8o6 nieuhoff's brazil. 



three months ; fo that if they had not come with us to a compofition, it would have 

 coft us abundance of men, whereas now we have gained the place with the lofs of one 

 fmgle man, who was killed by a random cannon-fhot. We made ourfelves mafters 

 of a bark, firing from the Puntael, before its furrender, in which was a gentleman 

 with feveral hundred men that were going to the Receif. This gentleman and another 

 of Serenham (being both magiftates in their refpedive places) we delivered up to the 

 inhabitants, who foon killed them, notwithftanding one was married with a Portuguefe 

 woman j for they having been heard to fay, that they hoped to wafh their hands in 

 the blood of the Portuguefe, the women were fo much exafperated againfl them, that 

 they foon difpatched them according to their defires. The prifoners are for the moil 

 part detained at St. Anthony, in order to be fent to the Bahia ; but many among them 

 have taken fervice with us. We fuppofe the number of the dead and Dutch prifo- 

 ners amount to near thirteen hundred : we have not feen the fquadron under Salvador 

 Korrea de Saa ; we are afraid fome misfortune has befallen him ; fome of our Ihips 

 were cruifmg hereabouts, but within thefe three or four days none of them have ap- 

 peared on this coaft. The Dutch have a fleet of twelve fhips at fea, it is well if they 

 do not venture a brufh with us. The Receif with all its forts are invefted ; Lawrence 

 Karneiro is at Porto Calvo ; the Jews report, that orders are come to take all the 

 Dutch forces out of Rio Grande, Parayba, and St. Francis, in order to tranfport 

 them to the Receif. There is no great harmony betwixt the Jews and Dutch, the firft 

 pretending that the others intend to fell the country. Four of their head officers, 

 which are our prifoners, are ordered to be fent to the Bahia, and among them their 

 mafter of the artillery. The fame day that we were become mafters of the Puntael, 

 a bark arrived there from the Receif with orders to keep it to the laft extremity ; we 

 took the bark with good ftore of ammunition and provifion, worth in all about 

 fifteen hundred ducats. 



" Sept. 5, 1645. Caspar da Costa d'Abreu." 



From this and the following letters, it is apparent that Major Hoogftraten had 

 laid the foundation of his treacherous defign of betraying the cape of St. Auftin to the 

 Portuguefe, long before ; to wit, ever fince he with Mr. Balthafar Vander Voerde was 

 fent to the governor of the Bahia, Antonio Telles de Sylva. Thus a certain ferjeant 

 fold a redoubt near the city of Olinda to the enemy for three hundred gilders. 



At the beginning of the fiege of the cape of St. Auftin, Andrew Vidal de Negreiros 

 fent two letters to Major Hoogftraten, Ley, and Heck, by one John Guomes de Mello, 

 dated the 13th of Auguft; in the firft of which the faid Vidal complains of the ill- 

 treatment and murthers committed upon the Portuguefe by the Dutch ; in the fecond 

 he requefts them to declare, purfuant to the promifes made by Hoogftraten in the 

 Bahia, for the King of Portugal, and to deliver the fort into their hands. 



Two letters from Vidal to Hoogjiraten, 

 The firft was as follows : 



*' I am come this morning to the village of St. Antonio de Cabo, in hopes of 

 receiving news from you and Captain Ley. I give by thefe prefents, notice to you, 

 that we are fent hither by order from the governor Antonio Telles de Sylv:i, with 

 no other intention than to appeafe the troubles lately arifen in this country, purfuant 

 to the requeft of the council, of which you are a fufficient witnefs. No fooner were 



I we 



