38 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



width, communicates with that of Cururupina, nearly of equal length from 

 east to west, and about the same width from north to south. They both ap- 

 proach very much to a triangular form. The channel which unites them is 

 called the river Bambuhy, and forms a small lake in the centre. The Curu- 

 rupina is the eastern one, and its extremity is near Negra Point, which is at 

 an equal distance betwixt Cape Frio and the Sugar-Loaf Mountain. The 

 rivulet of Bananal, and that from which it takes its name, are the largest 

 streams that enter it. The Marica, under which name the small one is also 

 comprehended, receives at its southern end the Baccahi, which half a league 

 above its mouth traverses the lake Braba, about a mile long. The small 

 river Itapitiu enters its northern extremity. It is prolonged in a parallel line; 

 and at a short distance from the sea, to which it opens a passage in the winter 

 or rainy season, possesses a great abundance of excellent fish, and, in con- 

 sequence, furnishes a branch of the dizimos (a tax of one-tenth) of the province. 

 The lake of Piratininga, three-quarters of a league from east to west, and 

 proportionably wide, is about a mile distant from the Sacco, or Gulph of 

 St. Joam de Carahi ; it is also abundant in fish, and is separated from the sea 

 by a sand-bank, through which a passage is opened in the rainy season, to 

 prevent its inundating the adjacent country. Near half a league to the east of 

 Piratininga is situated the lake Itaypu, a mile and a half loiig, and of pro- 

 portionable width ; and betwixt it and the sea is the parish of the same name, 

 the church of which is dedicated to St. Sebastian. Its inhabitants are fishermen 

 and cultivators of mandioca and sugar. 



Bays. — This province can boast of two as fine ports as any in the world, the 

 bays of Rio de Janeiro and of Angra dos Reys (King's bay, or creek.) The first is 

 upwards of twenty leagues from Cape Frio, and, of all others in South America, 

 merits most properly the denomination of a bay; its narrow entrance, em- 

 bosomed in lofty scenery of the beautiful and sublime, being about eight 

 hundred and fifty fathoms in width, and fourteen in depth, while the bay 

 itself, which is six leagues in length, almost north and south, four at its 

 greatest width, and thirty-two in circumference, is beautified with a great num- 

 ber of islands, and has depth for the reception of the largest fleets. It may be 

 said to be divided into two emboucheurs, as the island of Lage, occupied by a 

 fort of the same name, is situated about the centre. The entrance of the bay is 

 commanded by the additional fort of St. Cruz, on the east, and the batteries of 

 St. Joze and St. Theodozio, on the western side, near an immense naked rock, 

 already mentioned, which is ninety-seven fathoms in perpendicular altitude, and 



