About the conclusion of the Dutch war, Brasil was afflicted by another insurrection, arising from a different source. About the year 1570, negroes had begun to be imported into Brasil ; and as they were found much better fitted than the natives for the labours of cultiva tion, the nefarious trade was soon carried to a great extent. In the course of the wars which the two na tions waged against each other, it had frequently been found necessary to put arms into the hands of the ne groes, and they had become in some degree warlike and inured to discipline. In the confusion occasioned by the capture of Olinda, about forty made their escape, and established themselves in a favourable situation on the frontier, near Porto do Calve). This became a ren dezvous for all of their nation who could emancipate themselves from bondage ; and their numbers soon be came considerable. They supplied the want of wives, like the first founders of Rome, by violence ; they en tirely swept the neighbouring plantations, carrying off every female of colour. Equal laws, joined to the pos session of a fertile territory, and copious opportunities of plunder, caused their population to multiply with ex traordinary rapidity ; they soon erected themselves into a nation, assuming the name of the Palmarese ; they elected a king, whose dignity, however, was to last only for life. They procured supplies of arms and ammuni tion from the planters ; and, continually apprehensive of attack, they formed stockades of large trees round the capital and others of their towns. They remained unmolested, however, for forty years ; and had grown in that time to such a height of power, as to threaten the very existence of the colony. The population of their principal town amounted to not less than 20,000. At length, in 1606, the Portuguese governor, seriously alarmed, collected, at Olinda, a force of 6000 men, which he placed under the command of Don John de Lancas tro, with orders to proceed against the Palmarese That people, unable to meet such a formidable force in the field, shut themselves up, with all their effects, in the capital, to which the Portuguese immediately ad vanced and laid siege. They were struck with dismay, however, at the formidable aspect of the works, and the resolute countenance of their defenders ; and this ter ror was increased by repeated and destructive sallies made by the besieged. Unprepared for such a resis tance, they had made no adequate provision of artillery and supplies ; the spirit of the troops sunk ; and the Palmarese entertained sanguine hopes of a speedy de liverance from this formidable invasion. The governor, however, was not so to be deterred ; he prepared a de tachment with every thing of which the besiegers stood in need. The Palmarese, meanwhile, bad exhausted their ammunition, and they began to feel all the horrors of famine ; yet they were still supported by the hope that the enemy, equally destitute, would soon be com pelled to desist. But when the reinforcement appear ed, their courage entirely sunk ; they saw the inevitable fate which impended ; and their arms dropt from their hands. A general storm soon took place, and the re sistance of the dispirited defenders being feeble, the place was soon carried. The prince, preferring death to captivity, threw himself down the rocky side of the fort, and was killed on the spot. Almost all the rest were taken prisoners, and sold as slaves.
This event was immediately followed by a brilliant xra in the history of Brasil. Her wealth had hitherto been derived exclusively from the productions of the soil, which,. however valuable, could not vie in the esti mation of Europeans, with the more splendid objects which the Spanish part of the new world presented.
Vet, even in the sixteenth century, the Paulists had dis covered gold in the heart of their mountains ; and a re. port on this subject was made to Philip II.; but that monarch, governed by the base policy of depressing, as much as possible, his new subjects, either evaded the applications, or seconded them so coldly, that no result followed. After the separation of the kingdoms, the long struggle which Portugal had to maintain, for her own independence and the recovery of Brasil, engross ed almost entirely her attention ; and she had little lei sure to prosecute discoveries and improvements. In 1'699, however, the neglect of government was compen sated by the activity of some enterprising individuals, who discovered and began to work several gold mines in the back settlements. The metal was found abundant, and of easy extraction ; and it soon appeared, that a vast source of treasure had been opened to the nation The governments of Europe were not accustomed to look with indifference upon such operations ; and the court of Lisbon took immediate cognizance of those which going on in its colony. It ordained, that, on the discovery of a mine, immediate notice should be given to government ; and that a fifth part of the produce should always be paid into the treasury. Other were soon discovered ; and the produce was so copioua,, that the king's fifth amounted to 480,0001. and conse quently the whole produce to more than two millions. At this rate, it continued from 1728 to 1734. It. then began gradually to diminish, till the whole produce sunk to 1,030,0001. and, consequently, the royal fifth to 257,5001. Besides this original tax, however, the go vernment imposed a duty of 2 per cent. on its convey ance to Europe, which yielded nearly 16,000/. to which might be added the seignorage on the coinage of gold, amounting to nearly 80,0001. which raised the whole re venue derived from this source to 353,5001.
This discovery was, thirty years after, followed by another, still more unexpected. The workmen employ ed in the mines met alter with little shining stones, which they threw away, as useless, with the sand and gravel. One of the overseers began to suspect that these might be of some value, and transmitted a speci men to the governor. They were immediately sent to Lisbon ; and that court directed d'Acunha, its ambassa dor in Holland, to make them be examined by the jew ellers of that country, who were reputed the most skil ful of any. Alter repeated examinations, they were pronounced to be genuine and valuable diamonds. As soon as this important intelligence reached Brasil, the stones were immediately collected and sent over to Eu rope in such quantities, as greatly to lower their value. The court of Lisbon, which was exceedingly dissatisfied with this effect, adopted, in order to prevent it, a system of the most rigorous monopoly. They vested the trade in an exclusive company, and even this body they re stricted from employing more than six hundred slaves in the employment. This restriction was afterwards taken off, and its place supplied by a moderate tax on every slave so employed. At length the government, envying the profits of the company, took the trade into its own hand. All restrictions upon the collection of the diamonds were then removed ; but it was enacted, that every person who found one should deliver it to one of the crown agents at a fixed price ; out of which, too, was deducted, as in the case of gold, the tax of a fifth. A series of the most rigorous precautions were-employ ed, to prevent unlawful trade and embezzlement, both in the colonists employed in collecting the diamonds, and in the officers of the crown.