PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL. 



£ail, which is ten leagues below the confluence of the Ibicui. Canoes advance 

 as far up as the centre of the vaccarias, or cattle-plains, not, however, without 

 immense labour, occasioned by the many cataracts and rapid currents. 



The river Ibicui rises in the plains of Japoguassu, and, after running many 

 leagues to the west, turns northward for a space of twenty-five leagues, aug-^ 

 menting considerably by the junction of many rivers, one of them being the 

 river Caziquey ; a little below which confluence the Toropy joins it, which 

 is larger, and comes from the cattle plains, flowing south-west, and bringing 

 with it the river Ibicui-Mirim, that joins it on the left a little higher up. At this 

 confluence, called Forquilha, (Three-pronged,) where the Ibicui becomes con- 

 siderable, it turns to the west, and gradually augments in importance, so that 

 much above its embouchure it is four hundred fathoms wide ; a little below tbe 

 Forquilha it is joined on the right by the Jaguari, a considerable stream, which 

 also comes from the before-mentioned vaccarias. Its banks are covered with wild 

 shrubs and trees ; the tortuous channel has many islands, the current almost 

 always tranquil, and navigable nearly to the heads of those rivers which form it. 



The river Negro has its origin very near to that of the Ibicui, runs always 

 to the south-west, is enlarged by the receipt of a number of streams, a»d 

 incorporates itself with the Uruguay five leagues before that river eatci^ 

 the Paraguay, or Plate, after having watered eighty leagues of country, 

 abounding, for the major part, in cattle : its largest confluent is the Hy, 

 which it receives nearly twenty leagues above its mouth, after a course of thirty- 

 six leagues, from east to west, through a country rich in pasturage and cattle. 



The river St. Luzia takes a course, for nearly forty leagues, through a country 

 similarly abundant, and disembogues four leagues to the west of Monte Video, 

 having received by the right bank, a little higher up, the St. Joze, with which 

 it becomes wide, deep, and navigable, with a good port at its mouth. 



7'he river Jacuhy (from the bird Jacus) is formed, on the western side of the cattle- 

 plains, by a union of various streams, which irrigate those campos, and from 

 whence it issues being already considerable. A few leagues after having traversed 

 the General Serra it flows eastward, describing innumerable windings for a 

 sp?!-ce of thirty leagues and on a sudden turns towards the south. After a further 

 course of fifteen miles, having become a large river, it enters the western side 

 of the lake Patos, about four leagues below its northern extremity. Amongst 

 other smaller streams which swell its waters, after issuing from the serra, is the 

 Vaccahy, which rises a few leagues to the north of the Ibicui-Gua9u, and 

 brings with it the Vaccahy-Mirim, which has its origin a short distance from 



