42(j 



PROVINCE OF PIAUHY. 



and the vast possessions thus acquired by the entrance of various parties, 

 received the denomination of Certam. It is said that he established above fifty 

 fazendas for the breeding of large cattle, and that he gave away and sold many 

 during his life. It is however certain, that at his death, he left thirty, and 

 appointed the Jesuits of the College of Bahia administrators of them, order, 

 ing the revenues of eleven to be appropriated for dowries to young virgins, to 

 the clothing of widows, and to succour other necessities of the poor. With the 

 rest they were to augment the number of fazendas, but it is said that they only 

 established three more. With the extinction of this sect, the whole passed 

 under the administration of the crown, and are preserved in the same state 

 by the inspection of three administrators, each having eleven fazendas in 

 his jurisdiction, with three hundred milreas of salary. They occupy the 

 territory through which the rivers Piauhy and Caninde flow, from the boundary 

 of the province to the north of the capital, in the vicinity of which there are 

 some principal ones. The privilege of forming establishments within their lands 

 is not granted to any one, where the slaves of the fazendas work alone for 

 their subsistence and clothing. The cattle arriving at a certain age are con- 

 ducted by the purchasers principally to Bahia and its reconcave. Those of 

 the northern district descend to Maranham, others are driven to Pernambuco. 



Mountains. — This province h^s no serras of any consequence, if we except 

 the Cordillera which limits it on the east, and that from whence emanate the 

 divers branches of the Parnahiba. In the interior alone there are trifling hills, 

 and some small morros, which even in the country have not acquired any 

 names. 



The serra denominated Dois Irmaos consists of two small mounts in the 

 southern confines, between which the road passes from the capital to the river 

 St. Francisco. 



Mineralogy. — Gold, iron, lead, copperas, pumice stone, saltpetre, mineral 

 salt, magnete, talc, grindstone, red lead, parget, potters' earth, and abun- 

 dance of calcareous stone. 



Rivers. — The river Parnahiba is formed of three currents of the same name, 

 the origins of which are in the skirts or proximity of the serra which limits the 

 province on the south-west. Its first tributary is the river Balsas, the only one 

 which joins it by the left margin. A short distance below this confluence, the 

 river Urussuhy enters it on the right, and comes from the same serra. Eighty 

 miles lower, the Gurguea is incorporated with it ; one hundred miles further it 

 receives the Caninde, and twenty more, the Poty. After one hundred and 



