These plains continue to the falls of Caiuru Guaçu and Caiuru Mirim, which are situated about the middle of the extent of this river, with an interval of three miles one from the other. From this situation downwards, both margins are clothed with woods, abounding more in honey than fruits, and only one small fall or current is met with, called Capoeiras, eighteen miles below that of Caiuru Mirim.
The principal falls of this river are the Caiuru Guaçu, Tijuco, Tacoaral, Tamandua, Curao, which is the largest of the whole, and near fifty palms in height, Ballo, Lage Grande, Lage Pequena, Banco Grande, Banco Pequena. In passing these, the canoes are conveyed by land;—Caiuru Mirim, Banquinho, Cirga Comprida, Empirucu, Mangaval, Cirga do Campo, Manuel Rodrigues, Sucuri, Embirucu Mirim, another called Embirucu, Paredao, Furado, Formigueiro, Pedras d’Amolar, Vermelho, Tocoarapaia, past all which canoes are dragged by a warp, with but half a cargo, and double the number of people. There are others passed with full cargoes, the canoes being impelled by a greater or less number of men.
Upon the banks of the Pardo, two sorts of the palm are seen, which are not met with near any of the other rivers of the Cuiabana navigation. One called guacuman, slender and six or seven feet in height, of which a good bait for fish is made; the other, denominated brutiz, is high and thick with leaves seven feet long. The Indians, and also the ancient certanistas, made of its fruit a wine, very similar to that of the red grape in colour and taste.
The principal rivers which enlarge the Pardo are the Anhanduhi Guaçu, Anhanduhi Mirim, and Sucuri; they join it by the right margin. The last and smallest disembogues fifty miles below the Vermelho. The first, rising in the centre of the province, discharges itself into the Pardo, seventy miles above its embouchure. The Anhanduhi Mirim enters it forty miles below the Sucuri. Fifteen miles above the mouth of the Vermelho, is the port of Sanguexuga on the left margin of the river of the same name, where the canoes, which proceed up the river Pardo, are unloaded and conducted in carretas, (a sort of cart with four wheels, drawn by six or seven bullocks,) across an isthmus of near ten miles in width, through plains and woods to the port of Camapuan, on the left bank of the small river of that name, which originates near the first, in the skirts of the serro of Sacco. From hence, the navigation is only with half a cargo, and accomplished with prodigious labour (in consequence of the shoals and stones of which this river is full) to the Cochim, where the goods are deposited in ranchos, and well guarded, until the remainder of the cargoes are fetched. Forty miles are reckoned from the port to the mouth of this river, traversing woods deficient in fruits and game.
The river Cochim, which originates in the vicinity of the Sanguexuga, runs violently between sides, formed of steep and frightful rocks, which in some places are narrowed to four or five fathoms; in other parts it passes through extensive woods, affording little fruit, but abounding in game, where two sorts of palm trees, in great quantities, are observed, the one called guacuriz, the other bocayuvas. The principal of twenty-two falls, which interrupt the navigation of this river, are, Mangaval, five leagues below the mouth of the Camapuan; Pedra Branca, near thirty miles below the preceding; and Vare, all requiring double the number of persons to pass; Culapada, Furnas, Canellas d’Andre Alvez, Avanhandavussu, and Avanhandavu Mirim, two miles distant from each other; P. Luiz Antonio, which is very perilous; Jiquitaya; and Cachoeira da Ilha, which is three miles above the confluence of this river with the Tocoary. The principal streams which enlarge the Cochim are the Inferno, (Infernal River,) Sellada, and the Jauru, entering by the right margin; the Furado, Orelha d’Anta, Joam Bicudo, and the Tocoary Mirim, by the left. The latter enters near the embouchure of the Cochim.
The Tocoary has its heads near the boundary of Cayaponia, much to the north of Camapuan. When it receives the Cochim, it is already considerable, and near this confluence there is a large fall of its name, where the canoes are relieved of half the cargo, in order to pass it without danger. A little lower there is another small one, denominated Belliago, the last of this river, (the ordinary width of which is here about sixty fathoms,) and also the last of one hundred and thirteen, which navigators encounter from Port Feliz to Cuiaba. The greater part of its course is through campinhas, with little wood, describing continual and short turnings, which give it an appearance to the navigator of his always being enclosed within a lake. It abounds in fish; but its waters are impregnated with a fine sand. Amongst other islands, which it forms, is that of Passaros, (or Birds,) so called on account of the infinite number that breed in it, and with which its trees are always laden: it discharges into the Paraguay, through many channels, which form a great number of islands, generally submerged during the floods of either river. These islands are denominated Pantanos, where, amongst other rare birds, is seen a beautiful one called anhupocas. It is the size of the inhuma, having also, like it, a horn upon the head, and spurs to the wings; it sings from midnight till day. Wild geese are exceedingly numerous, and for their exclusive sustenance nature here produces a prodigious quantity of wild rice, and of so large a size that no other bird can swallow it. Amongst other remarkable trees, on the margins of this river, the most esteemed is a species of palm tree, thicker round the trunk than the arms of a man can compass; its nuts, which are the size of an ostrich’s egg, supply the aliment of the Indian.
The river Mondego, otherwise Embotateu, originally Aranbahi, is considerable, and navigable nearly to its origin, which is a short distance from that of the Anhanduhi Guaçu, and runs into the Paraguay eighteen miles below the Tocoary. The largest of its tributaries, which enter by the right margin, is now called the river Verde. The last confluent of the Mondego, by the southern bank, is the small river Zezere, which rises near the inconsiderable serra of St. Barbara.
The Ivinbeima, which enters the Paranna by three mouths, flows from the interior of the province, whither it affords navigation; and receives by the left the Jaguary, a river little inferior to it.
The Negro, which is considerable, and would appear to be the Sambambaya of the first certanistas, runs into the Paranna twenty miles above the northern mouth of the Ivinheima.
The Miamaya, or Miamay, which is considered to be the river formerly called Amambahy, is large, and enters the Paranna forty miles below the southern arm of the Ivinheima.