Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/226

220 BRAZIL largest affluents of the Amazon come from the south. The first on the right bank, and which separates the empire from Peru, is the Javari, which it receives at Tabatinga. Next to the east is the Jntahi, which, with the Jurua, Teffe, Coary (supposed to communicate with the Jurua about lat. 9 S.), and Puriis, has not yet been thoroughly explored. The Purfis is be- lieved by some to be the " Madre de Dios " of the old Spaniards, and navigable to the Bolivian frontier. The Madeira (so called from quantities of wood often seen floating down its stream), 2,000 m. long, enters the empire about lat. 11 8., and flows N. E. to its confluence with the Amazon in Ion. 58 W. The Madeira rises and falls about two months earlier than the Ama- zon. The Tapajos rises in the Serra Diamantina, a few miles from the head waters of the Para- guay, and after a N. course of 1,100 in., navi- gable throughout for canoes, and for large vessels to a distance of 200 m. from its mouth, it blends its clear olive-green waters with the white turbid current of the Amazon just below the town of Santarem. The Xingu, some 300 m. longer than the Tapajos, rises in the same plateau, and runs parallel with it to the town of Boa Vista, where it joins the Ama- zon, here 25 m. wide. The few geographers who make the Rio Para merely a mouth of the Amazon include in the number of the tribu- taries to the latter river the Tocantins, whose main branch has its head waters in the Serra de Sta. Maria, about lat. 15 S., and enters the Para 40 m. W. of the city of Belem. The To- cantins is joined, 300 m. from its mouth, by the Araguaya, which is also a great river ; in- deed, it is the greater of the two, and has the longer course, and hence ought to rank as the main stream. The preceding are all the Ama- zon tributaries of importance. These present an unparalleled extent of inland water com- munication, reaching to every country in South America save Chili and Patagonia. They are divided into two classes, distinguished by the color of the respective streams, those of one class being black, those of the other class white. This difference in color is attributed to the great quantity of resinous matter held in suspension in the black-water streams, received from the coniferous trees which they carry in great numbers to the Amazon. The black waters are infested by large numbers of in- sects, and intermittent fevers and leprosy are more prevalent on their banks than on those of the white waters ; the latter, on the other hand, are the more favorite haunts of the vari- ous large saurians. Descending the coast in a S. E. direction from the Amazon, the Par- nahyba is next encountered. It rises in the Serra de Tabatinga, and after a generally N. E. course of perhaps 1,000 m. falls into the At- lantic by six mouths, at the city of its own name, in lat. 3 S., Ion. 41 45' W. ; it has numerous small affluents, and is said to be navigable for a distance of 780 m. The Sao Francisco, occupying the third rank among the rivers of South America, and the sixteenth among those of the world, takes its rise in the highlands between lat. 20 and 21 S., and flows almost due N. to lat. 12", where it bends K. E., and falls into the ocean some 30 m. S. E. of Penedo. In lat. 17 11' 54" it receives the Rio das Velhas; in lat. 19 10', the Para; and about lat. 18 49', the Paraopeba. The Rio das Velhas, the main branch, might by the removal of a few obstacles be made naviga- ble by steam for 300 m. from its mouth. The bed of the Sao Francisco is much impeded by rapids and cataracts; otherwise the river would be navigable from the confluence of the Rio das Velhas to the sen. Steamers ply al- ready from the Porto das Piranhas to the ocean ; and Burton says that $1,015,000 would be sufficient to open the two rivers, and con- struct a railway to avoid the cataracts at Paulo. Among the great southern arteries of the empire is the Parana, formed by the united streams of the Paranahyba and Grande (which receive their head waters from the mountains ! of Minas Geraes), and flowing S. W. by S., | constituting the boundary line between the provinces of Matto Grosso and Sao Paulo, and | Parana and the republic of Paraguay. The Tiete, Iguazii or Iguassli, and a host of other j rivers fall into the Parana. The Paraguay flows almost due S., separating the province of Matto I Grosso from Bolivia, from lat. 20 20' S., and | unites with the Parana at the S. W. corner of the republic of Paraguay to form the principal j feeder of the Rio de la Plata. The Paraguay is navigable from Villa Maria. The Mearim in Maranhao, the Piranhas in Rio Grande do Norte, the Belmonte or Grande in Bahia, the Doce in Espirito Santo, the Paranapanema, separating the provinces of Sao Paulo and Pa- rana, the Jacuhy and Ibicuy in Rio Grande do Snl, the Uruguay, which separates Parana from Rio Grande do Sul, and the latter province from the Argentine Republic, with many others, are all rivers of considerable magnitude. The Amazon and some others of the Brazilian rivers are regularly visited at their mouths by the pororoca or bore. (See AMAZON, and BELEM.) Most of them are subject to periodical risings during the wet season, when they overflow their banks and inundate the surrounding plains over an extensive area. The flooding of the Amazon, however, otters no impediment to navigation, inasmuch as its affluents do not all i swell simultaneously, but have their risings at j intervals of six months on either bank of the trunk stream. The Amazon attains its maxi- mum height in June, 55 ft., and its minimum in December, 32 ft. The lakes of Brazil are numerous, especially in the provinces of Para, Maranhao, Goyaz, and along the coast, from lat. 19 S. to the southern extremity of the empire, as also in Matto Grosso. The principal are the Lagoa dos Patos (lake of the Ducks), about 150 m. long and 40 m. wide, stretching N. to S. along the coast of Rio Grande do Sul ; and the Lagoa Merim, lying S. of the former,