THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. xur. — FUNE, 1879. — No. 6. 
PROF. HARTT ON THE BRAZILIAN SANDSTONE 
BY RICHARD RATHBUN. 
HE sea-coast of Brazil, from the mouth of the Amazonas to 
near Victoria, is generally low and of quite uniform character, 
being everywhere faced with broad, open beaches of sand that 
extend for miles and miles without interruption. A less inviting 
region than this to the explorer can scarcely be imagined, and it 
stands in marked contrast with the more tempting inland districts, 
especially those in the Amazonian valley, which have always 
caused Brazil to be considered a sort of naturalists’ paradise. It 
was little suspected, until a few years ago, that this unattractive 
ceast harbored very extensive and curious coral reefs, and dis- 
played, in connection with its beaches, interesting phenomena 
whose true character had been entirely misunderstood. 
Some of the earlier writers on Brazil endeavored to describe 
this region, relying either on their own imperfect observations, or 
on what others had seen, and adding, apparently, here and there, 
numerous details, the products of their own fertile brains, per- 
haps, to smooth over and complete the sketch. 
These very inaccurate accounts gave credence to the existence — 
of a long bar or reef of stone, bordering the entire-coast from 
north of Cape St. Roque to the southward of Bahia. Piso, in 
his work published in 1648, described this reef, and he has been 
copied over and over again by nearly every author who has 
written on. this subject since his time, no one ever having 
taken the trouble to test the accuracy of his statements. Even 
 Staff-Commander Penn, in the “ South American Coast Pilot,” 
VOL, XII1.—no, VI. 25 
