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218 BRAZIL and information on their arrival, and protect- ing their interests as colonists. Immigration from Europe, and chiefly from Germany and Switzerland, has of late years been still further encouraged by the imperial government, which pays a part of each immigrant's passage money. According to official reports, there were in the empire 50 colonies in 1869, with about 40,000 settlers. Many of these colonies, which are for the most part in the provinces south of Rio de Janeiro, have, in consequence of their flour- ishing condition, become independent of state direction. In 1871, 1,168 persons sailed from Hamburg for Brazil, over 1,000 of whom were Germans. From Jan. 1 to April, 1872, 1,105 had left the same port for the same destination. Brazil, in shape somewhat resembling a heart, has a coast line of nearly 4,000 miles, extreme- ly varied in its aspect and formation. From the mouth of the Oyapok to that of the Ama- zon, where it has an immense indentation, it is almost uniformly sandy and rather low ; and from that point to the embouchure of the Parnahyba it is low, marshy, and interspersed with widely separated hills of inconsiderable elevation, and presents numerous indentations, the largest of which is that forming Sao Marcos bay. For about 800 m. S. of the Parnahyba the shores are at first somewhat higher, but afterward gradually sink until Cape S. Agos- tinhos is reached, where they are very low. Thence, save a long stretch of picturesque red cliffs, alternating with steep verdant slopes and occasional patches of sands or swampy ground, reaching from Porto Seguro to the Piruhype in the southern portion of Bahia, they are very even, and vary hut little in elevation as far S. as the bay of Espirito Santo. From this point to Cape Santa Marta the coast is broken by rocks, which attain their greatest height be- tween Cape Frio and Santos in Sao Paulo. In the W. portion of the province of Rio de Janeiro it is often high, bold, very irregular in outline, and bordered by numerous rocky islands. The remainder of the coast, from Cape Santa Marta southward, is low, sandy, and intersected by numerous lakes, some of which communicate with the ocean through extensive openings. About midway between Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and nearly 40 m. to seaward, lie the Abrolhos, four rocky isl- ets, the principal one of which, Santa Bar- bara, rises to a height of 108 ft, is about three quarters of a mile in length, and is composed of beds of sandstone, shales, and trap. The beaches of these islets consist largely, and in some parts entirely, of coral and shell sand. From the Abrolhos northward to the shore of Maranhao, at very irregular and often very long intervals, are scattered true coral reefs, lying in patches at a short distance from the coast, from which they are separated by navi- gable channels. Much of the Brazilian ter- ritory, probably one half, is covered by high- lands and mountains; but all of these are of insignificant proportions and elevation when compared to the giant ranges of the Ancles. Indeed, many rising grounds mapped and de- scribed as serras have nothing of a mountainous character. The Amazon and Paraguay water- shed in the province of Matto Grosgo, forming the V. limit of the Brazilian highlands, is sim- ply a low swelling plateau on which' the Tapa- jos, Xingii, Paraguay, and other rivers have their sources; and these are so near to each other, and the watershed is so low, that canoes ascend the Tapajos from Santarem near it? confluence with the Amazon, cross over, and descend the Paraguay to Villa Maria. These great river sources might easily be connected by means of a canal. All the great Brazilian ranges N. of the parallel of Diamantina and having a N. and S. direction, though commonly described as mountain chains, are, with tho exception of the Serra do Grao Mogor, ranges of chapadas or narrow plateaus resulting from denudation. There are in the east two great parallel chains. One of these, the Serra do Mar. runs nearly in a line with the coast, lowering considerably toward the Rio Doce, and losing itself almost entirely in Bahia, about lat. 18 S. The other, situated W. of the shore chain, is the Serra de Villarica or do Espinhaco. It ex- tends from about lat. 25 to 16 S., where it loses itself some 240 m. from the coast; but be- tween 22 and 23 it draws so near the Serra do Mar as to be confounded with it. The Serra do Mar, much the most picturesque mountain range in the empire, follows the coast S. W. of Rio de Janeiro, traverses at variable distances from the shore the provinces of Sao Paulo, Santa Catharina, and Parana, and about mid way on the W. limit of that of Santa Catharina sep- arates into two branches, one of which, under the name of Serra Geral, stretches across that province to As Torres, lat. 29 20' S., and there turns westward, forming an elbow that trends first W., then N. W., with many curves, till, by a succession of low hills, it ultimately joins the Monies Yerbales in the Argentine Republic. The coast chain frequently changes its name ; from Bahia to Rio do Janeiro it is called Serra dos Aymbores or Aimores ; in the latter prov- ince it takes the appellation of Serra dos Orgaos (Organ mountains), from a fancied re- semblance to the tubes of an organ ; it is next distinguished as the Serra de Paranapicaba, and lastly as the Serra Geral as above stated. Tho culminating point of the Serra do Mar occurs in the Organ mountains, and its height is es- timated at from 7,500 to 7,800 ft. above the level of the sea. By far the loftiest mountains are W. of that chain. The Itatiaiossu, with an elevation of 10,300 ft., is the highest summit in Brazil ; it is situated in the N. W. corner of the province of Rio de Janeiro, in the Serra da Mantiqueira, which separates from the Serra do Mar near the city of Sao Paulo, and skirts the coast for a distance much further N. than that range. In the Serra do Espinhaco are Itacolumi, 6,400 ft. above the sea; Itabira, 5,170 ft. ;' the Serra da Piedadc, 5,770 ft. ; the