A VOYAGE to 



such as the Paraiba, Rio Doce, Higitonhonhaj Rio 

 Real, and others that may be compared to the Dela- 

 ware, Susquehana, or Potomac. This range of moun- 

 tains is brought nearer to the sea, as the coast trends 

 more to the west in the province of Rio Janeiro; it 

 also sends out a spur called the Organ mountains, 

 which renders the country on the south side of Parai- 

 ba^ extremely rugged and mountainous. The next 

 raiii^e commences between the provinces of Pernambu- 

 co and Maraoham; it is longer and more considerable 

 than the former, and forms with it the valley of the 

 river San Francisco,* which appears to contain al- 

 most as much territory, as the country which lies to the 

 east of the mountains along the sea coast. This range 

 afterwards rises into broken alps, connected with the 

 great Cordillera of Brazil. Here are probably some 

 of the most elevated mountains in South x4.raerica east 

 of the Andes; it is here that some of the principal 

 rivers of Brazil take their rise; such as tlie Parana, 

 the Tocantins, and San Francisco. Beyond the last 

 mentioned range of mountains, there is a tract of unex- 

 plored country watered by the Tocantine and its 

 branches, particularly the Araguaya, which wheifc 

 united with the former, flows into the gulf of Para*^ 

 The two great branches, the Tocantine and Araguaya, 

 are separated by a range of the Cordillera, and there- 

 fore form distinct vallies, the valley of the Tocantines 

 equal to that of the Han Francisco, the other consi- 

 derably larger. A chain of mountains runs along the 

 east side of the Tocantine for several hundred miles> 



* The same ridges, like the Alleghanies, are known by different 

 names in their course. 



