Why the fortress was needed
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Na posição em que se achava, isto era necessario por causa das tribus selvagens, que, embora se retirassem sempre das visinhanças dos lugares habitados pelos colonos, e se entranhassem pelas florestas, costumavão comtudo a fazer correrias e atacar os brancos á traição.
In the position where he stood, this was necessary because of the wild tribes who — although they always withdrew from the neighbourhoods of the places settled by colonists, and buried themselves deep in the forests — nonetheless used to make raids and attack the whites by treachery.
The defenses were no vanity. In his position it was necessary, because of the wild tribes who — though they always drew back from settled places into the forests — nonetheless used to raid and attack the whites by stealth.
Here the danger the whole fortress answers is named for the first time, and Alencar names it with a colonist's fear: the tribes that raid 'by treachery.' It is the settler's-eye view, and the novel will spend its length turning that view inside out, until the most treacherous violence proves to come from within the white world itself.
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