e first person who took possession of one of these captaincies was
Martim Affonso de Souza, in 1531, who sometimes claims the discovery of
Rio de Janeiro as his, although it had been named by Solis fifteen years
before. Souza was probably deterred from fixing on the shores of that
beautiful bay, by the number and fierceness of the Indian tribes that
occupied them. He therefore coasted towards the south, naming Ilha
Grande dos Magos on twelfth-day, when

"Three kings, or what is more, three wise men went
Westward to seek the world's true orient."

[Note 6: Pedro Fernandez Sardinha, the first bishop of Brazil.]

St. Sebastian's on the 20th, and St. Vincent's on the 22d; but having
proceeded as far south as the La Plata, he returned to the neighbourhood
of San Vincente, where he ultimately founded his colony, and whence he
named the whole captaincy.

Martim Affonso de Souza was no ordinary man: his cares for his colony
did not relax even after he had been recalled, and sent as
governor-general to India, where he had before highly distinguished
himself. He introduced the sugar-cane from Madeira into his colony, and
in it also the first cattle were bred. Thence they have spread all over
the continent of South America, and have proved of more real value to it
than its mines.

Pero Lopes de Souza, the brother of Martim Affonso, had his fifty
leagues of coast in two allotments; one part, St. Amaro, was immediately
to the north of San Vincente, and the other was Tamaraca, between
Pernambuco and Paraiba.

About the same time the Fidalgo Pedro de Goes attempted a settlement at
Paraiba do Sul; but after two years tolerable prosperity, he was
attacked by the native tribe of Goaytacazes, and five years of warfare
reduced him to the necessity of sending to Espirito Santo for vessels to
remove his colonists.

Vasco Fernandez de Coutinho began to settle Espirito Santo in the same
year (1531) in which the former colonies had been begun. He had amassed
a great fortune in the East, and expended most of it in collecting
volunteers for his new colony; sixty fidalgoes and men of the royal
household accompanied him. The adventurers had a prosperous voyage. On
their arrival they built a fort, which they called N. S. da Victoria,
and established four sugar-works. Coutinho returned to Lisbon for
recruits and implements for mining, the settlers having now obtained
some indications of gold and jewels to be found in the country.

T