Geographical Description of the Capitania of Matto Grosso[71].

RESPECTING this extensive portion of Brazil, I had an opportunity of gaining considerable information, being intimately acquainted with the commanding officer of the military force stationed there, Colonel Martines, an engineer of extraordinary merit, who had made four journeys to Matto Grosso, and had resided there some years. He was kind enough to give me a description of his route from S. Paulo to the capital of that province, and promised me a chart of the navigable rivers and roads from thence to ParÁ, which had been formed by officers of his party, together with documents in illustration of it. But he being hastily called away on a particular service, was prevented from executing his promise, and I could only profit by the verbal description which he repeatedly gave me. This description, as proceeding from an officer of such undoubted veracity, it was my intention to give to the public; but, after my return to England, I was agreeably surprised to find a MS. nearly corresponding with it, in the hands of that eminent geographer, Mr. Arrowsmith, who has liberally permitted me to make use of it. To his excellent map, compiled according to the latest MS. charts communicated from Brazil, I beg leave to refer the reader for an accurate delineation of the particular localities here detailed.

This extensive capitania is separated from the neighbouring territory belonging to Spain by the intervening channels of the rivers Paraguay, Madeira, MamorÉ, and GuaporÉ, which form a broad and natural trench around it of five hundred leagues in circuit, by means of which, and by upwards of thirty rivers that empty themselves into it, a communication is opened through many and distant points with the interior of Brazil. This capitania, from its geographical position, has ever been considered as the grand outwork of Brazil, not only because it covers the interior divisions of this vast portion of the new continent, which is the cradle of its greatest rivers, branching in innumerable channels, and enriched with great and untouched treasures; but also because, by this extensive channel, the Portuguese are enabled to penetrate to the establishments of Spain in Peru.

The River Araguaya, or Grande.

The eastern boundary of the capitania of Matto Grosso, separating it from that of Goyaz, is the river Grande, two hundred leagues from Villa Bella. This river, known in the state of ParÁ, by the name of Araguaya only, which is conferred on it by the numerous nations inhabiting its banks, has its remotest source in lat. 19°, and running north and south, intersected at various points by the meridian of 52° 30', flows in lat. 6° into the Tocantines, wherein it loses its name; and both, thus united in one ample stream, continue their course for three hundred and seventy leagues, and fall into the southern estuary of the mighty river Amazons in lat 1° 40' between the two celebrated bays of Marapata and Limseiro, opposite to the great island of Joannes, or Murajo, and twenty leagues west of the city of ParÁ. The river das Mortes, which rises far to the west of the Rio Grande, and forms its highest western branch, running for a considerable space to the east, and afterwards to the north, with an entire course of 150 leagues, till it enters the Araguaya in lat. 12°, is entirely within the capitania of Matto Grosso.

The river Araguaya is peopled by many tribes of warlike savages; it abounds in all the productions peculiar to the state of ParÁ, and affords an uninterrupted navigation from the city of that name, and by the river, with the centre of Brazil and the capitania of Matto Grosso. The same is practicable by the river das Mortes, and other western branches which enter the Rio Grande below. These branches, no doubt, contain unexplored mines; for there is no physical reason why gold should be found in the rivers that enter the Araguaya on the eastern side, (where, besides Villa Boa, are situated several villages belonging to the capitania of Goyaz), and not likewise in the branches on the opposite side. It is positively known that the river das Mortes is auriferous, and hence it is fair to conclude that the smaller streams which flow into it are much more so, for the nearer the source the greater is the quantity of gold found. The mines of one of its western branches were abandoned, not from the absence or scarcity of the precious metal, but because, being remote from the road, and in the midst of a swamp peopled by savages, the few settlers could not get conveniently supplied with arms, implements, and other articles.

In some of these mines gold above twenty-three carats has been found, but the greater part is only of seventeen, and of a green color, being combined with a large portion of silver.

The River Chingu,

the clearest, and one of the largest and most copious branches of the Amazons, which it enters on the south side, after a course of three hundred leagues, in lat. 1° 42', and long. 53°, seventy leagues west of the city of ParÁ, in a direct line, but one hundred of navigation, is confined in a great part of its course to the capitania of Matto Grosso.

Its remote sources supply, not only the lands in which rise also the branches and rivers forming to the east and north the upper part of the river Cuiaba, but also that large space north of the river das Mortes, intersected by the great road from Goyaz, extending as far as the river Porrudos. There is a tradition among the guides of the SutÃos[72] of PirÁ and the Indians established on the banks of the Chingu, that, after mounting the first large falls of this river, much gold was found in it, of which the Jesuits, those great explorers, obtained a large quantity. It is probable that the now unknown Minas dos Martirios, famous as the first discovery made by Bart^o. Bueno, and of which I have heard repeated mention in S. Paulo, exist only on some of the many branches that form the river Chingu. For this enterprising man, after having discovered those mines, returned to S. Paulo in order to engage negroes, and provide implements for extracting those treasures, which to this day continue to elude the searches of others, retraced his course; but passing by the mines of Cuiaba, which had been just discovered and were found wonderfully productive, he was there deserted by the greatest part of his followers. Fearing that he should lose the rest also, he turned eastward, and, in his anxiety to avoid the mines of Cuiaba, got still farther from those of dos Martirios, until he lost himself in the immense wastes, wherein he wandered many months, and at length accidentally found the mines of Goyaz, which his father had before seen. These, like all the rest, proved very productive at the beginning.

This rich and new discovery soon diverted the attention of adventurers from the preceding; and the route to the Minas dos Martirios, together with their positive situation, have long been lost in a vague tradition of their existence. As the place was explored without the assistance of a compass, or any of the means necessary for defining its geographical position, there could not but prevail much doubt and uncertainty respecting it. Now there is no such discovery on the river Tocantines, which comprehends the whole capitania of Goyaz: the first account places it near a river, which indeed runs into the Amazons, like the Tocantines, but which was sought for passing near the upper branches, and west of the river Cuiaba, a situation in which the river Chingu alone is found; other explorers place it on the Araguaya, which renders it useless to look there, for it is more than two hundred leagues north-west of the place sought. This is substantiated by a fact of later date, which is as follows:—A grandson of Bart^o. Bueno, under the direction of an ancient journal of this discovery, describing the route to it, descended by the river das Mortes, and entered some extensive plains on its western bank, on which he travelled westward for some days, when he arrived at a plain covered with white Mangaba trees, which were designated in the journal. From this place they had a sight of some detached high mountains between the north and west, three of which were of the figure specified, and indicated the situation of the Minas dos Martirios. An unexpected attack of the Indians, in which the chief and many others of the adventurers were killed, dispersed the party, and frustrated the object at the moment when it appeared to be already attained.

The river abounds in various products: cocoa is in plenty; there are some spices, and various indigenous fruits.

The River Tapajos

is the third which derives its copious sources, flowing through numerous large branches, from the capitania of Matto Grosso. It runs north between the Madeira and the Chingu for three hundred leagues, flowing into the Amazons in lat. 2° 24' 50, and long. 55°, which is the geographical position of the town of Santarem, situated at its mouth one hundred and eighteen leagues from the city of ParÁ, and one hundred and sixty-two by the shortest navigation. The river Tapajos rises in the plains of the Parexis, so called from an Indian nation which inhabits them. These plains occupy a vast space, not level, but formed by undulating heaps of sand and light earth, resembling large waves. The spectator who is in the midst of them ever sees before him a distant and extended mount; he advances towards it by a gentle and long declivity, traverses the plain, and advances by an ascent equally gentle until he gains imperceptibly the heights he saw; another eminence then presents itself, and he proceeds with the same recurring circumstances. The soil of these wide plains is sandy, and so light that loaded beasts in passing sink into it so much as to impede their progress. The pasturage is poor, consisting of a grass composed of wiry stalks a foot high, and small rough lancet-shaped leaves; the animals in grazing pluck them up with the roots covered with sand; on this account the passage by land is difficult and tedious; though, on finding any of the streams, which abound in these plains, there is grass and other mild herbage, which afford tolerable pasturage. The plains of Parexis form, to a large extent and breadth, the summit of those high mountains of the same name, and are situated on some of the most elevated land in all Brazil; for from them descend the two greatest rivers of South America,—the Paraguay, as well in its own numerous heads, as in its great and higher branches, the Jauru, the Sypotuba, and the Cuiaba,—and the Madeira, which is the largest river that flows into the Amazons on the south.

The Tapajos, flowing in a direction contrary to that of the above-named river, rises in these mountains. Its westermost branch is the river Arinos, which intwines its sources with those of the Cuiaba at a short distance from those of the Paraguay. The river Arinos has a western branch, called Rio Negro, from which, to the point where it is navigable, there is a passage of eight leagues over land to the river Cuiaba, below its upper and greatest falls; and, in like manner, from the Arinos itself the passage to the same part of the river Cuiaba is twelve leagues.

The Arinos is auriferous at its springs, and in 1747 the mines of Santa Isabel were discovered in it, but immediately abandoned, as not answering the expectations created in those fortunate times by the great quantities of gold drawn from the mines of Cuiaba and Matto Grosso. The lands were infested by dangerous tribes of warlike Indians.

The river Sumidouro empties itself on the south side into the Arinos, and its source being a short distance from that of the Sypotuba, a large western branch of the Paraguay, there is an easy communication from one river to the other. The famous discoverer, JoÃo de Souza Echevedo, in 1746, made this passage: he descended the river Cuiaba, and sailing up the Sypotuba to its very sources, he there passed his canoes over land into the Sumidouro, which he navigated, following the current, notwithstanding that the river runs for some distance under ground, and thence derives its appellation. After this, he passed into the Arinos, and thence into the Tapajos, where he surmounted the falls, though more difficult than those of the Madeira, and discovered many symptoms of gold in the river of Tres Barras, a western arm of the Tapajos, a hundred leagues below the springs of the Arinos. West of the Sumidouro, and in the plains of Parexis, the river Xacurutina has its origin to the north of the river Jauru: it is famous for a lake, situated in one of its branches, where every year is produced a great quantity of salt, which is a constant cause of war among the Indians. Some navigators make the Xacurutina an arm of the Arinos, and others of the Sumidouro. In these plains of Parexis, terminating to the west in the high mountains so denominated, which, extending two hundred leagues in a north-north-west direction, front the Guapore at a distance of fifteen or twenty leagues, springs the river Juruena, between the heads of the Sarare and the Guapore, a league east of the former and two west of the latter. This river, the largest and westermost branch of the Tapajos, rises in lat. 14° 42', twenty leagues north-north-east of Villa Bella, and, running north one hundred and twenty leagues, flows into the Arinos, and with it forms the bed of the Tapajos.

The Juruena receives on both sides many small rivers, those from the west affording many practicable communications by short passages over-land with the Guapore and its confluent streams. The uppermost of these, which is nearest to Villa Bella, is the Securiu, navigable even there, and almost to its source. This is a league north of the principal source of the river Sarare, which, a quarter of a league from its head, is three yards deep and five broad. Thus sailing up the Juruena, into the Securiu, and making from its source the short land-passage of a league to the Sarare, the navigator may reach Villa Bella in less than eight days, without any other obstacle than that of the fall formed by the Sarare, three leagues below its source, where it precipitates itself from the Parexis mountains on the western slope: this difficulty may be surmounted in detail, or by at once passing the four leagues, for the Sarare from its fall becomes immediately navigable to the capital of Matto Grosso. A league north of the source of the Sarare is the first head of the river Galera, the second confluent of the Guapore below Villa Bella; and a league east of the same head rises the Ema, a western branch of the Securiu, affording equal facility of communication. The Galera has three other sources north of the first in the plains of the Parexis, all ample streams; the last and most northerly, called SabarÁ, is distant little more than a league from the source of the river Juina, a large western branch of the Juruena. Thus by the Juina and the Securiu, with a crossing of five or six leagues, so as to pass the falls of the Galera on the western scarp of the mountain, the Juruena may be connected with the Guapore.

Lastly, the Juruena may be navigated to its upper fall, which is within two leagues of its own source. The fall is formed by two small leaps, the river being, even in this part, thirty yards broad and of great depth; from hence downwards it flows with great rapidity, yet its falls are not greater, and are more passable, than those of the Arinos. With the same circumstances, and by similar short land-passages, a communication is practicable from the Juruena with the rivers Guapore and Jauru, which are to the eastward of it, although these two rivers precipitate themselves from the south side of the Parexis mountains, where they rise, and immediately form numerous and extensive falls.

From the geographical position of the Tapajos, it is evident that this river facilitates navigation and commerce from the maritime city of ParÁ to the mines of Matto Grosso and Cuiaba, by means of its large branches, the Juruena and Arinos; if the short passages over-land should be found troublesome to drag canoes, the goods may be forwarded immediately on mules. This navigation to Matto Grosso is at least two hundred leagues shorter than that performed through the Madeira and Guapore; it is consequently less tedious and expensive, and equally advantageous to the mines of Cuiaba. The navigation of the river Tapajos might lead also to new discoveries in the vast unexplored parts of this river, up to its entrance into the plains of the Parexis, and their products might add to those of the extensive regions on the Amazons. Besides this, the river is known to be auriferous for a great part of its course: it is known also, that, passing from the Juruena into its western arm, the river CamararÉ, and the heads of the river Jamary or das Candeas, which, running in broad streams down the eastern side of the Parexis mountains, enters the Madeira, there are mines which have inspired great hopes, though but lately seen, after a fruitless search of twenty years.

The River Paraguay

has its remote springs to the west of the heads of the Arinos in latitude 13°, and, after a southern course of six hundred leagues, enters the ocean under the appellation of the Rio de la Plata. The heads of the Paraguay are seventy leagues north-east from Villa Bella, and forty leagues north from Cuiaba, and divided into many branches, and already forming complete rivers, which, as they run south, successively unite, and form the channel of this immense river, which is immediately navigable. To the west, a short distance from the main source of the Paraguay, is that of the Sypotuba, which disembogues on its west bank in lat. 15° 50', after a course of sixty leagues. In the upper part of this river, and near its western branch called the Jurubauba, was formerly a gold-mine, which was worked with considerable profit; but the superior advantages derived from others subsequently explored in Matto Grosso and Cuiaba, caused it to be abandoned, and its site is not now known with certainty. The little river Cabaral, also auriferous, enters the Paraguay on the west side, three leagues below the mouth of the Sypotuba. On the banks of the latter lives a nation of Indians, called Barbados, from the distinction peculiar to themselves, among all the Indian nations, of having large beards.

The Boriars Araviras inhabit the banks of the Cabaral: they are a mixture of two different nations, who in the year 1797 sent four chiefs of their tribe, accompanied by their mother, to Villa Bella, in order to solicit the friendship of the Portuguese. The nation called ParrarionÉ lives in their neighbourhood, close by the Sypotuba. A league below the mouth of the Cabaral, on the east bank of the Paraguay, is Villa Maria, a small and useful establishment, founded in 1778. Seven leagues south of Villa Maria, and on the west bank of the Paraguay, the river Jauru disembogues into it in lat. 16° 24'. This river is remarkable for the boundary-mark erected at its mouth in 1754, as well as for being entirely Portuguese, together with the lands on its south bank, and bordering on the Spanish possessions. It rises in the plains of the Parexis in lat. 14° 42', and long. 58° 30', and running south to lat. 15° 45', the situation of the Register of the same name, it there turns to the south-east for thirty-four leagues, till, by an entire course of sixty leagues, it reaches its junction with the Paraguay. There are salt-water-pits, which in part have supplied Matto Grosso, ever since its foundation, with salt: they are in the interior of the country, seven leagues from the Register, and extend to a place called Salina de Almeida, from the name of the person who first employed himself in these works.

These salt-pits are situated along the margins of broad marshy bottoms, in which are found fish of the same kind with those in the Paraguay. The Salina de Almeida is not far distant from the bank of Jauru, and the great quantity of saline liquid found in it continues three leagues farther to the south, where a junction is formed with another from the west, called Pitas; westward of which are high and dry plains, where are found numerous large circles, formed by a species of palm called Carandas. These plains terminate nine leagues west of the Salina de Almeida, in a large pool or marsh, called Paopique, which runs to the south.

The confluence of the Jauru with the Paraguay is a point of much importance: it guards and covers the great road between Villa Bella, Cuiaba, and their intermediate establishments, and in the same manner commands the navigation of both the rivers, and defends the entrance into the interior of the latter capitania. The Paraguay from this place has a free navigation upwards, almost to its sources, which are scarcely seventy leagues distant, with no other impediment than a large fall. These sources are said to contain diamonds.

The mark placed at the mouth of the Jauru is a pyramid of beautiful marble, brought to this distant point from Lisbon. It bears inscriptions commemorative of the treaty between the courts of Spain and Portugal, by which the respective territories, of which it stands as the boundary, were defined.

The lofty chain of mountains, which extends from the sources of the Paraguay near its eastern bank, border the river opposite the mouth of the Jauru, and are terminated seven leagues below it by the Morro Escalvado in lat. 16° 43'. Eastward of this mount or point, all is marsh, and nine leagues below it there flows into the east side of the Paraguay a deep stream or river, called Rio Novo, discovered in 1786, which may hereafter afford a navigation to near St. Pedro d’El Rey, when the aquatic plants that obstruct its channel are removed. The most distant sources of this river are the rivulets of Sta. Anna, Bento Gomes, and others which cross the great road of Cuiaba to the west of Cocaes. In lat. 17° 33' the west banks of the Paraguay become mountainous at the north point of the Serra da Insua, which, three leagues to the south, makes a deep break to form the mouth of the lake Gaiba. This lake extends westward, and there is a broad canal of four leagues in extent, which comes from the north, communicating from the above lake to that of Uberava, somewhat larger than the Gaiba, situated exactly contiguous to the Serra da Insua, on its north side. Six leagues and a half below the mouth of the Gaiba, and opposite this mountainous bank of the Paraguay, is the mouth of the St. LourenÇo, formerly called Porrudos. Twenty-six leagues above this the river Cuiaba enters its western bank in lat. 17° 20', and long. 57° 5': these two rivers are of great extent; that of LourenÇo has its sources in lat. 15°, forty leagues east of the town of Cuiaba, receiving (besides the branches crossed by the road from Goyaz) other great streams on its east side, such as the Paraiba or Piquiri, which receives the Jaquari and the Itiquira, all of moderate size, and navigable. The Itiquira has been navigated to its heads, from whence the canoes were dragged over-land to the Sucuriu, which falls into the Parana four leagues below the mouth of the river Tiete on the opposite side. The rivers Itiquira and Sucuriu were found to have fewer and smaller falls than the Taquari, and the land-passage is much shorter and more convenient than that of the CamapuÃo, so that this navigation is preferable to that by the two last-mentioned rivers: it is attended by only two obstacles,—many Indians, and a want of provisions.

The navigation to the town of Cuiaba by the river of that name, from its above-mentioned confluence, is short and easy: in the first ten leagues, after passing the two small islands of Ariacuni and Tarumus, occurs a large plantation of bananas, formed on an embankment on the east side of the river. Three leagues above this place the Guacho-uassu enters the Cuiaba by its east bank, and on the same side, seven leagues farther, the Guacho-mirim. From this point the river winds in a north-east direction, eleven leagues to the island of Pirahim, and from thence makes a large bend to the east, receiving numerous streams, and passes the town of Cuiaba, which is situated a mile to the eastward of it. This town is ninety-six leagues to the east of Villa Bella, and the same distance from the confluence of its river with the Paraguay. It is large, and, together with its dependencies, may at present contain 30,000 souls. It is well provided with meat, fish, fruits, and all sorts of vegetables, at a much cheaper rate than at the sea-ports. Their country is well adapted for cultivation, and has rich mines, but in some places little water to work them in dry weather. They were discovered in 1718, and have been estimated to produce annually above twenty arrobas of gold of extremely fine quality. These mines have produced an enormous quantity of gold compared with the thinness of the population, and the want of means, machinery, &c. for working them.

Twenty leagues south-west of the town of Cuiaba is the settlement of St. Pedro d’El Rey, the largest of all the adjacent settlements, and contains full 2,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the western side of the rivulet Bento Gomes, which, at the distance of a league and a half south of the settlement, forms a large bay, called Rio de Janeiro. The river Cuiaba has its sources forty leagues above the town, and its banks are cultivated through the greater part of its extent, including fourteen leagues below the town, down the stream. Four leagues below the principal mouth of the river Porrudos, the Paraguay is bordered by the mountains that separate it from Gaiba on its western bank, and in this place they obtain the appellation of Serra das Pedras de Amolar, from being composed of a stone of which whet-stones are made. This is the only spot which is not inundated by the floods of the river, and is therefore much visited by the canoes that navigate it. These Serras terminate two leagues to the south in those of the Dourados, immediately below which there is a channel on the west side of the Paraguay, which, piercing between two high detached mounts, called Cheines, leads to the lake Mendiuri, six leagues long, and the largest on the Paraguay.

From the Dourados the Paraguay runs southward to the Serras of Albuquerque, where it touches directly on the northern point, on which is situated a town of that name. These Serras form a compact square of ten leagues, and contain much calcareous stone; the land is considered the best on either side the Paraguay, from the river downwards, and only equalled by that on the western margins of the lakes Mandiuri and Gaiba. From Albuquerque the Paraguay turns to the east, skirting its Serras, which terminate at the end of six leagues in the Serra do Rabicho, opposite which, on the north bank of the river, is situated the lower southern mouth of the Paraguay-mirim. This is an arm of the Paraguay, which, terminating here, forms an island fourteen leagues in length from north to south: it is the usual channel for canoes in times of inundation. From the mouth of the Paraguay-mirim the river takes a southerly direction to the mouth of the Taquari, navigated annually by flotillas of canoes and other craft, which come from S. Paulo to Cuiaba, and even as far as the Register of Jauru, when their destination happens to be Villa Bella.

As this navigation is an object of great importance, from its connecting two distinct districts, the following compendious description of the route pursued in it may not prove uninteresting; it is abstracted from the diary of a man of science, who performed the journey a few years ago, in the month of October, when the Paraguay begins to retire to its own channel. The description may commence at the Taquari, as the voyage from thence to Cuiaba and the Jauru has already been detailed. The largest of the many mouths of the Taquari in the Paraguay is in lat. 19° 15', and long. 54°. In the first ten leagues of navigation, the channel of the river is lost, as it crosses some large plains, covered with water to the depth of several feet. This is contiguous to Taquari, a place where the river is much confined.

From this place it is twenty leagues to the resting-place of Allegre, in lat. 18° 12', and this space contains, on both banks of the Taquari, many entrances into the paths, which lead in time of the floods to various distant places on the Paraguay, Porrudos, and Cuiaba. From this resting-place there are thirty leagues of navigation, on the course of the river east to the fall of Barra, where it is impeded and unnavigable above a mile, though a part of it may be passed in half-loaded and part of it in empty canoes. At the head of this fall the river Cochim enters the Taquari, and the navigation here quits the latter for the Cochim. At its mouth it is twenty fathoms broad, and a league upwards receives on its south bank the Taquari-mirim, a river nearly as broad as itself. A little above this confluence is situated its first fall, which is called da Ilha, and may be passed in empty canoes. A league above is the fall of Giquitaya, passed with half cargoes, and a league and a quarter farther, that of the Choradeira, the current of which is very rapid. Beyond this is the fall of Avanhandava-uassu, where the cargoes are carried over-land for half a mile, and the canoes are conducted through a difficult channel of three fathoms, at the end of which they are pushed over the rocks in order to pass the head or cataract. Half a league above is the fall do Jauru, so called from a river of that name, which enters the Cochim above it, on the north side. From this confluence upwards there occur seven falls in the course of five leagues and a half, in the midst of which distance the river cuts and is enchannelled in a mountain, through which it runs smoothly, although scarcely five fathoms broad, and receives on its south side the stream of the ParedÃo, which is said to be auriferous. Half a league above the last of the seven falls before-mentioned are three successive ones, called Tres IrmÃos, and at an equal distance above them, that of Das Furnas, which is passed laboriously with canoes unloaded. From this place the navigation continues on the Cochim through a succession of falls, until that river is joined by the CamapuÃo, eight yards in breadth at its mouth. From this point to its junction with the Taquari, the course of the Cochim is thirty leagues.

The river CamapuÃ, along which the navigation is continued, becomes narrower on passing some rivulets that flow into it, and so shallow, as to be in general scarcely two feet deep, and the canoes are rather dragged than navigated along its sandy bed. After two leagues of this labor, they quit the CamapuÃo-uassu, leaving it on the right hand, choked with fallen trees, &c., and enter into the CamapuÃo-mirim, up which they proceed one league, when they reach the fazenda, or estate, of the same name. This is an important establishment, belonging to the Portuguese, in the centre of those vast and desert regions that intervene between the great rivers Paraguay and Parana, ninety leagues south-south-west, in a direct line from the town of Cuiaba. The place seems very proper for a Register, to prevent the smuggling of gold in this route, and to fix the duties on goods passing to Cuiaba and Matto Grosso. The canoes and cargoes are transported from the Fazenda de CampauÃo by land about a mile to the river Sanguixuga, the principal source of the Rio Pardo. From the end of the land-passages the navigation continues down the Sanguixuga, and, in the interval of three leagues, they pass four falls to the Rio Vermelho (so called from the color of its waters), which enters the Pardo. Half a league from the mouth of the Vermelho, the Pardo has the fall of the Pedras de Amolar, and a league below receives on its south side the river Claro, from which, after proceeding two leagues of level stream, there occur nine falls in the space of two leagues more. The passage of them occupies twelve or fourteen days in going up the river, though only one in returning. Below the last of these, called the Bangue, the river Sucuriu enters the Pardo on its south side. Three leagues below the mouth of the Sucuriu is the cataract of Curare, about eight yards high, to avoid which the canoes are hauled over land, through a passage of a hundred yards. From this cataract, in the space of ten leagues, there occur ten falls, which occupy fifteen or twenty days in ascending the river, though only one in descending. The breadth of the Rio Pardo in this part is twenty-two fathoms. Two leagues below the last of these falls is a deep inlet of three hundred and ninety fathoms; half a league lower the canoes are hauled over a space of land of a hundred and fifty yards. Half a league further is the fall of Sirga Negra; one league further, that of Sirga Matto; and a little more than a league from thence, the great cataract, or Salto da Cajuru, ten yards in height, to avoid which, the canoes are hauled through a narrow channel here formed by the river. At a distance equal to the preceding is the Cajuru-mirim, and immediately after is found the fall of da Ilha, the thirty-third and last on this river. Six leagues below this fall, the Rio Pardo receives on its north side the river Orelha da Anta;[A] and four leagues lower down, on the same side, the Orelha da OnÇa[73], from the mouth of which, after eleven leagues of navigation, is found the junction which the river Anhandery-uassu makes from the south with the Pardo, which, from the passage of CamapuÃo to this point, completes a south-east course of forty-five leagues in extent. The Anhandery and the Pardo, from their confluence, run sixteen leagues of navigation westward, in one channel, and disembogue in the west bank of the Parana in lat. about 21°. The velocity of the current of the Rio Pardo is very irregular: it may be navigated downward in five or six days, but cannot be ascended in less than twenty or thirty, and that by hauling, for the force of the stream in some places is too great for oars.

The river Parana is of great breadth and weight of water, and is navigated against its current up to the mouth of the fine river TietÉ. In the first three leagues occurs the island of Manoel Homem. Five leagues above this island the Rio Verde falls into the Parana, by a mouth of forty-two fathoms, on its western bank, and at an equal distance above, on the opposite eastern side, the river Aguapehy enters, by a mouth apparently above twenty yards wide. Eight leagues above this river, and on the west side of the Parana, the large river Sucuriu has its mouth, at least fifty fathoms wide, and, after four leagues of navigation further, on the same side of the Parana, is found the mouth of the large and interesting river, the TietÉ[74]. The distance between the rivers TietÉ and Pardo, according to the windings of the Parana, may be estimated at thirty-five leagues; the direction north, inclining to the east. Passing up the TietÉ, in the first three leagues is found the great Salto de Itapura (a great cascade) to avoid which, the canoes are dragged sixty fathoms over-land. A league above is the difficult fall of Itapura-mirim; another league upwards are the three falls, called Tres Irmaos, and little more than that distance onward, that of Itupiru, half a league long; two leagues further is the fall of Uaicurituba-mirim, and in the upper part of it the small river Sucury enters the TietÉ upon its north bank. One league above it is the fall of Utupiba, a quarter of a league in length. The same distance above is the fall of Araracangua-uassu, which is passed with unloaded canoes. Five leagues above this is found the Araracangua-mirim; one league further, the Arassatuba, and at the same distance, Uaicurituba, from which, in the space of nine leagues, occur seven falls. Three and a half leagues above the last of them is that of the Escaramunca, so called from the abrupt windings of the river among a thousand rocks and stoppages. Two leagues above this is the large fall of Avanhandava, where the canoes are unloaded, and their cargoes carried half a mile over-land[75], and the canoes hauled the greatest part of the way, to avoid a cataract sixteen yards perpendicular. A league and a half above this is the fall of Avanhandava-mirim, and very near it, that of the Campo, from which there are fourteen leagues of clear navigation to those of the Camboyu-voca, and next to the Tambau-mirim and Uassu, both within the compass of two leagues. One league further is the fall of Tambitiririca; three leagues from thence, the Uamicanga, and a little more than two leagues upwards, the Jacuripipira enters the TietÉ on the north side, and has a mouth fifteen fathoms broad. A league and a half above this is the Jacuripipira-mirim, six leagues from whence is the fall of Congouha, a league in length. For the space of eight leagues from this there are six falls, of which the last is Banharem. From this it is three leagues and a half to the mouth of the Paraniaba, thirty-eight fathoms broad: it enters the TietÉ on the north; and the latter river from this point immediately narrows itself to forty fathoms wide. From the mouth of the Paraniaba there is a navigation of four leagues to the small fall of Ilha, and fourteen leagues more, with frequent windings to that of Itahy, near a populous village, called Jundahy. Six leagues from this is the fall of Pedrenegoa, which is a quarter of a league long; and half a league above it, the river Sorecaba, which comes from the town of the same name, in lat. 23° 31', empties itself on the south into the TietÉ. Near this town are several mountains, called Guaraceaba, some of which abound with rich oxide of iron, which on smelting, has proved very good. Upon them grows fine timber for machinery, and wood of every size, fit for reducing into charcoal. Numerous streams flow from them, which may be employed to great advantage, and their base is washed by the river Campanhes, near the Capivara, both of which empty themselves into the TietÉ at a short distance. From the river Sorecaba it is only six leagues to Porto Felix, where all the embarkation is now made to Matto Grosso from S. Paulo, the distance being about twenty-three leagues from that city. Through this conveyance, salt, iron, ammunition, clothing for the troops, &c. are sent annually by Government.—Trading parties frequently arrive at S. Paulo from Cuiaba in the month of February, and return in April or May.

Resuming our account of the Paraguay, it is to be observed that the Embotetieu enters that river five leagues below the mouth of the Taquari, and on the same side. It is now called Mondego, and was formerly navigated by the traders from S. Paulo, who entered by the Anhandery-uassu, the south branch of the Pardo. On the north bank of the Mondego, twenty leagues above its mouth, the Spaniards founded the city of Xerez, which the Paulistas destroyed. Ten leagues above this place, in the mountains that form the upper part of the Embotetieu, there is a tradition that there are rich mines which were discovered fifty years ago. One league below the mouth of the Mondego there are two high insulated mounts fronting each other on the Paraguay: at the extremity of the southern declivity of the mount on the west side, near the bank of the river, is the garrison of New Coimbra, founded in 1775; it is the last and southermost Portuguese establishment on the great Paraguay. Eleven leagues to the south of Coimbra, on the west side of the Paraguay, is the mouth of Bahia Negra, a large sheet of water of six leagues in extent, being five leagues long from north to south: it receives the waters of the wide-flooded plains and lands to the south and west of the mountains of Albuquerque. At this bay the Portuguese possessions on both banks of the Paraguay terminate. From thence the river continues to lat. 21°, where, on its west bank, is situated a hill known to the Portuguese by the name of Miguel JosÉ, crowned with a Spanish fort with four pieces of artillery, called Bourbon. Three leagues above this the little river Guirino falls into the Paraguay on the east side. Nine leagues to the south of the above fort, and in lat. 21° 22´, are other mountains, on both sides the Paraguay, which command this river; for the eastern side is surmounted with a lofty chain extending to the interior of the country, near which is the sugar-loaf mount; the opposite side is equally mountainous, but not so high or extensive; and in the middle of the river there is a high rocky island, which, with the mountainous banks on each side, forms two channels of about a musket-shot across. This, in case of war between the neighbouring nations, would be a post of the highest importance, as it forms a natural barrier, which would require little fortification to render it an effectual obstacle to invasion. Here terminate those extensive inundations, to which both banks of the Paraguay are subject: they commence at the mouth of the Jauru, and to this point cover an extent of one hundred leagues from north to south, and forty in breadth, at their highest floods, forming an apparent lake, which geographers of former days, as well as some moderns have termed the Xarayes. This inundation confounds the channel of the great Paraguay with those of its various confluents, in such a manner that, from twenty to thirty leagues above their regular mouths, it is possible, in time of the floods, to navigate across from one to the other, always in deep water, without ever seeing or approaching the banks of the Paraguay. During this wonderful inundation, the high mountains and elevated land which it incloses appear like so many superb islands, and the lower grounds form a labyrinth of lakes, bays, and pools, many of which remain after the floods have subsided. From the intricacy of these inundated plains, the navigation is rendered impracticable to all who do not unite experience with skill. From this position, (the only barrier on the Paraguay), the banks downward are in general high and firm, particularly the eastern or Portuguese side. In lat. 22° 5', a considerable river empties itself into it, which the Spaniards, at the demarcation in 1753, would have to be the Corrientes, whereas the heads of this river are twenty leagues north of the real Corrientes mentioned in the treaty.

Between the Paraguay and Parana there runs from north to south an extensive chain of mountains, which have the appellation of Amanbay; they terminate to the south of the river Iguatimy, forming a ridge running east and west, called Maracayer. From these mountains spring all the rivers which, from the Taquari southward, enter the Paraguay, and from the same chain, also, proceed many other rivers, which, taking a contrary direction, flow into the Parana, one of them, and the most southerly, being the Igoatimy, which has its mouth in lat. 23° 47', a little above the seven falls, or the wonderful cataract of the Parana. This cataract is a most sublime spectacle, being distinguished to the eye of the spectator from below by the appearance of six rainbows, and emitting from its fall a constant cloud of vapors, which impregnates the air to a great distance. On the north side of the Igoatimy, twenty leagues from its mouth, the Portuguese had formerly the fortress of Bauris, which was abandoned in 1777. The Igoatimy has its sources ten leagues above this place, among high and rugged mountains. The river Xexuy enters the Paraguay on the east side in lat. 24° 11', twenty leagues below the Ipane, another small river, called Ipanemirim, intervening.

This is a summary and highly interesting description of Portuguese Paraguay, to the point where the territory ought (as our Tourist observes) to extend! and such is the situation of this great river, that the above-mentioned rivers which concentrate toward the interior of Brazil, enter it on the eastern side; not one enters it on the western, from the Jauru to the parallel of the Ipane. Many parts of the banks of all those rivers are laid under water at the time of the floods, and the plains are covered to a considerable depth.

A river of such vast size as the Paraguay, in a temperate and salubrious climate, abounding with fish, bordered by extensive plains and high mountains, intersected by so many rivers, bays, lakes, and forests, must naturally have drawn many of the Indian nations to inhabit its banks: but, immediately after the discovery of the new continent, the incursions of the Paulistas and Spaniards seem to have dispersed and destroyed the numerous tribes: the Jesuits transplanted many thousands to their settlements on the Uruguay and Parana. Other nations fled from the avarice of the new settlers to countries less favored, but more secure by reason of their distance, and the difficulty of approach. This emigration of one nation to districts occupied by another, became the fruitful source of inveterate and sanguinary wars among them, which tended to reduce their numbers. There are, however, still some Indians left on the borders of the Paraguay, among whom the Guaycurus, or Cavalier Indians, are principally distinguished for valour. They occupy the lands from the river Taquari, extending southwards, along all the rivers that enter the Paraguay on the eastern side, as far as the river Ipane, and in like manner, on the opposite bank, from the mountains of Albuquerque downwards. They have made war repeatedly on the Spaniards and Portuguese, without ever being subdued. They are armed with lances of extraordinary length, bows, arrows, &c. They make long incursions on horseback into the neighbouring territories; they procure horses in exchange for stout cotton cloaks, called Ponches, which they manufacture. There are other Indian nations inhabiting these large tracts, some of whom have intermixed both with the Portuguese and Spaniards, there being few of the latter on any part of the confines without some traces of Indian physiognomy.

From the river Xexuy, downwards, the Paraguay takes its general course southwards for thirty-two leagues to the city of Assumpcion, the capital of Paraguay, and the residence of its governor. This city is situated on an obtuse angle made by the eastern bank of the river; the population is by no means trifling, and there are some Portuguese among the inhabitants. The government is of vast extent, and its total population is said to amount to near 120,000 souls. The land is fertile, and contains many rich farms: its principal produce is the matte, which is exported to Tucuman and Buenos Ayres, from whence it is sent to various parts of the Spanish dominions, along the coast of Chili and Peru, being a general article of consumption among all ranks of people. Its other products are hides, tobacco, and sugar. From Buenos Ayres large boats arrive at the city of Assumpcion, after two or three months’ passage; the only difficulty in navigating is the great weight of the waters of the Paraguay, which flow with great rapidity: but this disadvantage is lessened by favorable winds, which blow the greater part of the year from the south.

Six leagues below Assumpcion, on the western side of the Paraguay, the river Pilcomayo enters that river by its first mouth; its second is fourteen or sixteen leagues lower. In this space some other smaller rivers enter on the eastern side, and amongst them the Tibiquari, on an arm of which, twenty leagues south-east from Assumpcion, is Villa Rica, a large Spanish town, with much property in cattle on its extensive plains. The river Vermelho enters the west side of the Paraguay in lat. 26° 50': on a remote upper branch of this river is the town of Salto, near an accessible fall; it is an important point to the Spaniards, who are transporting their goods from Buenos Ayres, Tucuman, &c. to Upper Peru.

The River Parana,

or Great River, which the first discoverers considered as the chief, on account of its abundant waters, unites with the eastern side of the Paraguay in lat. 27° 25´, and their united streams take the name of the Rio de la Plata, which originated in the following circumstance:—Martim de Sousa, the first donatary of the capitania of St. Vicente, furnished Aleixo Garcio, with an adequate escort to explore the hitherto untrodden wilds to the west of the extensive coast of Brazil. This intrepid Portuguese, by the route of the TietÉ, reached the Paraguay, which he crossed, and penetrated considerably into the interior, from whence he returned, it is said, loaded with silver, and some gold: but he halted on the Paraguay, and waited for the coming of his son, a youth of tender years, with some of his people, whilst he sent forward an account of the discovery. He was surprised by a body of Indians, who killed him, took his son prisoner, and carried off all his riches: the year following, sixty Portuguese, who were sent in search of Garcia, shared the same fate. The Spaniards who first settled on this river, seeing so much silver amongst these Indians, and supposing it to be the produce of the country, called the river La Plata.[76]

The Parana derives its principal sources from the west side of the mountains of Mantiqueira, twenty-five leagues west of the town of Paraty.