Mountains.—St. Martinho, the most elevated portion of the serra, which serves for its eastern limits, and the mountain of St. Luiz, in the vicinity of the town of its name, are the most remarkable mountains.
Rivers.—Besides the Uruguay and Ibicui, already mentioned, is to be remarked the Hyjuhy, which originates at the base of the mountain of St. Martinho, traverses the province from east to west, empties itself into the Uruguay in front of Assumption, and a few leagues to the north of St. Nicolau, having passed near St. Angelo, a little below which the Hyjuhy-mirim enters it on the left side.
The Toropy rises in the same cordillera and falls into the Ibicui. The Jaquari waters a considerable portion of this province, and falls into the Ibicui four or five leagues below the Forquilha. The Hibipita enters the Ibicui also twenty leagues below the preceding.
The Piratini forms itself in the vicinity of the said serra, passes a short distance from St. Miguel, and runs into the Uruguay a little below St. Nicolau.
Phytology.—The Brazilian pine and the cedar are not numerous. The cotton tree, the matte, and mandioca, also Indian corn, wheat, potatoes, with other edible roots, are cultivated; likewise, gourds, water-melons, pine-apples, and divers hortulans; and, among fruit trees, the orange, pitangua, and peach.
Zoology.—The animals, both domestic and wild, are the same as those of the adjoining provinces.
The Tappes are a horde of Guaranis, which separated from the latter in former times, and lived for a long period upon the banks of the higher Paranna, where they were at times invaded by the others. It is, however, certain that they occupied the southern part of this province when the Jesuits began to have a knowledge of them. They were esteemed a people, not only less vicious than all other tribes in South America, but the best disposed to receive the evangelical law, most constant after having embraced it, and the best adapted to honour Christianity. These people lived divided into various villages, of which the most populous had the name of the nation. It is not known what were the number of those villages, which the Jesuits reduced to seven; and on this account were denominated reduçōes, or reductions, also missions. The names of these seven celebrated missions, are the following, with the number of inhabitants in each at the period of their conquest by the Portuguese in 1801:—
| INHABITANTS. | |
| St. Francisco de Borja | 1,300 |
| St. Miguel | 1,900 |
| St. Joam | 1,600 |
| St. Angelo | 1,960 |
| St. Nicolau | 3,940 |
| St. Lourenço | 960 |
| St. Luiz | 2,350 |
St. Francisco de Borja, which is the most southern, is two miles distant from the Uruguay, and five leagues from the confluence of Ibicui. It suffered much by an invasion from the Minuanos, a little before changing its dominion. It has many white people.
St. Miguel, situated twenty-five leagues distant from the Uruguay, and thirty east-north-east from St. Borja, is the most easterly, and is considered the capital of the province. A great portion of it was consumed by fire, which its inhabitants set to it in 1756, when they saw the combined armies arriving in order to deliver the province up to the Portuguese crown.