62 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



of particular importance to visit the town of 

 Villa do Porto Feliz, on the Rio Tiete, wliere 

 various information was to be obtained, respecting 

 the trade between S. Paulo and Matto-grosso, 

 which is carried on from that place. The distance 

 from Ypanema to Villa do Porto Feliz is five 

 leagues and a half. The road leads generally in 

 a north-west direction, over hilly campos, and 

 through low woody tracts, where we did not 

 meet with a single house. The capitao mor, who 

 had been made acquainted with our arrival by our 

 obliging host and companion, received us with 

 great hospitality, and readily showed us every 

 thing remarkable in the place, which consists of a 

 few huts, lying on the eminence. The Rio Tiete, 

 formerly called Anhembi, flows on the west side, 

 at the foot of the village. The water is of the 

 same disagreeable dark brown colour as in the 

 neighbourhood of S. Paulo. At this place, having 

 been joined by several small rivers, among which 

 are the Rio dos Pinheiros, the Jundiahy, and the 

 Capibari, it has already acquired a considerable 

 mass of water, so as to be from twelve to fifteen 

 fathoms broad, and it runs southward, between 

 rocky banks, covered with thick forests. Close to the 

 port, which is nothing more than a creek, cleared 

 of wood and stones, and at present showing no sign 

 of trade and business, except a few boats drawn on 

 shore, a rocky wall rises to the height of forty or 

 fifty feet, which, in the Lingua Geral, is called 



