202 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



between the sources of the Pipiry Guazu affluent of the Uruguay on one and side 

 of the San Antonio affluent of the Iguazu on the other, and should "cover the 

 settlements and missions of Spain and Portugal." But the commissioners were 

 unable to identify these rivers, and after eighteen years of futile attempts to come 

 to an understanding they ceased to act. Since then Paraguay, one of the heirs 

 of the Spanish claims, has been excluded by force of arms, and the issues have 

 been narrowed down to the pretentions of Argentina and Brazil. In 1887 the 

 question was referred to the President of the United States, who, however, has 

 to decide in favour of one or the other of the litigants absolutely, without the 

 option of awarding to each a share of the disputed territory, which has a total area 

 of about 12,000 square miles, with a scattered population (1890) of 2,000 stock- 

 breeders owning 40,000 head of cattle. 



Physical Features. 



South of Rio de Janeiro the Coast Range ceases to present the aspect of a 

 mountain chain, at least beyond the Bocaina Mass. After ascending the seaward 

 slope and the slight prominence forming the scarp of the plateau, the traveller 

 advancing from Suntos finds himself on a rolling plain with no apparent limits 

 except distant ridges of low elevation. The character of the vegetation also 

 changes abruptly from the tall and leafy trees of the tropical zone to stunted 

 growths, in many places recalling the heaths of North Germany, and on the 

 terraces to groups of fine araucarias growing somewhat wide apart and giving 

 free play to the sunlight. 



Although the border ridges are continued regularly along the sea-coast, the 

 different sections take various names, generally from the towns or villages at 

 their foot. Above the jDort of Ubatuba they are known as the Serra de Ubatuba ; 

 between Santos and S. Paulo as the Serra de Cubatâo, from a hamlet lost in the 

 marshy bush on a creek enclosing the island of Santos. Seen from the coast the 

 crests seem to run at a somewhat uniform altitude of about 3,000 feet, and 

 consist of gneiss and granite pierced by eruptive masses of melaphyre. In the 

 Serra dos Itatins between Santos and Iguape the range would seem to rise to 

 4,370 feet; farther on the Serra de Guarahu presents the same elevation, and in 

 the State of Parana the Serra Graciosa rises, according to D'Orville Derby, to 

 5,000 feet. The Serra do Mar is crossed by the railway from Santos to S. Paulo 

 at an altitude of 2,620 feet, while the line between Paranagua and Curitiba pierces 

 the crest through a tunnel 3,130 feet high. 



In the State of Santa Catharina the system is interrupted by the broad valley 

 of the Rio Itajahy, beyond which it develops the superb terraces known as the 

 Campos de Boa Yista, and the picturesque granite hills of Tubanio. Here paleo- 

 zoic limestones and sandstones abut on the crystalline rocks of the Coast Range, 

 and vast stalactite caves traversed by running waters occur in many places. 

 But the goldfields, profitably worked during the last century, have been aban- 

 doned. 



