When arriving in Rio de Janeiro on February 12, 1868, with a letter of introduction from Joaquim Fernandes da Cunha, Castro Alves goes and visits Jos de Alencar in Tijuca, a district in Rio de Janeiro. He takes advantage of the opportunity to read the drama Gonzaga ou A Revoluo de Minas [Gonzaga or Minas Revolution] and to recite some of his poems. Impressed with the talent of the poet from Bahia, Alencar writes a letter to Machado de Assis dated February 18, 1868. The letter was published four days later in Correio Mercantil[Mercantile Newspaper], and in it he asks his friend to introduce Castro Alves to the Fluminense (from Rio de Janeiro) literary society. Besides the request, Jos de Alencar's letter gives him the status of public celebrity, when he considers Machado de Assis "the first Brazilian critic":