S. Lourenco and Taquary. The Paraguay presents another not- 
able phenomenon, which is the crossing its sources with those of 
the tributaries of the Amazon. 
The River Jauri approaches the Guaporé so closely that it 
would be easy to make a canal from the waters of this western 
river to a tributary of the Jauri. Another tributary of the Para- 
guay, the Aguapehy, is only separated from the Alegre River, 
which flows by the old city of Villa Bella, to-day called Matto 
Grosso, by a low and narrow isthmus, which according to 
Leverger measures 5,280 meters. During 1772, and even later, 
it was proposed to cut a canal at different places in this isthmus, 
but the work was never done because of the little commerce of 
that locality. Certainly, railroads, in the near future, will supply 
the absence of a canal and will join Montevideo to Para, passing 
through the larger part of the State of Matto Grosso, and by a 
continental navigable water way of 8,300 kilometers, as Bar- 
tholomo Bossi says. 
The Paraguay River has as its principal tributaries the S. 
Lourengo, enlarged by the waters of the Cuyaba, the Taquary, 
the Mondego, and the Apa, the last marking the boundary be- 
tween Brazil and the Republic of Paraguay. At the time of 
the floods, its level, and that of its tributaries, rises 10 to 11 
meters and overflows to the right and the left, forming a tem- 
porary sea, which extends to great distances, being lost to sight 
and continuing in lakes. The first Spanish explorers gave it the 
name of Lake Xarayes, in its lower section, where it receives 
the nearly dormant waters of its principal tributaries. This lake is 
about 600 kilometers in length from North to South, between 
the mouths of Jaurtt and the hills of “Fecho-dos-Morros,” and in 
certain places reaches a width of 250 kilometers. 
It is not permanent, as you already know, but at certain 
seasons of the year there are overflows, which the Indians called 
bays and rightly, for here there were bays of an ancient sea, 
which to-day are nearly dry, and most of these lakes are in con- 
stant communication with the Paraguay River, either by under- 
ground openings, or by long canals. These latter are called 
the lakes of Uberaba, Gaiaba, Mandioré, Caceres, etc. Some of 
these lakes contain only fresh water from the overflowing rivers, 
while others being ancient cavities are now filled with salt water, 
and have in their depths beds of salt, which give to the liquid a 
soapy characteristic. It is singular that this contrast by nature 
of fresh and salt water is also found in the lands of the vast 
plains, and thus it is, that these extensive fields, covered by a 
rich alluvial soil, bear heavy forests. Here the agriculturist can 
certainly obtain marvelous harvests. It is certainly true that 
these fields of Matto Grosso will serve for agriculture as well as 
pastoral industry. 
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