It was the reverse of likely
that men of a temperament which urged them to raid the African shores in
search of their human quarry, and to sail their black cargoes through
the tropics, would abstain from making the fullest and most general use
of an opportunity thus offered, as the Spanish officials invariably
found was the case to their cost, and occasionally, as has been said, to
their profit!
The rivalry which characterized the relations between Spain and Portugal
did not fail to be carried across the ocean, nor, when transferred to
the colonies of either nation, did the mutual jealousies grow less
bitter. Indeed, scarcely had the colonization of Brazil and of the
Spanish territories commenced in earnest when the struggle between the
two nationalities began.
The area of the strife, fortunately, was confined. The enormous
territories of tropical Brazil forbade anything in the nature of
thorough exploration on the part of the few and slender bands of the
pioneers, to say nothing of any attempt at expansion. It was in the
south, where the narrow strip of Brazil projected itself downwards into
the temperate latitudes, that the desire for aggrandizement raged. The
Portuguese considered that the natural southern frontier of their great
colony was the River Plate.
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