70 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



protect the fazenda against the attacks of the neigh- 

 bouring Cujapos, and to assist travellers in convey- 

 ing their effects over the isthmus. 



From this fazenda, the boats proceed down the 

 shallow little river Camapuao with only half their 

 cargo, till they reach the deeper Rio Cochim. On 

 this river, whicli winds between steep cliflis and 

 rocks, they have again to pass two and twenty ra- 

 pids and falls, some of which make it necessary 

 entirely to unload the boat; others, to take out half 

 the cargo. From the Cochim. they come into the 

 Tacoary, a considerable river, which is generally 

 about seventy fathoms broad, and has only two 

 falls, the second of which, Belliago, is the last of 

 the hundred and thirteen which the boats have to 

 pass from Porto Feliz to Cujaba. This river comes 

 down with numerous windings through pleasant 

 grassy plains, into the lowlands, towards the Para- 

 guay, and empties itself by many mouths into the 

 main stream. In former times it was frequently 

 visited by the Payagoas Indians, who came from the 

 lower Paraguay to attack travellers. In order to 

 be able to make an effectual defence, all the canoes 

 which undertake the voyage at the same time, 

 usually assemble in the harbour of Pouzo Alegre, 

 from which they proceed, under the direction 

 of an admiral, chosen from their own body. All 

 travellers agree in the praise of these countries, 

 where they say that the stranger is constantly sur- 

 prised by an abundance of new and remarkable 



