BRANNER: THE STONE REEFS OF BRAZIL. 141 



The shores along the lower part of the river are all low, and mostly 

 covered with mangrove swamps; the highlands begin at the town of 

 Jaguaripe on the south side; on the north side they begin a couple or 

 three kilometres further upstream. These hills are some thirty-five 

 metres high. They have steep slopes, some of them being nearly per- 

 pendicular, that plunge without a break beneath the mangrove flats 

 When one can get a broad view over these mangrove flats, he sees them 

 ending like a water-line against the foot of the hills. The landward 

 margins of the mangrove swamps now follow for a distance parallel with 



Fig. 78. Outline sketch of the topography at the mouth of Rio Santa Cruz 



the stream, and now turn square away from it, run inland for a kilo- 

 metre or two, and then curve sharply back upon themselves, thus pro- 

 ducing a regular dendritic form. In places these swamps are built out 

 m front of hills, in others the river cuts the foot of the hills and the 

 swamps fill the valleys between them like the membrane between the 

 lingers of the human hand. 



The present Jaguaripe river, in any case, is a very crooked one now 

 washing the rock bases of blufifs, and now winding through the midst of 

 great mangrove swamps. 



These are the features of a region having originally a rather sharp 

 drainage and narrow, steep-sided valleys, but now let down until the 

 sea has invaded the lower 



ends of the valleys, and these 

 valleys are more or less silted 

 up and taken possession of by 

 mangrove swamps. 



The mouth of the Santa 

 Cruz river, in the State of 

 Bahia, seen from the north 



\ 



^Jf-i 



R.f^W.. 



-n:. 



Fig. 79. Sketch of tlie bluff at Santa Cruz. 



end of the Alagadas reef, has the outlines shown in the accompanying 

 SKGtcn. 



The bluff's at the town of Santa Cruz are so steep on the northwest 



