from their neighbors or fearful colonists, rather than direct familiarity. As Fr. Vicente do Salvador wrote in his 1627 account, "These and other incredible things that are told about these people, believe as you will, because no man who was once in their power, has yet returned with his life to tell about it." The negative descriptions of the Goitacá, as found in the early writings, are maybe quite unjust. A shy people, the Goitacá avoided all interaction or contact with European colonists. They did, however, engage in barter trade with them, principally by leaving their trade goods in a clearing, and then falling back and watching from a distance as the colonists picked up the goods and dropped off theirs. Their principal trade items were honey, wax, fish, game and fruits, which they bartered for iron goods like sickles, brandy and beads. With the 1534 partition of colonial Brazil into separate hereditary captaincies, the large Goitacá territory came under three captaincies: Espírito Santo, São Tomé and São Vicente. Nothing was attempted in the latter, but colonial settlements were erected in the first two in 1535-36. The natives ignored the Portuguese at first, but after a couple of thoughtless slave-raids by the colonists, the Goitacá overran and destroyed the colonies in the 1540s. After repeated assaults, the São Tomé captain Pêro de Góis finally gave up the enterprise and abandoned Brazil. Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, captain of Espírito Santo, held on only by transferring his colony to the defensible island of Vitória. By their belligerence, the Goitacá managed to keep their lands free of European colonies for some time, and it is said their dominions were sanctuaries for European criminals and fugitives, who knew the colonial authorities would not chase after them there. But colonial pressure would not stay its hand for long - particularly as the Goitacá dominions blocked the path between the growing southern colonies like Rio de Janeiro and eastern colonies like Salvador da Bahia. Seeing no way to encroach on their land peacefully, a campaign of extermination against the Goitacá was launched. Initially these were manhunts by the Portuguese colonists (one of which Knivet participated and described), but soon became more systematic, e.g. by leaving poisoned brandy and smallpox-diseased blankets to be picked up by the Goitacá. As the campaigns advanced, the Goicatá retreated away from the coast and deeper into the interior. By the late 18th