The undoubted riches of the region, however, did not fail to insure a due proportion of settlers; and a road was opened to _Cuyabá_ from _Goyaz_ by which a due supply of cattle was introduced. Amongst the few survivors of the first miserable year was Manoel Felix de Lima, who was destined to accomplish a remarkable geographical feat, by finding his way from the mines of _Francisco Xavier_ in _Matto-Grosso_ to the Spanish settlements at _Santa Maria Magdalena_. A short sketch of this journey may be given here as illustrating the enormous natural and other difficulties with which the first explorers of the interior of _Brazil_ had to contend. Manoel de Lima, who was a native of Portugal, had failed to enrich himself in the pursuit of gold; prices were very high; and, being wearied of a settled life, he induced some companions to join him in an adventure down the rivers. The party made up the number of fifty, including slaves and Indians. They were all either penniless or deeply in debt, and were glad of any excuse for escaping from their creditors. Falling down the _Sarare_ in canoes, they found themselves upon the _Guapore_, when they laid in stores for the voyage before them down the river which now forms for a considerable distance the frontier between _Brazil_ and _Bolivia_. On the tenth day of the voyage the adventurers landed on the right bank, at the mouth of a stream, where they found marks of a recent encampment made by a party under one Almeida, who had set out from the settlement six months before them upon a slave-hunting expedition, and who soon joined them here. Almeida had been informed that it would be dangerous to proceed down the stream, on account of the character of the natives; he therefore proposed to ascend the smaller river, where he might pursue his object with greater safety. The intelligence discouraged the greater number of Manoel’s party, but not the leader himself; he determined to pursue his course, notwithstanding the defection of fourteen of his number.