GOYAZ, go-yaz', Brazil, state completely enclosed between the states of Maranhao, Piauhy, Bahia, Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, Matto Grosso and Para. Its area is estimated at 747,311 square kilometers, or, say, 288,536 square miles; but, as a large part of the Ara guaya-Tocatins Basin is unexplored, a precise statement in regard to the extent of its terri tory cannot be justified. The Goyaz plateau with the Pyreneus Mountain range constitute the watershed which divides the basin of the Tocatins and Araguaya rivers from the Sao Francisco and Parana basins; the headwaters of the Araguaya and the Paraguay are near one another; and thus the point of divergence of great river-systems is found within this state. The climate of the plateau is excellent ; among the mountains extremes of heat and cold are felt; and large districts are well adapted to agriculture. Forests extend along the river-courses, while the elevated lands of the interior have only occasional clusters of trees. The chief products are tobacco, rubber and cattle; the gold and diamond washings which at one time were supposed to be im portant now yield very little. The capital, Goyaz, formerly called Villa Boa, has about 25,000 inhabitants. The population of the state was given as 340,000 in 1911; of that number nearly 25,000 were Indians or Mestizos. The special interest attached to this state is due to a circumstance which is mentioned in a geographical sketch of Brazil (Washington 1901; compiled by the Bureau of the American Republics), in the following terms: This state enjoys a splendid climate, and has been selected for the site of the future capital of the republic, the constitution providing for its location on the plateau of Goyaz. A special
commission, at the head of which is the di rector of the observatory of Rio de Janeiro, has already marked the site for the new cap ital, which is a space 14,400 kilometers square (about 5,500 square miles) on the Upper Tocatins, in the Pyreneus range of mountains. It has an elevation of from 200 to 300 metres above the level of the plateau and is drained by numerous streams of pure water, being the centre of the three hydrographic systems of Brazil. . . . It is here, near the point of diver gence of her three great rivers, that Brazil wishes to establish the national capital' But the site thus selected has no natural means of communication with the Brazilian coast. The Tocatins-Araguaya is navigable for only about one-tenth of its entire length; its course is broken by falls and rapids, and as it ap proaches the Gulf of the Amazon it becomes very. shallow. Canals and railways would be required in order to make the rivers com mercial highways; moreover, the state is with out seaboard—is, indeed, far inland. The iso lation of the proposed capital suggests that of Bogota.