The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

208 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA.
hyba rises at the point fartliest removed from the fluvial axis, and at first flows
due north in the direction of the S. Francisco. But while still a small stream
it bends round north-west and west to the junction with the San Marcos descend-
ing from the north.
Some 125 miles lower down the mainstream is joined by the copious Corumba,
issuing from the rocky gorges of the Pyrenees Mountains, and farther on by Meia
Ponte and the Rio dos Bois descending from the same watershed. From the
opposite side comes the Rio das Velhas with the contributions of the Canastra and
Matta de Corda uplands. At the confluence of the Rio Grande, which rises on
the Minas Geraes plateaux, the mainstream takes the name of Parana, that is
" River," in a pre-eminent sense, which it retains for the rest of its course to
the Plate estuary.
The Rio Grande is distinguished from all the other branches both by its
greater volume, and by the rugged character of its upper basin. Its chief head-
stream rises in the Itatiaya group over 8,200 feet above sea-level, and although it
is joined by several large streams, such as the Rio das Mortes and the Sapucahy
from the north, and the Rio Pardo from the S. Paulo uplands, its upper course is
too steep to be navigable except for short stretches. Here it is interrupted by
several grand waterfalls, such as the Maribondo Cascade below the Pardo confluence
with a drop of about 65 feet. Other cataracts have been gradually obliterated by
the erosion of the reefs which obstructed the current. Thus south of Uberaba all
the schistose masses, by which the river was formerly blocked, have been eaten
away piecemeal. Nothing now remains of these barriers except some fragments
of solid quartz, which form rocky islets in mid-streara. At one jjoint these
islets have served as the foundations of a bridge, which the engineers have built
across the Rio Grande, and the twenty-five piers of which all stand on these
natural supports.
Both the Pardo and its Mogy Guassu affluent, as well as the Tiete, flowing
more to the south, parallel with the Rio Grande, all present long stretches of
navigable waterways, thanks to their more gentle incline and to the works that
have been carried out to regulate their course. The Mogy Guassu, which winds
through the most flourishing coffee plantations in S. Paulo, has a continuous
navigable channel of 140 miles, scarcely interrupted by a few rapids which have
been improved by lateral weirs.
Of all the Parana affluents the Tiete has its sources nearest to the Atlantic,
some of its headstreams rising within seven or eight miles of the coast, but over
3,000 feet above the sea. Being connected by rail with the port of Santos, its
valley, like that of the Mogy Guassu, give access to the till recently deserted
regions of the Campos of the Parana. Its lower course, however, is obstructed by
the Avanhandava and Itapura falls, respectively 44 and 65 feet high. A few
miles below the Tiete confluence, the Parana itself develops the great Urubupunga
(" Vulture ") falls.
Below the Tiete follow other large tributaries, such as the Sucuryu, Rio
Verde, Ivinheima, and Paranapanema, the last-mentioned being nearly as copious
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