PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE. 



409 



streets are of deep sand ; and it is dignified with the title of a city, which it 

 received at its foundation by the Phihps. It has, as usual, various places of 

 worship, a palace for the governors, a town-house, and a prison. It is advan- 

 tageously situated upon the right margin of the Rio Grande, near two miles 

 above its mouth, which is defended by the fort of Reys Majos, seated upon 

 the southern point, and becoming an island with the high tides. The Dutch 

 possessed themselves of this city in 1633, and gave it an ostrich for arms, in 

 allusion to the multiplicity of those birds with which the province at that time 

 abounded. In its environs cotton, Indian corn, feijao, and mandioca are cul- 

 tivated, with some rice and sugar. 



Arez, originally Groahyras, is a small town, with a church dedicated to St. 

 John the Baptist, and about thirty-five miles south of the capital, near a lake 

 of its primitive name, and twenty miles distant from the sea. The inhabitants 

 are almost all fishermen and respire a salubrious air. The channel which the 

 Dutch projected opening from this lake to the beach of Tibau, only distant two 

 miles, and which would save a navigation of flfieeii or eighteen miles by 

 the Tareyry, is yet unexecuted. In the district of Arez is the povoa^ao of 

 Goyaninha, (Little Goyanna,) larger than the town, from which it is distant 

 ten miles. It is inhabited by whites, and has a church of Nossa Senhora of 

 Prazeres. 



Villaflor, at first called Grammacio, is an indifferent town, inhabited by 

 agricultural Indians and whites, with a church of the Lady of Desterro. It is 

 forty miles to the south of the capital and three from the sea, near the river 

 Cunhau, which supplies it with water. 



Estremoz, formerly Guajiru, is a town of the same class as the preceding, 

 well situated near a lake ten miles long and two wide. It is ten miles from the 

 sea and as far north-west of the capital, with a mother church, having for 

 patrons St. Michael and the Lady of Pleasures. The inhabitants are composed 

 of whites, Indians, and mesticos. In the district of Estremoz, upon the 

 northern coast, near the mouth of a small river, is the flourishing povoa^ao of 

 Toiros, occupied by whites, and ornamented with a chapel of Lord Jesus of the 

 Navigators. From its port, where small vessels arrive, cotton is exported. 



Villa Nova da Princeza, primarily Assu, is well situated on the left bank of 

 the river Parinhas, twenty-five miles above its mouth, and is the most consider- 

 able and trading town of the western part; hyates frequent its port. Besides 

 a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist there is a hermitage of the Lady of 

 Rozario. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate the same productions as 



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