Rio Grande do Sul has had a chequered career almost ever since its settlement. For a long time its ownership was contested between Spaniards and Portuguese, although at an earlier time, when the capitancias were formed, no one considered it worth the taking. Many of the original settlers came from the Azores, and some of the inhabitants are still glad to call themselves Azoreans. It was not until 1822 that it was definitely united with the rest of Brazil, but at that time it was joined to the empire as a separate province. The independent and martial spirit, engendered by the many wars, has made the state very independent, and this has caused it to be turbulent. Quite a good deal of railway construction has been done in the past decade, and this has added to the prosperity of the country by opening up new districts to trade and commerce. The construction of railways is comparatively easy. The Uruguay River on the western boundary furnishes good communication with Uruguayan and Argentinian ports, and regular steamship service is maintained on it. There are also some rivers emptying into the lake, which are navigable for small craft. The state of Matto Grosso, (the dense forest) is an empire in itself, for it contains a greater area than the original thirteen colonies. It is one-sixth as large as the United States. It is not only an undeveloped, but practically an unexplored country, whose resources are only half understood. Much of it is as wild as it was when Sebastian Cabot made his way up the Paraguay River early in the sixteenth century. All of its supplies are conveyed up the waterways of the La Plata system, and it takes a month to reach Cuyaba, the capital, from Rio de Janeiro. It has a population not exceeding one person to each four square miles of territory, so that there are few towns. Cuyaba has perhaps twenty thousand souls, and has long ago passed the century mark of its existence. It is said to be quite an attractive little city.