TOPOGRAPHY OF S. PAULO. 



225 



Farther on the line mounts the plateau about 3,000 feet high, and after passing 

 the stations of Batataen and Franca, descends to the valley of the Rio Grande, 

 which is crossed by a viaduct 1,316 feet long. Near Franca diamonds are found. 



Another line, starting also from Campinas, ramifies beyond Limcira in one 

 direction through Aniras and Pirassanuiif/'i to the Eio Mogy Gua<su, in another 

 to Rio Claro, and thence northwards to Jaboficahal in the campos region. 



In the Tieté valley, also connected by rail with the capital, occur several 

 thriving places, such as Itii, an old Jesuit mission dating from 1610, and still a 

 great religious centre with a large Jesuit college, and more churches for its size 

 than any other town. At the foot of the terrace on which Itu stands the Tieté 



Fig. 97.- SOEOCABA AND IPANEMA IbON MiNES. 

 Scale 1 : 200,000. 



47 j5 



West or ureenwicln 



47 25 



5 Miles. 



develops the magnificent catar.icts which supply motive power to the workshops 

 of Seilto (Tltu, " Itu Falls." Piracicaha, north-west of Itu on an affluent of the 

 Tieté, also utilises a neighbouring cascade for its sugar and cotton- spinning mills. 

 This cascade stands at the head of navigation, whereas the Tieté is inaccessible 

 even to boats above Porto Feliz some 30 miles west of Sal to d'ltu. The Tieté and 

 Piracicaha steamers plying on the river farther down ship the coffee of the western 

 plantations in districts, to which the railways have not yet penetrated. The two 

 military colonies established in the vicinity of the Arauhandava and Itapura cata- 

 racts, have not succeeded. These place.?, in the language of a provincial report, 

 were for a long time nothing more than " official expressions." 



Sorocaba, on a southern affluent of the Tieté, 70 miles west of the capital, 



