742 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



" A t 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,—theGreat River. The 

 others could not bear this aban- 

 donment, 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 her and she sunk. 

 They were received with signal 

 honour at the court of France. Pa- 

 raguazu was baptised 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 Sar- 

 dinha (then a young man who had 

 just completed his studies in Paris, 

 and afterwards the first bishop of 

 Brazil) he sent the information to 

 Joara HI. which he was not per- 

 mitted to carry, and exhorted 

 him to colonize the delightful pro- 

 vince 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 and 

 ammunition of two ships, with 

 store of such things as were use- 

 ful 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 ca- 

 pital. 



"ButthePortuguesegovernment, 

 wholly occupied with the aftairs 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 com- 

 merce was what they sought as 

 eagerly as the Spaniards hunted 

 for gold. Brazil was left open 

 like a common, and all the care 

 which the court bestowed upon 

 it was to prevent the French from 

 trespassing there, by representa- 

 tions of their ambassador at Paris, 

 that were never regarded, and by 

 treating them as enemies whenever 

 they met them. Individuals mean- 

 time being thus left to themselves, 

 settled in the harbours and islands 

 along the coast ; and little towns 

 and villages were growing up." 



We shall not trouble our rea- 

 ders with the dates or succession 

 of the other different settlements, 

 or the particulars of their first 

 founders : for these we refer them 

 to the work itself, which will 

 amply repay the perusal. It may 

 be observed, however, that thirty 

 years elapsed after the discovery 

 and settlement of Brazil, before 

 the Portuguese government be- 

 stowed any serious attention on 

 its colonies in the western world. 

 At length, this country became 

 of sufficient importance "to obtain 

 some consideration at court, and 

 in order to forward its coloniza- 

 tion, the same plan was adopted 

 which had succeeded well in Ma- 

 deira, and in the Azores, — that of 

 dividing it into hereditary cap- 

 taincies, and granting them to 

 such persons as were willing to 



