278 



PROVINCE OF MINAS GERAES. 



About twelve miles from Sahara there is a lake, two miles long and nearly one 

 in width, whose crystalline and tepid waters, having been an antidote in many 

 diseases, acquired it the name of the Holy Lake. In its centre there are various 

 springs; and when not agitated, its surface is covered with a pellicle or thin skin 

 of the colour of mercury, which disappears by blowing upon it, and leaves the 

 lips silvered over of those who drink it. It is discharged at the northern ex- 

 tremity by an outlet into the river Velhas, which is five miles distant. 



Fifteen miles north of Sahara, and a mile from the Velhas, is the large and 

 flourishing freguezia or parish of Santa Luzia, ornamented with five Catholic 

 temples, and whose .inhabitants, amounting to thirteen thousand eight hundred 

 and sixty-seven, are well supplied with its produce of agriculture, mines, 

 and cattle. 



Villa Nova da Raynha, created a town in 1714, but better known by its 

 primitive name of Caethe, which in the Brazilian language signifies an impervious 

 wood, is a middling place, well and agreeably situated in plain ground, near a 

 small stream, ornamented with a handsome church dedicated to the Lord of 

 Bom Successo, a chapel of the Lady of Rozario, and another of St. Francisco. 

 There are fifteen judicial appointments here. The revenue of the camara is 

 eight thousand crusades. The inhabitants, amounting to five thousand two 

 hundred and seventy-one, are miners, breeders of cattle, and agriculturists; 

 they respire a salubrious air, raise various European fruits, and form, with the 

 three parishes of St. Miguel, St. Barbara, and St. Joao de Morro Grande, con- 

 taining twenty-nine thousand inhabitants, seventeen companies of white mi- 

 litia, seven of mulattoes, and some squadrons of free blacks. It is twelve 

 miles east-south-east of Sahara, and has in its suburbs good argils and 

 potteries. 



Pitangui is in a state of mediocrity, upon the right margin of the Para, three 

 miles below the confluence of the St. Joao, and is well supplied with fish, meat, 

 and all the agricultural productions of the country. It was erected into a town in 

 1715, has two hermitages, and a church of the Lady of Pilar; a Juiz de Fora, 

 and an escrivao of the conductors of gold. The camara has three thousand 

 crusades of revenue. This town is one hundred miles north of St. Joao d' el Key, 

 and nearly eighty west-north-west of Sahara. Its inhabitants, amounting to 

 nineteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and those of its widely extend- 

 ing district, (including only one other parish, Nossa Senhora das Dores, with 

 one thousand four hundred and nineteen persons,) raise large quantities of cattle, 

 horses, hogs, and sheep, and have extensive plantations of the cotton tree and 



