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The Wood-Beach at Recife: A Contribution to the Economic History of Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Robert C. Smith
Robert C. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Extract

The cutting and shipment of wood is one of the oldest and most important aspects of Brazilian trade with Portugal. The rich red dye produced from the tree called pau brasil or Brazil wood was esteemed so highly that at first it outweighed in importance all other products of the colony. Most historians agree that the very name of Brazil is derived from this wood. Guarded as a royal monopoly throughout the colonial period, the wood trade ranked with the sugar, tobacco and gold of Brazil as one of the principal sources of revenue of the Portuguese crown. When woods for building were added to the exportation of pau brasil, the trade assumed a new importance, for these woods furnished the mother country with the sinews both of war and commerce, providing the hulls and masts of countless vessels that defended and brought together the distant domains of the Portuguese empire.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , October 1949 , pp. 209 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1950

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References

1 Called by the Indians ibirapitanga, the wood was given its botanical name caesalpina echinata by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck in 1789.

2 de Souza, Bernardino José in his Pau-brasil na historia nacional (São Paulo, 1939), 98–100 Google Scholar, summarizes early accounts of the nomenclature by the historians João de Barros, Pero de Magalhães Gandavo, Frei Vicente do Salvador and Frei Antonio de Santa Maria Jaboatam.

3 The wood was found from Cabo Frio (State of Rio de • Janeiro) northward to Cabo de São Roque (Rio Grande do Norte). The most productive region was that between the Cabo de Santo Agostinho (Pernambuco) and the Rio Real (Bahia). See Simonsen, Roberto C., História econòmica do Brasil: 1500–1520 (2 ed., São Paulo, 1944) 96.Google Scholar

4 da Costa, F. A. Pereira, “Anais pernambucanos,” Revista do Instituto arqueológico histórico e geográfico pernambucano, vol. 32 (1932), 108.Google Scholar

5 Dom Fernando de Sousa Coutinho, Governor of Pernambuco from 1670 to 1674, brought with him these royal instructions: “… e porque o Pau Brazil é uma das rendas de maior importancia, que minha fazenda tem n’essas Capitanias, e corre a administração d’elle pela Junta de Commercio na forma das provisões, que para esse effeito lhe mandei passar, tereis particular cuidado, que não haja n’elle descaminho, e que as partes donde se tirar, seja de modo que se não prejudique as plantas novas pelo darnno, que d’isso resulta,” Informação geral da capitania de Pernambuco, 1749 (Rio de Janeiro, 1908), 7.

6 Painted upon parchment, it measures 19½ by 2814 inches and is catalogued Pernambuco, planta 39, armário 2, registo 2255. The painting is entitled: Vista planisbeltica [planisferica?], vertical, e marítima do areal do S. B. J. [Senhor Bom Jesus] do Recife de Pernco. Comprehendido entre a sobredita capella e os Coarteis da Junta no qual se mostra ereto hum grandiozo Telheyro co [com?] 455 palmos de comprido, e 60 de largo; p°. recolher o Corte de Madr”’. da repartição da Corte, q. pa. ella se conduzem pa. construção de navios &, no qual Telheiro se achão recolhidas e dispostas p. Ordem do Ex™. Sr. D. Tomas Joze de Mello Gor. e Capm . Gal, de Pern, 1788.”

The color is very brilliant throughout the painting. A vivid red predominates, which is applied to the roofs of all the buildings, to the uniforms of the boatmen and the wheels of the cannon at the fort. The ground and houses are white. The sea is brown with green highlights. There is a red border between bands of white. The parchment is torn at the upper left-hand corner, below the scroll in the upper right-hand corner, and at the lower right. The picture has been carefully mended.

7 The legend of the Vista planisbeltica (Fig. 1) is as follows:

  1. 1. Rio Beberibe q. vem de Olinda

  2. 2. Mar dentro dos Arrecifes

  3. 3. Arco do Forte Bom Jesus

  4. 4. Rampa da parte dos Quarteis

  5. 5. Areal da parte de Beberibe

  6. 6. Praia da parte do Mar

  7. 7. Vista do Telheyro em geral

  8. 8. Parte ripada pa. liames e taboados

  9. 9. Vista do travejamento descoberto

  10. 10. Pilares de pedra e cal

  11. 11. Estéis de pão d’arco enterrados () palmos

  12. 12. Madeira de construeção recolhida e arrumada

  13. 13. Madeira na praia amontoada

  14. 14. Os Indios recolhendo hũ pau para o Telheiro

  15. 15. Liames de embarcaçoens miúdas

  16. 16. Pranxões postos na praia

  17. 17. Os índios conduzindo hü pranxão

  18. 18. Canoa carregada de Lenha

  19. 19. Canoa carregada de pão Brazil

  20. 20. Canoa carregada de agoa de Varadoiro

  21. 21. Canoa descarregada na praia

  22. 22. Jangada carregada de pão Brazil

  23. 23. Canoa da parte do mar com pão Brazil

  24. 24. Indios carregando pão Brazil

  25. 25. Pão Brazil amontoado na porta do armazém

  26. 26. Fogueira de pão Brazil refugado

  27. 27. Lanxas com madeiras para terra

  28. 28. Barco q. descarrega madeiras

  29. 29. Barco q. tem descarregado

8 Dom Tomaz José de Melo governed Pernambuco from December 13, 1787, to December 29, 1798.

9 Martinho de Melo e Castro (1716–1795), an outstanding diplomatist of the eighteenth century, served as Portuguese Minister to Great Britain from 1754 until 1770. In 1763 he represented his country at peace negotiations in Paris. From 1770 until his death he occupied the posts of Colonial and Marine Minister. Among his works is a Memoria sobre o melhoramento dos dominios de sua magestade no Brasil, Revista do Instituto histórico geogràfico brasileiro, vol. 25 (1862), 479. I have discussed his interest in natural specimens in “Some Views of Colonial Bahia,” Belas artes (2 série, no. 1, 1948) 31–47.

10 “Illmo, e Exmo. Snr.

Tendo participado a V. Exa, em 18 de Fevereiro proximo passado q. mandava construir hũ Tilheiro [sic] aonde se resguardem do rigor do tempo as Madeiras de construeção destinadas á Ribeira das Naos de Lisboa, em quanto se não embarcão, para se evitar a damnificação que experimentarão outtras a que se não fez aquelle beneficio; e estando ja concluido, e nelle bem acondicionados todos os páos q. estão promptos esperando as Reaes embarcaçoens q. os devem transportar; mandei tirar a planta delle, a qual envio á Presença de V. Exca., por Dionixio Cardia da Fonseca, Capitão do Navio Santa Anna e vigilante, mostrando a mesma planta o modo com que desembarca a dita madeira, e o Páo Brazil, cujo Armazem ali se acha.

D5 gde, a V. Exa. m8, an8, Reee, de Pernco. 19 de Agosto de 1788. Martinho de Melo e Castro // D. Thomáz Jozé de Melo.” (Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1788).

11 The fact that certain details of the painting at Rio de Janeiro were not completed also suggests it is a replica. The scale of measurement, though announced in the upper left-hand corner of the painting, “Petipe pello qual Se me midio toda esta Planta nao So a do Telheyro Se nao mas tao Bem todos os mais Edificios, e o terreno Todo p. auxilio do Patraõ mor Bento Francisco Torres” is not inserted, and the dimensions of the wooden uprights of the warehouse are not filled in (11).

12 He governed from 1782 to 1788. A brief account of his activities is given in my “Jesuit Buildings in Brazil,” Art Bulletin (vol. 30, no. 3, September, 1948), 202.

13 Dom Marcos de Noronha e Brito, eighth Count of Arcos, Governor of Bahia from 1810 to 1818. For a discussion of some of his works, see my “A Brazilian Merchants’ Exchange,” which will appear shortly in the Gazette des beaux-arts.

14 Letter to Martinho de Melo e Castro, May 20, 1787 (Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Pernambuco. Papeis avulsos, 1787). The ouvidores of colonial Brazil combined in their office the duties of prosecuting attorney and judge.

15 Lista das cartas do real serviço q. deste governo de Pernambuco se dirigiu á Secretaria de estado da repartição da marinha, e dominios ultramarinos em 11 de mayo de 1789, nos. 1 and 2 (ibid., 1789); F. A. Pereira da Costa, “Origens de algumas praças e ruas do Recife,” Revista do Instituto arqueológico histórico e geográfico pernambucano, vol. 22 (1920), 107–110; Sebastião de Vasconcelos Galvão, Diccionario chorográphico, histórico e estatístico de Pernambuco, vol. 2 (Rio de Janeiro, 1910), 204–208.

16 Ibid.

17 Now at the Arquivo Histórico Colonial. The plans are accompanied by a lengthy dossier in connection with the project (Lista das cartas etc. em 10 de agosto de 1189, nos. 1–4) which was never executed. The customhouse had been established in October, 1711, in a house in the Rua do Trapiche on the isthmus of Recife, where it remained until transferred in 1826 to a part of the former Convent of Madre de Deus (Galvão, op. cit., vol. 3, 1921, 356).

18 They protested the location of one of the markets in front of their royally established hospice, thus destroying their view and annoying them with loud voices and strong odors; “… pois q. alem de estar a dita banca [do mercado] nas terras doadas ao Hospicio toma a vista maritima, e viraçoens, e fica insoportavel a abitaçao dos supes., já pella angustia, jâ pella afflição dos fétidos viveres, gritos, e clamores dos vendedores negros, e negras …” (Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1789). In 1796 the Governor was accused by Frei Francisco Gradisco, Prefect of the Capuchins, of immoral conduct and atheistic tendencies.

19 do Loreto Couto, Dom Domingos, Desagravos do Brazil e glorias de Pernambuco (1757), Armaes da Bibliotbeca nacional do Rio de Janeiro, vol. 24 (1902), 155.Google Scholar

20 Idea da população da capitania de Pernambuco, e das suas annexas, extenção de suas costas, rios, e povoações notáveis…desde o anno de 1774, Ibid., vol. 40 (1918), 40–42.

21 Ibid.,

22 da Rocha Pita, Sebastião, História da América portuguesa [1730], (2 ed., Lisboa, 1880), 51.Google Scholar

23 Koster, Henry, Travels in Brazil (London, 1816)Google Scholar.

24 A full description of the old center of Portuguese shipbuilding has never been attempted. Some information is provided by de Castilho, Júlio, A ribeira de Lisboa, descrição histórica da margem do Tejo, desde a Madre de Deus até Santos-o-velho (2 ed., Lisboa, 1942), vol. 4, 5–8.Google Scholar The other principal shipyards were at Bahia and Goa and were also called Ribeiras das Naus. Shipbuilding was carried on on a smaller scale at Belém, Recife and Rio de Janeiro.

25 Gabriel Pereira considers the painting a work of 1650 (Arte portugueza, vol. 1, no. 3, March, 1895, 59), but it is more probably of the early eighteenth century.

26 From 1790 to 1803. The views of the Belém markets are among the water colors made by J. J. Freire and J. J. Codina to illustrate the Viagem filosóphica of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira.

27 Arches were used in one of these markets. Dom Thomaz speaks of an arcade of 62 arches (Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Lista das cartas…11 de mayo de 1189, no. 1, Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1789).

28 On June 15, 1781, after the loading of the ship Nossa Senhora da Glória e Santa Clara, this warehouse still contained 4,453 pieces of Brazil wood (ibid., 1781).

29 Mapa da madeira de construção q. existe no telheiro novo em 28 de novembro de 1788 pertencente à s. mag16, fid”“1, destinada á Ribeira das naus da cidade de Lisboa marcada com os n°». e divizas à margem conforme à ordem da junta (ibid., 1788).

30 Mapa da exportação dos effeitos da capnia. de Pernoo, para as cidades de Lxa. e Porto em 31 av°>. no anno de 1788 (ibid.).

The list of exports is as follows:

In computing modern values for old measurements, the vara was figured at 43.31 inches, the palmo at 8.60 inches, the arroba at 32.38 pounds and the quintal at 220.46 pounds.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid., 1787.

33 Letters of Governor José César de Meneses (1774–1787) to Martinho de Melo e Castro (ibid., 1780).

34 Rellação das madeiras de Pernambuco, que sam necessarias pa;. o arcenal da Ribeira das naos para a construcção das fragatas, q. se extão fabricando, e as mais q. se precizáo para as mais obras do mesmo arcenal da ribeira (Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens régias, 1775–1777, 68–69).

35 Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1780.

36 Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens-régias, 1778–1779, 7.

37 In his specifications for the library of the proposed school of civil engineering at Lisbon, the Portuguese architect, José Manuel de Carvalho Negreiros, in 1798 stipulated that the furniture should be made of Brazilian wood (Regulamento para os engenheiros civiz, manuscript at the Biblioteca Nacional in Lisbon, no. 3, 558, cap. 5). For their earliest churches in Brazil the Jesuits had imported retables carved in Portugal of American wood which resisted the tropical climate better than the woods of Europe (Lúcio Costa, “A arquitetura dos Jesuitas no Brasil,” Revista do Serviço do Patrimônio histórico e artístico nacional vol. 5, 1941, 53.

38 The Governor, Dom António de Almeida Soares Portugal e Alarcão, Count of Lavradio (1749–1753), writing in 1750 of the building of the hospice of Bengo for the Italian Capuchins, says “… meu antecessor Joam Jaques de Magg68. mandou buscar madeiras, telha, e ferragem do Brazil …” (Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Angola, Ofícios do governador conde do Lavradio, December 20, 1750). For the catafalque of John V’s funeral in the cathedral of Luanda, February 20, 1751, wood was purchased from Captain Feliciano Gomes da Costa, who had just brought it from Pernambuco (ibid., Relação das despezas, e gastos extraordinarios que se fizerão e pagarão pella fazenda real de sua magestade q. deos guarde no anno de 1751).

Four years later another governor of Angola, Dom Antonio Alvares da Cunha (1753–1758), reported to the King that he was awaiting the arrival of wood from America with which to complete a regimental barracks at Luanda (ibid., Angola, ofícios do governador Dom Antonio da Cunha, March 4, 1755).

39 Souza, op. cit., 177.

40 In the Regimento do pau-brasil, signed by Philip III of Spain, December 12, 1605 (ibid., 146).

41 “… e por outra parte cuidei em que levassem a maior porção que fosse possivel de ditas madeiras, chegando alguma vez a introduzir no seo bordo pessoas de con fidencia, que me respondessem da boa arrumação da carga” (Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Lista das cartas…em 11 de mayo de 1789, no. 1; Pernambuco; Papeis avulsos, 1789).

42 Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens régias, 1787–1793, 11.

43 ibid., 1780–1781, 60.

44 Ibid., 1787–1793, 17.

45 Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Lista das cartas…de 23 de 8bro de 1186, no. 4; Pernambuco; Papeis avulsos, 1786.

46 Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens régias, 1787–1793, 16.

47 The port of Olinda, at the beginning of the isthmus, a source, in the colonial period, of fresh water for Recife; “onde se divide a agoa doce, da salgada, donde chamão o Varadouro.” (Idea da população da capitania de Pernambuco, 41).

48 Op. cit., 54.

49 Twenty years before, the Senate of Bahia had petitioned the King to transfer the shipyards from the capital, Salvador, to one of the towns of the south of the captaincy because of the devastation of the sucupira forests. It was argued that what good building wood remained was urgently needed for the sugar plantations and for local craft (Salvador, Arquivo Histórico da Prefeitura Municipal, Cartas do senado a sua magestade, A-433, p. 63; July 28, 1704).

50 Ensaio de descripção fízica, e económica da comarca dos llheos na America, Memorias económicas da Academia real das sciencias de Lisboa, vol. 1 (1789), 307. F. A. Pereira da Costa wrote that many trees were killed off to provide land for cotton farming, which was extensively developed in the second half of the eighteenth century (op. cit., 109). This was a secondary commerce of Pernambuco, like tobacco in Bahia. The ouvidor António Xavier Homem called the Pernambucan

cotton the finest in the world (op. cit.). In four months of 1787 some 692 tons (45,728 arrobas) of cotton were shipped in 24 vessels to Portugal (Mappa da exportação do algodão de pernambuco para as cidades de Lisboa e Porto desde fevre. até junho de 1787 (ibid., 1787). In 1800, Dr. Francisco de Brito Bezerra Cavalcanti de Albuquerque showed how the forests had been so depleted that the cost of Brazil wood was double its price of 1726 (Costa, “Anais pernambucanos,” 109). Brazil wood has now disappeared from the market.

51 Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens régias, 1778–1779,’. 42. Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Bahia, Papeis avulsos, 1798, no. 18, 501.

52 Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1783.

53 Although the picture gives no indication of where the sawing of timber was done, two piles on the beach are of sawed wood (16), while the other is unsawed (12). Between them are what appears to be smaller logs (15). These are identified as liames, or ship links.

54 Regimento para o provedor da fazda. de Pernambuco, em que se dá a forma para o bom governo, e adminstração da despeza do costeamento das naos de comboy, e guarda costa q. forem ao porto do Recife de Pernambuco; feito no anno de 1753, cap. 9, no. 1 (Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens-régias, 1752–1754, 138-

139). See also the contract between João Baptista, contractor, and the Marquis of Abrantes, royal treasurer, of November 7, 1752 (Souza, op. cit., 187). The contractor undertook the extraction in various parts of Brazil for a period of three years. In 1776 the minimum quantity to be exported each year was 1,076 tons (20,000 quintais) (Biblioteca do Estado de Pernambuco, Ordens repas, 1775–1777, 31). If sufficient shipping was lacking at Recife, wood was sent to Bahia or Rio de Janeiro for reshipment to Portugal (Regimento, cap. 9, no. 2). Occasionally wood was brought from the other major ports to Recife to be despatched to Lisbon (Ordens régias, 1775–1777, 5). F. A. Pereira da Costa cites an order of September 6, 1740, for the provedor of Pernambuco to send 590 tons (6000 quintais) to Rio and 390 tons (4000 quintais) to Bahia (“Anais pernambucanos,” 108).

55 Souza, op. cit., 170.

56 Galvão, op. cit., vol. 2 (1910), 205.

57 These ships are smaller than the great naus and frigates of trade and war which visited the harbor of Recife in the eighteenth century. These were three-masted vessels and had continuous high gunwales. See the models illustrated in João Braz de Oliveira, Modelos de navios que existiram na Escola naval (Lisboa, 1947). The ships shown in the painting have but two masts and reveal a lower open area between prow and poop.

58 de Azevedo, João Lúcio, Épocas de Portugal económico (Lisboa, 1929), 403 Google Scholar; Souza, op. cit., 154; Simonsen, op. cit. (1 ed., São Paulo, 1937), vol. 2, 186.

59 lbid.

60 See note 5.

61 Simonsen, op. cit., 1 ed., vol. 2, 186.

62 In 1759 the Marquis of Pombal instituted the Companhia Geral de Pernambuco e Paraíba, among whose privileges was the administration of Brazil wood. Unsuccessful in its work, it was suppressed in 1779 upon the expiration of the period of twenty years for which it had been authorized. Azevedo, op. cit., 450–454; Corrêa, Francisco António, História económica de Portugal (Lisboa, 1931), vol. 2, 107 Google Scholar According to its statutes, this Company was assigned the use of the “Casa do Ouro, e os seus armazéns, como tambem aquella parte da Marinha, que for mais accomodada para a construcção, e concerto dos seus Navios, e Embarcaçoens” (Instituiccão da Companhia geral de Pernambuco e Paraíba, Lisbon, 1759, p. 10). On the Demonstração geográfica (see note 75), the building and dock of the Companhia Geral are shown adjacent to the wood-beach in the direction of Olinda.

63 Another explanation of “Antiga Junta” may be that the term was used to distinguish the older body from the “Real Junta do Comércio, Agricultura, Fábricas e Navegação destes Reinos, e seus Domínios,” created in 1788, the year of the painting, by Maria I (Corrêa, op. cit., vol. 2, 112–113). At Salvador in 1779 the Junta da Real Fazenda for Bahia employed a staff of twenty-three, headed by the governor as president (Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Bahia, Papeis avulsos, 1779, no. 10, 319).

64 Compare, among others, the palace of the archbishops of Bahia, which dates from about 1718 and is illustrated in Edgard de Cerqueira Falcão, Relíquias da Bahia (São Paulo, 1940), 340.

65 Op. cit., 154. This interpretation is strengthened by the inscription “Parques dos Coarteis de mar,” which appears upon the quay in front of the building in the painting. This would indicate that it was associated with the fleets.

66 These balconies are tinted brown, the color of unpainted wood. Dom Domingos do Loreto Couto wrote of green balconies in Recife, “… as cazas sempre bem cayadas de branco, e as sacadas de verde …” (op. cit., 156).

67 “Huns telhadinbos que sahem mais para fora para desviar as agoas …” (Recopilação de noticias soteropolitanas e brasílicas contidas em XX cartas, 1801 (Bahia, 1921), vol. 1, 91). A surviving roofed balcony of Recife is illustrated in Philip Goodwin, Brazil Builds (New York, 1943), 75.

68 da Costa, F. A. Pereira, “As portas da cidade do Recife e o arco da capela do Bom Jesus,” Revista do Instituto arqueológico, histórico e geográfico pernambucano, vol. 42 (1891), 285–299.Google Scholar

69 Pita speaks of this construction, “formando uma boa plataforma com artelharia, que defende o mar e o rio … em baixo assiste de guarnição uma companhia (op. cit., 51). This was one of the four fortresses of Recife (Idéa, etc., 40–41).

70 Couto thus described the chapel: “Sobre a porta que sabe para Olinda, no fim da grande e espaçosa rua da Cruz, da parte de dentro se vê hũa rica capella adornada com tanta riqueza, decencia e aceyo que he hũa maravilha. Nesta capella se venera com grande devoção, e concurso dos moradores hûa devotissima, e muyto milagrosa Imagem do Senhor Crucificado a quem dão o titulo do Senhor Bom Jesus das Portas. Sahindo desta porta fica a lingoa de area, que jerve de estrada para a cidade de Olinda, a poucos passos estão fundados os quartéis, em que se recolhe a gente de guerra que vem nas armadas, a grande casa da Junta, e hũa comprida rua que formão cento, e quarenta cazas, e tem por coroa a Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Pilar” (op. cit., 154). The author of the Idea da população da capitania de Pernambuco mentions the chapel, “… esta igreja he sobre arcos; por baixo della, passão duas ruas” (40–41).

71 Costa, op. cit. The view of the chapel here reproduced was called to my attention and a photograph of it was kindly provided by Dr. Césio Regueira da Costa, director of the Comissão de Documentação Cultural of the Prefeitura Municipal of Recife.

72 Diccionario topográphico, estatístico e histórico da provincia de Pernambuco (Recife, 1863), 16–17.

73 At the Arquivo Histórico Colonial.

74 The statement appears in the area of the “platform” of the fort, in the upper left-hand corner of the painting.

The military engineer, José António Caldas, described the patrão-mor of Bahia as an official of the Tribunal da Provedaria da Real Fazenda who supervised the movement of crown ships (Noticia geral de toda esta capitania da Bahia desde o seu descobrimento até o prezente ano de 1759, Revista do Instituto geográfico e histórico da Bahia, no. 57, 1931, 51). Information on the military engineers of colonial Brazil has been brought together in appendix 1 of my “Jesuit Buildings in Brazil,” and specifically about Caldas in appendix 2.

75 Arquivo Histórico Colonial; Pernambuco, Papeis avulsos, 1788. The report states that the Aula Militar of Recife, like those of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, was founded by a royal order of January 15, 1699.

76 The professor of the Aula Militar was probably only slightly more advanced than his students. In the report of March 4, 1788, the Governor identified him as João de Rebello de Sequeira e Aragão, who had come with him to Pernambuco and was then serving as a “Cadete” in the Regiment of Olinda.

77 They were both seen by Senhor Joaquim de Sousa Leão Filho, Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil, who graciously called the writer’s attention to them. In a letter dated July 29, 1949, he supplied the further information that a set of seven undated copies of maps and illustrations originally published in Caspar van Baerle’s history of Maurice of Nassau’s regime in Pernambuco, Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum sub praefectura illustrissimi comitis I. Mauritii Nassoviae… (Amstelodami, MDCXLVII), signed by José de Oliveira Barbosa, with the indication “alferes, Pernambuco,” was recently sold to a Dutch collector by Maggs Brothers of London.

78 Demonstraçao geografica e verdadra, na ql. se mostra a lezáo enormissima do novo Armazem (se não for sobrado) ereto em sima do Caes Real (water color and ink on paper, 13 by 18% inches, uncatalogued). This map may have been executed about March 25, 1787, which is the date applied to the site of a building whose destruction is recommended.

79 Caza da fabrica de tabaco (11¼ by 11½ inches; unidentified view of the interior of a tobacco factory (11 by 11½ inches). Both are included in the manuscript of Joaquim do Amorim Castro (1750–1817), Memoria sobre as especias de tabaco que se cultivão no Brasil, dated 1792 (George Arents collection, no. 3036).

80 Vista do serviço diamantino no sitio do monteiro no Rio Jequitinhonha. Para ser presente ao illmo. e exmo. senhor Pedro Maria Xavier de Ataide e Melo, fidalgo da caza de s. a. r. e do concelho do mesmo senhor, gov. e cap. general de cap. de Minas Geraes. Offerecida por Modesto Ant. Maior. Intend6, dos diamantes. Tijuco em 1803 (22 by 65 inches).