539 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



chrysoberyls, aqua-marinas, and 

 ■wrought jewelry. 



Villa Rica. 



(From the same.) 



The history of an establishment 

 ■which, twenty years after its 

 foundation, was reputed the richest 

 place on the globe, was an object 

 of considerable interest with me, 

 and I made many inquiries re- 

 specting it from some of the best 

 informed men on the spot. It 

 appears that the first discovery of 

 this once rich mountain was effected 

 by the enterprising spirit of the 

 Paulistas, who, of all the colonists 

 in Brazil, retained the largest share 

 of that ardent and indefatigable 

 zeal for discovery which cha- 

 racterized the Lusitanians of for- 

 mer days. They penetrated from 

 their capital into these regions, 

 braving every hardship, and en- 

 countering every difficulty which 

 a savage country, infested by still 

 more savage inhabitants, opposed 

 to them. They cut their way 

 through impervious woods, carry- 

 ing their provisions with them, 

 and occasionally cultivati^ig small 

 patches of land to afford them food 

 to retreat to, in case of necessity, 

 as well as to keep up a communi- 

 cation with their city, St. Paul's. 

 Every inch of ground was disputed 

 by the barbarous Indians, here 

 called Bootocoodics, who were 

 constantly either attacking them 

 openly or lying in ambush, and 

 but too frequently succeeded in 

 surprising some of them, or their 

 negroes, whom they immediately 

 sacrificed to their horrible appetite 

 for human flesh. They believed 

 the negroes to be the great monkeys 

 of the wood. The bones of the 



unfortunate sufferers were fre-* 

 quently found exposed, shocking 

 testimonies of the barbarity of their 

 murderers, whom the Paulistas, 

 roused to revenge, invariably shot, 

 wherever they met them. These 

 examples of vengeance answered 

 their desired end ; the Indians, 

 terrified as well by the noise as by 

 the fatal effect of the fire-arms, 

 fled with precipitation, believing 

 that the white men commanded 

 lightning and thunder. 



It does not appear that in ex- 

 ploring this territory they received 

 auy assistance whatever from the 

 Aborigines ; they followed the 

 course of rivers, occasionally find- 

 ing gold, ^of which they skimmed 

 the surface, and continued to pro- 

 ceed until they arrived at the 

 mountain which is our present 

 subject. Its riches arrested their 

 course ; they immediately erected 

 temporary houses and began their 

 operations. The principal men of 

 the party that first settled here, 

 were Antonio Dias, Bartholomew 

 Rocinho, Antonio deFerrera (filho), 

 and Garcia Ruis It appears that 

 they took the most direct way to 

 the place, for the roads they then 

 opened are the same which are 

 still used. The fame of their 

 success soon reached the city of St. 

 Paul's ; fresh adventurers arrived 

 in great numbers, bringing with 

 them all the negroes they had 

 means to purchase. Other adven- 

 turers went from St. Paul's to Rio 

 de Janeiro to procure more negroes, 

 their own city being drained , and 

 thus the news of the lately dis- 

 covered gold mountain being made 

 known in the Brazilian capital, 

 men of all descriptions went in 

 crowds to this land of promise by 

 the way of St. Paul's, which was 

 the only route then known. The 



first 



