Recife of fourteen, which were stored for seven months. With this force he once more took possession of

[page] 519

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

G. Giuseppe p. 169.

B. Freire. § 670—3.

the island of Fernam de Noronha; the little garrison which the Portugueze had stationed there, having withstood a siege of twelve days. This island was of some importance because of its good harbour, but especially as a watering place, for fresh water was scarce at Recife. Having effected this, he sailed to intercept the Mexican fleet, and came up with it in the Bahama Channel; some of his Captains who did not like to serve under him, failed in their duty, for which five of them were broken, and declared infamous. Owing to their misconduct he was worsted; but the imminent danger to which these treasure ships had been exposed, made the Court of Spain sensible of its imprudence, and the King himself gave orders that his ministers should make it their particular endeavour to recover Pernambuco. The first person which they naturally looked to, was D. Fadrique de Toledo, who had recovered St. Salvador, and he was desired to take the command. D. Fadrique had some reputation at stake; he had been an attentive observer of the war, and knowing what the state of the country was, and what the strength of the enemy, he replied, that with twelve thousand men, properly supplied, he could undertake the change, but not with less. Olivares was incensed at the advice which this reply contained, and threw him into prison, where he died. D. Felipe de Sylva was next applied to; he made answer, that he was utterly ignorant of naval affairs, and therefore unfit for the command; and this excuse was accepted, though it should seem that if a fit Admiral had been appointed, his only disqualification would easily have been supplied. The command was finally given to D. Antonio de Avila y Toledo, Marquis of Valada; and while a greater force was preparing, D. Luiz de Roxas y Borja, was sent forward as his Camp Master General with seventeen hundred men, to supersede Mathias de Albuquerque.

[page] 520

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

Roxas sent out with reinforcements.

They came out in a large armament consisting of thirty sail, under D. Lopo de Hozes, and D. Rodrigo Lobo, who had orders to land Pedro da Sylva, the new Governor General, at St. Salvador, and take on board his predecessor Oliveira, who was then to take the command and expel the Dutch from Curaoa. Had these joint Commanders possessed sufficient talents, or even sufficient zeal, they might have severely injured the Dutch, .. perhaps have inflicted upon them a mortal blow. Nine ships laden with the produce of Brazil had just set sail for Holland; these they might have taken; but because their pilot obstinately and falsely said, that their own vessels required deeper water, they gave up the pursuit, and stood out for sea, when if they had boldly landed and attacked Recife, it must have fallen into their hands: for at this time the Dutch force was scattered along an hundred leagues of coast, from Peripueira to the Potengi; Schoppe had but two hundred men with him in the capital of these conquests, and when he saw the Spanish fleet draw nigh, he exclaimed that he was lost. The Portugueze inhabitants fully expecting when such a fleet appeared, to see their countrymen land, were ready to rise upon their conquerors, and some actually took arms. But the Generals, not even waiting to procure intelligence, held on to Cape St. Augustines, and there received the first tidings from a man who ventured out to them upon a raft. The weather prevented them from disembarking there, and Hozes would not land the troops in the river Serinhaem, though his own officers urged him to it, and though it was recommended by Mathias de Albuquerque and Bagnuolo, who sent Martim Soares Moreno on board, to enforce their written advice. Obstinate in his own opinion, Hozes proceeded to the bar of the Lagoas, and there, at Point Jaragua, landed Roxas with his stores and men; Duarte de Albuquerque received orders to remain with the civil authority in Pernambuco, as being Lord

[page] 521

CHAP. XVI. 1635.

B. Freire. § 676—85.

thereof; and Mathias, recalled just as he had acquired that experience which he wholly wanted when he was first sent out, returned to Spain, to be received with reproaches by a minister, whose misconduct had been far greater than his own.

Reshness of the new Commander.

As soon as Roxas assumed the command, he prepared to march against the enemy. He spoke of the Dutch with contempt, thinking it would give his men confidence if they thought the late disasters had been occasioned solely by the error or incapacity of the late Commander; if this were an artifice, it was ungenerous; and if he really felt the confidence which he professed, it evinced a presumption from which nothing good could be expected. Bagnuolo advised him to send a detachment forward; others represented that he must necessarily leave a considerable part of his force to guard the stores, the enemy being so near by land, and having twelve ships in sight. These representations were unheeded. The provisions which he had brought out from Spain, were no consumed, nd there were no magazines from which he could be supplied; by the great exertions of the Commissary, he was however enabled to collect ratios for eight days. Souto, who since his services at Porto Calvo, had repeatedly harrassed the Dutch, and ravaged the country which they possessed, was now sent forward with twenty Portugueze and a few Indians to open the way and procure intelligence. Those persons who when the Spanish fleet appeared, had taken arms either in the country or in Recife, had fled in consequence, and such as escaped related what they knew. Nothing was more prejudicial to the Dutch than the correspondence which those who had submitted still kept up with the Portugueze army. Repeated executions had no effect in stopping it, and now, in order entirely to cut off this source of information from the enemy, they ordered all who dwelt in the district of Porto Calvo to remove towards the North. Seven

3 X

[page] 522

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

Jan. 0.

B. Freire. § 686—93.

hundred men were left at Lagoa under Bagnuolo, and Roxas, at the beginning of the new year, began his march with twice that number. Every man carried his musquet on one shoulder, and his provisions on the other; the Indians were laden with ammunition. One of these allies left his ranks to procure food, and Roxas ordered him to be shot; .. the first instance of such discipline which had occurred in Brazil, and which is properly recorded by the Portugueze historians for abhorrence rather than example.

He is defeated and slain.

Information was soon received from Souto, that Schoppe with six hundred men had taken possession of Porto Calvo. Upon this Francisco Rebello, who had distinguished himself on many occasions in the course of the war, was sent forward to detain the enemy there till the main body of the army could come up. Rebello had been accustomed to command small parties, and now when he was told to take with him what force he pleased, he asked for only two companies. After six days march, when Roxas was within four leagues of the place, he learnt that Rebello had made some prisoners, and that if he had taken a stronger detachment, the Dutch would have been surprised and must have fallen into his hands. A large reinforcement was immediately dispatched to join him; Schoppe however did not wait for their appearance, but as soon as he knew of their approach retreated to Barra Grande. The Portugueze found stores both of food and ammunition at the post which he evacuated. They soon learnt that Artisjoski was coming from Peripueira to succour Schoppe; and Roxas, who was utterly ignorant of the country, and asked no advice of those who knew it, set off in quest of him, again weakening himself by leaving five hundred men at Porto Calvo. Towards night his advanced parties came in sight of the enemy, and some skirmishing ensued, which was ended by the darkness. The General began now to be sensible of his imprudence, for

[page] 523

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

B. Freire. § 694—706.

even this little sample had shown him how different a thing war was in the woods of Brazil, from the science which he had learnt in Europe. He called a council of his officers; they represented to him that he had not yet been long enough in the country to know his own people from the enemy unless he saw their colours; that he ought well to consider the risk of coming to an engagement while his force was so inferior, for it was said that Artisjoski had fifteen hundred men; and that he should immediately send for the troops from Porto Calvo, Lagoa being too far away. He agreed to this, sent off the order, and instead of waiting for the junction, suffered himself as soon as it was day break, to be provoked by the enemy, and advanced to attack them. They who began the action were successful, and pushed on, rashly perhaps, but it was a rashness which might have ended in victory. In an unlucky minute Roxas ordered them to halt while another body marched to their support; the word was passed to them; this mode of conveying orders occasioned confusion, and it soon became impossible to remedy the mischief which was done. He dismounted, took a pike, put himself among the pikemen who still remained unbroken, and endeavoured to make a stand, .. but the Portugueze gave way and there was no rallying them. A musquet ball wounded him in the leg; he remounted and received another in the breast, which was instantly mortal. Rebello and Cameram, men experienced enough to apprehend a defeat, and even in defeat to acquire reputation, made head against the pursuers, took the best positions, and saved the fugitives. The habit of Christ, and the title of Dom had been sent out in the last fleet for this faithful Carijo Chief, .. honours which he well deserved. Artisjoski was contented with his victory, and did not hazard the loss of it by pressing upon such an enemy; he therefore returned to Peripueira.

[page] 524

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

Bagnuolo succeeds to the command.

The Lieutenant General Andrada had advanced a league upon his march from Porto Calvo, when tidings met him of the defeat and death of Roxas. Some of his officers advised him to lose no time in retreating and abandoning the town; it would be less discreditable, they said, to do it before the enemy appeared, that being now precaution which would then be flight. Others more bravely and more wisely remonstrated that the fugitives would make for the town, and if that refuge were abandoned what was to become of them, fresh from Europe and unacquainted with the country? That they would fly there was certain: whether Artisjoski would pursue them was doubtful. Andrada himself was of this better opinion: they fell back to Porto Calvo, and while the fortifications were being repaired and strengthened he produced the sealed papers of succession which Roxas had left in his hands. Juan Ortiz was nominated in them to the command; but he had died at Lagoa: the second seal therefore was broken, and Bagnuolo's name appeared; upon this the soldiers and inhabitants would fain have persuaded Andrada to assume the command himself, and some were for compelling him to accept it. When the news of Bagnuolo's appointment reached Lagoa, there also it was reluctantly received, and Duarte de Albuquerque was called upon to exercise the military as well as civil authority. Fortunately the respect which the troops bore Duarte, and which induced them to this mutinous acclamation, enabled him to quiet it. Bagnuolo's first proceedings manifested the same sort of indecision which had already made him so unpopular; he dispatched orders for evacuating Porto Calvo, and ere long sent a second messenger to revoke them; then thinking on maturer consideration that it was too advantageous a post to be abandoned, he resolved to march there himself. Before he departed, he drew up a memorial upon the state of affairs for the new Governor General Pedro da Sylva, representing to him

[page] 525

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

Brite Fretre. § 707—14.

and to Hozes, that if the Spanish fleet when it left Bahia, would run along the coast, a great blow might probably be struck now that the enemy's force was divided. This advice was approved by every body, but it was not followed; Hozes pleaded his orders, and nothing was done.

Porto Calvo reoccupied by the Portugueze.

Cruelty of the Dutch.

Bagnuolo advanced to Porto Calvo, where eighteen hundred men were now collected, and from thence ravaged the country which was in possession of the Dutch. The condition of the inhabitants of these conquered provinces, was indeed truly deplorable. It seems to have been the wish of the Dutch, as undoubtedly it would have been their policy, to reconcile the colonists to their yoke, and encourage intermarriages. Another mode which they pursued, was that of proselyting the people to the reformed religion; for this purpose preachers were sent out, and controversial books in the Spanish language circulated. Protestantism must triumph wherever it can obtain a hearing, and for this reason it has ever been the main object of the Romish Clergy, to prevent their flock from reading any thing in which the monstrous corruptions of popery are exposed. The Portugueze complain of the success which these ministers found in their attempt; that success however does not appear to have been great, .. there was not time for it; the Priests were vigilant, and if the Brazilians hated their conquerors as heretics, they hated heresy still more because it was the religion of their oppressors: for however sincerely the Dutch may have intended to conciliate their new subjects, their intention was effectually counteracted by a system of suspicious cruelty, which conquerors and tyrants almost uniformly pursue, one crime generating another. Not all the decrees of the government, nor all the rigour with which those decrees were enforced, could prevent many of the colonists from holding intelligence with their countrymen, and endeavouring to procure their own deliverance; and this conduct involved

[page] 526

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

B. Freire. § 711—23.

Cost. Lus. 3. § 119.

even those who had resigned themselves to their new masters in the same danger. The Dutch have always been a cruel people; they have thus dishonoured themselves at home, and there is no nation whose colonial history is so inexcusably, and inexpiably disgraceful to human nature. The slightest suspicion was now sufficient to make them inflict the punishment of death, and those who were rich were sure to be suspected. Death was not all which these unhappy people had to endure, .. they were tortured to make them discover their wealth, and the women were subject to all the excesses of a ferocious and brutal soldiery. When the Commanders wished to repress these atrocities, they had not the power; in so wild a country the soldiers could not be restrained, and where military law prevails, there is no horror which may not be perpetrated with impunity under its sanction¹. Hordes of the Tapuyas and Pitagoares were also let loose upon the Portugueze, and the Dutch are even accused of delivering children to these cannibals to be devoured by them.

Predatory system of warfare.

The death of Roxas was no misfortune to his army. The warfare of Brazil was not to be learnt in regular camps and cultivated countries; three Captaincies had already been lost while the old Generals were learning experience, and they had reason to rejoice that the same schooling was not to be gone through again. The Portugueze had this also in their favour, that it was now their turn to act on the offensive, and in such a country it was easier to attack than to defend. The Dutch were impatient to reap the produce of their conquests; it was for the sake of raising sugar

¹ Raphael de Jesus particularizes some of the Dutch cruelties. They seem to have taken lessons from Alva; and horrible as the detail is, what was done at Amboyna makes it credible. This writer expressly accuses the Commanders.

[page] 527

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

Second emigration from Pernambuca.

B. Freire. § 724—36.

and tobacco that they had invaded Brazil; but as soon as the plantations of Pernambuco were under their dominion, they began to suffer those evils of war which hitherto they had only inflicted. Marauding parties of the Portugueze, their Indians and Negroes, ravaged the country in all directions: they issued from the woods, set fire to the sugar-canes, burnt the store houses, stormed the dwellings of the enemy, and then retreated as rapidly as they had advanced, through coverts where the Dutch were afraid to pursue them. Souto, Cameram, and Henrique Diaz the Negro, especially distinguished themselves in these destructive inroads. Souto is particularly mentioned for indiscriminately plundering friend and foe; the manner in which he had served his country at Porto Calvo was so treacherous, that any villainy might be expected from him. Worn out with what they suffered in this predatory warfare, and unable to endure the suspicious cruelty of the Dutch, the Pernambucans resolved to emigrate, and four thousand persons put themselves under Cameram's convoy. That able chief, who with his native troops had already twice repelled Artisjoski and a superior force of Dutch, conducted these emigrants in safety through seventy leagues of an enemy's country. Many families who were too late to join him, attempted to follow. These unhappy people soon exhausted the slender stock of provisions which they could carry. Bagnuolo, as soon as he knew of their approach, sent out soldiers to meet them with supplies; but before this succour reached them, nearly four hundred Portugueze could be reckoned who had perished upon the way, and the loss was far greater than the account.

The Count of Nassau sent out.

The repeated losses which the Dutch sustained convinced them that it was impossible to profit by the sugar works till they were compleatly masters of the country, and they wrote to Holland requesting strong reinforcements, and a General of greater

[page] 528

CHAP. XVI. 1636.

B. Freire. § 737—51

Barlæus. p. 26. 30.

authority. The tide of success had turned for awhile in favour of the Portugueze; the enemy retreated from their station at Peripueira, and Bagnuolo advanced his artillery from Lagoa to Porto Calvo, and fortified himself there. The motley troops of the Dutch Company, who were as ready to receive pay from one country as another, frequently deserted to him; from them and from the prisoners he learnt that formidable succours were expected at Recife. It was of little avail to know his danger, when he had no means of providing against it. The ports of the Lagoas were dangerous for any except small vessels, and were also so well watched that it was no longer thought advisable to introduce supplies there. For this reason two caravels which were now sent out with stores put into Bahia, and their cargo was with great difficulty conveyed by land to Porto Calvo, While this trifling and insufficient succour was all that he received, the West Indian Company were more active in securing their conquests. The expences of this Company from its establishment to the present time, amounted to forty-five millions of florins. Inthat time they had taken from the enemy five hundred and forty-seven vessels, .. more than thirty million florins of prize money had gone to the public stock; they had put the Spaniards to the expence of nearly two hundred millions, and brought home merchandize from Africa, to the amount of fourteen million six hundred thousand. They now resolved to send out a General with unlimited powers, and with such a force as should compleat and secure their conquests in Brazil. Jan Mauritz, Count of Nassau, was the person appointed to this important command, .. a man worthy to have been the founder of a more permanent empire. Thirty-two ships were promised him; the number was afterwards reduced to twelve, with seven and twenty hundred men, and these were equipped so slowly that it was judged expedient for him to set forward

[page] 529

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

with only four. In January 1537, twelve months after the defeat and death of Roxas, he reached Recife².

Measures of Nassau.

B. Freire. § 735.

Nassau lost not a moment on his arrival; there was indeed no time to be lost; the plundering parties of the Portugueze were so emboldened by success, that even the road between Recife and Olinda was not safe, and unless a speedy stop was put to this devastation, the sugar works, which were of such importance that their tenths were farmed for two hundred and eighty thousand florins, could no longer be carried on. He distributed two thousand six hundred men among the different garrisons, formed an army of nearly three thousand, and set apart six hundred for predatory warfare. Then he looked into the state of the stores. The destructive inroads of Cameram and Souto during the whole preceding year had produced scarcity, and it was barely possible to supply the garrisons, and find provision for the troops during a two months expedition. Dutchmen will bear any thing with patience except short-allowance³, for gluttony is their national vice; they murmured loudly, and it required all the authority and fair promises of their officers to pacify them. Proclamation was made that all persons might bring food to the Dutch camp for sale; this was done that the enemy might not be informed of their real distress, and that the soldiers also might be deceived by the stratagem and expect

² During the voyage, a cod was thrown on board his ship by the waves off Dunkirk, and some partridges alighted there from the English coast. Barlæus relates these things as omens that the sea and land were to obey him, though he offers something like an apology for recording them.

³ Nec enim, sueti ad satietatem nutriri nostrates, inedim ferunt, quam aliunde e confragoza et paupere terra veniens miles facile tolerat. These are the words of Barlæus.

3 Y

[page] 530

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

Barlæus. 33—34.

supplies. On inspecting the ammunition a deficiency of matches was discovered, .. the fault of those who had given them out in Holland: a substitute was found in the bark of some of the leafless parasites; these had the advantage of being inextinguishable, but they were sooner consumed.

He unarches against Porto Calvo.

B. Freire. § 74—8.

Barlæus 54.

When all things were ready, Nassau ordered a general supplication, and then began his march towards the enemy⁴, his raw troops proceeding by water, because he thought it prudent to spare them as much as possible. Bagnuolo at the news of their approach acted with his usual indecision; he issued orders forbidding all persons to remove either their family or effects, and presently afterwards sent away his own to the Lagoas under a guard of Italians. A council of war was held; Duarte de Albuquerque and Andrada prest upon him the necessity of seizing the passes and harrassing the enemy on their march. It seemed as if he had asked their advice only for the pleasure of rejecting it; the very troops who were posted upon the River Una which Nassau must pass, and where he might have been most advantageously opposed, were recalled, and two redoubts were begun, which, says Brito Freire, were of no use to any but the enemy, and in one of which, though it was never compleated, three cannon were placed.

Bagnuolo abandonsthe place.

Artisjoski landed with his detachment at Barra Grande, and joined Nassau by the Una without opposition; they even advanced within two leagues of Porto Calvo before the Portugueze were apprized of their movements. When they came in sight

⁴ Barlæus states his force at 300 foot soldiers, 800 men from the fleet, 600 Brazilians, and a troop of horse. Brito Freire makes it 6000 in all. Raphael de Jesus says, it was 5000 Dutch, and innumerable Indians. This writer sueers at Barlæus for exaggerating the numbers of the Portugueze; he says of him, Escrecea e pintou, .. e pintou em tudo o que escreveo L. 3. § 127.

[page] 531

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

B. Freire § 708—69.

Cost. Lus 3. § 149.

Bagnuolo, who had permitted them to form their junction, and effect their march unmolested, gave orders to attack them. A brave but disorderly sally was made; Cameram as usual distinguished himself, and his wife, now known by the Christian and ennobled name of Doña Clara, fought on horseback by his side. Henrique Diaz, at the head of the Negroes, displayed his wonted bravery; he received a ball in the left wrist, and conceiving that the bullet was poisoned had the hand amputated; one was enough, he said, to serve his God and his King with; and to take vengeance for himself, every finger would do the work of a hand. The loss was not great in numbers but it was heavy in effect, for the few who fell were brave men who did their duty; among them was Cosme Vianna, the last of five brethren who perished in this war. During this action Bagnuolo stationed himself in one of the redoubts, to observe its result and take measures accordingly. What had been planned so ill could not but succeed miserably; and having seen what he ought to have foreseen, he ordered Alonso Ximenes to escort the inhabitants towards Lagoa, and set off himself during the night, taking with him Duarte and Andrada, because he was afraid of his own men, and hoped that their presence would be his protection. While it was yet evening Nassau pitched his camp in a valley under the fort, from whence the Portugueze wasted their ammunition in firing over his head. As soon as day broke Miguel Giberton, the Lieutenant Governor of Porto Calvo, sent to know Bagnuolo's orders; he had left no orders, no intimation whatever of his own designs or movements, and the messenger found only the deserted redoubts. Nothing remained for the garrison but to retire into the fort: they set fire to the houses and stores, and spiked the cannon on the walls, .. what is done in fear is always ill done, and these very cannon were served against the fort before it was night.

[page] 532

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

Porto Calvo surrenders.

Brito Freire. 767—773.

Barlæus. p, 36—7.

The Dutch fleet was still riding off the bar of the Rio das Pedras, which passes close by Porto Calvo, and falls into the sea five leagues off. Manoel de França with threescore men had been stationed to guard this river that the boats of the enemy might not come up. When he found himself not strong enough to oppose them without reinforcements, he sent to Bagnuolo, but having waited two days in vain expectation of succour from a Commander who had fled, he was compelled to abandon his post; and artillery and stores were then conveyed without interruption from the fleet to the Camp. Four batteries were erected, mounting seventeen guns. The besieged, few in number as they were, and dispirited by the desertion of Bagnuolo, made some vigorous sallies by night, and plied their cannon well during the day. After a fortnight's siege the fort had suffered greatly, and Nassau summoned Giberton to surrender, in a letter equally honourable to the noble spirit which dictated it, and to the courage and character of him to whom it was addressed. Giberton requested five and twenty days, that he might receive instructions from Bagnuolo: a short and stern reply conceded only four and twenty hours. In fact the place was no longer tenable⁵. The Portugueze capitulated upon honourable terms; they were to march out with their arms, ensigns, and one piece of cannon; the soldiers with their knapsacks, the officers with their baggage; a passage to the Indies was to be provided for them, and the prisoners on both sides were to be exchanged. This being concluded Nassau entered the fort; he entertained Giberton and his officers at his own table, and in the words of Brito Freire, the best and fairest historian of the war, treated the conquered in all respects as he would have wished to be

⁵ Arcem Povacaonam Barlæus calls this fort. I fancy he has made the appellation by mistaking the word Povaçao for the name of the place.

[page] 533

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

treated himself, had it been his fortune to have been made prisoner. Karel Nassau, the Count's nephew, was killed during the siege, a man of real eminence and promise.

Bagnuolo abandons the Lagoas.

B. Freire. § 775—8.

Bagnuolo had still a force of twelve hundred men besides Indians. The town of Madanella at the Lagoas was well adapted for defence, and well situated for receiving succours from Bahia or from Europe; but the General had lost all confidence in his men, and they with better reason, had none in him. Scarce waiting to be pursued, he forsook this position and retreated to the town of St. Francisco, seated upon the great river of the same name, about eight leagues from its mouth. Here also his communication by water was open; the river Pingui was between him and his pursuers; it was not fordable, and no better post could have been chosen to make a formidable stand. Bagnuolo however, as soon as he heard that the Dutch were in pursuit, renewed his flight, crost the St. Francisco, and continued to fall back till he reached the city of Seregipe.

Nassau pursues him to the San Francisco.

B. Freires. § 779.

Nassau meantime had no sooner secured Porto Calvo, than he pursued the flying army with such celerity, that any General less active than Bagnuolo in retreat would have been overtaken. He crost the Piagui upon rafts, made on the spot with boughs which were tied together with rushes; some few of his men were drowned, and the danger of such a passage, which must have been absolutely impracticable in the face of an enemy, shows the importance of the post which had been neglected. So close was he upon Bagnuolo's flight that his forerunners came up to the St. Francisco in time to seize the baggage; but having reached this river, Nassau gave up the pursuit; deeming it wiser to secure what had been gained, than to continue hunting such an opponent. The Portugueze were now driven out of Pernambuco, and it was his object to secure this river, and keep them out.

River San Francisco.

The river St. Francisco is at its bar about eight miles wide;

[page] 534

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

its muddy waters stain the soa for four or five leagues off, and at the same distance the force of its current is felt. The tide flows up about forty miles. Its bar is a bad one, which cannot be crost by vessels of more than fifty tons, .. the South-west channel is the deepest; such small craft can advance about twenty leagues to the first falls, above which barks may still proceed eighty or ninety leagues farther, to what is called the Sumidouro, or place where it issues from a subterranean⁶ channel, through which it flows for ten or twelve leagues. From October to January the water rises, and overflows all the numerous islands in the river; in consequence of being thus inundated they produce nothing but reeds, and there the natives find a harvest for their arrows. The shores are very fertile, for which reason, and for the abundance of fish, the Indians were continually engaged in wars for the possession of this part of the country during the first ages after its discovery. Great efforts had been made to reach the head of the river, because a notion prevailed that it issued from the famous Lake⁷ whereon than imaginary city of Manoah was situated, and that the natives who dwelt about its head wore ornaments of gold. Expeditions for this discovery

⁶ The nature of this channel is probably explained by what the American travellers in the late expedition of Captains Lewis and Clarke tell us of the Raft, as it is called, on the Red River; that is, they say, a natural covering which conceals the whole river for an extent of seventeen leagues, continually augmenting by the drift-wood brought down by every considerable fresh. This covering, which for a considerable time was only drift-wood, now supports a vegetation of every thing abounding in the neighbouring forests, not excepting trees of a considerable size, and the river may be frequently passed without any knowledge of its existence. In Phillips's Coll. of Contemporary Voyages, Vol. 6. P. 107.

⁷ Nieuhoff (P. 7.) also reports that good store of gold dust was found in the lake from whenoe this river was said to spring, and that there was excellent salt-petre there.

[page] 535

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

Noticias MSS. 1—20.

had been undertaken from all the Captaincies; even the government at home interested itself, and Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque twice went to Portugal to make terms for the discovery and conquest, which however he never began, because the Court refused to grant him the honours which he required. Attempts were made under the orders of the Governor Luiz de Brito de Almeida. Joam Coelho de Sousa was the person who advanced farthest in the quest, and he got a hundred leagues⁸ above the Sumidouro. I do not know that its sources have yet been ascertained; but the Parauna, which rises South of Tejuco (the capital of the Diamond demarcation) flows westward, and falls into the Rio das Velhas, which is received⁹ by the St. Francisco. It is probable therefore that the great stream has its sources a long way perhaps to the West, in this same chain of mountains which stretch across from the Minas Geraes westward, and in which are the springs of the Paraguay, the Tocantins, and some of the larger rivers which enter the Madeira from the East.

Fort Maurits erected.

The town of Francisco, or as it was sometimes called, the Rock¹⁰, commanded the river, being placed in a point where the steam was much contracted between its shores. Bagnuolo expected that it would hold out for some time; his example was

⁸ "As he says in his journal," says the author of the Noticias; but this journal also has never been printed, and perhaps is no longer in existenoe.

⁹ This is upon the authority of a very long memoir, drawn up by order of government so late as 1799, by a person then at Tejuco, probably the Intendente. The maps all represent the Rio das Velhas as falling into the Parana. This valuable memoir throws great light (as will be seen hereafter) upon the geography of Brazil.

¹⁰ O Penedo, .. from which Barlæus has manufactured the Latin word Openada.

[page] 536

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

not likely to inspire the inhabitants with courage, and they made no resistance. Nassau perceived the impor anoe of the situation, and he erected a fort there which he called after his own name, Fort Mauritz. He crost the river, and ordered the inhabitants of the farther shore to pass over with their families and cattle to the Northern bank, that the might not, either willingly or by compulsion, serve the Portugueze against him, and that he might lay waste that frontier for his own security. The tribes who dwelt upon this river spake a language which none who were in Nassau's army could understand; by means of gestures however, and of gifts, he made them comprehend his meaning, and engaged them to oppose the Portugueze if they should attempt to re-enter the lost province. Having taken these wise measures, he went himself about fifty leagues up the river to explore the country: the well watered savannahs through which it flowed, and the herds, some of fifteen hundred head, some of many thousands, which were pastured tthere, filled him with admiration at the richness of the land. This he expressed in a letter written from Fort Mauritz to his kinsman the Prince of Orange, wherein he urged him to strengthen his representations to the Company, that as many German colohists as could possibly be procured should be sent over to this delightful country; if they could not be procured, he requested that the prisons and gallies might be emptied, and their convicts sent over to him, where they might purge away their offences by useful and virtuous labour. He asked for more soldiers, his army being weakened by sending off detachments, by leaving garrisons, and by death. Arms also he wanted, matches, drums, and trumpets, pulse, and such provisions as would keep; of fresh provisions there was enough, but not of such as were necessary for storing a fleet. Standards he asked for, or orange-coloured belts for the soldiers, to distinguish and encourage them: if these requests were unat-

[page] 537

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

B. Friere. § 730.

Barlæus 44.

tended to, all, he said, would be in danger, for the men were only kept in order by their respect for him. Well was it for Portugal that mean jealousies and base considerations thwarted the influence of this able man: for had his plans been pursued, Brazil would at this day have been a Dutch colony. The want of necessary stores now alone prevented him from taking advantage of the enemy's panic and the confidence of his own troops, and marching without delay to St. Salvador.

Reform at Rocife.

The Dutch seek for mines.

Meantime the civil officers at Recife regulated the internal affairs of their conquests with equal zeal and ability. All persons who were settled either at Olinda or Recife for purposes of trade, were formed into companies, each having its proper officers and ensigns, and thus the services of those whose fidelity was suspicious were secured. The laws of Holland respecting matrimony were enforced when restraint became necessary. The Jews were conciliated by permission to keep their Sabbath on the Saturday; the Christians were ordered to keep holy the seventh day, which had been too long profaned; measures were taken for the conversion of the native allies, schools opened for their children, and catechisms formed for them. It being their wish to restore Olinda, permission was granted to all persons to build there, and the removal of any materials from the ruins to another place, prohibited. Search was made for mines, and two deputies penetrated as far as Cuyaba¹⁰ upon this quest, assisted by Portugueze and native guides; they found silver, but the vein, which at first appeared rich, disappointed the expectations it had raised. It was reported that the Albuquerques had extracted much ore from certain mines in Pernambuco, and these were enquired for in vain. Equally in vain were the mines

¹⁰ Missi in Couhaovenses are the words of Barlæus. I believe I have guessed rightly at their meaning.

3 Z

[page] 538

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

Barlæus. 46—47

of Copaiba¹¹ sought. The Dutch historian thinks that the Portugueze deluded his countrymen by false reports, or otherwise the mines could not have eluded the search that was made for them. The mines however existed, but they who knew the secret kept it for better days.

Barlæus. 47—48.

The rainy season had now commenced, and Mauritz leaving Schoppe with sixteen hundred men at his new fort, returned to Recife. His presence was needful there, and all his authority and popularity were required to controul and check a body of conquerors who had too long been lawless. Their own historian confesses that their peculations, impieties, robberies, murders, and unbridled lust, had made them infamous; .. it was a saying among them, that nothing was a sin on that side the line: and it seemed as if this were an article of belief among them, so habitually did they commit all crimes without remorse. A system of rigid justice soon awed these wretches. Nassau, says Barlæus, made more honest men than he found; and every man now did the duties of his station, either because the will to do it returned, or the necessity was forced upon him. Hitherto no regularity had been observed in delivering out stores, and great waste had been the natural consequence of such improvidence: at the imminent risk of provoking mutiny, Nassau reformed this abuse, and fixed the allowance of every man at a certain ratio. The revenue also underwent reform, and from the tenths of sugar and flour, from the fisheries, ferries, &c. a considerable sum was derived. Great frauds had been committed under cover of the confusion occasioned by different weights and measures; this was at once remedied by reducing them to the standard of Amsterdam.

Ilise measures of Nassau.

His next object was to repair as far as possible the devasta-

¹¹ Fodinæ Copaoväenses.

[page] 539

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

Barlæus. 43. 50.

tion of war; and to this the confidence which was placed in his talents, and the probability that his birth and influence would render his authority permanent, materially conduced. The deserted sugar works were sold as public property: their extent and importance may be estimated by the enormous sum which they produced in times of such little security; they sold for from twenty to a hundred thousand florins each, and the West Indian Company received two millions for the whole. Encouragement was held out to the Portugueze to return to their possessions, and settle under the dominion of the Dutch; every settler was considered by Nassau as a friend, inasmuch as he contributed to raise produce of which the conquerors were in need, and was interested in defending his fields; every fugitive on the contrary was an enemy, and of the most formidable kind, because necessity compelled him to subsist by plunder, and his knowledge of the country enabled him to plunder at advantage. The terms offered to the Portugueze were these; full and entire liberty of conscience; their Churches to be kept in repair by the State; but they were to receive no Visitor from Bahia, nor were any new monks to be admitted so long as there were enough living for the ceremonies of religion. They were to be subject to the Dutch laws, and to the same taxes as the Dutch; and two days in the week were set apart by the Supreme Council for dispensing justice to them. They might reenter upon their property, and any slaves who deserted after their masters had taken the oath of submission should be restored; but it was observed, that to give up those who had previously fled to the Dutch and served them, would be base and abominable, and was not to be thought of. They should be allowed to wear swords, for defence agrainst the Negroes of the Palmares. These regulations, and the generosity with which Nassau had treated his prisoners, lessened the aversion which

[page] 540

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

the Portugueze entertained for their conquerors. To the native Brazilians also, he adopted a system of beneficence, though there were not wanting men in power, who with all the national hardness of the Dutch character, would have regarded these poor people as brutes, and have imposed upon them a yoke even more cruel than that of the former tyrants, in their worst days of their tyranny.

Deblieration concerning the seat of Government.

Nieuhoff. p. 20.

Barlæus. 52.

It was at this time in deliberation whether the seat of Government should be removed to the Island of Itamaraca. That place had the two great advantages of wood and water; to this it was replied, that wood was to be procured, though at heavier cost, and water from the Beberibe, at half an hour's distance, by the labour of slaves, and in case of necessity what the wells produced was sufficient for all needful uses. Both situations were alike salubrious; Recife had a good port, which the Island had not; and Recife was already built and inhabited, whereas at the-other site there would be every thing to make. These represent tations which were made by Nassau and the Council in favour of their present residence were successful. The main advantage of Itamaraca, that it was an island, seems not to have been considered; the Dutch were at this time too powerful to fear being besieged in Recife.

Captaincy of Seregipe.

B. Freire. § 786.

Nieuhoff. 7.

Bagnuolo meantime had reached Seregipe d'ElRey, acity which had been named St. Christovam, but was thus called after the river on which it stood. It was built four leagues from the sea, and contained about a hundred houses, with four hundred stables for cattle, a mother church, a house of Misericordia, and two convents. The bar admitted none but small vessels. The Captaincy of which this was the capital, extended five and forty leagues, being separated from Bahia on the South by the river Tapicuru, and by the St. Francisco from Pernambuco on the North. It had been granted to Chrisovam de Barros as the reward of his services in

[page] 541

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

educing the native inhabitants. There were eight sugar works within its district; much tobacco of the best quality was raised there, and the herds were out of number.

Souto ravages the conquered provinces.

B. Freire. § 787—91.

From hence Bagnuolo sent advices to Spain; he wrote also to the Governor at St. Salvador, Pedro da Sylva, offering to come with his troops to the defence of that city, not doubting but that Nassau, in the confidence of his success and his strength, would proceed to attack it. An insolent answer was returned, that he had better remain where he was than draw after him to Bahia, the ill-fortune of Pernambuco. After such an answer there was no alternative; he stationed himself at Seregipe, and renewed that system of predatory warfare which he had formerly found so successful. The Dutch at Fort Mauritz were at this time endeavouring to carry off the cattle from this Captaincy, in the vain hope of distressing Bahia for provisions; and skirmishes were perpetually taking place. Souto meantime thrice crost the St. Francisco, wide as it was, on rafts; this the Dutch had deemed impossible; he fell upon them therefore when they were unguarded, and thrice carried destruction and havock almost to the very gates of Recife. Annoyed by these incursions, and finding that the river was not a sufficient boundary, Nassau, whom a three months fever disabled from going himself, sent Giesselin, one of the Great Council, with two thousand men, to join Schoppe, and drive the enemy from Seregipe.

Bagnuolo abandons Seregipe.

Bagnuolo knew that fresh forces were arrived at Fort Mauritz, and it was of importance that he should know their number. Souto with three comrades swam the river, entered a house, seized a Dutch officer, and brought him back to the Camp. A council was then held. Some braver spirits represented that they were more in need of reputation wherewith to resist the enemy than of men, and that it behoved them to make a stand; else, what were they to do if they abandoned Seregipe, and Bahia

[page] 542

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

B. Freire. § 792. 802.

would not take them in? To this it was replied, that Bahia would now joyfully receive the succours which it had lately scorned; for when swords were drawn in Seregipe their glittering was seen at St. Salvador. There too was the fit place to exert themselves, for in saving the head of the State, they preserved the whole. Bagnuolo assented to these arguments, sent a party to lay waste the country behind him with fire, and again retreated with the miserable emigrants from the conquered provinces. Once more these unhappy people had to endure the horrors of a flight. The Pitagoares dogged them like blood hounds along the way, and the wretches who from fatigue or accident lagged behind, were butchered by these savages. Some had the happier fortune to fall into the hands of the Dutch; many perished in the woods by the bite of snakes¹². Worn out by repeated sufferings, there were many who resolved to submit to the enemy, and obtain passports that they might return to their deserted habitations. This resolution was encouraged by the Chiefs to whom they imparted it; it was better, they observed, for the King's service, to pursue this course; there they would at all times be ready to assist their countrymen, secretly or openly, as occasion might require; and better it was to go where they could assist the soldiers, than to follow the army and stand in need of help from them. Still the greater number of the Pernambucans could not brook submission, and proceeded desperately on, neither knowing when or where their flight was to find an end.

Bagnuolo retreats to Bahia.

At the Torre de Garcia de Avila, Bagnuolo found a messenger awaiting him with instructions from the Governor General to

¹² A woman, while the party halted, went to wash linen in a brook, and laid her infant down under a bush; .. presently hearing it scream, she turned round, and saw an ounce devouring it; she fainted at the sight, fell in the water upon her face, and was drowned in a stream scarcely ankle-deep. B. Freire.

[page] 543

CHAP. XVI. 1637.

B. Freire. § 802—9

Barlæus 63.

Nieuhoff. 7.

halt there till it was determined where the troops could best be quartered. He replied, that he would speedily go and consult with him upon that subject. Pedro da Sylva however came out to meet him, and received him with honours which were designed to atone for his former insulting message. The matter was deliberated; some were of advice that the troops should immediately be posted at Villa Velha, half a league from the city, new fortifications erected, and every thing put in a state of defence. This was Bagnuolo's opinion and that of his officers. Others, who would not believe that Nassau had sufficient force to think of such an enterprize, thought that the military would be in the way, and that if the fortifications were repaired, nothing more was necessary. This opinion prevailed; Schoppe and Giesselin meantime advanced to Seregipe, burnt down houses and sugar works, destroyed all the fruit trees and plantations, and after this work of havock returned to Fort Mauritz. Thus instead of taking the forsaken inhabitants under their protection, and conciliating them by fair treatment, they drove them on to Bahia, and increased the strength of St. Salvador with a body of men rendered formidable by despair, and the memory of their wrongs. During this campaign in the Captaincy of Seregipe, a tremendous havock was made among the cattle. Bagnuolo is said to have driven away eight thousand head, and slaughtered five, rather than leave them to the enemy; and the Dutch to have destroyed three thousand, beside the vast numbers whom they carried across the river into their own provinces.

[page 544]

CHAPTER XVII.

St. Jorge da Mina attacked and taken by the Dutch.—Seara taken.—Nassau besieges St. Salvador unsuccessfully.—The Dutch throw open the trade.—State of their Captaincies.—A new city built by Recife.—Count da Torre comes out; he loses great part of his men by sickness, and after four indecisive actions at sea, is blown off the coast.—Wonderful retreat of Vidal and Barbalho.—Marquis de Monte Alvam, Viceroy.—Revolution in Portugal.—The Viceroy deposed.

CHAP. XVII. 1637.

Attack upon St. Jorge da Mina.

Barlæus 54.

Dapper p. 281.

Barbet in Churchill. 165.

During these transactions in Brazil, Nassau inflicted a heavier blow upon the Portugueze empire, than it had suffered since the loss of Ormuz. Advice was sent him by Nicolaas van Yperen, who commanded the Dutch fort at Mouree, on the Gold Coast, that if an attack were made upon St. Jorge da Mina, the place would probably fall, Yperen having procured intelligence from some of the officers who were stationed there, and having also successfully tampered with the garrison. In 1625 the Dutch had sustained a heavy and disgraceful defeat before this settlement, the most important upon that coast. Twelve hundred men under the Rear Admiral Jan Dirks Lamb, landed at Commendo; a body of Negroes fell upon them when they were unprepared and relaxed with heat; surprised and panic stricken, they made no resistance but ran into the sea, where as many as could not swim, perished; nearly five hundred were slain, and their heads carried as trophies to the Portugueze.

[page] 545

CHAP. XVII. 1637.

June 25.

Aug. 25.

The remembrance of this event made the Dutch more cautious, and the Portugueze perhaps less vigilant. During the rainy season, at which time hestilities were in great measure intermitted in Brazil, Nassau embarked eight hundred soldiers in nine vessels, and gave the command to Jan Koin, one of the Supreme Council. He crost to Africa with a prosperous passage, communicated with Van Yperen, and entered into a treaty with some of the native royalets, who fairly and reasonably enough told him they would remain neutral till the event, and then join the conqueror. Koin divided his force into three battalions, the first led by Willem Latan, the second by Jan Godlaat, the rear under his own immediate command. In this order he marched toward the castle: suddenly a thousand black allies of the Portugueze rushed out of the woods, and in confidence of their former signal victory over the Dutch, they had now well nigh obtained another. Eighty of the first detachment with many officers, and Latan himself, fell; but the Negroes, instead of pursuing their success, stopt to carry away the heads of the slain, and thus exposed themselves to the fire of the second battalion. The slaughter which they suffered dismayed them, and during the remainder of the siege they were more solicitous to secure themselves, than to molest the invaders.

The Governor surrenders.

Koin opened a way through the woods to the summit of a hill, where he planted batteries, and began to throw shells against the castle: they fell short: some Negroes whom he had won to his party made an attack upon the town and were repulsed; nevertheless the Dutch commander was so well informed of the temper of the garrison, and the cowardice or treachery of the governor, that he boldly summoned them to surrender, unless they would incur the chance of being all put to the sword; and without farther form, the wretch who commanded there surrendered the most important and strongest place which the Portu-

4 A

[page] 546

CHAP. XVII. 1637.

Aug. 29.

Barlæus. 54. 60.

Dapper. 233.

Barbot. 167.

gueze possessed in West Africa, four days after the arrival of the enemy, before it had sustained the slightest injury, and before a single soldier had fallen. The conditions were as infamous as the act of surrender, being that the men should be landed on the island of St. Thomas, with their wearing apparel and nothing else. When the castle was thus basely yielded, it contained thirty pieces of good brass cannon, nine thousand pounds of powder, eight hundred large iron balls, three hundred of stone, and smaller ones in abundance; the hand weapons were lying rusty in the magazine.' The Dutch having garrisoned St. George da Mina, sent a canoe to summon the fort of Atzyn; but here they found a governor of different stamp, who declared that he would defend his post till the last extremity. Koin therefore returned to Recife satisfied with the signal conquest which he had effected.

Seara taken.

Barlæus. 52.

B. Freire. § 822—4.

Lichthart meantime had been sent to do what mischief he could in the neighbourhood of Bahia, for Nassau had fixed his eyes upon the capital of Brazil, and hoped to prepare the way for winning it by distressing it for food. Having committed much havoc in the bay of Camamu, the admiral was driven on by the wind as far as Ilheos, which he attacked, but was repulsed by the inhabitants¹. The Dutch were now invited to turn their arms in a different direction: the native tribes of Seara applied to them for deliverance, thinking any yoke preferable to that which they endured, now that Martim Soares, whose wise conduct had formerly conciliated them, was employed in the war of Pernambuco. There was little hazard in attempting this new

¹ The Dutch say he won the town, and did not think it worth while to destroy it. But destruction was the whole and sole object of his expedition, and I follow Brito Freire's account without hesitation, never having had cause to suspect the veracity of this well-informed and honest historian.

[page] 547

CHAP. XVII. 1637.

Barlæus. .

B. Freire. § 813—14.

Captaincy: the Portugueze had only a small fort there defended by thirty soldiers and two iron guns, and the savages observed that the expence of reducing it would soon be replaced by the produce of the country, .. cotton, precious stones, salt from the numerous licks which were found along the coast, amber, which every storm cast up, and woods, especially that which for its beautiful colour was called the violet wood. The opportunity was too inviting and too easy to be neglected, though Nassau had never before thought of extending his conquests toward the line. Joris Garstman was sent, and the fort surrendered; it stood on a hill above a little river which makes a harbour for small vessels.

Proceedings at Recife.

New edicts and regulations were now enacted at Recife. Heavy punishments were decreed against all who should in any way defraud the revenue, and patroles established to secure the country against plundering parties who ravaged it with indefatigable activity. All persons who employed Negroes were ordered to set mandioc in the customary months of January and August, because there was a scarcity of flour: it is probable that they were deterred from forming their plantations by the frequent in, cursions of the Portugueze. Attempts were made to correct the passion for litigation, by prohibiting all trivial causes; and the frequency of murder, by rigorous laws. The regulations which regarded religion, indicated a spirit of intolerance beginning to manifest itself as the conquerors fancied themselves more secure. The Jews were restrained from the public performance of their ceremonies; the Catholics in Paraiba were ordered to confine their processions within the walls of the churches; no new church was to be built without permission from the senate; no marriage celebrated until the bans had been published after the Dutch manner: and those persons who when they erected new sugar works chose to have them blessed, were to have the office performed by a Reformed Priest, not by a Papist. The rulers at

[page] 548

CHAP. XVII. 1637.

Barlæus. 67.

Recife sent home specimens of ore from the mines which they had opened, to be assayed in Holland; they fancied themselves safe masters of the country; but these measures, to which the previous affectation of full tolerance gave a character of treachery, making them thereby deservedly more odious, sapped the only foundation upon which their power could have been established.

1638.

Barlæus. 69—75.

Nassau was expecting succours when he recovered from his long illness. Unwilling to pass the interval in inaction, he travelled through the Captaincies of Paraiba and the Potengi, and repaired and new named such places as it was thought adviseable to preserve. The town of Paraiba, formerly called after Felipe, he named after Frederick Prince of Orange; the fort of Cabedello, formerly called St. Catarina, Margaretha, after his own sister; that of Rio Grande after Keulen, who had taken it. Here the Tapuyas sent presents to him and received others in return, in token of friendship and confederacy. It happened that a ship from Lisbon having many letters on board was captured. In these it was stated that a large fleet was being equipped for Brazil; some of the writers thought it a mere pretext for raising money, and that the Court of Madrid was too much occupied with nearer concerns, and especially the disturbances at Evora, to attend to its distant possessions; others affirmed, on the contrary, that these tumults were quelled, that Oquendo was appointed to the command of the expedition, and that it would certainly sail. Nassau was in no degree alarmed at this intelligence; during the winter the fleet could not come, and he was more inclined to credit other letters which represented the King of Spain as too much devoted to his sports to take any thought for Brazil. In either case, he wrote to the West Indian Company, it was expedient to reinforce him, that he might alike be able to resist the Spaniards if they came, or to take advantage

[page] 549

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

of their neglect; and he requested ships which would serve the double purpose of meeting the enemy's fleet, and carrying home sugar.

Preparations against Bahia.

Barlæus. 76.

B. Freire. § 828—9.

On his return from Paraiba he found that stores and ammunition enough had arrived, but only two hundred soldiers. The season for military operations was passing on, and disappointed as he was by this scanty reinforcement, he resolved without losing longer time to attack St. Salvador. His men, confident in their past successes, urged him to this; and there were even traitors in the Capital who invited him to the attempt, informing him that the troops were ready to mutiny for want of pay; that Bagnuolo and the Governor were at variance, and that the people were well inclined to the Dutch, in consequence of the generosity with which he treated those who had submitted. Mauritz was indeed a generous enemy. Bagnuolo wrote him requesting that some women and children whose husbands and fathers were in the Portugueze army, might be sent to Bahia, and he offered a considerable ransom for them; his answer was, that he had rather their deliverance should be remembered than paid for, and he fitted out a ship on purpose for their passage. This action was loudly applauded by the people, whose first consentaneous feeling is always in some degree right, whatever their opinions may be; some wiser heads, as they are called, detracted from its merit, remarking that the ship was sent to spy out the state of the city. The Dutch sailors would certainly observe all they could, but it was the fault of the Portugueze if any thing was observed to their detriment. Nassau had intelligence enough both in the Reconcave and the City. They who suspect a bad motive in every generous action are always to be suspected themselves.

Bagnuolo marches to St. Salvador.

The people of Bahia in general were in a state of supine security. Bagnuolo on the contrary had been made wary by long

[page] 550

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

B. Freire. § 830—1.

and disastrous experience; he too had his spies; they told him that the last dispatches from Amsterdam represented Spain as too busy to think of Brazil, and that Nassau was collecting all his naval force at Recife. Upon this, Bagnuolo immediately perceived that St. Salvador would be attacked, and without delay removing from Torre de Garcia, he took up his post at Villa Velha, close to the city. This he did without asking the advice of the Governor, and indeed contrary to his wishes, and to those of the citizens; but he was too well convinced of the truth of his information to be dissuaded. Outposts were stationed, and it was settled that the command should be given one day by him, one day by the Governor, .. an arrangement which could do no harm as long as the danger was distant.

Exploit of Souto.

Souto, meantime, with Joam de Magalhaens, and sixty men, was sent to Pernambuco, to obtain more certain intelligence. When they came to the St. Francisco, Magalhaens with five and forty of the party, crost above Fort Mauritz, Souto having appointed time and place for meeting them at the Lagoas. He, and the remaining fifteen, proceeded along the river to its bar, and then prepared to cross upon rafts. A Dutch pinnace happened to be lying at anchor, and her crew, consisting of ten persons, landed; he fell upon them, slew six, sent three of his own people, with the other four, as prisoners, to St. Salvador, and then crost in the boat which he had thus captured. A settler on the opposite bank, to whom he went for information, told him, that two ships from Recife were just arrived at Cururuipe, ten leagues distant, where the Dutch had thrown up intrenchments round a deserted church, near the beach, and garrisoned it with twenty five men. Souto had only twelve; nevertheless, he attacked these intrenchments at break of day, slew eighteen of the Dutch, and made one prisoner; the other six escaped. The Captains of the two ships, ignorant of what

[page] 551

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

B. Freire. § 832—4.

had happened, landed in the forenoon, and were both killed: in the pocket of one, a letter was found, stating, that Nassau had laid before the Council his intention of attacking St. Salvador, and that it was approved.

The Dutch enter the bay.

April 14.

B. Freire. § 335—6.

When this intelligence reached the Capital, the people could no longer be blind to their danger. Never was a town more unprepared. With a supineness which is scarcely credible, year after year they had beheld the progress of the enemy, and taken no measures for their own defence. No new works had been erected in those places where they were obviously necessary, and the old ones remained without repairs; the artillery was out of order; the cartridges not ready; even the balls not at hand: there happened to be some flour in the magazines, but provisions of every other kind were wanting. This was the state of St. Salvador; when only five days after it was believed that the Dutch were really about to attack the city, they appeared in sight. Their voyage from Recife had been remarkably quick; at that season of the year, it was usually a passage of from four to six weeks, but they performed it in six days. According to the Portugueze, their force consisted of seven thousand eight hundred men, seamen and Indians included, in forty ships. They made a feint of landing at Tapoam, a league from the entrance of the Bay; but presently stood in, and anchored at Tapagipe, opposite the chapels of N. Senhora da Escada, and of S. Braz. Every part of the coast could not be guarded, and this was one which had unavoidably been left open. Here they landed in the afternoon, and on the following morning advanced toward the walls.

Tumults in the city.

The garrison of St. Salvador consisted of fifteen hundred men; the troops from Pernambuco were something more than a thousand, .. right glad were the Governor and the people now, of these forces, which he had once so insolently refused, and which

[page] 552

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

B. Freire. § 837—40.

they had lately so reluctantly admitted. Nassau halted upon a rising ground: three brigades came from different posts, and formed in front to oppose him; and the Governor, Bagnuolo, and Duarte de Albuquerque, came out from the city with the troops to support them. Both armies stood for some time within cannon-shot of each other, and neither advanced to the attack. Bagnuolo then said to the Governor, that it did not befit them to abandon the advantage of their walls, and march out in that manner, to meet a superior enemy in open field; all they had to do was to defend the city; which, if they past the night there, the Dutch might assault in the morning. This he said loud enough to be heard by all who stood near him: there were many who, in their vain bravery, disapproved his counsel; all, however, followed it, and retired within the gates. The unreasoning populace were enraged at seeing them retreat; an uproar began among them, as if the city had been betrayed. They rang the bell of the chamber, which was sounded then only when affairs of the greatest importance to the public were to be deliberated; a cry went abroad, that if their present Commanders would not fight and defend them, they would appoint some who should. Discontent had well nigh ripened into open mutiny. The Bishop, and Duarte de Albuquerque interposed; their submission, rather than their authority, quieted the people, and they promised them, that their wishes should be gratified. On the morrow, accordingly. Bagnuolo marched out a league with all the troops, to give the Dutch battle; he sought for them in their yesterday's position; and it is to be hoped, for his honour, that he knew they were not to be found there. They had taken another post; and, had they fallen, upon the city now, when all the regular force had left it, they might have entered it almost without resistance. They, however, knew as little of Bagnuolo's movements as he did of theirs, and he

[page] 553

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

returned safely, having satisfied the mob by this dangerous compliance.

Four of the forts surrendered.

B. Freire. § 844—6.

Nassau, on the fourth day after his landing, took possession of a height, out of cannon shot from the city, and within musquet shot of the chapel of St. Antonio. This chapel was thought an important post; the last governor, Oliveira, had thrown up trenches there, which had been suffered to decay; and men were at work upon them now, when they were wanted. The Dutch, from their present position, commanded the Fort do Rosario, and the redoubt of Agoa de Meninos, which protected the beach; these they presently captured. In the fort, there were six guns; three brazen ones the Portugueze removed to the trenches at St. Antonio; the others, which were of iron, they burst: two guns in the redoubt, they were compelled to leave. In these instances, there was no fault in the commanders, who had done all they could do in the defence of untenable posts; but the Fort of Montserrate, with six guns, was given up without resistance, and that of St. Bartholomew also, though defended by ten pieces of artillery, and garrisoned with seventy men. The capture of this important station gave Nassau an open communication with his fleet, and the people of Bahia began to believe, that whatever he attempted would prove successful.

Pedro da Sylva resigns the command to Bagnuolo.

To add to the danger of the city, there was a want of subordination among the troops. The Captains of the Garrison would not obey Bagnuolo's orders; those of Pernambuco would not obey the Governor. Pedro da Sylva, upon this occasion, atoned for his former misconduct: perceiving at once, that if this want of discipline continued, the place must inevitably be lost, he went to Bagnuolo, and requested him to take upon himself the sole command, during the siege. Even this action was misrepresented by evil tongues; they said he had done prudently, because, if the siege terminated favourably for Portugal,

4 B

[page] 554

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

B. Freire. § 847—8.

the honour would be given to Bagnuolo, whether he had the nominal command or not, .. all, therefore, that the Governor got rid of by the cession of his authority, was the responsibility in case the city should be taken. But Pedro da Sylva's conduct is worthy of high praise; he knew that Bagnuolo was a better soldier than himself, and sacrificed his own rank to the public good.

Exchange of prisoners.

B. Freire. § 84—50.

Bagnuolo had been often a mistaken commander, and always an unfortunate one. He knew his own unpopularity, and this act of unexpected confidence seems almost to have regenerated him; the zeal, the activity, and the intrepidity, which he displayed, made him now as much the object of admiration, as he had been formerly of hatred or contempt. He left Sylva to command in the city, and took his own post at the chapel of St. Antonio, where they were working at the trenches, night and day. Presently a Trumpet came from the enemy; he brought letters to both Commanders, stating, that a bare-footed Franciscan was come from Pernambuco in the Dutch fleet, and wished to see the Custodio upon business of the Order. Such a message coming at such a time, from Dutch heretics, was construed with due suspicion, and an evasive answer of denial returned accordingly. The same Trumpet returned on the following day, to know if the Portugueze would release their prisoners, and if they chose to have their own men, who had been taken in the forts. The prisoners whom the Portugueze had made, were only eighteen; and with a courtesy which after events unfortunately proved to be the effect of fear, not of generosity, they clothed them and set them free.

Consternation of the townsmen.

Probably the main object why a messenger had twice been sent on errands of such little importance, was, that he might observe the state of the trenches: Bagnuolo had him blinded before he was led in; it was plain however that they were not compleated,

[page] 555

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

April 21.

B. Freire. § 851—5.

for men were still at work there; and Nassau sent fifteen hundred troops to attack them. They were repulsed with the loss of two hundred, an advantage which cost the Portugueze the lives of some brave men. Had Mauritz sent double the number, he would have won the city as well as the trenches; it was still so little prepared, that when upon this alarm they went to shut the gates, it was found that one of them could not be fastened. The citizens of St. Salvador had now past from one extreme to another; they who did not believe the existence of danger till the enemy appeared, thought it now impossible to resist it; they began not only to think of capitulating, but to talk of it, and to look forward with satisfaction to a passage home in Dutch transports. There were however men of better feelings. An officer who saw and deeply regretted the ease with which the forts had been taken, and the pusillanimity of the people, went to the magazine one morning before day-break to deliver out powder, and found a lighted fuse under its door, which would in a short time have blown it up; his horror and indignation at this discovery that there were traitors within the walls, so overpowered him that he lost his senses and died raving mad.

The city well supplied.

B. Freire. § 856—60.

Nassau had not a sufficient army to surround the city, and was not well enough acquainted with the country to take the most important posts. The Portugueze profited by his errors; their partizans were always on the alert, harrassing his quarters and bringing in supplies. Souto and Rebello particularly distinguished themselves in this service; the latter brought in, in two expeditions, above a thousand head of cattle and a flock of sheep. Even the sea was ill kept by the Dutch, and provisions were received abundantly by the besieged, while there was a scarcity in the camp of the besiegers.

The Dutch open their batteries.

The works at St. Antonio were now compleated, and as Bagnuolo's presence was no longer necessary there, he returned

[page] 556

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

Brite Freire. § 861—3.

into the city. His attention was soon directed toward another spot. The prisoners informed him that Nassau designed to occupy another and nearer post, from whence he might batter the town to more advantage. Upon this the Portugueze Commander thought it necessary to secure the Palmas, the spot from whence D. Fadrique de Toledo had most effectually annoyed the Dutch when they were in possession of St. Salvador. The enemy being thus prevented in their design, opened the batteries upon the first of May. In these days, when the work of destruction is carried on upon so tremendous a scale, such batteries will almost excite a smile; the largest, which was opposite St. Antonio on the side of the sea, mounted no more than six four and twenty pounders; the other from the land side, two of the same calibre. Never perhaps was any war carried on with means so disproportioned to its object; two nations were contending for an empire not less in extent than the whole of civilized Europe, and the whole forces on both sides never amounted to fifteen thousand men.

Letters intercepted.

B. Freire. § 863—7.

These batteries however, such as they were, were effectual against such walls; at night they had demolished the parts against which they played; in the morning new works appeared within. The besieged on their part annoyed the enemy with considerable effect from the Great Church; they threw up more outworks, and to supply the consequent reduction of the garrison, sent for a hundred and fifty men out of two hundred who were constantly on duty at the Morro de S. Paulo. About this time some letters which were taken in a ship from Lisbon were put into Nassau's hands; the writers expressed their despair for Brazil, .. as for sending forces to recover Pernambuco, that, it was said, was impossible; they were wanted to protect Spain, and the Treasury had no means of supplying the necessary expences. These letters he sent to Bagnuolo, thinking that nothing would be so

[page] 557

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

likely to dismay him. Shortly afterwards, three of the Dutch spies were detected and hanged.

Battle in the trenches.

May 18.

B. Freire. § 870—9.

Some prisoners whom Souto brought into the city, all declared there was a scarcity in the camp, .. a thing so little likely, that the besieged would not credit it, though these men each separately affirmed it. Nassau had not expected the resistance which he found, and thought the little stores he could command, would suffice till he took the city; .. he was deceived, and his foraging parties were ill acquainted with the country, and unable to cope with such partizans as Souto, and Cameram, and Henrique Diaz. He resolved at last to storm the trenches of St. Antonio, and bring the siege to an issue. At seven in the evening of the eighteenth, three thousand men began the assault. They won the fosse and entrenched themselves there; then they assaulted the gate. Here the fight became bloody. The place was so narrow that no weapon was discharged in vain; the fire balls and grenades of the besiegers took full effect, and the beams and stones which the Portugueze threw down fell upon the heads of their assailants. By a strange oversight the Dutch neglected to give the alarm at other quarters, and therefore the besieged were able to bring their whole strength here. Some attacked them in the fosse, others beat them from the gate. The troops from all the outworks came to the scene of action; Nassau brought up the rest of his forces, and the assault became a general battle, on which the result of the siege was staked. The Dutch gave way, for they fought to disadvantage. Mauritz gave orders to kill all who fled, and they returned desperately to the charge; but it was of no avail; the Portugueze knew their ground, and had therefore a confidence in the darkness which their assailants could not feel; they had likewise a motive to animate them which redoubled their exertions, and they beat the enemy back.

Death of Souto.

In the morning Mauritz proposed a truce, which was acceded

[page] 558

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

B. Freire. § 880—7.

to, for burying the dead. The Dutch had left about five hundred on the field and fifty prisoners. The Portugueze lost about two hundred in killed and wounded; their surgeons were so unskilful, and so ill supplied with all things necessary, that more persons died by them than by the enemy. Many a brave man took his death that night, and here Sebastiam de Souto closed his career, whose inexhaustible resources, indefatigable activity, and undaunted courage, make us regret the treacherous manner in which he first began to serve his country, and the brutal rapacity with which he indiscriminately plundered friend and foe in his incursions.

Cruelty of the Dutch.

Barlæus. p. 82.

The Dutch revenged themselves with disgraceful cruelty for their defeat. They explored the Reconcave in their light vessels, and whenever they could surprize an unprotected house, put all whom they found to the sword. One of the victims to this base resentment was Joam de Matos Cardoso, he who so well defended Fort Cabedello at Paraiba; now at an age above fourscore, he was butchered in his retirement. The besiegers continued for another week to fire upon the city, doing little harm there, and exciting no apprehension. They themselves meantime suffered severely from the fire of the besieged, for Nassau with strange imprudence had pitched his camp within reach of their guns, and in a spot where he was prevented by impassable marshes from attacking the batteries which annoyed him. Night and day the Portugueze kept up their cannonade, thinking that the rain would confine the soldiers to their quarters; great part of them took shelter from this danger in the woods, and sickness in consequence was beginning to prove as destructive as war². After a week of this sullen perseverance they abandoned their

² Piso describes this contagion. L. 1. C. 15. De Fluru alvi Hepatica.

[page] 559

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

May 26.

The siege raised

B. Freire § 888—92.

Barlæus. 64.

enterprize, leaving behind them part of their stores, and four brass cannon, besides all which they had taken in the forts. The siege lasted forty days, and their loss is estimated by the Portugueze at two thousand men. When the embarkation was effected, Nassau sent back all his prisoners, and requested to have his own men, about sixty, in return; but this was refused. The ravages which had been committed in the Reconcave, were assigned as a reason for this refusal; but as Bagnuolo had released prisoners upon a similar demand at the commencement of the siege, and clothed them also, his acquiescence then was imputed to fear, and his refusal now to arrogance.

B. Freire. § 893—900.

The people of St. Salvador were not ungrateful to the Pernambucan troops; they admitted that to them they were indebted for their deliverance, and the Chamber of the City presented them with a donative of sixteen thousand cruzados. Honours and rewards were sent out from Spain to many who had distinguished themselves in the siege. Bagnuolo had another Italian title conferred upon hi, and Pedro da Sylva was made Conde de S. Lourenço. The military judged his conduct by a false standard of honour which is too commonly acknowledged, and they sneered at him, saying, that such humility was fitter for an Arrabidan Friar, than for a Commander. The Court on the contrary applauded him, and declared that he had set an example worthy of imitation. Highly indeed is such conduct to be praised; none but a wise man could have so felt, and none but a brave one could have so acted.

Barlæus. p. 85.

Nassau consoled himself for his failure by thinking that the knowledge which he had thus obtained of the city would enable him to conquer it whenever he should have an adequate force. His panegyrizing historian observes that this expedition was but of little expence to the society, for the spoils which were taken, among which were four hundred Negroes, nearly defrayed

[page] 560

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

the costs. Barlæus knew to whom he was writing, and to none but such a body corporate would he have offered such a consolation or talked of profit and loss upon an occasion where the Dutch arms had been disgraced as well as baffled. St. Salvador must have fallen, if the misconduct of the besieged had not been exceeded by that of the besiegers. This the Portugueze confessed, and they attributed their safety, under Providence, to the absence of Schoppe and Artisjoski, men whom they now dreaded more then Nassau, because of their experience.

Representations of Nassau to the Company.

Barlæus. § 85 87.

In his letters to the Company, Nassau called loudly for supplies. War, he said, disease, and fatiguing marches in such a country as Brazil, were day by day wasting the army; the men were crying out to be discharged from so hard and unprofitable a service, and it required all his arts both of conciliation and severity to keep them together. Four thousand troops were necessary for the various garrisons; his whole force did not amount to so many; how then was he to advance against the enemy? how to withstand them if they advanced against him? how to guard the country against their incursions? He requested and demanded three thousand six hundred men; his numbers then would be seven thousand, and with them it was not merely his hope but his assured knowledge, that something might be atchieved worthy of the Company. They had begun things worthy of the age and of the Dutch nation, and they must go on with them; the die, he said, was cast; they had crost, not the Rubicon but the Ocean; and all must either go to ruin or be perfected. He then descended to a mercantile tone, and told them the sugar of that year, if the crop did not fail, would yield them six hundred thousand florins. But he wanted sailors; so much so, that eight hundred soldiers were obliged to serve on board the ships. Let them therefore send out a fleet to meet the enemy, if the enemy were coming, and to carry home the produce.

[page] 561

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

The Company throw open the trade of Brazil.

It was at this time deliberated by the Company in Holland whether they should continue their monopoly, or throw open the trade of Brazil. Against the proposed innovation it was urged, that the Company would lose their present great profits, the market be overstocked, and European commodities consequently depreciated; that colonists would flock to so delightful a region, increase and multiply there, and at length becoming stronger than the mother country, throw off their dependence upon her. Nassau was applied to for his opinion. He replied, that the profits of the Company were not what they had formerly been. At first the Directors did every thing, now contracts were granted; at first there was an abundance of sugar in the storehouses of the Portugueze, while those European goods which they wanted in exchange were scantily supplied, and were sold to infinite advantage, because the Portugueze were eager to rid themselves of produce which was always then in danger. The land now was in greater security, and Dutch property in greater abundance. It was better to throw the trade open and rid themselves of the charge of the monopoly. They could not purchase goods enough to stock the market, their funds were not equal to this; and what was to be done with the private merchandise which had been suffered to enter the country? they could not buy it up without injury, .. to themselves if they gave the price for which it would otherwise have sold, .. to the owners, if they resolved to take it at less; and in that case the owners would secrete their property. Then speaking as a statesman, he urged the necessity of colonizing Brazil, so, he said, should the country be strengthened, the garrisons might be diminished, and the state would feel secure. Upon the Portugueze there was now no other hold than that of fear; take away from them the hope of seeing their own government restored, and they will then be good subjects. But colonists would not pass the

4 C

[page] 562

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

Barlæus. 87—90.

seas to be starved in another country, and as long a the Company continued its monopoly, it cut off those expectations of profit, which alone could allure adventurers. The Brazilians already complained of the restrictions which were imposed upon them; they came to him with daily remonstrances, saying, they had agreed with the Dutch to live under their government as they had done under the Portugueze, that they might sell the produce of their mills at their own pleasure, not at the will of others; if this liberty were withheld, they would rather remove elsewhere, and take the chance of fortune, than endure such a state of servitude to the Company. Send out your swarms, said he, to these new pastures, and give lands to the discharged soldiers; colonies will be your outposts and garrisons; thus it was that Rome subdued the world. In consequence of this opinion, the trade was thrown open, reserving to the Company the traffic in slaves, in instruments of war, and in Brazilian woods. But all persons high in office were prohibited from trading altogether, lest they should abuse their power for the sake of profit.

Expedition of .

Barlæus. 91—7.

Nassau, after having secured all those posts which he thought in danger of attack, was preparing an expedition to burn the sugar works in the Reconcave, when Jol arrived with a large fleet. Heyne's rich victory was still enviously remembered by the Company, and in the hope of recruiting their coffers by a similar booty, they had sent out this old and excellent seaman. The force which he took from Recife suspended Mauritz's plans; he set sail in full hope of glorious success, and fell in with the Mexican fleet off Cuba, but his captains deserted him. Four times did the old sailor resolutely begin the attack, and as often did these cowardly traitors keep aloof, or hawl off in the moment of danger, till at length the Spaniards escaped. Jol called loudly for vengeance in his country's name as well as his own. The

[page] 563

CHAP. XVII. 1638.

culprits were sent home for investigation; but in all countries there are means of evading justice in such cases, if the offenders have powerful friends and partizans to protect them, and they remained unpunished.

Cameram negociates with the Dutch.

Arms given to the Dutch Captaincies.

Barlæus. 98—100.

A fair prospect now opened upon Nassau. Messengers from Cameram came to say, that that Chieftain having been offended by Bagnuolo, was disposed to make peace with the Dutch, and return into his own lands. Glad would they have been to purchase the friendship of so active and terrible an enemy; the messengers were dispatched with presents and a favourable reply, but Cameram was in his heart attached to a cause which he had served so long and so bravely, and before they returned his resentment had given way. Eight hundred Tapuyas, resenting in like manner the treatment which they received from the General, left Bahia. But the opportunity occurred in vain, and in vain did Mauritz cry out, letter after letter, for succours, and exclaim that it was neither Heaven nor Fate that withheld from him the victory which he desired, but his own countrymen. Promises came to him in abundance, and promises were all that came. Unable to pursue his plans of conquest, he amused himself with giving heraldic arms to the Dutch provinces; to Pernambuco, a damsel carrying a sugar cane in one hand, and in the other a mirror wherein she is admiring herself; to Itamaraca, a bunch of grapes, the adjacent island producing better than any other part of Brazil; three sugar loaves to Paraiba, and an ostrich to Rio Grande, where those birds abounded. All these were quartered on the great seal of the Senate, and above all was the figure of Justice. The figure of justice was on the seal of the Senate, but there was little justice in their measures. Shortly after Jol's fruitless expedition many of the most wealthy Portugueze were apprehended on suspicion of a conspiracy. When the business had been investigated, some were imprisoned, some sentenced to be

[page] 564

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

transported to Bahia, others to a farther banishment. Farther enquiry produced no confirmation of the suspected plot, yet because a rumour prevailed that a Spanish fleet was looked for, these men were neither acquitted nor condemned, but still kept in confinement.

Artisjoski comes out, but soon returns in disgust.

Barlæus. 103—7.

Early in the ensuing year, Artisjoski returned to Brazil with a small reinforcement, and with orders to act as a secret inspector over Nassau; a mission which he fulfilled with little address. There was an old hatred lurking in his heart, occasioned perhaps by the appointment of Mauritz to the Government, a situation to which he thought himself entitled; and his language was so intemperate, and of such a tendency, that it soon became impossible for the Governor General to brook it. A fair opportunity of deciding whose authority was to predominate, was ere long afforded by Artisjoski himself: he addressed a letter of complaint to the Directors of the Company in Holland, and suffered it publicly to be seen, before it was dispatched. Nassau appealed to the Senate, and replied satisfactorily and indignantly to the charges which were laid against him, .. charges too frivolous to deserve mention, relating almost wholly to points of military form and etiquette, which, he averred, had been unavoidably disregarded. The whole senate approved his conduct, and in consequence his accuser returned to Holland in disgust.

State of the Dutch Captaincies.

One of the Senators returning to Holland also about the same time, laid before the West Indian Company, a detailed account of the state of their conquests. They were now in possesion of six provinces, extending from Seregipe to Seara. The first of these had been utterly laid waste by Giesselin and Schoppe when they conquered it; the latter had only a single fort garrisoned by forty men, but it supplied the Dutch sometimes with allies, and with such articles as the natives collected for traffic.

[page] 565

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Barlæus. 122—3.

Do. 101

Pernambuco, the most important of these Captaincies, contained five towns, Garassu or Iguaraçu, Olinda, Recife, Bella Pojuca, and Serinhaem: it had also several villages which were equal to small towns in size. Before the Dutch invasion, there had been an hundred and twenty one sugar works, each itself a village; but thirty four of these were now deserted. In Itamaraca fourteen works were still employed, of three and twenty which flourished before the conquest. Paraiba had suffered less; eighteen were at work, and only two had been destroyed. Rio Grande had originally but two, and one was ruined. In the whole of the Dutch Captaincies a hundred and twenty were going on; forty six had been stopt. The tenths of their produce were leased at the following rates; those of Pernambuco for 148,500 florins; Itamaraca and Gojana for 19,000; Paraiba 54,000. A tax called the Pensam upon the Pernambuco sugar-works was leased for 26,000 to Joam Fernandes Vieira, whose name has already appeared, and will soon become conspicuous in the history of Brazil. The small tenths, as they were called, made the whole amount to 280,900 florins.

Want of Colonists.

The country had severely suffered from the Dutch invasion; large tracks were devastated, and more inhabitants had been cut off, then would in many long years be supplied by the slow course of nature. The city of Recife had thriven; it was the seat of government, the chief military and naval post, and the great commercial mart, and houses were crowded there wherever room could be found to place them. There were Dutchmen who looked on in hope to the days when Recife would be another Tyre, and could these men have inspired their countrymen with their own generous and enterprizing spirit, that anticipation would have been realized. They cried aloud for colonists; send over to us, they said, your handicrafts, whose utmost industry at home can scarcely supply for them the absolute wants of life;

[page] 566

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Barlæus. p. 125—6.

here they may speedily enrich themselves. Three, four, and six florins a day, were the wages for builders and carpenters; that kind of mechanical work which the sugar-engines required, was still more highly paid. Three sorts of men, they said, were wanted in Brazil: men of capital who would speculate in sugar works, artificers, and persons in the employ of the Company, who when they retired from their offices would betake themselves to agriculture, and settle themselves as quietly, and with as abiding an interest, upon their burial as upon their native soil. With such men the country would soon be as flourishing as the Dutch had found it.

The Jews.

Barlæus. 131.

The savages.

The Portugueze were held in subjection only by fear; but many Portugueze Jews from Holland had taken their abode in a country where they could speak their own language as well as enjoy their own religion. These were excellent subjects; they exercised the characteristic industry of their original nation, secure of enjoying its fruits under a free government. Some of the Portugueze Brazilians also, gladly throwing off the mask which they had so long been compelled to wear, joined their brethren of the Synagogue. The open joy with which they now celebrated their ceremonies, attracted too much notice; it excited horror in the Catholicks, and even the Dutch themselves, less liberal than their own laws, pretended, that the toleration of Holland did not extend to Brazil; the senate conceded to, and perhaps partook of the popular feeling, and hence arose the edict by which the Jews were ordered to perform their rites more in private. The native savages, whose numbers from the Lagoas to the Potengi were estimated now at less than two thousand fighting men, had little reason to rejoice in their change of masters. Nothing but the desire of obtaining European commodities could induce them to work at all, and

[page] 567

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Barlæus. 127.

Dutch Missionaries.

these commodities were now more easily attainable³; yet more work was required from them, because Negroes were scarcer and dearer than they had formerly been, some having faithfully followed kind masters in their emigration, others having gone over to the Dutch to obtain their freedom, others again more wisely joining their brethren at the Palmares. The savages never could be persuaded to hire themselves for a longer term than twenty days: a Dutch overseer resided in every village to keep them to their task, and see that their employers paid them fairly; before the time expired they generally demanded their wages with a suspicious feeling, for which there was probably enough reason; and when they were paid they not unfrequently fled from the unfinished job. Many employments which used to be exercised by Negroes were now required from them, and they often took to flight in consequence. A few Dutch Missionaries laboured to teach them a Lutheran instead of a Popish creed; but implements of conversion were wanting, and Lutheran theology had nothing wherewith to supply the deficiency of Saints and Images, beads, crosses, tapers, and holy water, the puppet-work and pageantry of a system, of which it would be difficult to say whether there has been most wisdom or most wickedness displayed in its structure.

Force of the Dutch.

The military force of the Dutch in Brazil, amounted only to six thousand one hundred and eighty men, to whom it was supposed, a thousand Indians might be added. This whole force was required for garrisons; there was none to spare for pursuing their successes, nor even for defending the country

³ The article in most estimation among them was Osnaburgh linen, .. with that which was manufactured at Rouen and at Steinfurt they had been overstocked. This fashion among savages is enrious. Barlæus. 9.

[page] 568

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Barlæus. 139.

Barlæus. 138.

Barlæus. 154—5.

against the marauding parties of the Portugueze. Under any minister but Olivares, Spain would have extirpated them, in one campaign. The Dutch Senator confessed in his memorial, that they owed their safety more to the negligence of the enemy, than to their own strength. The soldiers, few as they were, were half-clothed and half-fed: the conquests indeed, required supplies of food from Holland; husbandmen had been driven out, and their place is but ill supplied by soldiers and traders. Provisions were so scarce, that the natives were ordered to supply Recife regularly on pain of death, .. a decree which must inevitably have aggravated the evil that it was designed to palliate. All persons who possessed land, were compelled by law, to lay out a certain portion of it in mandioc, under heavy penalties; lists of the land-occupiers were made out, and officers appointed to go round and see that the edict was observed: every one was to produce his allotted quantity, four times a year, and the price was to be fixed twice a week by the Senate.

Nassau builds a palace.

Such was the condition of the Dutch conquests in Brazil, when Count Mauritz of Nassau, as if he were acting for a nation whose views were as bold and liberal as his own, began to build a city and a palace. There was a bare island between the rivers Capivaribi and Biberibi, which he wished the Senate to fortify, as being an important position, if ever Recife should be besieged: the expence would be immediate; the danger was remote, .. and therefore they rejected his advice. He then resolved to plant it, because the trees would afford some shelter to the city, if the enemy should take post on the rising ground beyond the Capivaribi. This design was soon extended, and he made a garden there for himself. The situation was flat enough, and near enough the water to delight a Dutchman; but the method by which he made his groves, resembled the magnificence of

[page] 569

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

barbarian kings. To the utter astonishment of all who beheld his operations, he transplanted into this island seven hundred full grown cocoa trees. The possibility of doing it was universally denied; but it was judiciously executed, and the very next year they produced an abundant crop. In like manner, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, and all the native fruit trees of the country, were planted there in their full growth and beauty. And here he erected a dwelling for himself, which he called Friburg: its two towers served for beacons and watch towers, and fortifications were raised about it, which made it a protection as well as an ornament to the city.

Mauritias built.

Barlæus. 147.

Recife was crowded with inhabitants; he proposed to build another city upon this island, and it was agreed to by the Senate. The marshy ground was soon drained by canals, streets laid out, and houses rapidly erected. Under the Portugueze government, it had sometimes been deliberated whether they should abandon Olinda and build here: Olinda was now utterly destroyed: those buildings which had hitherto been spared being demolished, and their materials employed in the new city, to which the name of Mauritias was given, in honour of its founder. A great work yet remained, to connect Mauritias with Recife by a bridge: it was contracted for at the price of 240,000 florins. The architect went on building stone pillars, till he came to the deepest part, where its depth was eleven geometrical feet, and then in despair he gave up the attempt. A hundred thousand florins had already been expended. There were many persons who rejoiced at the failure, because their petty interests would have been injured by the completion of the work, and an outcry was raised against Mauritz, as the projector of an impracticable scheme. He took it into his own hands: what could not be done with stone might with wood, and the woods of Brazil were little less hard and durable. In two months it was compleated, and the bridge opened

4 D

[page] 570

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Freire Serm. t 7. p. 326.

a work not only remarkable in itself, but especially so, as being the first bridge which was built in Portugueze America. The Senate, though they had joined with the multitude in decrying the its attempt, while its success was uncertain, now acknowledged merit, and paid for the work on the Company's account, certain of being speedily remunerated by means of a toll. Nassau then built another bridge over the Capivaribi, thus opening a communication between the opposite side of the country and Recife through Mauritias. Close to it upon the island, he erected another house for himself, which, like Friburg, was built for defence as well as pleasure, and to which he gave the Portugueze name of Boa Vista. These works were every way useful, and in no way more than in this, that by proving the resolution of the Dutch to maintain their conquests, and indicating the little doubt which they felt of being able to maintain them, they tended to deprive the Portugueze of hope, and thereby to render them contented under a yoke, which it appeared so little likely that they would ever be able to shake off. The Senate showed its sense of Nassau's merit, and its approbation of his measures, by bestowing on him the honorary title of Patronus.

The Conde da Torre comes out.

G. Giuseppe p. 213.

Meantime a mighty effort was prepared to drive these conquerors out of Brazil. One of the Portugueze ministers, no longer able to see with patience how these important colonies were neglected, and almost abandoned to the enemy, obtained an audience of the king, and so forcibly represented to him the fatal consequences of such a system, that Olivares found some great exertion was necessary to preserve his favour. A more powerful fleet than had ever yet sailed for America was equipped, and the command given to the Conde da Torre, D. Fernando Mascarenhas, who was also appointed Governor of Brazil. Never was an expedition of such importance more miserably wasted. Its first and fatal misfortune was occasioned by Miguel de Vascon-

[page] 571

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Ereceyra. t. 2 p. 86.

Viey. Serm. t. 5. p. 421.

Barlæus. 159.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 143.

cellos, that Portugueze minister, on whom exemplary vengeance was soon to be taken, for the offences which he had committed against his country. He, to make a merit at Court of his zeal and activity, insisted that the Portugueze squadron should not wait in port for the Spaniards, but that it might be seen how soon they were ready, proceed to the Cape de Verds, and then remain till a junction was formed there. It is easier to pervert instinct in animals, than it is to subdue the obstinacy of men in office. This had been the usual place of rendezvous, and because it was so, fleets were still to be sent there, though the climate was sure to decimate, perhaps even to halve their numbers. A tremendous mortality took place there; more than a third⁴ both of the troops and seamen being thus cut off, and when the fleet reached Pernambuco and should have taken Recife, which must inevitably have yielded, had it been for a short time blockaded, there were so many sick on board, that the Commander thought it necessary to proceed to St. Salvador, as to an hospital; there he recruited his men, but a whole year elapsed before the expedition was again ready for service.

Four naval actions.

Cast. Lus. 3. §—144.

Some months before the new Governor again set sail, he sent Andre Vidal de Negreiros to ravage the enemy's provinces, at the head of some of those troops who were best acquainted with the country. They were to separate into small bodies, so as more easily to subsist themselves, elude the enemy, and do the widest mischief; and at an appointed time they were instructed to unite within sight of the sea, and join the forces on their landing. These men punctually obeyed their instructions; they car-

⁴ Piso, in his chapter de Morbis Contagiosis (L. 1. C. 18.) speaks of this much like a Dutchman. Anno 1639.—magno nostrorum commodo, juxta Sinum omnium Sanctorum, tertia pars classis Hispanicæ maligna et contagiosa febre extincta.

[page] 572

CHAP. XVII. 1639.

Barlæus. 190.

1640.

Vieyra. Sermoons. t. 5. p. 422.

G. Giuseppe 215.

ried fire and sword wherever they went; at the time appointed they were at their post; the fleet hove in sight; and they set fire to the plantations and sugar works about Recife, to distract the attention of the enemy. But this long delay had given Nassau ample time to prepare against his danger, and Vidal had the mortification to see a sea-fight instead of a landing. The first action was fought on the 12th of January, between Itamaraca and Gojana. The Dutch Admiral was killed, and little advantage won, or loss sustained on either side. A second battle took place the following day between Gojana and Cabo Branco; a third the day after, off Paraiba, and a fourth off the Potengi on the 17th; the winds and currents thus drifting the Portugueze daily farther from their destination. In this manner was a fleet of eighty-seven vessels, carrying two thousand four hundred pieces of cannon, prevented by a far inferior force from effecting any thing: it had the advantage in every action as far as mere fighting, but it was out-manœuvred, and its purpose totally baffled. The weather now became such that the Governor gave up all hopes of beating back to Bahia at that season, and utterly abandoned the enterprize for which such preparations had been made. Bagnuolo attempted and effected his return by sea: so difficult, however, was this deemed, that it was thought better to land the main military force, consisting of thirteen hundred men under Barbalho, together with Cameram and Henrique Diaz and their troops, fourteen leagues North of the Potengi, and leave them to effect a retreat of three hundred leagues, through an enemy's country, and such a country as Brazil, without any other stores for the march than what every man could carry for himself. Having landed them, the Count went before the wind to the West Indies, and from thence sailed for Europe. As soon as he reached Lisbon he was thrown into prison at St. Juliens, where he remained untried though not unpunished, till

[page] 573

CHAP. XVII. 1640.

the acclamation of Joam IV gave him an opportunity of serving his country and liberating himself.

Retreat of Vidal and Barbalho.

Barlæus. 186.

The Dutch had not been victorious, but they had by favour of the weather succeeded in driving off a larger force, and they reaped all the advantages of a victory. Nassau made public rejoicings for this success; more effectual it could not have been, .. it might however have been more glorious; and he borught some of his Captains to trial for misbehaviour, punished several, and put one to death. Vidal, meantime, who had followed the fleet along the coast, till he perceived the hopeless course which it was holding, had no choice of measures; nothing could be done but again to divide his troops, and measure back their former course of devastation. They were soon joined by Barbalho, and this destructive army moved on carrying havock wherever they went. They made the Governor of Rio Grande prisoner, put the whole garrison at Gojana to the sword, and when a great force came out from Recife against them, struck into the interior, with which they were far better acquainted than the enemy. Many of the Pernambucans, weary of a submission which made their own countrymen treat them as enemies, while they were suspected and oppressed by the Dutch, took the opportunity of quitting the country. They were exposed to severe sufferings on the march; .. the wallets which were dropt on the way when some of the stragglers were pursued, were found filled with sugar, for want of any other food. Barbalho, however, with little other loss than fatigue occasioned, reached Bahia in safety⁵.

⁵ Barlæus (P. 183) says, he put his own sick to death, which is as false as it appear incredible, though the Dutchman, while he states, excuses it, dura necessitatis ac militiæ lege! Every man indeed was left where he dropt, and they whom the enemy found, received no quarter. In this last and wonderful retreat, says Vieyra, where no quarter was given, it was the same thing to be wounded as to be slain, friends leaving friends, and brethren their brethren, because they could do no otherwise; the miserable ones remaining wounded in these woods and ways without help, without remedy, without companions, to be killed in cold blood, and cruelly cut to pieces by the Dutch sabres, for their King, for their Country, for their Honor, for their Religion, for their Truth. O valiant soldiers! with how good a will should I now tarry with you, preaching your glorious requiem!

Sermoens T. 8. P. 402.

[page] 574

CHAP. XVII. 1640.

The Reconcave laid waste.

Barlæus. 181.

Barlæus.

Cast. Lus. 3. § 153.

While they were retreating, Nassau had already begun the bloody work of retaliation. Two thousand Tapuyas had lately come down from the interior to Rio Grande, and formed an alliance with the Dutch; .. it had no sooner been agreed upon, than they fell upon twelve poor Portugueze settlers, and put them to death, as a specimen of what might be expected from their fidelity. The wives and children of these savages were politickly quartered in the island of Itamaraca as hostages, while they were let loose upon Bahia. Nassau's next measure was to expel all the Religioners from the conquered provinces, and then Jol was sent to the Reconcave, to lay it waste with fire and sword at a time when the main force being absent, no resistance could be made. These instructions were executed, and the whole of the sugar-works in that extensive bay, then the most prosperous in America, were totally consumed. By this havock he hoped to distress the revenue and the city, so as to prepare the way for its subjection.

A viceroy comes out.

In this state of desolation was the Reconcave found by the Marquez de Monte Alvam, D. Jorge Mascarenhas, who came out with the title of Viceroy⁶. Both parties were weary of such

⁶ The sermon quoted in the preceding note, was preached by Vieyra upon his arrival. It augurs happy consequences from his coming, which did not result; but it is full of fine satire, and supplies many curious notices for history, as will be seen hereafter.

[page] 575

CHAP. XVII. 1640.

Cast. Lus. §154—6.

a mode of warfare, and negociations were begun for mutually suppressing it; it cannot be ascertained by which the first overtures were made, each imputing it to the other. There was not however equal sincerity on both sides. The Viceroy, after the failure of the last great expedition, had no reason to expect that another effort would be made to recover Brazil, and he knew that the Dutch estimated the importance of these conquests only according to the last balance in their annual accounts. It was of more importance to spoil their trade than to beat them. With this persuasion he had recourse to a dishonourable artifice; for while he carried on negociations with the Dutch for the prevention of all predatory warfare, he at the same time secretly dispatched Paulo da Cunha and Henrique Diaz to ravage their possessions; then sent an official communication to Nassau and the Supreme Council, stating that some of his soldiers had deserted for fear of punishment, and as he supposed, would attempt to reach Europe under their Excellencies favour; it was not unlikely that they might commit many excesses on their march, and he requested that if this were the case they might be justly punished. The Viceroy ventured upon this lie, in full confidence, that his men were too well acquainted with the country, and too expert at their work, to be taken and betray him. In this he was not mistaken; they executed their commission fully; they divided into small parties, having their limits of devastation allotted, and their rallying places, and the whole of Pernambuco was once more ravaged with fire and sword.

Revolution in Portugal.

Meantime Braganza recovered the throne of Portugal, his

[page] 576

CHAP. XVII. 1640.

rightful inheritance, which had so long been usurped by the House of Austria. A caravel was dispatched with advices to Bahia; the captain landed alone, and communicated his important intelligence to the Viceroy. Measures were immediately taken to prevent any boat from putting off to the ship; the heads of the religious orders and the chief persons of the city were assembled; two regiments were drawn out for the purpose of disarming the Spanish part of the garrison, and when every due precaution had thus been taken, the Viceroy went out with the Standard of Portugal, the Chamber of St. Salvador, and all the chief inhabitants, and proclaimed King Joam IV. The news was received with the same enthusiasm in Brazil, as it had been in the provinces of Portugal, and the acclamation was repeated throughout all the Captaincies without one dissentient voice. Having communicated the tidings of this revolution to Nassau, as a measure which making Portugal the enemy of Spain must consequently lead to a treaty with Holland, the Viceroy sent his son D. Fernando to Lisbon to report his obedience.

The Viceroy sent home prisoner.

Unfortunately for the family of Mascarenhas, two other sons who were in Portugal, preferring loyalty to patriotism, had fled to Madrid, and upon their flight, Vilhena a Jesuit, was dispatched to Bahia with instructions to depose the Viceroy if he should be found to follow the same party, and appoint Barbalho, Lourenço de Brito Correa, and the Bishop, joint Governors in his stead. Most inexcusably, Vilhena, though he found the Viceroy had acted as became a Portugueze, communicated his instructions to these persons, and they had not virtue to resist the temptation of authority. Nor when they notified to him his deposition, did it suffice that he withdrew with instant obedience from the palace, and retired to the Jesuit college: he was put under arrest there, and two of his friends also, who had no

[page] 577

CHAP. XVII. 1640.

Ereceyra. p. 134—7.

other fault than their attachment to him. Two other officers whom he had imprisoned for committing an assassination in open day, were set at liberty. They then put him on board a caravel to be sent home prisoner. Before it set sail, a ship arrived with Spanish colours; it was speedily captured, and letters to the Marquez were found on board, some from the King of Spain, others from his fugitive sons, urging him to persist in what they called his allegiance. These letters, as if they had been proofs of his treason, were sent to Portugal with him, and the Viceroy, besides the ignominy and injustice with which he had been treated, had to mourn over the conduct of his children, and the consequent imprisonment of his wife, with which he was thus made acquainted during a miserable voyage.

4 E

[page 578]

CHAPTER XVIII.

Affairs of Maranham.—Some Missionaries from Quito flying down the Napo, trust themselves to the river, and reach Belem.—Teixeira sent up the Orellana.—Acuna returns with him; and surveys its course.

CHAP. XVIII. 1630.

Attempts of the English in Pra.

Maranham had hitherto remained unaffected by this war, while half Brazil had been wrested from its former masters. The attempts of different adventurers to obtain footing in these parts, were however still continued, and became more formidable after the loss of Olinda. Again the English endeavoured to form a settlement in the Ilha dos Tocujos: two hundred fortified themselves on the Rio de Felipe, and it was reported, that a reinforcement of five hundred men was on the way to join them. The Tapuyas were in alliance with these new comers: they were ready to ally themselves with any who offered to protect them, being sure, that no yoke could be more intolerable than that of the Portugueze. Many tribes who had submitted to these insatiable tyrants, .. for such they were in Maranham and Para at this time, .. gladly seized the opportunity to revolt, and it was manifest that those who still remained in obedience began to waver. Coelho, the Governor General of this new

[page] 579

CHAP. XVIII. 1630.

Berredo. § 598—605.

state, lost no time in dispatching a strong force against these competitors, under Jacome Raimundo de Noronha, who had lately been appointed Captain of Para. The English Commander was one Thomas, an old soldier, who had served with reputation in the Low Countries; he was overpowered here, attempted to escape by night in a launch, was overtaken, and cut to pieces, according to the usual barbarity with which war was carried on in the New World, by all nations alike. The fort then surrendered, and was razed by the conquerors.

The next attempt of the English was still among the Tocujos, under Roger Fray¹. Feliciano Coelho, the son of the Governor, was sent against him, and he also was overpowered and slain, and Fort Cumau, which he had built, was destroyed. A ship from London soon arrived, bringing out five hundred settlers for this unfortunate colony, which, had they reached it sooner, they might probably have saved. Four of these people were seized as soon as they landed, and sent to the city of St. Luiz. The account collected from them was, that the colony was founded at the expence of Thomas, Count of Brechier, and that ships were lying at Flushing, with Dutch and English forces on board, designed for the conquest of the Orellana. They had perhaps themselves been deceived by such a report: it alarmed Coelho, and he took every precaution in his power, against the expected attack. He wished especially, to remove the capital of Para to a situation at once more commodious and more defensible, and as Belem was not yet so large as to render this measure very difficult, powers were at last sent him from Madrid to put his design in execution. Such obstacles, however, were thrown in the way, by selfish and interested individuals, that the plan was

¹ Fryer perhaps, or Frere, or any name of similar sound. Who is meant by the Count of Brechier, I have not been fortunate enough to guess.

[page] 580

CHAP. XVIII. 1633.

Berredo § 626—642.

frustrated, and the city still remains in the same ill-chosen spot. Paltry disputes between the people of Para and their Captain, Luiz do Rego, and an attempt of Coelho's to form a new Captaincy for his son Feliciano, first in Gurupy, which was taken from him and given to Alvaro de Sousa, and then in Camuta, employed the rest of this Governors life. His son having lost his support, abandoned the country, and returned to Portugal.

1636.

Death of Coelho.

1637.

Berredo. §643—57.

The death of Coelho left the government open. According to the regular course of law, if no succession-papers were found, Antonio Cavalcante de Albuquerque, whom he had left to command at Maranham during his absence, (for he died at Belem) should have continued in authority, till the vacancy was filled up in Europe. An inhabitant of Isle Maranham, as soon as the Governor was dead, set off from Belem for St. Luiz in a canoe, and made the Indian rowers exert themselves so strenuously, that he performed in fourteen days, a voyage which commonly requires five and twenty. This man looked to Jacome Raimundo for promotion, and communicated the tidings to him, before any other person was apprized of it. Raimundo had many friends, and in spite of Cavalcante's opposition, his influence was such, that the chamber elected him Governor. The opposition at Belem was equally ineffectual. A conspiracy was formed to depose him, and restore Cavalcante to the power, of which he had been thus illegally deprived; it was discovered, and Raimundo acted with a moderation which in such cases is perhaps without an example. The conspirators were fully convicted, yet he neither injured them in life, limb, nor property, nor even punished them with confinement, but contented himself with merely separating those whom he thought it dangerous to leave together. More rigorous measures would not have been more efficacious; he won the love of the people by this

[page] 581

CHAP. XVIII. 1637.

enity, and bound those to him by gratitude, whom perhaps he could not have repressed by fear.

Missiion from Quito.

The Missionaries reach .

Acuna. Engl. Translation. c. 13.

Man. Rodriguez. l. 2. c. 5.

Berredo. §658—68.

He had soon an opportunity of making his administration remarkable in the history of Maranham, and of South America. Two years ago, a Franciscan mission had been sent from Quito to the Indians upon the river Ahuarico. A Captain, by name Juan de Palacios, volunteered with a few soldiers to escort them, and partake the dangers and the merits of the expedition; they got into the province of the Encabellados, or Long-haired Indians, as far as the place where the Ahuarico joins the Napo, and there they remained a few months, ineffectually attempting the work of conversion. Some of the Missionaries grew weary and returned; the greater number persisted in their attempt, till Palacios was murdered by the savages; then they were terrified and fled. Two lay brethren and six of the soldiers were however disheartened at the prospect of the dreadful journey back to Peru; and in despair of effecting it, they committed themselves to the stream, as Orellana had done before them. Domingo de Brieba and Andres de Toledo were the names of the Friars; those of the soldiers have not been preserved. They reached Belem in safety. Thus was the Orellana tracked a second time from the mountains of Quito to the sea, yet little or nothing was yet known of its course. The history of the first voyage had been so disfigured with fable by its discoverer, and the lying Dominican who accompanied him, that it only served to mislead adventurers. Orsua had entered the great stream by the Ucayali and the Guallaga, but the journal which had been kept of that strange expedition, related wholly to the wild history of Aguirre's enormities, giving little information respecting the long track of country through which he past. These last voyagers were stupified with fear, and when they found themselves once more in a Christian town, they could give nothing but a vague account of cannibal nations from whom they had escaped.

[page] 582

CHAP. XVIII. 1637.

All which had yet been ascertained, was the important fact, that there was nothing to obstruct the navigation of this mighty river, during a course of more than three thousand miles.

Teixeira ordered to explore the Orellana up to Quito.

Acuna. C. 14.

M. Rodriguez. L. 2. C. 6.

Berredo. § 663—9.

It may be imagined with what wonder these men were received at Belem, and how cordially they were welcomed. They were sent to St. Luiz to be questioned by the Governor in person. Raimundo, conscious that he had usurped authority was anxious to cover his usurpation by some signal service, and he thought none could be greater than that of exploring the inland navigation between Brazil and Peru, and forming such an alliance with the natives, that the Dutch might be deterred from making any attempt upon Potosi, by this channel, .. a service this, which the Court had especially recommended to Maciel, when he held the Captaincy of Para; and afterwards to Coelho; neither of whom could find leisure for an attempt of such difficulty. The voyagers said they were willing, with a sufficient body of companions, to return to Quito the same way; and accordingly an expedition was made ready, to the command of which, Teixeira was appointed. The people of Para were unwilling to spare so large a part of their force as had been ordered on this service, being apprehensive that the Dutch would invade them, in pursuance of their plans of conquest; under this apprehension they suspended the expedition, while a remonstrance against it was sent to St. Luiz; but Raimundo's reply was peremptory, and on the twenty-eighth of October, 1637, Teixeira departed from Belem, with seventy soldiers and twelve hundred native bowmen and rowers, making with their women and slaves, two thousand persons in all, and embarked in forty-five canoes.

He reaches Quite.

His guides had undertaken more than they were able to perform; the stream had carried them down, and while they were in it, they were sure that their course was right; but to find a passage up the labyrinthine channels of this prodigious river

[page] 583

CHAP. XVIII. 1638.

1638.

Aug. 15.

was a work of great patience and difficulty. Many of the Indians deserted, and it required all Teixeira's exertions, all his influence and all his arts, to prevent the rest from following them. The artifice which had most effect, was that of assuring them they were nearly at the end of their voyage, and he sent forward Bento Rodrigues de Oliveira with eight canoes, as if to be their harbinger. Bento Rodrigues was a Brazilian by birth, aecustomed to this sort of travelling, and who spake the Tupi like his mother tongue: he had been bred up among the natives, and being a man of much penetration, understood their nature, and their looks, as thoroughly as their language; so that they stood in great awe of him, holding him to be a man who could see into their very thoughts. He reconnoitred the way, leaving instructions at every reach and point of the river: it was an incitement to the others to proceed and see what news at these stations day by day; and every day Teixeira kept up their spirits by assurances, that a little more perseverance would accomplish their voyage. Thus they advanced, till on the third of July they reached the place where Palacios had been killed; and here thinking it necessary to secure a retreat, he stationed the greater part of his little army on the banks of a beautiful river where it fell into the great stream, leaving the command to Pedro da Costa Favella, and Pedro Bayam de Abreu. With the rest he proceeded to Payamino, the first settlement of the Castillians in that direction², being in the province of the

² At the place where the river of Payamino enters into the Orellana. There is a port near that place called after the name of the River, where the Spaniards had fortified themselves, and had built a town to keep the Quixos in subjeotion. (Acuña Eng. Trans. C. 15.) Neither river nor place of this name are to be found in the great map of D. Juan de la Cruz. It appears, however, from the different place which Teixeira chose for embarking on his return, that the Payamino must have been one of the streams which fall into the Coca.

[page] 584

CHAP. XVIII. 1638.

Acuna c 15—17.

M. Rodriguez. l. 2. c. 6.

Berredo § 679—87.

Quixos, and about eighty leagues from Quito. Here Bento Rodrigues had left his canoes, and information that from hence he was advancing by land to Quito. Teixeira followed him over a mountainous and difficult country till he reached Baeza, a place then called a city, but which is now deserted. His approach was by this time known, and orders had been dispatched to supply him and his people with every thing needful. When he came near Quito, the Clergy, the Chamber, and Inhabitants went out to meet him in procession; bull-fights were given in honour of his voyage, and while he was feasted with the honours which he deserved, his journal and map of the river were dispatched to the Viceroy of Peru.

A survey of the river ordered by the Viceroy of Peru.

Acuna. c. 16—19.

M. Rodriguez. l. 2. c. 6.

Berredo. § 689—98.

The Conde de Chinchon who was then Viceroy, thought this expedition of so much consequence in the present state of affairs, that he ordered Teixeira to return by the same rout, for the sake of perfecting his survey, and to take with him two persons who should proceed to Madrid, and lay their information before the Court. There was some difficulty in finding fit persons. Don Juan Vasquez d' Acuña the Corregidor of Quito, offered himself and his fortune for the service, requesting that he might be permitted to furnish every thing necessary for it at his own proper charge; the offer was not accepted, perhaps because his presence could not be dispensed with; other adventurers qualified for the charge were not to be found till the Provincial of the Jesuits was applied to, and he nominated F. Christoval d' Acuña, the Corregidor's brother, who was at that time Rector of the College of Cuenca, and F. Andres de Artieda, Professor of Theology in the schools at Quito. They

[page] 585

CHAP. XVIII. 1638.

were instructed to survey the river, and notice every thing remarkable on the way. Four Religioners of the order of N. Senhora das Merces accompanied them, one of whom, by name, Fr. Pedro de la Rua Cerne, afterwards established his order at Belem and at St. Luiz.

Sources of the Orellana.

When this voyage down the greatest river in the world was undertaken, there were many different opinions as to its origin. At Lima its source was said to be the Lake of Lauricocha, among the mountains near Huanuco de los Cavalleros, which is about seventy leagues from the Capital of Peru. In the province of Popayan, the same honour was claimed for the Caqueta, but without any reasonable foundation; for that river, after a course of seven hundred leagues, is received into a stream far larger than itself. Others derived it from the Guamana, and the Pulca, which rise about eight leagues from Quito, and are the sources of the Coca. This opinion was preferred by Acuña, with a partiality easily accounted for. Fritz, the Missionary, maintains the former, and is followed by Berredo. They are right in asserting the Ucayali to be the main stream, instead of the Nueva Marañon, or Lauricocha, as it has more conveniently been called; but it is from the remotest source that it must be traced, and this is a Lake near Arequiqua, where the Apurimac has its rise.

1639.

Feb. 16.

Teixeira reembarks.

Condamine. p. 17.

Teixeira had found the road from Payamino so difficult, that he chose to embark for his return near a settlement called Archidona, upon one of the streams which form the Napo; where at this present time the Spanish Missionaries from the side of Quito, usually embark for the few Reductions which they have established upon this river. He reached Pedro da Costa, greatly to the joy of that officer and his detachment. The Encabellados had not remained long upon friendly terms with them; the savages feared lest the death of Palacios would be

4 F

[page] 586

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Berredo. § 705—9.

Acuna. 50.

M. Rodriguez. p. 122.

revenged, and the Portugueze were not unwilling to seize any occasion of revenging it; war had broken out, many of the natives had been slain, and more than seven hundred made prisoners. The vernacular name of this nation is not mentioned; the Spaniards denominated them from the singular custom of letting the hair grow to an inconvenient length, sometimes below their knees, .. a fashion common to both sexes. They were continually at war with five adjoining tribes on their own side of the river³. Their weapon was the dart; they were cannibals; their houses were thatched with palms, and in this art they displayed considerable skill. Teixeira remained here some months taking vengeance upon these people⁴, and building new canoes, for the greater part of those which he left here, had been destroyed during the war. And here, according to the Portugueze⁵, he took possession of his discoveries for the

³ The Senos, Becabas, Tamas, Chufias, and Ramos.

⁴ They paid, says Acuña, for the lives of our Indians whom they had slain, with more than the number three times doubled of their own; .. a slight punishment compared with the rigorous ones, which the Portugueze are wont to execute in such cases! M. Rodriguez. p. 123.

⁵ The Spaniards deny that this was the place, and Fritz, in their behalf, maintains that it was near the Cuchivara, some hundred leagues lower. Condamine, with more probability, fixes on the mouth of the Yupura; but the original Auto or Act to which he refers, as having seen it at Belem, is not dated from the Guayaris, and makes no mention of the high ground, which he adduces as one of the marks whereby to determine the situation. (P. 94—98.) The truth cannot be ascertained, neither would it be of any importance if it could. At that time there would have been no use in marking a boundary between the Spanish and Portugueze conquests in these parts; and it appears by the Auto itself, (which Berredo has printed.) that Teixeira had no such intention, but that he chose this place, according to his instructions, as the best he had seen for forming a settlement. Condamine, with no very excusable negligence, reasons from an implied construction of Acuña, against his explicit language; for he expressly says, that the Ahuaricu was called the Rio del Ouro, and it is from the mouth of Rio do Ouro that the Act is dated.

[page] 587

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Auto in Berredo § 710.

Crown of Portugal in the name of Felipe IV. taking up handfuls of the soil and throwing them in the air, while he proclaimed, that if any person knew of any just cause or impediment, why possession should not thus be taken, he was now to come forward, and state his objection to the public Scribe. No gain-sayer appearing, the Scribe then took of the soil, and gave it into Teixeira's hand, thus making livery and seisin thereof for the Crown of Portugal.

The Omaguas.

Condamine.

The opposite country, between the Napo and the Curaray, which join forty leagues below the land of the Encabellados, was possessed by four tribes, of whom nothing more is mentioned than their names⁶. Eighty leagues below their place of junction, these rivers fall into the Ucayali, then called the Tunguragua, and sixty leagues farther down, Acuña places the tribe of the Omaguas. Orellana had heard of these people, for he speaks of a chief called Aomagua, and a mistake between the names of the chief and the people was easy. Probably they were not at that time settled on the banks of the river; it is not said that he saw them, and had he seen them, it is hardly possible that he should not have noticed the extraordinary fashion of deformity by which they distinguish themselves from other tribes. It was effected by confining the forehead and occiput of their infants between two boards to make them perfectly flat, .. an operation intended to make them resemble the full moon, which is their standard of beauty for the human face. The

⁶ The Abigiras, Jurussúnez, Zapatás, and Yquitás.

[page] 588

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Ribeiro. MSS.

Acuna.

Ribeiro. MSS.

skull in consequence grows out at the sides, and resembles an ill-made mitre more than a head. At present the pressing boards are disused, and they mould the head by squeezing it between their hands⁷. From this practice they call themselves Umauas, signifying flat-heads, the word which the Spaniards wrote Omaguas, and for the same reason the Portugueze called them in the Tupi tongue, Cambebas. The fashion was the more remarkable, because the women wore so much hair as to conceal its deformity. It might reasonably have been supposed that this unnatural custom would have stupified them; so far however, were they from having apparently suffered in intellect by this distortion, that both the earliest and latest accounts agree in representing them as the most civilized, rational, and docile tribe upon the whole course of the river. Not many years after Orellana's voyage, a few of them who had been settled in the province of the Quixos under the dominion of the Spaniards, finding the yoke too burthensome, migrated in this direction, found here the main body of their nation, and imparted to them the arts which they had learnt from their masters. They grow cotton and manufacture it, and weave the cloth of so many colours, that other tribes covet it for its beauty, and carry on with them a great traffic for this article. Both sexes

⁷ The Mα о ε ф αλоι of the ancients are said to have propagated this artificial formation. (Hippocrates, quoted by Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, B. 6. C. 10.) This however is most likely erroneous, for certainly it is not propagated by the Omaguas. Hippocrates seems to have spoken from theory; .. the fact was too remote to be within his knowledge. Berredo (§ 719.) mentions an opinion that the Omaguas adopted this fashion, as a not-to-be-mistaken mark of distinction from other nations, that they might never be enslaved on the pretext of being cannibals. But the custom prevailed among them, before any slave hunters had reached this part of the interior.

[page] 589

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. p. 125.

Condamine. p. 70.

are decently clothed; their dress is rudely, yet not inconveniently made, .. an open sack with armholes. Their weapon is the arrow and throwing stick. They kill the bravest of their prisoners, not to devour them, but to rid themselves of a dangerous enemy; the bodies they throw into the river, and keep the heads as trophies. To the others whom they spare, they are unusually affectionate, and if they are asked to sell a captive, the proposal shocks them as something monstrous, which they cannot endure to hear: any thing else they may be induced to part with, but they will not sell a human being. They intoxicate themselves by means of two herbs, the one called by the Spaniards Floripondio, the other in their own tongue Curupa; the drunkenness continues twenty four hours, and as it is said to produce strange visions, probably resembles that of opium. Of the Curupa they make snuff, which they take by a forked reed, inserting the two branches into the two nostrils, and then inhaling it with ridiculous grimaces.

Condamine. 77.

Ribeiro. MSS.

It is from the Omaguas that we have received the Caoutchouc, or Indian rubber. The Portugueze of Para were the first who learnt its use; they made it into shoes, boots, hats, and even garments, its impenetrability to water, making it of the greatest service in a country where the people so often travel through the floods. Bottles of this elastic gum are used by the Omaguas as syringes, .. a use which has only of late years been known in England. It is customary among them to present one to every guest at the beginning of a feast⁸.

When Teixeira performed his voyage, the Omaguas possessed

⁸ They use it perhaps for some display of skill in drinking, .. spirting liquor into their mouths, as the Tupinambas toss the mandioc meal. Many of the lower Spaniards hold the borracha, or leathern bottle, above their heads, and pour a stream from it while they drink.

[page] 590

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. p. 123—4.

The Tucunas.

Ribeiro. MSS.

The Mayurunas.

Ribeiro. MSS.

the islands in the river, for an extent of more than two hundred leagues, their settlements being so numerous, that he scarcely lost sight of one, before another was in view. Some of these islands are of considerable extent, and the nation was at that time very numerous, though they had no possessions on either shore. They were then at war with the Urinas on the South bank, and the Tucunas on the North, .. tribes who are still their enemies. The latter hold the metempsychosis, practise circumcision and excision, and adhere to the worship of a household Idol, which they call Ito-ho, more pertinaciously than any other of the American savages are attached to their superstitious errors. The Portugueze have collected some of them in villages, but it has never been found possible to make them give up their belief in the divinity of these hideous figures. The tribes on this river, have each, for the most part, an external mark to distinguish them: that of the Tucunas is a straight black line from the ears to the nose. The men gird their loins with a cloth made from the bark of a tree which they call Aichama; the women go naked. They are remarkable for their skill in stuffing birds, which they kill with the sarbacan, or blowing cane: many of these beautiful specimens are exacted from them in tribute, and sent to Europe. The Urinas whom Acuña mentions, are called Mayurunas by the Portugueze, and dwell on the river Yauari or Javari. They have the crown of the head bare, the rest bushy; their cheeks and nose pierced in many places, and with thorns stuck through them; arara feathers in the corners of the mouth, and strings of shells pendant from ears, nostrils, and underlip. Their manners are as barbarous as their appearance; they devour their enemies, and their own sick and infirm share the same fate, .. parent, it is said, not sparing child, nor child the parent.

The adventurers rested three days at a village which was in

[page] 591

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. p. 125.

Berredo. § 720.

River Iça.

M. Rodriguez 126.

Berredo. 721.

River Yutay.

the midst of the Omaguas country, and here, though in three degrees South, they found the weather cold, and were fain to put on additional clothing; this they were informed was the ordinary temperature during the months of June, July, and August, when the prevailing wind passes over a range of mountains to the South, which are covered with snow. The great river Putumayo, or Iça, falls into the Orellana from the North, sixteen leagues below this station. Its source is among the mountains near the city of Pasto; and it receives upon its long course, the waters of not less than thirty considerable streams, among others a branch of the Caqueta, which thus connects the two great rivers of Popayan. A few years before Teixeira's voyage, a party of Spaniards attempted to go down it from that province, allured by stories of gold being to be found along its course: but its banks were inhabited by numerous and warlike⁹ tribes, who compelled them with some loss to return; the reports of its riches still continue, but the ferocity of these nations has intimidated any adventurers from again attempting its conquest, or even its discovery. Fifty leagues lower, and on the South, is the mouth of the Yetau or Yutay; it rises in the country towards Cuzco, according to such accounts as the Missionaries have collected, but its¹⁰ course lies through the least known part of South Ame-

⁹ They were the Yurunas (who have been described), Guataycus, Yacatiguaras, Parianas, Ziyus, Atucais, Cunas, and others higher up, whose names Acuña did not hear, except that there were many hordes of a people, whom the Island-Omaguas called Omaguas yete, that is, the true, or original Omaguas.

¹⁰ The names of the inhabitants, as collected by Acuña, are the Tepunas, Guanarus, Ozuanas, Moruas, Naunas, Conomonas, Marianas, and nearest to Peru, a nation of Omaguas, who wore ear and nose-jewels of gold. Acuña supposed, that Orsua's unfortunate expedition had been undertaken in search of their country, and that he missed it, by taking the Eastern branch, instead of the Western where the river divides, and so entering the great stream by the Yurua. But in this he is certainly mistaken. There can be no doubt, that Orsua came down the Huallaga and the Acayali, as appears in the work of Pedro Simon, who in all probability, had before him the journal to which Acosta twice alludes. I have written a chapter concerning this strange expedition, and reluctantly suppress it because of its length: the greater part of Aguirre's history lies out of the limits of my subject, and it could not have been left half-told.

In this part of Acuña's narrative, F. Manuel Rodriguez interpolates an opinion of his own, that the tribes upon the Yetau, are the descendants of those Peruvians who fled with the last Inca, and that they are worthy of having Missionaries go in search of them.

[page] 592

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

River Yurua.

M. Rodriguez. 127.

Berredo. § 722—3.

rica, though it is said to be easily navigable, having sufficient depth, and a gentle stream. The last settlement of the Omaguas was fourteen leagues below the Yetau; it was large and strong, like a frontier place. They were Lords of the river, and for a track of fifty leagues, no settlements were within sight of its banks, such was their superiority. The Curis and Guayrabas on the North, and the Cachiguaras and Tucuris on the South, had their villages in the interior, and came down the lesser branches, and in-shore channels of the river, when they found it necessary to venture there. None of them were seen, till Teixeira came to the Yurua¹¹, twenty-four leagues from the frontier island of the Omaguas, and thirty-eight from the Yetau. According to what Acuña understood from the Indians, these two rivers proceeded from one source, forming a Delta with the Orellana, into which they fall.

The Curiciraris.

Twenty leagues lower down, the territory of the Curiciraris began, on the South bank, and in a mountainous country; it

¹¹ Acuña would fain have this river called the Rio del Cuzco, because he had seen a chart, or direction, as he calls it, of Orellana's, in which it was described as running North and South from that city.

[page] 593

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 127—.

Berredo. 724—5.

extended eighty leagues. This was a populous tribe; their settlements, when farthest apart, were only four hours voyage from one to another, and sometimes they were continuous for the course of half a day. Few of the inhabitants were to be seen; they had fled to the mountains upon a false report that the Portugueze were slaying and enslaving wherever they went. They were the shyest race upon the river, but among the most improved, though they wore no cloathing. Their houses were well stored, and they were excellent potters; in this art, they excelled the Tupinambas, for they not only made jars, pans, and other utensils for such ordinary uses, but even ovens and frying pans; and of all these store was kept for traffic with other tribes. When Teixeira was on his way up the river, he procured at the first village of these people, some golden ornaments which they wore at the ears and nose; they soon perceived how eagerly these trinkets were enquired for, and as no more were seen, it was supposed that they had prudently concealed them. The gold was assayed at Quito, and proved to be of twenty-one carats. Teixeira could not, at that time, learn from whence it came, for want of interpreters; he was provided with them on his return, and collected this account: That a little above, on the Northern side, was the mouth of the Yurupau; the way was up this river, and then across the land for three days journey, to the great river Caqueta, and from thence into the River of Gold, which was called Yquiari, and there at the foot of a sierra, the gold was found in grains, which were beaten into their present form. The people who collected it, were called Yumaguaris, collectors of metal, for the word yuma was applied indiscriminately to gold and to the iron of the strangers; the people who supplied them with it, were the Amanagus. The information thus obtained, was laid down in maps, and many a fruitless expedition was undertaken by the Portugueze in consequence.

4 G

[page] 594

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

River Jupura.

Fourteen leagues below this village they came to the mouth of that river, which, in the Spanish map, is called the Gran Caqueta, but which the Portugueze call Jupurá or Yupurá, as Acuña heard it named upon the spot. It takes this name from the Yupura tribe, and they are so denominated from a fruit of which they make a black and stinking paste for food. This is the river, which in Popayan is said to be the main source of the Orellana; except the Rio Negro, it is the largest stream which joins it, and if the immense body of water which it rolls were not broken by numerous islands, the current would be unnavigable. Its course, like those of the Rio Negro and the Orellana, is from East to West, but it inclines to the South, in Latitude 3° and a few minutes, before it falls into the latter. A month's voyage above the mouth, there are rapids and falls. Between its mouth and these falls, it receives several considerable rivers: on the South, or left hand bank, the Acunaui, Mauarapi, Yuamiaui, Yuamemerim, and Purui, which is thickly peopled; and the Cunacua and Arapi, from which, by a short portage, there is a communication with the Iça. Above the falls, as far as the Portugueze have navigated it, there are, on the same side, the Cauinari and the Meta, which communicates with the Iça by the Perida. On the right hand side, it receives the little river¹² Maraá, the lake Cumapi, the little river Meuáa, which, by a short portage between their sources, communicates with the Urubaxi, and by that with the Negro, the Puapua and Amaniyu-parana, whose sources are contiguous to that of the Innuvixi, which flows into the Negro, the Uacapu-parana¹³ the Yacarapi, and the

¹² Called erroneously, a lake, by Condamine, who also er in saying, that it communicates with the Urubaxi. Ribeiro, MSS.

¹³ These paranas show, that the Tupi race is found here, unless, which is not so probable, these names have been imposed by the Indians of the Portugueze, or by the Portugueze themselves, in the Tupi tongue.

[page] 595

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Ribeiro. MSS.

Apuaperi, which is well peopled, and communicates with the Uaopes, and thus with the Negro. Above the falls, there are the Muruti-parana, Uania, Ira-parana, and Yari; farther¹⁴ than this has not been explored.

Ribeiro. MSS.

Condamine says, that the Jupura pours itself into the Orellana through eight months, and accordingly it has been so laid down; but Ribeiro, who officially visited the Portugueze settlements in these parts, in the year 1773, ascertained that it has but one. The three channels above it, are streams which flow out of the Orellana into the Jupura; they are called the Auate-parana, signifying the Maize-River, the Manhama, which communicates with it, and the Uaranapu. These channels, which sully by their mixture, the pure waters of the Jupura, greatly facilitate the navigation; there is here neither danger nor difficulty; boats glide in perfect safety with the current, or are impelled against it by the slightest stroke of the oar. They form a thousand windings, through groves which are filled with birds, and meadows which are speckled with innumerable tortoise eggs. The four¹⁵ lower streams issue from the Lakes Amana and Cudayas.

¹⁴ It is by means of the Slave hunters, that this river has been traced so far.

Ribeiro.

¹⁵ Acuña calls two of them branches of the river Araganatuba. They are inhabited, he says, by twenty-one nations; the Yaguanais, Mucunes, Mapianas, Aguainaus, Huirunas, Mariruas, Yamoruas, Teranus, Siguiyas, Guanapuris, Piras, Mopitynus, Yguaranis, Aturiaris, Macaguas, Masipias, Guayacaris, Anduras, Caguaraus, Mariamumas, and Guanibis. According to the notices obtained in the Nuevo Reyno, he says, the Lago Dorado was in the country which these tribes possessed. M. Rodriguez. P. 129.

[page] 596

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

River Tefe.

River Acari coara.

The Jurimauas.

M. Rodriguez. p. 129—30.

Ribeiro. MSS.

Four leagues below the Jupura, the Tefe¹⁶ enters from the South; the Paguanas possessed it higher up, in a hilly country, abounding with pastures. Twenty leagues lower down, and on the same side, is the Acari-coara¹⁷, which forms a bay of great extent, before its clear waters mingle with the turbid stream. The territory of the Jurimauas¹⁸ began two leagues below the border of the Curuciraris; this last tribe possessed the choicest part of the whole river: these were the most warlike people upon its banks. They inhabited the southern bank, and the islands along an extent of sixty leagues, and were exceedingly numerous; a taller race than the other savages, well-made, and fearless. The Portugueze halted five days at one of their cities, as it may be called, for the houses extended a league in length, and in each there were four or five families, and sometimes more. Here Teixeira obtained about eight hundred bushels of mandioc flour, making his stock sufficient for the remainder of the voyage. The main body of this tribe dwelt thirty leagues lower down, in a large island formed by an arm of the river, which branched off to meet one of its tributary streams; here, and up this other stream, their settlements were very numerous, and they were feared and respected by all the other tribes. Numerous, however, and brave as they were, they have now entirely disappeared; .. the last remnant of the nation were carried away in the year 1709, by some Spanish Jesuits, to a Reduction.

¹⁶ The Tapi of Acuña.

¹⁷ The Catua of Acuña; both are laid down in the map, but Acuña's account confirms the authority of the Portugueze writers who identify them; for he expressly speaks of this lake or bay, which it forms at its mouth.

¹⁸ Yoriman this word is called in Manuel Rodriguez. Acuña probably wrote Yoriman.

[page] 597

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

River Perus.

M. Rodriguez. 130.

Ribeiro. MSS.

The next considerable river is the Yanapuary, now called the Perus by the Portugueze¹⁹, having been named, like many others, from the tribe which was most powerful upon its banks. It flows into the Orellana on its Southern side through four channels, and is navigable, though there are rocks in its course. Lying information was given here of a tribe called Curigueres, who dwelt two months voyage up the stream, and were sixteen palms in height, and brave in proportion to their gigantic stature. There were some Indians who said they had seen them, and offered to guide the Portugueze to their country, saying, as if to tempt them, that these naked giants wore ear and nose-pendants of gold, of size it is to be presumed, suitable to such ears and noses. The Perus, who gave name to the river, are remarkable for their obstinate expiatory fasts, during which no state of infirmity or disease is admitted as an excuse for relaxation, and numbers actually die of abstinence from food. Those who have been collected in villages by the Portugueze, are compelled to eat by force at these times, for the Missionaries have not weaned them from the custom. Of all the rivers which enter the Orellana, this is the most productive of cacao or cocoa, as we corruptly and inconveniently call it, salsaparilla and copaiba-gum; but it is no longer populous, for its tribes have been thinned by the continual incursions of the Muras; savages who are the scourge of this river, and who are probably the same as the Aymores, from whom the Southern Captaincies of Brazil suffered so dreadfully in former times.

¹⁹ The Cuchiguara of Acuña, doubtless the same word as Cochiuvara, by which one of its channels is still called. This was the name of one of its tribes; the others were the Cumayaris, Guaquiaris, Cuyaciyayanes, Curucuruz, Quatausis, Mutuanis, and the Curigueres who are the children of Anak, mentioned in the text.

[page] 598

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Caripunas and Zurinas.

Their sculptors.

M. Rodriguez. p. 130.

Below the mouth of this river, the Southern bank was possessed by the Caripunas and Zurinas, tribes remarkable for their skill in carving. Their ordinary seats were cut into the shape of some animal, and the Portugueze equally admired the excellent ingenuity with which they were carved, and the convenient seat which they afforded. Their little idols, says Acuña, are so naturally made that our sculptors would have much to learn before they could imitate them: .. he spoke indeed only of such sculptors as those whose trade it was to make Saints and Crucifixes; but even this implies a degree of skill rarely found among savages. Their weapon was the throwing stick, which they manufactured with such nicety, as to render it in great demand among the adjoining tribes.

River Negro.

Sixty leagues below the Perus, the Rio Negro enters from the North. The course of this river, the greatest of all the tributary streams, and the wide track of country which it lays open, will be described hereafter, in treating of the Portugueze settlements in those parts. Acuña estimates the breadth at its mouth to be a league and half; an extraordinary miscalculation, for it does not exceed a mile, though in some parts of its course it spreads to the prodigious breadth of seven and eight leagues. The native name of this river is Guiari, and higher up, the Ueneya. The Portugueze call it the Black²⁰, from the darkness of its waters, which because of their depth and clearness, appear to be of that colour when they join the turbid Orellana. The conflict of these two mighty rivers is tremendous. The Negro rolls right across the current of the other, and for many leagues its

²⁰ Curana which according to Acuña some of the natives called it, has the same meaning. Another name by which he says it was called, is Curiguacuru.

[page] 599

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

clear stream may be distinguished before it mingles and is defiled.

Communication between the Orellana and Orinoco known.

M. Rodriguez. p. 132.

Up this river, and one which falls into it, and was called Parana-meri, or the little river, Acuña heard that there were many nations²¹, the remotest of whom wore garments and hats, from which he concluded that this fashion was learnt in consequence of their vicinity to some Spanish city. One of its branches, he was told, communicated with another great river which fell into the North Atlantic, and upon which the Dutch were settling; this he concluded to be the Rio de Felipe, whose mouth was called the Sea of Sweet Water, that being the first stream of any magnitude near the Cabo de Norte, and by which, according to him, Aguirre had entered the ocean. The Orinoco, he said, it could not possibly be. In this opinion, that there could be no communication between the Orellana and Orinoco, geographers long pertinaciously persisted; but the fact is ascertained beyond all doubt, and it is another proof of the extraordinary intercourse which these tribes carried on with each other, and the extent of their geographical knowledge, that Acuña should have learnt it at so great a distance from the latter river. At the mouth of the Negro he noticed some good situations where fortresses might be built, and stone enough was at hand for building them: but he rather recommended that they should fortify the entrance of the Branco, by which he thought this channel would be closed against the Dutch, and their views of aggrandizement in that direction effectually counteracted²².

²¹ The Caniciures, Aguayras, Yacuncaraes, Cahuayapiris, Manacuras, Iammas, Granamas, Curapanagris, Guarianas, Caguas, Acerabaris and Curupatabas. On the Rio Branco he speaks only of the Guaranaquazanas.

²² In his memorial to the Crown, he recommended that settlements should be formed from the side of Quito, upon the rivers which offer the readiest communication with the great stream. This measure, he said, would prevent the Peruvian Spaniards from smuggling their wealth home by this route, which otherwise they certainly would attempt, not merely for the sake of evading the duties at Cartagena, but also because the danger from pirates would be so much less. His hope however was, that such measures would be taken as should make it the regular way. Another reason which he advanced was, that these outposts would frustrate any schemes of conquest, which the Dutch might form against Peru, in conjunction with the Portugueze, who had failed in their loyalty to his Majesty.' The margin of my copy contains the indignant answer of a Portugueze to this charge; Mente e Padre, .. the Father lies. Memorial in M. Rodriguez. P. 415.

[page] 600

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Oct. 12.

The Portugueze want to make slaves.

Here the Portugueze considered themselves as almost a home, .. a proof that their incursions sometimes extended thus far. And what were they to take home with them after all their toils? They had now expended two years upon this expedition, they had found no gold, they had made no conquests, and as for the merits of the discovery, they complained, not without truth, that such merits were of little avail at the Court of Madrid, for many who had undergone like dangers, and been prodigal of their blood as well as exertion for the advancement of the dominions of Spain, had been left to die upon a dunghill, having none to relieve them. With these complaints they went to Teixeira, and besought him, seeing the wind was fair, to let them enter the Negro and get slaves, which would repay them for their difficulties. It would be infamous, they said, to return home without any booty; the Indians of Para would account them cowards if they passed through whole provinces without making one prisoner among the tribes, who came down to their very door to make slaves of them, their allies. Teixeira saw that his men were ready to mutiny if he refused this licence, and therefore granted it. But the two Jesuits interfered as became them. They first celebrated mass, and then entered a protest against this violent injustice. The Commander, who had only

[page] 601

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Acuna. c. 66. 67.

M. Rodriguez. 132.

yielded to what he disapproved, because he feared that he should not have power to prevent it, was well pleased to find his inclination supported by the authority of these Priests, whose rank as well as character gave them great influence. He ordered their protest to be proclaimed through the fleet, and at the same time commanded his men, who had already entered the Negro, to return; an order, which, however reluctantly, they obeyed.

River Madeira.

M. Rodriguez. 132.

The next river which comes from the South, was called by the natives the Cuyari²³; but when Teixeira past it on his way up, he gave it the name of Madeira, from the quantity of wood which he then saw floating down it. The course of the Madeira, which among the secondary rivers of South America, is one of the most important, will be described hereafter. Acuña concluded by the intelligence which he collected from some Tupinambas who had descended it, that the shortest communication between Spain and Potosi, must be by this stream.

River Saraca.

Below the Madeira, but from the North, the Saraca enters²⁴, having received the Urubu. It communicates with a labyrinth of lakes and channels, but the ground is elevated and therefore not liable to inundations, even when the waters are at the

²³ F. Manuel Rodriguez (P. 133.) advances a curious etymology of this word. "It proves, he says, that the river comes from Peru, for Cuyari is a word of the Inca tongue coming from the verb cuyani to love, which is the amo amas of that language, and hath its elegant modes of conjugation. Cuyari, the name of the river, signifies love me, the river being so goodly a one, that the Indians express their sense of its beauty, by saying, itself tells them to love it."

²⁴ It requires some attention to discover this name in the map of D. Juan de la Cruz, because the engraver has forgotten to reverse it on the plate, and therefore it is reversed in the impression. Acuña calls it the Basururu, and by some oversight, has placed it above the Negro.

4 H

[page] 602

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Dutch tools.

M. Rodriguez. 136.

highest. The natives²⁵ here were provided with iron tools, which they received from tribes who lived nearer the sea, and who got them, they said, from white men like the Portugueze, using the same arms, but differing from them in that their hair was red. By this description it was known that the Dutch were meant²⁶. These tribes lived in a country which abounded with maize, mandioc, and various fruits, and where game of all kinds, and fish were plentiful; they were very numerous, and were rapidly increasing in population.

Tupinambas of the river.

Twenty-eight leagues below the mouth of the Madeira, is a great island which they computed at more than sixty leagues in length: it was possessed by the Tupinambas and called after their name. These people²⁷ spake a language with which all the Brazilian Portugueze were familiar; the accounts therefore which were received came immediately from themselves, and no misapprehension or misrepresentation on the part of an interpreter can have altered its substance. Their forefathers, they said, emigrated from Pernambuco, and the parts adjoining, to

²⁵ Acuña says, they were collectively called Carabuyanas, but were divided into sixteen tribes, the Caraguanas, Pocoanas, Urayaris, Masucaruanas, Quererats, Cotocarianas, Moacaranas, Ororupianas, Quinarupianas, Tuynamalnas, Araguanaynas, Mariguayanas, Yaribarus, Yarucaguacus, Cumaruruayanas, and Ycuruanaris.

²⁶ They had taken possession at this time, according to Acuña, of the mouth of some Rio Dulce, which they, he says, call Philip Hadias. I know not what river is meant. Berredo understands the Dutch of Surinam, § 730.

²⁷ Berredo sneers at the simplicity of Acuña, for believing what he heard here, and denies that these people can have been Tupinambas, who he says, existed at that time nowhere in a body, except upon the Rio dos Tocantins, and about Para. He seems to have forgotten that Teixeira was with the Jesuit, and must have known whether they were Tupinambas or not.

[page] 603

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 134.

escape from the Portugueze. The inhabitants of eighty-four settlements formed and executed this resolution. Their route was along the skirts of a great Cordillera, which was on their left, and they crost at their head the rivers which discharge themselves into the North Sea. So great a multitude could not keep together, because of the difficulty of supporting themselves; some remained in one place, some in another: their fathers wandered on till they came to the Spaniards of Peru, at the head of the Madeira, (that is either of the Beni or more probably one of the branches of the Mamore,) and there they abode for some time, till one of their nation was flogged by a Spaniard for having killed a cow. Revolting at this indignity, they removed once more, came down the stream into the Orellana, and established themselves in this island. Though fewer in number than any other tribe upon the river, such was their tremendous archery, that they had exterminated some, driven others to flight, and reduced to submission all in their vicinity, who did not chuse to encounter the fatigues and dangers of emigration.

Fables reported by these Tupinambas.

Among their Southern neighbours, they said, there were two remarkable races: the Guayacis who were dwarfs, not bigger than little children: and the Mutayces whose feet grew backwards, so that any one who attempted to follow them by their track, would if he were ignorant of this malformation, go farther from them. There is undoubtedly a pleasure in believing extraordinary things, and if the Tupinambas had only heard of these people, it would have been natural enough to repeat the wonder which they believed; but they must have known that they were relating falshoods, for they added, that these people were tributary to them, paying tribute in stone hatchets, which it was their sole employment to make, and which they made with great art. Upon the Northern shore, they said, there were seven well

[page] 604

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 135.

peopled provinces, the people of which lived upon fruits and wild animals, and were of so little courage that they were never at war among themselves, and other tribes despised them too much to make war upon them. This also is as fabulous as the men whose toes were behind them; no tribes can be populous who trust to chance for their food, and no savages have ever existed without war. No nation has ever existed without it. There is but one community of Christians in the world, and that, unhappily, of all communities one of the smallest, enlightened enough to understand the prohibition of war by our divine master in its plain, literal, undeniable sense, and conscientious enough to obey it, subduing the very instinct of nature to obedience. There was another tribe, with whom, when they were at peace, they trafficked for salt, which that tribe procured from others beyond them. This intelligence concerning so necessary an article of consumption, Acuña thought of considerable importance towards the conquest and colonization of the river; but if salt could not be procured by this channel, it might be found, he said, in great abundance upon one of the branches towards Peru, for two adventurers had lately discovered there a whole quarry of rock salt, with which the natives carried on a prosperous traffic.

The Amazons.

From the Tupinambas, Acuña received a confirmation of his previous belief of the Amazons. Inquiry concerning this nation had been made at Quito, of certain Indians who had once dwelt upon the great river; the like inquiries had been made at the city of Pasto in Popayan, and in particular from an Indian woman, who said, that she herself had been in the country of these women. Acuña during the whole voyage repeated this inquiry; no person was ignorant that such a nation existed, and all agreed in the account which they gave. It is not to be believed, says he, that the same lie, bearing such a resemblance to

[page] 605

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 135—6.

truth, should be received among so many tribes, speaking so many different languages, and inhabiting so long a track of country. Here it was, that he obtained the most full and satisfactory details. Six and thirty leagues below the last settlement of the Tupinambas, and on the North, is the mouth of the Cunuris, a river so called, from the first tribe upon its banks. Beyond them were the Apantos, then the Taguaus, and then the Guacaras; these last were the people with whom the Amazons traded, and carried on that intercourse, without which they must else have become extinct. The Guacaras went once a year into their country, which was full of mountains; one bare one rose above all the rest, and was called Yacamiaba. The Amazons, as soon as they saw them coming up the river, went arms in hand to meet them; but as soon as they were satisfied that it was their friends, they entered their canoes, and each taking up the first hammock which she found, carried it to her dwelling, and hung it up there, and the Guacara to whom it belonged, was her mate for the season. One Indian, who said, that in his boyhood he had been with his father on one of these expeditions, affirmed that when the men returned, they took with them all the boys of the preceding year; but it was generally asserted that they were put to death as soon as born; this is what Acuña believed, and if there be any truth in the rest of the history, this is what is most credible, for otherwise there must soon have been an inconvenient disproportion of males to females in the fathers tribe.

Testimonies of the existsence of a tribe of females.

The testimony of Orellana and his Dominican voucher concerning the Amazons, might be suspected; but there is not the slightest reason for doubting the veracity of Acuña: he certainty heard what he has related. The subject is curious, and in a history of this country, it deserves and requires all the investigation which can be made. When Condamine came down the

[page] 606

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Condamine. p. 100.

Ribeiro. MSS.

same river in 1743, he omitted no opportunity of inquiring into it. From all the various tribes along its course, he heard the same story, and all agreed, that these women had retired up the country by the Rio Negro, or one of the streams which flow in the same direction. An Indian of St. Joachim dos Omaguas told him, that perhaps he would find an old man at Coari, whose father had seen the Amazons. At Coari he learnt, that the old man was dead, but he found his son Punilha, then seventy years of age, who was chief of the Indians in that Reduction. His grandfather, he said, was at the settlement of Cochiuvara, one of the mouths of the Perus, when the Amazons passed by, coming from the Caiami, which enters between the Tefe and the Coari: he had spoken with four of them, one of whom had an infant at the breast, and he remembered the names of each. They crost the great river, and went towards the Negro. Condamine omits many details, because he considered them as little probable. It is to be wished that he had repeated them; the improbable is not always false; fiction not unfrequently affords a clue to truth, and even the fables which are invented by an Indian in the heart of South America, are curious in Europe. Ribeiro enquired for Punilha²⁹ in 1774, but as was to be expected, he was dead; he found, however, a man of threescore and ten, who well remembered him, and had often heard from him the same account which he had given to Condamine; and this account he himself strengthened, because he was a native of Cochiuvara, and affirmed that it was a received tradition there, that the Amazons had at that time passed by, on their way to the North, by the Rio Negro.

²⁹ Ribeiro says, his name was Joze da Costa Puuilha, and that he held the office of Sargento Mor da Ordenanca.

[page] 607

CHAP. XVIII. 1640.

Condamine. 102.

Condamine. 101.

Do. 137.

An Indian of Mortigura near Belem, offered to show Condamine a river, up which was the way to the country of the Amazons: it was the Irijo, whose mouth he afterwards passed between Macapa, and the Cabo do Norte. According to this man, the river was to be navigated up to certain falls, then there was a journey of some days through the woods on its western side, and a track of mountains to be crost. Among the Topayos²⁹, Condamine found certain green stones, which had been cut, and some of them formed into the shape of animals, though by what means the Indians could have wrought them, was inexplicable, for they resist the file. Great imaginary virtues have been ascribed to these³⁰ stones; on which account, many of them have found their way to Europe. The Topayos said, they had them from their fathers, and they from the Cougnantainsecouima, the women without husbands. An old soldier at Cayenne, told Condamine, he had been one of a party of discovery, who in 1726, had penetrated to the Amicouanes, a long-eared nation inhabiting the country above the sources of the Oyapoc, and near the head of another river, which runs into the Orellana. The women of this tribe, wore these green stones round their necks, and when they were asked

²⁹ According to him, the Topayos were the then remaining wreck of the Tapinambas of the river. They are probably the Tapajos of the Portugueze.

³⁰ Condamine says, they neither differed in form nor in hardness from the Jade Orientale, and that a treatise had been written upon them, under the name of the Pierre divine. He refers to one of Voiture's Letters to Mlle. Panlet, in which he thanks her for a present of some of these stones, .. the way in which the Frenchman expresses his thanks, is characteristic enough. .. Si les pierres que vous m'avez données, ne peuvent rompre les miennes, elles m'en feront au moins porter la douleur avec patience; & il me semble que je ne me dois jamais plaindre de ma colique, puis qu'elle m'a procuré ce bonheur. (Lett. 23.)

[page] 608

CHAP. XVIII. 1640.

where they got them, replied, from the women who had no husbands, whose country lay seven or eight days journey toward the West.

Condamine. 102.

These accounts, and many others which Condamine collected, but which he did not think it needful to specify, agreed, from whatever quarter they came, in placing the Amazons in the heart of Guiana, the only part of South America which no Europeans have at any time explored. Other accounts, obtained afterwards by two of the Governors of Venezuela, point to the same centre. The reports which the Spaniards heard in Paraguay, assigned them a very different situation; but it must be remembered, that if they removed from that situation to the country which has since been represented as their abode, Cochiuvara, where they are so positively said to have been seen, is in the direct line of their emigration. Condamine, though he thought proof was still wanting of their present existence, could not resist the evidence of their having existed. Ribeiro confirms, and adds to that evidence, yet he regards the whole as a fable. His opinion may be right, but the reason upon which he founds it, is certainly fallacious. He maintains that in such a climate, no community of women could possibly be induced to live apart from the other sex. But he must have perused history, and observed mankind to little purpose, who has not learnt, that political institutions, whatever may be their power of exalting human nature, are capable of moulding, perverting, and even extinguishing its instincts. The argument also, is disgraceful to its author, and inapplicable to its subject; .. if it were true, (which I absolutely deny it to be) it would apply to the nunneries of his own nation, not to the Amazons, who had, like birds, their yearly mating-time. The existence of such a tribe, could it be ascertained, would be honourable to our species, inasmuch as it must have originated

[page] 609

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

in resistance to oppression. The lot of women is usually dreadful among savages; the females of one horde may have perpetrated what the Danaides are said to have done before them, but from a stronger provocation; and if, as is not unfrequent, they had been accustomed to accompany their husbands to battle, there is nothing that can even be thought improbable, in their establishing themselves as an independent race, and securing, by such a system of life, that freedom for their daughters, which they had obtained for themselves. Had we never heard of the Amazons of antiquity, I should, without hesitation, believe in those of America; their existence is not the less likely for that reason, and yet it must be admitted that the probable truth is made to appear suspicious by its resemblance to a known fable.

Rio dos Trombetas.

Berredo. § 732.

Thirty six leagues below the Cunuris and on the north side, Acuña places the Uriximena, now called the Rio dos Trombetas. Here the great stream is so contracted, that its width for an extent of four leagues, does not exceed a mile³¹. So favourable a spot for securing the navigation of the river could not be overlooked, and he observes, that a fortress on each side would effectually command it, and serve also as Custom Houses, where every thing which went up or down might be registered. The Portugueze have a fort on the northern bank, called St. Antonio, which they compute to be seventy-two leagues from the Madeira. The pao cravo, or cinnamon of America, grows plentifully here, and upon all the rivers in this part. Here, at the distance of more than three hundred and sixty leagues from the sea, the tides were distinctly felt.

The Tapajos.

Forty leagues lower on the South, the Rio dos Tapajos enters, a river of great magnitude, called from the tribe in possession of

³¹ Count Pagan calls this the Bosphorus of the river.

4 I

[page] 610

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Kidnapping expedition of young Maciel.

its mouth. This nation was well known to the Portugueze and dreaded by them, for their arrows were venomed with so powerful a poison, that the slightest puncture occasioned inevitable death Attempts had been made to reduce them by pacific means, and persuade them to remove and settle with the domesticated, that is to say, the subjected Indians. To this they were too wary, and too wise to consent; yet they were well inclined to deal with the Portugueze upon friendly terms, and share with them whatever advantages were to be derived from a free intercourse. The flotilla halted at one of their settlements which contained about five hundred families; hammocks, poultry, fish, flour, and fruit were brought in abundance for exchange, and in the whole of this traffic the utmost confidence and good will were manifested by the Tapajos. They offered to welcome the Portugueze if they would come and settle in their lands, and assist them there; but to remove themselves and lose their liberty was a thing not to be thought of. Acuña had the sorrow to find the Portugueze in a fort, which from its appellation (Fuerte del Destierro) must have been an outpost, collecting for an inroad against these unoffending and friendly people. He attempted to dissuade them, and obtained a promise from the Commander of the party to suspend the expedition, till he had seen the Governor. This Commander was young Bento Maciel, as true a bloodhound as his infamous father, who was now Governor, to the misfortune of Para, and had made him Sargento Mor. The young ruffian pledged his word to Acuña, that he would suspend the expedition, and then as soon as the Jesuit was departed, set off upon it. The Tapajos having no hostile intentions, and being thus taken by surprize, accepted the peace which these villains began by proffering, protesting at the same time their good will towards the Portugueze. Young Maciel demanded their arrows, .. they were not in a situation to refuse them. As soon as he had obtained these weapons, he inclosed the men like

[page] 611

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Acuna. c. 74.

sheep in a fold, .. is the indignant expression of Acuña, .. and let loose his allies upon the town. Such were the excesses which they committed, and such their usage of the women, that a Portugueze who in an evil hour had consented to be one of the party, protested to Acuña, that if slaves were thus to be procured, he wished never to possess them, and that he would far rather give up all those whom he already possessed, than be witness a second time to scenes so dreadful.

Acuna. c. 75.

Berredo. § 733.

The men who were in the power of Maciel and his party were not enough: they threatened them with new and unheard of cruelties, if they did not procure them slaves, and promised them liberty if they would ransom themselves. A thousand slaves were bargained for and the Tapajos sent to collect them. Two hundred only could be found, the rest had fled when they saw their masters seized, and the place given up to pillage. This however, was a great booty, and the Portugueze set the masters at liberty, relying so entirely upon the word of these poor savages, that they expected to receive the remaining eight hundred as a debt. They then shipt off their victims for Belem and St. Luiz, and this success tempted other ruffians to prepare for another and greater expedition of the same nature³². The consequence of this intolerable wickedness was, that all the tribes upon this river were made inveterately hostile to such oppressors, and though the Portugueze have long had a fort at its mouth, they had not, when Berredo wrote, which was about the year

³² M. Rodriguez has omitted this story, probably as not pertinent to his main subject. Berredo overlooked it for another reason; he thought slaves necessary, and not caring how they were made, took care on all occasions to keep the atrocity of the traffic out of sight. Accordingly when he mentions the opposiçam forte daquelle gentilismo, he gives no hint of the villainy by which that opposition was provoked.

[page] 612

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. p. 133.

1745, been able to explore it farther than the first falls. Many attempts had been made, for it was believed, that rich mines were to be discovered in the mountains upon its course. Some stones had been found, which from their weight were supposed to contain ore, but the metal, if such it was, evaporated in the furnace. The English in former times made two unsuccessful attempts to establish themselves up this river. In one the whole party was cut off; in the other so many of them fell that the ship was compelled to retreat. The European weapons which had been won in these victories were preserved when Acuña was there.

River Curupatuba.

M. Rodriguez. p. 138.

Berredo. § 734.

Forty leagues below the Rio dos Topajos, and from the opposite shore, the Curupatuba³³ falls in, where the Portugueze had a settlement of subjected natives, called by the name of the river. This stream, which is comparatively of little magnitude, had the reputation of being exceedingly rich. Six days voyage up, the Indians said, great quantity of gold was to be found upon the banks of a little river, which passed along the foot of a mountain ridge, called Yaguaracuru. From a place not far distant, which they called Picuru, a white metal had been dug, which was something harder, and of which knives and axes had formerly been made; but these implements were so soon blunted, that the metal had long been neglected as being of no utility. There were also in these parts two serras, the one of which contained sulphur, the other, which they called Paraguaxo, shone, they said, in the sunshine, and when the moon was bright, as though it were spotted with jewelry; and oftentime explosions were heard upon it, a sign that there were precious stones there; in fact, fine crystals, octagon and triangular, are found there.

³³ Yriquiriqui the natives called it.

[page] 613

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

There are marshes in this direction, which are computed to extend eighty leagues in length, the whole track producing rice as excellent, says Berredo, as that of Venice.

The river Mapau.

M. Rodriguez. § 138.

Sixty leagues farther down, and also on the North, Acuña notices the Ginipape³⁴, which Berredo calls Mapau. Cacao and salsaparilla are produced in abundance upon this river, and such wonders were related of its treasures by the natives, that he remarks, if their reports be true, it is a richer stream than any in Peru, or in the Nuevo Reyno. The Fort do Destierro was six leagues above the mouth of this river; its garrison consisted of three soldiers, a force of little use against the Dutch, who had long coveted the possession of a country, so favourable for the growth of tobacco. An outpost, stationed six and thirty leagues lower down, had been abandoned for the sake of establishing this. Acuña thought its old situation far the best; probably it was so, but Maciel was now Governor of Maranham, and he was far more interested in schemes for kidnapping the natives, than in providing against a dangerous enemy.

They reach Belew.

Here spreading itself in a flat country, and swoln with the waters of six and thirty great rivers, which it has received upon its course, the Orellana appears like a sea, and is divided into infinite channels by islands which have never been numbered. A multiplicity of tribes inhabited them, speaking different languages, but the Tupi was understood by most. Through these labyrinths this mighty current rolls onward to the sea, freshening the ocean for forty leagues off, so that ships may lay in sweet water when far out of sight of land. Teixeira left the

³⁴ The Urubucnara, which falls in above it on the same side, is not noticed by Acuña, though it is a river of equal magnitude.

[page] 614

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 140.

Berredo. § 736—9.

Orellana here and struck to the South across the mouth of the great river Xingu³⁵, which where it discharges itself is two leagues broad. Their course from hence was through the strait of Tanajepuru into the Paraitu, and then through another strait called at present Limoeiro, because its narrowness suggested the idea of confinement, into the mouth of the Rio dos Tocantins. The French used to freight ships, it is said, with earth from the banks of this river, and extract the ore in Europe; but they had been driven thence, and the Portugueze derived as yet no other advantage from their victory, than the removal of such neighbours. Some adventurers of Pernambuco, with a Priest in company, once reached the head of this river from the interior, and attempted to explore it down to its mouth: they were all slain by the Tocantins, and the Priest's chalice had been found among some of these Indians, not long before Teixeira's voyage. From hence the fleet struck into another strait called Igarapemerim, that is to say, the narrow channel for canoes, and this brought them into the Moju, one of the three rivers which form the bay of Belem. Teixeira entered that city on the twelfth of December 1639, and was received with the honors which he deserved.

M. Rodriguez. 104.

Do. 104.

Orellana estimated the course of the river at eighteen hundred leagues; Acuña computed it at twelve hundred and seventy-six from the mouth of the Napo, thirteen hundred and fifty-six, full measure, from its source; but the remotest source is far more distant than that from which he begins his computation. Like absolute Lord of all the other rivers, he says, it sends out arms to collect its due tribute of waters from its subjects, and bring them into the main channel; and such as the guest is, such is the harbinger who goes out to meet him .. to lesser streams a less one, a larger to larger rivers; and when one is to be received

³⁵ The Paranayba of Acuña.

[page] 615

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 105.

of almost equal power, then the great Orellana goes in person with his current to receive it. From the sea to the Rio Negro, the depth in the main channel is no where less than thirty fathom; higher up, it varies from twenty to twelve, and even near to its source, according to Acuña, it is not less than eight. The islands which it forms are too many ever to have been numbered, and of all sizes, very many of four or five leagues in circumference, not a few of ten and twenty, and the great island of the Tupinambas exceeding a hundred. Many of the smaller islands were cultivated by those who inhabited the nearest large ones; and being sometimes inundated, they are remarkably fertile.

Food of the tribes on the River.

Maize and mandioc were the principal vegetable food of the inhabitants; this latter they secured against the regular floods, by burying it in deep pits, so well covered, as to keep out the water. The same root supplied them with their liquor; they formed the flour into thin biscuits, which they kept in the highest part of their dwellings, to be as far from the damp as possible; these they boiled in water, and left to ferment, using it as beverage on all occasions. There was a drinking bout at sowing or setting time, another at harvest; when a guest arrived, this was his welcome; if they rejoiced, they got drunk, and they got drunk if they were sorrowful. Other fermented liquors they made of various wild fruits, and kept them in earthen jars of great capacity, or in wood hollowed into vessels, or in large baskets, knit so closely of fine materials, and caulked so well with gum, as to be effectually water-tight.

The potatoe was among their edible roots; they ate also a sort of³⁶ truffle, which they called papas. They had the plantain, the pine-nut, the cocoa, the date, and a sort of chesnut, so called by Acuña from its prickly husk, but in Peru, known by

³⁶ Criadillas de tierra.

[page] 616

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

Ribeiro. MSS.

the name of almonds of the country, as more resembling that fruit. It is, however, from the water, that these tribes derive the chief part of their sustenance, and there they were supplied with flesh as well as fish. The Manatee is found every where in the Orellana, according to Acuña, even from its sources to the sea. The Portugueze call it Peixe Boy, as the Buccaneers called it the sea cow, from the shape of its head, though it has no horns, and its ears are only two small orifices; the resemblance is in the general form, and in the mouth. The eyes are not bigger than a small pea, though the animal is as large as a horse; amphibious it cannot be called, never quitting the water, for instead of legs, it has only large fins, one on each side of the belly, near the shoulders, where it is largest; from the shoulders, it retains its bigness for about two feet, then gradually lessens to the tail, which is flat; the udders of the female are under these fins. Short hairs, like soft bristles, grow on the skin, which is thick and hard; the natives usually made shields of it, which a musket ball would not easily penetrate. There is another species here, called the oil-river-cow, because its substance consists almost wholly of fat; a single one yields nearly a hundred gallons of oil. The favourite food of the Manatee in this river, is the Caña brava, a plant which floats in the water, being balanced by long and heavy roots, and growing about six palms above the surface; in some of the channels of the Orellana it is so thick as completely to obstruct the navigation. This animal grazes also upon the banks, raising its head above the water for that purpose; yet, though unable to move on shore, it is obliged frequently to rise for breath, as if it were amphibious; and this proves its destruction, for then it is, that the Indians, being on the hunt, harpoon it. They buccaneered its flesh, which they had no other means of preserving; salt they had none; the

[page] 617

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

ashes of a species of palm was their substitute, and this could only be used for savouring food, not for curing it.

M. Rodriguez. § 107.

They had, however, an easy method of keeping by them store of fresh provisions for the winter. When the tortoises came on shore to lay their eggs, they went out to catch them, and by turning them on their backs, secured as many as they wanted: then perforating the shell, they passed a string through, fastened as many together as the string would hold, threw them into the river, and towed them after a canoe. A sort of stew or tank was made ready, formed with stakes set close together, and so well banked up or luted on the inside, as to retain the rain water like a cistern; here they were let loose, and then, according to Acuña, fed with twigs.

M. Rodriguez. § 108.

Their usual mode of killing fish, was by the arrow and throwing stick; the arrow having pierced its mark, served as a buoy. When the waters were low, and the communication between the river and its lagoons was dried up, they pounded one of their creeping plants, and cast it into these lakes, and the fish being speedily intoxicated, rose, and floated. The galvanic eel, called Paraque by the natives, is found in these parts.

The anta and peccary were numerous: the paca, a smaller species of llama, was also found. Acuña mentions deer, and the yguaña, yagoti, and cocia, as good food. Partridges were plentiful. The common fowl had found its way from Peru, and extended from tribe to tribe, along the whole course of the river; .. so soon, even among savages, is any great and obvious benefit communicated. Water fowl were beyond all number. If Orellana wanted food on his voyage, it was only because he was unprovided with the means of obtaining it. Teixeira, who had no enemies to apprehend, and whose business was to survey the river at leisure, anchored every evening, and slept on shore; the first business was to run up wicker huts for the

4 K

[page] 618

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 109.

night, and these were often made of the cacao tree, in such abundance did it grow: then away went the Indians of the fleet, some with dogs to the woodland, others with bow and arrow on the water, and they soon came back, laden with fish and game in such profusion, that Acuña says it reminded him of the miraculous loaves and fishes.

Plague of Insects.

Bibeiro. MSS.

Acuña's was indeed a delightful voyage; the natives on the way had been previously conciliated, and the force with him was sufficient to remove all fear or apprehension whatever. If one boat was injured, or upset, there were others at hand to render assistance. His course also was with the stream. Had he written of the voyage up, he would have had to speak of labyrinthine channels, of strong currents, and of a plague of insects, from which there is no respite, neither by night nor day. Of these the Pium is the most terrible; an insect exceedingly small, but its venomous bite makes a wound the size of a pin's head, accompanied with intense pain; the hands and face will be covered with such wounds in the course of a day, and many persons have died of the inflammation produced by them. Its persecution, however, is confined to the hours of day light, and the slightest covering is a sufficient defence. The Mutuca is a large fly which also makes a wound, and torments only by day. When these persecutors retire, they are succeeded by the Mariuim, creatures almost imperceptibly small, but which inflict a sharp and painful bite: their hour of tormenting is at sunset. The Carapana and Murococa are abroad both day and night, and these will bite through the folds of any cloathing except strong silk; these are the most annoying, because there is no respite from them, but the Pium are the most terrible. The plaisterings and unctions of the Indians defend them against these enemies. In descending the stream, the evil is escaped; boats keep the mid current, and these insects do not venture far from the shore.

[page] 619

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 110.

To the Jesuit, who suffered nothing from this plague, the most harrassing to which man can be exposed, the country appeared like a Paradise, and as such he depictures it. Toward the mountains of Quito, indeed, he complains of the heat; but lower down, there are breezes from the side of the sea, which keep the temperature more grateful. The richness of its vegetable productions was a cause of juster admiration, .. savannahs enriched with the loveliest flowers, and trees to which Europe has none that can be compared, either for beauty, girth, or loftiness. And here, says he, the natives have the best store-house of simples for diseases that has ever yet been discovered. Finer cana-fistula is produced here than in any other part, the best sarsaparilla, the choicest gums and resins; wild honey every where, either for food or medicine, and wax, which, though black, burns as well as any other. Tobacco of the best quality grew spontaneously. Their oil of andiropa is inestimable for wounds; their copaiba surpasses the best balsam. Finally, he concludes, there are here such thousand herbs and trees, that Dioscorides and Pliny would have enough to do to enumerate them. In no place, he informed the Court of Spain, could ships be more commodiously built, nothing but iron was wanting; the bark of certain trees supplied a cordage as strong as hemp; pitch might be made upon the spot, the embira served for tow, cotton grew for sails, and there were men enough for workmen.

Number of Tribes.

The number of different tribes who then inhabited the river, he estimated at more than a hundred and fifty, all speaking different languages. No long intervals of solitude are mentioned, as in Orellana's time; on the contrary, it is stated, that these nations bordered so closely on each other, that in many places the sound of the axe in the villages of the one, could be heard by the other. Yet, notwithstanding this close neighbourhood, they lived in a state of perpetual war; otherwise, wide as the

[page] 620

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 115.

land was, he thought it would have been insufficient to maintain them all. He had forgotten, that while the banks of the rivers were frequented for the sake of fish, the interior was left desert. Many of these tribes fled at the approach of the Portugueze flotilla: none offered any hostility. Their flight was easy and effectual: as soon as they reached the land, they caught up their light canoes, ran with them to the nearest lake or lagoon, embarked again, and thus baffled all pursuit.

The Throwing stick.

M. Rodriguez. § 116.

Their common weapon was the throwing-stick, called estolica, which was used by the Peruvians. It is described as flat, between four and five feet long, and three fingers broad; at the end a bone rest was fixed; against this, they took such certain aim, that if a tortoise put forth his head, they could instantly transfix it. The bow and arrow, however, were more formidable arms. Some used shields of closely platted cane; these were not so good as those which were made of the manatee skin. Their canoes were of cedar, and the river saved them all trouble of felling timber for them. Torn up by the floods, these huge trees came floating down the stream, and the Indian had only to cast a hook upon one, as it was drifting along, and fasten it to his hut, till the waters abated, and left it dry. Tortoise-shell served for hatchets; the strongest part of the shell, which is what may be described as being between the shoulders, was used as the blade; a jaw bone of the manatee served for handle, and with such tools as these, they made tables, seats, and other things, as well as if they had employed the best iron instruments, though not as easily. Some tribes had stone axes, which did the work more expeditiously. The teeth and tusks of animals served them for chissels, planes, and wimbles.

Their Idols.

They had idols of their own making, each distinguished by some fit symbol, as the God of the River, by a fish in his hand: another was supposed to preside over their seeds and harvests

[page] 621

CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

M. Rodriguez. 117.

a third to be the giver of victory. No ceremonies of adoration were in use: the Idols lay neglected in a corner, till they were wanted for seed time, or fishing, or war. Idolaters are always disposed to add to the number of their divinities. A chief who entertained Teixeira on his way, was greatly impressed with the power of the Portugueze Gods, because they had preserved the flotilla during so long a voyage, and he besought the Commander to leave him one, who might protect him and his people, and succour them in their need. Another Indian, who, avowing his contempt for Idols, had set himself up as an object of worship, was invited by the Portugueze to the knowledge of the true God. He came at their request, to be instructed, but when he found that their God was not visible, returned unpersuaded, and continued his claims to adoration, either in insanity, or fraud.

Their Conjurors.

M. Rodriguez. 117.

Every where they had their Conjurors: there is no stage of society, in which some persons are not found, artful enough to prey upon the credulity of others. These impostors were regarded with such veneration, that their bones were preserved in the hammock which they had used when living, and suspended in a house set apart for the purpose. Some buried the dead in their dwelling; others burnt them, and threw whatever had belonged to the departed, into the same fire; but whatever was the mode, the obsequies continued for many days, and were every where celebrated with drunkenness.

In general, the tribes upon the Orellana were less dark of complexion than the Brazilian nations. They were well made and of good stature, of quick understanding, docile, and disposed to receive any instruction from their guests, and render them any assistance. The allies of the Portugueze, who had learnt from their masters nothing but insolence, new vices, and new modes of mischief, repeatedly injured these unoffending

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CHAP. XVIII. 1639.

people, but no vengeance was attempted, .. a forbearance attributable to their prudence, not to any want of vindictive feeling. Acuña speaks with righteous abhorrence of the system which the Portugueze carried on against them. That his representations would have made any effectual impression upon the Government, is not very probable; and before he reached Madrid, that Revolution was accomplished which restored the crown of Portugal to its true claimant. The navigation of the Orellana was now no longer of consequence to the Spaniards, and the Portugueze had no leisure to profit by it; but the information which had been obtained by Teixeira's voyage, was of use in better times.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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NOTES.

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NOTES.

1. Maranham, p. 6.] Vieyra seems to consider the word as an augmentative of Mar, given to the river on account of its magnitude. Por isso, he says, os naturacs lhe chamam Para, e os Portuguezes Maranham, que tudo quer dizer mar e mar grande. Sermoens, t. 3. p. 409.

Elsewhere (t. 4. p. 428.) he miswrites one of its names for the sake of punning upon it. Outros lhe chamam Rio das Almazonas; mas eu lhe chamo Rio das Almazinhas, .. nam por serem menores, nem de menos preço, (pois todas custaram o mesmo) mas pelo desemparo & desprezo com que estam perdendo.

2. Cassia-festola, p. 3.] In 1574, when Monardes wrote, cana-fistola came in such quantities from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, 'that not onely all Spayne is provided of it, but all Europe and well neere all the worlde; for that unto Levant from whence it was accustomably brought, now there goeth moe shippes laden with it, than come with Iron from Biskey.' ff. 21.

It formerly came from Alexandria by way of Venice. Do. ff. 106.

3. Gum anime, p. 8.] Gum anime had hitherto been brought from the Levant; 'of which anime, Hermolaus Barbarus*, a man most excellently learned, dooth saye, that it is gathered about the place where incense is found, and that lande or soyle is called Animitin, and therefore the thing is called anime. This which came from America was whiter and brighter, insomuche that some doo say, that it is spice of Charabe or succino, which is called amber congeled, wherewith they do make beades.' Monardes. ff. 2.

4. The under lip slit, p. 11.] Vancouver was much struck with this fashion of a supplementary mouth, which he found in Restoration Bay, on the West coast of America, with some additional ornaments. "A horizontal incision, he says, is made about three tenths of an inch below the upper part of the under lip, extending from one corner of the mouth to the other, entirely through the flesh; this orifice is then by degrees stretched sufficiently to admit an ornament made of wood, which is confined close to the gums of the lower jaw, and whose external surface projects horizontally. These wooden ornaments are oval, and resemble a small oval platter or dish made concave on both sides; they are of various sizes, but the smallest I was able to procure was about two inches and a half; the largest was three inches and four tenths in length, and an inch and half broad; the others decreased in breadth in proportion to their length. They are about four tenths of an inch in thickness, and have a groove

* A Barbarian Author, with the translator, John Frampton, in the margin.

4 L

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along the middle of the outside edge for the purpose of receiving the divided lip. These hideous appendages are made of fir and neatly polished, but present a most unnatural appearance, and are a species of deformity and an instance of human absurdity, that would scarcely be credited, without ocular truth. Vol. 4. 36.

5. Looking glasses, p. 12.] This is now become so essential to the happiness of a savage, that Adair says, the North American Indian takes a looking glass, with some red paint, in all his journies, though he carries nothing else, except his weapons. P. 17.

It proved a fatal possession to the Cherokees when the small pox raged among them about 1738, for 'being naturally proud, says Adair, they are always peeping into their looking-glasses, and are never genteely drest, according to their mode, without carrying one hung over their shoulders. By which means seeing themselves disfigured, (those who recovered from the disease) without hope of regaining their former beauty; some shot themselves, others cut their throats, some stabbed themselves with knives, and others with sharp pointed canes; many threw themselves with sudden madness into the fire, and there slowly expired, as if they had been utterly divested of the native power of feeling pain.

'I remember in Tymáse, one of their towns, about ten miles above the present Fort Prince George, a great head warrior, who murdered a white man thirty miles below Cheeowhee, as was proved by the branded deer-skins he produced afterward, .. when he saw himself disfigured by the small pox, he chose to die, that he might end, as he imagined his shame. When his relations knew his desperate design, they narrowly watched him and took away every sharp instrument from him.

'When he found he was balked of his intention, he fretted and said the worst things their language could express, and shewed all the symptoms of a desperate person enraged at his disappointment, and forced to live and see his ignominy; he then darted himself against the wall, with all his remaining vigour, .. his strength being expended by the force of his friends opposition, he fell sullenly on the bed, as if by those violent struggles he was overcome, and wanted to repese himself. His relations through tenderness, left him to his rest; but as soon as they went away, he raised himself, and after a tedious search, finding nothing but a thick and round hoe-helve, he took the fatal instrument, and having fixed one end of it in the ground, he repeatedly threw himself on it, till he forced it down his throat, when he immediately expired. He was buried in silence, without the least mourning.' Adair. p. 233.

In the Anciennes Relations of the Mahommedan Travellers, there is a like story of an Oriental Prince, .. who contemplating himself in the glass after the small pox, turned to his nephew and said, It never happened to any person but me to remain in his body after such a change. But this body is only like a bladder full of air, and the soul when it leaves it, passes into another. Mount you the throne, for I shall separate my soul and body, .. till I return in another form. Upon which he called for a sharp scymeter, and made his nephew strike off his head. P. 85.

6. Brazil, p. 21.] According to Hervas (t. 1. p. 109. Note 2.) this wood was known in the year 1198. His reference is Antiq. Italicæ a Lud. Muratorio. Mediolani. 1783. fol. Vol. 6. en Vol. 2. disert 30. col. 898. But the passage has been searched for by one of my friends, without success. Mr. Pinkerton says, Chaucer mentions the wood; .. this passage also, for want of verbal indexes, I have not been able to discover. M. Renaudot twice uses the word in the Anciennes Relations de deux Voyageurs Mahometans. p. 5. 117. It is there spoken of as growing in what he calls the isles of Ramni, (some of the Malay Isles,) and as an article of commerce in the Red Sea. But it is not stated what is the word in the original Arabic, nor is there any note upon the passage.

The name by which the Tupis called the tree, is Araboutan, according to De Lery. It grows as high and branches as widely as our oaks, and equals their ordinary girth. He observes that it is a very dry wood, and emits little smoke. Some of his clothes were washed in a lye of its ashes, and they were stained with a durable red.

A ship could not have laid in a load of Brazil in a year without the help of the natives; for it is exceedingly hard, and as they had no cattle for draught, was brought down to the shore upon mens' shoulders. I suppose wheel-carriages drawn by men were not thought of, because roads would then have been necessary. Its use seems to have been superseded by logwood.

How is it, said an old Tupinamba to De Lery that you Mairs and Peros come so far to fetch

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wood? have you none for burning in your own country? Plenty, answered De Lery, but none of the same kind as yours; and we do not want it for burning, as you suppose, but for dyeing, just as you dye your cotton cords and your feathers. But, rejoined the Indian, why do you want so much of it? De Lery thought to astonish him, and impress him with reverence for the prodigious wealth of the French, by saying, that among his countrymen one man possessed more red cloth, more knives, scissars, and looking glasses, than all which were brought to Brazil, and that this one man bought all the wood which all the ships carried honre. Wonderful! cried the old Tupinamba: and paused a little to think upon what he had heard. Presently he said, And this man who has all these things, does not he die? Certainly, replied De Lery, he dies like other men. And who has all that he leaves behind him? His children, said De Lery, if he has any; otherwise his brothers and sisters, or his nearest kin. Truly then, quoth the Tupinamba, you Mairs are remarkable fools. For, why should you endure all the hardships which you tell us of in crossing the sea, to get these things for your children or those relations who shall come after you? The same earth which supports you, would it not support them also? We also have our children and our kin, and we love them, as thou seest, with exceeding love: but we know that as this earth supports us, it will in like manner support them when we are gone, and with this we are contented.'

C. 13.

7. Parrots, p. 22.] It appears that Parrots were eaten medicinally. 'A gentleman, says Monardes, which came from the firm land, certifieth me, that having had certain continual agues in that country, he came to be in consumption, and was counsailed to go to certain Islands, which are between Puerto Rico and the Margareta, for that there is in them great quantyties of Crabs, and they are the best of the world, because they are maintained by Pigions eggs, which goe thither to lay, and of the young Pigions which are there, and that he should eat no other thing but these Crabs sodden and he was healed very well: and although he hadeaten much flesh of Popingies for that purpose, they did not him so much good, as the Crabs did: and in them that are consumed, they have a great property, as Auenzoar saith, and not only they profit much by manifest quality or degree, but also by their particular properties which they have for the same purpose.' ff. 94.

8. Monkeys were brought home, p. 22.] The practice of keeping monkeys was formerly much more common than at present. See Mr. Douce's Illustrations. Vol. 2. 36.

Acosta (l. 4. c. 39.) after telling a few anecdotes of the monkey, concludes, con solo bendezir al autor de toda criatura, pues para sola recreacion de los hombres, y entretenimiento donoso, parece aver hecho un genero de animal que todo es de reyr, o para mover a risa; .. with blessing the Maker of all Creatures for having created this animal on purpose to amuse man with his tricks.

Dr. Monardes in his 'First Part of the Things that are brought from the West Indias,' mentions in the list of commodities which were imported, 'Popingaies, Griffons, Apes, Lions, Ger faucons, and other kinds of Hawkes, Tiger's wool,' &c. (English Translation. ff. 1.) There must be some mistake of the translator here, which for want of the original I am not able to explain.

9. Christovam Jaqucs, p. 29.] Labat says these French ships were found in the River Paraguay, which has since been called the Plata, .. and to this double mistake he adds the gratuitous fals-hood of stating the Portugueze force at eight well armed vessels.

Voyage de Ch. Des Marchais, 3. 73.

10. Some of them swam after the ship, p. 31.] So at Senegal, where according to Durand, when a settler embarks for Europe, the woman who has lived with him as his wife (excellent wives they are), accompanies him to the shore, and sometimes swims after the ship as far as her strength permits her: She gathers up the sand on which the impression of his last footsteps has been left, and wraps it up, and lays it at the foot of her bed. Ch. 12.

11. No kine could be kept, p. 40.] Stedman (Vol. 1. 336.) mentions the duncane as it is called by the negroes of Surinam. It is a shrub with a large green leaf, something like that of the English dock; it grows in low and marshy places, and is instant death to whatever animal eats of its leaves. Sheep and bullocks are said to be remarkably fond of it, though most animals, he adds, know, it is said, instinctively how to distinguish their food from their poison. .. But neither sheep nor kine are natural inhabitants of Guiana.

12. The Tupiniquins, p. 40.] When Jan de Laet wrote, the Tupiniquins were ad summum paucitatem redacti. He says, they had been of all the

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Savages, the most irreligious, the most obstinate, and the most vindictive. This is in direct contradiction to the character given them by the Author of the Noticias, who is better, as well as elder authority, because he wrote from what he had seen and learnt in the country; but perhaps Laet's language may be construed to mean, that they took part with the Portugueze, against the Dutch.

13. Lucas Giraldes, p. 41.] Ramusio, as quoted by Bandini, has printed a dissertation upon the Voyage of Hanno, said to be the work of a Portugueze Pilot, which contains this remarkable passage: è vietato il poter navigare oltra il capo di Buona Speranza a diritta linea verso il polo Antartico, dove è opinione appresso tutti i Piloti Portughesi, che vi sia un grandissimo continente di terra firma, la qual corra a levante e fonente sotto il polo Antartico: e dicono, che altre volto uno excellente uomo Fiorentino detto Amerigo Vespuccio, con certe navi Re la trovò, e scorse per grande spazio, ma che da poi è stato proibito che alcun vi possa andare. Bandini, p. lx.

It is scarcely possible, that this could have been written by a Portugueze. The words excellente uomo look as if they came from an Italian, partial to his countrymen, who, when he said that no one was permitted to go to Brazil, meant no Italian. Bandini unaccountably supposes this passage to imply that the art of doubling the cape had been almost again forgotten. It is the more remarkable, because so many Italians appear among the earliest settlers in the colonies.

14. The contagious spirit of adventure, p. 58.] A very interesting instance of this spirit is recorded by the old translator of Gomara.

Not long since, right Honorable, I happened to travayle from the famous Cittie of Tolledo in Spayne, towarde highe Castile, and by fortune overtooke an auncient Gentleman, worshipfully accompanied, unto whom I was so bold as to approach, beseeching his worship to advertise me of his journey: who, after he had beheld my white head and beard, answered ful gentlely, that his intent was to travayle unto the king of Spayne's Court, and welcomed me unto his company. In shorte space that we had journeyed togither, and communed of each other his country, it pleased him to say as followeth: My good friende, if you knew my sute unto the King's majestie, you would judge that I were a madman, and therefore to shorten oure way, I will declare my attempted sute unto you. You shall understande, that I am a Gentleman of seventy years of age, and sometimes I served in the civill warres of Pirru, where I was wounded in divers parts of my body, and am now thereby lame in one of my legges and shoulder. I have neyther wife nor childe, and at this presente, God be praised! I have, in the Contractation house in the Citie of Sivill, in golde and plate, the summe of thirtie thousande Duckates, and I have also in Pirru in good lands and possessions the yearely rent of twelve thousande Duchates, whiche rentes and ready money is sufficients to maintayne a poore Gentleman. But al this notwithstanding, I do now unto the King's majestie, to have licence and authoritie to discover and conquere a certayne parte of India, whyche adjoyneth with Brazile, and is part of the Empire of Pirru, I pray you nowe declare what you thinke of my sute. By my troth, sir, quoth I, I trust your worship will pardon a rash and suddaine judgement, which you now demand at my hand: yea truly, quoth he, say what you list. Then, quoth I, my opinion is, that you are not wel in your wit, for what would you have? wil not reason suffice you? or else would you now in your old days be an Empereur, considering that your Sepulchre attendeth for you. Nowe truly I thanke you, quoth he, for of your judgement are most men: but I say unto you, considering that all flesh must finish, I seeke for no quiet rest in this transitorie life; yea, the wise and Xtian Doctors do teach and admonish, that every true Xtian is borne, not for his owne private wealth and pleasure, but rather to help and succoure others, his poore brethren. Likewise doe I consider the greate number of Gentlemen, younger brethren, and other valiant persons, who, through want of living, do fall into many disorders. Wherefore to accomplish my dutie toward God and my Prince, and to releeve such poore Gentlemen, do I now attempte this journey, with the adventure of my bodye and goodes; and for that purpose, I have in readinesse foure tall Shippes, well furnished in the port of San Lucar de Barramada, hoping assuredlye, that before the life depart from my body, to heare these valiante young Gentlemen, whome now I meane to have in my company, say, oh happiest day, when old Zarate, for so is my name, broughte us from penurie; yea, and from a number of perils that we were likely to fall into. I hope also, that the royall estate of my Prince, shall be, by my paynes and poore service, enlarged: beleeve you me, this is the only sumptuous Tumbe that

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I pretende to builde for my poore carkas. But yet I know there are some, unto whome I may compare the Bore that lyeth wallowyng in his stye, who will not lette to saye, what neede we any other world, honor or kingdomes? let us be contented with that we have: who may easily be answered, Sir glutton, your paunch is full, and little care you for the glory of God, honor of your Prince, neyther the neede and necessitie of your poore nayboures. With this conclusion, the Gentleman ended his tale, the judgement whereof I leave to noble Gentlemen, his peeres, to be determined.

Epistle dedicatory to Sir Francis Walsingham, prefixed to the conquest of the Weast India, translated by Thomas Nicholas.

15. A wood of incense trees, p. 77.] Montaña in the accounts of Spanish America, has a different meaning from what it bears in Spain, and always means woodland, .. thick forests. A mountain is called cerro and cuesta; ridges of mountains, cordillera; and if wooded, cordillera de montaña. These terms are explained by P. Manuel Rodriguez. El Maranon y Amaz mas. l. 1. c. 4.

16. Buenos Ayres, p. 59.] Sancho del Campo, the admiral of Mendoza's expedition, is said to have occasioned the name of the New Town, by exclaiming when he landed, que buenos ayres son estos, .. escaped from the foul smell of his ship, and breathing the fresh land air on a fine day.

Dobrizhoffer. t. 1. p. 5.

17. Mendoza, 64.] The Santa Anna, in which Mendoza went out and returned, was destined to be the Commander's ship in an after expedition of equal magnitude, and even more unfortunate. Hernando de Soto purchased it at the Havannah, when he was on his way to Florida. It was so large a vessel that eighty horses were stowed on board. El Inca Garcilaso. l. 1. c. 13.

18. A serpent worthy to have stopt a second army, p. 64.] The old writers upon this side of south America, relate a strange fable concerning the great snake, which Charlevoix boldly repeats. That when this monster has swallowed an anta, or any other of the larger animals, it is unable to digest it, and lies down in the sun till the carcase putrifies, and the birds called urubus come and devour both it and the snake, picking the flesh of the snake to the back bone, till only back bone, head and tail be left, .. then the flesh grows again over this living skeleton, and the snake becomes as active as before. Noticias de Brazil. 2. 46.

One Jorge Lopes, the Almoxarife of St. Vicente, took great pains to verify this, and it was supposed to be established by the testimony which he collected. His own testimony is good for nothing, for he affirmed that he had found one of these snakes coiled round three Indians, and preparing to devour them; that by wounding the reptile in the head and tail he had disabled, and then killed it; that it was sixty palms in length, and had four pigs in its inside. There can, however, be no doubt that snakes of a greater size have been found.

I know not whether it is Gumilla, or his French translator, who describes the Boa, lying in the sun, with the horns of a stag whom he has swallowed, sticking out on each side the mouth, and serving him for mustachios. c. 39.

19. For two months it rained day and night, p. 80.] There grows a tree in these rainy provinces, which is not unlike the ash in appearance, .. the wood is white and remarkably dry, so that immediately when cut, it burns like a torch, till it is entirely consumed. Enteramente nos dio la vida hallar esta madera. .. the discovery of this wood absolutely saved our lives, says Pedro de Cieça. ff. 26. This must be the Espinillo or Yandubay of Azara. t. 1. p. 109.

P. Manuel Rodriguez supposes that this unwholesome region of perpetual rain was not inhabited by choice, but by tribes who fled there from the yoke of the Incas; who, like the Mexican kings, were so fond of tribute that they exacted a weekly quota of vermin from some of their subjects. El Marañon y Amazonas. l. 1. c. 4.

A good book concerning Peru is still wanting. There are sufficient materials, but those writers who have panegyrized the Peruvians, and those who have depreciated them, have been equally deficient in research.

20. Gonzalo Pizarro's cruelty, p. 80.] Above an hundred years afterwards, when the first Jesuit Missionaries entered these parts, many Indians fled as soon as they heard of their coming, so fresh was the memory of Pizarro's cruelties.

M. Rodriguez. El Maranon. 3. 2.

21. The 88.] Gumilla, whose head was full of all odd theories, never could be persuaded to taste a yguana, though he saw every body else eat it; because he had found, that if you pinched

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it by the neck, made it open its mouth, and then put in some chewed tobacco, the creature died. Snakes died under the same experiment, and therefore he concluded that snakes and yguanas were of the same species. c. 47. It would have been easy to prove him of the same species as an ass by the same logic.

22. Maize, 107.] Maiz and Chicha, according to Acosta (l. 5. c. 13.) must have been Haytian words, as they did not belong to any known language in the Indies. So also was Cu, the word by which they called the Mexican temples.

In Peru they had discovered the art of malting their maize, .. the beer which was made from it was called Sora, and was prohibited, as producing more violent drunkenness than their other liquors. That which intoxicated least was made from toasted maize. Acosta. 4. 16.

23. Potatoes, p. 108.] In the Elvas Fidalgo's account of Soto's expedition (c. 5.) it appears that potatoes were at that time (1538) used in the Azores.

I take the Batatas (potatoes) says Monardes, (ff. 104) for a vittaile of muche substance, and that these are in the middest betweene flesh and fruite. Truth it is, that they be windie, but that is taken from them by roasting, chiefly if they bee put into fine wyne: there is made of them, conserves very excellent, as marmalade, and small morselles, and they make potages and brothes, and cakes of them very excellent: they are subject that there be made of them, any manner of conserve, and any manner of meat: there be so many in Spaine, that they bring from Velez Malaga every yeare to Seville tenne to twelve carvelles laden with them. They be sowen of the same plantes that are sette, the smallest of them, or peeces of the greatest, in the earth that is well tilled, and they grow very well, and in eight monthes, the roots waxe very grosse, so that you may eat of them. They be temperate, and being roasted, or otherwise drest, they soften the bellie, and being raw, they are not good to be eaten, because they are windie, and hard of digestion.

24. The stone pine, p. 108.] Falkner describes this pine as growing on the Cordilleras of Chile. The wood, he says, is harder than ours, very white, and very durable. The cone twice as large as what the Spanish pines bear; and the pine-nuts* as big as dates, with a very slender shell. The fruit is long and thick, with four blunt corners, as big as two almonds. By boiling these kernels, they make provision for long journies, or to keep at home. Prepared in this manner, they have something of a mealiness, and taste very like a boiled almond, but not so oily. This tree produces a considerable quantity of turpentine, which forms itself into a mass somewhat harder than our regin, but much more clear and transparent, though not so yellow. The Spaniards use it as incense, and call it so. c. 2. p. 50.

Azara calls this tree the Curiy, marking the y with an accent, to express the sound for which, Dobrizhoffer substitutes a new character. The cone, he says, is about the size of a child's head, and the nuts, when roasted, are of a finer flavour than chesnuts. The Jesuits planted them about their reductions, and he recommends that they should be introduced into Europe. This might the more easily be done, as there is a flourishing specimen in a garden at Buenos Ayres.

25. Curculio palmarum, p. 110.] The Guaranos of the Orinoco find these grubs in great numbers in the palms, which they cut down for the sake of their juice, .. after all has been drawn out that will flow, these grubs breed in the incisions, and the trunk produces, as it were, a second crop.

Gumilla, t. 1. c. 9.

Stedman gives prints of two species of the groo-groo, as he calls it, or palm tree worm. The largest grows to the size and thickness of a man's thumb, and is extremely fat. In taste, he says, they partake of all the spices of India. They are of a pale yellow colour, with black heads, .. and certainly of a very disgusting appearance. The fat, when melted and clarified, answers all the purposes of European butter, and he says, he found it more delicious to his taste.

V. 2. 118.

26. Ayolas, p. 73.] Azara asserts that Ayolas penetrated to Peru. t. 2. p. 356. A statement so totally unsupported, would be more excusable

* Those in Spain are not bigger than pistachios.

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if he had not boasted of his own researches, and depreciated the authority of others.

27. The Goaynazes, p. 34.] A horde of the Machicuys, existing at this time in the Gran Chaco, form their habitations under ground. Azara (t. 2. p. 155.) has not mentioned which of their hordes. The Quioaeyeé bears some resemblance in name.

28. A mother rears only one child, p. 119.] I have said in a note upon this passage, that probably only one of each sex was meant. But Azara's Travels have been published since this chapter was printed, and he confirms the fact in its full extent. The consequence is, that some of the fiercest tribes are almost extinct, and of these Guaycurus, .. this noble race, .. a single individual was the only one remaining when Azara left Paraguay. But of the present state of these tribes, a full and most interesting account will appear in the second volume of this History.

29. The Guaycurus, p. 121.] There are tribes on the Orinoco called Guaranas, and Guayquiries; whether these are branches of the Guaycurus and Guaranies, I know not; the names seem to be the same. Gumilla. t. 1.

30. The Palometa, p. 122.] This terrible fish is the Guacarito of Gumilla; the Spaniards call it the Carib fish, from its avidity for human flesh. He speaks of children and men who have been devoured by them. C. 42. The Orinoco tribes who preserve the bones of their dead in baskets, lay the body for a single night in the river, and by the morning these fish make it a perfect skeleton. C. 14.

Stedman calls it the pery, but says, there is no danger from it as long as you continue swimming. He also mentions the use which the Indians make of it in preparing skeletons.

31. Aquatic Tribes, p. 130.] These Aquatic tribes of the Paraguay adapted their mode of life to the country which they inhabited, far better than the Guaraunos of the Orinoco have done, and the Maracaybo Indians, who roost in trees amid the water.

32. Sources of the Paraguay, p. 131.] I have followed the MSS. of a Portugueze Academician who was sent out to determine the limits on that side, and began his expedition from Villa Bella, the Capital of Mato Grosso in 1786. He is probably right, or nearly so, in his observations, for Azara places the sources of this River in 13° 30′. But I suspect the Academician has confounded the Paraguay with the Parana when he says that it rises among the mountains of the Diamond Demarcation. Its springs must be somewhere in the North part of the district of Cuyaba, or between it and the Goyaz.

33. Mandubies, p. 134.] The Mandubi is produced by a shrub which grows to about the height of two feet. It is found in pods, growing from the roots, which are short, slender, and crooked. Some pods contain one, some two nuts, according to the species; they resemble almonds in shape and sweetness, and afford an oil which many persons prefer to that of the olive, or to any other substitute for, or kind of butter, which is to be found in South America. Dobrizhoffer, 1. 467.

34. They delighted to fix upon the ears, p. 135.] The bat has now learnt a wiser way of attacking the horse: It pitches on the animal's back; and, while it bites, fans with its wings the whole time, lulling him with the lulling motion and sound and ventilation. Dobrizhoffer. t. 1. p. 268.

Stedman (Vol. 2. 212.) saw a white man in Surinam who had in one night lost both his eyes by the vampires. When Warren wrote his account of that colony, these hideous and destructive creatures materially impeded the increase of swine by biting off their teats.

35. Lop-eared Indians, p. 136.] The way in which a hole in the ear may be enlarged to a great size, is explained by Gumilla, (t. 1. c. 8.) as practised by the women of the Abunes, an Orinoco tribe; they roll up an elastic stem and insert it in the hole, which is thus continually stretched. By the time a girl becomes marriageable, this hole is so large that a billiard ball may be past through it; the beauty consists in the soothness of the circle round it. Some of these people slit the ear, so that it serves for a pocket. Gumilla gave a letter to one of their people for another missionary, and some tobacco for his trouble in carrying it, .. the man put both in his ear.

Among those tribes in North America with whom the English are best acquainted, "The young heroes cut a hole round almost the extremity of both their ears, which till healed, they stretch out with a large tuft of Buffalo's woo mixt with bear's oil: they then twist as much

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small wire round as will keep them extended in that hideous form.

"I have been among the Indians at a drinking match, says Adair, when several of their beaus have been humbled as low as death for the great loss of their big ears. Being so widely extended it is as easy for a person to take hold of, and pull them off, as to remove a couple of small hoops were they hung within reach; but if the ear after the pull, stick to their head by one end, when they get sober, they pare and sew it together with a needle and deer's sinews, after sweating him in a stove. Thus the disconsolate warrior recovers his former cheerfulness, and hath a lasting caution of not putting his ears a second time in danger with company: however it is not deemed a scandal to lose their ears by any accident, because they became slender and brittle by their virtuous compliance with that favorite custom of their ancestors." Adair. p. 171.

In New Zealand an aperture is made in the ears "capable of receiving two or three fingers. This, says Mr. Savage, is considered a beauty: it is certainly a convenience, for not only are a variety of ornaments suspended from this loop-hole, but their smaller tools, needles, &c. bear them company." Chapt. 8.

36. Hard heads, p. 141.] Oviedo (l. 5. Prohemio.) says that the Spaniards were careful not to strike an Indian upon the head in battle, for their skulls were so hard and thick as to break the sword. Yet according to Azara, (t. 2. p. 59) it has been observed that the bones of the Guarani converts moulder sooner than those of the Spaniards. Both these statements are to be received with some suspicion, for Oviedo produces the thick skull as a proof of stupidity, and Azara deduces from the ill-compacted bones an argument for the inferiority of the species.

37. They did not recollect that an iron cap was harder, p. 142.] The helmet or iron hat had another great recommendation, .. it could be used as a kettle; the discoverers sometimes boiled in them the herbs which they could collect for their miserable meal. Herrera, 7. 9. 24.

The Fidalgo of Elvas mentions another curious shift to which those soldiers were reduced, who chose to make bread of their maize; .. after having pounded it by way of grinding, they boulted the flour through their coats of mail. C. 11.

38. Concubines, p. 152.] Mazacaras the Spaniards called their Indian concubines in Paraguay, by a native term, the origin of which is curious. Mazacara is the name of the best fish in that country, and that being the thing which the Indians loved best, they applied the word to their mistresses. Argentina. c. 4. st. 42.

D. Martin says some people called Asumpcion Mahoma's Paradise, from the number of women in the town; punning upon the name of a neighbouring tribe. He says that in his time there were above four thousand girls in the town.

Y asi, Lector curioso, si quisieres
El numero saber de las donllas
De quatro mil ya paan, como estrellas.

C. 2. St. 43.

39. Cabeza de Vaca was then acquitted, p. 153.] Azara (t. 1. p. 18.) says, on the contrary, that both he and his secretary, Pedro Hernandez, (who wrote the commentaries) were condemned to the Gallies. D'après quoi, he adds, il ne mérite guères d'etre cru dans ses memoires, qu'on a fait imprimer pendant les deux années de son administration.

Azara tells us, that he has been enabled to correct many errors, into which the other historians of this province have fallen, by having examined the archives at Asumpcion, seen sundry papers at Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, and Santa Fe, and collected the traditions of the country. Nothing is more likely, than that this account of Cabeza de Vaca's condemnation should have been forged by Yrala, and imposed upon the people, .. for it is altogether impossible, that Herrera's statement should be false. The Inca Garcilaso (Hist. de la Florida, c. 3.) says, that Cabeza de Vaca died at Valladolid, .. proof, if proof were needed, that he was not condemned to the Gallies. Azara depreciates Herrera's authority, saying, that he wrote at a time when the Adelantado and his secretary were showing their memoirs about to justify themselves, .. now, Herrera did not write till fifty years afterwards; and there can be little doubt, that both these persons had long been dead, when he began even to collect his materials.

But it is superfluous to contradict a writer like Azara, who contradicts himself. He tells us afterwards, that the Council of the Indies condemned Cabeza de Vaca to be transported to Africa. The Spaniards had no possessions in Africa, .. and the above would be sufficient to show, how exceedingly inaccurate Azara is in

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matters of historical fact, though in many other respects, his book is of great value, mingled as it is with execrable opinions.

40. These desperate adventurers, p. 158.] I extract from a rare book the following description of the soldiers during the age of conquest and discovery. It is not the less authentic for being in bad verse.

No trato por agora que dexaron,
Por serbiros Señor como es justicia,
A su querida y dulze patria amada,
Padres, hermanos, deudos y parientes;
Ni que ya sus ligitimas y haziendas
Estan de hecho todas consumidas,
Frocando por trabajos el descanso
Que pudieron tener sin sugetarse;
Los dias y las noches que se ocupan
En pesados oficios trabajosos
Miserias y disgustos nunca vistos.
* * * * * *

No traen consigo cosa que no sea
Hechura y obra de sus bellas manos,
El sayo, calçon, media y el calçado.
El jubon, cuello, capa y la camisa,
Con todas las demas cosas que alcançan,
La femenil flaqueza por su aguja,
De todo dan tan diestra y buena cuenta
Como si en coser siempre, y no otra cosa
Ubieran sus personas ocupado.
* * * * * * *

Y con esto ellos mismos por sus manos
Guisan bien de comer, laban y amasan,
Y en fin toda la vida siempre buscan
Desde la sal hasta la leña y agua,
Si gusto han de tener en la comida.
Ellos rompen la tierra y la cultivan
Como diestros famoses labradores.
Y como hospitaleros siempre curan
Las mas enfermedades con que vienen
Sus pobres camaradas, quebrantados
De los muchos trabajos que han sufrido.
Y cosa alguna aquesto les impide
Para que todo el año no los hallen,
A quelquier hora de la noche y dia,
Tan cubiertos de hierro y fino azero,
Como si fueran hechos y amasados
De poderoso bronç bien fornido,
Trabajo que por mucho menos tiempo,
Quando diamantes todos se mostraran,
Los ubiera deshecho y acabado;
Quanto mas a la misera flaqueza
Del que de carne y guesso esta compuesto.
Viven y passan casi todo el tiempo
Como si fueran brutos por el campo,
Sugetos al rigor del Sol ardiente,
Al agua, al viento, desnudez, y frio,
Hambre, sed, molimientos, y consancio,
Cujo lecho no es mas que el duro suelo,
Adonde muchas vezes amanecen
En blanca nieve todos enterrados.
Passan crueles y grandes aguazeros
Sin poderse alvergar en parte alguna,
Y secanse en las carnes los vestidos.
Sucedeles que llevan en costales
El agua para solo su sustento,
Algunas vezes hecha toda nieve,
Carambano la mas empedernido.
Sufren todos eladas de manera
Que ya por nuestras culpas hemos visto,
Rendir el alma y vida todo junto,
Al gran rigor del encogido tiempo.
No ay aguas tan caudales por los rios
Que no los passen, naden y atrabiessen,
Ni paramos, ni sierras, ni vallados
Que a puros palmos todo no lo midan.
* * * * * *

Qy. arnes .

Y no cuidan jamas estos varones
De maestros y oficiales para cosas
Al militar oficio necessarias,
Ellos cortan las armas y las hazen
Para qualquier cavallo bien seguras
Saben aderezar sus arcabuzes,
Y echarles lindas cajas por extremo.
Remallan bien sus cotas s escarçelas,
Y pintan sus zeladas de manera
Que quedan para siempre provechosas,
Y como diestros cirujanos curan
Heridas peligrosas penetrantes,
Y son tambien bonissimos barberos,
Y quando es menester tambien componen
De la gineta y brida las dos sillas;
El aluzitar jamas les haze falta
Porque ellos hierran todos sus cavallos,
Tambien los sangran, cargan, y los curan,
Domandolos de potros con destreza,
Y por ser buenos hombres de acavallo
En ellos hazen grandes maravillas,
* * * * * *

Y aquesto muchas vezes sustentados
De raizes incultas desabridas,
De hiervas y semillas nunca usadas,
Cavallos, perros, y otros animales,
Inmundos y asquerosos a los hombres.
Y por nevados riscos y quebradas,
Qual suelen los arados que arrastrados
Rompiendo van la tierra deshaziendo,

4 M

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Las azeradas rejas que enterradas
Haziendo van sus sulcos prolongados,
Assi los Españoles valerosos
A colas de cavallos arrastrados
Por no morir de hecho entre las nieves,
Muchos assi las vidas escaparon.

Hist. de la Nueva Mexico, por Capitan Gaspar de Villagra. canto 20.

This same poem contains another passage well worthy of preservation. The author describes himself killing his dog for hunger, .. I scarcely ever perused lines which affected me more painfully.

Llevava pues un perro que a mi lado
Anduvo mucho tiempo, y que velava
Quando denoche a caso me dormia.
Y porque ya la hambre me afligia
De suerte que la vida me acabava,
Determine matarle; y dos heridas
Le di mortales, con que luego el pobre
De mi se fue apartando un largo trecho.
Llamele con enojo, y olvidado
Del vergonçoso hecho inadvertido
Gimiendo mansamente y agachado,
A mi bolvio el amigo mal herido,
Lamiendose la sangre que vertia.
Y assi con desconsuelo y lastimado
Por agradarme en algo si pudiesse:
Lamio tambien mis manos que teñidas
Me puso de su sangre bien bañadas.
Mirele puer señor y avergonçado
De averle assi tratado y ofendido
Con tan crasa ignorancia que no via
Que fuego para assarlo me faltava,
Bajê los ojos tristes, y bolviendo
Del hecho arrepentido a acariciarlo,
Muerto quedo a mis pies; con cujo susto
Dexandole tendido y desangrado,
Passe aquel trago amargo, y fuy siguiendo
El golpe de fortuna que acabava
La miserable vida que vivia.

Gaspar de Villagra. canto 19.

41. The Hammock, p. 158.] One reason for using the hammock, may probably be, because it is out of the reach of all ground-vermin. Adair tells us, that the North American Indians furnish their houses "with genteel couches to sit and lie upon, raised on four forks of timber of a proper height, to give the swarming fleas some trouble in their attack, as they are not able to reach them at one spring." p. 420. In like manner there is a great demand for bedsteads, among the natives of Taheite, because of the fleas, .. which, they say, we have introduced among them.

Missionary Voyage, 342.

Oviedo (l. 5. c. 2.) who gives a print of the hammock, recommends it for the Spanish armies in Europe, .. so many men, he says, would not then die, from sleeping on the ground in winter, and bad weather. He complains of the posture, as a crippling one for those who are not used to it, but adds, that if the hammock be a good wide one, you may lie athwart in it.

It is remarkable, that neither hammocks nor cots should be of European invention; the first we borrowed from the native Americans, the second from the Hindoos. Hammock is a Haytian word; (Oviedo, l. 5. c. 2.) Cot an Oriental one, though I know not in which of the many languages of Hindostan. Here is the authority from Sir Thomas Roe's Voyage. 'Some of those slight bedsteads they call cots, in their standing houses hang by ropes, a little above ground, which are fastened to the four corners thereof; and moved gently up and down by their servants, to lull them asleep.'

In the list of stores in the Spanish and Portugueze fleet sent to recover Bahia, (n. 4. p. 446.) beds for the sick are enumerated. How then were the sound lodged? Among the Buccaneers every one lay rough, as they called it, that is, on the deck, the Captain himself not being allowed a bed. (Snelgrave). When was the hammock introduced into our ships? Labat travelled with one a century ago in France and Italy, and it was every where regarded as a wonder.

42. The Anta, p. 162. N. 4.] The commonest books of Natural History represent this animal as amphibious; but I fear I have done wrong in following them: for upon referring to the description in all the original authors, it only appears that it swims well. It is said in the Noticias that the Anta was domesticated; it does not appear that it was broken in to any kind of labour, and if it was, it was probably disused when horses and kine became common, as being less serviceable. The male is said, in the same work, to watch the young while the dam went to feed. Their bones were burnt and administered internally for hæmorrhoids. 2. 46.

Herrera (4. 10. 13.) describes this animal well, and adds a foolish story, that it taught the Indians to bleed themselves, having a custom when it found itself plethoric, of getting among the

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reeds and piercing itself between the legs till it had bled sufficiently.

43. Eoban, p. 182.] The baptismal name of this poet was Elias, which he thought proper to heatheuize into Helius, because he liked a Greek name better than a Jewish, and fancied that as a votary of Phœbus, he had some claim to be called after him. Eoban indeed had the same claim to be considered the son of a God, as Romulus before him, or as Prince Prettyman: he was born under a tree in the open fields in 1488, somewhere in Hesse, and this is all that is known of his birth. Melchior Adam has taken some pains to show how strikingly he resembled Homer, there being according to him three similitudes between them. .. Nobody could tell where either of them was born; Homer was blind, and Eoban had a film over his eyes; and both were very poor. It is to be hoped Erasmus had better reasons for calling him the Christian Ovid, and saying, that the soul of the Roman poet had past into him. If however, he could not 'write like Homer,' he certainly could 'drink like Agamemnon;' puis-qu'il desesperoit & mettoit sur le carreau les meilleurs buveurs d' Allemagne, & qu'il vuidoit d'un scul trait une cruche de douze setier de vin on de biere. The setier is twelve pints, and twelve setiers at one draught, are. .. too much to be swallowed.

He wrote in Latin, and exceeded all the poets whom Germany had produced before him. Translations of Theocritus, of Coluthus, and of the Iliad, are among his works. Baillet.

There is a portrait of him among the Icones of Nic. Reusner. Argentorati, 1590, a copy of which is in the curious collection of the Rev. Henry White of Lichfield. Under the portrait are these lines:

Rex ego sum vatum: vatum Sol, Phœbus, Apollo: Jesseœ fidicen maximus ille lyræ.

M. D. XL.

A version of the Psalms is there said to have been the gem of his works. A few laudatory epigrams are added, one of which makes honourable mention of his beard.

It will be seen in the Bibliographical Appendix to these volumes, in what manner the accidental mention of Eoban's son by Hans Stade proves the authenticity of his book, .. by the help of one of Anchieta's miracles.

44. The Maraca, p. 187.] The Maraca is found on the Orinoco also. Gumilla (t. 1. c. 10.) I know not why, supposes the Aru to have invented it. The word is sometimes called Tamaraca. I have preferred the shorter name, because there is a Captaincy of the latter; but it is worthy of notice, that the people about Anzerma called the Spaniards when they first saw them, Tamaraca, as if it signified a superior being.

Pedro de Cieça. ff. 42.

Cabeza de Vaca (Nauf. c. 27.) found the maraca in Florida. They came out, he says, to meet us with such a cry that it was fearful, and smacking their thighs; and they carried hollow calabashes with pebbles in the inside, the things which they most esteem, and which they never bring out except at their dances, and to heal the sick. They say, that there is a virtue in these calabashes, and that they come from heaven, for there are none growing in that land, nor in any other with which they are acquainted, but the rivers bring them down in time of floods.

45. Konyan Bebe, p. 191.] The Portugueze write this nama Cunhambebe, the sound of which is better represented to our ear in the German's orthography. Thevet (101.) who calls him Quoniambec, says, et pense que, jamais Menelaus Roy & conducteur de l'armée des Grecs ne fut tant craint ou redouté des Troyens, que cestuyci est de ces ennemis. He adds, that his place of residence was fortified with bastions and platforms of earth, where some falconets and other guns were mounted which he had won from the Portugueze. The village where Stade saw him may not have been his usual abode; but I do not believe this account, because I have never met with any other of a native town being thus fortified, and because Thevet's word is always to be received with suspicion. This Royalet paid the French a visit which lasted eighteen days, and employed three hours every day in relating his own exploits: .. the burden of the song was, that he had caused above five thousand of his enemies to be killed and eaten.

46. Hans and the Moon, p. 193.] A fine circumstance of the same nature occurred in the shipwreck of the Santiago, 1585. The ship struck in the night; the wretched crew had been confessing, singing Litanies, &c. and this they continued "till about two hours before break of day, the moon arose beautiful and exceeding bright, and forasmuch as till that time they had been in such darkness, that they could scarcely see one another when close at hand, such was the stir among them at beholding the

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brightness and glory of that orb, that most part of the crew began to lift up their voices, and with tears, cries, and groans called upon Our Lady, saying, they saw her in the Moon.

Hist. Trag. Mar. 2. 79.

47. Trade and hostilities at the same time, p. 198.] The Chevalier D' Arvieux (t. 2. p. 11.) mentions the same kind of trade as carried on in his time between the Turks at Caifa, and the Christian Corsairs. This is more reasonable than the modern system of war. So the Dutch thought when they sold gunpowder to the nation they were at war with.

There are places of inviolability, where the hostilities of the North American Indians are suspended. Such is a certain spot on the banks of the Missouri, where a species of stone is found, of which they stand in particular need, for making pipes. Here the bitterest enemies work quietly near one another, in breaking these stones, which they all alike want. There are more such places equally sacred, and no instance has ever happened of their having become scenes of contention. Liancourt. 1. 325.

48. The Macana, p. 205.] The Indians about Surinam call their club apootoo. It is made of the heaviest wood in the forest, about eighteen inches long, flat at both ends, and square, but heavier at one end than the other. In the middle it is thinner, and wound about with strong cotton threads, so as to be grasped, having a loop to secure it round the wrist. One blow with this weapon, in which a sharp stone is frequently fixed, scatters the brains. The manner of fixing the stone is by sticking it in the tree while it is yet growing, where it soon becomes so fast that it cannot be forced out; after which the wood is cut. This weapon is used like a tomahawk, .. in fact it resembles the tomahawk more than the macana. Besides other hieroglyphical figures, they often carve upon it the number of persons they have slain in battle. Stedman. 1. 412.

49. They were incomparable archers, p. 205.] The bow is a more formidable weapon in the hands of a savage than the musquet, and Gumilla (c. 35.) rejoices that the Caribs, not being aware of this, were adopting fire arms. Their aim was less sure, and they could let fly six arrows sooner than they could load and discharge a gun. The Fidalgo of Elvas, (c. 8) says, that an Indian could shoot four before a cross bow-man can make one discharge.

In one of Hernando de Soto's battles with the Floridans, eighteen Spaniards were slain by arrow wounds in the eyes and mouth.

Herrera. 7. 2. 3.

These Floridans fought in the water; three or four of them swam close together, and a fifth got on them, and shot with a bow.

Herrera, 6. 7. 11. El Inca Garcilaso. l. 2. p. 1. c. 25.

No Spaniard could draw the string of a Floridan's bow to his face, though the Indians with apparent ease drew it behind the ear. The string was made of a thong of deer skin, cut the whole length of the animal from the head to the tail, about two fingers broad; having taken the hair off, and soaked it, they twisted it tight, fastened the one end to a tree, and suspended at the other a weight of eight or ten stone. In this manner they made it resemble catgut.

El Inca Garcilaso. Hist. de la Florida. l. 1. c. 5.

There were two men in Soto's expedition who would use no other arms than the bow. The one was an Englishman, the other, though a Spaniard by birth, had been bred up in England, and lived there from his childhood till he was twenty.

El Inca Garcilaso. l. 6. c. 10.

That this weapon went out of use among us is not to be attributed to the introduction of fire arms, but to our long interval of peace after the accession of the Tudors, during which time it fell into disuse. The interesting passages in Holinshed, and in Bishop Latimer, wherein they regret the loss of our old skill in this tremendous weapon, have often been quoted. It became ridiculous some years ago by being made a plaything for gentlemen and ladies; but in a skilful hand it would be as efficacious as the musquet, and far more so against Cavalry. There are indeed so many advantages in its use, that the subject is well worthy of national consideration.

50. Thome de Sousa, p. 213.] Thome de Sousa would never eat of the head of any animal, in honour of John the Baptist. Nobrega condemned this as a superstition, and after having tried in vain to convince him that it was so by ordinary means, ordered a hook and line to be cast out. There was a bite presently, and they drew up the head of a fish without the body! I shall not, says P. Simam Vasconcellos, stop to consider who it was that cut off the head of this fish; with what instrument, or to what end it was done. For when God chuses to work miracles, the waters may serve him for a knife. (§ 1. l. 2. 6) B. Tellez how-

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ever, says, that sem davida, without doubt, the angels cut it off.

If it be true that the Governor used to relate this miracle himself, it was neatly worked.

51. Nobrega, p. 215.] Nobrega was once with a lay-brother in Galicia, preaching and begging his way, after the manner of his order. They were in the city of Santiago, and had gained no alms that day; for in the market place, where they probably expected most, a Gallega was amusing herself with preaching a mock sermon to ridicule Nobrega, who had an impediment in his speech, .. so that they were ashamed to beg among her noisy congregation. At night, he and his companion went to the Hospital, and got into a room where a large party of beggars were sitting at table in high glee, feeding away, and drinking wine. They were disputing at the same time, and as soon as they saw these strangers, called them in, saying, sit down brothers, and eat, and you shall be judge between us, for we are disputing which is the best beggar. Nobrega and his companion had had no food the whole day; they sate down among these vagabonds, and played their part upon what was before them, while their new companions, each in his turn, related the secrets of his trade. The last who spake, was one who had purposely reserved his story, as thinking he exceeded all the others .. you know nothing at all about begging, said this fellow. My way is this .. I never beg, but go up to a house door, and give a deep groan, saying, blessed be Mary the Mother of God, or any other Saint, according to the place where I happen to be. Out come the people to see what is the matter, and then I say, with as pitiful a voice as I can .. Oh, Sirs, great are the mercies which our Lord hath vouchsafed to show me! You must know, that I was a slave in Turkey, and the dog of a Turk, my master, led me a cruel life to make me renounce Christ, .. he used to flog me bloodily, and swear he would kill me, if I did not renounce my faith. But I always answered him, O dog, I will not turn renegado, for our Lady .. or Santiago (I name the Saint according to the place I am in) will deliver me. And in fact brethren, sinner as you see me, even so it came to pass; for one night I was in great affliction, laden with chains, and in a dark dungeon, and I prayed earnestly to our Lady, .. blessed be God's mercy, the next morning at day break, I found myself in a Christian country. And now I am going in pilgrimage to her ehurch to return thanks for so great a miracle. .. Every body gives me noble alms then, .. and then turning to Nobrega, he said, what think you, brother .. who's the best beggar? Nobrega, meantime, had made a good meal, and having satisfied his appetite, thought it no longer necessary to keep his temper. You are all thieves and enemies of God, he cried, you go about stealing the alms which should be for the poor, and deceiving Christian people; you all ought to be hung, and I will accuse you before the magistrates. Up jumped the rogues, who, till now, had supposed he was one of the same fraternity, and ran as hard as they could out of the hospital.

S. Vasc. Chron. da Comp. l. 1. § 22.

52. Cannibalism, p. 217. P. Dablon (quoted by Charlevoix, Hist. de la N. France) speaks, in his Journal, of a Cannibal madness, which, he says, was common among the North American savages. The person is seized with a raving desire for human flesh, and rushes upon all whom he meets, like a wolf. Of course, such madmen were always knocked on the head. The fact is by no means improbable, .. any passion, and any appetite, may be so far fostered that it becomes madness.

53. This opinion produced a horrible consequence, p. 218.] The Caribs either held an opposite opinion, or, what is more probable, these worse savages consulted their appetite without any theory upon the subject. They ate their own children by the captive women, and used to emasculate the males, that they might fatten the sooner.

Vespucci in Crynæus, 149. Munoz, l. 321.

In the Valles de Nore, the Chiefs used to seize as many women as they could, from the hostile tribes, for the sake of breeding children for food! Pedro de Cieça, ff. 30. A circumstance not less disgraceful to human nature is related in some modern book (I forget what) of a Russian nobleman, who having embarrassed his affairs, retired to his estates, and continued there till he bred boors enough in his own harem to clear off all his debts by their sale!

54. Tarring and feathering, p. 219.] Some of the Orinoco Tribes, at their festivals, first cover the body with the gum of the Carana, and then fillagree themselves with bits of coloured matting, in intricate and splendid patterns.

Gumilla, t. 1. c. 7.

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55. She who had cohabited with the prisoner forced out a few tears, p. 221.] The grief of these women over their paramours is oddly expressed by Fr. Jose de Santa Rita, he describes them as

Mitigando o desgosto de perdellos
Com a intençan que tinham de comellos.

Caramuru, c. 5.

56. Revenge, 223.] Lery could see how shocking this spirit of revenge is, in the savages of Brazil, .. and yet, when he speaks of the sharks which they caught upon their voyage, this is what he says, .. cum neque capti, neque liberi ab injuriâ temperarent, parumque ad vescendum accommodati censerentur, quos eramus piscati, lancinantes, atque cruciantes, ut damnosis animantibus dignum erat, clavâ ferreâ mactabamus. Decisis aliquando brachiis, doliique circulo per eandam trajecto, in mare projiciebamus, tum se ipsi jactantes quod diu non mergebantur, ingenti nos voluptate perfundebant. C. 3.

P. Gaetano Cattaneo, in a letter which Muratore has printed in his Cristianesimo Felice del Paraguai, has a passage in the same spirit. He says of the sharks taken upon his voyage, .. altre volte dopo varj colpi di stanga nel capo per istordirlo, gli cavano gli occhi in vendetta d'esser egli tanto nemico dell'uomo; poi gli legano a traverso con una corda un barile voto e ben chiuso, con cui lo rigettano in mare; ed è uno spasso gustoso il vedere la battaglia del tuberone col barile; perchè allora il pesce altro non cerca che di profundarsi nel mare; e coll'impeto della prima caduto gli riese; ma presto il barile ritorna a gala, tirandosi seco il pesce; e quello vorrabbe pur tornare a fondo. E perciocchè il barile lo tiene in cima, s'infuria, si dibatte, e si rivolta contro il barile, non potendoselo scuotere di dosse. E tanto va correndo per una parte e per l'attre, che finalmente si perde di vista, dopo aver nondimeno ricreato per qualche tempo i naviganti a sue spese. .. It is evident, that the Missionary was as much amused with this cruelty, as the sailors themselves.

57. The Omaguas, p. 224.] A Jesuit of the Province in Quito, who died in Italy, had written a grammar of the Omagua tongue. Hervas sought for it in vain, .. like many other manuscripts of this most able, and latterly, most useful society, it had disappeared. T. 1. 271.

58. Their numerals, p. 226.] I strongly suspect that M. Condamine is not more accurate in that celebrated specimen of numeration among the Yameos, which has been so often quoted, 'Their language, he says, is inexpressibly difficult, and their mode of pronunciation more extraordinary than their language, for they draw in their breath while they speak, and scarcely give any sound to the vowels. Words which seem in their articulation to consist of only three or four syllables, cannot be written, even imperfectly, in less than nine or ten. As an example, he adds their word for the number three, poettarrarincouroac, .. heureusement pour ceux qui ont à faire à eux, leur arithmetique ne va pas plus loin, p. 64. It is a little unfortunate that so many vowel sounds should be marked in this example.

Languages with remarkably long words, (the Mohawk is the most remarkable example) cease to appear wonderful when they are analysed. I have no doubt, that this word, which Condamine interprets Three, (if it be as long or nearly as long as he represents it) means Three Fingers, or perhaps defines its meaning in a manner still more complicated.

The Orinoco tribes count as far as five, then proceed to five-one, five-two, as far as two fives, and so on to four fives. This is digitary numeration. It is remarkable, how far the Achaguas carry it. With them, Abaeaje means five, and the fingers of one hand; Tucha macaje, ten, or all the fingers; Abacaytacay, twenty, or all the fingers and toes; Incha matacacay, forty, or two persons' complement; and 36, says Gumilla, (c. 48.) they can go on to 2000, 6000, and 10,000 fingers, in a jargon, which by dint of labour and attention, may be understood at last.

In some of the South Sea Islands, also, six is five-one, &c. Numeration naturally proceeds by Fives, .. the number of fingers on one hand; Tens, .. the fingers on both; or Twenties, .. the fingers and toes.

Herrera (4. 10. 4.) describes a curious mode of arithmetic in Yucatan. They count, he says, by fives, till they come to twenty, and then by twenties, as far as a hundred, then to 400, and then to 8000, and from thence to infinity. .. This numeration, which is not very clearly explained by Herrera, is founded on Fives, for small numbers, .. Scores, and Five-Scores, or 100, .. then for larger numbers, they use twenties as we use tens; thus, 20 times 20 is 400, 20 times 400 is 8000, and so on. A friend of mine, better acquainted with such subjects than I am, tells me, it is the only specimen he has met with, of vigesimal numeration. Our score is the nearest similitude.

When Pauw reasoned upon the ignorance of the Americans in numbers, did he suppress this

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remarkable fact, .. or was he ignorant of it? The same question is applicable to Dr. Robertson, who, on this, and many other subjects, in what he calls his History of America, is guilty of such omissions, and consequent misrepresentations, as to make it certain, either that he had not read some of the most important documents to which he refers, or that he did not chuse to notice the facts which are to be found there, because they were not in conformity to his own preconceived opinions. A remarkable example occurs respecting a circulating medium; when he mentions the cacao nuts, which were used as money in Mexico, and says, 'this seems to be the utmost length which the Americans had advanced towards the discovery of any expedient for supplying the use of money.' Now, it is said by Cortes himself, that when he was about to make cannon, he had copper enough, but wanted tin; .. and having bought up all the plates and pots, which he could find among the soldiers, he began to enquire among the natives. He then found, that in the province of Tachco, little pieces of tin, like thin coin, were used for money, there and in other places. And this led him to a discovery of the mines from whence it was taken. These are the words of the Spanish, .. Quiso nuestro Señor, que tiene cuidado y siempre lo ha tenido, de proveer en la mayor priesa, que tope entre los Naturales de una Provincia que se dice Tachco, ciertas Peceçuelas de elle, a manera de Moneda muy delgada, y procediendo por mi pesquisa hallê, que en lo dicha Provincia, y aun en otras, se trataba por moneda. Carta, 4. § 17. Barcia, t. 1. p. 149.

The reputation of this author must rest upon his History of Scotland, .. if that can support it. His other works are grievously deficient.

59. Tupa, p. 227.] Tupa, the Guarani word, is thus explained by Dobrizhoffer, t. 2. p. 77. Hoc vocabulum e duabus particulis componitur: Tâ enim admirantis, pa interrogantis vox est. Cælo tonante metu perculsi Tupa exclamare solebant, .. quid est hoc? This etymology, which, (as I learn from Lafitau,) was first started by P. Antonio Ruiz, is not very probable.

60. The Devil, p. 227.] Herrera's description of the Devil in New Spain is worthy of transcription. Era tan conocido, que luego sabian quando hablaca con ellos; conocianle porque no vian sombra No tenia choqueçuelas en las coyunturas; vianle sin cejas y sin pestañas, los ojos redondos, sin niñetas, y sin blancas; y estas senales tenian para conoccrle. 2. 6. 15. .. "They were so well acquainted with him, that they knew him directly, when he spoke to them. They knew him because they never saw any shadow when he appeared. He had no joints at his knees, no eye brows, nor eye lids, and round eyes, without either whites or pupils, and by these signs they knew him." .. Certes, if he were like this, they could not easily mistake him for any body else.

61. Chiquitos, their low doors, p. 333.] D'Arvieux (t. 2. p. 25.) describes the houses at Rama as having doors only three feet in height, in order to keep out the Arabs; the precaution was efficacious, but he complains grievously of the inconvenience, even though the house in which he lodged had belonged either to Nicodemus, or to Joseph of Arimathea himself.

62. Nor could they venture in darkness without a firebrand, p. 229.] This precaution is not necessary against beasts in Brazil.

"About Sierra Leone the negroes have a small kind of drum about two feet long, hollow at both ends, and covered with skins, but contracted in the middle like an hour glass. This is carried under the left arm when walking, and is beaten upon with a stick; it probably was intended in passing through the woods to frighten snakes and wild beasts from the path; and this accounts also for the small bells, and other tinkling ornaments which the natives are fond of wearing."

Winterbottom's Account, 1. 112.

63. St. Thomas, p. 229.] Why, when the various provinces of the world were distributed to the Apostles, did Brazil fall to the lot of St. Thomas? Hear the reason, says Vieyra:

"Some modern writers have remarked, that Christ enjoined the Apostles to preach the faith throughout the world, after he had reproved them for the fault of incredulity, in order that the labour which they had to suffer in preaching the faith, might be in satisfaction, and as it were penance for that incredulity, and the hardness of heart which they displayed in not wishing to believe. He upbraided them, it is written, with their unbelief; and he said unto them, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.' And as among all the Apostles St. Thomas was most guilty of unbelief, therefore in this division of the world the mission of Brazil fell to him, because where there had been the greater fault, it was just that there should be the heaviest

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penance; as if the Lord had said, the other Apostles who have sinned less in incredulity, shall go preach to the Greeks, the Romans, the Ethiopians, Arabians, Armenians, Sarmatians, Scythians; but for Thomas, who has sinned the most, let him go to the Heathens of Brazil, and atone for the obduracy of his unbelief, by teaching that nation, which is of all others the most barbarous and most obdurate. The effect has well shown this. When the Portugueze discovered Brazil, they found the footsteps of St. Thomas stamped in a stone, which is at this day to be seen upon the shores of Bahia; but sign or memorial of the truth which St. Thomas had preached, they found none among the inhabitants. The barbarousness of the people cannot better be proved, nor more strongly exemplified. Traces of the preacher were found in the rocks, but not a trace of the doctrine in the people! the rocks preserved a memorial of the Apostle, but the heart preserved no memorial of the faith which he had taught."

Sermoens, t. 3. p. 400.

According to Pauw, a still more remarkable personage than St. Thomas has been carried to Brazil. A la honte de l'esprit humain, he says, un théologien a prouvé que la chaloupe où s'embarqua Noè avec sa famille, pour se sauver d'une inondation survenue en Asie, alla s'arreter sur une montagne du Brésil: les enfans de cet heureux navigateur firent à la hâte quelques enfans du côte de Fernamboue, et se rembarquèrent tout de suite dans une autre canot, pour venir rendre le même service a notre continent. T. 2. p. 38.

64. Footsteps of St. Thomas, p. 229.] We came to a place called Etaoca, that is to say, the stone-house: as strong a thing as ever I saw, for it was a great huge rock, and it hath an entrance like a great door within it as any hall in England. The Indians say, that St. Thomas did preach to their forefathers there. Hard by standeth a stone as big as four great cannons, and it standeth upon the ground upon four stones, little bigger than a man's finger, like sticks. The Indians say that was a miracle which the Saint shewed them, and that that stone had been wood. Likewise by the sea-side there are great rocks, upon them I saw great store of prints of the footing of bare feet; all which prints were of one bigness. They say that the Saint called the fishes of the sea, and they heard him. Knivet, p. 1219.

65. Baptism, p. 230.] The people of Yucatan are said to have used a sort of baptism, which they called being born again; and also public confession, when their lives were in danger.

Herrera, 4. 10. 4.

66. Mandioc, p. 231.] Pauw, with his usual obliquity of mind, represents the use of this root as a proof of the horrid nature of America, and the wretchedness of its inhabitants. Il faut avouer, he says, que l'histoire de l'ancien continent ne nous offre pas d'exemple par, et quelle qu'y soit la somme des malheurs, on n'y voit point de peuple entier qui ait ete contraint de tirer son premier aliment d'un vegetal venemeux, hormis peut-être dans des temps d'une disette momentanée et extraordinaire, où l'on a eu recours à la racine de l'arum, qui est de toutes les plantes Européennes la plus approchante du manihot, par sa qualitè caustique, et nutritive quand on la prepare. T. 9. p. 5.

67. Capt. Beaver, p. 232.] The innocent species was however found in the Islands, though it was less common than the other. It was called Boniata, and Oviedo (l. 7. c. 2.) says, it must have been brought thither from the main land—an assertion for which he gives no reason whatever. This species must certainly be what Lafitan means, when he says, quoting Du Tertre, that the Tapuyas and some other tribes, as well as animals, eat the most dangerous mandioc quite crude, and without any preparation. It faut neanmoins qu'ils s'y fassent peu à peu, et qu'ils y soient accoutumêes de bonne heure, sans quoi il leur nuiroit comme aux autres. T. 9. 100.

68. Juice of the Mandioc, p. 232.] Oviedo says (l. 7. c. 2.) that the Indians boiled the juice two or three times, and then dipt their sops in it, as in any other pottage; but they refrained from it when it was cold, thinking that then it became bad of digestion. If it was boiled till only a third part remained, and then exposed to the air two or three days, it became sweet; a second boiling and exposure converted it into vinegar; but these uses were almost forgotten when he wrote, for the Spaniards had oranges and lemons, which they liked better. The old Indians were dead, and their miserable posterity having lost the liberty, had retained little of the knowledge of their fathers. Sometimes, says Oviedo, parties of fifty or more will invite one another to destroy themselves that they may escape from servitude, and then they drink the Mandioc juice—there is no time for repentance after they have swallowed it.

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69. Drunkenness, p. 234.] The Othomacos madden themselves with a snuff made from the grains of the Yupa. It is so powerful that any one accustomed to the most pungent tobacco snuff, cannot smell to the slightest portion of it, without a violent, and almost endless fit of sneezing. These savages take it before they begin battle, and this it is, says Gumilla, which has made them beat the Caribs. T. 1. c. 13.

70. Cast up upon the Cornish shores, p. 236.] The sea-strond, says Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, is strowed with sundry fashioned and coloured shells, of so diversified and pretty workmanship, as if Nature were for her pastime disposed to shew her skill in trifles. With these are found moreover, certain nuts, somewhat resembling a sheep's kidney, save that they are flatter; the outside consisteth of a hard, dark-coloured rind, the inner part of a kernel, void of any taste, but not so of virtue, especially for women travayling in child-birth—if, at least, the old wives tales may deserve any credit.

71. Their knowledge of poison, p. 237.] The poison, of which a portion so small as to be carried under a finger nail, will produce death, is said by Gumilla to be made from a large species of pismire, whose body is striped with black, yellow, and red. These insects are cut in half, and the head-part rejected; the rest are stewed over a slow fire, and the grease which rises to the top is the poison. An Indian told Gumilla that it could not be kept in a reed, for it would penetrate through, but it must be in the bones of a tyger, monkey, or lion. C. 38.

Stedman says nothing of the composition of this poison, but that the negroes can "carry it under their nails, and by only dipping their thumbs into a tumber of water, which they offer as a beverage to the object of their revenge, they infuse a slow, but certain death; this," he says, "after the most scrupulous enquiry, and even ocular demonstration, he can assert as literally true." (Vol 2. p. 277.) This ocular demonstration is not sufficient; it requires a clear case, well stated and observed through its whole course by a philosophic physician, to render the existence of such a poison credible.

The Curara is a poison prepared by no other tribe than the Caverres of the Orinoco. It is a tasteless syrup, and may be swallowed without danger; but Gumilla affirms, that the moment an arrow dipt in it scratches the body, instant death ensues; the blood coagulates, and the body instantly becomes cold, and is covered with a cold yellow foam. This is hardly probable. What he adds of the antidote is manifestly false, .. that if any person has a bit of salt in his mouth, the poison has no effect on him. C. 37.

The way in which the Curara is prepared is a fine story. It is made from a root of the same name, which has neither leaves nor stem, and grows only in the stinking mud of stagnant waters. These are washed, cut in pieces, and boiled over a slow fire. The most useless old woman of the tribe attends the kettle, till the vapours have killed her; another then takes her place. As the mass cools the greater is the danger, for then the old woman must press the roots, till all the juice is extracted. This usually costs the life of a second, but it is their natural death, and no objection is made to it. Another comes to boil it again, till it is reduced to two-thirds of its bulk, and then she calls the Chiefs to examine and prove it. A boy cuts his arms or leg, the Chief dips the point of a stick in the Curara, and puts it near the flowing blood; if the blood drawa back, the composition is good; if it only stands still, and ceases to flow, it requires but little more boiling; but if the blood flows as usual, it must be boiled some time longer.

An arrow dipt in this retains its poison for many years, requiring only to be wetted in the mouth before it is used. Gumilla. c. 37.

Ulloa (Book 6. Ch. 5.) gives a less wonderful account of the preparation. But he says its quality is so frigorific, that it immediately repels all the blood to the heart, when the vessels burst, being unable to contain such a torrentas suddenly rushes into them. The most powerful antidote is immediately to eat sugar; but this specific, though often salutary, is not infallible.

The Panches tried their poison upon an old woman or a dog. Herrera. 7. 9. 5.

It is worthy of remark, that those tribes who use the most exquisite poison upon their arrows against beasts, never employ it against their enemies. Merc. Per. No. 79.

Pauw (Recherches, t. 2. p. 310) says, "some arrows were tried in Europe a hundred and fifty years after they had been poisoned in America, and, to the astonishment of those who made the experiment, the poison was found scarcely to have lost any of its power.

72. A custom formerly found among the savages of Europe and Asia, p. 238.] Among the Iberians

4 N

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of Spain, the ancient Corsicans, and the Tibareni, whom Apollonius Rhodius mentions, L. 2. 1012. Lafitau says, the custom still existed in his time in the French provinces near Spain, where it was called faire couvadc, Probably it still prevails there.

Among some tribes the husband, on these occasions, submitted to a fast of six weeks, so rigorously, that he was reduced almost to a skeleton by the end of the time. Lafitau. 1. 257. Biet, Voyage de la Terre Equinoxale. l. 3. c. 13. quoted.

73. The father takes to his hammock, p. 238.] Perhaps this ridiculous custom led to the falsehood, which Pauw qualifies by the name of an exaggeration, in his note, and yet takes enough of the story to answer his purpose into the text. Dans toute une province du Bresil, dit l'auteur des Recherches Historiques, p. 372, les hommes seuls alaitent les enfans, les femmes n'y ayant presque pas de sein, ni de lait. Pauw says, this fact is drawn des relations du Bresil; it is not to be found in any which I have perused, I do not, however, doubt, that some lying traveller has said so. The whole falsehood did not suit Pauw's theory, for according to him the American women, in consequence of their degeneracy, had an infinitely greater quantity of milk than any others and their children in the southern parts were not weaned till they were ten years old. (T. 1. 68.) This assertion is supported by some fallacious reasons to shew why it must be so; but proof that it is so, is altogether wanting.

74. Crushing the nose, p. 238.] Our custom of improving the beauty of bull-dogs and pugs, is equally rational, and equally humane.

An opinion has very generally prevailed, says Dr. Winterbottom (Vol. 1. p. 201.) in his very able and very learned work upon the Africans about Sierra Leone, that the flat nose of the negro is occasioned by the mother pressing it down after birth; this is just as false as the notion, that the curvature of the thigh bone is occasioned by the weight of the child resting on the nurse's arm; both these are original formations, as they are seen in the fœtus, "Should we not deem it very ridiculous, if a travelling or philosophic Negro or Calmuck, in describing the particular forms of our features, were gravely to assert, that our midwives, mothers, or nurses, pulled us by the nose during our infant days, in order to give it the requisite length?" (Camper's Works by Cogan).

Yet there is proof that this, which Camper thought it would be so ridiculous to assert, was actually once the custom in one part of Europe, and that the flat noses of the Americans were made so by art. De Lery, a writer of the highest authority, uses these words, in his Latin version of his own work. Speaking of the Tupinambas—Quod ad illorum nasos attinet, cum apud nos obstetrices soleant ab ipso puerorum ortu, ut formosiores ac productiores efficiant, digitis extendere, contrarium prorsus institutum apud Americanos nostros obtinuit, Puerorum cnim pulchritudinem nasi depressione meteuntur. Itaque simulae ex utero matris prodicri, pollice nasus cis deprimitur, perinde atque catellis in Gallis quibusdam fieri solet.

And another French author, writing about seventy years later upon the same subject, confirms the fact with respect to the Tupinambas, and also explains the age of long headed men in Europe, Pour le regard de ce qu'ils (les Topinambas) ont ordinairement le ncz camart, cela provient de la matrone qui leur enfonce, & le forme ainsi des qu'ila sont nouveaux nais, comme plusieurs manient & allongent icy la teste aux petits enfans incontinents apres leur naissance, & contraignent la nature, prenant ce qui est de folie and d' indecence pour decence & beauté. Claude D' Abbeville. ff. 262.

It appears also that the Arabs moulded the heads of their infants. One of the Mahommedan travellers, whose very curious relations are published by Renaudot, says of the Chinese, 'Ils laissent croistre leurs cheveux, parce que les hommes veulent pas arrondir la teste des enfans lors qu'ila viennent au monde, ainsi que font les Arabes. Ils disent que cela cause une alteration sensible dans cerveau, & que le sens commun en reçoit un notable prejudice. P. 97.

75. Names of the savages, p. 239.] The people of Misteco used a strange kind of nomeuclature, and deduced a strange superstition from it. Numbers were introduced into their names, and the man could not marry a women, the number of whose name was equal or superior to his own; .. for instance, says Herrera, if she was called Four Roses, and he Three or Four Lions, they might not intermarry, 3. 3. 12.

76. Incontinence was not regarded as an offence, p. 241.] A Missionary from Brazil whom Lafitau met at Rome, assured him que les Bresilieus etoient si delicats sur la reputation, que si une fille avoit manqué a son honneur, non seulement elle trouceroit plus a se marrier, mais elle ne vivroit pas meme en surete au milieu de sa parenté.

T. 1. 582.

Lafitau observes, that this is contradicted by all

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other testimony. It is however not improbable, that the Missionary may have spoken truly concerning the tribes with which he had been conversant.

The Surinam Indians, according to Warren, (ch. 10.) "are unfortunately ignorant of that innocent delight of kissing, .. but conversing so frequently with Christians, (he says,) and being naturally docile and ingenious, we have reason to believe they will in time be taught it."

77. P. 242.] By an oversight in arranging the scattered materials of this chapter, I have omitted to mention the most remarkable ornament of these tribes. The Tupinambas were delighted with the beauty of the Nandu's plumes, .. the ostrich of South America, and like more civilized nations, fancied that what adorned the bird so greatly, would adorn them also. They fastened the quills together as the centre of a circle, and the plumes then formed a broad shield or rose. But instead of transferring to the head an ornament, which Nature has placed at the other end, they suspend it behind them, just upon that place which would have been the natural situation of these feathers, had man been feathered like an ostrich. The End, as this ornament is called, is in itself so beautiful, that it appears so even in this ridiculous situation. But De Bry represents it as more beautiful in his prints, than it really is, painting from the African ostrich instead of the Nandu. The best representation of the latter is probably that in Azara's travels.

De Lery, c. 8. Staad. 2. 16.

78. The women were skilful potters, p. 243.] Pottery as beautiful and as fine as that of Faenza in Italy, was sold in the markets of Cholula in great quantities. Nothing, says Herrera, surprized the Spaniards so much as this. 2. 7. 2.

79. Plucking out the beard, p. 247.] Volney thinks it probable that the practice of eradicating the beard, originated from the design of depriving the enemy of such a dangerous hold on the face.

(Observ. on America, p. 413.)

Mr. Weld informs us (Vol. 2. p. 230.) that in some parts of Canada, a very great number of the white inhabitants have their beards extirpated in the Indian manner. The operation, (he says,) is very painful, but it is soon over, and when one considers how much time and trouble is saved, and ease gained by it in the end, it is only surprizing that more people do not summon up resolution and patiently submit to it.' Surely a more obvious and easy way to avoid the absurd annoyance of shaving the beard would be by wearing it.

80. Our forefathers left us nothing good, p. 247.] Some of the North American Tribes more wisely regretted the time when they had fewer wants. The old people, says, Lieut. Timberlake, still remember and praise the ancient days, before they were acquainted with the whites, when they had but little dress except a bit of skin about their middles, mockasons, a mantle of buffalo skin for the winter, and a lighter one of feathers for the summer.

81. A stronger race, p. 248.] I have known many of them, says our old Missionary speaking of the North Americans, run between eighty and one hundred miles in a summer's day, and back within two days; they do also practise running of races, and commonly in the summer they delight to go without shoes, although they have them hanging at their backs; they are so exquisitely skilled in all the body and bowels of the country, by reason of their hunting, that I have often been guided twenty, thirty, sometimes forty miles through the woods, in a straight course, out of any path. Roger Williams.

82. They sometimes buried their sick before they were dead, p. 248.] When one of the Pampa del Sacramento Indians is so ill that his life is supposed to be in danger, the Moharis or conjuror gets together a great number of people, who all sing a sort of charm addressed to the soul of the patient, .. the burthen of which is, Do not go, do not go; and the weaker he becomes, the louder they sing, that the soul may hear them. As soon as he is evidently dying, the conjurer runs away to escape the shower of stakes and stones which the people let fly after him. Then different parties go to the dying man, and say to him, Whither art thou going? why dost thou leave us? with whom shall we go out against the enemy? and they remind him of the feats which he has performed, of the slaughter which he has made, and of the joys which he is about to leave. When he is about to expire, the women fall upon him, some close his eyes by force, others his mouth, and they throw upon him whatever comes to hand, and literally kill him while he is dying. Meanwhile others run to put out the candle, and dissipate the smoke, lest the soul not knowing

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how to get out, should be entangled in the roof, .. and least it should come back again to the same dwelling, they collect all sorts of fifth round about it, that the stink may drive it away. Mer. Per. No. 79.

Otras finalmente corren a apagar la candela y disipar el humo, no sea que no viendo el alma el agujero por donde debe salir, quede euredada en las tixeras del tacho. There must be some mistake in this passage.

83. Stained the body black, p. 249.] The juice of the jenipapo was used for this purpose.

A trick was sometimes played upon women with it, which they would not very soon forgive. It was mixed with rose water, or some of their cosmetics; and she who applied it to her face, remained with an inky complexion for a fortnight. J. de Laet. ann. ad Marcgrav. l. 3. c. 1.

This is probably the tree, which in Hayti was called Xagua, the juice of which was applied to the same provoking purpose. Oviedo, however, says, that he and his companions, who had made war on the main land, found great benefit in bathing their legs with this infusion, its astringent quality being particularly serviceable, because of the many rivers and waters which they had to pass. L. 8. c. 5.

The juice of the jagua is said to leave a permament black stain. Gumilla tells a story of the daughter of an European and Indian, who wished to marry a Negro, and he refused her, saying, that he feared she would not love him because of his colour. She went home, stained her face with this indelible die, and returning to him, said, now then we are alike in complexion. .. The marriage was a happy one. T. 1. c. 5. The story is ben trovato, but I do not believe that any indelible die for the human skin exists.

In the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, there is a black earth, with which the Indians die their cloaks. They say that it grows like a plant, if it be sown. Herrera. 8. 4. 11.

84. As often as we hear them, our hearts rejoice, and are strengthened, p. 249.] I made him no reply, says Lery, for it would have been vain to contend with him, and the opinion of those persons came to my mind, who assert, that ghosts come to admonish their friends of their duty, and I judged this belief of the Barbarians to be the more tolerable of the two. For believing souls to be immortal, they are not so utterly foolish, as to fancy, that when once they have left the body, they can return to their haunts, .. but, only imagine the birds to be their messengers.

85. They knew their path by a doglike faculty, p. 250.] A method of marking their way, which Gumilla (c. 19.) mentions, is by breaking down the boughs of trees. An Indian can tell how many years it is since a way has been trod, by the shoots which the broken bough has put forth. .. Another method is by inspecting the bark, when they discover which part is exposed to the North; if this is not sufficiently clear, they chip off a few pieces with their hatchets, and find the layers of wood always thickest on the northern side. Lafitau, 2. 240.

86. She swings a basket by a band over the forehead, p. 250.] The portable cradle of the North American Indians is carried by means of a strap tied round the forehead of the mother. .. Pains in the head, and in the muscles of the neck, are very common among the women, and attributed to the manner of carrying burthens.

Rochefoucalt Liancourt, 1. 317. 323.

Labet speaks with extraordinary folly of the Negro nose and lips. On attribue, he says, avec raison ces nez écrachez et ces grosses levres aux coups que ces petites creatures se donnent contre le dos de leurs meres, pendant qu'lles les ont attachées derriere elles, et qu'elles marchent ou qu'elles trvaillent.

Voy. du Ch. Des. Marchais. 1. 54.

87. The civilization of the different nations was precisely in proportion to the power of their Priests, p. 251.] In Mexico and Peru, this might be ascribed to the civil Government; in Yucatan it cannot. The extraordinary state of civilization in that country is passed over in silence by Dr. Robertson. What can the books of the Priests have been, which were buried with them? were they picture-hieroglyphics, such as the Mexicans used? Herrera. 4. 80. 4.

88. No better colonists could be sent out than the Clergy, p. 259.] So thought P. Labat, who, speaking of the miserable French Colony which attempted to settle at Cayenne in 1652, says, Le premier malheur qui lui arriva fut la mort de l' Abbé de l' Isle Marivault. Il etoit comme l'ame de la Colonie, par la profondeur de sa science dans les matieres Theologiques and Canoniques.

Voy. de Ch. Des Marchais. 3. 82.

89. Villegagnon compelled the women to clothe themselves, p. 275.] A grand coups de fouëts is the expression of De Lery, who calls these poor slaves pauvre miserables, more, I believe, in com-

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passion for their nakedness than their flogging. Instead of dressing savages in these latitudes, creoles would do wisely to undress themselves; more than is needful for decency is probably injurious to health.

90. Maraba, a doubtful breed, p. 293.] The Salivas on the Orinoco never rear twins, .. the mother always murdering one. This she does because the husband believes it impossible that both children should be his, .. and because other women insult her, calling her a relation of the Bats, who have four at a time, &c. Gumilla, t. 1. c. 14.

91. He died in his 54th year, worn out, p. 310.] In the Imago Primi Sæcul, the question why there are few old men in the company is examined, and the fact is admitted, and made, as it deserved to be, their boast. Habet adolescentes florentissimos, & forti excelsoque animo juvenes; senes autem, quasi post vindemiam racemos, admodum raros. Scilict impalescunt studiis & immoriuntur; conficiuntur laboribus ante diem, gloriosis, quidam illis, at assiduis & prope infinitis. Si quos forte benignior, servaret natura, alius vastante regionem pestilentid, dum morientibus opem fert, contagio absumitur: alius ut pietas ne absit a castris militiæ occumbit, ubi morbl solent grassari liberius, & mors tamquam de suo messem copiosam legere. P. 35.

92. Ants, p. 319.] Pauw (Recherches, t. 1. p. 8.) says, that when the Dutch possessed their conquest in Brazil, a project for destroying the ants was presented to the West India Company, but that it was never made public. Il paroit, he adds, que le meilleur moyen seroit d'encourager la multiplication du grand et du petit fourmillier. Unless, however, the Tamandua should be domesticated for this purpose, it is so defenceless an animal, that man will soon destroy all in his neighbourhood, and Azara (t. 1. p. 253.) concludes, that it must be exterminated, as the country becomes peopled. The turkey is a great ant-eater, and should therefore be encouraged. It has been said, and regarded as a vulgar error, that ants cannot pass over a line of chalk: the fact, however, is certain. Mr. Coleridge tried the experiment at Malta, and immediately discovered the cause: The formic acid is so powerful, that it acts upon the chalk, and the legs of the insect are burnt by the instantaneous effervescence.

93. Gun mätches were made of this Bark, p, 321.] The Chickasaws, in that desperate battle which they fought with Hernando de Soto, set fire to the huts in which the Spaniards were lodged by means of something resembling these Embira matches, .. ropes made of a certain plant, which burnt like a fuse, and being whirled through the air, blazed out like torches. They use fire arrows headed with the same thing.

El Inca Garcilaso, l. 3, c. 36.

94. Fish at Bahia, p. 322.] In 1584, a remarkable fish was left on the shore of Bahia; it was 37 palms in length, and so large, that a man standing by its side, could not see over it. It had only one eye, in the middle of the forehead; the skin was tough .. like that of bacon, and of a greenish colour, and the bones were greenish also. A great quantity of oil was extracted from it. No such fish had ever been seen there before.

Noticias de Brazil, 2. 47.

This seems to have been a spermaceti whale, .. if the cavity in the forehead ean be explained.

95. Whales, p. 322.] Monardes, though in general a trust-worthy writer, relates a good story of the way of catching whales. "The Indians, he says, doo fish for them and take them with the greatest cunning that may be imagined, which is after this manner: One Indian taking a long cord, and strong, made with certain ginnes, and shippeth himself in a little boat, maketh toward the whales and goeth to one of them and leapeth upon him and casteth his snare upon his snout. The strong young whale when he feeleth this, he goeth down to the depth of the sea, and the Indian hampered fast with him, for they are great swimmers, and can abide long in the water, and the young whale as he hath neede to breath returneth up to the height of the sea. And in the time that he cometh upward, the Indian carrying with him a sharpe wedge, and putting it through his nose where he breatheth, he striketh the wedge into him with his fist, in such sort that the young whale cannot cast it from him, and when he cometh up on high the Indian giveth him cord and taketh his boate, and goeth after the young whale, and as he cannot breath, he choketh him easily, and he cometh to the lande. It is surely a delicate and marvellous hunting. ff. 83.

Acosta (3. 17. tells the same story; he attributes it to the Indians of Florida, and refers to a credible person, as his authority. But he makes the whales as big as mountains, and never asks himself what legs would be necessary to bestride their necks!

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96. Sea Apes, p. 323.] So also Paracelsus before De Lery, Concedi fas est quod in mari anintalia quosque homini similia reperiantur; quæ etsi quidem hominem ad vivum non exprimant, ipsi tamen quam animalibus cœteris simillora sunt. Cœterorum autem brutorum more animâ carent seu mente. Illa sese habent ut simia ad hominem; et aliud non sunt quam simiæ maris, diversi generis.

V. 2. p. 478, Geneva Edition.

The wild theory of their origin which he advances is not unworthy of its author. All bodies, he says, which perish in the water ab animalibus marinis devorantur & absumuntur. Jam si sperma in exaltatione constitutum mersione periret, et a pisce devoratum, iterum in se ipse exaltaretur, operatio certe aliqua fieret a natura piscis & spermatis. Ex quo colligi potest, maximam animalium partem humanam formam referentium, hoc modo prodisci. He praises the practice of interment upon this theory, but he forgets notwithstanding that practice, if it were true what a world of monsters there would be wherever there are wild beasts, or fields of battle.

97. Mermen, p. 323.] Dr. Pinckard produces testimony to the existence of sea-apes off the coast of Guiana, and gives no other reason for doubting it, than that he assumes the liberty of an Englishman. A navy officer (a Dutch one I suppose,) is mentioned as having eat a mermaid.

Vol. 3. p. 7.

"The plain fact in my humble opinion, says Stedman (Vol: 2. 182.) is this; that in many rivers between the Tropics, both on the coast of Africa and South America, a fish sometimes appears half above the water, that beare a distant resemblance of the human species, but is smaller, nearly such as in 1794 was exhibited in London. The colour is of a blackish green; the head is round, with a deformed kind of a face: a strong fin runs from near the eyes to the middle of the back, which something resembles flowing hair; and the two supposed arms and hands, are two fleshy fins, or rather digitated swimmers: the female has breasts assuredly like a womans', being a viviparous animal; while the tail is exactly that of a fish, in most of which properties it agrees with the seal, but this last has no fin along the back, and is considerably larger, while it never appears erect above the water like the former. The above information I had from several old Negroes and Indians, who all agreed perfectly in the description; some added that they sung, which I apprehend to be no other than a grunting noise, which they emit like most other tropical fish and amphibious animals. They concluded by assuring me, that though they were scarce, nothing was more dreaded by their wives and children, than the Watra-Mama, which signifies the Mother of the Waters; and by whichname, strange to tell, they distinguish their Sibyls."

This mermaid which was exhibited in London, is described in a note to Gilbert's Hurricane, who says, he saw the animal "together with a young one taken in her arms. The length of the mother may have been four feet, and that of the child nine or ten inches. From the loins upward appeared to have been covered with flesh, and thence downward with scales. They were dried, having been caught five years before on the coasts of Italy or of Sicily. The hands were webbed; and the fingers terminated sharp, like a monkey's."

P. 51.

I believe in hands and arms to the mermen, notwithstanding Stedman's authority, and they were to be found in this which was exhibited: but I am not sure from this account of poor Gilbert's, that it was not a manufactured monster.

The attestations from Scotland, which have appeared in our newspapers since the former part of this note was written, put the question now out of doubt.

98. Insects of Brazil, p. 326.] I have not found the Coyu mentioned among the plagues of Paraguay or Brazil. It is found on the Orinoco. If Gumilla may be believed, this insect, which is of a bright red, and resembles in form and size a common tick, is full of such a poison, that if it be crushed upon the skin of man or of any beast, a swelling of the whole body is produced, and followed speedily by death. There is no remedy but by immediately singeing the part affected and all around it with a certain grass found there in abundance. Cattle, aware of their danger, never browse without first blowing strongly up the herbage. This is Gumilla's account, (c. 41.) his credulity tends to make his readers incredulous. Ulloa however confirms it. He says, this insect is common in Popayan; Muleteers will squeeze them between the palms of their hand, the callus, as he supposes, preventing the absorption of the poison. Book 6. c. 3.

99. Diseases, p. 327.] Europeans, and European animals are said to be subject to a remarkable disease in the Province of Chichas y Tarija. They are seized with a sort of frenzy which

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makes them run to the heights, and climb the precipices till a fall either kills or for the time cripples them. If they are only crippled, the disease leaves them by the time they recover from their hurt, and they are not subject to it a second time. The Mercurio Peruano positively affirms this to be the case, and notices its resemblance to the Lover's Leap of the Ancients, asking if some such fact be not the origin of that fable. T. 2. p. 49.

100. Ulcer of the anus, p. 328.] This disease is called mal do bicho, for the Portugueze people are fond of that theory of diseases, which ascribes them to be the action of animalculæ; a motive upon which an old German physician, Dr. Choistianus Franciscus Paulinus, has written a book, De Morte Verminosa .. a work equally credulous and loathsome, M. de Jussieu supposes the disease to be gangrene in the rectum. It is still so common about Quito, that at the first attack of any malady, remedies are applied for this, the inhabitants being firmly persuaded that there can be no distemper which is not accompanied with the bicho. The remedy is a pessary composed of gun-powder, guinea pepper, and a lemon peeled; to be changed two or three times a day. Utloa, b. 5. c. 6.

Labat, who represents it as infections, says, it was carried from St. Thomas to Brazil, from thence to the French Islands by the Oriflamme which returning from Siam, touched at Brazil, picked up the disease there, and brought it to Martinique, where it was called in consequence, Mal de Siam, its birth-place being mistaken. It then reached the Spanish Main and Mexico. The havock which it made, he adds, cannot be imagined; but in St. Thomas and Brazil it was disregarded, because they had found lavements of decoction of cassia with an equal quantity of citron juice, and citron-quarters used as suppositories, to be specific.

Voy, de Ch. Des Marchais, 3. 6.

101. They used the cold water affusion in fever, p. 329.] It seems from a passage in Cardenas, (c. 15.) that the Spanish Physicians of the sixteenth century were acquainted with a more rational practice in cases of fever than afterwards prevailed. He says, "quantas vexes esta un miserable enfermo, abrasandose de calentura toda la noche, estorvandole todos los de casa que no le de ni por pensamiento el sereno; y si acaso le aciertan a abr de madrugada las entanas, assi como comiença a gozar de aquel apazible, y regalado sereno de la madrugada, parece que sana y se livla de todos sus males; que es como quando una toma con gran calentura una purga que le abrassa las entrañas, y piensan todo los de casa que esta su vida y salud en quitarle el agua, no teniendo mayor remedio y refugio que becerla, y agapar con ella fuego de la diente y cenenosa purga. Pero esto solo incumbe el concederla al sabio y bien experto medico que conoce el provecho, que le puede hazer.

102. Herbary, p. 329.] Oviedo, (l. 11. c. 5.) laments that the knowledge of herbary in Hayti, perished with the old inhabitants. The generation which existed in his time were so avaricious, he says, of the little which they retained, that it was scarcely possible to obtain from them any of their secrets, especially if they were such as could be beneficial to the Spaniards.

103. Their Chiefs are their Physicians also, p. 334.] The Chief of the Guamos, is perhaps, of all others, subject to the most inconvenient sort of duty. For if any of his people are indisposed, he must anoint their stomachs with his own blood.

Gumilla, 1. c. 11.

104. They hold it unwholesome to be abroad till the dews have disappeared, p. 335. Why the dew (sereno) of the Indies is more unwholesome than that of other provinces, is the title of a chapter among the Problemas of Dr. Cardenas. The dew, he says, is a certain subtile and delicate vapour drawn up by day from the moisture of the earth, and condensed by night; it is more hurtful there because it is in greater abundance, and the bodies of those persons who live there are already super-abounding with moisture, and simile facilius petitur a simili. It affects the brain first, because the brain is the moistest part of the whole body; and the first dews are the most baneful, because the pores of the body are then all open to receive their influence; whereas as the night advances, they shrink and close against it. C. 15.

105. Eclipses, p. 335.] Gumilla explained to some Indians who were endeavouring to deliver the moon during an eclipse, the nature of that phenomenon, .. by the help of an orange, a candle, and a looking glass. They were completely satisfied. He says, it is scarcely to be conceived with what delight they listen to an account of the heavenly bodies, and their movements, the extent of the world, and the different nations who inha-

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bit it: and he adds, that a Missionary cannot do better than begin by winning their attention with such topicks. C. 48.

106. S. Cruz de la Sierra, p. 337.] Superstition has invented another reason for the name. Acosta (l. 7. c. 27.) says, that a soldier fled from the province of Charcas to the Indians in this part of the country, to avoid punishment for his crimes, .. that there was a drought in the land; the savages made use of their religious ceremonies to obtain rain without effect; .. upon which he promised them rain if they would do as he should instruct them. The offer was gladly accepted; he erected a great cross, bade them fall down before it, and worship and pray for rain, and immediately it rained. Upon this they forsook their idols, took the Cross for their ensign, and requested that Missionaries might be sent to instruct them; and so the province was called Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

107. Zarate supplied himself by plundering the Indians, p. 344.] This is very fairly related by the rhyming historian.

En este tiempo andaba con presteza
Juntando Juan Ortiz mucha comida;
El Sargento Mayor va sin pereza
De los Indios buscando la manida;
Y tanto calor pone y tal destreza,
Que la miseria en breve fenecida
Que el Indio tiene, deja y los buhios
Barridos de alto a baxo y mui vaios.

A qual Indio le toma la hamaca,
A qual el pellejuelo que tenia;
A qual si le replica alli le saca.
La manta con que el triste se cubria
Al fin, en la pared no deja estaca,
Que todo quanto halla destruia,
Y no contento de esta tal destroza,
Enojo da al que tiene muger moza.

Argentina. c. 10.

108. P. 346.] Melgarejo very unjustifiably, while he was at St. Catalina, killed a monkey who had been preaching a sermon. He relates the story himself to D. Martin, and would have been hanged for murder upon his own confession, if Lord Monboddo had been his judge.

Mas quiero yo contar aqui primero
De monos una cosa mui galana,
Que cierto me conto este Cavallero,
Diciendo, que el lo vido una manana:
Estando en esta Isla, mui entero
El juicio y la razon mui libre y sana.
De Monos vio juntarse gran canalla,
Y el pusose a escondidas a miralla.

Un Mono grande, viejo, como Alano,
Estaba à la quadrilla predicando,
Heria, y apuntaba con la mano,
Mudando el tono à veces y gritando:
El Auditorio estaba por el llano,
Atento á maravilla, y escuchando,
Y el subido en un alto y seco tronco
dar gritos y voces esta ronco.

A su lado en el tronco dos estaban,
A la vanda siniestra, y la derecha,
Aquestos la saliva le quitaban
Que gritando el Monazo vierte y echa.
Concluso su sermon todos gritaban,
Y la quadrilla y junta ya deshecha,
Aprieta cada qual dando mil gritos,
Y de espacio và el Mono y Pagecitos.

Ruy Diaz mui confuso contemplaba
El bruto razonar de aquel Monazo,
Y como el Arcabuz presto llevaba,
Tirando, le mato de un pelotazo,
Los dos monillos Pages que llevaba,
Oyendo aquel terrible arcabuzazo,
Aprietan por el Monte dando gritos
Mas en breve acudieron infinitos.

Fue tanta mulitud la que venia
De Monos á la muerte de aquel viejo,
Que la tierra do estaba se cubria
Y huie de temor el Melgarejo:
Un Indio del Brazil que alli venia
Con sobrado dolor y sobrecejo,
Le dice, y embebido en cruda sana,
Porque has muerto al Senor de la montana?

Entre los Indios era conocido
Aquel Monazo viejo y respetado,
Y por Senor y Rey era tenido
De aquel aspero monte despoblado.

Argentina. c. 10.

109. The famine, p. 347.] There was only a single dog left in this expedition, which was of great value, and highly prized by his master. The poor creature entered a woman's hovel one day and she immediately killed it, and calling in D.

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Martin as he returned from saying mass, showed it him, and asked him what they should do with their prize: I replied, says he, Roast it, Lady, and let us eat. We ate it secretly, .. and then she began to think what she had done was very wicked, but I told her that the commandment not to steal was not broken in such cases, as is well explained in Scripture, and that among Sages, it was commonly observed that necessity has no law. Argentina. c. 17.

110. Juan Ortez de Zarate, p. 347.] This must undoubtedly be the person whose conversation with the old translator is given in Note 14. From the different character in which his words and his actions represent him, it may perhaps be inferred that at the time when our countryman fell in with him, wine had given a warmth and generosity to his heart, which were not to be found there when he was sober.

111. Hides, p. 349.] In the fleet of 1537, there came 35,444 hides from St. Domingo; and from New Spain 64,350, .. which were valued at 96,532 pieces (pesos). Acosta, 4. 33.

Hides are mentioned three years afterwards in these instructions given by Master Edward Cotton, of Southampton, to the captain and merchant of a ship called after his own name, which was freighted for Brazil and the Plata.

"At your coming to the Isle of Saint Sebastian, upon the coast of Brazill, you shall, according to your discretions, make sale of such commodities as you may thinke will be thereabout well vented, and likewise to buy commodities, without making longer stay there than your victuals be providing, but rather to bespeake commodities against your returne from the river of Plate; especially of amber, sugar, green ginger, cotton-wool, and some quantity of the peppers of the country there. Also for parats and monkies, and the beast called serrabosa; also you shall barrell up of the leefe* called petune, two or three barrels; and to lose no good opportunity to gather of the Indian figges, and the graines of them to preserve drie, in such quantities as conveniently may be done; and touching the making of the traine, and preserving of the hides, I leave it wholly to the order and the diseretion of the Chief of the company. Also, that in any road where the ship shall ride, upon the coast of America, triall be made with the dragges for the pearl-oisters, and the same being taken, to be opened and searched for pearl in the presence of the captaine, his lieutenant, the master, the pilot, and marchant, or three of them, whereof the captaine or his lieutenant to be one, and to remaine in the custodie of the captaine and merchant, under two locks, either of them to have a key to his owne locke, and that a true inventorie be delivered also to the master and pilot of the said pearls or other jewels of price gotten in the said voiage, to the intent that no partie be defrauded of his due, and that no concealment be made of any such thing upon forfeiture, the partie to lose his share and dutie for the voyage that shall so conceale and not reveale it unto the officers above named. Also to doe your best indeavour to try for the best ore of golde, silver, or other rich mettals whatsoever. Forget not also to bring the kernals and seeds of strange plants with you, the palmito with his fruit inclosed in him. Serve God, keepe good watch, and stand always upon your garde." Hakluyt, Vol. 2. Part 2. 110.

The ship, "through meere dissolute negligence," was wrecked off the coast of Guinea, and all the crew, except one man, perished miserably by hunger, disease, or the merciless Moor-Negroes. Hakluyt has, on this account, placed it among his African voyages, though it contains no other information, than that which relates to Brazil.

Hakluyt, p. 353.

A letter written to M. Richard Staper, by John Whithall, from Santos in Brazil, the 26th of June, 1578.

Worshipfull sir, and welbeloued friend, M Staper, I haue me most heartily commended unto you, wishing your health euen as mine owne.

These few words may bee to let you understand, that whereas I wrote unto you not many dayes past by the way of Lisbon, howe that I determined to bee with you very shortly, it is in this countrey offered mee to marry, and to take my choice of three or foure, so that I am about three dayes agoe consorted with an Italian gentleman to marry with his daughter within these foure dayes. This, my friend and father in law, Signor Ioffo Dore, is borne in the citie of Genua in Italy; his

* Beefe in Hakluyt, by a printer's blunder.

O

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kindred is well knowen amongst the Italians in London: also hee hath but onely this childe, which is his daughter, which he hath thought better bestowed upon mee than on any Portugal in all the countrey, and doeth give with her in marriage to me part of an Ingenio which he hath, that doeth make euery yeare a thousand roues of sugar. This my marriage will be worth to mee two thousand duckets, little more or lesse. Also Signor Ioffo Dore, my father in lawe, doeth intende to put into my handes the whole Ingenio, with sixtie or seuentie slaues, and thereof to make me factor for us both. I give my liuing Lord thankes for placing me in such honour and plentifulnesse of all things.

Also certaine dayes past I talked with the Prouedor and Captaine, and they haue certified me, that they haue discouered certaine mines of siluer and gold, aud looke euery day for masters to come to open the said mines; which, when they be opened, will inrich this countrey very much. This place is called S. Vincent, and is distant from you two thousand leagues, and in 24 degrees of latitude on the south side of the Equinoctial line, and almost under the Tropike of Capricorne, a countrey it is very healthfull without sicknesse.

Moreouer, I haue talked with the Captaine and Prouedor, and my father in law, who rule all this countrey, for to have a ship with goods to come from London hither, which have promised mee to give mee licence, saying that nowe I am free denizen of this countrey. To cause a ship to come hither with such commodities as would serue this countrey, would come to great gaines, God sending in safety the profite and gaines. In such wares and commodities as you may ship hither from London is for every one commoditie deliuered here three for one, and then after the proceed may be imployed in white sugar at four hundred reis the roue.

I meane also to have a friend in London to sende mee a ship of 60 or 70 tunnes, little more or lesse, with such commodities as I shall give advise for. This voyage is as good as any Peruvoyage. If you and Master Osborne will deale here, I will deale with you before any other, because of our old friendly friendship in time past. If you haue any stomake thereto, in the name of God, do you espie out a fine barke of seuentie or eightie tunnes, and send her hither with a Portugal pilot to this port S. Vincent in Brazil, bordering upon the borders of Peru.

Also I herewith write unto you in what forme and maner you shall furnish this voyage both in commodities and otherwise.

First, you must lade in the same ship certaine Hampshire and Devonshire karsies; for the which you must let her depart from London in October, and to touch in the Canaries, and there to make sale of the said karsies, and with the proceed thereof to lade fifteene tunnes of wines that be perfect and good, and sixe dozen of Cordovan skinnes of these colours, to wit, orenge, tawnie, yellow, red, and very fine black. I think you shall not finde such colours there, therefore you must cause them that go upon this voyage, to take saffron with them, to cause the same skinnes to bee put into the said colours. Also I thinke you shall finde oyles there. Three hogsheads of sweete oyle for this voyage are very necessary, or a hundred and fiftie iarres of oyle. Also in London you may lade in the said ship these parcels of commodities or wares, as followeth.

Inprimis, foure peeces of hollands of middle sort.
Item, one piece of fine holland.
Four hundred elles of osenbriges very fine.
Four dozen of sizzors of all sorts.
Sixteene kintals of pitch of the Canaries.
Twentie dozen of great knives which be made in fardles, of a low price.
Four dozen of a small sort.
Sixe peeces of bayes of the lowest sort.
One very fine peece of bayes.
Four hundred elles of Manchester cottons, most blacke, greene, some yellow.
Eight or tenne dozen of hats, the one halfe trimmed with taffata, the other plaine, with the bands of cypresse.
Sixe dozen of course shirts.
Three dozen of doublets of canuas.
Three dozen of doublets of stitched canuas.
One peece of fine Millan fustian barred.
Sixe dozen of locks for doores and chests.
Sixe thousand of all manner of fish hooks.
Four dozen reames of paper.
Two dozen of glasses of divers sorts.
Two dozen of Venice glasses, the one halfe great, the other middle sort.
Two dozen of mantles of frise, of the lowest price that can be.
Three dozen of frize gownes.
Foure hundred pound of tinne of the use of Portugal, most smal dishes and trenchers.
Foure pound of silke of all colours.
Twentie pound of spices, cloues, cinamon, pepper, and saffron.

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Two kintals of white sope.
Three pound of threed, white, black, and blew.
Three pound of fine white threed.
Item, half a dozen of northerne karsies of divers colours.
Foure sorting clothes, blew, red, yellow, and green.
Sixe northerne dozens of divers colours.
One fine blew cloth of eight pound.
One fine flannell of tenne or twelue pound.
One fine sheeps coloured cloth of twelue pound.
One fine black karsie.
One fine flannell karsie.
Six yards of black velvet.
Three barrells of nailes for chests.
Two barrels of nailes for ships and barks.
Six kintals of Occom.
Two dozen of velvet girdles without hangers.
Foure yards of taffata red, blacke, and blew, with some greene.
Two dozen of leather girdles.
Sixe dozen of axes, hatchets, and small billes to cut wood.
Foure mases of gitterne strings.
Foure hundred or five hundred elles of some linen cloth, that is of a low price, to make shirts and sheets.
Foure tunnes of yron.

These be such sort of wares as I would you should send, if you meane to deale, or send any ship hither. Have you no doubt, but by the helpe of God I shall put all things in good order according to your contentment and profit: for my father in lawe with the Capitaine and Prouedor doe rule this countrey. My father in law and I shall (God willing) make a good quantitie of sugar every yeere, which sugar we intend to ship for London from henceforth, if we can get such a trustie and good friend as you to deale with us in this matter. I pray you presently after the receit of this my letter to write mee answere thereof, and send your letter to M. Holder to Lisbone and he will convey it to me out of hand.

Besides the premises, send sixe yards of skarlet, parchment lace of divers colours.
Sixe yards of crimosin velvet.
Sixe yards of crimosin satten.
Twelve yards of fine puke blacke.

Here in this countrey in stead of John Whithall they have called me John Leitoan; so that they have used this name so long time, that at this present there is no remedie, but it must remaine so. When you write unto me, let the superscription be unto John Leitoan.

Thus I commit you with all yours to the Holy Ghost for ever.

If you send this ship, I would have you give this order that she touch in no part of the coast of Guinea nor any other coast, but to come directly hither to the port of S. Vincent, and from the Canaries let her be dispatched in my name, to wit John Leitoan.

Also a dozen of shirts for my wearing let be sent if you send the ship.

Item. Sixe or eight pieces of sayes for mantles for women, which is the most necessary thing that can be sent.

By your assured friend

JOHN WHITHALL.

112. Santos, p. 359.] It was my chance, says Knivet, going up and down from cell to cell in the college of Jesus, that I looked under a bed standing in a dark hole, where I found a little chist fast nayled, and the seames thereof were white with wheat flower. I drew it forth, and finding it of great weight, broke it in pieces, wherein I found 1700 rials of eight, each whereof contayneth four shillings English. This hole I took for my lodging, and no man knew of my good purchase; cloth, shirts, blankets and beds and such stuffe no man regarded.

113. Cavendish, p. 364.] The letter which he wrote when dying is very affecting. Those actions by which Cavendish has made himself remembered, assuredly justify the censure which Capt. Burney, as well as myself, has past upon him. .. Yet this which follows will show that the heart of the unhappy man was naturally good. .. And now to tell you of my greatest griefe, which was the sicknesse of my deare kinsman John Locke, who by this time was growne in great weaknesse, by reason whereof he desired rather quietnesse and contentednesse in our course, than such continuall disquietnesse, which never ceased us. And now by this, what with griefe for him, and the continuall trouble I indured among such hel-hounds, my spirits were cleane spent; wishing myselfe upon any desart place in the world, there to dye, rather than thus basely to returne home againe, which course I had put in execution, had I found an Iland which the Cardes make to be 8 degrees to the southward of the line. I sweare to you, I sought for it with all diligence, meaning (if I had

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found it) to have there ended my unfortunate life. But God suffered not such happinesse to light upon me, for I could by no meanes finde it, so as I was forced to goe towards England, and having gotten 8 degrees by north the line, I lost my most dearest cousin.

And now consider whether a heart made of flesh be able to indure so many misfortunes, all falling upon me without intermission. I thank my God that in ending of me, he hath pleased to rid me of all further trouble and mishaps. And now to returne to our private matters, I have made my will, wherein I have given speciall charge, that all goods (whatsoever belong unto me) be delivered into your hands. For God's sake, refuse not to doe this last request for mee; I owe little that I know of, and therefore it will be the lesse trouble; but if there be any debt, that (of truth) is owing by mee, for God's sake see it paid. I have left a space in the will for another name, and (if you think it good) I pray take in my cousin Henrie Sackeford; he will ease you much in many businesses. There is a bill of adventure to my cousin Richard Locke, (if it happen that the other ship returne home with any thing, as it is not impossible) I pray remember him, for he hath nothing to show for it. .... I have given Sir George Cary the Desire if ever she return, for I always promised him her if shee returned, and a little part of her getting, if any such thing happen, I pray you see it performed.

To use complements of love (now at my last breath) were frivolous; but know that I left none in England whom I loved halfe so well as yourselfe; which you in such sort deserved at my hands, as I can by no meanes requite. I have left all (that little remayning) unto you, not to be accomptable for any thing. That which you will, if you finde any overplus, (yourselfe especially being satisfied to your owne desire) give unto my sister Anne Candish. I have written to no man living but yourselfe, leaving all friends and kinsmen, only reputing you as dearest. Commend me to both your brethren, being glad that your brother Edward escaped so unfortunate a voyage. I pray give this copie of my unhappie proceedings in this action to none, but onely to Sir George Cary, and tell him that if I had thought the letter of a dead man acceptable, I would have written unto him. I have taken order with the master of my ship to see his peeces of ordnance delivered unto him, for hee knoweth them. And if the Roebucke bee not returned, then I have appointed him to deliver him two brasse peeces, out of this ship, which I pray see performed. I have now no more to say, but take this last farewell, .. that you have lost the lovingest friend that was lost by any. Commend me to your wife. No more, but as you love God, doe not refuse to undertake this last request of mine. I pray forget not master Carey of Cockington; gratifie him with something, for hee used me kindly at my departure. Beare with this scribbling; for I protest I am scarce able to hold a pen in my hand.

Purchas. l. 6. c. 6. p. 1200.

114. Manoa, p. 372.] Gumilla, who is a believer in El Dorado, explains Manoa to mean a lake, .. and that when it is spoken of by that name, the city of the lake is meant. c. 25.

115. Sir Walter Ralegh. p. 373.] Ralegh cannot have believed the story which he told, because it was chronologically impossible. A brother of Atabalipa, he says, fled after the destruction of the Incas, taking with him so great an army of Orejones, that he conquered the interior of Guiana. When Diego de Ordas was attempting the conquest of the Orinoco, and had advanced some three hundred miles up the river to a place called Moriquito, his whole stock of powder was blown up. Provoked at the master of the Munition (whose name was Juan Martinez) for this negligence, he condemned him to death; intreaty was made for his life, and the utmost mercy which Ordas would grant was that he should be set adrift in a canoe, without food. The stream carried him down, and in the evening a party of Guianians fell in with him; they had never seen a white man before, and having thus caught one, blindfolded him, and led him a journey of fourteen or fifteen days through the country, to be wondered at from town to town, till they arrived at Manoa, the great city of the Inca. At the entrance of this city they took the bandage from his eyes. It was noon when they entered it, he travelled along the streets till night, and the next day from sun rise till sun set before he came to the palace. Here he was detained seven months, and not permitted to go without the walls. Leave was then given him to return, and a party of Guianians, laden with as much gold for him as they could carry, were ordered to re-conduct him to the Orinoco. When they drew near the river the savages fell upon them, and robbed them of all the treasure, except two calabashes full of golden beads, which they suffered him to keep, supposing them to be filled with food. He got to Trinidad,

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and from thence to St. Juan de Puerto Rico. Here he died, and at his death gave these beads to the church for the good of his soul, and left this account of his discovery. The court dress by his account was of gold dust, conformably to the usual fable of El Dorado. .. Ralegh cannot have believed this story, because the year in which Ordas ascended the Orinoco, was the same in which Pizarro conquered Peru.

Ralegh's conduct can only be explained by the design which I have imputed to him, of tempting vulgar curiosity and vulgar cupidity. Hence the armadillo which he saw, with a white horn growing in his hinder parts as big a great hunting horn, which the natives use to wind instead of a trumpet. (p. 650.) Hence his Ewaipanomas, a nation of Acephali, with eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their breasts, of whom, he says, it was not my chance to hear till I was come away, and if I had but spoken one word of it while I was there, I might have brought one of them with me, to put the matter out of *doubt (p. 653.) Hence his story, how at the conquest of Peru, a prophecy was found in one of the temples, purporting, that in time to come the Incas were to be delivered from their servitude to the Spaniards, and restored to their dominion by England: .. a prediction which he protests 'before the majesty of God,' was affirmed by his prisoner Berreo (p. 662.) Hence his assertion, that, 'the common soldier shall here fight for gold, and pay himself instead of pence, with plates of half a foot broad; whereas, he breaketh his bones in other wars for provart and penury.' (p. 660). Hence too his flattery to Elizabeth, that the Amazons shall hear her virgin name, and his concluding, 'trust in God, that he who is King of all Kings, and Lord of Lords, will put it in her heart who is Lady of Ladies, to conquer El Dorado!'

P. 662.

The people of England had too much good sense to be duped by these tales of a golden country, and Keymis condescends to talk of brazil wood, honey, cotton, balsam and drugs, as articles more likely to suit the temper of his countrymen, 'because,' said he, 'our belief seemeth to be mated in these greater matters, and a certainty of smaller profits is the readiest inducement to quicken our weak hopes.' (p. 683.)

This adventurer finely points out the policy of colonization to government. ... If the necessitie of following this enterprise doth nothing urge us, says Keymis, because in some case better a mischiefe than an inconvenience; let the conveniency thereof somewhat moove us, in respect both of so many gentlemen, souldiers, and younger brothers, who, if for want of employment they doe not die like cloyed cattell in ranke easefulnesse, are enforced for maintenance sake, sometimes to take shamefull and unlawful courses; and in respect of so many handycraftsmen having able bodies, that doe live in cleannesse of teeth and povertie. To sacrifice the children of Beliel unto the common weale is not to defile the land with blood, because the law of God doeth not prohibite it, and the execution of justice requireth it to be so: but yet if the water-boughes, that sucke and feede on the juice and nourishment that the fruitefull branches should live by are to be cut down from the tree and not regarded; luckie and prosperous bee that right hand that shall plant and possesse a soyle, where they may fructifie, increase and growe to good; thrise honourable and blessed bee the memorie of so charitable a deede, from one generation to another.

Hakluyt. 3. 686.

116. Fæminæ ubi pepererunt, &c. p. 379.] It is a proof how little Pauw can be trusted for accuracy, that from this fact he classes the Tapuyas and Tupinambas among those cannibals, qui ne touchoient qu' aux appendices du corps humain.

T. l. p. 232.

117. They äte their own dead, p. 379.] There are some remarks upon cannibalism in Bolingbroke's Voyage to the Demerary, .. a book remarkable for placing old subjects in a new point of view. It is there said, (p. 150.) that savages devour only their enemies; .. this practice of the Tapuyas is an instance to the contrary. It is also said, that we never eat those animals which we have domesticated. Many of the equestrian South American

* His friend Keymis also 'omits to mention, what he has heard of a sort of a people more monstrous, because it is no manner of difficulty to get one of them, and the report otherwise will appear fabulous.' But his marginal note informs us, that 'they have eminent heads like dogs, and live all the day time in the sea, and speak the Caribs language.' p. 677.

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tribes live upon horse-flesh in preference to beef, which is equally plentiful, and always at hand. Some of the Tatar tribes have the same taste. The head of his horse was the dainty with which the Soldan wished to have regaled the Cid. .. Mr. Bolingbroke's speculations are ingenious, but they look at the subject in one light only. Love as well as hatred leads to cannibalism, and Artemisia is admired for having given the same proof of her affection asevery Tapuya widow, .. with this difference only, that she took her husband in what physicians of the present day would call a more elegant preparation.

118. The bones were reserved for enemies feasts, 379.] Those nations which are called Arcacas, which dwell on the south of Oroonok, (of which place and nation our Indian pilot was) are dispersed in many other places, and do use to beat the bones of their lords into powder, and their wives and friends drink it all in their several sorts of drink.

Sir Walter Ralegh.

119. The maids dancing and singing, each behind him whom she loved, p. 381.] It appears that there was no indecency in the dances of the savages.

Les dances ne ont si dissoluës entre ces barbares comme elles sont entre les Chrestieus, d'autant que les filles et les femmes ne dansent jamais avec les hommes, si ce n'est quelquefois en Caouinnant, ou beuvant; mais encore se gardent ils bien alors de beaucoup de folies, d'attraicts & deshonestetez par trop ordinaires és danses de par deça; car les femmes ne mettent que la main sur les espaules de leurs maris qui dansent; aussi ne voit-on tant de scandales & de malheurs qui arrivent icy par le danses & balets pleins de lubricitez & de dissolutions.

Claude d'Abbecille, ff. 299.

Dancing among savages, when not a religions ceremony, is as among children, mere sport; among corrupted people it becomes a mode of vice.

120. The Tribes of Ibiapaba, p. 382.] Vieyra wonders that they did not supply themselves with fish from the sea, which was only twenty-five leagues distant, and salt them in some natural salt-licks, which extended above two leagues. He forgot that nations must be far advanced in civilization, before mountaineers a hundred miles from the coast can be supplied from thence with food. Vida do Vieyra, p. 231.

121. Porto Seguro, p. 385.] B. Tellez plays upon the name, saying there is no Porto Seguro in this life: but, that now as the savages were retreating to the woods, e os nossos melhorando nos costumes, vay sendo agora este Porto mais Seguro de Aymures, e mais livre de incendios.

122. Banished from Pernambuco, p. 394.] Men were too valuable in Brazil to be transported out of it, .. besides, it appears that they were transported from one port to another. In the Noticias, p. 2. c. 67. a story is told of two Tupinambas, who were degredaded from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro, and found their way buck through the woods.

123. Taking with him six Tupinambas, p. 400.] These Tupinambas put into Falmouth on their way, and remained there six weeks. And there first seeing the use of money, they conceived a great contempt for the English, as for a people who gave nothing away. One day a boat came along side with oysters, .. one of the Indians seeing that none were to be had without money, picked up a black counter, and went joyfully to the friar to learn how many oysters he could get for it. When he was told that it was neither white nor yellow, and that therefore it was worth nothing, and he would be laughed at if he offered it, he took a piece of chalk and whitened it all over, and then offered it, and asked for oysters. It hardly need be added, that this proof of his talents for coining, procured him what he wanted from the good natured fishermen.

Claude d'Abbeville, p. 298.

124. Three of them died, p. 400.] After having related the death of the three Tupinambas, ce seroit, says Claude d'Abbeville, une belle question de demander, s'ils jouissent maintenant du Paradis en qualité d'heritage, ou bien en qualité de recompense: car de douter de leur jouissance, il n'y a moyen, attendu les belles circonstances de leur mort. And he decides this belle question in favour of the heritage, these Tupinambas ayant rendu leurs ames a Dieu en leur innocence baptismale, & tout incontinent apres avoir este baptisé. ff. 346. It was lucky they did not die before they were whitewashed into this state of infantine innocenee; for they had been tolerable cannibals in their time. One of them, by name Carypyra, the Kite, had no less than four and twenty names, won in battle, as the capuchin says, but in fact, for having brought four and twenty prisoners to the boucan after the battle.

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He was more glorious in this, says Father Claude, than Scipio Africanus, or Cæsar Germanicus, and what is most remarkable is, that these names were accompanied with their eulogies, which were written like so many inscriptions, not upon paper nor iron, nor the bark of a tree, but upon his own proper flesh. His face, his belly, and his two legs and thighs, were the marble and porphiry upon which he had had the history of his life engraved, with characters and figures so strange, that you would have taken his skin for a damasked cuirass. ff. 348. .. François was his twenty-fifth name, .. and the most glorious one of all, says his Franciscan eulogist.

This tattoing in historical hieroglyphics, is practised in New Zealand. I have seen in the possession of my friend, Mr. Carlisle, a portrait of the king of that island drawn by himself, which is the most curious portrait in Europe .. except that of the queen, by the same hand. Whatever the likeness may be in other respects, the royal artist has carefully attended to the history of his exploits, with which the whole face is covered.

125. That the Parisians might make a rar show, p. 400.] The Capuchin's description deserves to be preserved.

Mais qui cust jamais pensé que le peuple de Paris, tant accoustumé à voir des choses rares & nouvelles, se fust esmeu comme il a fait pour la venuë de ces Indiens? .. voicy qu'à la venuë de ces pauvres Indiens, commota est universa civitas, tout Paris est en esmeute; un chacun resentant en son cæur je ne sçay quelle rejouissance, qui faisoit que ne se pouvant plus tenir en ses bornes et limites, il falloit qu'il sortit hors pour avoir le contentement de regurder de ses yeux ce apres quoy son pauvre cæur tresailloit. Toutes les ruës estoient pleines de peuple, qui couroit en affluence pour voir ce qui ne pouvoit quasi croire.

Nostre Convent n'etoit point ntre, mais a tout Paris. Il n'estoit plus comme un Convent, mais sembloit une hale ou tout le monde affluoit plus de vingt lieues a la ronde. .. D'ou, penseriez vous, que proceda cette particuliere devotion de ce peuple de Puris, sinon de l'amou, et de la saincte affection qu'il porte a l'Eglise Catholique, Apostolique, & Romaine? ..

Claude d'Abbeville, ff 340.

126. Defeat of the French, p. 419.] St. Antonio and the Virgin Mary are said to have fought at the head of the Portugueze upon this occasion. The former may be excused for this interposition on the score of his patriotism; but it would be difficult to say why the latter should interfere in a war between two parties equally Catholic. Fr. Apollinario da Conceiçam hints at this miracle, and refers to a judicial deposition of the fact among the archives of the Carmo Convent at Maranham.

Primazia Serafica na Regiam da America. p. 121.

Labat, (Voy. de Ch. Des Marchais. 3, 62.) referring to these fruitless projects of his countrymen in South America, calls them Colonies Ephéméres, qui ont duré si peu, qu'elles n'ont servi qu'a montrer le chemin aux autres nations, leur defricher un peu le terrein, et leur faire connoitre qu'on y pouoit faire des etablissemens solides, riches, et puissants dont notre legéreté naturelle ne nous a permis presque jamais de profiter.

127. Para, 427.] In my opinion, says Stedman, (Vol. 1. p. 56. N.) not only Parham's Point but the Para Creek and the town of Paramaribo, nay even the great water called the Golden Parima, or Parham Lake, took their names from Francis Lord Willoughby of Parham, who received this settlement from Charles II, and was one of the first possessors of this beautiful country. .. Unluckily for this etymology, the Lake of Parima was laid down in maps by that name before Lord Willoughby was born. .. This word Para shows how far the Tupi or Guarani language may be traced.

128. Five Jews were put to death, p. 451.] Cespedes (6. 14) says that many persons wished the punishment of the perfidious Jews had been increased. "For although Christian compassion in such cases is not to be condemned, and it must be confessed, that in the eye of God there is no exception of nations, yet, who can ever deny, that to show mercy to that unbelieving rabble is more mischievous than it is praiseworthy, since we see living in their very entrails that horrible inclination to impious ingratitude, just as in Negroes, the inseparable tincture of their skin, of which, though they mix with the whites, their children always partake." This is but a feeble specimen of the language of Popery against the Jews in those days.

129. D. Fadrique de Toledo, p. 453.] D. Fadrique had drawn out his men to review them on a beautiful morning, .. when, as is not unusual at Bahia, and very common at Maranham, in the course of an hour, the whole sky was overcast

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and it began to rain heavily. En el Brazil hasta los Cielos mienten, the very Heavens tell hes in Brazil, exclaimed the General, expressing thus of the climate, what he thought of the people.

Vieyra. Serm. t. 4. p. 295.

130. Olinda, p. 463.] The reef along the coast of Pernambuco supplied a fine stone for the monasteries and best houses at Olinda and Paraiba. (Piso, p. 3.) There was probably some difficulty in quarrying it, or it would have been generally used. Piso (p. 49.) seems to imply, that this was the first place which the Portugueze colonized, .. but he overlooks the settlement made by Vespucci.

131. The officers cast off their shoes, &c. p. 474.] Stedman went barefoot during his dreadful campaign in Surinam, according to the advice given him by an old negro, and he believes that it saved his life. It might be impossible to introduce this practice into an army, and dangerous to attempt it; but in long marches and bad weather, it would equally conduce to the comfort, health, and preservation of the men.

132. The four sea fights, p. 536.] The admiral's ship bore the brunt of these four engagements, .. but S. Barbara had the credit. Pondevos, says Vieyra in his Sermon upon this Saint, .. no Galeam S. Domingos, Capitania Real de nossa Armada nas quatro batalhas navaes de Pernambuco, sustentando a bataria de trinta e cinco naos Olandezas: e que he o que se via dentro e fóra em toda aquella fermosa e temerosa fortaleza nos quatro dias destes conflitos? Jugava o Galeam sessenta meyos canhoens de bronze em duas cubertas; tinha guarnecidas por hum e outro bordo o convèz, os castellos de popa e proa, as duas varandas e as gaeceas com seiscentos mosqueteiros. E sendo hum Ethna que lentamente se movía, vomitando labaredas e rayos de ferro e chumbo por tantas boeas maiores e menores; dando todos e recebendo polvora, carregando & discarregando polvora, e tendo nas mesmas maos os murroens com duas mechas acesas, ou os botafogos fincados junto aos cartuchos; & que bastando qualquer faisca para excitar hum total incendio, e voar em hum momento toda aquella maquina; que entre tanta confusam, e visinhança de polvora e fogo, estivesse o Galeam tremolando as suas bandeiras tam seguro e senhor do campo, como huma roca batida só das ondas, e nam das balas; quen negara que supria alli a vigilancia e patrocinio de S. Barbara, o que nenhuma providencia humana podéra evitar? T. 7. p. 501.

133. Barbalho's retreat, Note, p. 574.] The whole passage in which this extract is contained will interest many of my readers. "Ja outra vez tive este pensamento, e agora me torno a confirmar mais nelle, que para se despacharem os soldados do Brazil, principalmente os que andam em campanha, nam tem necessidade de mais certidam, que tomar o capitulo onze da segunda Epistola de S. Paulo aos Corinthios, firmada e jurada por seus Generaes, que bem o poderam fazer sem nenhum escrupulo. Faz alli o Apostolo huma ladainha muy comprida de seus serviços e trabalhos, e diz assim: In laboribus plurimis, in carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter, &c. Demolo por lido, e vamos applicando. In laboribus plurimis: que soldados padecem no mundo mayores trabalhos que os do Brazil? In carceribus abundantius: tambem muitas vezes sam prisioneiros, e nas prisoens nenhuns mais cruelmente tratados que elles. In plagis supra modum: quantas sejam as feridas que recebem, e quam continuas, bem o dizem esses Hospitaes, bem o dizem essas campanhas, e tambem os peitos vivos o podem dizer, que apenas se achará algum, que nam ande feito hum crivo. In mortibus frequenter: frequentemente mortos, porque nam ha guerra no mundo onde se morra tam frequentemente, como na do Brazil, de dia e de noite, no inverno e no veram, na trincheira e na campanha, nas nossas terras e nas do inimigo; e agora neste jornada ultima e milagrosa, onde se nam deu quartel, o mesmo foy ser ferido que morto, deixando os amigos aos amigos, e os irmams aos irmams, por mais nam poderem, ficando os miseraveis feridos nesses matos, nessas estradas, sem cura, sem remedio, sem companhia, para serem mortos a sangue frio e cruelmente despedaçados dos alfanges Olandezes, pelo Rey, pela Patria, pela Honra, pela Religiam, pela Fè. O valerosos soldados que de boa vontade me detivera en agord com vosco pregando vossas gloriosas exequias, mas vou depressa seguindo aos que vos deixam, perdoaime. In itineribus sæpe: quem andou nunca, nem ainda correo com a imaginaçam os caminhos, que fazem estes soldados? Daqui a Pernambuco, daqui a Paraiba, daqui ao Rio Grande, e mais abaixo, por certoens de trezentas e quatrocentas legoas, levando sempre as muniçoens às costas, e os mantimentos nos ferros dos chuços, e nas bocas dos arcabuzes. Periculis fluminum: atravessando rios tantos e tam candalosos sem barca, sem ponte, mais que as braços e a industria para os passar. Periculis latronum: saindolhes os ladroens a cada passo. Periculis exgenere: sendo Espanhoes, a quem os Olandezes tem mortal odio. Periculis ex gentibus: arriscados a mil emboscadas do Gentio rebelde. Periculis in ci-

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vitate: com perigos na Cidade, como o que tiveram nesta, quando a preço de tantas vidas a defenderam valerosumente. Periculis in solitudine: com perigos no deserto, por que sam vastissimos os despovoados que passam, sem casa, sem gente, e muitas vezes sem rasto de fera, nem de animal, mais que Ceo e terra. Periculis in mari: com perigos no mar, que ainda que atègora, os nam avia, bem se sabe quam grandes foram os que se padeceram na Armada, e ainda nam se sabe tudo. Periculis in falsis fratribus: com perigos de falsos irmaons, porque nem com os nossos Portuguezes estam seguros na campanha, que o temor da morte os obriga a descobrir muitas vezes o que nam deveram. In frigore et nuditate: nùs, despidos, descalços, ao Sol, ao frio, à chuva, às inclemencias dos ares deste clima, que sam os mais agudos que se sabem. In fame, et siti, in jejuniis multis: jejuando, e padecendo as mais extraordinarias fomes, e sedes, que nunca soportaram corpos mortaes, sustentando a triste e animosa vida com as raizes das arvores, com os bichos do mato, com as frutas agrestes e venenosas, e tendose por muy regalados, se chegavam a alcançar para comer meya libra de carne de cavallo. Ha mais invencivel paciencia? Ha mais dura e pertinaz constancia? Se isto sabeis Olandezes, em que fundais vossas esperanças, como nam desistis da empresa, como nam desmayais, como nam vos ides? Tendo os soldados de Julio Cesar sitiada a Cidade de Dyrrachio, chegaram a comer nam sei que pam feito de ervas, mas pam emfim; o qual como visse Pompeo, que era o Capitam sitiado, primeiramente disse que alli pelejava com feras e nam com homens; e logo mandou que aquelle pam nam aparecesse, porque se o vissem seus soldados, sem duvida desmayariam, e nem se atreveriam a resistir a gente de tante constancia e pertinacia, .. Ne visâ patientiâ et pertinaciâ hostis, animi suorum frangerentur, diz Suetonio. Bem digo eu logo, Olandezes, se vedes o pam com que se sustentam nossos soldados, de cujo veneno morreram em huma noite mais de vinte, se vedes esta paciencia, este constancia, esta pertinacia, como vos atreveis a pelejar com tal gente, como se vos nam quebram os animos, como nam desistis da empresa? T. 8. p. 401.

134. The Ucayali, p. 581.] It appears by the Mercurio Peruano (No. 152,) that the Spaniards are very solicitous to secure the mouth of the Ucayali, against the possible entrance of Portugueze vessels.

The tribes on this river, contrary to other savages, meet in silence when they fight. If they sound their horus it is a token of peace.

(Do. No. 75.

The Tyger is said to fight the Cayman on the Ucayali, .. he springs upon his amphibious enemy, and fixes his claws in the eyes; the other takes to the water, and both perish. The tygers here are also said to lay by a stock of tortoises, by turning them on their backs. This savours strongly of fable; it is, however, gravely affirmed in the Mer. Peruano. T. 3. p. 55.

135. The Omaguas, p. 587.] Some tribes who bordered on Louisiana were called Tétes plattes, from the same custom. By Lafitau's description, they must have exactly resembled the Omaguas. "Elles font consister leur beauté à avoir le front applati, et le sommet de la tête terminer en pointe, en façon de mitre, t. 595." He also says, that the custom prevailed among the Caraibes and most of the Southern Savages; this latter term, when used by the French, relates only to the country between the Orellana and Orinoco; and the tribes who thus disfigure themselves there are probably of the Omagua stock, according to the tradition of that people themselves.

There is a tribe in Canada called Garhagonronnon, or People of the Earth, whose fashion it is to round the head as much as possible, for which reason, the French call them Têtes de Boule.

Lafitau, Do.

The Druses of Syria mould their heads, on the contrary, in the long fashion, according to D'Arvieux. T. 1. 358.

The Indians flatten their heads in divers forms, but it is chiefly the crown of the head they depress, in order to beautify themselves, as their wild fancy terms it; for they call us long-heads, by way of contempt. The Choktah Indians flatten their forehead, from the top of the head to the eye-brow, with a small bag of sand, which gives them a hideous appearance, as the fore-head naturally shoots upward, according as it is flattened; thus, the rising of the nose, instead of being equidistant from the beginning of the chin to that of the hair, is, by their wild mechanism, placed a great deal nearer the one, and farther from the other. The Indian nations, round South Carolina, and all the way to New Mexico, (properly called Mechiko) to effect this, fix the tender infant on a kind of cradle, where his feet are tilted, about a foot higher than a horizontal position, .. his head bends back into a hole, made on purpose to receive it, where he bears the chief part of his weight on the crown of the head, upon a small bag of sand, without being in the least able to move himself. The skull resembling a fine car-

4 P

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tilaginous substance, in its infant state, is capable of taking any impression. By this pressure, and their thus flattening the crown of the head, they consequently make their heads thick, and their faces broad: for when the smooth channel of nature is stopped in one place, if a destruction of the whole system doth not thereby ensue, it breaks out in a proportional redundancy in another. May we not, to this custom, and as a necessary effect of this cause, attribute their fickle, wild, and cruel tempers? especicially when we connect therewith, both a false education, and great exercise to agitate their animal spirits. When the brain, in cooler people, is disturbed, it neither reasons, nor determines, with proper judgment. The Indians thus look on every thing around them through their own false medium; and vilify our heads because they have given a wrong turn to their own. Adair, p. 8.

136. Caoutchouc, p. 589.] Travellers form a sort of lamp of this elastic gum. They roll it into a ball, which they place in water to ascertain which part will float; and then draw out the surface into a sort of wick, which will continue to burn till the whole is consumed. Azara. 1. 127.

Hevea Guianensis is the objectionable name which has been given to the tree by French botanists.

137. Communication between the Orellana and Orinoco, p. 599.] Gumilla complains (c. 24) that the Portugueze of Maranham had found their way in 1737 to the Orinoco, and began to carry off the inhabitants for slaves. It appears by a letter from P. Bento da Fonseca (then Procurador Geral of Maranham) which is prefixed to Berredo's Annals, that the Missionaries ascertained this communication two years afterwards.

138. Amazons, p. 609.] Le Pere Lamberte de l'Ordre des Clercs Reguliers, & Missionaire de la Colchide, pretend qu'il y a encore des Amazones parmi les Nations Barbares qui habitent le Caucase.

Lafitau. Mæurs Sauvages, t. 1. p. 52. Relatione della Colchide, cap. 28. p. 200. 201. referred to.

Columbus heard in Cuba of an island inhabited only by women, who sometimes held an intercourse with the Caribs, .. kept their daughters, and sent the sons to their fathers.

Munoz, English Tr. p. 253.

139. Explosions, a sign of precious stones, p. 613.] As I was ascending the midst of this serra with my companion, says Vasconcellos, an extraordinary report was heard from the inner part of it. It was like the discharge of many pieces of artillery at once, and the rocks and hollows of the mountains made the sound more fearful. And asking one another what it could be, neither of us knew to what to ascribe so rare a thing, but inquiring of the Indians who were with us, they said, in the Brazilian tongue, Itá ae cerá, it seems an explosion of stone. And it was so; for after some days, a place was found where a rock had burst, and from its entrails, with the explosion which we had heard, like the groans of parturition, had sent to light a little treasure. This was a sort of nut (huma pinha) about the shape and size of a bull's heart, full of jewelry of different colours, some white like transparent crystal, others of a fine red, and some between red and white, imperfect as it seemed, and not yet compleatly formed by nature. All these were placed in order, like the grains of a pomegranate, within a case or shell harder than even iron; which, either with the force of the explosion, or from striking against the rocks where it fell, broke in pieces, and thus discovered its wealth. The philosophy of these things is understood. For when the operations of the sun and nature are forming the most polished birth of such fine jewelry in the entrails of a hard rock, a greater quantity of the contents of that rock must needs be reduced to a smaller quantity of the stones which are to be produced, for the finer they are, the harder; and the harder they are, the more component parts must they necessarily contain in a smaller compass. Now nature will not suffer a vacuum, and it is not possible for the air to penetrate the thick rock and prevent one. At the very moment, therefore, when the force of the sun is so great, that it is on the point of forming a vacuum in producing the work which it has in hand, nature resists; in this struggle the rock bursts, and the production is left imperfect.

L. 1. p. 51. 2.

A similar account is given by Techo. The province of Guiara, he says, is famous for a sort of stones, which nature, after a wonderful manner, produces in an oval stone case, about the bigness of a man's head. These stone cases lying under ground, when they come to a certain maturity, fly like bombs in pieces, about the air, with much noise, and scatter about abundance of very beautiful stones; for they are bright, some of the colour of amethists, others violet colour, some a grass green, some like glass, some red, and some sharp like diamonds; in fine, such is their beautiful va-

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riety, that to see the lustre of the stones, one would take those cases for caskets of jewels. But these stones are of no more value than our Bristol stones; but before this was known, the new planters of Guaira, are reported to have abandoned their colony, after gathering a great quantity of these stones, with a design to return into Spain, hoping to make estates of them. But being stopped by the way, they were sufficiently laughed at, as they well deserved. Techo.

In the Noticias de Brazil, (l. 2. c. 75.) it is said, that the emerald is formed within chrystal, and at length bursts it. When the natives found a piece of crystal which they supposed to contain one of these emeralds, they put it upon the fire and so made it crack; .. but this injured the colour and lustre of the stone.

I have not seen a more ridiculous story concerning precious stones, than one which Gumilla relates, (c. 25.) on the faith of another Jesuit; .. that, in the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, the poultry pick up brute emeralds, and keep them in their gizzards till they have polished them, .. so that it was a common thing for a man who bought a fowl, to find one or two valuable emeralds when he came to cut it up!

140. Poultry, p. 617.] Acosta (l. 4. c. 35.) says, that the Peruvians had our domestic poultry before the discovery of the New World; his proof is, that they called the hen gualpa, and the egg ronto, and that they called a coward proverbially a hen, as the Spaniards did. I do not see that the name of the egg can be adduced to prove any thing, and it is not impossible, that gualpa may have meant nothing more than hen in its general acceptation. He adds, however, that these birds were found in the Salomon Isles.

141. Insects, p. 619.] Sapor is said to have raised the siege of Nisibis in consequence of a plague of gnats, which came against him at the prayer of St. James, the Bishop of that place. In spite of the miracle the fact may be true.

Theodorit. l. 2. c. 30.

In one of Steadman's dreadful marches, the clouds of mosquitos were such, that the soldiers dug holes with their bayonets in the earth, into which they thrust their heads, stopping the entry and covering their necks with their hammocks, while they lay with their bellies on the ground: to sleep in any other position was absolutely impossible. He himself, by a negro's advice, climbed to the top of the highest tree he could find, and there slung his hammock among the boughs, and slept exalted nearly an hundred feet above his companions, whom, says he, I could not see for the myriads of mosquitos below me, nor even hear, from the incessant buzzing of these troublesome insects. T. 2. p. 93.

There is a peculiar substance formed by a species of bee in the Orinoco country, which the roosting tribes burn incessantly in their habitations, and which effectually protects them from all winged insects. They call it Comejou; Gumilla says, it is neither earth nor wax. T. 1. c. 9.

"The seeds of the arnotta, being macerated in the juice of lemon, and mixed with water, and gum that exudes from the mawna tree, or with the oil of castor, composes a scarlet paint with which all the Indians anoint their bodies, and even the men their hair, which gives their skin the appearance of a boiled lobster: they also rub their naked bodies with caraba, or crab-oil. This, it must be allowed, is extremely useful in scorching climates, where the inhabitants of both sexes go almost naked. One day, laughing at a young man who came from the neighbourhood of Cayenne, he answered me in French, saying, my skin, Sir, is kept soft, too great perspiration is prevented, and the mosquitos do not sting me as they do you; besides its beauty, this is the use of my painting red. Now, what is the reason of your painting white? (meaning powder in the hair,) you are without any reason wasting your flour, dirtying your coat, and making yourself look grey before your time. Steadman, 1. p. 400.

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