JULIEN BISMUTH, 10.21.20:
“Moreover, because our Toüoupinambaults are much amazed to see us French and others from distant lands take such pains to acquire their Arabotan or brazilwood, there was an old man among them who made the following query to me, What does it mean that you others, Mairs and Peros, i.e. French and Portuguese, come from so far away to acquire wood for heating? have you none in your country ? To which, having answered that yes we did and in great quantity, but none like those in your country, much less brazilwood, which we do not burn as he thought but rather use as a dye, he suddenly replied: But why do you need so much? … you Mairs are great fools. Must you labor so far to cross the sea, on which you endured so many hardships, just to amass riches for your children or for those who will survive you? Will not the earth that nourishes you suffice to nourish them? We have, he added, parents and children, whom, as you see, we love and cherish: but because we are confident that after our death the earth which has nourished us will nourish them, without further worry, we can rest on that.”
Jean de Léry (1534-1613)
History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America