Ten miles to the north-west of Villa Rica is the freguezia or parish of Our Lady of Nazareth da Cachoeira, where the governors have a house of recreation, occasionally passing some days there in the amusement of shooting deer and partridges.
Twenty miles to the south-east of Villa Rica is the considerable arraial of Piranga, situated near the river of the same name, with a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, and a chapel of Rozario. The inhabitants cultivate the necessaries of life, and a large quantity of tobacco, to which the soil is very favourable.
In the vicinity of the river Piranga, within the district of the parish of St. Antonio d’Itaberava to the south of Villa Rica, is the large arraial of Catas Altas da Noruega, with a chapel of St. Gonçalo.
Marianna, originally the arraial of Carmo, until 1711, when John V. bestowed upon it a register of royal duties, and the name of Villa Leal do Carmo, (Loyal Town of Carmo.) It was created an episcopal city in 1745, by the same monarch, with the name of his consort. It is small, well supplied, and situated in a gently elevated country, near the right margin of the Ribeiro, or stream of Carmo, with the chapels of Our Lady of Rozario, St. Pedro, Santa Anna, St. Gonçalo, St. Francisco, for the mulattoes, and Mercez, for the creolian blacks; also two Terceira orders of Carmo and St. Francisco, whose chapel is elegant. There are two squares, and seven fountains of good water. The streets are paved, and the houses of stone. The municipal house is one of the best structures, and has water within it; the cathedral, dedicated to the Lady of Assumpçao, is more elegant than solid. The episcopal palace is handsome; the seminary spacious, the chapter is composed of fourteen canons, including the dignitaries of archdeacon, archpriest, chanter, and treasurer-mor, with whom twelve chaplains, and four young choristers officiate. The Juiz de Fora presides over the orphans and the senate, which has eleven thousand crusades of annual revenue. He fills other situations, and has, besides, twenty public officers under his inspection. All the inhabitants of Marianna are parishioners of the cathedral, and, with those of its surrounding twelve parishes, form two regiments of cavalry, twenty companies of infantry, (all whites,) ten of mulattoes, and five of free blacks. This city is eight miles east-north-east of Villa Rica; the intervening road is paved in parts, and bordered with many houses, having near it two arraials, and passes three stone bridges.
Eight miles to the north-east of Marianna, near the arraial of Antonio Pereira, (its founder,) in a rock at the end of a delightful valley, is a grotto formed by nature, and converted into a small chapel, dedicated to the Lady of Lapa, where every Sunday mass is chanted, and a festival takes place on the 15th of August. The roof, which is of calcareous stone, is overspread with stalactites, or crystallizations formed by the filtration of the water.
Fifteen miles north of the same city is the arraial and parish of Inficionado, which derived its name from the circumstance of the refuse of gold in melting being at first excellent, and becoming afterwards inferior, so that it acquired the name of Oiro Inficionado, (Infected Gold.) It is the native country of the poet, who was the author of the poem of Caramuru, “the Man of Fire,” a conspicuous character in the history of Bahia. Its church is dedicated to the Lady of Nazareth. The inhabitants raise the necessaries of life and cattle, and are miners.
Catas Altas de Matto Dentro, (profound searchings within the matto, or woods,) formerly a large and flourishing arraial, with a church of the Lady of Conceiçao, has fallen into decay with the decrease of gold. The deep mines, wrought for the extraction of gold, were the origin of its name. It is about eight miles from the preceding, and the inhabitants are agriculturists, including breeders of cattle and miners.
Nine miles from Catas Altas is the large, flourishing, and commercial arraial of St. Barbara, near the stream of the same name, having various religious structures, and promising considerable augmentation. The occupations of its inhabitants are similar to that of the last place.
Ten miles from St. Barbara is the arraial of Cocaes, with rich mines of gold, in the district of the parish of St. Joao do Morro Grande.