CHAP. X. PROVINCE OF MATTO GROSSO.

First Explorers—Gold discovered—Two Brothers appointed for the purpose of exacting the Fifths on Gold—Their atrocious Conduct—People attracted here by the Fame of Gold—Destruction of a Party by the Indians—Payagoa and Guaycuru Nations discovered—Their Alliance—Their fatal Attacks upon the Portuguese—Their Disunion—Continued Hostilities of the Guaycurus—Conflicts with them—Attempts to make Peace with the Indians—Treachery of the Guaycurus—Severe Drought—Arrival of a Governor—Promotes the Navigation to Para—Extent and Boundaries.—Division into Districts—District of Camapuania—Mineralogy—Phytology—Rivers—Zoology—Various Indian Tribes—Povoações.—District of Matto Grosso—Mountains—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Rivers—Capital.—District of Cuiaba—Mineralogy—Phytology—Zoology—Rivers—Povoações—Indians.—District of Bororonia—Indians—Rivers—Lakes.—District of Juruenna—Indians—Rivers—Forts.—District of Arinos—Indians—Rivers.—District of Tappiraquia—Indians—Rivers.—Lands of these Districts fertile and auriferous.

The Vincentistas having reduced the Guanhana, and Carijo nations, they began to make incursions beyond the Paranna, in pursuit of other Indians equally pusillanimous, and less numerous. Aleixo Garcia and his brother or son, accompanied by a numerous band of domestic Indians, having passed the Paraguay, and penetrated to the proximity of the Andes in the middle of the sixteenth century, were the first known discoverers of the southern part of this vast province; and Manuel Correa, a Paulista (as well as the others) having passed the Araguaya, a considerable time afterwards, penetrated to its northern part.

It will be difficult perhaps, to ascertain the names of the other certanistas, or commandants of bandeiras,[20] who visited this territory in quest of Indians, during the interval from its discovery to the year 1718, when Antonio Pires de Campos, also a Paulista, proceeded up the river Cuiaba in search of the Cuchipo Indians, who had an aldeia, where at this day is situated the hermitage of St. Gonçalo. In the following year Pascoal Moreira Cabral advanced up the river Cuchipo Mirim, and very soon discovered granites of gold. He left here a portion of his company to accumulate as much as possible of it, and proceeded higher up the river, with the greater part of the bandeirantes, as far as the situation at present called Forquilha, where they caught some young Indians ornamented with pieces of gold, which proved that the country abounded with that metal; they were most diligent in their searches after it, and collected a considerable portion. Returning to the party left behind, they descended with them the river below, to the aldeia which Antonio Pires had visited the preceding year, where each one exhibited the quantity of gold he had collected. Some found themselves possessed of one hundred oitavas, (2dwt. 7⅜gr. each,) others of half a pound weight, and many more of smaller portions, but they were generally well satisfied; those who accompanied Captain Moreira Cabral had exceeded the rest in good fortune. He had for his own share one pound and a half of gold. The whole party greatly lamented the want of mining instruments, as they were compelled to use their hands in removing the earth or sand. They soon began to construct cabanas, or dwelling places upon the margins of the rivers, determined to persist as long as the precious ore lasted. A few weeks had only elapsed, when another bandeira arrived at the new establishment, having been upon the margins of the river St. Lourenço, where they received intelligence of this discovery, and determined to augment the party.

The whole now consulted upon the circumstances attending their situation, and resolved to despatch Joze Gabriel Antunes to the city of St. Paulo, with samples of gold, and tidings of their success; also to announce to the governor their solicitude to receive the necessary instructions for the common weal and service of his Majesty. On the same day, the 8th of April, 1719, on which this resolution was formed, the party unanimously elected Captain Pascoal Moreira Cabral for their guarda mor regente until the arrival of orders from the governor of St. Paulo, investing him with much authority, and promising him implicit obedience. Antunes consumed many months, from the various difficulties which beset his way, before he reached St. Paulo, where the new discovery of the mines being divulged, numerous persons took their departure for them the following year, in various caravans, none of which arrived at Cuiaba without loss; many died on the way of fevers and different disasters. The misfortunes and losses which the numerous bandeiras, that continued to bend their course towards this province, annually sustained, were the result of ill-regulated measures, and the absence of judicious combinations for preventing disorder upon the march, and obviating the palpable neglect of proceeding without fishing instruments, which would have preserved many from famishing, and without fire arms for shooting game, or defence against wild animals and the natives.

In the same year the arraial or establishment was removed to the situation of Forquilha, where Cabral had found a better vein of gold; and in the following, one Miguel Sutil, from Sorocaba, having taken up a station with his party upon the margin of the Cuiaba, two Carijos, or domestic Indians, sent into the woods in search of honey, brought him at night twenty-three pieces, folhetas, or lamina, of gold, which weighed one hundred and twenty oitavas, stating that there was more in the wood where they had found it. Sutil, highly delighted, next morning went with his European comrade, Joam Francisco, called by way of nickname Barbado, and all his domestic establishment, conducted by the two Carijos to the place where they had found the precious metal, and which is the present site of the town of Cuiaba. Here they spent the day, gathering with their hands all the gold upon the surface of the ground, or thinly covered, and desisting only with the termination of daylight; they assembled late at their bivouacs, when Sutil found that he had accumulated half an arroba, or sixteen pounds weight, of gold, and Barbado upwards of four hundred oitavas. This adventure becoming known at the arraial of Forquilha, caused its removal to the situation where Sutil and Barbado had been so successful, and where it was calculated that four hundred arrobas of gold were collected in one month, without the excavations exceeding four fathoms in depth.

In this same year the governor Rodrigo Cezar de Menezes arrived at St. Paulo, whose first concern was to exact the payment of the royal fifths upon this metal. With this intention he nominated two brothers, resident at St. Paulo, of distinguished birth and fortune, Lourenço Leme to the situation of Procurador of the Fifths, and John Leme to the post of Master de Campo of the same mines. Those two individuals, in consequence of the liberty with which they had always triumphed over the laws, were imprudently selected; and now considered themselves more than ever authorised to consult with impunity their own caprices. On arriving at the arraial, they adopted the most violent and absurd measures, and wished to expel from the mines all those who were not Paulistas. The chaplain remonstrating against this injustice, they ordered a shot to be fired at him, which, erring in its object, killed one of his friends. Actuated by the same lawless spirit, they ordered one Pedro Leite to be inhumanly insulted at the time he was hearing mass, merely from some feeling of jealousy entertained against him. These and other atrocities, which they committed, induced the governor-general to transmit orders for their being arrested and sent prisoners to St. Paulo. They received intimation of this circumstance from one of their relatives, and on the arrival of the Master de Campo, Balthazar Ribeiro, to execute the commands of the governor, they had already fortified themselves in a remote place, accompanied by their partizans, where an attack was ineffectually made upon them. In a short time, however, after the loss of some lives on both sides, they fled to the interior with a great number of their followers, but were pursued until Lourenço Leme was killed by a shot, and his brother taken prisoner, and subsequently sent, with a summary of his crimes, to the city of Bahia, the relaçam of which city ordered him to be executed in 1724.

The prodigious amount of quintos, or fifths, which were received at St. Paulo in the year 1723, and the termination of the jurisdiction of the rapacious Lemes, excited an universal spirit in that city for mining. Every one was desirous of becoming a miner of Cuiaba, notwithstanding the calamities attached to so laborious and prolonged a voyage. Of more than three hundred persons, who in the year 1725 departed from St. Paulo, with upwards of twenty canoes, only two white men, and three negroes escaped. All the rest were killed or made prisoners in an encounter which they had with an Indian armada (the Payagoas) in the river Paraguay, in front of the embouchure of the Harez. Although the Paulistas knew that the Payagoas were celebrated mariners, they were totally ignorant of this nation possessing so numerous a fleet.

It may be proper to remark here, that the first Paulistas who entered the river Paraguay met with two nations, denominated Payagoas, and Guaycurus; both numerous and formidable; the first from its large armadas, and the second from the dexterity of the natives on horseback, from which they acquired the denomination of Cavalleiros. The Payagoas, from time immemorial, were always masters of the navigation of the Paraguay and its confluents, as far as nature offered no impediments. The Guaycurus had also always possessed the adjacencies of the same river, for the space of three hundred and fifty miles at least.

As it is an indubitable fact, that there were no horses in South America previous to its discovery by Pinson, in 1500, and that they were first introduced into this country by its two conquering nations, Spain and Portugal, it cannot be difficult to define, with tolerable certainty, the epoch when the Guaycurus first obtained these animals, which they used at all times, even in their shortest excursions, and with which they rendered themselves so formidable to all the circumjacent nations, not excepting the conquerors of the country. It would appear probable that they first derived the horse from the colonists of Assumption, rather than from those of Peru. If they were in former times powerful in war canoes, they only retained a sufficient number for passing from one to the other side of rivers, on discovering that the horse was more useful and advantageous for war, or for depredations upon the distant tribes. Such was the state of those two nations about the year 1720, when their reciprocal aversion was converted into a firm alliance, the Guaycurus soon becoming equally formidable upon both elements, with an establishment of war canoes little inferior to that of the Payagoas.

They continued to annoy the rising province from the year 1725 to the year 1768, at which period a disunion occurred, and the Payagoas descended to the low Paraguay, formed an alliance, or, more properly speaking, subjected themselves to the Spaniards of the province of Paranna, where they fixed their habitations, and have lived since 1774, a little below Assumption. Two causes are said to have influenced the Payagoas in this separation; the great diminution of numbers which they had sustained in repeated conflicts with the Spaniards and Portuguese, and their jealousy of the Guaycurus, who they now found were not less powerful upon the waters than in the field.

The Guaycurus persevered in the same hostility, although less frequent and less destructive, as will presently be detailed, till the year 1791, when the principal captains of this nation, Emavidi Channe, who assumed the name of Paulo Joaquim Ferreira, and Queyma, who took the name of Joam Queyma d’Albuquerque, accompanied by seventeen of their warriors, with a Brazilian creole, their slave or prisoner, for an interpreter, spontaneously came to solicit peace at Villa Bella, where, in the palace of the governor, and in the presence of the senate, they made a treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance, agreeing to become the vassals of his faithful Majesty. Letters-patent, securing to them the necessary privileges, were granted, which shall be transcribed when we conclude the history of this important nation. We will now return to the proceedings of the Paulistas, in reference to the early colonization of this province.

In the year 1727, the governor Menezes arrived at the new arraial, and gave it the title of Villa Real (royal town) of Cuiaba. The following year he left this town, and proceeded up the river Tocoary, to which was transferred, in 1729, the navigation from the Embotatiu, with the intention of avoiding, at least in part, the attacks of the Indians. From this change, however, no advantage resulted, in consequence of the trifling distance between these two rivers. The first division which left Cuiaba in the year 1730, with upwards of sixty arrobas (thirty-two pounds each) of gold, accompanied by Doctor Antonio Alvez Peixoto, who had accomplished the period of his ouvidorship, was attacked in the Pantanos,[21] by an armada of eighty war canoes, manned by more than eight hundred Indians. The pillage lasted for a considerable time, and only seventeen Christians escaped by swimming to land. It was computed that these warlike Indians lost more than four hundred combatants on this occasion. Some gold, which they carried off, with many prisoners, the Payagoas parted with at such a low price in the city of Assumption, that an Indian exchanged, with one Donna Quiteria de Banhos, six pounds weight for a pewter plate. At this period, a singular branch of commerce flourished in this city, which was in the disposal of cats, at exorbitant prices; the first pair of those animals that were brought to Assumption were sold for one pound of gold, and their progeny at thirty oitavas, and so on, till the augmentation of this race proportionably reduced their value. The extraordinary value of cats in this place, was occasioned by the houses and stores of Indian corn, &c. being infested with prodigious swarms of rats.

In 1730, the Brigadier Antonio de Almeida sent various persons, in two canoes of war, to procure a quantity of the sugar cane, which had been observed two years previously, by some certanistas, growing upon the borders of the river St. Lourenço. This party returned, at the expiration of two months, with a considerable supply of the cane, of which a plantation was formed, and it prospered so abundantly, that in the following year there were numerous planters. The juice of the cane was generally distilled into spirit, and the demand for it was so great, that a flagon of it sold at first for ten oitavas of gold. From the use of this spirit, the pallid aspect of the people gave way to a better complexion; and the diminution of fevers, as well as the mortality amongst slaves, became rapidly manifest.

In this same year, an armament of thirty canoes of war and fifty transports, with six hundred men, two pieces, and a great number of muskets, were despatched in pursuit of an enemy’s squadron, which had advanced to the mouth of the Cuiaba, where it made some fishermen prisoners. This armada having proceeded to the mouth of the Embotatiu, a division of the Indians was descried, which, with loud yellings, suddenly disappeared. After a pursuit of several days’ voyage, which carried it beyond the strait where the waters of the Paraguay are compressed between two morros, (large rocks,) the armada one morning unexpectedly encountered an Indian fleet. The Indians, giving the signal of attack by loud and discordant war-hoops, came furiously to the onset; but the thunder of the musketry and pieces, which were discharged upon them at the same instant, as quickly produced a retrograde movement, and they were pursued in their precipitate flight by the Portuguese, as far as the aldeia of Tavatim, from whence the latter returned, after having destroyed a great many canoes found there.

In the year 1732, all the canoes accomplished their destination with safety; but in the following year, a fleet, consisting of fifty canoes, was destroyed, and on the arrival of the few persons who escaped at Cuiaba, a squadron of thirty canoes of war, and seventy of transport, was equipped, and confided to the command of Lieutenant-General Manuel Rodrigues de Carvalho.

About the middle of August, 1734, this powerful fleet entered the Paraguay, and having navigated a month without encountering an enemy, they one morning discovered at day-break various fires at the bottom of a bay, apparently difficult of access, towards which, however, they proceeded in great silence, without being observed, till they arrived almost within gun-shot. The Indians, perceiving themselves thus surprised and surrounded, raised a most horrible yell, to which the Portuguese responded by a discharge of upwards of four hundred muskets, which occasioned great havoc amongst them. Two hundred and ninety-two were made prisoners, including wounded and children, who could not follow the fugitives to the woods. The whole were shortly afterwards baptized.

In 1735, after the return of this armament from the Paraguay, and the arrival of a fleet from St. Paulo, consisting of one hundred and twelve canoes, the mines were divided which Fernando de Barroz (a Sorrocabano) had discovered three years before, a short distance from the present site of Villa Bella, the capital of this province, and where the new colonists died in great numbers from a malignant fever, caused by some neighbouring stagnant pools. In the following year the numerous fleet from St. Paulo was attacked by an Indian armada, considerably superior, at the situation of Caranda, on the day of St. Joze. The conflict lasted several hours, in which were killed, amongst others, their brave commandant Pedro de Moraes and Frey Antonio Nascentes, a Franciscan friar, whose extraordinary powers and intrepidity had acquired him the by-name of Tiger. Many others distinguished themselves more fortunately in this conflict, from which they issued conquerors, having caused a horrible carnage amongst the savages. None, however, displayed more bravery than a mulatto, from Pindamonhangaba, called Manuel Rodriguez, and, vulgarly, Manduassu, Manuel the Great, in consequence of his immense stature, strength, and courage. This gigantic man, who commanded his own canoe, in which he was accompanied by his wife, of the same colour, and various slaves, being attacked by two Indian war canoes, defended himself with such valour and dexterity that neither were able to board him; at one time he discharged a musket, which his wife successively loaded for him, at another he wielded a vara, (a long pole for impelling the canoe,) the strokes of which were fatal to all those who came within his reach. On his arrival at Cuiaba he was presented with the commission of a captain.

In the same year a road was opened to the territory of Goyaz, (so called from the Goya Indians,) from whence upwards of fifteen hundred persons departed, with horses and numerous troops of mules, besides those who descended by the river St. Lourenço, attracted by the announcement of gold which had been found in Matto Grosso, from whence, in fact, eighty arrobas of that metal were despatched the same year to St. Paulo in eight canoes of war, each furnished with sixteen chosen men, and commanded by Lieutenant-General Manuel Rodrigues de Carvalho, who conducted them in security, and put an Indian division to flight which attacked them at the entrance of the Pantanos. With this intelligence almost the whole population of Cuiaba left that town for the newly-discovered mines of Matto Grosso, (Large Woods.) Five hundred oitavas were paid for negroes, and they were cheap, from the gain which they afforded.

In 1740 the Indians were again beaten, at the embouchure of the Tacoary, by the fleet from St. Paulo, commanded by Jeronimo Gonsalves, (an Hituan,) who arrived at Matto Grosso with a great number of lances, or spears, that belonged to the Indians who perished in the combat, he having himself lost four canoes laden with merchandise and slaves. After his arrival some domestic Bororo Indians brought intelligence that the Spanish Jesuits had established themselves near the heads of the Paraguay, reducing into aldeias the Guaraparez tribe.

It being well known that this step was not taken for want of Indians to convert in the vicinity of their own missions, the Portuguese counselled them to retire peaceably, which advice was disregarded. The inconstancy, however, of the catechumens obliged the catechists to retrace their steps to the aldeias of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra, before measures were taken for their expulsion.

In the year 1742 Manuel de Lima descended, with five Indians, three mulattoes, and a negro, in a canoe, by the Guapore, Madeira, and Amazons, to the city of Para.

At the same period that Manuel de Lima descended the Madeira, one Joaquim Ferreira, with other traders, advanced up the Mamore to the mission of Exaltaçao. The same persons, or others with a similar intention, returning the following year, found the mission of St. Rosa newly erected upon the eastern margin of the Guapore, almost in front of the outlet by which they had entered to St. Miguel the preceding year. The jesuitical curate determining to impede their navigation of the river, it was conjectured that, for the better effecting this project, he shortly afterwards removed the mission of St. Miguel also to the same side, and founded that of St. Simao further to the north. It notwithstanding appears that the people of Matto Grosso did not desist from the navigation of this river.[22]

In 1743 the combined Indians observing certain signals at the mouths of the Tocoary of a fleet having passed forward, they proceeded up in pursuit of it as far as the reducto of Sappe, in the vicinity of the town of Cuiaba, where they killed some fishermen.

A series of such calamities produced a resolution of the ouvidor, Joam Gonsalves, in a junta with the senate and the principal persons of the town, to endeavour to obviate hostilities, through the medium of a firm friendship with the Guaycuru Indians, they not being considered so inveterate against the Portuguese, whose maledictions fell upon the Payagoa tribe, attributing to them alone all the injuries they had sustained. With this intention, a squadron of six canoes of war and six of transport, was sent, under the command of Captain Antonio de Medeiros, with a considerable quantity of articles most esteemed by the Indians, equally for the purpose of making presents as to exchange for horses. Having arrived at an island in front of a post occupied by the Guaycurus, the commandant sent an Indian, versed in their language, with two white soldiers, to the chief of the party, soliciting him to come to the island, as he was desirous to make him some presents, and to enter into a negotiation. On the following day the Indian captain presented himself, with a numerous band of men and women, upon the beach nearest to the island, and with the three deputies sent two of his to Medeiros requesting him to come and parley on land, the two Indians to remain as hostages upon the island. Medeiros immediately proceeded to the other side with a considerable part of his force, and an assortment of various articles, with which he complimented the captain and his relations. He then proposed the projected negotiation, which was to effect a cessation of hostilities with the Payagoas, and to barter horses for European merchandise; to all which the Indian promptly assented.

On the following day a large party of Portuguese passed to the other side, in order to traffic with the Indians, without any kind of arms, imprudently confiding in the apparent demonstrations of sincerity which they had evinced; when, about nine o’clock, those who had remained with Medeiros in the squadron perceived a tumult amongst the savages, which convinced them that their comrades were lost. They immediately fired upon them, when the traitors instantly fled, fifty Christians remaining dead upon the field. This disaster terminated all hopes of a friendly negotiation.

In 1744 the Indians were routed by the Paulista fleet, without the Christians sustaining more loss than one negro, from the wound of a lance. Notwithstanding the disaster which the savages experienced on this occasion, they boldly advanced up the Paraguay the same year, as far as the passage from Cuiaba to Matto Grosso; and, disembarking at an early hour near the establishment of Joam d’Oliveira, set fire to his house, and killed several people.

On the 24th of September, in this year, at mid-day, in clear weather, a subterraneous noise was heard, and the earth immediately quaked, continuing to experience various tremulous agitations, which produced considerable alarm in all places of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba. At this period, a drought already prevailed, which lasted till 1749. All the woods were parched up, and no longer exhibited any foliage; the atmosphere was now only the vehicle of smoke; all living creatures suffered from famine and other calamities; and death stalked in universal triumph.

The earthquake, which, in October two years afterwards, 1746, agitated the territory of Peru, and destroyed the city of Lima, its capital, was here very sensibly felt; filling every living creature with sudden dread, but unattended with worse consequences.

Before the conclusion of this same year, the Captain Joao de Souza, descended the Arinos, Tapajoz, and the Amazons, to Para, and returned the following year by the Madeira, with European merchandise; after his arrival, other dealers departed by the same route, which has been frequented to this day, in spite of the great difficulties to which this prolonged voyage has hitherto been subject.

Two years had almost elapsed, before the rains had reanimated the face of the country, given verdure to the foliage of the unbounded woods, renovated the springs, arrested the ravages of death, and facilitated journeys by land; when, about the beginning of January, 1751, a numerous fleet arrived at Cuiaba, accompanied by Don Antonio Rolin de Moura, as governor of the new province, a Juiz de Fora, (Theotonio de Sylva Gusmao,) two Jesuits, and a troop of dragoons. At the end of this year, the governor proceeded to the mines of Matto Grosso, with the intention of promoting the navigation discovered by Manuel de Lima to Gram Para, and to compel the retrocession of the Spanish Jesuits established on the right margin of the Guapore. D. Antonio Rolin, commanded to found a town in the situation best adapted for the effectuating those projects, selected for its site a place called Pouzoalegre, founded and named it on the 19th of March, 1752; and, on the 25th of November, by order of the bishop of Rio de Janeiro, the hermitage of St. Anna was converted into its mother church.

With the opening of the roads to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and with the new navigation of Gram Para, that of Camapuan began to be less frequented. The miners who were interested in proceeding to St. Paulo by this fatal way never accomplished it, except with a considerable number of canoes, equipped with chosen men, and armed with the best instruments of defence; and occasionally accompanied by canoes of war to a certain situation in the river Tocoary, where they waited for the Paulista fleet to protect them through the passage of the Pantanos.

Subsequent to the separation, already mentioned, of the two nations, one of the most disastrous hostilities which the Portuguese experienced from the Guaycurus was in May, 1775, when they proceeded up the Paraguay, in twenty canoes, nearly to Villa Maria, where they assassinated sixteen persons, and carried off many others prisoners.

The foundation of the prezidio, or garrison, of Nova Coimbra, in the same year, upon the western margin of the Paraguay, ought to have been, according to the order of General L. d’Alburquerque, forty leagues further to the south, at the place called Fecho dos Morros, where it would have contributed to the protection of the navigators of St. Paulo. The author of the Guaycurus, (written in this prezidio by one of its governors,) says, that he could but partially embarrass the passage of the Indians, or prevent the flight of deserters; and that its founder had committed an error, from whence resulted the entrance of the Spaniards into the dominions of his faithful Majesty, where they founded Villa Real, St. Carlos, and St. Joze.

The last hostility which the Portuguese sustained from the Guaycurus, was the atrocious assassination of fifty soldiers in a plain fronting Nova Coimbra, in January, 1781, at the time they were bartering some articles with the barbarians who had been there twice before with demonstrations of friendship.

The prezidio of Nova Coimbra was besieged in September, 1801, by the Spaniards, who proceeded from the city of Assumption with four escunas and twenty canoes. It was the first time that the thunder of contending artillery had been heard in the centre of South America, and from which the Guaycuru and Payagoa warriors formed an idea of the European mode of warfare. The commencement of hostilities produced the following correspondence between the Spanish and Portuguese commandants:—

“I had the honour, last evening, to contest the fire of the fort under the command of your Honour; and having ascertained that the force with which I am about to attack it is much superior to that of your Honour, which cannot fail to reduce it to the ultimate state of misfortune; and as the vassals of his Catholic Majesty know how to respect the laws of humanity, an opportunity is offered, and your Honour is required to surrender the fort to the arms of the King my master; on the contrary the cannon and the sword will decide the fate of Coimbra, and its unfortunate garrison will suffer all the extremities of war, from which calamity it will see itself delivered, if your Honour complies with my proposal. Furnish me with your decision categorically, in the course of one hour. On board of the Escuna, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, 17th of September, 1801.

“Don Lazaro da Ribera.”

“Coimbra, 17th September, 1801.

“I have the honour to reply categorically to your Excellency, that the inequality of force always was a stimulus which greatly animated the Portuguese not to forsake their posts, and to defend themselves to the two extremities, either of repelling the enemy, or burying themselves below the ruins of forts confided to them. In this resolution are all the individuals of this prezidio, who have the distinguished honour of seeing in front of it the exalted person of your Excellency, whom God preserve.

“Ricardo Franco d’Almeida.”

The assailants withdrew with some loss, after being nine days ineffectually attempting to carry the fort.

This province, which lies between the parallel of 7° where it joins that of Para, and 24° 30′ of south latitude where it borders upon that of Paranna, occupies a territory of nearly eleven hundred miles from north to south, with almost eight hundred at its greatest width, being more extensive than ancient Germany.

On its western limits it has the Spanish possessions, from which it is separated by the rivers Guapore, Jauru, and Paraguay, and on the eastern the river Paranna, which divides it from the province of St. Paulo, and the Araguaya, which separates it from that of Goyaz. It comprises nearly four climates, entering twenty leagues into the temperate zone. A country so extensive necessarily admits of a considerable variety in every point of view in which it can be regarded. Nature itself has partitioned it into three grand districts, or comarcas, of which two are divided into six smaller ones, and their limits (also natural) will become, perhaps, on some future day, those appropriated for the formation of the same number of ouvidorias, when the accumulation of its population may render such a measure desirable.

The southern district is denominated Camapuania.

The central district comprises Matto Grosso, on the west.

Cuiaba, central.

Bororonia, on the east.

The northern district comprises Juruenna, on the west.

Arinos, central.

Tappiraquia, on the east.

District of Camapuania.

The rivers Tocoary, Cochim, Camapuan, and Pardo, the origin of which approximating, the three first flowing westward and the last eastward, separate the district of Camapuania into north and south, the northern limits of which is a chain of mountains, that in the latitude of about 13° extend themselves from east to west, and from whence emanate the Paraguay and its first branches to the southward, and those which form the Tapajos and the Zingu to the northward.

This district, which derives its name from the river Camapuan, is bounded on the west by the river Paraguay; on the south by the Chichuhi and Igurey; on the east by the Paranna; and comprises a tract of territory of upwards of three hundred and fifty miles square. It is a country almost universally flat, and has its woods chiefly in the vicinity of the rivers. It consists principally either of catingas (not adapted to agriculture) or plains, and is irrigated by a great number of rivers, the most considerable of which originate in a range of land from north to south, of very trifling elevation, and denominated the serra Amambuhi, dividing the canton into east and west. A vast portion of the western part is annually submerged by the inundations of the Paraguay, which in some parts covers more than seventy miles of plain.

Mineralogy.—Gold, calcareous stone, granite, variety of argils, diamonds, and other precious stones.

Phytology.—The vegetable on which the cochineal breeds, and the shrub which produces matte, are very common in various situations; a diversity of palm trees, caju-nut trees, four sorts of excellent guabiroba fruit, three of the uvaspiriticas, the fruit similar to a grape, and the plant to the strawberry. The Paraguaynians make various beverages of it.

Rivers.—The Tocoary, Pardo, Mondego, Igatimy, Correntes, Ippanne Guaçu, Miamaya, Ivinheima, and the Negro, are the principal.

The river Pardo, (Grey,) so called from the colour of its waters, is formed by the Sanguexuga and the Vermelho. The latter, of a green colour, partaking of the hue of its bed, is small, and flows from the north. The Sanguexuga, (the Leach,) so called from passing near a lake where they are excellent, originates a few miles to the south-west of the Camapuan, and is navigable for the space of five or six leagues. Its water is crystalline and excellent as far as the confluence with the former. The Pardo is considerable, and so rapid that canoes advance against its stream by the use of the vara with great labour; water falls and currents increasing more and more from its centre upwards, which render the navigation more tedious than any other river which the Cuiabanos navigate, who consume almost two months in proceeding up to the situation where the navigation of only two hundred and eighty miles terminates, computing by water. Its course is winding towards the south-east, through delightful plains at the commencement, where the navigator passes the white deer, anta, tamandua, wild hog, wolf, fox, emu ostrich, seriema, partridge, &c. which invite him to the diversion of shooting.

These plains continue to the falls of Caiuru Guaçu and Caiuru Mirim, which are situated about the middle of the extent of this river, with an interval of three miles one from the other. From this situation downwards, both margins are clothed with woods, abounding more in honey than fruits, and only one small fall or current is met with, called Capoeiras, eighteen miles below that of Caiuru Mirim.

The principal falls of this river are the Caiuru Guaçu, Tijuco, Tacoaral, Tamandua, Curao, which is the largest of the whole, and near fifty palms in height, Ballo, Lage Grande, Lage Pequena, Banco Grande, Banco Pequena. In passing these, the canoes are conveyed by land;—Caiuru Mirim, Banquinho, Cirga Comprida, Empirucu, Mangaval, Cirga do Campo, Manuel Rodrigues, Sucuri, Embirucu Mirim, another called Embirucu, Paredao, Furado, Formigueiro, Pedras d’Amolar, Vermelho, Tocoarapaia, past all which canoes are dragged by a warp, with but half a cargo, and double the number of people. There are others passed with full cargoes, the canoes being impelled by a greater or less number of men.

Upon the banks of the Pardo, two sorts of the palm are seen, which are not met with near any of the other rivers of the Cuiabana navigation. One called guacuman, slender and six or seven feet in height, of which a good bait for fish is made; the other, denominated brutiz, is high and thick with leaves seven feet long. The Indians, and also the ancient certanistas, made of its fruit a wine, very similar to that of the red grape in colour and taste.

The principal rivers which enlarge the Pardo are the Anhanduhi Guaçu, Anhanduhi Mirim, and Sucuri; they join it by the right margin. The last and smallest disembogues fifty miles below the Vermelho. The first, rising in the centre of the province, discharges itself into the Pardo, seventy miles above its embouchure. The Anhanduhi Mirim enters it forty miles below the Sucuri. Fifteen miles above the mouth of the Vermelho, is the port of Sanguexuga on the left margin of the river of the same name, where the canoes, which proceed up the river Pardo, are unloaded and conducted in carretas, (a sort of cart with four wheels, drawn by six or seven bullocks,) across an isthmus of near ten miles in width, through plains and woods to the port of Camapuan, on the left bank of the small river of that name, which originates near the first, in the skirts of the serro of Sacco. From hence, the navigation is only with half a cargo, and accomplished with prodigious labour (in consequence of the shoals and stones of which this river is full) to the Cochim, where the goods are deposited in ranchos, and well guarded, until the remainder of the cargoes are fetched. Forty miles are reckoned from the port to the mouth of this river, traversing woods deficient in fruits and game.

The river Cochim, which originates in the vicinity of the Sanguexuga, runs violently between sides, formed of steep and frightful rocks, which in some places are narrowed to four or five fathoms; in other parts it passes through extensive woods, affording little fruit, but abounding in game, where two sorts of palm trees, in great quantities, are observed, the one called guacuriz, the other bocayuvas. The principal of twenty-two falls, which interrupt the navigation of this river, are, Mangaval, five leagues below the mouth of the Camapuan; Pedra Branca, near thirty miles below the preceding; and Vare, all requiring double the number of persons to pass; Culapada, Furnas, Canellas d’Andre Alvez, Avanhandavussu, and Avanhandavu Mirim, two miles distant from each other; P. Luiz Antonio, which is very perilous; Jiquitaya; and Cachoeira da Ilha, which is three miles above the confluence of this river with the Tocoary. The principal streams which enlarge the Cochim are the Inferno, (Infernal River,) Sellada, and the Jauru, entering by the right margin; the Furado, Orelha d’Anta, Joam Bicudo, and the Tocoary Mirim, by the left. The latter enters near the embouchure of the Cochim.

The Tocoary has its heads near the boundary of Cayaponia, much to the north of Camapuan. When it receives the Cochim, it is already considerable, and near this confluence there is a large fall of its name, where the canoes are relieved of half the cargo, in order to pass it without danger. A little lower there is another small one, denominated Belliago, the last of this river, (the ordinary width of which is here about sixty fathoms,) and also the last of one hundred and thirteen, which navigators encounter from Port Feliz to Cuiaba. The greater part of its course is through campinhas, with little wood, describing continual and short turnings, which give it an appearance to the navigator of his always being enclosed within a lake. It abounds in fish; but its waters are impregnated with a fine sand. Amongst other islands, which it forms, is that of Passaros, (or Birds,) so called on account of the infinite number that breed in it, and with which its trees are always laden: it discharges into the Paraguay, through many channels, which form a great number of islands, generally submerged during the floods of either river. These islands are denominated Pantanos, where, amongst other rare birds, is seen a beautiful one called anhupocas. It is the size of the inhuma, having also, like it, a horn upon the head, and spurs to the wings; it sings from midnight till day. Wild geese are exceedingly numerous, and for their exclusive sustenance nature here produces a prodigious quantity of wild rice, and of so large a size that no other bird can swallow it. Amongst other remarkable trees, on the margins of this river, the most esteemed is a species of palm tree, thicker round the trunk than the arms of a man can compass; its nuts, which are the size of an ostrich’s egg, supply the aliment of the Indian.

The river Mondego, otherwise Embotateu, originally Aranbahi, is considerable, and navigable nearly to its origin, which is a short distance from that of the Anhanduhi Guaçu, and runs into the Paraguay eighteen miles below the Tocoary. The largest of its tributaries, which enter by the right margin, is now called the river Verde. The last confluent of the Mondego, by the southern bank, is the small river Zezere, which rises near the inconsiderable serra of St. Barbara.

The Ivinbeima, which enters the Paranna by three mouths, flows from the interior of the province, whither it affords navigation; and receives by the left the Jaguary, a river little inferior to it.

The Negro, which is considerable, and would appear to be the Sambambaya of the first certanistas, runs into the Paranna twenty miles above the northern mouth of the Ivinheima.

The Miamaya, or Miamay, which is considered to be the river formerly called Amambahy, is large, and enters the Paranna forty miles below the southern arm of the Ivinheima.

The Igatimy, to which is given one hundred and fifty miles of extent, is navigable very near to its source in the serra Amambahy. Eighty miles in a direct line from its embouchure is the passage of the Guaycurus, where the river is shallow. Twenty miles lower it receives on the left the small river Bogas; and thirty-five miles further, on the same side, the Escopil, which is little inferior, and flows from the same serra.

The name of this fine confluence is Forquilha. It is an advantageous point for the establishment of a colony. From hence to the Paranna, the distance is about thirty-five miles, with only two falls. Ten miles above this point, the first of twenty-one falls is encountered, all of them compressed within the space of ten miles; from these cataracts upwards, the river has no interruption to a little above the Guaycuru ford, already mentioned. The course is winding, the lateral lands low, and covered with impervious woods.

The Correntes, which appears to be the same that the Spaniards called Rio Branco, (White River,) is considerable, and enters the Paraguay fifty miles below the Fecho dos Morros, (closing of Rocks.)

The Ipanne Guaçu, after having watered an uninhabited territory, falls into the Paraguay one hundred miles below the Correntes.

At no great distance from the Igatimy are the heads of two small rivers called (the northern) Iguaray Assu, and (the southern) Iguaray Mirim, which after uniting, join the Chichuhi, a river that discharges itself into the Paraguay, in the latitude of 24° 12′. Neither the treaty of limits agreed upon in 1751 or 1777, mention this river, or any other as the divisionary line; but from the principal origin of the Igurey, the ninth article of the latter treaty, says, that the boundary is to continue in “a direct line, by the highest land, to the principal head of the nearest river which enters the Paraguay;” and the Chichuhi appears to answer best this adjustment. This river is also called Jejuhy, formed, it is said, by the Grande and Pequena Jejuhy, which after their junction receives on the left the Coruguaty.

Nearly fifteen miles to the south of the Igatimy, the river Igurey falls into the Paranna, which has formed the limits on that side, between the crowns of Spain and Portugal, since the year 1777.

Zoology.—There are antas of all colours, wolves, white deer, with all other species of quadrupeds known in the other provinces. The middle of the northern part of this province is called, in the journals or diaries of the certanistas, Vaccaria, (or Cattle Plains,) in consequence of the cattle that were here dispersed when the Paulistas expelled the inhabitants of the city Xerez, and of five neighbouring small aldeias, which formed a small province, of which the said city was the head. The remainder of these animals, almost extinct from the devastations of the wild beast and the hunter, were augmented in 1797, by those which the Guaycurus carried off, when they plundered the Spanish plains of the town of Coruguaty; and also by such as escaped from the Coruguatynos, who pursued (to the number of upwards of fifteen hundred) the barbarian pillagers.

Various savage nations have dominion in this country; the Guaycuru is the most distinguished. At the present day they are divided into three bodies; one of which, without any alliance with other nations, live along the western margin of the Paraguay, subdivided into various hordes: the most southern are called Linguas by the neighbouring Spaniards; and when they infest the aldeias of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra, are there known by the name Xiriquanos; others have the appellation of Cambaz. Those who possess the eastern vicinity of the same river, constitute the other two bodies; the southern are allied with the Spaniards, the northern with the Portuguese. The Fecho dos Morros, or an approximating situation, is the separating line. No difference is remarked of origin, idiom, and usages, amongst these three portions of Indians, otherwise declared enemies to each other. The allies of the Portuguese, extending from the Mondego southward, are divided into seven hordes, or large aldeias, generally friends to each other, and without the least difference in any respect. Chagoteo, Pacachodeo, Adioeo, Atiadeo, Oleo, Laudeo, and Cadioeo, are the names by which they are distinguished. In none of these aldeias, which would be better designated as large towns, are there any acknowledged superior to the rest. Each horde is composed of three classes of persons; the first, are a species of noblesse, entitled captains, and whose wives and daughters have the distinction of donas; the second, are denominated soldiers, or men whose military obedience descends from father to son; and the third, captives or slaves, comprising the prisoners of war and their descendants. There are but a few of the first in each aldeia, the second are very numerous, and the third exceed many times the number of the others taken conjointly. The captains and soldiers have an intermixed origin, and their title of gentility is joage. The slaves are of various nations, acquired in war, never undertaken with any other object, than for the augmentation of prisoners, in the number of which consists the degree of nobility, or distinction of the captains. These irruptions are exterminatory, taking away the lives of the elder people and the liberty of the younger. Such youthful captives soon forget their idiom and customs, and adopt those of the Guaycurus, and never abscond, as their masters do not occupy them in any thing. It is reputed highly degrading for a senhor, or lord, to contract marriage with his slave; the son treats with contempt the mother who bore him by a slave.

The Guaycurus are of medium stature, well made, healthy, robust, and appear formed to the most painful and laborious undertakings. They eat many times in the day, very slowly, and their provisions are generally over-dressed, and cooked without any attention to cleanliness. They never suffer from indigestion. They are most particular in the diet which they use on occasions of their unfrequent indispositions. The scurvy never makes its appearance, and sudden deaths are never known. Bodily defects are exceedingly rare; blind persons sometimes are seen, but none are ever bald. Their teeth are almost universally irregular, in consequence of not extracting the first teeth of the youth when they change them, an omission arising from the tenderness with which they are treated; but they commonly retain them till death, although black enough, from the prodigious quantity of tobacco which they use. The women always carry a piece between the under lip and gums. They paint the body with the dye of the urucu and jenipapo, in which operation much symmetry is preserved. The youth have no certain usage in the disposal of their lank hair; the aged shave their heads similar to the lay Franciscans.

The women likewise shave their heads around, and clip the hair, leaving it three inches in length at the top. Their physiognomy is broad, and presents nothing agreeable in consequence of the dye which they introduce into the skin with thorns, forming lines, that commence at the roots of the hair, and terminate at the eyelids or the cheeks, and in some instances at the chin, where they give it the appearance of a chess board, an ash colour being so indelibly fixed, that it continues through life. They are usually wrapped up in a large cotton cloth, from the neck to the feet, striped with various colours; the more ostentatious ornament themselves with shells, the mother-pearl appearing outwards; some have upon them the figure of their horses, well drawn in black and white. Below this dress they wear a very wide girdle, called an ayulate; without which a girl from her birth is never seen. Ornamental strings of silver, in necklaces and bracelets for the arms and legs, and a plate of the same metal at the breast, are generally displayed, for the manufacture of which, a stone anvil and hammer are used. In former times, these ornaments consisted of wood, such as are yet seen amongst some of the poor.

Early in life they become meagre, and their skins, as well as those of the men at an advanced age, are remarkably wrinkled.

The men have no other clothing than a narrow girdle, or cinta of dyed cotton, which they tie round the middle of the body; and after they have had communication with the Europeans, they cover them with beads of divers colours, forming different devices. They ornament the head, arms, and legs, with plumes, or feathers, of various colours. They have the under lip perforated, and a cylinder of wood, almost as thick as a writing pen, and three inches long, introduced, the richer class wearing them of silver; and in their ears, half moons of the same metal. The men are diligent in hunting, fishing, gathering honey and wild fruits, and in the manufacture of arms and canoes, which they call noatek. The women spin, manufacture clothes, and cintas, or girdles of cotton; and make cords, mats, &c. Both sexes occupy themselves equally in culinary affairs.

They breed all the species of domestic European birds and quadrupeds introduced into the country, and some peculiar to this continent, with great attention and care, in consequence of which the whole are particularly tame.

Agriculture is held in contempt by them; and meat is their only aliment, which renders their stock of animals not over abundant, with the exception of horses, which they never eat. They change the colour of a green parrot into yellow, by stripping off the plumage, and applying the dye of the urucu, to its unfeathered skin.

From their custom of incessant riding on horseback, their legs are crooked. They do not use the saddle or stirrups, nor any substitute for them, and their bridles consist of cords. They break their horses in water, in order that the rider may not be dismounted, or that his fall may be less sensibly felt.

Their war-horses are not used for any other purpose, nor do they ever sell them. The women are mounted on horseback between bundles of dried grass upon a cloth which serves at the same time for a housing.

The Guaycurus are dreaded and respected by the surrounding nations, in consequence of the advantage they have in cavalry in their cruel wars, and the arms which they use, consisting of a club, or staff, of four to five spans in length, and an inch in diameter; a lance, somewhat thicker, and twelve feet long; a trassado, or large knife, and the bow and arrow. They are equipped with all those arms, when they proceed upon their war-horses, in the following manner. They encircle themselves with a cord, between which and the body, the club is introduced on the right side, the trassado on the left; with the left hand they govern the horse, and with the right wield the lance, which they do not use when they carry the bow and arrow. They also use the laço in their hunting excursions.

A year does not elapse without their undertaking campaigns against, and making prisoners of the Guatos, Cayapos, Bororos, Xiquitos, Chamococos, (the two last are of the province of St. Cruz de la Sierra,) Guaxis, who dwell about the heads of the Aranhahy, Coroas, Caiavabas, Guannas, and other tribes. The Guannas are the most numerous, and amongst them alone is remarked the cultivation of some hortulans and cotton trees.

They content themselves with one wife; but the law is free to both parties to effect a separation, and contract a new alliance, when one is disgusted with the other; such separations, however, are very rare. The ceremony of marriage consists in a plentiful banquet, accompanied with a rude dance.

They have a general cemetery, which is a large open structure covered with mats, where each family has a part staked off for its use. Above the sepulchres of the men are deposited their bows, arrows, and other arms. Those of distinguished warriors are decked with ornaments. Rich young females are decorated as if for the bridal day. They have no religion; and, in place of doctors or surgeons, there are certain persons denominated Unigenitos, who are pretended diviners and superstitious imposters, absolutely destitute of that knowledge of medicine or cure of diseases, which belongs to other savages less distinguished. They cure their patients by smoking or sucking the part affected, and expectorating into a grave; they do not prescribe any beverages.

They believe in a creator of all, but to whom they pay no kind of homage, nor have recourse upon any urgent occasions; and also an inferior spirit, endowed with the knowledge of futurity, whom they denominate Nanigogigo. They admit the immortality of the soul; but it would appear, they have no idea of future recompenses being proportioned to the conduct of life; they imagine that the souls of the captains and unigenitos are in a state of enjoyment after death, and that those of the people wander about the cemetery.

The unigenitos acquire most credit by their pretended familiarity with the Nanigogigo, for which the people consider them privileged. The macauhan is a bird which produces much auguration amongst the Guaycurus, when its notes are unintelligible to them; upon such occasions the subsequent night is a season of inconvenience and labour to the unigenitos, who occupy themselves alternately in lamentable singings, or in imitating the notes of various birds, shaking at the same time a calabash with little stones in it, and in calling upon the Nanigogigo to interpret the mysterious song of the bird. They practise the same artifice when they pretend to know whether an invalid will die or recover, and if good or ill success will attend an ensuing war.

It is considered a beauty amongst these people to have no hair upon the eyebrows, being particularly careful to extract it on its appearing.

Their language abounds with words and phrases of soft and easy pronunciation. The women explain themselves at times differently to the men; for instance, in the expression of “Farewell, I am going,” the latter say “sara gigo oipilo,”—the women, “sara gigo ioy.”

There is nothing more remarkable amongst the Guaycurus than the inhuman practice of the mothers in destroying the embryo on discovering their pregnancy, until they arrive at the age of thirty. The reason of this custom is to avoid the inconveniences annexed to the birth and rearing of their offspring.

The streets of their villages or towns are straight and wide, the houses are covered with mats of bulrushes, disposed horizontally in dry weather, and slopingly in wet weather. Many have two and three mats, one above the other, with more or less interval, as much for the exclusion of the rain as for the diminution of the heat. They sleep on the ground upon hides, and cover themselves with the cloths that the women spread over the two bundles of grass between which they ride on horseback.

None of their dwelling places are permanent. They are always near some river or lake, and continue whilst there are game, fish, fruits, and pasturage for the cattle. On experiencing any want, in a moment the town disappears, and the plains, previously covered with thousands of animals, are deserted. The marches of these caravans are grand and interesting. On arriving at their destined place, another town rises almost in a moment, and the surrounding campos, where scarcely a few deer pastured, are on a sudden covered with numerous horses, oxen, and flocks of sheep.

They manufacture an inebriating drink with honey and water, called chicha; and to the rum of the Portuguese they give the name of nodak.

Some express themselves tolerably in the Portuguese language, and have made transitions to the towns or establishments of the province, since they received the protection and subjected themselves to the Faithful Crown, in virtue of which, the following patent, previously alluded to, was granted to them.

“Joam d’Albuquerque de Mello Pereyra e Caceres, of his Majesty’s council, chevalier of the order of St. John of Malta, governor and captain-general of the capitanias of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba, &c. maketh known to all those to whom this my letter patent may come, that the nation of Indian Guaycurus, or Cavalleiros, having solemnly contracted perpetual peace and friendship with the Portuguese, for a term judicially done, in which the two chiefs, Joam Queyma de Albuquerque and Paulo Joaquim Joze Ferreyra, in the name of their nation, subject themselves and promise a strict obedience to the laws of his Majesty, in order to be from this day hence forward recognised as vassals of the same sovereign; I command and order all magistrates of justice and war, commandants, and all persons of the dominions of his Faithful Majesty, to recognise, treat with, and aid them, with all the demonstrations of friends. And, for the confirmation of the above, I have ordered the present Letter Patent to be passed to them, with my signature, and sealed with the signet of my arms, in this capital of Villa Bella, on the 30th July, 1791.”

The following words will partly show the difference between the Guaycuru language and the general lingua.

GEN. LINGUA. GUAYCURU.

Sun Araci A’liga

Moon Jaci Pannay (used by the men only)

Epannay (women)

White Tinga Lapaca

Black Una Nabidre

Great Guassu Elodo

Brother Enduva Nixo

Salt Juki Juki

Ostrich Ema Apacanigo

Guaripe

Crocodile Jacare Nioxe

Horse Cavaru Apolicano

Pig Taycu Nigda

Dog Jaguara Niknik

Wolf Guara Tiglicon

Cat Bracaya Perixene

Man Apuaba Hulegre

Demon, or Evil Spirit Anhanga Nanigogigo

Diviner Page Unigenito

The territory through which the Igatimy, Escopil, and Miammaya flow is inhabited by the Cahans, (people of the wood,) so denominated from their always living within the precincts of woods, in consequence of their dread of the Guaycurus, who alone proceed along the plains and open country, to facilitate the march of their horses.

The Cabans live in aldeias: not more than thirty years ago they had fifteen of those villages. They paint themselves with the dye of the urucu, perforate the under lip, and insert a cylinder of resin, transparent as crystal, secured by a small wooden pin at the upper extremity. The bow and arrow are their arms, made with instruments of flint and the sharpened teeth of the boar. They cultivate the cotton tree, the wool of which they spin and weave by a method peculiar to themselves. Their vesture consists of a sort of ponche, in the form of a sack, made of a piece of cotton cloth of good width, doubled and sewed in part at the corners, with an opening to introduce the head and neck through, also two apertures for the arms, and terminating in two aprons, with a cord round the waist. In the morning they sing hymns to the Creator, accompanied with extravagant movements; one of them, with the hands clasped and the body bent, making a circular movement around the others for a considerable time. Amongst them are men who are, or pretend to be, at the same time, surgeons, doctors, diviners, and priests, and, like the latter, carry in their hands a cross, which custom they have unquestionably derived from the first Jesuitical missionaries who penetrated into the country, and who used a bordāo, or staff, (perhaps also as an instrument of defence,) in the shape of a cross. In their district there are woods of wild orange trees, and prodigious quantities of bees, which do not produce good honey, but the wax is better than that of the northern provinces.

In the middle of the last century, when the plenipotentiaries of Spain and Portugal established a boundary-mark upon the Jauru, there lived in the vicinity of the Fecho dos Morros, a nation of Indians, called Bayas, of which, at the present day, there is no intelligence.

The povoaçoes in this district are the fazenda of Camapuan, with a hermitage, situated in 19° 36′ south latitude, and Miranda, a prezidio, founded in 1797, about five hundred yards from the right margin of the river Aranhahy, near a serra, in a land abounding with game. Upon the track to Camapuan there is a large lake.

With the foundation of Nova Coimbra the Spaniards commenced in this province the towns of Villa Real, near the tropic, St. Carlos, on the margin of the river Appa, and St. Joze, which was demolished by the Portuguese about twenty years ago.

Near the heads of the Aranhahy there yet appears some vestiges of the before-mentioned city of Xerez.

District of Matto Grosso.

This district, which is two hundred and forty miles from north to south, and two hundred and seventy from east to west on the northern part, is bounded on the south by the Spanish possessions, on the east by the Paraguay, on the north by the district of Juruenna, and on the west by the Guapore. It extends between 13° and 16° 20′ of southern latitude. The face of the country is undulated with serras of no great elevation, which, however, attract the sight at a great distance, with plains more or less extensive, woods, and intermixtures of charnecas, (barren tracts,) and is watered by a great number of rivers, tributary to the two largest of South America.

The most considerable mountains are on the northern part, and are branches of the serra of Paricis.

Mineralogy.—Gold, diamonds, crystals, granite, minerals of iron, potters’ earth, calcareous stone.

Phytology.—The opuncia is common in various situations; in others the ipecacuanha; indigo grows spontaneously in humid lands; jalap is well known; also the trees of cupahiba, almecega, or gum-mastich, manna, and dragons’ blood. There is a diversity of excellent timber for building, and abundance of oranges, goyabas, aracas, mangabas, pine-apples, water-melons, and bananas, generally of good quality. The objects of cultivation are Indian corn, mandioca, rice, legumes, tobacco, cotton, and the sugar cane, as far as it is required for the consumption of the population.

European merchandise and some Asiatic productions arrive here at an exorbitant price, and are only procured in exchange for gold.

Zoology.—All the species of wild quadrupeds which are encountered in the maritime provinces are here common; of domestic animals cattle only are numerous; sheep are rare; and, hitherto, there are no breeders of mules. Here are common the emu ostrich, sereima, mutun, jacu, tucano, parrot, partridge, heron, guiraponga, and jaburu.

Industry is very limited; and the weaving of coarse cottons, for labourers, and curing of hides, which exceed the demand, are its principal objects up to this period.

Rivers.—The Guapore originates nearly one hundred miles to the north-east of Villa Bella, and, after eighty miles of southern course, and nearly the same distance of western, curves towards the north-west, and afterwards to the west-north-west. Two miles above the said town it receives by the left the Alegre, which coming from the east, and rising in the serra of Aguapehy, is joined on the left by the Barbados, ten miles from its mouth. Ten miles below the capital the Guapore is united on the right by the river Sarere, which has its source thirty miles to the west of it; and fifty miles lower, on the same side, by the Galera, which forms itself to the north-west of the Sarere. Twenty-four miles further the important river Verde is incorporated with it; and upwards of one hundred miles in advance, the river Paragau; after two hundred more, the Baurus or Baure; and twelve or fifteen further, the Tunama; all four by the left margin, after having watered a great portion of the province of the Moghos, or Moxos. Upwards of fifty miles below the mouth of the last river, it is joined also on the left side by the voluminous river Ubay, or Ubahy, which the Spaniards formerly denominated the Chiquitos, as it traversed the lands of the Indians so called, and subsequently the Magdalena, named St. Miguel, after they had founded in its vicinity the parishes of those names. To the river Guapore the people of Matto Grosso give the name of Mamore, as far as its junction with the large one of that name, which they call Madeira and the Spaniards Mamore. This confluence is one hundred and ten miles lower down, and one hundred and fifty by water.

The Spaniards commonly give to the Guapore the name of Itenez, which they continue to it till its confluence with the real Mamore, where both lose their names, and form the majestic Madeira, which flows northward till it incorporates with the mighty Amazons. The margins of the Guapore, or Itenez, are principally swampy, and, with the rivers which run into it, uncongenial to European constitutions. The rivers which join it by the right margin, the largest not exceeding one hundred miles in course, issue from the western side of a continuation of the serra of Paricis, which prolongs itself with the same river. The Cabixy, Piolho, Corumbyara, Mequen, St. Simam, and Cautario, follow the aforesaid Galera.

There are five falls in the Guapore, from the mouth of the Ubahy to the confluence where its name is lost. Guajuru-mirim, Guajuru-grande, Bannaneira, Paugrande, and Lages, descending, are the names by which they are distinguished.

The Jauru, which forms itself in the campos of the Paricis, thirty miles east of the Guapore, after flowing a long way southward, gathers, by the right bank, the Bahia and the Aguapehy, inclines to the east-south-east, and unites itself with the Paraguay, in the latitude of 16° 24′. It is navigable for a great distance, and runs principally through a flat country covered with woods. At a short distance from its margin, there is a nitrous lake, which furnishes a great quantity of salt.

At the confluence of the Jauru, which is one hundred and seventy miles south-east of Villa Bella, a magnificent stone of European marble was erected in 1754, as a boundary mark between the Spaniards and Portuguese; the arms of each power being turned towards their respective possessions. This pillar is regarded by the Indians with admiration. The following is the inscription upon it.

Sub Joanne Quinto Lusitanorum Rege Fidelissimo Sub Ferdinando Sexto Hispaniæ Rege Catholico Justitia et Pax osculatæ sunt Ex Pactis Finium Regundorum Conventis. Madriti Idib. Januar. M.DCC.L.

The river Sepetiva, or Sipotuba, which rises fifty miles to the north-east of the Jauru, runs far along the serra of Tapirapuan, and unites itself with the Paraguay, after having gathered by the right the small rivers Juva and Jaraubahiba.

The river Cabacal, much inferior to the preceding, falls into the Paraguay, a few leagues below the Sipotuba.

The Preto, which is the first considerable river that swells the waters of the Paraguay, is formed by the St. Anna, and St. Francisco Xavier, which emanate from the eastern brows of the Tapirapuan Serra, and join their copious streams at the bottom of a mount, each presenting here the interesting spectacle of a large cataract. These barriers prevent the advance of various species of fish, large shoals of which are observed in the water at their base.

The Barbados, which is extensive, issues also from the serra Tapirapuan, and enters the Paraguay, a considerable way below the Preto.

The Pary, which took the name of a nation now extinct, originates in the serra of Tapirapuan, and falls into the Paraguay, between the Barbados and Sipotuba.

All the rivers of this comarca are of pure, fresh, and crystalline water.

Villa Bella, the capital of this rich and extended province, is already in a state of mediocrity, abounding with meat and fish, and is situated in a champaign country, near the margin of the Guapore. It is ornamented with a parochial church, Santissima Trinidade, a hermitage of Nossa Senhora of Carmo, another of St. Antonio, and a permutation, or smelting house. It is the residence of the governor, and this vast and very partially cultivated province is now under the jurisdiction of Senhor Majesse. It is also the residence of the ouvidor, who is likewise crown judge. The senate is presided by a Juiz de Fora, who is also procurator of the crown, inspector of the smelting house, and deputy of the juntas of the administration of the treasury and of justice. All the houses are constructed of earth, and white-washed. It is the only parish of the comarca, and in its wide district are the chapels of St. Anna, of St. Francisco Xavier, of the Lady of Pilar, of St. Vicente Ferreyra, and of Oiro Fino.

Of this comarca, is the arraial Diamantino, advantageously situated at the angle of the confluence of the river of the same name, with the Oiro, ten miles above its entrance into the Paraguay. It has a hermitage of the Lady of Conceiçao, filial of the mother church of Cuiaba, from which it is distant one hundred miles to the north-west. The gold and diamonds in its environs were the cause of its origin a few years ago. Its inhabitants are miners, breeders of cattle, and agriculturists.

About ten miles distant is the serra of Mangabeira, partly occupied by various farmers of Indian corn, mandioca, and legumes.

The northern portion of this comarca is yet possessed by various aboriginal nations, such as the Cabyxys, the Cautaros, (which give their names to two confluents of the Guapore,) the Ababas, the Lambys, and the Urucurunys, with others approximating to the serra Paricis, which is an elevated range, with extensive sandy campos, or plains, upon its widely spreading summit.

District of Cuiaba.

This district, which takes the name of the river that traverses it from north to south, is confined on the north by the district of Arinos, on the west by that of Matto Grosso, on the east by that of Bororonia, from which it is separated by the river St. Lourenço, which also limits it on the south, where it terminates in an angle formed by the confluence of the said river and the Paraguay. It comprises three hundred and fifty miles from north to south, and little less than two hundred and fifty at its utmost width from east to west. It has an agreeable aspect, delightfully varied with spacious plains, superb woods, extensive charnecas, and gently undulating eminences, often rising to the grandeur of mountain scenery. The greater portion is fertilized by numerous rivers. The prevailing thunder showers of the winter season commence in September and terminate in April.

Mineralogy.—The same minerals are met with here which are found in the district of Matto Grosso.

Phytology.—There are a diversity of trees of excellent timber. Amongst other medicinal plants, is one called espigelia, the herva de cobra, (serpent herb) the jarrinha, and various qualities of the real quina, or Jesuits’ bark.

Amongst other fruits of the wood, the quince is well known, the jabuticaba, the ambuzo, the araticumo, the guabiraba, and the goyaba.

Cotton, sugar, Indian corn, mandioca, rice, and legumes, are objects of agriculture proportioned to the population.

From no part of this district can the superfluity that is produced be exported with advantage, in consequence of its present tedious and intricate communication with the maritime provinces.

Zoology.—Large herds of cattle are bred, as well as horses, some mules, hogs, sheep, and a very few goats, which hitherto are deemed useless.

Rivers.—The most celebrated is the Paraguay, which rises in a plain upon the serra of Pary, otherwise Lage, (a portion of the extensive Paricis,) at the situation of the Sete Lagoas, so called from an assemblage of seven lakes, generally small, a short space intervening between them, and communicating by narrow outlets. A little below the last, this river flows through a swampy country in a northerly direction for a short space, when it winds round by the west and takes a southern course. The first stream which it receives is the Diamantino, (Diamond River,) which comes from a distant source, and brings with it the Corrego Rico, (Rich Channel,) otherwise Rio do Oiro, (Gold River.) The first large river which joins it is the Jauru. Along its eastern margin, and in nearly the whole of this great extent, is a range of elevated lands, which continue twenty-five miles beyond this confluence, and terminate at the point called Escalvada, where both margins begin to be flat, and interspersed with lakes. Seventy miles below the Escalvada point, the western margin begins to be bordered by a serra of the like number of miles in length, but narrow, and broken in various parts to admit of the ingress of the waters of three lakes lying behind it, the outlets of which, thus formed, appear like large rivers, when the Paraguay at its overflowings makes them a part of its expanded channel. The northern portion of this serra is called Insua: the southern, Chaynez; and the central, Doirados. The names of the lakes are Oberaba, Gahiba, and Mandiore. The first on the north is ten miles in diameter, and its outlet contiguous to the extremity of the serra Insua, behind which it communicates with the Gahiba lake, which is a little larger and ten miles distant to the south, with its outlet, the same number of miles below the first, dividing the serra of Insua from that of Doirados.

The Mandiore lake is fifteen miles in extent, and has more than one channel to the Paraguay, the northernmost of which separates the serra of Doirados from that of Chaynez, and is twenty miles south of Gahiba, in front of which the river St. Lourenço discharges its abundant waters, in the latitude of 18° 45´.

The serra of Chaynez, inhabited at times by the Guanan Indians, is followed by that of Albuquerque, which is a square mass of an elevated range from thirty-five to forty miles. On its southern side is situated the prezidio from which its name is derived. In front of this serra is the principal embouchure of the Tocoary in 19° 15´.

Eighteen miles further to the south are the mouths of the Mondego. The Paraguay flows in these parts divided into two channels, formed by a narrow island seventy miles long; the eastern channel is denominated Paraguay Mirim.

Thirty-five miles to the south of the Mondego are two high mounts, one in front of the other, upon the margins of the Paraguay. Upon the southern skirt of the western mount is situated the before-mentioned fort of Nova Coimbra.

Thirty-five miles below Coimbra, on the same margin, is the mouth of the outlet from Bahia Negra, (Black Bay,) which is twenty miles inland, and comprises eighteen in length from north to south, being the receptacle of the lakes, and of the aqueous effusions of the plains lying to the west and south of the Albuquerque mountains. Sixty miles further the Paraguay receives on the eastern bank the Queyma, which is said to be the Terrery of the first certanistas.

Eight miles lower, in the latitude of 21°, upon the western margin, is the morro which the ancient Paulistas called the Mount of Miguel Joze, upon whose skirt is situated Fort Bourbon. Twenty-five miles by water, to the south of the mount of Miguel Joze, in the latitude 21° 20´, a chain of small mountains prolong themselves with the Paraguay, where its waters are contracted into a narrower space, flowing rapidly in two channels, separated by a rocky island of considerable length. In this situation, denominated the Fecho dos Morros, (the Barricado of Rocks,) and which is the limit between the High and Low Paraguay, terminate the laky and swampy margins of this majestic river, which commence, as has been previously noticed, at Escalvada Point, near three hundred and fifty miles to the north. The width of the river within this space, during the inundations, which begin in April and continue till September, is from seventy to one hundred and fifty miles, and forms an internal sea, which the ancient Vincentistas denominated the Sea or Lake Xarays, from a nation so called, now not existing, or, at least, not known by such an appellation. At the time of these awful floods, a great part of the beds of the rivers of St. Lourenço, Tocoary, Mondego, and others on the eastern side, as well as the aforesaid lakes on the western, and the adjacent woods, become portions of this periodical Caspian, where the elevated lands assume the appearance of islands, inhabited by an accumulation of birds and wild animals.

At the said Fecho, both margins of the Paraguay begin to acquire a solid terra firma, particularly the eastern. By this bank are discharged the small Tipoty, the Correntes, the Rio Branco, (which appears to be the said Correntes,) the Appa, (which is thought to be the Pirahy of the ancient Paulistas,) the Guidava, the Ippanne Guassu, the Ippanne Mirim, and the Chichuhi, where the rugged margin called Huguruguita commences, and is prolonged for the space of thirty-five miles to the mouth of the small Suobogo, where begins the bank or coast of Pataque, of short extent, terminating at the embouchure of the Tabixu, which, as well as the preceding, enters the Paraguay on the left.

In the latitude of 25° 22´ is situated the city of Assumption; and eighteen miles to the south of it, the first arm of the large river Pilco Mayo is discovered, which originates in the cordillera of the Andes, in the district of Potoze, whither it affords navigation. Forty miles lower down is the mouth of the second arm, and fifteen further, the most southern arm. The course of the Pilco Mayo is not much less than seven hundred miles.

On the eastern margin, the Piraju, the Cannabe, and the Tibicoary enter the Paraguay.

In the latitude of 26° 50´, the Rio Verde, or Parsa, otherwise Colorado, discharges itself, after a course of more than seven hundred miles from the vicinity of the Andes.

Forty miles further to the south, the grand confluence of the Paranna, little inferior to the Paraguay, augments the wonder which is excited by so vast a mass of water. About one hundred miles lower is the northern branch of the river Salado; and upwards of one hundred and seventy miles further the southern, better known by the name of Xalupoi. On the southern angle of this confluence is situated the city of Santa Fe, in the latitude of 31° 35′. A little further it receives also by the right bank, the Terceiro, or Carcapal, which exceeds three hundred and fifty miles in its course.

The Paraguay, which from the parallel of 20° inclines a little to the south-south-west, here changes its direction to the east-south-east for the space of one hundred and forty miles, gathering by both margins various rivers, none of them considerable, to the latitude of 34°, where it is united on the left by the river Uruguay, its last important tributary.

This river, which the Spaniards generally call Rio da Plata, after it receives the Pilco Mayo, becomes many leagues in width, and contains a great number of islands, which vary greatly in extent, principally of a flat aspect, and denominated the Parannas. The left margin, from the last confluence, runs to the east as far as Cape St. Mary, and this part of it, at least, is universally known as the river Plate, the right margin of which takes a south-east direction, from the same longitude, for more than one hundred miles to the point of Carretas, where its embouchure is upwards of fifty miles in width.

The Paraguay has no more falls after it receives the Sipotuba, and is generally of great depth.

The river Cuiaba has its origin in the same latitude as the Paraguay. The first current which unites itself with it by the western margin is the Cuiaba Mirim, and by the eastern the Casca; these are followed by many others of a smaller class, which render it navigable for more than seventy miles above the capital, although with much labour, in consequence of many falls, which do not extend below Villa Real, where it begins to be wide and rapid in its current, flowing almost generally through a champaign country, which is submerged during the periodical inundations. Its waters are excellent, well stored with fish, and in the latitude of 17° 20′ it falls into the St. Lourenço.

Whilst the floods continue it is customary to navigate over the plains, where the current is less rapid, traversing prodigious plantations of rice, annually reproduced by nature, without any human assistance, or sustaining any damage from the waters, because it grows as the waters increase, always having more than a yard above water, and affording supplies to the passing canoes, into which the ears are bent, and then shook with a pole.

The piranna fish, commonly called tezoira, (scissors,) and sometimes lanceta, (lancet,) and the arraya, are equally terrible here; the first in consequence of its formidable teeth, the other from a sting which it has in the tail.

From the capital downwards, the most notable streams which fall into the Cuiaba, are the Tutez on the right; the large and small Caranda on the left.

Villa Real de Cuiaba, capital of the comarca, considerable, populous, flourishing, and abounding with meat, fish, and fruits, contains a church of Senhor Bom Jesus, three chapels dedicated, two also to the Redeemer, with the titles of Bom Despacho and Passos, and one to Nossa Senhora of Rozario, and is the residence of a prelate, bishop in partibus, also of a Juiz de Fora, and royal professors of philosophy and Latin. It is situated near a small river, one mile distant from the eastern bank of the river from which it derives its name. All the edifices are of taipa, similar to those of St. Paulo, and the streets are mostly paved.

The dealers of Cuiaba proceed to barter their bars of precious metal at Bahia, by the road of Goyaz, or at the metropolis, by the same track, or by Camapuan; but their trade might more conveniently be carried on by the river Tapajos, and others of Gram Para, to its capital. Various ways, in fact, remain to be opened to the transit of the productions of these fertile districts; two to Para,—one by the river Xingu, the other by the Mortes and the Araguaya; the same number to St. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,—the first by the rivers St. Lourenço, Piquiry, Sucuriu, and Tiete,—the second always by land, traversing the districts of Bororonia and Cayaponia, crossing the Paranna between the confluence of the Parannahiba and the cataract of Urubupunga. The latter, it is credibly affirmed, would be near three hundred miles shorter than the route actually frequented by Villaboa.

At Cuiaba, the orange tree is exceedingly abundant, and fructifies with excellence the whole year. The water-melon, melon, and pine-apple, are here very good. The principal productions are mandioca, Indian com, feijao, some cotton, and the sugar cane, the juice of which is principally distilled into spirit.

Thirty-five miles to the east of Cuiaba is the small arraial and parish of St. Anna, situated on a plain, upon the serra St. Jeronimo. Every way that it is approached the ascent is steep and of considerable length. Its inhabitants rear cattle, cultivate mandioca, Indian corn, legumes, the sugar cane, and some cotton, which is occasionally injured by the cold, here sensibly experienced in the nights of July. The soil has been found well adapted to the growth of wheat, but want of industry precludes its cultivation.

Fifty miles to the south-west of Cuiaba is the small arraial of St. Pedro d’el Rey, formerly Poconna, situated upon the verge of a vast lake, with a hermitage, one league distant from the extensive swamp of Pirannema, which becomes dry in the hot season, and affords pasturage for cattle. The houses are of taipa, or adobe, (a species of large brick dried in the sun,) and are white-washed. The soil in its environs is green. The people who inhabit it, and form a julgado, or village, are miners, are supplied with water from cacimbas, or pits, for want of fountains, cultivate the common necessaries of life, and breed cattle. They also make salt, by the filtering of water through a portion of earth put into bangues, which are made of hides, and subsequently dried by a strong heat.

Villa Maria, situated upon the eastern bank of the Paraguay, twenty-five miles from the confluence of the Jauru, has a church of St. Luiz; and is abundantly supplied with meat and fish. The situation of this town upon the noble Paraguay, and other circumstances, promise it a future augmentation and splendour, which will perhaps not be equalled by any other internal town of South America. Its inhabitants, at present consisting principally of Indians of various nations, cultivate Indian corn, mandioca, legumes, rice, cotton, and breed cattle. There is already one engenho, or sugar-work. The lights universally used are made of the oil of mamona, and of the piquira, a species of fish exceedingly numerous, and caught with great facility. The fish called paraputanga and pacu, are esteemed the best of the Paraguay and of its first confluents.

In front of this town is situated the royal fazenda of Cahyssara, where numerous droves of cattle and horses are bred, and where a great many tigers have been destroyed.

The hermitages of Nossa Senhora of Livramento, upon the road of Matto-Grosso, of Nossa Senhora of Prazeres, near the heads of the Cuiaba, of St. Antonio, below the capital, near the same river, and others, are the places of worship of the people who inhabit those districts. Near to the port of the capital, on the eastern bank of the Cuiaba, is a hermitage of St. Gonçalo d’Amarante.

Near the left margin of the Jatuba, an arm of the St. Lourenço, upon the Goyaz road, is the aldeia of Boavista, so called from its fine situation upon a height.

There still exist various hordes of Indians, (all said to be of the Bororo nation,) dispersed within the limits of this comarca and the preceding one. One is designated Coroados, the other Barbados, (bearded,) so called from feigning mustachios or beards with a certain dye.

Of the Indian nations here found by the conquerors, the only one worthy of remembrance was the Paricis, who were well formed, affable, and much pleased with the Christians. From their alliances with the whites and Africans are descended a great part of the Mamalucos and Curibocas, who constitute the gross of the population. They are usually of good morals, and much respected.

District of Bororonia.

This comarca, which borrows its name from the Bororo Indians, who yet have dominion over the principal part of it, is bounded on the north by the district of Tapiraquia, on the west by that of Cuiaba, on the south by Camapuania, and on the east by the province of Goyaz, from which it is divided by the river Araguaya. It is upwards of four hundred miles in length from north to south, and of proportionate width, although very irregular.

The Bororos, the Guatos, and the Baccahiris are its actual possessors. The Bororos are the most numerous, although greatly diminished in comparison with what they were at the commencement of the conquest; they are divided into various tribes, under different appellations. The Guatos, who possess the southern part, and are friendly to the Portuguese, are extraordinary swimmers, fish with the arrow, and have a great number of canoes, in which they advance to the Portuguese establishments. The bow, arrow, and a large lance are their arms; a wide cinta, or girdle, manufactured from the fibres of the tucum palm, is the common vesture of both sexes. The skin of the ounce generally constitutes their bed, and they are a people exceedingly indolent. Honey and game form a main part of their subsistence. The Baccahiris, who occupy the lands in the vicinity of the river Das Mortes, wage a continued warfare against all kinds of quadrupeds and birds, their principal aliment. Up to the present time this horde has never acted with hostility towards the Christians. They are said to be of a white complexion and docile, from which they are supposed to be a tribe of Paricis.

Rivers and Lakes.—The river St. Lourenço, which originates in the latitude of about 15°, is already considerable when it traverses the road of Goyaz; afterwards, it gathers by the left the Parannahiba, which brings with it the Sucuri, the sources of which are also a great distance to the north of the said road. A little below this confluence, where it becomes large, there is a fall, which is the last, and from hence it continues to the south-west, through a flat country, augmenting greatly until its incorporation by two mouths with the Paraguay, which is not superior to it. The eastern embouchure is distinguished by the name of Rio Chaynez.

Forty miles above the mouth of the Cuiaba the St. Lourenço is joined by the Piquiri, which is larger, has its heads near the boundary of Cayaponia, not far from those of the Sucuriu, and receives on the right the Piaughuhi, which originates in the same parts; on the left, the Itaquira, which has its source in the proximity of that of the Jauri-Guassu, a branch of the Tocoary, already mentioned.

A few years only have elapsed since an explorer navigated up the Piquiri seven days, and did not encounter a cataract. Ancient certanistas have asserted that the navigation from Porto Feliz to Cuiaba may be accomplished by the Sucuriu and Piquiri. It is, however, certain that the voyage from the mouth of the Tiete to the Cuiaba is more than one-third shorter than by that of Camapuan.

The Rio das Mortes, (River of the Dead,) which took this name in consequence of many people of the first bandeira dying upon its margins from fevers, has its numerous heads to the south of the Cuiaba road. It runs to the north-east and discharges its considerable volume into the western arm of the Araguaya, where it forms the island of St. Anna. It affords extensive navigation into the interior of the province. The Roncador and the great and small Sangradores are the most remote origins of this river. The first is the most western, and flows a short distance from an arm of the aforesaid Sucuriu. Between the two Sangradores there is a spacious lake, called Logoa Grande.

The Rio do Peixe, (River of Fish,) formed by the Raizama and Tacoaral, which also cross the Cuiaba road, there insignificant, flows northwards, and ultimately enters the Rio das Mortes.

Twenty-five miles from the Araguaya, near a small stream and the said road, is situated the aldeia of Insua, with a register.

There existed upon the left margin of the Rio das Mortes, an aldeia, named Amaro Leite after its founder, which disappeared when the road was carried in a more direct line further to the south.

District of Juruenna.

This comarca is bounded on the north by Mundrucania, on the west by the rivers Guapore and Madeira, on the south by the comarca of Matto Grosso, and on the east by the river which affords its name, comprising nearly four hundred miles from north to south, and much more from east to west. Between the Pederneiras and Araras falls, in the latitude of 9° 45′, where the river Madeira curves to the west, there is a point on its eastern margin, in front of the mouth of the river Abuna, from which it takes the name, and is the most western land of the Brazil.

This comarca is very little known by the Portuguese, and is in the power of various barbarous nations. The Pammas, who possess a considerable portion upon the Madeira, are of a white complexion. The Tamares are masters of the adjacencies of the river Juyna, the first notable branch of those which enlarge the Juruenna by the western bank. The Paccahas live to the north of the latter. The Sarummas farther to the north, along the margins of the said Juruenna. And, lower down, the Uhaihas.

The Juruenna, which is said to take the name of a nation, has its origin a little to the north of the Jauru. Its course is directed to the north, and it incorporates by two mouths with the Arinos, between the parallel of 9° and 10°. Its large volume of water, more considerable than the river which receives it, shows that it is joined by numerous other streams in its course. Hitherto, it has not been navigated by Christians; those who have examined it at the mouths state, that its waters are particularly clear, and that various islands are situated in that portion of its bed within view. It is discharged between two serrotes, or hills, of trifling elevation. The island separating its two mouths is of medium size and moderate altitude.

The Jamari, and the Giparanna, are the largest rivers flowing from this comarca into the Madeira. The first rises on the northern skirts of the serra Paricis, in the territory of the Guaritere Indians, where it is called the Candeas, waters the lands of the Camarares, who afford their name to one of its principal arms, and discharges fifty miles below the fall of St. Antonio. It is said to have a cataract two days’ voyage above its mouth, and to flow through auriferous lands.

The Giparanna, also called Machado, has its source to the east of the Jamari, also in the skirt of a branch of the same serra, and soon begins to be enlarged by small streams, that irrigate the territories of savage tribes, and falls into the Madeira, nearly thirty miles below the preceding. In its vicinity there is sarsaparilla, and the cocoa tree, from which chocolate is made. Eight miles below the mouth of the Jamari is an outlet of the lake Tucunare, little removed from the margin of the Madeira. The river Soteiro and the Pacanova descend from the southern side of the said serra Paricis, and fall into the Guapore, the Soteiro forty miles below the Ubahi, and the Pacanova seventy miles further.