Towards the latter end of the month of April, the whole north of the province of Goyaz was thrown into a state of alarm, in consequence of information received from San Pedro de Alcantará, a small town in the extreme north of the province, near the banks of the Rio Tocantins, that a party of the troops of Raimundo Gomez, and the Balaio had crossed over from Pastos Boms in the province of Maranham, to Alcantará, and taken it by force; and that although the greater part of the more respectable inhabitants had fled to the woods, a number had been killed and robbed, while others had joined the rebels. Notice arrived at the same time that all the canoes which had descended from the central parts of the province towards Pará (April being the month in which they generally start), were taken, the owners killed, and the hides with which they were laden thrown into the river. It was immediately surmised that the canoes were captured for no other purpose than to ascend the river in order to devastate the towns and villages in this quarter, in the same manner as they had attacked those below. On the 22nd of April I was called to a fazenda about three leagues to the north of Arrayas, to visit a young lady, who was indisposed. When I arrived there, her father had just received a letter from the Vigario of Conceição, stating that a few days before, the robbers had reached Porto Imperial, a village on the Tocantins, only three days’ journey from the Villa de Natividade, and that the inhabitants of the latter place were flying in all directions. On my return to Arrayas, he sent by me a letter to the President of the Camara Municipal, containing the above information, who immediately called a meeting of the principal inhabitants to take into consideration what steps were necessary in this exigency; it was agreed that the National Guard should be called out by beat of drum, but although the town possessed such an instrument, unfortunately there was no one able to use it, until one of my men, a black from Natividade, asked my leave to offer his services. Accordingly the drum beat to arms round the town, but not more than half a dozen men made their appearance. Next morning they were again called out, when about a dozen assembled, nearly all without arms. These few were immediately put under drill by a fazendeiro who happened to be in town, and who, although bearing the rank of ensign in the National Guards, appeared quite ignorant of the task he undertook. The Juiz de Paz was immediately summoned from his fazenda, and expresses sent off to the city of Goyaz to inform the President, as well as the intermediate towns; orders were likewise issued to the different parts of the district to assemble the whole of the National Guard. In the course of four or five days above a hundred and forty men appeared in the Villa, the greater part of them armed with their own fowling-pieces, but there were no muskets, gunpowder, or ball in the place. Those who