108 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



They are exceedingly alarmed at the report of a gun. Two soldiers, equipped 

 Avith jackets, stuffed with cotton and quilted, (which are almost impenetrable to 

 the arrows of the Indian,) and with muskets, very recently proceeded from Villa 

 Rica, (in Minas Geraes,) and penetrated as far as this district, through 

 the woods covering the fertile territory on both banks of the Parahiba, to the 

 possession of which the ounce assumes a right as well as the savage. 



Of the ancient tribes the Puris is the principal one now remaining in those 

 uncleared regions. It is a lamentable circumstance that the Brazilian govern- 

 ment does not adopt some effectual plan to render these extensive and fertile 

 territories of the Parahiba subservient to the wants of civilized man. The 

 absence of comfort in the houses of the planters in the Goytacaze district is very 

 conspicuous, and they have yet much to learn in the school of hospitality. 



St. Gon^alo and St. Sebastiam are parishes of this district, both situated 

 upon the Parahiba, and a few leagues distant from the principal town. 



The district of Canta Gallo (Singing Cock) is a territory of great fertility, and 

 irrigated by many rivers and smaller streams, which issue from the Organ 

 Mountains, its southern limit, and discharge themselves into the Parahiba, 

 which separates it from Minas Geraes on the north. It is bounded on the east 

 by a continuation of the Organ range, which divides it from Goytacazes ; and 

 on the west by the river Piabanha, which separates it from Parahiba Nova. It 

 has mines of gold, for the working of which the first colony was established in 

 the year 1785. The fifths on the gold, rendered to the crown, in the four 

 following years, were above ten thousand cruzades ; and the duty upon agri- 

 cultural productions amounted to eight thousand in the same period. 



Amongst its rivers may be remarked the Pequequera, well stored with fish 

 and navigable for the space of twenty miles; the Rio Negro, little less volumi- 

 nous, and navigable for an equal distance, and also abounding with fish ; the 

 Bengales ; and one called Rio Grande. 



The major part of the territory, up to the epoch of its colonization, was 

 under the dominion of the Coroado Indians, the remains of the ancient 

 Goytacazes, at present not numerous, and allied to the conquerors. Their 

 houses are large, constructed of timber and earth ; they are of extraordinary 

 length, covered with grass, or the bark of trees, with one door only, and with- 

 out a single window. One of these rudely-constructed edifices will contain 

 fifty, sometimes eighty, and even one hundred families. Generally each house 

 constitutes an aldeia ; very rarely two are met with together. Every morning, 

 at the break of day, on hearing the song of a species of partridge, called 



