TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. GS^ 



Eldorado, that several villages quickly arose, and a 

 brisk intercourse commenced between this colony 

 and the mother country. The way down the 

 Tiete, &c., was, at first, the only one known, and 

 all necessaries were conveyed by it to the interior. 

 Considering the immense treasures which the mines 

 yielded at that time, (it is said that 400 arrobas of 

 gold were found at Cujaba in the first month after 

 its discoveiy, *) it was very natural that the ad- 

 venturers should not think of any kind of work 

 which did not immediately satisfy their thirst of 

 gold. They even neglected to cultivate a sufficient 

 quantity of maize and mandiocca, and the colony, 

 therefore, long remained absolutely dependent upon 

 S. Paulo for its supplies ; nay, there was frequently a 

 scarcity of provisions, which, as well as all other neces- 

 saries, could not be obtained but at enormous prices.t 

 The colony was entirely surrounded by hostile 

 Indian tribes. The Payagoas dwelling on the 

 banks of the Paraguay, and of the Panianaes or the 



* Corografia Brasilica, i. p. 250. 



-j- In the year 1731 the first brandy was distilled at Cujaba, 

 from sugar-cane planted there ; a frasco (some quarts) cost at 

 first ten octaves of gold. The alqueire of maize cost six, of 

 beans, ten ; a pound of salt meat, or bacon, two ; a plate of 

 salt, four ; a fowl, a pound of sugar, or a shirt, six octaves of 

 gold. The daily pay of a gold-washer in some parts, for in- 

 stance, at Chapada de Francisco Xavier, was still two octaves 

 in 1736. The innumerable quantity of rats, in the first years 

 after the foundation of the colony, made a cat one of the most 

 important domestic animals, and the first two were sold for a 

 pound of gold. Corogr. Bras., i. p. 255. 



VOL, II. F 



