Soon after this event a fresh fleet arrived from Holland, bringing out six thousand men, which placed the Dutch at an unmistakable advantage in the field, compelling the Portuguese to contract the limits of their operations. The insurgent leaders, with this view, called in their troops from various out-stations, and evacuated _Olinda_, confining themselves between _Serinhaem_ and _Moribeca_. All of the inhabitants of the _Varzea_, capable of bearing arms, were ordered to repair to the camp. Upon a muster being taken, the entire insurgent force was found to number only three thousand two hundred men. Its quality, however, made up for its deficiency in quantity. In describing the details of this long and tedious colonial war, one is glad to arrive at a point which, though it did not mark its conclusion, was nevertheless decisive as to its result. Such a point is the first battle of _Guararapes_. The Dutch commander had determined to take possession of the small town of _Moribeca_, from which place he could co-operate with the fleet destined for _Nazareth_. With this view he attacked the _estancia_ of _Barreta_, making prisoner of Soares, the officer in command. A range of hills, called the _Guararapes_, rises between three or four leagues south of _Recife_, its skirts extending to within three miles of the sea, the intervening space being swampy. Where the range most nearly approaches the ocean there is only a narrow slip of land between the hills and the swamp--the entrance to the pass being between a lake and a thicket. Of this pass the Portuguese took possession, being protected by the wood from the view of an approaching enemy. On the morning on which the Dutch were to enter the pass, the officer above-named, who had been captured at _Barreta_, contrived to make his escape, and his countrymen were thus well informed as to the disposition and strength of the enemy. A skirmishing party was sent out to decoy them onwards; and the Dutch thus suddenly found themselves in a position where their numbers were of little avail. After the first discharge of firearms the fight was hand to hand. It was well contested. Vidal had two horses killed under him; whilst the charger which Joam Fernandes rode on this decisive day had one of his ears perforated by a bullet. A Dutch soldier, who aimed a blow at the rider, lost his arm by a stroke from the sabre of Fernandes. As was to be expected, in spite of their inferiority of numbers, the patriots won the fight. The enemy left twelve hundred dead upon the field, of whom it is said one hundred and eighty were officers. Amongst the fallen was Haus, who had returned to _Brazil_; amongst the wounded was Schoppe.