Cavalcante, a flourishing arraial, founded in 1740, has a church of St. Anna, two hermidas of the Lady of Rozario and Boa Morte, and is seventy miles to the east of St. Feliz, near a small river which runs to the Parannan, under the name of Rio das Almas. It is the head of the julgado, well provided with water, and has a smelting house transferred from St. Feliz. Its inhabitants form five companies of militia. It has a rich quarry, but deep and difficult to work. It would become important in the hands of an opulent company, and directed by intelligent persons. Cattle are bred within its district. Mandioca, Indian corn, some wheat, and cotton, are the articles of cultivation.
Seventy miles to the north of St. Feliz, and not far removed from the mouth of the river Palma, is the arraial of Conceiçao, with a church of the same name. It is the head of the julgado: the people who inhabit it are miners, breeders of cattle, farmers of such necessaries of life as prosper best in the country, and form four companies of militia. It is very deficient in good water. Within its district is the small arraial of Principe, with a hermitage.
Arrayas is an arraial in a state of mediocrity, head of the julgado, has a church of Our Lady of Remedios, was founded in the year 1740, and is fifty miles to the north-east of Cavalcante, near the origin of the river from which it derives the name. Its environs are in great part mountainous, and abound with cattle, which constitute the wealth of the inhabitants, who are formed into four companies of militia.
Twenty-five miles to the south-east of Arrayas, near a small river which runs into the Parannan, is the small arraial of Morro do Chapeo, founded in 1779. A neighbouring mount, similar in appearance to a hat, (chapeo,) and from which gold is extracted, was the origin of its name. Cattle constitute the riches of the inhabitants.
Forty miles to the east of Morro do Chapeo, and in the skirts of the serra of its name, is the arraial and freguezia of St. Domingos, in the vicinity of which there is a rock of remarkable height and appearance. Its inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate a variety of the necessaries of life.
A little to the east, upon the limits of the province, there is a detachment to prevent the embezzlement of gold.
Flores is a middling and well supplied arraial, and head of the julgado, has a church of Our Lady of Conceiçao, and a hermida of Rozario, with a brotherhood of blacks. It is seventy miles to the south-east of Cavalcante, near the right margin of the river Parannan, in a fertile situation. Cattle and horses are the principal riches of its inhabitants.
Within its extensive bounds is situated the aldeia of Matto Grosso, with a hermitage of the Lady of Piedade; and the small arraial of St. Roza, with another hermitage of that saint; and in whose district is a remarkable cavern, with many stalactites, or crystallizations of different forms.
Ninety miles to the south of Flores, and two miles from a lake denominated Lagoa Feia, is the arraial of Coiros, formerly the head of the julgado, which pre-eminence, in 1774, was transferred to Cavalcante. It has a church dedicated to St. Luzia, and a hermida, where the blacks celebrate the festival of Our Lady of Rozario. Within its extensive limits, large herds of cattle are bred.
A law emanated on the 25th February, 1814, for the foundation of a town to be called St. Joam da Palma, in a situation determined upon at the embouchure of the river of the same name, to become the head of the comarca of St. Joam das Duas Barras. In order to give it an immediate commencement, and to accelerate its augmentation, all individuals were exempted from payment of the dizimos for the space of ten years who erected a house for their own habitation in this town, or within the circle marked for its limits. By the same law, the town of St. Joam das Duas Barras, ordered to be founded by a decree in 1809, was to become subject to this town.