s FEANCISCO BASIN". 



157 



Fig. 60.— Paulo Affonso Falls. 

 Scale 1 : 37.000. 



the Rio Verde. But the largest affluent is the Rio Grande, which joins the 

 main stream at the point where it begins to bend round to the north-east. 

 Through its Rio Preto tributary, its Sapâo sub -tributary, a lake with double 

 discharge, and the Rio Sorano, the Rio Grande offers a continuous waterway 

 from the S. Francisco to the Tocantins, and consequently to the Amazons. The 

 engineer Moraes has proposed to construct a canal to divert the Rio Preto into 

 one of the upper afflu- 

 ents of the Parnahyba, 

 and thus contribute to 

 relieve the distress of 

 the inhabitants of Ceara 

 during periods of long 

 drought. 



Below thePtio Grande 

 the S. Francisco has 

 still to descend 1,300 

 feet before reaching the 

 sea. Where it begins 

 to be deflected abruptly 

 eastwards, its level is 

 lowered through a series 

 of dangerous steps, 

 forming the upper 

 stages of the great Paulo 

 Affonso Falls, justly re- 

 garded as the " wonder 

 of Brazil" Above the 

 falls the stream whirls 

 along amid a labyrinth 

 of islands, reefs, and 

 isolated rocks, so close 

 toffether that at low 

 water a plucky jumper 

 might leap from step- 

 ping stone to stepping 

 stone right across the 

 current, although even 

 then it discharges over 



35,000 cubic feet per second. During the floods its volume is increased probably 

 fivefold, for at this point the S. Francisco, already within 60 miles of the sea, 

 has received all its great affluents. 



As it draws near the' falls the stream ramifies into several channels between 

 three elongated islands and some neighbouring islets, all formed of a compact 

 mass of gneiss. At the lower extremity of the group, the channels, which varying 



.1,100 Yards. 



