264 



PROVINCE OF MINAS GERAES. 



sustain themselves upon charity, and the productions of the adjacent land, 

 where they raise cattle and rye. The edifice is of stone ; the church of elegant 

 architecture, and dedicated to Our Lady May dos Homens (Mother of Men). In 

 the garden there are various European fruit trees, such as the apple, pear, plum, 

 cherry, quince, chestnut, olive, and walnut ; also trees from the oak to the yellow 

 broom and furze. The land is watered by various rivulets, which after uniting 

 flow to the Percicaba. In its vicinity is the serra of Itaubira, which terminates 

 in two rocky pyramids. Between the river Doce and the Parahiba, there is an 

 extensive branch of the Mantiqueira serra, from whence emanate many torrents i 

 the Serra Frecheira is the name of a portion. 



Rivers. — The Doce, which is the largest of the comarca, has its origin in the 

 serra of Mantiqueira. After flowing for a considerable space to the north-north- 

 east, under the name of Chopoto, it receives the Piranga, which runs from the 

 serra of Oiro Branco ; afterwards the Giiallacho, formed by two streams of the 

 same name distinguished by the appellations of north and south, and which issue 

 from the serra of Oiro Preto. At this confluence it inclines to the east, and 

 gathers the Bombaca and the Percicaba, which flow from the west, and have 

 their sources in the Serra Lappa. Here it takes the name by which it enters the 

 ocean. A little lower it is united also on the left, by the considerable river St. 

 Antonio, which comes from the north-west, traversing an extensive territory, 

 abounding mainly in cattle. Of the streams which form it, some descend from 

 the Serra Lapa, others from Serro Frio. Ten miles further, it is joined on the 

 same side by the Corrente, which flows from Serro Frio, with more than one 

 hundred miles of course. Thirty miles lower, it receives the large Sassuhy, 

 whose heads emanate from the serras of Serro Frio and Esmeraldas ; its margins 

 are thinly inhabited. After it follows the Laranjeiras, in the same direction, 

 between woods abounding with wild beasts and savages. The Cuyate, which 

 runs north-east, is the largest of those which enter it on the right ; its mouth is 

 a little below the preceding, and it gives the name to an interior district 

 inhabited by Indians. The Manhuassu, (which some say is larger than Cuyate,) 

 after flowing through large woods north-eastward, and bounding the certam of 

 Cuyate, is lost in the Doce, a little above the Escadinhas. 



Amongst others, the Doce has four remarkable falls : Escura, a little below the 

 mouth of the Percicaba ; Magoaris, a short way below the Corrente ; Ibiturunas, 

 a short distance above the Sassuhy; and Inferno, between the confluences of the 

 Cuyate and tlie Manhuassu. The adjacent territory of this fine river is mostly 

 Qf great fertility ; in some places the root of the mandioca grows to a prodigious 



