NIEUH01F*S UUAZIL. 749 



Concerning the fix points mentioned in their fecret inftruftibris, they made the fol- 

 lowing report to the great council : 



" 1. That the Portuguefe forces in thofe parts were generally efteemed to be lefs 

 or more betwixt three and four thoufand men, without the Brazilians and negroes. 

 But that upon the moft exaft enquiry they could make, they had found them to be 

 not above three thoufand, including the Brazilians and negroes, and their garrifons 

 both to the north and fouth, as far as Rio Janeiro. Thefe confifled of five regiments, 

 viz. three of Portuguefe, under the Colonels John Darauge, Martin Soares, and N. N. 

 the fourth of Brazilians, under a Brazilian colonel, Antonio Philippo Camarao, and 

 the fifth of negroes, under the command of negro Henricio Dyas. Thefe two laft 

 regiments, amounting both not to above three hundred men, were divided in the gar- 

 rifons to the north, about Rio Real on our frontiers ; they being the fcum and off-cafts 

 of all their territories, and confequently not to be quartered near the capital city, there 

 having of late been fome broils among them in the garrifons, whither officers were 

 difpatched to compofe them. The three Portuguefe regiments, confiding of about two 

 thoufand feven hundred men, kept garrifon in St. Salvador, and the circumjacent fortj*-, 

 except two companies, one of which was quartered about Rio Real, the other in the 

 ifland Morro St. Paulo : and about one hundred and fifty more, which were difpofed 

 in the captainlhips of Os Ilheos, Porto Seguro, and Spirito Sancto ; fo that the gar- 

 rifons of St. Salvador and the circumjacent forts confifled of at leaft two thoufand three 

 hundred, each company confifiing of one hundred men lefs or more, all chofen men 

 and well cloathed ; four companies mounted the guard every night, one at the palace, 

 at each of the two gates one, and the fourth in the water-works without the city. 



2. " Of their naval flrength they gave a very {lender account, being more confi- 

 derable in number than force, as confilling only in fifty fmall veiTels and yachts, not 

 in the leaft fitted for war ; neither could they obferve the. leaft ftiow of preparations 

 tending that way, iheir aim being only to proteft their ftiips bound to the Portuguefe 

 coafts againft the infults of the Caftilian and Denmark privateers, and the Turkifh 

 rovers. It was, as they faid, upon this account, that during our ftay there, two ftout 

 Portuguefe fliips fit for war, manned with fix hundred men, and provided with good 

 ftore of ammunition, arrived in the Bahia, under the command of Salvador Co rreada-fa, 

 with orders to go diredly from thence to Rio de Janeiro, and to fetch all fhips ready 

 laden from thence to Bahia, from whence they were to convoy thefe as well as fuch 

 other veflels as they found ready there, to the coalt of Portugal ; for which reafon alfo 

 all the vefi'els which otherwife ufed to go according to their own conveniency, were 

 ordered to ftay for the faid convoy. That news was brought by the faid two fliips, 

 that the King of Portugal had forbid the building of caravels and other fuch like fmall 

 veflels, inftead of which they were to build fliips of better defence againft the infults of 

 an enemy at fea. From whence the envoys faid they fuppofed would arife this incon- 

 veniency to the Portuguefe, that the freights and convoy-money paid for the commo- 

 dities tr an fported from Portugal to the Portuguefe Brazil, and for the fugar tranfported 

 from thence to Portugal, muft increafe, and confequently would not be able to fell the 

 laft at the fame price the Dutch did, confide; ing efpecially that they muft be confi- 

 derable lofers both in their intereft and time, where they were forced to tarry for their 

 convoys, whereas they ufed formerly to make the beft of their way home. 



" 3. They had obferved, that though the inhabitants of the Bahia expelled the 

 coming of thofe fliips at their firft arrival, yet feveral veflels arrived there, both from 

 the Portuguefe coaft and the iflands, before the reft. 



12 4* " They 



