Note 58 — SKETCHES OF JEWISH LOYALTY, BRAVERY AND PATRIOTISM IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES AND THE WEST INDIES.

From this it would appear that the Jews in South America were corresponding and perhaps commercially connected with their brethren in Italy. We have elsewhere proven that the Marranos in Hispañiola were carrying on an extensive trade between various large sea-ports of Italy (see our forthcoming paper on The Jewish Martyrs of the Inquisition in South America, to appear in P. A. J. H. S., No. 4, 1895), and that the Jews of Brazil as early as 1636 wrote to Rabbi Chayim Sabbathai, of Salonica, in reference to disputes arising in their midst concerning Jewish customs and ritual. Cf. the notes in our study quoted above, P. A. J. H. S., No. 3, pp. 104-105, 137.