144 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



Rio Mossoro, 30 miles from the sea, is accessible to large vessels, which here ship 

 cotton, sugar, and especially courinhos or " small hides," that is, kid skins of excep- 

 tionally fine quality. 



Towns of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraiiyba. 

 Rio Grande do Norte has for its capital and largest seaport the town of Natal, 

 which lies near the extremity of a peninsula on the south side of the Rio Grande 



rig. 53. — Paeahyba and Cabedelo. 

 Scale 1 : 340,000. 



54'55' 



West or Greenwich 



34°45' 



0tol6 

 leet. 



Depths. 



16 to 32 

 Feet. 



32 Feet 

 and upwards. 



C Miles. 



estuary. The bar and reefs at its mouth prevent all access to large vessels, which 

 have to anchor in the offing. Sugar, the chief export, comes mostly from the 

 fertile valley where is situated Ceam Mirim, " Little Ceara," a centre of the 

 sugar-refining industry. A railway running from Natal southwards successively 

 crosses the arid sandy plateaux, and the rich intervening valley under cotton, 

 sugar cane, and other tropical plants. 



Here are several flourishing little towns and seaports, such as 8. José de 

 Mipibu on the Rio Trahiry ; Goijainnha, the chief place in the Rio Jacu valley. 



