Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/265

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     N presenting an account of this extensive and important, the only  we shall give, first, a condensed view of its physical geography, meteorology, and natural products; secondly, a brief historical sketch of the progressive discovery of its coasts and interior, of its gradual settlement, and of the auspices under which its social institutions have developed themselves; and thirdly, an account of its existing political and social condition. Brazil is bounded on the N. by or,, and the s, , , and ; on the E. by ; on the S. by the s of and ; and on the W. by , , , and. It extends from about 4 N. lat. to 33 41 S. lat., and from 35 to 70 W. long. Its greatest length is about 2600 British miles, its greatest breadth about 2500; and it has a sea board of about 4000 miles. The original line of demarcation between the Portuguese and Spanish possessions was fixed by two bulls of Pope Alexander VI., the one of the 2d, the other of the 3d of May 1493. The kings of Castile and Portugal afterwards concluded the treaty of Torrizillas, which was approved by the Pope in 1529. The reunion of the two crowns in 1580 suspended all discussions about the boundaries. They, however, recommenced after the revolution and indepen dence of Portugal. The treaty of Utrecht in 1777 regulated many points, but the treaties always referred to rivers, mountains, and other positions passing through deserts, the names of which were not well established. For sometime past the Government of Brazil has taken great pains to establish amicably with the neighbouring states the boundary lines of the empire. In 1851 these were established with the republic of Uruguay, in 1857 with the Argentine Republic, in 1858 with Peru, in 1859 with Venezuela, in 1867 with Bolivia, and in 1872 with Paraguay; the lines determined on have in some cases been already surveyed and marked out on the actual frontier, while at present mixed commissions from Brazil and each neighbouring country are employed in tracing out the other lines agreed upon. With Uruguay the frontier has been marked out along a line passing from the coast in 33 41 S. lat., through the southern portion of Lake Mirim and along the River Jaguarao, which falls into it, to its most southerly source stream, thence by a line crossing the head of the Rio Negro to the dividing ridge called the Cuchilla Sta. Anna, and afterwards down the stream of the Cuarein or Quarahim to the River Uruguay. The Uruguay River, from the mouth of the Quarahim upwards to the confluence of the Pepiry on its right bank in 27 10 lat. divides Brazil from the Argentine Republic, the remainder of the mutual frontier of these countries being formed by the Pepiry to its source and the Sao Antonio from its rise to its union with the Y-Guasu or Curityba, which river marks the boundary to the Parallel. Between Paraguay and Brazil the frontier runs from the mouth of the Y-Guasii up the Alto ParanA to the great fall of Guayra, called Sete Quedas by the Brazilians, and from that westward along the water-parting of the Cordillera of Maracaju, southward of the basin of the Igatimi, to the heights of Amambahy, and along these to the source of the Rio Apa-Estrella, following it down hence to the Paraguay. With Bolivia the boundary lies along the Rio Paraguay from the mouth of the Apa in 22, upwards to 20 11, where the Bahia Negra joins it; along the Bahia Negra, and thence in a line to the lake of Caceres, cutting through the midst of this lagoon, and passing onward to Lakes Mandiore , Gaiba, and Uberaba, and from the last to the south end of the ridge called Corixa Grande ; from this in a direct line to Morro de Buenavista (Boavista), and to the sources of the Rio Verde ; along the middle of that stream to its mouth in the Guapore, and along that river and the Mamore to the Beni, where the Madeira begins in 10 20 S.; a direct line thence to the source of the Yavari River (found by Chandless in 1867 to be a little south of 7 S. lat.), forms the limit of Brazil with Northern Bolivia and Central Peru. The Yavari continues the boundary between Brazil and Peru down its channel to the confluence with the Amazon at Tabatinga, and the limits commission has been at work during 1874 and 1875 in determining the position of this line. Farther on, the boundary of Brazil with Northern Peru has been described as a line passing northward from Tabatinga towards the mouth of the Rio Apaporis in the River Japura, the frontier with Peru terminating on this line where it intersects the Rio Putumayo, and that with Ecuador begin ning there. From the mouth of the Apaporis the con tinuation of the limit with Columbia or New Granada to that with Venezuela follows a line drawn along the water- parting of the range called the Collina do Guaicia or Serra, Aracuara, which divides the streams flowing to the Guainia, or Rio Negro, above the Casiquiare, from those which join it below the anastomosis of that natural canal. This line meets the Rio Negro about 20 miles below the separation of the Casiquiare. From the Sierra Cucuhy, or Pao d Azucar, on the opposite or left bank of the Rio Negro, the limit continues eastward over the level ground to the middle of the natural canal called the Maturaca, which in times of flood unites the Cababoris tributary of the Rio Negro with the Barria, a sub-tributary of the Casiquiare channel. Hence the limit is drawn from the Maturaca to the hill of Cupi, the first of the long range of Serras which divide the waters flowing to the Amazon from those tribu tary to the Orinoco, and those passing through British, Dutch, and French Guiana to the Atlantic. This boundary follows the curves of the water-parting eastward along the Serras named Guahy and Ucuruciro; northward on those of Tapirapec6 and Parima; eastward again along the Merevary and Pacaraima heights ; southward between the rivers Tacutu and Rupununy, and again generally eastward along the Serras of Acarahy and Tucumuraque to the source of the River Oyapok. This river, from its source to the Atlantic in 4 22 N. lat., is the present eastward limit of French Guiana. Several islets in the Atlantic belong to Brazil ; among them that of Fernando Noronha, 250 miles from Cape S. Roque, high, and having about G square miles of area, is important as a penal settlement of the empire. The immense territory comprised within the line just described and the Atlantic is upwards of 3,288,000 Eng lish square miles in area, or not far short of the extent of Europe.

The great of the lowlands of Brazil, , has been called the Mediterranean of South America, and is the largest streanrof the globe in every respect, affording, with its great tributaries, free navigation over not less than 30,000 miles within Brazilian territory (see ). After the Amazon the Tocantins is the great river of the northern watershed of Brazil. Rising in the Serra das Vertentes in Central Brazil, the Araguaya, its longer head stream, and the Tocantins flow northward for 900 miles, separated by the Cordillera Grande of Goyaz, and unite at about 300 miles from their wide estuary, called the Rio Para, formed between the island of Marajo and the main-