Villa Nova da Raynha, created a town in 1714, but better known by its primitive name of Caethe, which in the Brazilian language signifies an impervious wood, is a middling place, well and agreeably situated in plain ground, near a small stream, ornamented with a handsome church dedicated to the Lord of Bom Successo, a chapel of the Lady of Rozario, and another of St. Francisco. There are fifteen judicial appointments here. The revenue of the camara is eight thousand crusades. The inhabitants, amounting to five thousand two hundred and seventy-one, are miners, breeders of cattle, and agriculturists; they respire a salubrious air, raise various European fruits, and form, with the three parishes of St. Miguel, St. Barbara, and St. Joao de Morro Grande, containing twenty-nine thousand inhabitants, seventeen companies of white militia, seven of mulattoes, and some squadrons of free blacks. It is twelve miles east-south-east of Sabara, and has in its suburbs good argils and potteries.
Pitangui is in a state of mediocrity, upon the right margin of the Para, three miles below the confluence of the St. Joao, and is well supplied with fish, meat, and all the agricultural productions of the country. It was erected into a town in 1715, has two hermitages, and a church of the Lady of Pilar; a Juiz de Fora, and an escrivao of the conductors of gold. The camara has three thousand crusades of revenue. This town is one hundred miles north of St. Joao d’el Rey, and nearly eighty west-north-west of Sabara. Its inhabitants, amounting to nineteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and those of its widely extending district, (including only one other parish, Nossa Senhora das Dores, with one thousand four hundred and nineteen persons,) raise large quantities of cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep, and have extensive plantations of the cotton tree and cane, the rum from which is considered the best of the province. A rich mine of gold occasioned numerous disputes and deaths amongst its first dwellers, who were Paulista miners. There was amongst them one D. R. do Prado, who gratified his vile and avaricious feelings, by assassinating even those who did not offend him; such was the lawless state in which those primitive mining settlements were involved.
Paracatu do Principe is a middling town, famous for its mines, well and pleasantly situated upon an elevated plain, with straight and paved streets, having a church dedicated to St. Antonio da Manga, three hermitages of Our Lady of Abbadia, Amparo, and Rozario, another of St. Anna, and two good fountains. The houses are built of timber and earth, and include a royal school for Latin. This town is one hundred and forty miles from the St. Francisco, and about half a mile from the small stream of Corgo Rica, which after forty miles of course enters the Paracatu on the left, near the port of Bezerra. It has decayed much from its first flourishing condition; the people are peaceable, but indolent. Cattle and the produce of mines constitutes what wealth there is amongst them. The vine bears fruit in perfection twice a year. The pine-apple and orange are abundant and excellent. Around this place are an abundance of partridges, deer, and other game. The gold has a fine appearance, but below the proper degree of purity is of difficult extraction for want of water, and is not allowed to be searched for at any great distance. Diamonds having appeared in various parts is the reason of the working of mines being restricted to a few leagues round the town, upon which circuit are detachments to prevent the prescribed limits being passed for the purpose of mining. The district of the town comprises the main portion of the comarca, that is to say, all the territory lying westward of the river St. Francisco, from the Carynhenha to the Abayte. Near the confluence of the latter is the passage from Villa Rica to Goyaz, called Porto Real.
In 1744, when there was no other colony to the west of the St. Francisco but St. Romao, these mines were discovered, and made known to Gomez Freyre d’Andrade, governor of Rio de Janeiro, who ordered the country to be divided according to the prevailing custom. These mines attracted a great concourse of people here, and their affluence in gold led to the concurrence of a numerous party in the purpose of expelling the Indians, whom they at once drove from this extensive district. The inhabitants of Paracatu, and those of the parishes of its vast circuit, constitute one regiment of cavalry, seven companies of whites, three of mulattoes, and two of free blacks.
On the left margin of the river St. Francisco, almost at an equal distance between the mouths of the Urucuya and Paracatu, is the considerable arraial and parish of St. Romao, with a church dedicated to St. Antonio da Manga, a chapel of Our Lady of Rozario, and another of St. Francisco. It is the head of the julgado, with much commerce, being the depositary of various productions of the country, and of a large quantity of salt, which is conveyed by barks and canoes from the salterns of Pilao Arcado and its vicinity. The river at its greatest floods enters the streets of this place. Its inhabitants, even the females, are passionately fond of gambling. Melons and water-melons are very abundant.
The other parishes of the district of Paracatu are St. Anna dos Alegres, near the mouth of the river Catinga, a little above the river Somno; the Lady of Penha, near the Urucuya, a day’s voyage from the St. Francisco; Carynhenha, Andayha, and the Lady of Amparo do Salgado, with a chapel of Our Lady of Rozario, which is a flourishing arraial, and promising a considerable increase. It is five miles from the St. Francisco. The inhabitants raise cattle, sugar cane, and the cotton tree.
The district of Paracatu makes a part of the bishopric of Pernambuco.
There is yet within this comarca the arraial and julgado of St. Antonio do Curvello, otherwise Papagayo, well situated in a plain, refreshed with salubrious breezes, and near a small stream, which falls into the Velhas on the left. This is almost eighty miles from Sabara. The inhabitants of the julgado, amounting to eleven thousand five hundred and thirteen, are agriculturists and cattle breeders.
In June, 1815, the comarca of Sabara was divided into two, the St. Francisco serving as a medium limit to them. The northern, western, and southern limits of the new comarca are the same which till then constituted the circuit of the district of Paracatu, the head and only town of the newly created comarca, which took its name. At the same time was abolished the office of the Juiz de Fora, which had existed since it was created a town in 1798, the new ouvidor becoming the intendant of gold. By another law of the 4th of April, 1816, the julgados of Desemboque and Araxa were separated from the ouvidoria or district of Goyaz, and annexed to the ouvidoria of Paracatu.