nieuhoff's brazil. 879 



fun-beams. Several nations of the Tapoyers, efpecially thofe under king John Diiwy, 

 lived always in a good correfpondence with the Dutch, unto whom they afforded at 

 divers times confiderable affiftance ; though they did not fubmit to their jurifdiftion, but 

 were governed by their own kings. King John Duwy had fixty children by fifty wives, 

 though fometimes he had not above fourteen wives at a time; thefe Tapoyers having a 

 mortal hatred to the Portuguefe, ufed to kill them wherever they could meet with them. 

 And thus much may fuffice concerning the manners, way of living, cloaths, &c. of the 

 natives of Brazil ; I will now proceed to give you an account of my voyage back into 

 Holland. 



Being fenfible, as I told you before, that things grew worfe and worfe every day 

 with us here, I with much ado got leave to depart, and accordingly the 23d of July 

 1 649, I went aboard the fhip called the Union, manned with eighty failors, under the 

 command of Captain Albert Jants, a native of Groningen. We fet fail the fame day in 

 company of the Blue Eagle, and a yacht called the Brazilian. We left the city of Olin- 

 da to the fouth-wefl in the evening ; the 25th we were under 3° 6' with a north-north- 

 eafl courfe ; we failed that day about twenty-eight leagues. The next day we paifed 

 the line, with very fair weather and wind ; we continued our courfe without any re- 

 markable accident until the firft of Auguftj when about noon we found ourfelves un- 

 der 9° 46', having failed twenty-nine leagues in the laft twenty-four hours. The fame 

 evening we faw the firft time the north pole ftar, after we had pafled the line. The 2d 

 of Aiiguft we failed twenty-three leagues with a frefli gale, and found ourfelves under 

 11° 13'. We continued this our courfe with a fair wind, until the 1 6th" of Auguft, 

 when we were becalmed ; we did not advance above fixty leagues that day ; being un- 

 der 26" we found it exceeding hot. The 20th of Auguft we had but a ilender fouth- 

 eaft wind ; we found ourfelves under 29*^ 45' ; we were fo much troubled with heat, for 

 want of the «do1 winds, that the knives in the cabin were fo hot, that nobody could 

 hold them in his bare hands, nor any one could touch the deck of the fhip with his 

 hands or feet. We continued our courfe thus until the 29th, when being under 

 38° 46', we made about eight leagues that day. The 3d of September, being under 

 the 40^ 18', we efpied a fai^,, which we found to be a veffel bound for Virginia. To- 

 wards evening we were forced to ftay fome time for the Brazilian yacht, fhe having 

 loft one of her mafts. The next following day in the morning we difcovered the ifland 

 of Corfu, whither .we direfted our courfe. 



Corfu and Floris are two of the nine iflands the Dutch commonly call the Flemming 

 Iflands. The biggeft is Tercera, being about fixteen leagues in compafs. It is very 

 rocky, but fruitful, producing a confiderable quantity of oxen, and abounding in Canary 

 and other birds. Here is a fpring that turns wood into ftone, and feveral hot-fprings, 

 in which you may boil an egg. The ground feems to be full of concavities, which is 

 the reafon of the many earthquakes here, which overturn and deftroy houfes, men and 

 beafts. The ifland called the Peake has a rock which reaches to the very clouds, and 

 which, as fome fuppofe, may be parallelled for its height to the peake of the Canary 

 Ifland itfelf. Betwixt the coaft of Brazil and the faid iflands, the compafs bears due 

 fouth and north. We were gone eight degreies farther to the weft, than we intended. 

 About noon we found ourfelves under 40'-' 34'. We continued our courfe without any 

 remarkable accident, until the 1 6th of September, when we fuppofed ourfelves to be 

 not far from land, which we difcovered the fame evening to the north-north-eaft of us. 

 The 1 7th we were becalmed, and catched more fifh than we were able to eat. The 

 18th we difcovered the Ifle of Wight to the north of us, whereabouts one of our fhips 

 was feparated from us j not long after we faw the point of Dover. The 1 9th we pafled 



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