Abstract

SILVA, Maria Beatriz Nizza da. Pero Vaz de Caminha’s report-letter. Ide (São Paulo) [online]. 2010, vol.33, n.50, pp. 26-35. ISSN 0101-3106.

The letter written by Pero Vaz de Caminha and addressed to the Portuguese king Manuel the 1st is a detailed narrative of his observations during the days the Portuguese fleet was harbored in Porto Seguro on the way to India. Emphasis is laid on the inhabitants of the newfound land, their manners and way of life, stressing at the same time the difficulty of verbal communication and the need to leave ashore some exiles who could learn how to speak the native language living with the aborigines. As Caminha could not find out whether there was some gold or silver in the hinterland, he pointed out agriculture as the main resource in a land that was also a safe harbor on the way to the East.

Keywords : The discovery of Brazil; Indians; The language of gestures; The aborigines’ way of life.

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