PELOTAS  , a

city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on the left bank of the Sao Gongalo river near its entrance into the Lag&a dos Patos, about 30 M . N.W. of the city of Rio Grande . Pop . (1g0o), city, about 24.000; municipio (commune, 1037 sq. m.),43,o91 . The Rio Grsnde Bage railway communicates with the city of Rio Grande, and with the railways extending to Bage, Cacequy, Santa Maria, Passo Fundo and Porto Alegre . The Sao Goncalo river is the outlet of Lag&a Mirim, and Pelotas is therefore connected with the inland water routes . The city is built on an open grassy plain (campo) little above the level of the lake (28 ft. above sea-level) . The public buildings include the church of Sao Francisco, dating from the early part of the loth century, the municipal hall, a fine theatre, the Misericordia hospital, a public library containing about 25,000 volumes and a great central market . Pelotas is the centre of the xarque or carne secca (jerked beef) industry of Rio Grande do Sul . In its outskirts and the surrounding country are an immense number of xarqueadas (slaughter-houses), with large open yards where the dressed beef, lightly salted, is exposed to the sun and air . There are many factories or packing houses where the by-products are prepared for market . Pelotas was only a small settlement at the beginning of the 19th century and had no parochial organization until 1812 .

It became a

villa in 183o and a city in 1835 .