iSz rhe DISCOFERT and CON^ESr Book !. 
among!!: 
the Year 1580^ and their being fo long in PofTefllon has grows generally in dry barren Places, and 
made them more careful and exa£t in it, than any Rocks •, it is very thick and large, and the Timber 
other Nation ; fo that even now the clayed Sugars from ufuaily crooked and knotty, the Flowers it bears are of 
Brazil^ are whiter and finer than ours*, and yet the Me- a moft beautiful bright red, have a very frac^rant Smell, 
thod they take of doing this, is neither a Secret, fo as not and, inftead of hurting, as moft Perfumes do, they 
to be known, nor difficult, fo as not to be attained ; for cherilh and ftrengthen the Brain: Though the Tree is 
in plain Enghjh it is no more than this : very larg;e, it is covered with fo thick a Bark, that when 
When their Sugar is put into their Pots, and, by the the Brazilians have taken it oft; a Tree as big as a Man’s 
draining out of the Molofles, they are funk two or three Body is left no thicker than the Calf of his Leo-. The 
Inches below the Brim ; they fcrape off that thin hard Wood is very heavy, dry, and hard ; it crackTes much 
Cruft that is found on the Top of the Sugar *, and then in the Fire, and fcarce raifes any Smoak when it is burn- 
they pour in their Mixture for refining it ; it is nothing cd, becaufe it has fo little Moifture •, there is no Pith in 
more than a fine foft white Clay, beat and mixed with it, except in what comes from Japn y and therefore it 
Water, till of the Confiftency of Cream, with which they may be doubted whether this be really the lame kind of 
fill up the Pan. The white Water in ten or twelve Wood or not. 
Days pafles quite through, and whitens the Sugar as it That is held to be the beft which is thickeft, foundeft^ 
paftes j the thick Body of the Clay lodges on the Top of hardeft, and without any Bark flicking to it ; it ouo-ht 
the Sugar, and is eafily taken off with a Knife. Befides ^ likewife upon fplitting to turn from a pale to a deep red ; 
Sugar in this State, they bring likewife dying Woods, 'and laftly, upon chev/ing the Chips of it, the bcft Sore 
feveral Sorts of Drugs, and other valuable Commodities yields a fv/eet fugary Flavour. This Wood is put to 
from Paraiba ', which, however, is the leaft frequented various Ufes by the Turners, and takes a very good 
Port in Brazil, though it is generally allowed that thefe PoIIiffi*, but it is principally employed in dying, in vvhich 
northern Captainffiips are the beft peopled ; and that the it yields a very fine bright Red. It is from the Brazil 
Inhabitants are very eafy in their Circumftances, though Wood that one kind of Carmine is made, by beating it 
there have not as yet been any Mines found, or at leaft in a Mortar with I.eaf-Gold, and fteeping it in Whke- 
wrought, in thefe Parts. Though fome Spanijh Writers Wine-Vinegar, and afterwards boiling it; when it yields 
affirm, that, from the Appearance of the Soil on the a thick Scum, which, carefully taken olF and dried, be- 
Sides of their Mountains, it is highly probable they are comes, when reduced to a Powder, Carmine, but very- 
rich in Silver ; which, perhaps, they are reftrained from far inferior to what is made by another Method, from 
fearching for by the Orders of the Viceroy ; or at leaft Cochineal. 
this was the Cafe forty Years ago, when fome Spanijh The next Captainffiip of Brazil, is that of the Bay 
Deferters made a Propofal of this kind to thtPortugueze Bahia, as the Portugueze call it, or Bay of All Saints 
Governor of this Captainffiip. which is about twelve Leagues over, but in feveral Places 
Tamarca, which lies next to Paraiba and the Captain- is fcarce navigable, on account of Sand-Banks and Sholes: 
ffiip of Fernambuca, carry on their Trade from the There are in it feveral fmall Iflands, on which the Por~ 
City of Olinda, which we have mentioned before. It is tugueze have Tobacco and Sugar Plantations, and they 
feated on a liill not far from the Sea; and this Situation have likewife very good Fiffieries on the Coaft of thelc 
renders the Streets very uneven and very incommodious. Iflands, and on the Banks. I have an Account of a 
The Port too is but narrow, and the Entry into it ex- Voyage to Brazil by a Freiich Gentleman, in the Year 
tremely difficult; yet there is a confiderable Refort thither 1717, which is very curious, and from which I ffiall 
of Ships from the other Parts of Brazil, and from the give the Reader fome very entertaining Particulars, 
Canaries ; and the annual Fleet from Lijbon confifts ge- which I do not remember to have met with any where 
nerally of about thirty Sail, efcorted by a Man of War. elfe, or at leaft not in our Language; and becaufe I am 
Thefe Merchantmen are generally about the fame Size not able to put them in a better Drefs, I will give them 
with thofe fent to Paraiba, and their Cargoes are com- exadly in his Words. 
pofed chiefly of Sugar and Brazil Wood ; which laft “ There is not a Place in the World, China only ex- 
is fuppofed to be the beft of its kind in the World; « cepted, from whence I came, where there is fo much 
and therefore we ffiall fpeak of it fbmewhat more parti- « Trouble to get on Shore, or to know howto a6l when 
Gularly : Many, otherwife corredl Writers, having fallen 
into very grofs Miftakes upon this Subject. 
It is an Opinion commonly received, that the Country 
of which we are fpeaking gave its Name to this Wood, 
and that it was called Brazil becaufe it came from thence ; 
nay, we are told fo in the very laft Edition of the Dic- 
tionary of Commerce, and in one of the new Articles ; 
butj however, the Fadl is diredlly otherwife ; and, as 
we have faid elfewhere, the Colony was fo far. from 
giving its Name to the Wood, that, on the contrary, 
the Country was firft called the Land of the Holy Ghoft ; 
and from its abounding with this kind of Tree, loft the 
Name impofed upon it by its firft Difeoverers, and took 
that of Brazil. If the Proof of this is demanded againft 
the Authority of abundance of Books, which fay di- 
redlly the contrary, we may cite John de Barros, the 
famous Portugueze Hiftorian ; who fays exprefly what 
we do, and was likely to know as much of this Matter 
as any Man. But that learned Prelate of France, Peter 
Huet, Biftiop of Avranches, has put the Matter entirely out 
of doubt ; for he aflures us, that the famous Rabbi, Da- 
vid Kimchi, in his Commentary on the Chronicles, af- 
firms, that the Hebrew W ord Algummim, ought to be 
tranflated Brazil ; now it is certain that this learned Jew 
wrote before the Country of Brazil was difeovered, and 
confequently the Wood wasfo called before any of it came 
from thence. 
There are alfo different Sorts of this Wood ; fuch as the 
Brazil of Japan, Brazil of Lamon, Brazil of St. Martha, 
and Braziletto from Jamaica and the Leeward Iflands-, 
but the very beft comes from this Country, and the beft 
In this Country from Fernambuca. ‘ The Brazil-Tree 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
(C 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
cc 
one is on Shore, as in Brazil. We came into this Bay 
on the 1 6th of November ; and when we were within a 
League of the City of St. Salvador, we were reftrained 
from proceeding any farther, by a Gun fired from a lit- 
tle Fort ; upon which we came to an Anchor, and fent 
our Supercargo affiore in our Boat. He was a 
very fenfible Man, and withal had a great deal of 
Gravity, a Quality of all others the moft neceftary, 
for one who has any Bufinefs to tranfad with the Por- 
tugueze : As foon as he came affiore, he was condud- 
ed to an Audience of the Viceroy, who received him 
with a great deal of State ; and yet ffiewed him, at the 
fame Time, as much Civility as he could exped. 
He told his Excellency that he came on behalf of three 
French Ships homev/ard bound from the Fafl Indies, 
that were in many refpeds greatly diftrefled, and had 
no Hopes of performing their Voyage, but from his 
affording them his Protedion and Relief 
The Viceroy continued for fome Minutes filenf, 
and then gave him his Anfwer to this Effed : That 
he was very forry for their Misfortune, becaufe 
his Mafter’s Orders were very precife againft admit- 
ting any foreign Veflels into the Port ; and that he 
was the more concerned to hear that they were French, 
becaufe it was chiefly on their Account that thefe Or- 
ders were given; becaufe feveral Veflels of their Na- 
tion, that had been admitted into the Ports of that 
Country upon the very fame Pretences,- had carried 
on an illegal Trade, diredly contrary to the King’s 
Orders, and had ffiipped great Quantities of Tobacco. 
He told them farther, that the King’s Orders were to 
feize and confifeate without Diftindion, whatever 
foreign 
CC 
CC 
L 
