'■v-r v.'vr-.-.-. 



96 



cunhaO. 



of a massacre, which was committed by the 

 Pitagoares and Tapuyas from the Potengi in the 

 year 1645. A battle was fought by Camaram, 

 the Indian chieftain, to whose prowess the Por- 

 tuguese are so much indebted, against the Dutch, 

 in the following year, between Cunhau and Fort 

 Keulen, which stands at the mouth of the 

 Potengi. * 



The captaincy of Rio Grande commences 

 some leagues to the southward of Cunhau, at a 

 place called Os Marcos — a deep dell inhabited 

 by runaway negroes and criminals ; the paths of 

 the dell are intricate, and when once a man has 

 taken up his residence here, it is impossible to 

 dislodge him. 



This season the crop of cotton had failed ; it 

 was one of those years in which a great want of" 

 rain was felt. The colonel of Cunhau had, for 

 the first time, planted a piece of land, from which 

 he expected to have gathered 10,000 arrobas y 

 but in the end only gathered about 100; and he 

 told me that he should keep to his sugar hence- 

 forwards. He is lenient to his slaves; they 

 looked fat and well, and he has the character of 

 not making as much of his plantation as he 

 might, which is one proof of his kindness to 

 them. The estate of Cunhau is one of the 

 largest, if not quite the most extensive, in these 



* History of Brazil, vol. ii. p. 104 and 155* 



