In the latitude of 26° 50´, the Rio Verde, or Parsa, otherwise Colorado, discharges itself, after a course of more than seven hundred miles from the vicinity of the Andes.
Forty miles further to the south, the grand confluence of the Paranna, little inferior to the Paraguay, augments the wonder which is excited by so vast a mass of water. About one hundred miles lower is the northern branch of the river Salado; and upwards of one hundred and seventy miles further the southern, better known by the name of Xalupoi. On the southern angle of this confluence is situated the city of Santa Fe, in the latitude of 31° 35′. A little further it receives also by the right bank, the Terceiro, or Carcapal, which exceeds three hundred and fifty miles in its course.
The Paraguay, which from the parallel of 20° inclines a little to the south-south-west, here changes its direction to the east-south-east for the space of one hundred and forty miles, gathering by both margins various rivers, none of them considerable, to the latitude of 34°, where it is united on the left by the river Uruguay, its last important tributary.
This river, which the Spaniards generally call Rio da Plata, after it receives the Pilco Mayo, becomes many leagues in width, and contains a great number of islands, which vary greatly in extent, principally of a flat aspect, and denominated the Parannas. The left margin, from the last confluence, runs to the east as far as Cape St. Mary, and this part of it, at least, is universally known as the river Plate, the right margin of which takes a south-east direction, from the same longitude, for more than one hundred miles to the point of Carretas, where its embouchure is upwards of fifty miles in width.
The Paraguay has no more falls after it receives the Sipotuba, and is generally of great depth.
The river Cuiaba has its origin in the same latitude as the Paraguay. The first current which unites itself with it by the western margin is the Cuiaba Mirim, and by the eastern the Casca; these are followed by many others of a smaller class, which render it navigable for more than seventy miles above the capital, although with much labour, in consequence of many falls, which do not extend below Villa Real, where it begins to be wide and rapid in its current, flowing almost generally through a champaign country, which is submerged during the periodical inundations. Its waters are excellent, well stored with fish, and in the latitude of 17° 20′ it falls into the St. Lourenço.
Whilst the floods continue it is customary to navigate over the plains, where the current is less rapid, traversing prodigious plantations of rice, annually reproduced by nature, without any human assistance, or sustaining any damage from the waters, because it grows as the waters increase, always having more than a yard above water, and affording supplies to the passing canoes, into which the ears are bent, and then shook with a pole.
The piranna fish, commonly called tezoira, (scissors,) and sometimes lanceta, (lancet,) and the arraya, are equally terrible here; the first in consequence of its formidable teeth, the other from a sting which it has in the tail.
From the capital downwards, the most notable streams which fall into the Cuiaba, are the Tutez on the right; the large and small Caranda on the left.
Villa Real de Cuiaba, capital of the comarca, considerable, populous, flourishing, and abounding with meat, fish, and fruits, contains a church of Senhor Bom Jesus, three chapels dedicated, two also to the Redeemer, with the titles of Bom Despacho and Passos, and one to Nossa Senhora of Rozario, and is the residence of a prelate, bishop in partibus, also of a Juiz de Fora, and royal professors of philosophy and Latin. It is situated near a small river, one mile distant from the eastern bank of the river from which it derives its name. All the edifices are of taipa, similar to those of St. Paulo, and the streets are mostly paved.