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.
Hij geloofde echter, dat ik goed zou staan bij de verbetering mijner plantaadje, want dat, daar men algemeen geloofde dat ik verongelukt was, mijne gemagtigden hunne rekening van mijn deel in de plantaadje aan den fiscaal hadden ingeleverd, die, zoo ik niet terug mogt komen, verklaard had dat een derde den koning, en twee derden aan het Augustijner klooster zouden toevallen, voor de armen en tot uitbreiding van het Christendom onder de Indianen. Zoo ik of iemand van mijnentwege echter opkwam, zou het mij teruggegeven worden, hoewel de jaarlijksche opbrengst niet, als zijnde tot werken van liefdadigheid besteed, maar hij verzekerde mij, dat de opzigter der koninklijke inkomsten van landerijen, en die van het klooster er voor gezorgd hadden, dat mijn compagnon hen jaarlijks prompt verrekening deed, waarvan zij de helft ontvingen.