The old man told me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but that he could assure me that when he came away my partner was living, but the trustees whom I had joined with him to take cognisance of my part were both dead: that, however, he believed I would have a very good account of the improvement of the plantation; for that, upon the general belief of my being cast away and drowned, my trustees had given in the account of the produce of my part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscal, who had appropriated it, in case I never came to claim it, one-third to the king, and two-thirds to the monastery of St. Augustine, to be expended for the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith: but that, if I appeared, or any one for me, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only that the improvement, or annual production, being distributed to charitable uses, could not be restored: but he assured me that the steward of the king’s revenue from lands, and the providore, or steward of the monastery, had taken great care all along that the incumbent, that is to say my partner, gave every year a faithful account of the produce, of which they had duly received my moiety.
Se per altro comparirete per reclamare le vostre sostanze, non dubito punto che non vi saranno restituite, salvo quelle rendite annuali od avanzi che sono già stati distribuiti in opere di pietà: su quelli non dovete più contare. Una cosa su cui potete star con l’animo in pace, si è che l’intendente del demanio per la parte di rendite che toccava al re, il provveditore del convento per l’altre due parti, ciascun di questi dal canto suo si è dato ogni debita cura affinchè il vostro socio gli desse ogni anno il fedel conto delle rendite della piantagione e gli sborsasse, come è stato fatto, la parte che gli perveniva. — Sapete a un dipresso a che monti ora la rendita della piantagione?