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adapted for cultivation, and has rich mines, but in some places little 

 water to work them in dry weather. They were discovered in 1718, 

 and have been estimated to produce annually above twenty arrobas 

 of gold of extremely fine quality. 



Twenty leagues south-west of the town of Cuiaba is the settlement 

 of St. Pedro del Rey, the largest of all the adjacent settlements, 

 and contains full 2,000 inhabitants It is situated near the western 

 side of the rivulet Bento Gomez, which, at the distance of a league 

 and a half south of the settlement, forms a large bay, called Rio de 

 Janeiro. The river Cuiaba has its sources forty leagues above the 

 town, and its banks are cultivated through the greater part of its ex- 

 tent, including fourteen leagues below the town, down the stream. 

 Four leagues below the principal mouth of the river Porrudos, the 

 Paraguay is bordered by the mountains that separate it from Gaiba 

 on its western bank, and in this place they obtain the appellation of 

 Serra das Pedras de Amolar, from being composed of a stone of 

 which whet-stones are made. This is the only spot which is not in- 

 undated by the floods of the river, and is therefore much visited by 

 the canoes that navigate it. These Serras terminate two leagues to 

 the south in those of the Dourados, immediately below which there 

 is a channel on the west side of the Paragua}', which, piercing be- 

 tween two high detached mounts, called Cheines, leads to the lake 

 Mendiuri, six leagues long, and the largest on the Paraguay. 



From the Dourados the Paraguay runs southward to the Serras of 

 Albuquerque, where it touches directly on the northern point, on 

 which is situated a town of that name. These Serras form a com- 

 pact square of ten leagues, and contain much calcareous stone ; 

 the land is considered the best on either side the Paraguay, from 

 the river downwards, and only equalled by that on the western mar- 

 gins of the lakes Mandiuri and Gaiba. From Albuquerque the 

 Paraguay turns to the east, skirting its Serras, which terminate at the 

 end of six leagues in the Serra do Rabicho, opposite which, on the 

 north bank of the river, is situated the lower southern mouth of the 



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