ABSTRACT
Before Cabral’s fleet departed from the new land which had been found to the west, Pedro Vaz de Caminha wrote a letter to the King of Portugal in which he related what happened during its sojourn there. This letter is the first and by far the most important document which has come down to us describing the discovery of that country. It has sometimes been called the first page in the history of Brazil. In this letter Caminha carefully wrote down each day what appeared to him to be new and curious, as well as almost every act of the members of the fleet in their dealings with the inhabitants. It is very important as the first account of the natives of that country. Later investigations have shown nothing to discredit the narrative from the standpoint of ethnology, and few subsequent writers have given us a better idea of the customs of the people inhabiting the coast of Brazil.
