Two miles distant from the confluence of the river Almas with the Maranham, and seventy miles to the north-east of Pilar, is the arraial of Aguaquente, (Warm Water) situated near a large and deep lake of brackish, fetid, and warm water, from which it derived the name. A church of St Sebastiao and a chapel of our Lady of Merces are its only places of worship. It was commenced about the year 1732, in the frontier situation, where some vestiges remain. An epidemical disease, produced by standing and putrid pools of water, occasioned by the floods of the Maranham, led those who wished to escape with life to the place where this arraial is now situated. It was not unusual for fifty to die in one day. A numerous herd of oxen arriving from St. Paulo, for the supply of this arraial, where they were collected at night, and pastured in its environs during the day, was the cause, it is stated, of this contagion ceasing. The gold, which was so abundant at first, induced an assemblage here of twelve thousand persons. Amongst other pieces of considerable size, one was found of forty-three pounds weight, which was transmitted to the court, in the same form that nature presented it. This rarity was placed in the Royal Museum of Lisbon; and became the booty of the French army when in that city. There are some frightful caverns upon the margins of this lake, the outlet from which is a small perennial stream, not experiencing any diminution during the droughts. Fifteen miles to the east-north-east of Aguaquente is the arraial of Cocal, so called from its great number of cocoa trees, and situated near a small river which loses itself in the Maranham. Whilst gold was abundant this place flourished, but it is now very inconsiderable. The arraial of Trahiras, twenty miles to the north-east of Aguaquente, large and flourishing, is the head of the julgado; it was founded in 1735, upon the left margin, and twenty miles above the mouth of the river that gives it the name. It has a church of Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao, a hermitage of Bom Jesus, and another of Our Lady of Rozario. It is well supplied with meat, fish, and the agricultural productions of the country. Five miles to the north-east of Trahiras, is the middling arraial of St. Joze de Tucantines, improperly so denominated, being nearly thirty miles distant from that river. It was founded in 1735, near the left margin of the river Bacalhau, and has two hermitages of Our Lady of Boa Morte and of Rozario, and another of St. Efigenia. Its church is the most magnificent temple in the province. There is a brotherhood of the Lord dos Passos[23] privileged by Pope Clement XIII. About twelve miles to the east of the preceding is the small arraial of Cachoeira, to which a cataract furnished the name, Cachoeira being founded near it, upon the margin of the river, in the year 1736.