REEF BUILDING AT PRESENT TIME 11 



Traieao, for example, the conditions favor the formation of a new reef be- 

 hind or landward of the old one where the waters from Lagoa de Sinimbii 

 percolate through the sand neck that separates the lake from Traieao bay. 

 At other places the new reef may be outside or seaward of the old one, 

 but in these places the old reef is invisible, being buried beneath the 

 later accumulations of sand. In the city of Pernambuco one hears of 

 rock like that of the stone reef having been struck in digging wells, nearly 

 or quite a mile landward of the present reef. If these are buried reefs 

 they are considerably older than the one now in front of the city. 



Similar Reefs outside of Brazil 



It was stated at the outset that these stone reefs were unique or nearly 

 so. Nowhere have I either seen or been able to learn of such phe- 

 nomena save at a few places on the coast of Asia Minor in the Mediter- 

 ranean sea. From the descriptions, the reefs at Jaffa appear to be one 

 of the best of those of the Mediterranean. The climatic conditions and 

 the density of the sea water lead one to expect similar reefs along the 

 shores of the Red sea, but thus far it has not been possible to ascertain 

 whether such reefs exist there. 



In southern California the climatic conditions are favorable on the 

 side of the land. Sands have been thrown back across the mouths of 

 the streams until many of them are completely closed nearly the year 

 round by a beautiful series of sand embankments. The water of the 

 ocean alongside, however, is not so dense as that of the northeast coast 

 of Brazil, nor is there a tropical climate with its rank vegetation ; but as 

 far as can be seen these are the only elements lacking for the formation 

 on that coast of lithified spits or reefs of sandstone. On the coast of 

 Brazil the reefs are formed under a remarkable combination of geographic 

 forms and climatic conditions on the land and on the sea — a beautiful 

 illustration of the nice balancing of the forces of nature. 



Literature of the Stone Reefs 



A great many people have had something to say about the reef at 

 Pernambuco, but most of the references to it are simply of the nature of 

 exclamations at its appearance and commercial importance. Most 

 writers state that it is a coral reef, probably getting their information on 

 this subject from the officers of the vessels on which they chance to be 

 traveling, and the officers in turn taking it from Findlay's "Sailing 

 directory for the South Atlantic ocean." It is certainly remarkable that 

 the book mentioned — a standard work for sailing masters — down to the 

 edition issued in 1898 states that the Pernambuco reef is coral. * 



*Gabriel Soares deSouza first pointed out in I8.il that 317 years ago this reef was sandstone This 

 was satisfactorily confirmed by Von Olfers in 1832, byCharles Darwin in 1841. and by later writers. 



