A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

Meia Ponte is the largest, most flourishing, and commercial povoaçao in the province, with the exception of the capital, from which it is ninety miles distant to the east, and is situated near the Almas, which there is only an inconsiderable stream. It has a church of Nossa Senhora of Rozario, four hermidas, three dedicated to Our Lady, with the titles of Carmo, Lapa, and Rozario, of the blacks, another of the Lord of Bom Fim, and an Hospicio d’Esmoleres (an alms-house for the entertainment of the travelling brotherhood) of Terra Santa. It was founded in the year 1731, is the head of the julgado, well supplied with meat and fish, and has a royal professor of Latin. Its inhabitants, and those of the environs, cultivate Indian corn, wheat, mandioca, tobacco, cotton, sugar, some coffee, and breed cattle; likewise many hogs. They manufacture certain descriptions of cloth, both of wool and cotton; and hence this place is considered the cradle and centre of the agriculture and industry of the province. The caravans from the capital and from Cuiaba, proceeding to the metropolis, to St. Paulo, or Bahia, pass this way.

About eighteen miles to the east-north-east is the cordillera called Montes Pyreneos, (the Pyrenees.) From its sides flow torrents to the four cardinal points.

Nearly fifty miles to the east of Meia Ponte, in the vicinity of some fine hills, denominated Montes Claros, there is a hermida of St. Luzia, which ornamented the decayed arraial of St. Antonio.

St. Luzia, a middling and well supplied arraial, which derives its name from the patroness of the church, is seven miles from the road of Paracatu, and almost at an equal distance from the rivers Pont’ Alta and St. Bartholomew, being eighteen miles, with little difference, from each, in a pleasant and wholesome situation, abounding with water. It is the head of the julgado, has a hermitage of Our Lady of Rozario, produces good cheese and marmalade, and is seventy miles east-south-east of Meia Ponte. In its environs cattle are exceedingly abundant, constituting the wealth of its inhabitants.

St. Cruz, a small arraial, with a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, is the most ancient of the province, and head of the julgado. It is one hundred miles to the south-south-east of Meia Ponte, upon the road of St. Paulo, a little removed from the left margin of the river Pary, and about one mile from the morro of Clemente, abounding with gold, which has not yet been worked for the want of water; because, according to the saying of the miners here, “a mountain of gold is worth nothing, if it has not water.” Its inhabitants are agriculturists and cattle breeders. In its district are the caldas, or hot springs of the same name, consisting of various fountains, differing in the degree of heat, and little distant from each other. Their waters, which have been efficacious in many diseases, form the small river Caldas.

Almost in the middle of the interval from St. Cruz to Meia Ponte, and also upon the road, is the small arraial of Bom Fim, with a hermitage of that name. The inhabitants are gold miners, breed cattle, and cultivate the necessaries of life.

One hundred and forty miles to the south of St. Cruz is the arraial of St. Anna, two miles distant from the northern margin of the river Velhas, in an agreeable situation, and is the parochial of all the Christianized Indians, who live in those parts, near the road of St. Paulo. It was founded in the year 1741, for the habitation of five hundred Bororo Indians, who came from Cuiaba to succour the Christians against the Cayapos, who carried devastation amongst the Portuguese establishments. They lived here till the year 1775, when they were removed to the arraial of Lanhozo, a horde of Chacriaba Indians remaining in their stead, who were brought from the margins of Rio Preto, in the province of Pernambuco, and who are at present the inhabitants of the place, with some of other nations. They cultivate mandioca, Indian corn, and legumes.

Twenty miles to the north of the parish of St. Anna, and also near the same road, upon the northern margin of the small river Pedras, is situated the aldeia of that name, formerly inhabited by Bororos, but now almost depopulated, in consequence of that horde being removed in 1811 to the new prezidios of Nova Beira. The arraial of Lanhozo above mentioned, founded near the Uberava Falso, no longer exists, its people having united themselves with those of the river Pedras.

The arraial of St. Domingos do Araxa, in a state of mediocrity, modernly erected into the head of the julgado, is situated in a plain traversed by a small stream, and is thirty miles distant from the boundary, and twenty from the river Quebr’ Anzoes, (Hook Breaker.) The wells of excellent water, which save the breeders from the expense of purchasing salt for the cattle, and the considerable portions of fertile land in which various branches of agriculture will flourish, have already invited many hundred families to remove their establishments here, and which will probably in a few years render this parish the most populous one in the province. They already manufacture cotton cloth, and are commencing upon woollens. Large quantities of hogs and cattle are bred.

The arraial of Desemboque, head of the julgado, has a church of Our Lady of Desterro, and is situated upon the left margin of the river Velhas, about thirty-five miles distant from the boundary of Minas Geraes. Its inhabitants breed cattle, and cultivate an abundance of the necessaries of life.