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 ferocity.

As a matter of fact, human instruments of the kind, which, it must be admitted, were of small merit, played no small part in the colonization of Brazil.  In some respects these unfortunate folk were undoubtedly useful.  They resembled the candles carried by underground miners.  If the candle continued to burn, all was well; but if the candle went out, there was obviously danger in the air.  Quite a number of these human candles went out in the course of the early Iberian explorations.  In a sense there was sufficient justice in this, since they were criminals whose offences had been usually those of murder and violence.  If, therefore, they escaped in the first instance with their lives, their penitence had been consummated, and they were free to take advantage of the land.

People of this kind had been set ashore to pave the way for their betters in Africa and in India, and this system was now extended to Brazil.  When friendly relations were once established, it may be imagined that the influence of these criminals upon the savages was not of the best.  According to Southey:  “The Europeans were weaned from that human horror at the blood-feasts of the savages, which, ruffians as they were, they had at first felt, and the natives lost that awe and veneration for the superior races, which might have proved so greatly to their advantage.”

In 1503 the Portuguese sent out an important expedition under Duarte Coelho.  This leader explored the country in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Bahia.  After this he proceeded southwards, and landed men in order to establish a small colony.