THE 



« 



AMERICAN NATURALIST. 



Vol. XIII. — yUNE, 1879. — No. 6. 



PROF. HARTT ON THE BRAZILIAN SANDSTONE 



REEFS. 



BY RICHARD RATHBUN. 



THE sea-coast of Brazil, from the mouth of the Amazonas to 

 near Victoria, is generally low and of quite uniform character, 

 being everywhere faced with broad, open beaches of sand that 

 extend for miles and miles without interruption. A less inviting 

 region than this to the explorer can scarcely be imagined, and it 

 stands in marked contrast with the more tempting inland districts, 

 especially those in the Amazonian valley, which have always 

 caused Brazil to be considered a sort of naturalists' paradise. It 

 was little suspected, until a few years ago, that this unattractive 

 coast harbored very extensive and curious coral reefs, and dis- 

 played, in connection with its beaches, interesting phenomena 

 whose true character had been entirely misunderstood. 



Some of the earlier writers on Brazil endeavored to describe 

 this region, relying either on their own imperfect observations, or 

 on what others had seen, and adding, apparently, here and there, 

 numerous details, the products of their own fertile brains, per- 

 haps, to smooth over and complete the sketch. 



These very inaccurate accounts gave credence to the existence 

 of a long bar or reef of stone, bordering the entire coast from 

 north of Cape St. Roque to the southward of Bahia. Piso, in 

 his work published in 1648, described this reef, and he has been 

 copied over and over again by nearly every author who has 

 written on this subject since his time, no one ever having 

 taken the trouble to test the accuracy of his statements. Even 

 Staff-Commander Penn, in the " South American Coast Pilot," 



VOL. XIII. — NO. VI. 25 



