BRANNER: THE STONE REEFS OF BRAZIL. 251 



kilometres, and southward to and including the great Itassepanema 

 reef at the northern end of the Bahia de Cabral. Their total length is 

 about twenty kilometres to the Boqueirao Grande entrance to that bay. 

 These reefs all draw away from the coast somewhat at their northern 

 ends. They are all covered at high tide, and uncovered at low tide. 

 There are various small passages through the Araripe reefs, and there 

 is a canal between the reef and the shore for small crafts only. The 

 northern end of the Araripe group is not shown on the charts of the 

 coast. The southern reef of this group is known as Itassepanema. 

 There are two yellow sandbanks on it, one of which is known as the 

 Coroa Alta; this bank is not covered at ordinary higli tide. 



The Itassepanema reef is somewhat higher at its southern than at its 

 northern end. Its surface is very flat and smooth. 



The Alagadas reefs south of the Boqueirao Grande are also of coral, 

 but they are small as compared with tlie Itassepanema reef. 



At the southern end of the Bahia de Cabral a line of coral reefs stands 

 out from Ponta Vermelha and Coroa Vermelha in a nearly northeast 

 direction. This reef continues from the point marked "Vermelha 

 Bank " on the chart to and south of the mouth of Rio Manguinha. Its 

 total length is about eight kilometres. It curves outward and away 

 from Ponta Grande and leaves between it and the beach a canal for 

 small crafts at high tide. 



The Recife de Fora, or Baixo de Fora, as it is called on the chart, 

 just north of Porto Seguro, is a coral reef, reported by the coast pilots 

 to be " not less than half a league wide," east-west. 



The next coral reefs south of Porto Seguro are those known as the 

 Itacolumis, south latitude 16° 53'. I did not visit the Itacolumi reefs. 



Coral reefs off CaraveUas. — The Parcel das Paredes is the most ex- 

 tensive group of coral reefs on the Brazilian coast. They have a total 

 length of about thirty-three kilometres, and a maximum width of about 

 twenty kilometres. I visited them only once, — in September, 1899, — 

 but I traversed almost their entire length and breadth in a whale-boat 

 tliat allowed me to pass freely through the shallower parts of the 

 channels. I did not, however, see the extreme eastern edge of the 

 reefs where they receive the heaviest surf. 



The highest part of the Parcel das Paredes reefs is at their northern 

 end, and is known as the Recife da Lixa, or Shark Reef, on account of 

 the great number of a certain kind of sharks about this part of it. 



But the whole of this group from one end to the other, and without 

 any exception, is comiiletely covered by water at high tide. It will be 



