In his letter to Manuel I of Portugal, Pero Vaz de Caminha gives what is considered by many today as being one of the most accurate accounts of what Brazil used to look like in 1500.
"[...] Esse arvoredo, que é tanto, tamanho, tão basto e de tantas prumagens, que homens as não podem contar.
[1] Pero Vaz de Caminha was the secretary of this fleet; he had been appointed to be the administrator of a trading post to be created in Calicut.
Once Cabral had gathered basic facts and had encountered the native people, he took this information and Caminha's letter on a smaller ship back to Lisbon.
Whilst writing this letter, Caminha was not trying to create a literary work but trying to report exactly what he found; it was a detailed commentary on the "customs, religion and physical characteristics of native people.
During the first mass, the native Brazilians responded favorably and thus, to Caminha, are worth saving because "they have no apparent trace of spiritual corruption.