( 214 ) 



to the house of the governor, or chief magistrate, who received me 

 very pohtely, and introduced me to his lady and a party of friends, 

 with whom I took tea. 



Villa do Principe was established as a comarco, or district, in the 

 year 1730, when the gold-washings were most productive : but it 

 dates its origin fifteen years earlier, at which period the place was 

 discovered by the Paulistas, who had then commenced to migrate 

 from Villa Rica and the adjacent settlements. The town at present 

 contains about five thousand inhabitants, the most considerable pro- 

 portion of whom are shopkeepers, and the rest artisans, farmers, 

 miners, and labourers. Here is a house of permutation, to which 

 every miner in the district brings the gold he obtains, and pays the 

 royal fifth, as is done in Villa Rica. The ouvidor holds the office of 

 mint-master, which renders his situation one of the best in the gift of 

 the crown. Here are several inferior officers belonging to various 

 departments of the public service. As this town is situated very 

 near the confines of the Diamond District, and on the high road 

 leading to it, the strictest regulations prevail respecting the passage 

 of all persons thither. No one, except travellers on business, with 

 certificates to that effect, is suffered to proceed, until a formal notifi- 

 cation has been made to the governor of that district ; the laws of 

 which are so strict, that any person found within it, out of the regu- 

 lar road, is liable to be apprehended on suspicion, and subjected to 

 an examination, which frequently occasions much trouble and delay. 



The country around Villa do Principe is very fine and open, being 

 free from those impenetrable woods, which occur so frequently in 



the cascalhao then lay near the surface, and required very little trouble to get at, one washer 

 could clear about twelve bowls-ful per hour, which was considered a comparatively rich 

 return. 



In the mines they have two methods of estimating the quantity produced : for example ; 

 Quatro Vengtems here mean four vengtems of gold, which is equal to eight of copper j 

 whereas, in Rio de Janeiro, the same expression implies four vengtems of copper. 



