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 astate 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 theCabyxys, theCautaros, (which give their names to two confluents of the Guapore,) theAbabas, theLambys, and theUrucurunys, with others approximating to the serra Paricis, which is an elevated range, with extensive sandy campos, or plains, upon its widely spreading summit.
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, extensivecharnecas, 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 calledespigelia, theherva de cobra, (serpent herb) thejarrinha, and various qualities of the realquina, or Jesuits’ bark.
Amongst other fruits of the wood, the quince is well known, thejabuticaba, theambuzo, thearaticumo, theguabiraba, and thegoyaba.
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 LowParaguay, 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 thesouthern, 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.
Thepirannafish, commonly calledtezoira, (scissors,) and sometimeslanceta, (lancet,) and thearraya, 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, bishopin 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, oradobe, (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 ajulgado, or village, are miners, are supplied with water fromcacimbas, 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 intobangues, 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 ofmamona, and of thepiquira, a species of fish exceedingly numerous, and caught with great facility. The fish calledparaputangaandpacu, 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 designatedCoroados, the otherBarbados, (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 theParicis, who were well formed, affable, and much pleasedwith the Christians. From their alliances with the whites and Africans are descended a great part of theMamalucosandCuribocas, who constitute the gross of the population. They are usually of good morals, and much respected.
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.
TheBororos, theGuatos, and theBaccahirisare 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 widecinta, or girdle, manufactured from the fibres of thetucumpalm, 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.
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 ofthe 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. ThePammas, who possess a considerable portion upon the Madeira, are of a white complexion. TheTamaresare masters of the adjacencies of the river Juyna, the first notable branch of those which enlarge the Juruenna by the western bank. ThePaccahaslive to the north of the latter. TheSarummasfarther to the north, along the margins of the said Juruenna. And, lower down, theUhaihas.
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 twoserrotes, 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.
Along the banks of the Madeira and the Itenez, the only parts of thiscomarca that are well known, abundance of all kinds of game are met with. Amongst other notable trees that are seen in the large woods here adjacent to those rivers, is a species of palm, calledubussu, the flower of which supplies an elastic fibrous peel, so interwoven, that it appears like the production of the loom, and serves as a cap to the Indian. Thecuragiruaffords a fine scarlet dye. The cedar is common and very thick, but, like a great many other trees of excellent timber, of no use, from the almost total want of population capable of appreciating their value.
In this comarca is situated the fort of Principe da Beira, erected in the year 1776, upon the right margin of the Guapore, one league below the mouth of the Tunama, in 12° 20′ south latitude, and one mile above the situation where the first governor of the province established the fort of Conceiçao. The land upon which it stands is never inundated by the river, which rises here at the period of the floods near thirty feet, and covers with lakes a great portion of the frontier lands, thus subjecting the garrison to fevers. Three hundred and fifty miles is computed from this fort to the capital; and by the river, upwards of six hundred, so considerable are its windings.
Near this fort there is a populous aldeia of Christian Indians; and at a short distance higher up another, called Leonil, similarly inhabited. The whole cultivate a diversity of the necessaries of life. They also hunt and fish.
Five miles below the confluence of the Guapore with the Mamore, upon the margin of the river Madeira, near the fall of Ribeiram, is the new parish of St. Joze. The inhabitants are composed of various nations, with some whites, and are abundantly supplied with fish, game, and the necessaries of life peculiar to the country.
This comarca, which receives its name from the river that waters it and divides it into two unequal portions, is confined on the north by Tapajonia, on the west by Juruenna, on the south by Cuiaba, and on the east by Tappiraquia. Its length is equal to that of the preceding district, and its width, from east to west, is nearly three hundred miles. A portion of the most southern part of it is commonly called Varges, or Vargeria, where, many years ago, a colony of adventurers settled, but soon afterwards abandoned it, in consequence of the annoyance they experienced from the Indians, and the want of success attending their partial operations in mining.
It is a district very little known, although ascertained to be auriferous.Those who have navigated by the Arinos and Tapajos, state, that it is washed by numerous rivers, almost the whole of which contribute their waters to the enlargement of the two preceding. Its aspect is varied by mountains, and, as far as the eye of the explorer has extended, contains luxuriant and noble woods.
Amongst the nations under whose dominion it hitherto has remained, theBaccurisare well known, who possess the first territory irrigated by the Arinos; also theManbares, who are wanderers in the land traversed by the river Taburuhina, the first remarkable confluent of the Juruenna on the eastern bank. TheAppiacasoccupy the centre of the comarca, and have an aldeia with high houses upon the right border of the river Arinos. They are a ferocious people, live by hunting and fishing, and with axes of stone they prepare the timber for the construction of their houses and their canoes. Northward of the last dwell theCabahibas, who speak the same idiom. It is to be hoped that these tribes, when they begin to experience the advantage of iron instruments and clothing, which they can derive alone from the navigators of this river, will become more civilized, and contribute to the cultivation of those neglected districts.
The river Arinos, which took the name of a nation at present unknown, rises near the origins of the Paraguay, and falls into the sublime Amazon under the name of the Tapajos. In 1805, Joam Vieges accomplished on this river almost the same voyage as its first discoverer, Captain Joam de Souza e Azevedo; and in 1812, Antonio Thomé de Franca also descended by it, and in the following year proceeded up with his fleet of canoes, laden in the city of Para, being the first individual who performed this voyage, unquestionably less laborious and much shorter than that by the river Madeira.
The first considerable river united with the Arinos by the right border is the Rio Preto, which rises between the Paraguay and the Cuiaba, and, by the left, the Sumidor, which originates a little to the north of the Sipotuba. This name is given to it in consequence of disappearing, (after a course of many leagues,) beneath a rock, from whence it issues at no great distance below. A canoe confided to the current at the upper side soon appears at the other. Captain Joam de Souza descended by the Sumidor, and others by the Rio Preto embarking upon it at a situation about ten miles distant from the arraial of Diamantino.
It appears singular that none of these navigators descended by the Arinos from its upper part, which, when it receives the Rio Petro, is larger than thatriver. All the canoes with which those rivers have been navigated were constructed of the trunks of trees produced upon their margins, demonstrating sufficiently the substantial nature of the soil, and its adaptation to all the purposes of agriculture.
In twenty-eight hours of navigation, (performed in the course of four days,) from the bar of Rio Preto to that of the Sumidor, Viegas met with nineteen rivers, yet nameless, and almost the whole entered the Arinos by the right. The largest is a few leagues above the mouth of the Sumidor, which latter is little inferior to the Arinos.
After an extensive course, the Arinos loses the name, upon incorporating with the Juruenna, the united waters forming the Tapajos, properly Tapayo, from a nation of this name, who inhabited its margins further to the northward. The first considerable river united with it by the right is the Azevedo, so denominated after its discoverer. At a great distance lower down is the embouchure of another river on the right, thirty fathoms in width. A little further two morros approximate, and contract its bed, and an elevated island divides it into two channels, through which its waters flow with equal rapidity.
From hence about three hours’ voyage is a cascade of considerable altitude, the murmuring noise and evaporation arising from which announce another of the wonders of nature long before it becomes visible.
Beyond this interesting object is discovered the mouth of another river, apparently at least equal to the Tapajos, which is here very wide; but is however almost immediately reduced by two lateral morros to a little more than one hundred fathoms of width, and after a short space again presents a more than ordinary expansion, and receives also by the right margin another river of thirty fathoms in width. It is about three hours’ navigation from the mouth of one river to the other.
Upon the margin of the Rio Preto, at the place where the canoes commence their voyage, a povoaçoe is now establishing for the accommodation of the navigators of the Tapajos.
This comarca derives its name from one of its tribes of Indians, and is limited on the north by Xingutania, on the west by the river Xingu, which separates it from the preceding district, on the south by Bororonia, and on the east by the river Araguaya, which divides it from Nova Beira. It comprisesthe same length as the Arinos from north to south, and upwards of two hundred miles from east to west.
With the exception of the eastern boundary, along the Araguaya, it is unknown, for want of the relations of those who penetrated into it at an earlier period. Amongst other nations who have this district under their dominion, are theGuapindaias; theTappiraques, who afford it the name; theXimbiuas, and theAracis.
The southern part contains various rivers. The most remarkable are the Boys, Barahu, Irahiras, and Xanacy, all arms of the great river Xingu, but it is not known which is its principal head.
Those that originate more to the east form the river St. Joao, which enters the Araguaya above fifty miles north of the river Mortes. To the south of its embouchure there is a large lake which communicates with it, as well as with the river that receives it, during the periodical floods.
Seventy miles below the river St. Joao, the Vertentes falls also into the Araguaya, after an extensive course. A little to the north of the re-union of the two arms of the Araguaya, which form the large island of St. Anna, is the mouth of the river Ponta, not very considerable; and a short distance lower down that of the Tappiraques, so called from its originating in the territory of the Indians of the same name.
To the north of the river Tappiraques, upon the margin of the Araguaya, in the space of eighty miles, were founded the three aldeias of Lappa, Almeida, and Semancelhe, for the habitation of various families of the Ximbiua tribe, reduced to peace in the year 1775, who soon afterwards adopted their former rude mode of living. They are a people passionately fond of hunting and fishing, the produce of which constitute their principal subsistence. The first certanistas who penetrated into these districts, killing some partridges, found in their crops granites with gold, a proof of the existence of that precious metal here, and which may stimulate future exertions in the desirable object of introducing cultivation and Christianity into extensive territories yet uncolonized.
The great fertility of these lands, and the facility with which their productions might be transported by their noble rivers, particularly towards Gram Para, also concur in raising the expectation that some effectual measures will be adopted to civilize the savage wanderers, and convert the widely extending woods to the purposes of such culture as the soil, now overshadowed with constant gloom, may be found to be best adapted.