Fifteen miles north of the Commandatuba is emptied the Una, which rises in the Aimore mountains, and gathers by its right bank the Braco do Sul, that flows also from the same serra. Sumacas advance nearly ten miles above this confluence, which is about three miles distant from the sea.
The river Ilheos is the entrance of a fine bay, into which various streams flow, navigable with the tide for a greater or less distance; but the only considerable one is the Cachoeira, along the banks of which is a fine flat roadway, nearly half the distance of its extent. The Engenho is navigable for the space of eight miles to the base of a beautiful cascade. The others are all small. The bar of the Ilheos is pointed out by four islands; three are very rocky, the other is robed in verdant woods, and the whole are of moderate elevation.
Three miles north of the bar of Ilheos is that of the Itahype, which is narrow and deep, not having more than twenty-five miles of extent, being the outlet of a deep lake of the same name. It is seven miles in circumference, and three in width, with a small island, and is bordered with woods and forests, from whence issue several small streams into this fine receptacle. The spontaneous woody productions of the banks of this lake might be conveyed with much facility to the bay of Ilheos, by opening a canal from the Itahype to the Fundao, and which undertaking had, in fact, at some former period been commenced.
In the northern part of this comarca are to be observed the rivers Marahu and Acarahy, which flow into the bay of Camamu; the Serenheham, which empties itself in front of the island of Boypeba; the Jiquie, which enters by two unequal mouths into the channel that separates the isle of Tinhare from the continent; the Una, which originates in the serra of Pedra Branca, (White Stone,) and runs into the sea a few leagues to the north of the Jiquie; and the Jiquirica, which descends from the serra Giboya, having its mouth a few miles to the north of the Una. The whole afford only a very short navigation, and the largest have not a course exceeding sixty miles, their waters being precipitated by numerous falls, and flowing through a country of a mountainous aspect, possessing fertile soil and forests of fine timber.
Ports and Islands.—The bay of Camamu, at the southern entrance of which is Point Mutta, with a fort, is the only port of the comarca capable of receiving large vessels. It is beautified with several islands, and has numerous streams navigable only as far as the tide advances.
From the bay of Camamu, nearly to the Una, the coast is bordered with islands; three of which, only, are of any considerable size, the Tinhare, the Boypeba, and the Tupiassu.
The island of Tinhare, better known by the name of Morro, in consequence of having a rock called the morro of St. Paulo, is eighteen miles long from north to south, of proportionable width, with a fort at its northern extremity, and near it a povoaçao, and hermitage of Our Lady da Luz.
The island of Boypeba, south of Tinhare, from which it is separated by a channel, is six miles square, and has a town on its eastern shore.
The island of Tupiassu, ten miles long from east to west, and half the width, is between Tinhare and the continent, and the two branches of the river Jiquie.
Fifteen miles to the south of Boypeba is the small island of Quieppe, formerly fortified, and forming two unequal bars to the bay of Camamu.