CLIMATE OF EIO DE JANEIRO. 185 



at. once a gulf and a lagoon, while the entrance resembles a strait. Here the 

 granite rocks approach on both sides so closely that only a passage is left 1,600 

 yards wide with 15 fathoms on the sill. Inside this passage the east and west 

 shores are indented with semi-circular inlets, whose intervening headlands are 

 continued by islands and islets far into the water. Beyond these labyrinthine 

 groups of rocky and verdant heights, the bay expands into a vast inland sea, with 

 shelving beach exposed and flooded at each ebb and flow. With its 300 islands 

 the land-locked, basin covers a space of 170 square miles, over a third of which is 

 deep enough for the largest vessels. The deeply indented shores further present 

 a succession of ramifying creeks, where the shi^^ping finds an unlimited extent of 

 perfectly sheltered anchorage. Nevertheless some parts of the bay are slowly 

 silting up, and some of the old mooring places have had to be abandoned. 



Outside the inner coast-line formed by the bay, the regular marine beach is 

 indicated west of the Rio heights by the so-called reatinga of Marambaia, a narrow 

 strip of sand running nearly in a straight line between a headland and an 

 adjacent islet. Farther on, the peak of the llha Grande, over 1,000 feet high, 

 follows in the same direction, projecting its spurs towards a still more elevated 

 peninsular promontory, which shuts off the gulf of Paraty from the ocean. Alono" 

 the line of all these islands and peninsulas the marine waters preserve their normal 

 depth, and nowhere show any indication of shoaling. 



Cjjmate. 



Within a narrow space mountains, valleys, and coastlands offer so many 

 parallel zones, each with its separate climate. To the contrast of varying tem- 

 perature is added the play of alternating sea breezes, due to the trend of the two 

 sections of the coast, one disposed from north to south, the other from east to west. 

 But everywhere the humidity is relatively very great throughout the year, although 

 the rainfall is heaviest in summer, when the weather is also most stormy under the 

 influence of the west and north-west gales. The most prevalent winds, however, 

 are those of the southern trades, which usually blow from the south-east. 



Taken as a whole, the State of Rio de Janeiro is not one of the healthy regions 

 of Brazil. The numerous marshy tracts on the coast are dangerous at all seasons, 

 especially for strangers. Besides the endemic agues, these districts are visited by 

 epidemics of yellow fever, which are fatal to all white settlers. But the moun- 

 tain slopes and breezy heights offer health resorts, where the European may 

 recover from the debilitating effects of a residence on the lowlands. The climate 

 of Rio is said to have undergone a change since the destruction of the great 

 forests. Rains and storms would appear to have become far more irregular than 

 formerly.* 



* Meteorological conditions of Rio: — 



Temperature. Bainy 



Latitude. Altitude. ^- -^ Liays. Rainfall, 



max. mean. min. 



Rio . . 22°5'1'S. 220 feet. 102^ Fahr. 73^ Fahr. 50° Fahr. 127 43 inches. 



