EASTEEN STATES SOUTH OF THE AMAZONS. 



135 



Maranliao, is scarcely known except as a frontier stream. The more copious 

 Grajahu, swollen by the Mearim on the right and by the Pindare on the left bank, 

 enters the sea through a broad estuary in which is situated the island of S. Luis 

 de Maranhao. The Itapicuru, so named from the mountains where it rises, falls 

 into the same estuary, and is the largest river in the State of Maranhao, accessible 

 to small steamers for 340 miles from its mouth. 



The Parnahyba, or " Bad Piiver," if such be the true meaning of the word, 

 owes its evil reputation, perhaps, to its unhealthy valley, or more probably to the 

 difficult and dangerous navigation of its shallow bed. Yet in length and the 

 extent of its drainage area it surpasses all the rivers of West Europe. During 

 an upper course of over 370 miles it receives all the waters descending from the 



Fig. 47. — Paenahyba Delta. 

 Sralel : 1,000,000. 



42-20' 



West oF (jreenwich 



0to5 

 Fathoms. 



Depths. 



S to 10 

 Fathoms 



10 Fathoms 

 aud upwards. 



25 Miles. 



northern slopes of the divide — Mangabeiras, Gurgueia, Piauhy, and Dois Irmâos. 

 But, unlike the Amazons, it enters the sea, not through an estuary, but through a 

 ramifying delta advancing far beyond the normal coastline.* 



The Jaguaribe, which collects nearly all the running waters of Ceara, is far 

 less copious than the Parnahyba, and, despite its numerous affluents, is navigable 

 only for 15 miles of its lower course. In 1815 its mouth was completely closed by 

 the bar, and all the shipping were caught like fish in a net. 



From the mouth of the Parnahyba to that of the S. Francisco the coast is 



frmged by a reef, or by several perfectly regular lines of reefs, some of coralline, 



some, notably the famous Pernambuco reef, of different origin. Probably in the 



whole world there exists no other natural formation which has more the appear- 



* Length of the Parnahyba, 930 miles ; drainage area, 136,000 square miles. 



