John III. determining to divide the Brazilian coast into capitanias, at the period that Martim Affonso de Souza was in this new region, presented him, in 1532, with one comprising a hundred leagues of coast, and his brother Pedro Lopez de Souza, who had accompanied him, with another of fifty; but the letter of donation to Martim Affonso was not signed till the 20th of January, 1535, at the time when he had already taken his departure for India. It specified that this captaincy, which afterwards took the name of St. Vincente, should extend from the river Maccahe as far as twelve leagues to the southward of the island of Cannanea, where the bar of Paranagua is situated, excepting a certain portion of ten leagues, computed from the river Curupace, now called Jiquiriquere, to that of St. Vincente. The capitania of Pedro Lopez de Souza, which was denominated St. Amaro, included the said ten leagues. That of St. Vincente had scarcely existed forty years, when it was deprived of half its territory, for the purpose of creating the new one of Rio de Janeiro. With the change of possessors, the southern limits of both capitanias disappeared, and the jurisdiction of the governors began to extend by degrees over the countries which now constitute the provinces of Minas Geraes, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, St. Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul, where, through the adventures of the Paulistas, colonies were first planted. The authority of Herrera would warrant the conclusion that there was a factory at St. Vincente in the year 1527. At all events, the licence which Martim Affonso conceded to Pedro Goes, on the 3d of March, 1533, for the purpose of exporting seventeen captive Indians, free of all duties which it was customary to pay, amply demonstrates that such an establishment had existed for some time previous to the latter year. Martim Affonso found here, as has been already observed, two Europeans, Antonio Rodrigues, and John Ramalho, whom Herrera imagined had escaped from some shipwreck upon the coast; but it would seem improbable that they could of themselves have constituted a factory; as establishments of that kind, formed amongst barbarians, necessarily require a considerable number of persons. MOUNTAINS.--This province is not mountainous, if we except the eastern part, in the whole extent of which there is a general cordillera, running parallel to the coast, which occasionally receives the name of Cubatam. This serra is not universally of the same altitude, neither does it run uniformly at an equal distance from the sea. It has many broken parts, by some of which torrents descend to the ocean, and others wind into the interior. It abounds in verdant woods, being generally high towards the sea, and is the most elevated land of the province, with the exception of some dispersed mountains in the interior; besides, the largest rivers which irrigate this district have their origin in it, and run westward.