might be punished without the appearance of
himself and his men, as he would pay a good sum rather than be
detained. The secretary perfectly understood the trick, and upon the
receipt of five hundred cruzados, he accepted the deposition of
Olivarez, sworn to by him, as sufficient evidence, and you were
consigned to the mines upon this deposition by a warrant from the
judge. We have had some trouble to obtain all the facts, but the
question has been severely applied, and has elicited them. Now, first,
as to the judge and his secretary, they have gone to the gaol, and
will take your place in the mines for life. Next as to Olivarez. It
appears that, on his arrival, he sold his cargo of slaves very
advantageously; that having received the money, he gave a small
portion to each of his men, and that they went on shore, and, like all
English seamen, were soon in a state of intoxication; that Olivarez
took such steps with the police, as to have them all thrown into
prison when in that state; and, on the following morning, he went to
them, persuaded them that they had committed themselves during their
intoxication, and that it required a large sum to free them. This he
pretended to have paid for them, and having purchased a cargo for his
voyage, he got them all on board, and again ran for the coast of
Africa. In three months he returned with another cargo, which he sold.
He had found out his mother, and now he expended the money he had made
in purchasing a good property about seven miles from Rio, where he
placed his mother and some slaves to take care of it, and cultivate
it. He contrived to defraud his crew as much as he could, and before
he went to the coast again, he married an amiable young person, the
daughter of a neighbour. He made a third and a fourth voyage with
equal success, but on the third voyage he contrived to get rid of a
portion of his English crew, who were now becoming troublesome, by
taking some Portuguese sailors out with him, and leaving the English
on the coast, as if by mistake. Previous to the fourth voyage, it
appears that he satisfied the remainder of the English crew by
producing accounts, and sharing out to them several hundred dollars
previous to their departure for the coast. He made a slight addition
to his Portuguese sailors, not putting too many on board, to avoid
suspicion, and when on the coast of Africa, a portion of the English
crew died; whether by poison or not is not known, and the other