So soon as the richness of the locality became known, cattle and supplies were forwarded to _Cuyabá_, but with infinite difficulty and at proportionate cost. Mining at _Cuyabá_ was attended with a danger from which _Minas Geraes_ was free, namely, the presence of hostile and resolute Indians. Military discipline was found necessary for self-preservation; but the attitude of the savages was at least attended with the good result of compelling the settlers to sink their own jealousies and differences in making common cause against them. Thus the settlement of _Cuyabá_ soon began to flourish as much as had those of _Minas Geraes_. As the way thither by water was so circuitous and difficult, the governor of _S. Paulo_ offered a reward for the opening up of a communication by land; and this object was effected by Manoel de Lara, a house being established at the point where the _Paraná_ was crossed, in order that the gold might be registered and the royal fifths collected. But such a mode of levying the dues proved ineffectual in a country where smuggling was so easy; and it was judged expedient to have recourse to a poll-tax upon the slaves. A like measure was, after long hesitation, determined upon in respect to the taxation of _Minas Geraes_, where almost every conceivable contrivance had been resorted to in order to defraud the Crown of the royal fifths,--such measures, for instance, as corrupting the goldsmiths and employing coins. It was therefore strongly recommended to raise the royal proportion by means of taxing the produce according to the number of slaves employed; and the task of introducing this measure devolved upon the new governor, Gomes Freyre de Andrade, the son of the distinguished Gomes Freyre, who had restored order in _Maranham_. When the edict for the capitation was posted in the public places throughout the captaincy, the inhabitants of two districts tore down the proclamation and prepared to resist the levying of the tax; but so conciliatory was the new governor that this threatened disturbance was quieted down; and the peace of the province was happily insured by the discovery, at this time, of several fresh mines, which promoted a general prosperity extending to the entire population.