NOTBS ON BRAZIL. 



331 



as far back as the year 1623. There are still several villages, which 

 are acknowledged to retain the privilege of electing a native Magistrate, 

 as a sort of co-adjutor to then- foreign Governor ; and one or two of them 

 exercise this right. 



These people were once the friends and faithful allies of the 

 French, who traded to Cape Frio, and penetrated, by the waters of 

 Iruama and Cururupma, as far as their chief settlement at America. — 

 Long before this tinae, they had been the most civilized of all the 

 native tribes, and owed their superiority to Paye Tome, or Tzome, 

 who came from the country of the Guarani, i. e. the Easterlings, found 

 the coast near St. Vincent's, and thence travelled along the shore, 

 instructing the people as he advanced. He is represented as an elderly 

 man, who wore white clothing, and bore only a staff ; and on both 

 accounts, must have appeared an extraordinary character to a naked 

 and armed population. Where received with contempt and insult, 

 he seems to have passed on quietly ; where encouraged to remain 

 for a time, he taught the people to clothe themselves, to live in houses, 

 and what was still more material, to cultivate Mandioca ; a root, which 

 requires from twelve to eighteen months to arrive at perfection, and 

 which therefore tended to correct their wandering habits, while it fur- 

 nished them with provision. He converted them, in a great measure, 

 from hunters to planters, and diffused among them various arts of 

 civilized life. They acquired ideas of a country and a home, and 

 European invaders afterwards found to their cost how dearly they loved it. 



Tzomd after residing at Cape Frio, and in its neighbourhood, for 

 a considerable time, received some insult, which induced him to 

 change his abode. He went towards the North, and was heard of 

 no more. The deluded rabble quickly repented of what they had 

 done, recollected their benefactor with gratitude, and in honour of 

 him, called their Tribe Tzomeos. In this state the French found them, 

 and according to the Orthography of the day, wrote their name 



Tomoyos. The Jesuits introduced another transformation, and called 



T t 



