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were arriving, and Miguel came up with the rest of the troops we had left in Vila Nova. We then tried to package our Dollond telescope and activated the preparations for the trip.

Bahia, Pernambuco, Goias. Ceara, Maranhao, Piaui
  
 On April 21 we crossed the river on a large raft, driven by cables, and set foot in the province of Pernambuco at the Customs Registry of Juazeiro. This passage of the Sao Francisco River is the most frequented in the whole of Bahia, and is more important than the others that are near the villages of Pilao Arcada, Barra do Rio Grande and Urubu. This is the inland trade route for Piaui and Maranhao, as well as, for these aforementioned villages in Goias and Mato Grosso. The most important article is traffic in beef cattle, addressed to Bahia; in fact also European goods and lately many slaves, since the traffic of blacks diminished between Para, Pernambuco and Maranhao and with the northern coasts of West Africa; slaves are transported to actively exploited farms in Maranhao, but give much lower profits to the government. The amount of carte cattle in transit is currently estimated at 20,000 heads;

Cattle drive today

Before, when the needs of Maranhao were smaller, and the road from Piaui to Pernambuco was not frequented, there were annually 50,000 to 60,000 heads. The Government has leased revenue from this customshouse to the largest provider, a family from Pernambuco, for the annual contribution of $ 500 to $ 600. In the past, the importance of the lease was larger, since it reached 1: 000 $ 000. You pay for the ticket of a new black man, $ 100; for a head of cattle or a foal chucro, $ 080; and a tame horse, $ 320.

Travessia Nova, the road tto Piaui near Oeiras

In Passagem do Juazeiro there are two roads to Piaui, which they usually call Travessia Nova, which go towards the headwaters of the Caninde River and, below it, at Oeiras, sometimes away from the Sao Francisco River. East of the first two, between the mouth of Arroio Pontal and Arraial de Cabrobo, comes the third road.

To the west of Travessia Nova, the province of Piaui communicates with the Sao Francisco River wilderness through the Travessia Velha. This road begins in the Sobrado village, on the river bank, and follows the course of the Piaui River, which it now reaches at its source, and below, according to its various directions. The Travessia Nova, where we were heading, was currently the most frequented; but there is, like the others, the lack of water during the dry season, which occurs here from August to December.

The entire wilderness, which stretches between the western tributaries of Sao Francisco, from Rio Grande and Arroio Pontal, and from the latter along the Sao Francisco River to its waterfalls, is rising very little to W. and N.W. In this passage; crossed by the above roads, the same hot and dry weather reigns

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