o'6i) J. C. BPvAXXER OVTLIXES OF THE GEOLOGY OF BRAZIL 



Ashestos. — Asbestos has been found in BaMa. where it is associated 

 with serpentines, and from Santa Liizia. State of Minas. There is said 

 to be a deposit at Taqnaral near Oiu'o Preto and one near Caethe, at a 

 place called Eetiro. (Francisco de Paula Ohveira : Pevista Industrial de 

 Minas Geraes. volume I. page 15. October. 1893.) 



Talc. — Talc occurs in large quantities in the old metamorphic rocks 

 of the Brazilian complex in Bahia and Minas Geraes. and probably in 

 many other states, in association with the crystalline rocks. It has long 

 been used locally for making certain cooking utensils, but otherwise it is 

 not used at present. 



Mica. — Mica is known to occur in Sao Paulo at Juquia. Goyaz, Espi- 

 rito Santo, Minas Geraes (at Bicas, and near Manhuassu. near Santa 

 Luzia de Carangola. and at Fonseca). Eio de Janeiro near Sao Fidelis, 

 Sergipe and in Bahia east of the Serra de Jacobina. and near the falls of 

 Paulo Alfonso. It is to be expected in pegmatite dikes in all states 

 within the area of the crystalline rocks." 



SaJ.f. — Salt is common in the dry or semi-arid limestone regions of the 

 interior. Before the days of railways, large quantities of salt were manu- 

 factured in the interior, but its manufacture is now almost abandoned, 

 on account of the facilities for obtaining it elsewhere and the better 

 quality to be had from the seacoast. The salt made in the interior is 

 produced by leaching the efflorescence and earth from dry lake beds and 

 then evaporating the water thus obtained. Places noted for the former 

 manufacture of such salt are the Salitre Valley, in Bahia ; Eio Mosquito, 

 in Minas near Grao Mogol, and elsewhere in the Limestone areas of the 

 Bio Sao Francisco and Goyaz. So far as I have been able to learn, no 

 beds of rock-salt in place are known in Brazil. In the valley of the Sao 

 Francisco the salt seems to have some definite relation to the Permian 

 limestones, but as yet it is not clear what that relation is. 



Niter. — Xiter deposits are often mentioned as Quaternary and Eecent 

 cave deposits. They are found in the caves of all parts of Brazil, notably 

 in the States of Ceara, Pemambuco. Bahia, Espirito Santo, Minas Geraes, 

 and Matto Grosso. 



The industry is an imcertain one. and mider ordinary circumstances 

 the output is used only for the local manufacture of gunpowder. It is 

 capable of considerable development. 



* Joao Pedro Cardoso : Eelatorio da Commissao Geographica e Geologica de Sao Paulo, 

 anno de 1907. 



H. K. Scott : On the occurrence of mica in Brazil. Transactions of the Institute of 

 Mining and Metallurgy, toI. xii, pp. 3-51-364. London. 1902-3. 



