218 bulletin: museum of compakative zoology. 



Filippe Francisco Pereira. Roteiro da costa do Norte do Brazil. Per- 



^ naiubuco, 1877. 



This work, written for the use of coast pilots and sailing masters, 

 speaks incidentally of many of the reefs of northern Brazil. Opposite 

 page 36 is a map of the Barra de Goiauna, Pernambuco, showing the posi- 

 tion of a reef somewhat broken and curved. 



He says (p. 43) there are reefs about the mouth of Rio Guajii, on 

 the liue between Parahyba and Rio Grande do Norte. The Barra do 

 Cunhahu, Rio Grande do Norte, is also circled by reefs lying near the 

 shore (p. 45). Others are mentioned (p. 50) at the mouth of Rio 

 Ceara-Merim. Off Cape ^t. Roque he says the reefs are about 6 miles 

 out and parallel with the coast, and extend 27 miles N.N.W. to Olhos 

 d'Agua. These last are probably coral reefs, however. 



Piso, Gulielmus. De ludiae Utriusque Re Naturali et Medica. Am- 

 sterdam, 1658. 



Piso lived at Pernambuco during the Dutch occupancy under Maurice 

 of Nassau, 1637-1644. 



Speaking of Pernambuco, this author says that the tide " strikes with 

 great violence against a reef or bank called by the Portuguese Reciffo. 

 All who have seen this reef are obliged to confess that it was placed 

 there by a great kindness of nature. The ledge of rock, extending a 

 long distance, opposes itself like a wall to the violence of the surf and 

 mad elements, and gives ships safe stations and ports. It also supplies 

 most abundant materials for buildings, and for the churches and monas- 

 teries which are the pride of Olinda and Parahyba. This same reef, 

 sometimes broken and crooked, again continuous and straight, protects 

 the greatest part of Brazil. {Maximam Brasilia} jjartem eadem mine 

 interrupto Sf flexuoso, nunc continuato rectoque didu fuetur.) Its breadth 

 (it is very flat, and as smooth as if artificially polished) is twenty, some- 

 times thirty paces and more. Its height is such that it is rarely covered 

 by the highest tide " (p. 6-7). 



I liave given this quotation at length, partly because it has been sup- 

 posed that Piso is the original authority for the occasional statement 

 that the reefs of Brazil are continuous. 



The same description is quoted on pages 584-585 of Caspar Barlaeus's 

 Rerum per Octennium in Brasilia. 2d ed. Clivis, 1660. 



In Piso's Medicina Brasiliense, published in 1648 (pp. 3-4), the same 

 account is given of the reef. 



