Chap. lil. ^ B R A Z i L the 
■ and ingenious People, ready to learn any Art or Science 
the Portugueze will teach them : And take nothing fo 
kindly of the Fathers as the inftrudting their Children^ 
which has given the Jefuits an Opportunity of making 
abundance of Converts •, and thofe who live under the 
Portugueze generally conform themfelves to their Cuftoms 
in eadng, drinking, cloathing, few of thefe go 
naked. 
Such were, and fuch are, the Natives of this famous 
Country, little addided to Labour, becaufe not at all in- 
feded with A,varice ; their Defires but few, and thofe 
cafily gratified •, their greatefl Vice, the Defire of Re- 
venge, and that eafily raifed. But let us now return to 
our Hiftory, and the Steps by which the Portugueze 
Settlements in Brazil became lb confiderable as we now 
find them ; in fpite of the many Difficulties they had to 
ftruggle with, particularly one, of which, though far 
from being the lead, I do not find any Notice has been 
taken •, by which I mean the vaftDifproportion between 
the Mother Country and the Colony ; the Country of 
Brazil being three hundred times as big as that of Por- 
tugal-, I do not, however, intend by this, the Country 
ffie has fettled in America, but that whole Trad of 
Land to whiclf ffie lays claim, and which paffes there- 
fore in the Maps under the Name of Brazil. 
5. To facilitate the new Eftabliffiments made here, 
the Crown had firft of all recourfe to the making very 
extenfive Grants to fuch as were enclined to go and fet- 
tle there, or who had a Power of fending others thither. 
Upon this Plan it was that fome of the richeft and moft 
powerful of the Nobility had Diftrids given them equal 
in Extent to Poriugal itfelf. This was lor fome time at- 
tended with little Inconveniency ; for the Crown might 
very well give to others what was ufelefs to herfelf, and 
what was to be iiuproved and made ufeful without her 
being at any Expence. In ffiort, there was little more 
refer ved than Qtiit-rents, and thefe too of no great Va- 
lue *, the State being content with the Sovereignty, 
and leaving the Property in a Manner wholly to the 
Subjed. 
Thefe Methods were extremely neceflary at that time, 
when the Eaft Indies took up the whole Attention, not 
only of the Miniflers, but of the Nobility ; who found 
Means to repair their ffiattered Fortunes, by obtaining 
Governments in that Part of the World where they 
foon acquired to themfelves vaft Ellates. Thofe who 
were content to try their Fortune in this new Colony, 
found many Obftacles in their Way ; the Natives had not, 
indeed, any Notions of Liberty ; but, upon their firft 
feeling of Slavery, they grew defperate, and, if any 
Credit be due to the Portugueze Hiftorians, killed and 
eat without mercy every Chriftian that fell in their Way. 
But the Fertility of their Country made , fome amends 
for thefe Inconveniencies, and drew abundance of Peo- 
ple from other Parts of America to fettle there i where 
they ereded a new kind of Government among them- 
felves, which, perhaps, fprang, like moft other Govern- 
ments, from downright Neceffity, the very Nature of 
which Neceffity prefcribed the Form of their Conftitution ; 
in ffiort, every Mafter of a Family was a Planter and 
a Soldier. In the former of thefe Capacities he laid out as 
much Land as himfelf and his Family could cultivate, 
in the latter Profeffion he was no lefs affiduous, per- 
forming his Fundions duly and vigoroufly, becaufe in 
Defence of his own Property •, and hence it was that every 
Diftrid in the new Colony had the Title of a Captain- 
ffiip, which Title they ftill retain, though the State of 
things is abfolutely changed ; and from being the braveft 
and moft martial, they are now become the moft lazy, 
.moft luxurious, and moft effeminate People in the 
World. 
But in thofe early times, when Honefty and hard La- 
bour were the only ways of thriving, they grew apace, 
and in the Space of fifty Years they fpread over a very 
large Space of Country, and ereded abundance of good 
Towns, amongft which the five principal were thefe, 
A'amacara, Fernambuca, Ilheos, Porto Segttro, and St. 
Vincent, each of which had a well peopled and a well 
cultivated Territory about it. The tiouriffiing State of 
Brazil foon awakened the Attention of the Court, and 
VoL. II. N UMB. 80. 
PORTUGUEZL 169 
the Crdwn began f6 repent of having been fo liberal in 
its Grants, when it appeared that thofe Grants were be- 
come fo profitable : A thing common enough in all 
Countries as well as Pdrtugali though there are very 
few Countries in which Governments have aded with 
the fame Spirit as that of Portugal did upon this Oecafion; 
6. It was in the Reign of King John IIL that thefe 
great Improvements were made, or at leaft that the 
Crown became fo fenfible of them j and therefore the 
firft Step that Monarch took, was to revoke all the 
Grants made to the original Proprietors,* which he did 
in the Year 1549^ The fame Year he fent over Fho-, 
mas de Soufa with the Title of Governor-General of 
Brazil’, he carried with him abundance of Officers civil 
and military, with a confiderable Body of Soldiers on 
board a Fleet of fix Sail of Men of War f he darfied 
over likewife fix Fathers of the new Order of JefuitSi 
to convert the IndianSi and an entire new Plan of. 
Power, adjufted according to the Will and Views of 
the Court. Fle Was alfo inftruded to build a new 
Town in the Bay of All Saints, and to take the heceffary 
Meafures for fecuring the Colony againft its Enemies,^ 
and to do everything that might increafe either its Trade 
or its Reputation. 
He arrived in the Month of April that YeaL arid be- 
gan very foon to enter upon the Execution of what he 
was diredted to perform, making W ar upon the Savages, 
building the Town of St. Salvador, and Monafteries 
for his Jefuits. What he could not finiffi, his Succeffof 
Edward Acojta faw compleated ; fo that in his Time 
the Number of Towns was doubled, together with the 
Inhabitants. He was obliged to think likewife of 
ftrengthening thefe Towns, by raifing better Fortifica- 
tions than thofe with which they had been till then fur- 
rounded; and this, becaufe other Nations began to think 
of fettling in America, and ffiaring with the Spaniards 
and Portugueze thofe Advantages they faw derived te? 
them from their Colonies. 
He executed this Defign with all the Precaution ne- 
ceffary, demoliffiing the old Fortifications of Earth as 
faft as he was able, to raife ftronger of Brick and Stone, 
and to furniffi them with Artillery, which, however re- 
quifite for his Purpofe, were furniffied him but very 
flowly from Portugal. It was not long before the Expe^- 
diency of this new Method of fortifying, which Reaibn 
had fuggefted, was juftified by Experience, the French 
making more than one bold Attempt to difturb the Por- 
tugueze in their PoiTeffion of this Country. 
7. It is a Piece of Hiftory of which the bare remind- 
ing our Readers is fufficient ; that in the Reign of Henry 
the Ild. of France, the Affairs of that Kingdom were in 
great Confufion ; the Difputes between the Catholics and 
Hugonots being then at the greateft Height, which threw 
the Natives of the Kingdom into Parties, and made' 
Numbers of adlive and induftrious People willing to 
leave their native Soil, and feek an eafier and more con- 
tented State in diftant Climates. Amongft thefe there 
was one Nicholas Durant, Lord of Villegagnon, a Man 
of good Family, fome Fortune, a Knight of Malta, and 
who had ferved at Sea with very great Reputation, which 
fo far entitled him to the Favour of the Government, 
that he was made Vice-Admiral of Bretagne. But though 
this Preferment was rather honourable than lucrative, 
yet it created him fo much Envy, and he was fo ill treat- 
ed at Nantes, that he took a fudden Refolution to quit 
the Kingdom at all Events, and carry a Colony into fome 
diftant Part of the World. He had by Chance receiv- 
ed fome tolerable Accounts Brazil, and, having, 
weighed them attentively, he drew up a Scheme for 
fixing a Settlement in that Country, and a View of 
the Advantages that might be expedted from it ; both 
which he prefented to Gafpar de Colligny; then Admiral 
of France -, and demanded his Affiftance towards the 
fitting out a Squadron capable of making fuch a Settle- 
ment as he intended, 
The Admiral was a Man of great Abilities and great 
Virtues ; he was zealous for the Proteftant Religion, and 
knew that theSieur de Villegagnon Was no Very warm Ca- 
tholic ; he therefore very readily accepted of hisTropofal, 
and promifed to give him, all the Encouragement in his 
X X Power 
