CHAPTER FIVE

Life in Brazil

"Where are you traveling to, sir?" I asked the captain later that day.

"I am going to Brazil." he said.

I wanted to pay him to take me with him, but he wouldn't take my money. He said that if he took my money, I would starve in Brazil, as it was a very rough country. "It wouldn't be good to starve a man I have just saved, would it?" he said to me.

The Portuguese captain was a very kind man who offered to buy my boat when we reached Brazil. When I said he could decide the price, he said he would give me 80 pieces of silver coins for the boat. This was a very good price.

He also wanted to buy Xury!

"He has been very loyal and helpful to me. He is a good servant!" I said.

"If I buy him from you, I will give him his freedom in ten years time if he becomes a Christian," he said. I told him I would talk to Xury.

Xury agreed, so the captain and I shook hands, and decided on a good price for Xury.

On the first of November, we arrived in Brazil. The captain bought all the boat's equipment as well, so I had plenty of money to live on.

When I told my friend the captain about the two hundred pounds I had in England, he told me I should send for some of it. "If you do not make money in Brazil, you will still have some when you return to London—whenever that is!"

I wrote a letter to the woman in London who had my money, asking her to send me half of the money. We agreed that when the captain reached London, he would take the letter to her.

During my first days in Brazil I stayed in the house of a plantation owner. We quickly became friends. This man taught me how to be a good planter. When I saw that planters in Brazil were very rich, I decided to become a planter also.

I used some of my money to buy land, and I began to plant fruits and vegetables.

My plantation was very far off in the country. It was so far from other houses that it seemed like I was on a deserted island, living alone.

For two years I grew just enough fruit and vegetables for myself, but little else. But by the third year, I had bought enough land to grow some sugar cane and tobacco. These were good crops and I sold them for money.

During those years I regretted selling Xury! His help on my plantation would have been wonderful.

By now, my friend, the Portuguese captain, had returned to Brazil. He brought me my money. Luckily, he also brought a servant to help me on the plantation. It seemed that the English lady had given him five pounds, because she was happy I was safe!

With the money I had sent for, I bought a ship that I sold for a very good price. Now I had enough money to buy another slave, and pay my servant some money as well.

The next year was an excellent one. I grew very good tobacco, and my business grew a great deal. I was almost wealthy.

One day, as I was walking around my property, I thought to myself that I could have made just as much money as in York, being a merchant with my father. And certainly, my life would not have been so dangerous. But I would not have had so much adventure.

By now I had been in Brazil for four years. I was very happy there. I spoke the language, which was Portuguese, and had made many friends. My friends were other planters and merchants who lived in the city of San Salvadore, by the ocean.

When we ate together, I would tell them about my two trips to Guinea and the things I had seen there. They seemed very interested in these stories.

One night, one friend asked me, "Robinson, is it as easy to trade as you say?"

"Yes, it's very easy," I said. "First, you buy things like jewelry, toys and knives in the coastal towns. Then when you go to other places the natives will trade gold dust and ivory for your things. But the best things to trade," I whispered, "are enemies from other tribes that the people have captured. These enemies can be sold as slaves."

The next morning three of my friends came to see me. "We have a great idea, Robinson," one of them said after we had eaten lunch.

"And what is that?" I asked.

"We want to find a ship to sail to Guinea. Because you have been there and know the country well, we want you to lead the journey."

"Do you want to trade for gold?" I said.

My friend smiled. "Oh, no," he said. "We want slaves!"

"That's a dangerous thing to do," I said. "The kings of Spain and Portugal control the sale of slaves between Africa and South America. You couldn't sell them in Brazil without the authorities finding out. We'd be in a lot of trouble."

"We don't want to sell them," my friend said. "We'll make them work on our plantations!"

"And what's in it for me?" I asked.

"Well, one quarter of the slaves you bring back will be yours."

At this time, slaves in Brazil were very expensive, and I wanted to go very much.

"I will go to Guinea, on one condition. You must take care of my plantation while I'm gone."

"We agree! "they said.

And so, on September 1, 1659, exactly eight years after I had first left England, I left Brazil to go to Guinea to find slaves. I did not know about the terrible disaster that would happen!

There were seventeen of us on the large ship. There was me, the captain and his servant, and could get away from the rocks, the water would carry me to the beach just ahead.

I filled my lungs with air again and started to swim, just as another wave carried me forward.

A few moments later I was lying on the warm sand of a little beach.

I was cut by the rocks, and my body felt as if it had been smashed by sea monsters. But I was alive.

Where was I?

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