Forty miles below the Seven Falls, the river Jaguare enters the Paranna by the left margin; and sixty miles further the considerable Iguassu. At a considerable distance further, its direction is changed towards the west, and enters the Paraguay in the latitude of 27° 20′. From the mission of Corpus upwards, aboriginal nations alone possess the vast territory watered by this majestic river and its confluents.
The river Iguassu, which in the Brazilian language signifies “great water,” has its principal source in the small river St. Joze, and when it traverses the royal road of Lages to Sorocaba, is already considerable, and runs under the name of Curytiba. Its course is always towards the west, having few windings, forming many falls, which interrupt navigation; sensibly enlarging by those streams which unite themselves with it on one or the other margin, principally the southern, and limiting on the south the vast plains of Guarapuaba, inhabited by Indians. The borders are extensively wooded. The first large fall, denominated Cayacanga, is about fifteen miles below the above-mentioned road, and the largest ten miles above its embouchure, where it is one hundred and thirteen fathoms in width. This latter cataract is two hundred feet in perpendicular height; the margins of the river at this place are rocky, and the current furious. A certanista, (a commandant of a troop proceeding into the certam or interior,) who descended by this river, says, that it is navigable, without embarrassment, from Cayacanga to the fall of Victoria; but he does not declare the extent of this interval, nor the names and situations of seven large falls, which he encountered to the confluence of this river with the Paranna. At the angle of its confluence, for some years existed the aldeia of St. Maria de lguassu, which disappeared in consequence of a famine.
What may be deemed the most remarkable object in this river, besides the large fall alluded to, is that part of its course known by the appellation of the Funil, in the centre of the country, where it runs rapidly, contracted between high and pointed rocks, in the form of a street of medium width. In its vicinity dwell a horde of Puri and of Guayanha Indians. The principal confluents of the lguassu, which unite themselves with it on the left, are the Negro, Varge, Bannanal, and St. Antonio, which joins it seventy miles above the last fall. Fifty miles above the river St. Antonio, the Jordao discharges itself, and about the same distance above the latter, the St. Joao, both by the right margin.
The river Parannapanema has its origin in the cordillera of the sea, to the west of the river Itanhaen. Its first considerable tributaries are the Itapitininga, which joins it on the right, and the Apiahy on the left, with the waters of which it becomes considerable and wide. Its margins are generally flat, and covered with large trees; in some parts plains or campinhas are seen, where are encountered, amongst other wild creatures, the emu ostrich and deer. The current is principally quick, in consequence of numerous falls. Malevolent Indians occupy the adjacent lands. Near the southern margin, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Tibagy, some years ago was found the remains of a dwelling, which renders it probable that the ancient Spaniards of the province of Guayra extended their establishments to this river.
Thirty miles above the embouchure of the Parannapanema, it is joined on the southern bank by the small river Pirapo, near the mouth of which, for many years, existed the redução or mission of the Lady of Loreto, one of thirteen which formed the reputed provinces of Taiaoba and Taiaty, so inaptly described by the Jesuit Montoya, one of their founders, and which affords room to suspect that they existed in the vast territory which extends itself from the said Parannapanema northwards.
The river Tiete, formerly Anhemby, a name given to it by an Indian tribe, has its source seventy miles to the east of the city of St. Paulo, not far from which it passes; about four miles below it receives, on the left margin, the Pinheiros, which flows from the south-east with twenty miles of course. After forty-five miles more it receives, on the right, the Jundiahy, which flows by the town of its name. Near this confluence, the Tiete forms a large cataract, which impedes the further advance of fish; and fifty miles further the Capibary joins it, after having traversed an extensive wood of majestic trees.
Eight miles lower the Sorocaba discharges on the left margin. Originating in the serra of Cubatam, to the west of St. Vincente, it runs by the town of the same name.
Fifty miles beyond the preceding river, the Pirassicaba, which is considerable, enters it on the right, and is formed by the Tybaia and Jaguary, the heads of which are situated to the north-east of St. Paulo, and traverse a vast wood of immense trees, from the trunks of which, as well as those that grow upon the borders of the aforesaid Capibary, are constructed canoes of eighty palms in length, nearly eight in width, and five in height, which serve to navigate to Cuiaba, and carry four hundred arrobas of cargo, besides the necessary maintenance for eight men, and occasionally passengers.
A little below this confluence, where the volume of water is almost doubled, the Lancoes joins it on the left; and, after four or five days of voyage, the embouchure of the Jacare-Papira is met with on the right; and, somewhat lower, that of the Pipira, on the same side, almost as voluminous as the one which receives it. This river is formed by the waters of the Mugy, which originates in the skirt of the Mantiqueira and of the Jaguary-Mirim, which issues from Minas Geraes, both crossing the road from St. Paulo to Goyaz, thirty miles distant one from the other. They flow westward for a considerable space, uniting in the centre of a large wood, through which they continue in one important current, gathering various streams, that render it so considerable at the confluence mentioned.
A few leagues below the passage to Goyaz there is a fall in the Mugy, which arrests the further progress of fish, and, in consequence, at a certain period annually a numerous band of fishermen assemble here, with cargas (horse loads) of salt, which enables them to furnish the more distant places, from the abundant draughts with which they are here supplied.