ally his forces with those of the Portuguese, and, if necessary, proceed to extremities.  These representations of Charles were taken up by France and Portugal, and the Dutch, as a result, decided to waive some of their wilder claims.  Before, however, the treaty was finally concluded, it was found necessary to pay certain sums in the nature of a ransom to the Dutch.  These consisted of 4,000,000 cruzados, in money, sugar, tobacco, and salt, which were to be paid in sixteen annual instalments.  All the artillery taken in Brazil, which was marked either with the arms of the United Provinces of the Netherlands or of the West India Company, were to be restored to their former owners.

[Illustration:  DUTCH VESSELS SAILING THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

From a seventeenth-century engraving.]

Thus, although Portugal may be said in one sense to have cooped the Dutch up within a narrow strip of remaining territory, and to have been on the point of expelling them from Brazil by the sword, actually the withdrawal was only effected by the payment of this heavy ransom.  As Southey has it:  “The Portuguese consented to pay for the victory which they had obtained.”

CHAPTER XI

THE COLONY OF PERU

With South America now definitely settled, we may glance at the various provinces which constituted the Spanish American Continent.  For a long while after the first establishment of the Spanish dominion the divisions between the various districts remained far fewer in number than was later the case.  South America may be said to have been partitioned off in the early days into four main divisions.  The northernmost of these was commonly known as Terra Firma, and comprised New Granada and the neighbouring districts.  This area is now occupied by the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

To the south of Terra Firma the Viceroyalty of Peru extended itself, bordered on the south by the Province of Chile; while to the east, occupying the remainder of the Continent as far as the Brazilian frontier, and stretching over the fertile plains to the south, was the great Province of Paraguay, which included the territories now contained in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and part of Bolivia.

Seeing that the head-quarters of the Colonial Government was vested in Peru, it would be as well to deal with this portion of the Continent first.  Peru constituted in the first place the sole Viceroyalty, and subsequently the senior Viceroyalty, of Spanish South America.  Lima, its capital and the seat of government, took care to distinguish itself from any other colonial city of the Continent.  Certainly no other town possessed such buildings and architectural decorations as those of which Lima could boast.  The home of the Viceroy, it was a city of pomp, processions, and stately movements.  These, as a matter of fact, were by no means out of place, when the great importance of the spot from a governmental point of view is considered.  Every matter of consequence, in whatever province it may have had its origin, was referred for settlement to Lima, and it was here that the Viceroy and his Court gave judgments, the effects of which were echoed thousands of miles away.