218 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



them to a permanent settlement, the government 

 has provided that the newly settled Indians shall 

 not only be exempt from all taxes for the first ten 

 years, but also receive gratuitously from the direc- 

 tor, for the first years, a certain quantity of maize- 

 flour, maize, and agricultural instruments, such as 

 knives, hoes, and axes. According to the law- 

 given by King Sebastian, confirmed by Joseph I., 

 and now generally prevalent in Brazil, which de- 

 clares all native Indians exempt from slavery, and 

 free citizens, the director-general, as well as the 

 respective directors, are commissioned to secure 

 the Indians against the frequent hateful encroach- 

 ments of the neighbouring colonists ; and, in ge- 

 neral, to take care that they enjoy the protection 

 of the law as free citizens ; but that, on the other 

 hand, their faults be noticed and punished by the 

 magistrates. Though positive laws secure to the 

 directors a certain share of the gain of the Indians, 

 those in Minas Geraes get nothing of this kind, 

 because the Indians settled here have not yet been 

 prevailed upon, after many years' trial, to cultivate 

 more than the mandiocca and maize which are 

 absolutely necessary. The advantage of the di- 

 rector, therefore, is only that by mildness and 

 liberality he can engage his new neighbours to 

 assist him in his own business, in felling the woods, 

 planting or gathering the medicinal roots, &c., re- 

 ceiving, as compensation for their labour, their sub- 

 sistence, or low wages. 



