From its headwaters at 1,000 km, a length of 370 km, to km 700, runs with a northerly orientation through the whole extent of the region Minas Gerais at an average height of 760 m, with a slope of 25 cm/km, goes through the town Patos of Minas at a height of 770 m, obtains water from a number of small tributaries that descend from the Magalhães-peak and from the Serra of Barbaça, on the other side of the Serra da Mata da Corda.