The major part of the cattle bred in this district are consumed in the reconcave of Bahia, and in the comarca of the Ilheos.
District of Rio das Velhas.
This district, to which one of the rivers that traverse it lends the name, is bounded on the north by the district of Parannan, on the south by the province of St. Paulo, on the east by that of Minas Geraes, and on the west by the districts of Goyaz and Cayaponia. It is three hundred and fifty miles from north to south, and one hundred and seventy of medium width.
Besides the river which affords it the name, and those which serve for its western and southern limits, it contains numerous others. Upon the road of Meia Ponte to St. Paulo, amongst other small ones, are the Capivary, which is forded with difficulty even in dry weather, the Pyracanjuba, the Peixe, (both with bridges,) all three discharging themselves into the Corumba by the right bank; the Braco do Verissimo; the Verissimo, which receives the former; the Parannahiba; and the small stream of Furnas, that flows through a plain, and on a sudden is precipitated twenty fathoms into a profound abyss. A variety of birds build their nests in the cavities of the rock, and rear their young, in sight, and amidst the murmuring sounds of this fine cataract. The Furnas discharges itself soon afterwards into the Rio das Velhas. The two Uberavas, verdadeiro, (the real one,) which runs into the preceding, and the falso, (or false,) that enters the Rio Grande. The small river Inferno which issues from the serra of Canastra, and enters the Rio das Velhas by the left; the river Quebra Anzoes, that originates on the confines of Minas Geraes, and also unites itself with the Rio das Velhas by the right margin; but none of them reach the road, near which the river Prata and the Tijuco rise, and, after uniting, enter the river Parannahiba a considerable distance below the confluence of the Rio das Velhas.
On the road of Paracatu is met with (besides the afore-mentioned Corumba) the river Areas, the Montes Claros, the Pont’ Alta, (all with bridges,) and the St. Bartholomew. The whole are stored with a diversity of fish, and flow southward.
In the most northern part of the district is the river Almas, the Peixe, which unites with the first by the right, and the Patos, that flows along and to the east of the serra Negra, and afterwards joins the Maranham a few leagues above the arraial of Aguaquente. These rivers possess the same fish as the Tucantines.
The territory lying between the two Uberavas is a plain of thirty-five miles in width, without the least elevation above the horizon, and absolutely destitute of wood; but supplying the deer and the emu ostrich.
In the middle of the last century there lived, between the Parannahiba and the Rio Grande, a horde of Bororos, whose cacique was then a Paulista, called Antonio Pirez de Campos, a youth of much subtilty, and well adapted for the management of those savages amongst whom he sought refuge, being driven from civilized society by the extent of his crimes. He died, between the years 1750 and 1760, of a wound which he received in the arm, in an encounter with the Cayapos. His comrades applied medicinally, for many days, hot broiled bacon to the wound, until they conveyed him to a Christianized establishment in Minas Geraes, to try if he could be there cured. They lamented for a month over him as a common father.
Amongst other serras in the northern part is that of Caldas, four leagues square, and flat upon the summit, where there are some lakes and deer.
The principal povoaçoes are Meia Ponte, Santa Luzia, Santa Cruz, St. Domingos, and Desemboque.