Fleet lies be- 

 fore Sf . Sal- 

 vador. 



5*8 AMERICA. Chap. VII. 



undertake fome Defign or other againft the Hollanders , Grave Maurice kept a watch* 

 fui Eye upon them, repair'd all decay 'd Forts, rais'd new Forces, fent out fome 

 Veffels to watch the Fleet, and prohibited the Tranfporting of Provifions, anima- 

 ted the Brafilian Commanders to fight againft the fortuguefe, and fbre'd the Owners 

 of Sugar-Mills to Plant ftore of Mandihoka, that fo his Provifions might laft the 

 longer, 



A Party of the Enemy, confiding of about twelve hundred Men, having pafs'd 

 the River Francifco, wasfbon after oppos'd by Colonel Danker. 

 a spanijh The Spanijh Fleet having lay'n a whole Year before St. Salvador (becaufe they had 

 loft near three thoufand Men, who on the Coaft of Africa dy'd of feveral Diftcm- 

 pcrs, and therefore waited for a frefli Supply) fet Sail on theninteenth of November 

 Jnno 1639. with eighty feven Sail, carrying fixteen thoufand Men, of which thirty 

 feven were great Gallions. Ferdinand Mafcarenhas, Duke of Torre, being chief Ad- 

 miral, carry'd the Flag and fixty Brafs Guns in the Ship Domingo - y the fortuguefe 

 Admiral, %pderigo Lobo, carry'd fifty two Guns in the Gallion Bernardo . of all 

 which, with the number of the Enemy's Forces, Grave Maurice was informed by a 

 Letter taken out of a Pink laden with Sugar • , and alfo that the Spaniards were in 

 great hopes of the (Portuguese deferting the Weft»India Company, with whom they 

 were fore'd to joyn 5 that this great Fleet was order'd toCruife two years before the 

 Coaft ofBrafile, and to Land divers Men under the Command of Bagnola, Francifco 

 de Moro, Antonio ^oderigo, Nunno de Mello, Jacob ftre^io, Francifco Te^am, and Lopes Bar* 

 balio j all which made Maurice write continually for Aid, " Which the Weft-India 

 " Company muft fend fpeedily, unlefs they were refolv'd to lofe what they had 

 * u gotten in Brafile, as alfo the People, who had hitherto defended the fame with the 

 " lofs of their Lives and Fortunes. 



A Negro that ferv'd a SpaniJJ? Captain, call'd Henrick Dias, being taken, informed 

 the Hollanders, That the Spanijh Fleet was much weakned by a poyfonous Air on the 

 Coaft of Africa . and that they had left a confiderable number of their Men in the 

 Hofpital at St. Salvador 5 that the Admiral was refolv'd with divided Forces to 

 burn all Places he came at, and to receive thcNegro's,Mamolucks, Mulatto's, and Bra- 

 ftltans, under his Jurifdi&ion. But Grave Maurice gave little, credit to this Relation, 

 becaufe the Spaniard doubted not in theleaft, but that he fliould take Brafile from the 

 Netherlanders with his fore-mention'd Forces, why then fliould he ruine what he 

 hop'd to poflefs ? None knew whither the Spanifh Fleet intended to go • for fetting 

 Sail under the Command of Antonio Oauendo, under pretence of falling upon the 

 Netherlands, they Stcer'd their Courfe to Brafile, and at laft from the Inlet Todos los 

 Santlos to Goyana ; but four days before they weigh'd Anchor, William Qorneltf^pon 

 Loos, who had fome time been Cruifing before the faid Inlet, came back to%eciffa 

 with thirteen Sail of Ships, which wanted all manner of NecefTaries. 



The Weft-India Company had now been in a mean Condition, had there not 

 happily arrived firft eight, next two, and at laft nine Ships from the Texel, the Maes, 

 and Zealand, with Provifions, and a Supply of Men 5 which SMaurice had no fooner 

 taken out, and unladen the Ships, but he fitted them for an Engagement, and made 

 up the number of forty one Sail, who yet were not to be compar'd to the Spaniards, 

 whofe fmalleft VeiTels carry'd more Men and Guns than the biggeft of the Hollan- 

 ders, which in all had but two thoufand one hundred and ninety fix Men, and one 

 STwfS'to Sni P witn another under twenty Iron Guns : With this fmall Power the Admiral 

 William (jrnelifzpon Loos went to meet the Enemy, and before the River Michael took 

 four Spanifl) Ships, which carry'd Ammunition and Provifions for the Army, 

 which Lopes Barbalio commanded afhore. On the twelfth of January, Anno 1 640. 



he 



{mall Power 

 fets out to 

 Engage the 

 great Spanijh 

 J- feet. 



