142 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



calvado, are not yet sufficiently known ; however, 

 the voyage undertaken by Captain Jose Pinto in 

 the year 1816, from Villa Boa, to find a way by 

 water to S. Paulo, has so far cleared up the geo- 

 graphy of those countries, that a communication 

 between the principal sources of the Rio Grande 

 and the streams of Goyaz may now be anticipated. 

 For, if a person embarks in the harbour of Ani- 

 cuns, twelve leagues from Villa Boa, the capital 

 of Goyaz, on the Rio dos Boys, the rapid stream 

 of the Rio Turvo and the Rio de Pasmados, into 

 whicli it falls, will bring him in a short time into 

 the Rio Paranahyba. Three leagues below the 

 junction of those rivers with the latter, the boats 

 have a great waterfall to pass, as far as which the 

 wandering Cajapos Indians who dwell on the lower 

 Parana, sometimes extend their incursions. The 

 junction of the Paranahyba with the Rio Grande, 

 from which the stream takes the name of Parana, 

 is stated by Captain Pinto to be only twenty 

 leagues from that cataract, and the navigation up 

 the Rio Grande, as far as Ponto Nova, to be 

 indeed difficult, on account of the strong current, 

 but not interrupted. The almost boundless extent 

 of the inland rivers, and the numerous collateral 

 streams, hold out the most favourable prospect for 

 the inland trade of these fruitful countries. 



While the naturalist is highly interested in con- 

 sidering the geography of the Rio Grande and its 

 collateral streams, on which he contemplates the 



