Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/225

BRAZIL 219 Hambe, 5,903 ft. ; and several others, all in Minas Geraes. On the frontiers of Minas Geraes and Goyaz is a mountain group called the Serra dos Vertentes (range of the water- shed), which reaches its greatest height in the serras da Canastra, lat. 18 30' S., and da Mar- cella, lat. 19 10' S. This range consists of a series of spurs detached from that of the Es- pinhaco, stretching W. with numerous sinuosi- ties nearly to the apex of the angle formed by the Grande and Parnahyba rivers, in Minas Geraes, lat. 19 40' S. In the S. W. extremity of Matto Grosso, and almost in the same paral- lel as the Vertentes, originates a chain which, under the name of Serra de Santa Barbara, forms a considerable bend down to lat. 20 S. Thence it extends in a N. E. direction across the empire to the S. frontiers of Ceani; here it divides into two branches, one of which trends E. and loses itself between the provinces of Paruhyba and Pernambuco before it reaches the coast, and the other, taking the name of Serra da Ibiapaba, forms to lat. 4 30' S. the boun- dary between Piauhy and Ceara. The whole of the range just referred to sometimes receives the name of Pyrenees ; but this appellation is more properly confined to the ridge reaching from the city of Goyaz to Meia Ponte, and the highest points of which are, according to a Brazilian authority, about 9,620 ft. The Santa Marta, Santa Maria, and Tabatinga ridges, as the chain is successively called in its passage between the provinces of Minas Geraes and Goyaz, have no lofty peaks. The remainder of the chain, under the name of Serra da Bor- borema or dos Dons Irmaos, gradually dimin- ishes hi height until it is finally lost in the north- east. The entire range forms the watershed of the Araguaya-Tocantins, Sao Francisco, and Parnahyba rivers, and those of the northern tributaries of the Paranahyba-Parana, systems, and of the X. W. tributaries of the Paraguay. The Araguaya basin is studded in its entire length with low hills, whose elevation above the plain is never more than a few hundred feet. iliUy regions extend N. and W. from the great coast ranges, and traverse the provinces of Minas Geraes, Goyaz, and Matto Grosso ; but they are all of inconsiderable height. The hills from which descend the It6nez-Madeira head waters are but a continuation of the low Amazon-Paraguay watershed, and terminate in elevated marshy lands on the Bolivian fron- tier. It has been ascertained that the summit line in Brazil is close to the coast, and not in the interior, as has been erroneously presumed by most geographers and geologists ; and this summit line is the E. edge of the Brazilian highlands, which descend by a gentle slope toward the west, and terminate in the great plains or flats of the Amazon basin, most of which are subject to periodical inundations. The N. boundary of the uplands is indicated by the cataracts in the large Amazon feeders, and forms a curve having for average latitude 5 S., and presenting its convex side to the north. The S. boundary may be regarded as following the parallel of the Rio Iguazu or Iguacu. The surface of this extensive space is roughened by innumerable hills and some mountain ranges, whose elevation above the plain is, however, as has been seen, comparatively inconsiderable. There are no known volcanoes in the empire. Burton was informed that the Itatiaiossu in the Mantiqueira was of volcanic structure ; but Hartt has strong doubts as to its being a volcano. The territory of Brazil is watered by a large number of rivers, particularly in the north and south, the former constituting the basin of the Amazon, the latter that of the Plata, or more properly the Paraguay-Parana-Plata. The E. portion, between the basins of the Sao Fran- cisco and Parnahyba, is least supplied with rivers. The Amazon enters the empire from Peru at Tabatinga under the name of Solimoens or Solimoes, holds an easterly course, takes the name of the Amazon or Lower Amazon at the junction of the Rio Negro, and falls into the Atlantic almost under the equator. The area drained by the Amazon and its tributaries in Brazil is 800,000 square miles. That part of the Amazon which forms the dividing line between Ecuador and Peru varies from half a mile to a mile in width ; from Tabatinga to the junction of the Madeira it gradually widens to 3 in. ; after contracting to less than a mile at Obidos, where it is estimated that 550,000 cubic feet of water pass per second, it expands in the next 75 m. to over 10 m. at Santarem on the Tapajos ; near the mouth of the Xingu it is 20 m. wide; and it falls into the ocean through a single mouth 180 m. wide, includ- ing the Para. Its depth is about 85J fathoms at its mouth, and at Sao Paulo de Olivenca near the Peruvian frontier ; at the strait of Pauxis it reaches 254 fathoms; and the average depth is estimated at from 34 to 44 fathoms, so that vessels of any size may ascend to Sao Paulo throughout the year. The Solimoens is in all seasons navigable by large steamers 1,400 m. from the mouth of the Rio Negro ; and its basin is covered with one uniform, lofty, and impervious forest. Among the tributaries to the main trunk, starting from the mouth, we find on the left bank the Anarapucii, Guru- patuba, and Trombetas descending from the mountains which separate the empire from the Guianas. The Rio Negro, by far the largest and most majestic of the Amazon feeders from the north, enters the empire in Ion. 67 30' W., runs first S., then curves S. E., and, after a course of 1,200 m., pours its inky stream through two channels into the Amazon at Miindos, 1,000 in. from the ocean. The Negro is linked to the Orinoco by the natural canal Cassiquiare, navigable throughout. The Ja- pura or Caqueta flows almost parallel with the Ucayari-Negro, and after a course of over 1,000 m. falls into the Amazon through four mouths at the town of Ega. The Putumayo is the last large river on the left bank between the Negro and the Peruvian frontier. The