Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/105

( 80 ) illuminated by myriads of fire-flies, which play among the branches, for here

The district of the mines commences about sixty miles from Rio; their produce is conveyed thither on mules, escorted by detachments of cavalry, of which there is a regiment stationed at Minas, the Capital, which is said to be large and populous; this province extends to the borders of the Spanish settlements in Paraguay. The journey to Matto Grosso, the farthest Portuguese station, is by Rio Grande, and is said to take up six months in contending against the stream, but the return is made in about three months; from hence