1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pelotas

PELOTAS, a city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on the left bank of the São Gongalo river near its entrance into the Lagôa dos Patos, about 30 m. N.W. of the city of Rio Grande Pop (1900), city, about 24,000; municipio (commune, 1037 sq. m.), 43,091. The Rio Grande Bagé railway communicates with the city of Rio Grande, and with the railways extending to Bagé, Cacequy, Santa Maria, Passo Fundo and Porto Alegre. The São Gonçalo river is the outlet of Lagoa 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 São Francisco, dating from the early part of the 19th 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 byproducts 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 1830 and a city in 1835.