NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



153 



contributes to the same river. The Tacoary, or Hole of the Rock, the 

 Galaguay, and the IVIiranay, fall into the Uruguay ; the former of them 

 is a considerable stream. The Jaguary, or Water of Ounces, is placed by 

 Cazal among the rivers of this province ; I think, erroneously. 



One of the most considerable Lakes of the country is caUed Ibera, or 

 Yby'ra, the lower place, and is formed by the water of the upper part of 

 the Parana. In the dry season, it covers an extent of about a hundred 

 and fifty square leagues, and aU around the land supplies abundance of 

 food for cattle ; but, about a month after the rains have commenced in 

 the upper country, that is, in December, the Yby'ra swells to a vast 

 extent, covering hardly less than two thousand square leagues. At this 

 period, it is said to communicate with both the Paraguay and the 

 Uruguay ; a circumstance, which, if correctly stated, indicates that 

 these streams once united there; and that the lower grounds have 

 been formed by their concurrent operation, continued for ages. Higher 

 up, on the same river, and in the midst of the woods, is another lake 

 called the Jagape, but little more is known of it than its name, and that 

 chiefly from the report of people dwelling in its neighbourhood, who 

 occasionally find their way to Rio de Janeiro. The former of these lakes 

 seems to have been confounded by Cazal with that of Xarays, which is 

 larger than the Yby'ra, and lies more to the Northward, is an expansion 

 of the Paraguay, and is manifestly formed by the channel being too 

 naiTow to carry off the waters, as they come down. 



The Parana and Paraguay, rolling impetuously through a very 



extended course, bring down a great quantity of wreck, and soil of a 



reddish colour. When they have arrived at the more level grounds, and 



their currents are become comparatively slow, much of it is deposited ; 



there it remains until the next wet season, when it is again urged onward 



by a resistless torrent, which not only sweeps the bottom, but frets and 



tears the banks, which had before been raised. The Uruguay, an humbler 



stream, passes over a stony bed, but before its union with the Plata, has 



formed its own peculiar estuary. In the course of ages, these rivers have 



produced some of the most extensive alluvial plains, which now exist 



u 



