The comarca of Villa Rica, otherwise Oiro Preto, (Black Gold,) which is the least extensive, and the main part yet uncultivated, is bounded on the north by that of Serro Frio, from which it is separated by the river Doce; on the west by that of Rio das Mortes; on the south by the province of Rio de Janeiro; and on the east by that of Espirito Santo. It comprises one hundred and forty miles from east to west, and one hundred and twenty from north to south.
Mountains.—The serra of Oiro Preto, which is a portion of the Mantiqueira, its most elevated head, called Itaculume, (the Child of Stone,) is considered the highest in the province. The serra of Oiro Branco, (White Gold,) to the south of the preceding, the Serra Negra, with mines of iron, and the Serra Lappa are both to the north of the capital. Nearly thirty miles north of Marianna is the celebrated Serra Caraça, so called from having a portion similar to an enormous physiognomy. It is a dismemberment of the grand cordillera, with near fifty miles of circuit at its base, being steep and craggy all around. On a plain about three miles square, in a broken part of its summit, there is a species of monastery, where various hermits dwell, some drawn thither by devotion, and others from persecution; their habit is a black cassock. They sustain themselves upon charity, and the productions of the adjacent land, where they raise cattle and rye. The edifice is of stone; the church of elegant architecture, and dedicated to Our Lady May dos Homens (Mother of Men). In the garden there are various European fruit trees, such as the apple, pear, plum, cherry, quince, chestnut, olive, and walnut; also trees from the oak to the yellow broom and furze. The land is watered by various rivulets, which after uniting flow to the Percicaba. In its vicinity is the serra of Itaubira, which terminates in two rocky pyramids. Between the river Doce and the Parahiba, there is an extensive branch of the Mantiqueira serra, from whence emanate many torrents; the Serra Frecheira is the name of a portion.
Rivers.—The Doce, which is the largest of the comarca, has its origin in the serra of Mantiqueira. After flowing for a considerable space to the north-north-east, under the name of Chopoto, it receives the Piranga, which runs from the serra of Oiro Branco; afterwards the Guallacho, formed by two streams of the same name distinguished by the appellations of north and south, and which issue from the serra of Oiro Preto. At this confluence it inclines to the east, and gathers the Bombaca and the Percicaba, which flow from the west, and have their sources in the Serra Lapa. Here it takes the name by which it enters the ocean. A little lower it is united also on the left, by the considerable river St. Antonio, which comes from the north-west, traversing an extensive territory, abounding mainly in cattle. Of the streams which form it, some descend from the Serra Lapa, others from Serro Frio. Ten miles further, it is joined on the same side by the Corrente, which flows from Serro Frio, with more than one hundred miles of course. Thirty miles lower, it receives the large Sassuhy, whose heads emanate from the serras of Serro Frio and Esmeraldas; its margins are thinly inhabited. After it follows the Laranjeiras, in the same direction, between woods abounding with wild beasts and savages. The Cuyate, which runs north-east, is the largest of those which enter it on the right; its mouth is a little below the preceding, and it gives the name to an interior district inhabited by Indians. The Manhuassu, (which some say is larger than Cuyate,) after flowing through large woods north-eastward, and bounding the certam of Cuyate, is lost in the Doce, a little above the Escadinhas.
Amongst others, the Doce has four remarkable falls: Escura, a little below the mouth of the Percicaba; Magoaris, a short way below the Corrente; Ibiturunas, a short distance above the Sassuhy; and Inferno, between the confluences of the Cuyate and the Manhuassu. The adjacent territory of this fine river is mostly of great fertility; in some places the root of the mandioca grows to a prodigious size. Independently of the above obstacles, the Doce is navigable for a great extent, and I was assured by an ouvidor, having a neighbouring jurisdiction, that no very great expenditure on the part of the government would render it the most important and certainly the best medium of transit for the produce of the interior districts of Brazil. The Maquipoo is one of its first tributaries received on the right, and enters a little above the mouth of the Bombaca.
The Preto originates in the serra Ititiaya, a branch of the Mantiqueira range, and runs eastward through the territory of the Ararys, bounding the province, until it enters the Parahibuna, which latter rises near the Chopoto, and flows into the Parahiba.
The Pomba, which as has been observed, is a tributary of the Parahiba, waters an extensive tract on the southern part of this comarca, and passes near the parish of St. Manuel, whose inhabitants are Coroado and Crapo Indians, with some whites, principally raising Indian corn, legumes, some sugar, and numerous hogs. The fertility of the country, with the navigation of the river, promises it a future increase. Its church is forty miles from the mouth of the river.
Villa Rica, antecedently Oiro Preto, was created a town in 1711, and is large, populous, abundant, and flourishing. It is the capital of the province, and the residence of the governor, at present Don Manuel de Portugal e Castro; likewise of the ouvidor of the comarca, who holds other offices, serving also as crown judge with jurisdiction over the whole province. It has a Juiz de Fora, who is also attorney-general; a vicar-general, and professors, I had almost forgot royal, of primitive letters, Latin, and philosophy. This town is ill situated at the southern base of the serra of Oiro Preto, amongst gloomy rocks, upon very uneven ground, and frequently covered with fogs, which are said to cause amongst the inhabitants continued colds or defluxions from the head. There is a house of misericordia, founded by G. F. d’Andrade, in virtue of a law of the 16th April, 1738; a smelting house; a junta of the treasury, composed of four deputies, the ouvidor of the comarca, the attorney-general, the general treasurer, and the auditor, with the governor as president. It has ten chapels, of the Lord Bom Fim, Almas, St. Anna, St. Joam, &c.; besides three Terceira orders of St. Francisco d’Assis, Carmo, and St. Francisco de Paula, almost all of which, with four bridges, are of stone. The palace, military quarters, and municipal house, are considered to be handsome; the latter has an annual revenue of about fifteen thousand crusades. It has a fort with some pieces of ordnance, which are fired occasionally on holidays; fourteen fountains of crystalline water, and a hospital. Its inhabitants, principally miners and dealers, live in two parishes, called Our Lady of Pilar and Conceiçao. This town is two hundred and thirty miles north-north-west of Rio de Janeiro.
There are in Villa Rica twenty-five judicial appointments. The smelting house has sixteen official situations; the office of Intendente, which afforded annually five thousand two hundred and fifty crusades, independently of perquisites, has been discontinued here as well as in all similar establishments in the Brazil. In the treasury, besides the deputies already mentioned, there are sixteen other situations, the most lucrative of which is the Escrivao Contador, (the auditor of the treasury,) having three thousand crusades annually; and the smallest is that of Continuo, (a sergeant, or beadle,) not having more than one hundred and fifty milreas (about thirty-seven pounds.) There is also a tribunal entitled “Junta of the conquest and civilization of the Indians and navigation of the river Doce,” established in 1808. Its principal object is to promote agriculture upon the margins of that river, which, however, advances very slowly.
The inhabitants of Villa Rica, and of six parishes within its district, form two regiments of auxiliary cavalry, fourteen companies of whites, seven of mulattoes, and four of free blacks.
Eight miles to the west of Villa Rica is the arraial and freguezia of St. Bartholomew, famous for the large quantity of marmalade that is exported from it.