NIEUHOFF*S BRAZIL. * 73 1 



there with any profpefl: of profit. The exportation of fugar from Brazil into Europe 

 and Africa is hkewife performed with much more eafe than from any other places in 

 the Well Indies ; for the lituation of Brazil (being the moft eaftern part of all America) 

 is fuch, as could not be more conveniently contrived by human art or nature for the 

 tranfportation of fo general and agreeable a commodity as fugar, into all the other 

 parts of the world ; confidering thole two excellencies of Brazil, together with its vaft 

 extent, it is moft certain, that, provided it were well peopled, it might command 

 both the North and Ethiopian Seas, and fpread its commerce over all parts of the 

 world ; nay, it might extend its conquefts both to the eaft and weft, or at leaft efta- 

 blifti fa£lories there, for the conveniency of traffic. To prove which, it is to be 

 obferved : 



That all Eaft India ftiips, both going and coming, muft pafs by the coaft of Brazil ; 

 and as thofe fliips, in their voyages thither, are often forced to touch upon this coaft, 

 fo in their return nothing could be more commodious for them, than to be fupphed 

 with frelh provifions here. From Brazil you may fail, in fourteen days, to the Caribbee 

 Iflands, and in the fame time, or a little longer, to Sierra Leona, on the coaft of Guinea. 

 It is impoffible to enter deep into the great South Sea, (whereabouts a great part of 

 the ^erreftrial globe remains as yet undifcovered,) unlefs you take in frefti provifions 

 and firing in Brazil, or expofe yourfelf to the greateft hazards imaginable in fo long a 

 voyage, as is fufficiently evident from the journals of Oliver Van North, Spilbergen, 

 Le Maire, and John I'Heremite. And experience has taught us, fmce Mr. Brower's 

 voyage to Chili, how eafy the pafTage is betwixt Brazil and the South Sea j for he loft 

 not fo much as one fhip out of four, and very few died in the whole voyage. 



Brazil enjoys likewife the advantage of a very wholefome climate ; for though it lies 

 betwixt the equinoctial line and the tropic of Capricorn, and confequently is fubjed to 

 burning heats, yet are the fame much allayed by the winds, that blow out of the eaft 

 from the fea, their free paffage being not interrupted by any mountains or iflands ; 

 which is the reafon, that in Brazil the fame diftempers are rarely to be met with, which 

 reign fo frequently in Angola, Guinea, St. Thomas, and feveral other places, where 

 the eaft winds cannot afford them the fame advantage. A plague is a thing unknown 

 in Brazil, in which it excels all other countries ; though they are not free from 

 continual putrid fevers, caufed by the hot and moift air, and the exceflive ufe of 

 raw fruits. 



Thofe that are bound for the coaft of Brazil, ought to have a fpecial regard to the 

 feafon of the year, which regulates the winds and ftream thereabouts ; and to be very 

 careful to fail above the harbour whither they are bound ; for if they mifs, and come 

 below it, they lofe their aim, and muft ftay till the next turn of the wind and ftream. 

 For it is obfervable, that on the coaft of Brazil, the ftream runs from February till 

 paft July, conftantly northerly, during which time there is no paffing from the north 

 to the fouth ; but after thofe months are paft, the ftream turns, and from the beginning 

 of September to the latter end of November runs as violently to the fouth as it did 

 to the north before, and confequently there is no failing from the north to the 

 fouth, no more than before from the fouth to the north. The winds here turn with 

 the ftream ; and at the beginning of March, blow fouth-fouth-eaft, and fouth-eaft. 

 And like as the ftream changes its current till September, fo the winds continue in the 

 eaft, and blow till that time out of the eall -fouth-eaft. For there are but two 

 winds that reign along this coaft, viz. the fouth-eaft and north-eaft winds ; according 

 to which, (hips muft regulate their courfe here. 



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