PROVINCE OF MATTO GROSSO. 



201 



" his Catholic Majesty know how to respect the laws of humanity, an opportu- 

 " nity is oftered, and your Honour is required to surrender the fort to the 

 " arms of the King my master ; on the contrary the cannon and the sword will 

 " decide the fate of Coimbra, and its unfortunate garrison will suffer all the 

 " extremities of war, from which calamity it will see itself delivered, if your 

 " Honour complies with my proposal. Furnish me with your decision cate- 

 " gorically, in the course of one hour. On board of the Escuna, Nossa Sen- 

 " hora do Carmo, 17th of September, 1801. 



" Don Lazaro da Ribera." 



" Coimbra, 17th September, 1801. 

 " I have the honour to reply categorically to your Excellency, that the 

 " inequality of force always was a stimulus which greatly animated the Portu- 

 " guese not to forsake their posts, and to defend themselves to the two 

 " extremities, either of repelling the enemy, or burying themselves below the 

 " ruins of forts confided to them. In this resolution are all the individuals of 

 " this prezidio, who have the distinguished honour of seeing in front of it the 

 " exalted person of your Excellency, whom God preserve. 



" Ricardo Franco d Almeida." 



The assailants withdrew with some loss, after being nine days ineffectually 

 attempting to carry the fort. 



This province, which lies between the parallel of 7° where it joins that of 

 Para, and 24° 30' of south latitude where it borders upon that of Paranna, 

 occupies a territory of nearly eleven hundred miles from north to south, with 

 almost eight hundred at its greatest width, being more extensive than ancient 

 Germany. 



On its western limits it has the Spanish possessions, from which it is sepa- 

 rated by the rivers Guapore, Jauru, and Paraguay, and on the eastern the river 

 Paranna, which divides it from the province of St. Paulo, and the Araguaya, 

 which separates it from that of Goyaz. It comprises nearly four climates, 

 entering twenty leagues into the temperate zone. A country so extensive 

 necessarily admits of a considerable variety in every point of view in which it 

 can be regarded. Nature itself has partitioned it into three grand districts, or 

 comarcas, of which two are divided into six smaller ones, and their limits (also 

 natural) will become, perhaps, on some future day, those appropriated for the 

 formation of the same number of ouvidorias, when the accumulation of its 

 population may render such a measure desirable, 



D D 



