and it was in the first instance for its vegetable products
that the land, so rich in minerals, became famed.

It was only natural that the pioneer Portuguese should have been struck
with the admirable quality of the valuable Brazilian woods. Shipments of
timber were the first to be sent from the new colony to the Mother
Country. It was from this very wood that Portuguese South America took
its name, since much of it, being of a brilliant red colour, was known
in the Portuguese language as "brasa."

Just about this time the Portuguese fitted out the most imposing fleet
which had ever left their shores. It was commanded by one of the
greatest of Portuguese explorers, Vasco da Gama, and was destined to
sail round the Cape of Good Hope to the Indies--the new and marvellous
land of spices. The fleet was worthy of its commander; it was made up of
no fewer than thirteen vessels, and was manned by some 1,200 men.

With pomp and ceremony this imposing Armada sailed away from the blue
waters of the Tagus, and, rounding the sunlit bluff, stood away to the
south. It made the Canaries in the usual way, passed the Cape Verde
Islands, and struck out to the west, lighting on the Brazilian coast in
latitude 17 deg. south--that is to say, not far from the spot where stands
the present town of Bahia. From this point Vasco da Gama sailed
southward, keeping touch with the coast. He eventually established
communication with the Indians, who were, as was usual in these
latitudes, quite naked, their bodies being painted, and who wore great
bones in their ears and in their slit lips and noses.

A criminal, one of the type which seems to have been brought out for
purposes such as this, was landed in order to dwell among the natives,
to test their temper and habits--a somewhat precarious profession this!
After a while the fleet sailed from the place they named Port Seguro,
leaving two of these criminals or _degradados_--professional
pioneers--behind. These "were seen lamenting and crying upon the beach,
and the men of the country comforting them, demonstrating that they were
not a people devoid of pity."

This was the scene which presented itself to the eyes of the more
fortunate mariners as they sailed away. Nevertheless, the criminals seem
to have survived. No small advertisement, this, of the courtesy of the
Indian tribe, for the people composing it must have belonged to one of
the coastal races who afterwards were grimly famed for their