430 



PROVINCE OF PIAUHY. 



Oeyras, to Which King Joseph gave the title of city, with this appellation, in 

 honour of his celebrated secretary, the first count of that name, was denominated 

 vmtil then the town of Mocha, having been so created in the reign of John V. about 

 the year 1718; and, although it has been from this period the capital of the 

 province, it does not yet surpass a small town ; but is well enough supplied, and 

 well situated near the right margin of a stream, which, three miles lower, 

 falls into the Caninde. It is two hundred and fifty miles to the south of St. 

 Joam de Parnahiba, and upwards of three hundred to the south-south-east of 

 St. Luiz of Maranham ; one hundred and forty in the same direction from 

 Cachias ; and between six and seven hundred miles to the west of the town of 

 Pernambuco. The church is dedicated to the Lady of Victory, and it has also 

 the hermitages of Concei^ao and Rozario. The houses are generally of clay 

 and timber, whitened with potters' earth ; and the greater part of its inhabitants 

 are Europeans. 



Parnahiba, a middling town, and the principal in the province, is advan- 

 tageously situated upon a point on the right margin of the eastern branch of 

 the river from which its name is borrowed, in sandy ground, fifteen miles from 

 the sea. It has some houses of one story, which are not seen in any other towns 

 of the province ; and the streets are generally unpaved. It is the deposit of a 

 great quantity of cotton and hides, and has a church dedicated to the Lady of 

 Graca. The inhabitants draw their water from the river or from cacimbas, and 

 are frequently attacked with fevers. In 1811, it became the residence of a Juiz 

 de Fora, and a custom-house was at the same time established. Within its 

 district large and excellent melons grow, also water-melons throughout the 

 year. 



Campo Maior is a town in a state of mediocrity, well situated upon the margin, 

 and eight miles above the embouchure of the small river Sorubira, of which it 

 formerly had the name. It is thirty miles distant from Parnahiba, near a pro- 

 found lake, stored with fish and good water. Besides the church dedicated to 

 St. Antonio, it has a hermitage of the Lady of Rozario. The small river Mara- 

 tahoan washes its district, from the bed of which are drawn excellent grind- 

 stones. The inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate cotton and the necessaries 

 of life. 



Vallenca, primitively Catinguinha, is a small town, situated upon an insigni- 

 ficant stream, which fifteen miles lower enters the river St. Victor. Its church is 

 dedicated to the Lady of O. Within its district there is saltpetre, and good 



