rce of Tapuya Indians and its garrison
massacred. These occurrences were ominous, and the turn of the tide
seemed to have set in. Prince Mauritz of Nassau now sent in his
resignation, and, after leaving everything in a state of complete
preparedness, set out for Europe, accompanied by no fewer than 1,400
persons all told, a force which could ill be spared from Brazil at that
period. Among them were a few Indians who were taken to Holland to
demonstrate to the inhabitants of that country the accomplishments of
their countrymen, and the nature of the new subjects.

Nassau had governed the captured territories in a liberal and
imperialistic spirit, and his personality had been popular to a certain
extent even among the Portuguese. His absence was severely felt, and the
policy of the West India Company, in itself parsimonious and somewhat
petty, undoubtedly suffered much from the want of his presence; for
during the time that he was in power he had restrained the excesses of
his own people, and used no little tact towards the Portuguese. His
rank, moreover, counted not a little in winning their esteem. The new
authorities had not the influence over the soldiery that Prince Mauritz
had enjoyed, and lacked not only experience but judgment.

Shortly after this Dirk van Hoogstraten, a Dutch officer, offered his
services to the Portuguese, and various other symptoms portended a break
up of the organization of the Dutch West India Company. Several attempts
at insurrection took place in the neighbourhood of Recife itself, and
the methods of the Dutch in repressing these became increasingly harsh.
Some of the malcontents were hanged, and in several cases their hands
were lopped off before death.

The Brazilian patriot, Joao Fernandes, now became very prominent, and
the Dutch in consequence began to be more and more harassed. The woods
in the neighbourhood of the town sheltered numbers of discontented
Portuguese and Indians, who had collected stores and weapons, and had
hidden themselves in the recesses of the forests until the time came for
them to sally out for the attack. Several expeditions sent out by the
Dutch to break up these bands were unsuccessful. The Portuguese either
eluded them, or the Dutch fell into the ambushes prepared for them, and
suffered loss without being able to retaliate.

Every month the Portuguese grew stronger in numbers, and attacks were
now frequent on the Dutch isolated settlements, many of which we