In proof that the trade of _Brazil_ was steadily increasing, it is stated that, in 1688, the fleet which sailed from _Bahia_ was the largest which had ever left that port, and yet that it did not contain tonnage sufficient for the produce. A trade had sprung up between _Buenos Ayres_ and _Brazil_, and when it was prohibited, alike by the Spanish and by the Portuguese Governments, goods to the amount of three hundred thousand _cruzados_ were left on the merchants’ hands at _Nova Colonia_, and of double that amount at _Rio de Janeiro_. The Government showed their appreciation of the importance of _Bahia_ by putting its forts in a proper state of defence. Three additional settlements in the _Reconcave_ were now large enough to be formed into towns; and the currency in _Brazil_ was now put upon a proper footing by a regulation which permitted only milled pieces to pass, the practice of clipping having been hitherto prevalent. The escaped negroes who had taken refuge in the _Palmares_ or palm forests, in the interior of _Pernambuco_, have already been mentioned. In the course of threescore years they had acquired strength and daring. Not contented with being left unmolested, they infested several Portuguese settlements; one of their chief reasons being to carry off women. They were under the government of a chief who was elected, and who listened to such whose experience gave them the right to counsel him. He was obeyed implicitly. His people did not abandon the sign of the cross. They had their officers and magistrates; and the greater crimes were punished with death. As they carried on a regular intercourse with the Portuguese settlements by means of their slaves, the evil arising from them as a place of refuge became so great that it was necessary to make an effort to put an end to it. The negro settlement in the _Palmares_ was reputed to be so strong that the authorities of _Pernambuco_ long hesitated to attack it; but at length Caetano de Mello determined to make a vigorous effort with the object of exterminating this formidable organization. With this end he solicited from the Governor-General the aid of the camp-master of a regiment of _Paulistas_, and that officer was accordingly directed to proceed to join him. On his way, however, at the head of a thousand men, he unwarily resolved to reconnoitre the _Palmares_, and found himself in front of a double palisade of hard wood, enclosing a circle four or five miles in extent, and within which were some twenty thousand persons. The enclosure contained a rock which served as a look-out station; and it was surrounded by a number of smaller settlements, in which were stationed selected men. [Sidenote: 1665.]