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Chingu, that, after mounting the first large falls of this river, much 

 gold was found in it, of which the Jesuits, those great explorers, ob- 

 tained a large quantity. It is probable that the now unknown 

 Minas dos Martirios, famous as the first discovery made by Bart". 

 Bueno, and of which I have heard repeated mention in St. Paul's, 

 exist onl^y on some of the many branches that form the river Chingu. 

 For this enterprising man, after having discovered those mines, re- 

 turning to St. Paul's in order to engage negroes and provide imple- 

 ments for extracting those abundant treasures, which to this day 

 continue to elude the searches of others, retraced his course ; but 

 passing by the mines of Cuiaba, which had been just discovered and 

 were found wonderfully productive, he was there deserted by the 

 greatest part of his followers. Fearing that he should lose the rest 

 also, he turned eastward, and, in his anxiety to avoid the mines of 

 Cuiaba, got still fLirther from those of Dos Martirios, until he lost 

 himself in the immense wastes, wherein he wandered many months, 

 and at length accidentally found th€ mines of Goiaz, which his 

 father had before seen. These, like all the rest, proved very pro- 

 ductive at the beginning. 



This rich and new discovery soon diverted the attention of adven- 

 turers from the preceding ; and the route to the Minas dos Martirios, 

 together with their positive situation, have long been lost in a vague 

 tradition of their existence. As the place was explored without the 

 assistance of a compass, or any of the means necessary for defining 

 its geographical position, there could not but prevail much doubt 

 and uncertainty respecting it. Now there is no such discovery on 

 the river Tocantins, which comprehends the whole capitania of 

 Goiaz : the first account places it near a river, which indeed runs 

 into the Amazons, like the Tocantins, but which was sought for 

 passing near the upper branches, and west of the river Cuiaba, a 

 situation in which the river Chingu alone is found ; other explorers 

 place it on the Araguay, which renders it useless to look there, 

 for it is more than two hundred leagues north-west of the place 



