PROVINCE OF GOYAZ. 



Lady of Merces are its only places of worship. It was commenced about the 

 year 1732, in the frontier situation, where some vestiges remain. An epidemi- 

 cal disease, produced by standing and putrid pools of water, occasioned by the 

 floods of the Maranham, led those who wished to escape with hfe to the place 

 where this arraial is now situated. It was not unusual for fifty to die in one day. 

 A numerous herd of oxen arriving from St. Paulo, for the supply of this arraial, 

 where they were collected at night, and pastured in its environs during the day, 

 was the cause, it is stated, of this contagion ceasing. The gold, which was so 

 abundant at first, induced an assemblage here of twelve thousand persons. 

 Amongst other pieces of considerable size, one was found of forty-three pounds 

 weight, which was transmitted to the court, in the same form that nature pre- 

 sented it. This rarity was placed in the Royal Museum of Lisbon; and 

 became the booty of the French army when in that city. There are some fright- 

 ful caverns upon the margins of this lake, the outlet from which is a small 

 perennial stream, not experiencing any diminution during the droughts. 



Fifteen miles to the east-north-east of Aguaquente is the arraial of Cocal, so 

 called from its great number of cocoa trees, and situated near a small river 

 which loses itself in the Maranham. Whilst gold was abundant this place 

 flourished, but it is now very inconsiderable. The arraial of Trahiras, twenty 

 miles to the north-east of Aguaquente, large and flourishing, is the head of 

 thejulgado; it was founded in 1735, upon the left margin, and twenty miles 

 above the mouth of the river that gives it the name. It has a church of Nossa 

 Senhora da Concei^ao, a hermitage of Bom Jesus, and another of Our Lady of 

 Rozario, It is well supplied with meat, fish, and the agricultural productions 

 of the country. 



Five miles to the north-east of Trahiras, is the middling arraial of St. Joze de 

 Tucantines, improperly so denominated, being nearly thirty miles distant from 

 that river. It was founded in 1735, near the left margin of the river Bacalhau, 

 and has two hermitages of Our Lady of Boa Morte and of Rozario, and another 

 of St. Efigenia. Its church is the most magnificent temple in the province. 

 There is a brotherhood of the Lord dos Passos* privileged by Pope Clement XIII. 



About twelve miles to the east of the preceding is the small arraial of 

 Cachoeira, to which a cataract furnished the name, Cachoeira being founded 

 near it, upon the margin of the river, in the year 1736. 



* Passo is a picture or image representing some of our Saviour's sufterings. 



