PROVINCE OF PARAHIBA. 



401 



sand bags of five to five and a half arrobas each ; and in the year 1820 it was 

 confidently anticipated to reach twenty to twenty-four thousand bags. 



The campinhas of this province, which afford cattle to the capital, and in 

 part to Pernambuco and Bahia, when visited by two or three succeeding seasons 

 of drought, entirely lose their vegetation, and the streams disappear, so that a 

 mortality ensues amongst the cattle, carrying them off in great numbers. 



The governor of this city is endeavouring to effect some improvement in the 

 roads, or rather tracks, through the province, which are in the same lamentable 

 condition as in all other districts, and it is sincerely to be wished that his efforts 

 may not be fruitless. He has issued orders for all individuals to make roads 

 through their lands. 



Ten miles from this city, and upon the margin of the same river, is the con- 

 siderable arraial of St. Rita, with a hermitage so called. 



Pilar do Taypu, forty miles above the capital upon the left bank of the 

 Parahiba, is ornamented with a church of N. Senhora of Pilar, Cariri was its 

 primitive name, when an aldeia of Indians, its first inhabitants, and who even 

 at this day form, with their descendants, the principal portion of its population, 

 cultivating in its environs a good quantity of cotton, mandioca, &c. 



Nine miles from it is the arraial and parish of Tayabanna, upon the margin of 

 the same river ; and ten miles to the north is that of Cannufistula, with a hermi- 

 tage ; both grow much cotton. Gurunhem is upon a small river of the same 

 name, with a chapel of N. Senhora of Rozario. 



Near the Parahiba, and two miles from the town of Pilar, is the parish of St. 

 Miguel ; cotton is the wealth of its parishioners. 



Alhandra, originally Urathauhy, is a middhng town, and well situated near 

 the river Capibary, nine miles north-east of Goyanna, and seven from the sea ; 

 it has a church dedicated to N. Senhora of Assump^ao. Its inhabitants are 

 composed of Indians and whites, pure and intermixed, and are agriculturists 

 and fishermen. 



Villa do Conde, formerly Japoca, is yet small and without any thing remark- 

 able. It has a church of the Lady of Concei9ao, and is about eighteen miles 

 south of the capital, and near fifteen from the sea. Its inhabitants, Indians, 

 whites, and mesticos, cultivate divers necessaries of life, and draw their water 

 from a good fountain. 



The town of St. Miguel, situated near a lake in the proximity of the bay of 

 Trahicao, has the aspect of a small aldeia. Its church is dedicated to the 



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