N1EUH0FF*S BRAZIL. 85 I 



is fo broad at the beginning, that a fix-pounder can fcarce reach acrofs it ; it falls with a 

 very foft current into the fea, its waters being low in the winter, but increafe in the fum- 

 mer, perhaps by reafon of the fnows that are melted by the heat of the fun. x^bout fifty 

 leagues from its mouth is a great cataraft or waterfall, furrounded by a great many iflands j 

 the fea at its entrance meeting in tempeftuous weather with the current, are fo boifterous, 

 thatthey flrike terror into the ftoutefl mariners, and carry away great pieces of the continent 

 along with them. We entered the faid river, but were forced to call anchor imme- 

 diately after fun-fet, for want of an eaft wind to carry us higher up, which commonly 

 begins to blow thereabout at three in the morning. The country appeared very plea- 

 fant on both fides, and we faw abundance of wild beafls near the river-fide, and feveral 

 huts made of ftraw. We were detained near twenty-four hours upon a fand-bank, 

 which, after we had pafTed, we came at laft to the village called Penedos, fituate upon 

 a high hill ; here we landed with our boats, and found a few houfes which were rebuilt 

 by our people, the reft being burnt by the enemy before their flight. In the fort was 

 formerly, in the time of the Portuguefe, a church, which we turned into a magazine ; 

 it was furrounded with a goodly wall, the river pafTmg by it on the north fide, where 

 the hill is very fteep. 



The 30th of November Admiral Lichthart was feized with a fudden and violent illnefs, 

 occafioned by his drinking too much cold water after he had over-heated himfelf before ; 

 he was carried into a boat, with three foldiers under the command of an officer, lower 

 down the river, but foon after loft his fenfes, and in my prefence expired. The next 

 day his corpfe being put in a coffin was carried aboard the Golden Star, being con- 

 duced by the chief officers there prefent, and four companies of foldiers, to the river- 

 fide, who gave three falvoes with their mufkets, as did the cannon from the fort and 

 fhips, in order to his interment at the Receif. ^ 



Towards evening, as I was going aboard our fhip, the boat overturned by the fwift- 

 nefs of the current, and, had I not been a good fwimmer, I had infallibly been drowned ; 

 the mafter threw out a great cable over-board, by the help of which, and God's mercy, 

 I got fafely into the fhip. The foldiers in the meanwhile fcoured the country, and brought 

 feven hundred oxen, (of which there was plenty,) and three hundred calves, into our quar- 

 ters, having been at pafturein one of the adjacent iflands of the river, under the guard of 

 fome foldiers j they were not extraordinary fat, but tolerable good meat. The fol- 

 diers' huts were for the moft part planted on the north fide of the hill, which being 

 compofed of branches and leaves of trees, took fire accidentally the 3d of December, 

 with fuch fury, that in a quarter of an hour the whole quarter was in a flame, not- 

 withftanding that the alarm was given immediately, by the beating of drums and* the 

 founding of trumpets ; fome foldiers that were then fwimming in the river, loft all their 

 cloaths by this accident. It was well it happened by day ; for if it had been in the 

 night it would have put us under a great confternation, it being generally reported that 

 it had been done by treachery. 



There was at that time a plentiful crop of tobacco upon the circumjacent fields, but 

 was not quite fit for reaping, which muft be done at a certain feafon, before the low 

 grounds overflowed. The colonel defired me to provide thofe who had loft all, with 

 new cloaths, and to dedudl it out of their pay ; but I told him that I being only a 

 fador, could not do it without fpecial order from the council, fome having but little 

 pay due to them. The 25th of December we received intelligence that the enemy 

 began to appear in a confiderable body, whereupon the companies of Captains Coufm, 

 Schut, Gyfeling, La Montayne, and of a Brazilian captain, called Tomee, were ferjt 



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