Chai>. Ill] TROPICAL WOODLAND AND GRASSLAND 271 



4. WOODLAND CLIMATE AND SAVANNAH CLIMATE IN 



BRAZIL. 



The difference between woodland climate and grassland climate is 

 exhibited very instructively after crossing the mountain-range Serra do 

 Mar on the coast of South Brazil, which, stretching from north to south, 

 deprives the sea-breezes of so much of their moisture as to render 

 them considerably drier as they blow over the Brazilian plateau as far 

 as the Andes, which constitute a mighty barrier that condenses their 

 remaining aqueous vapour. 



East of the Serra do Mar stretches the immense evergreen forest of 

 the Brazilian coast, usually exhibiting only such interruptions as culti- 

 vation has caused ; to the west savannah predominates. The forest is 

 restricted as fringing-forest to the river-banks, or frequently in the form 

 of open low savannah-forest, but also as high-forest, clothes the eastern 

 slopes of the mountain-ranges that are exposed to the sea-breeze ; it also 

 appears in depressions in the ground, where water accumulates in the 

 soil. It is only on the slopes of the Andes that true evergreen lofty 

 rain-forest reappears for the first time, because, thanks to their great 

 altitude, the mountain-slopes rob the wind of its remaining moisture. 



If we land, for instance, at the seaport of Santos in the province of 

 Sao Paulo we soon perceive from the fine growth of evergreen trees, 

 from the abundance of epiphytes, and from the stately lianes, that we 

 are within the district of the high-forest, even though this has been 

 cleared near the town. Santos has in fact an annual rainfall of 250 cm. 



Raiz de la Serra, at the foot of the Serra (21 meters above sea-level), 

 has a still greater rainfall, namely 280 cm., than has the seaport Santos, 

 and Alto da Serra on the mountain-range (800 meters above sea-level) 

 has as much as 336 cm. Once the mountain-crest is passed, however, the 

 rainfall sinks below that necessary for high-forest, and savannah, not bush- 

 wood, becomes the predominant vegetation. At the foot of the Serra 

 on the west side lies Sao Paulo (740 meters above sea-level) with still 

 120-150 cm. of rain, but the rainfall diminishes as we pass inland and 

 the coast-mountains become more distant — naturally leaving out of 

 account the mountain-ranges in the interior. Porto Ferreira (531 meters 

 above sea-level) has for instance 1,042 mm. The rainfall in the province 

 of Sao Paulo apparently does not fall below 100 cm. 



According to Saint-Hilaire the province of Minas Geraes lying to the 

 north of Sao Paulo is subdivided by the Serra do Espinhaco into an 

 eastern district of high-forest, and a western district of savannah {campo) 

 and of deciduous savannah-forest. In the high-forest district the annual 

 rainfall exceeds 2co cm. ; in the savannah district it usually ranges between 

 100 cm. and 150 cm., and on the average does not attain 170 cm. 



Towards the south, the region of savannah, together with the savannah- 



