ABSTRACT
Outside the town of Cuiaba, the capital of Matto Grosso, is a rock which marks the geographical centre of South America. But Matto Grosso, which is the second largest state in Brazil, twice the size of Spain and larger than Bolivia, has yet to muster a million population. Cuiaba is yet to be connected with Campo Grande in the south of the state or with the northern bounds, and a road is being considered between Cuiaba and Santarem on the Amazon. A passing Scottish schoolmistress holidaying with missionaries in southern Goias had been whisked north to the Indian tribes at the Ilha da Bananal. Bananal Island is the largest fluvial island in the world, between two limbs of the Araguia.
