The River Jaurú approaches the Guaporé so closely that it would be easy to make a canal from the waters of this western river to a tributary of the Jaurú. Another tributary of the Paraguay, the Aguapehy, is only separated from the Alegre River, which flows by the old city of Villa Bella, to-day called Matto Grosso, by a low and narrow isthmus, which according to Leverger measures 5,280 meters. During 1772, and even later, it was proposed to cut a canal at different places in this isthmus, but the work was never done because of the little commerce of that locality. Certainly, railroads, in the near future, will supply the absence of a canal and will join Montevideo to Pará, passing through the larger part of the State of Matto Grosso, and by a continental navigable water way of 8,300 kilometers, as Bartholomo Bossi says. The Paraguay River has as its principal tributaries the S. Lourenço, enlarged by the waters of the Cuyabá, the Taquary, the Mondego, and the Apá, the last marking the boundary between Brazil and the Republic of Paraguay. At the time of the floods, its level, and that of its tributaries, rises 10 to 11 meters and overflows to the right and the left, forming a temporary sea, which extends to great distances, being lost to sight and continuing in lakes. The first Spanish explorers gave it the name of Lake Xarayes, in its lower section, where it receives the nearly dormant waters of its principal tributaries. This lake is about 600 kilometers in length from North to South, between the mouths of Jaurú and the hills of “Fecho-dos-Morros,” and in certain places reaches a width of 250 kilometers. It is not permanent, as you already know, but at certain seasons of the year there are overflows, which the Indians called bays and rightly, for here there were bays of an ancient sea, which to-day are nearly dry, and most of these lakes are in constant communication with the Paraguay River, either by underground openings, or by long canals. These latter are called the lakes of Uberaba, Gaiaba, Mandioré, Caceres, etc. Some of these lakes contain only fresh water from the overflowing rivers, while others being ancient cavities are now filled with salt water, and have in their depths beds of salt, which give to the liquid a soapy characteristic. It is singular that this contrast by nature of fresh and salt water is also found in the lands of the vast plains, and thus it is, that these extensive fields, covered by a rich alluvial soil, bear heavy forests. Here the agriculturist can certainly obtain marvelous harvests. It is certainly true that these fields of Matto Grosso will serve for agriculture as well as pastoral industry.