TOPOGEAPHY OF GOYAZ. 



131 



new municipality. The communications are also mucli easier than had been 

 supposed, for the Pyrenees mountains scarcely rise more than 800 or 1,000 feet 

 above the highest eminences of the surrounding chapadas. The loftiest peak, 

 formerly greatly overestimated, is now known to attain an absolute height of not 

 more than 4,550 feet, which is actually 1,000 feet less than the Chapada dos 

 Yeadeiros, near Formosa. 



Villa dos Couros, as Formosa was formerly called, is situated in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lake Formosa, and forms, with Meia-Ponte (now PyrenopoUs), one of 

 the two largest centres of population in South Goyaz, although both contain only 

 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants. The gold and diamond washings, which formerly 

 attracted numerous adventurers from S. Paulo and Minas Geraes to the Meia- 

 Ponte district, are no longer productive since the abolition of slave labour. 



Fio-. 46. — South Goyaz and Futtjee Federal Territoey of Brazil. 

 Scale 1 : 2,540,000. 





Paula -,„&=<*-r^ jX^q Jq^ 



1^ _ 



_ .&^'''•'-a!fe^ A^^i t 



o rumca A 



49° ' West oF 'Greenwich 



48° 



60 Miles. 



Along the Upper Tocantins follow the little stations of San Felix, Porto 

 Nacional, and Pedro Ajfb)iso. The last-mentioned is well situated at the confluence 

 of the Rio do Somno, through which is to pass the future railway to Barra on the 

 S. Francisco. But meanwJiile the Tocantins basin is practically closed in the 

 direction of the north, except to daring adventurers and explorers. 



Goyaz, capital of the State, formerly called Villa Boa, lies in the Upper 

 Araguaya valley close to the divide towards the sources of the Tocantins. 

 Although the administrative centre, Goyaz is a smaller place than it was in the 

 eighteenth century, when thousands of black slaves were engaged in the gold and 

 diamond mines discovered in the neighbourhood. In this district the vine is 

 cultivated, and even yields two annual crops, one of which, however, is used 

 chiefly for making vinegar. The Goyaz wines were said to be formerly much appreci- 

 ated, and the Goyanos now claim for their tobacco, the famo picado leaf, that it is 



