What has been stated of South American women applies in general to the women of Brazil; nevertheless this country furnishes historic incidents that claim place in an account of the women of South America. Searching the early chronicles we find a few records of Indian women who have gained prominence, and whose descendants have taken high rank in their country. We learn of the romantic marriage of the daughter of the chief Teberyca to the Portuguese adventurer Joao Ramalho, in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, from which union sprang the "Mamelucos," the sturdy independent people who brought about the colonization of the State of San Paulo. But a still more interesting record is the story of a Brazilian "Pocahontas," which if not acceptable in its entirety, at least enjoys the credit of a deep-rooted tradition. It is told that Diogo Alvares Corriga was shipwrecked near Bahia in 1510, and, falling into the hands of the Tupinamba Indians, was doomed to furnish a cannibal feast. At the moment when his life was about to be taken, Paraguassú, the daughter of the chief, interposed and secured the victim's release. However much is fiction, however much is truth in this part of the story, it is certain that Diogo married the Indian maiden and that she became the mother of children whose descendants hold influential rank in Brazil to this day. Paraguassú was moreover an enlightened woman and a benefactress, and is greatly honored by Brazilians. In the Chapel of Graca, in the Cathedral at Bahia, the following epitaph perpetuates her memory: "Tomb of Doña Catharina Alvares Paraguassú, Lady that was of the Capitania of Bahia, which she and her husband Diogo Alvares Corréa gave to the King of Portugal, having built this chapel of Nossa Senhora da Graca, which she gave, with the ground annexed, to the Patriarch São Bento, in the year 1582." To the influence of Paraguassú is to be attributed much of the power gained by her husband over the Indians, which enabled him to promote the early colonization of Bahia. Paraguassú may therefore be regarded as one of the great pioneers in the civilization of South America.