In his few moments of leisure Count Mauritz gave his attention to the improvement of the town of Recife, Olinda being now utterly destroyed, as a result of the numerous battles of which it had stood as the unhappy centre.  He drained the marshy ground, and planted it with oranges, lemons, and groves of coconut-trees, thus embellishing the country in the neighbourhood.  Very little leisure was permitted for undertakings of this kind, for the Portuguese, persevering in their determination to regain their coastal territories, persisted in their attacks whenever an opportunity offered.  A certain number, whose patriotism was less dear to them than their purses, consented to traffic with the Dutch, and the Jews upheld with enthusiasm the interests of the new-comers in this matter; but the Portuguese, on the whole, remained steadfast to their ideals, and refused to have any dealings with the intruders.

By this time the Dutch had every right to consider themselves as likely to remain the permanent possessors of Northern Brazil.  The circumstance, as a matter of fact, which was destined seriously to disturb their dominion came in the light of a totally unexpected happening.  Throughout the history of South America, when its lands were the colonies of Spain and Portugal, events in the European Peninsula had nearly always been echoed in the Southern Continent.  The event, of course, which had so great an influence on the affairs of both Brazil and the Spanish possessions was the revolt in 1640, when, after her eighty years’ captivity, Portugal freed herself from the Spanish yoke.

[Illustration:  FERNAO DE MAGALHAES (FERDINAND MAGELLAN).

Who first discovered the passage to the Pacific named after him.]

In the north of the colony the new situation led to a somewhat curious and paradoxical state of affairs.  The Dutch had overrun Northern Brazil for the sole ostensible reason that it was a possession of Spain.  Now that Portugal had freed herself from Spain, and that Brazil in consequence was once again a purely Portuguese possession, all reason for the Dutch occupation of the coast of Brazil was at an end.  In Europe the situation was this:  The Dutch and the Spaniards had been for generations at deadly enmity, while the rivalry between the Portuguese and the Spaniards had induced a hostility rather less deadly, it is true, but, nevertheless, sufficiently keen for the purposes of war.  Thus, with the freedom of Holland from Spain, and with the liberation of Portugal from Spain, the situation of the two, once vassal countries, was identical.  They had an interest in common in preserving themselves from the rapacity of Spain.

This was all very well in Europe, but in South America matters worked out very differently in actual practice.  The Dutch were now firmly established in Northern Brazil, having their headquarters at the town of Recife, or Pernambuco.  It was not in human nature to give up the fruits of their conquest merely because the Portuguese had driven out the Spanish officials from their territories in Europe.  The situation from the point of view of Holland was simple, and could be put in a nutshell.  The Dutchmen were willing enough to enter into friendly relations with the Portuguese, but not at the cost of the Brazilian possessions of the Dutch West Indian Company, which had been especially formed for the purpose of acquiring these.