NIEUHOFF S BRAZIL. y2t 



men, of whom feveral were killed by them in my time. A certain Portuguefe had a 

 fugar-mill very pleafantly fituated near a wood, whither we ufed to go to divert our- 

 felves fometimes. The Portuguefe fitting one time with four more of his friends in 

 the houfe, with the windows drawn up for the conveniency of the land air, a dog be- 

 longing to the houfe, who had ventured too far into the adjacent wood, was purfued 

 by a tiger, fo that to fave his life he leapt into the window to feek for fhelter near his 

 mafter ; but the tiger clofeiy purfuing him, leapt alfo through the window into the 

 room, where the door being fhut, he tore two of thofe there prefent in pieces before 

 the reft could make their efcape, and afterwards went his way. 



There is another fort of favage beaft in thofe parts, called by fome of our people, 

 Jan-over-Zee (or jack beyond fea), which furpaffes all others in nimblenefs, and tears 

 all to pieces it meets with. 



Brazil has alfo great plenty of cattle, but the flefli will not keep above twenty- four 

 hours after it is drelfed. The Dutch cut off the fat, and cut the lean in thin flices, and 

 dry it in the fun like fifh. No butter is to be made here, becaufe the milk turns to 

 curds immediately ; the Dutch butter is drawn out of a veflel like oil. 



Their hogs are fmall and black, but very well tafted, and wholefome ; there is an- 

 other kind of amphibious hogs, by the Portuguefe called Kapiverres ; they are very near 

 as black as the others, and good food. 



There is another four-legged creature in Brazil, called by the inhabitants Taperete, 

 and by the Portuguefe, Antes ; its flefh has the tafte of beef, but fomewhat finer. It 

 is about the bignefs of a calf, but fhaped like a hog ; it fleeps all day among the woods, 

 and feeks for bell^-timber in the night : its food is grafs, fugar-reeds, cabbages, and 

 fuch like. They have likewife good ftore of goats, called by them Pakas and Kotias, 

 and hares and rabbits, which do not give way in goodnefs to thofe of Europe. There 

 is alfo an excellent kind of lizards, called by the inhabitants Vuana and Teju, which 

 are accounted a dainty bit. 



The fifh in Brazil are no lefs confiderable for the fupply of our plantations, than the 

 cattle, which are on the coafts of Brazil, but efpecially in Pernambuko, where they 

 are found in fuch plenty, that at one draught they catch fometimes two or three 

 thoufand fine fifh in the four or five fummer months, for during the rainy feafon 

 they catch but few. There are certain diftrids along the fea-coaft whither the fifh moft 

 refort; fome of thofe belong to the inhabitants, the reft to the company, and are 

 farmed at a certain rate per annum. The lakes, as well as the bays, are ftored with an 

 incredible multitude of fifh ; the firft are, by the Portuguefe, called Alagoas ; and the 

 beft they produce are the Sindia, Queba, and Noja, all without fcales. And though 

 the fifh which are catched in the lakes are not fo much efteemed as the river-fifh, never- 

 thelefs are they not much behind them in goodnefs, becaufe thefe lakes are not always 

 ftanding- waters, but intermixed with feveral rivers. Some of thefe fifh they dry in the 

 fun. The chief eft of this kind are thofe called by the Brazilians Kurima Parati, and 

 by the Dutch inhabitants. Herders. They abound no lefs in fea-fifh of all forts. The 

 fifh, called by the Brazilians Karapantangele, which is not unlike our perch, has the 

 preference among them. And as the rivers furnifh infinite numbers of fifh, fo they are 

 generally fatter and better tafted than the fea-fifh. Thofe which are catched in thofe 

 fifheries near the fea-fhore, are, for the moft part, falted, and carried from thence into 

 the country, for the ufe of the fugar-mills, which caufe great plenty among them. 



The craw-fifh, which are in great quantities near the rivers, and in the marfhy 

 grounds, ferve Hkewife for food to the Brazilians and negroes, and fome of our people 

 like them tolerably well. 



VOL. XIV. 4 z It 



