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total length of about 'Soo m. and a fall of 2700-2800 ft. It is navigable from the Atlantic to Piranhas (148 m.) and is nearly r m. wide at Penedo, 22 M. from the See also:

sea. Above Piranhas, about 193 M. from its mouth, are the falls of Paulo Affonso where the river plunges through a narrow See also:

GORGE

gorge—in one See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place only 51 ft. wide—and over three successive falls, all together 265 ft. The obstructed part of the river is about 190 m. long and consists of a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of rapids above the falls and a deep See also:

CANON

canon with whirlpools for some distance below. The Brazilian See also:

government has built a railway around these falls from Piranhas (151 ft. See also:

ELEVATION

elevation) to Jatoba (978 ft.) with an See also:

EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

extension of 71 M. Above Jatoba there is another series of rapids called the Sobradinho nearly 90 M. above the See also:

LOWER

lower rapids, which are navigable at high See also:

WATER

water, and above these an unobstructed channel for See also:

LIGHT

light-See also:

DRAUGHT (from the common Teutonic word " to draw "; cf. Ger. 7'racht, load; the pronunciation led to the variant form " draft," now confined to certain specific meanings)

draught river boats up to Pirapora a little above the mouth of the Rio das Velhas, a distance of 984 M. Here the river runs through a barren, semi-arid region, sparsely settled.

There are no tributaries of consequence along a large part of this region, and the few See also:

PEOPLE

people living beside the river are dependent on its See also:

ANNUAL

annual floods for the fertilization of its sandy shores on which their scanty plantations of See also:

INDIAN

Indian See also:

corn and beans are made. The rapids of Pirapora are 17 M. above the mouth of the Rio das Velhas, and this point, the See also:

head of See also:

NAVIGATION (from Lat. navis, ship, and agere, to move)

navigation on the river, and 1742 ft. above sea-level, is the See also:

OBJECTIVE, or OBJECT GLASS

objective point of the Central do Brazil railway, the purpose being to create by See also:

RAIL

rail and river a central route from Rio de Janeiro to the See also:

NORTHERN

northern ports of See also:

BAHIA

Bahia and See also:

RECIFE, or PERNAMBUCO

Recife. The See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal tributaries of the Sao Francisco are: on the right, the See also:

Para, Paraopeba, Velhas, and Verde-Grande; on the See also:

LEFT

left, the Indaya, Abaete, Paracatil, Urucuya, Carinhanha, Corrente and Grande. Several of these tributaries are navigable for long distances by small boats—the aggregate being a little over l000 m. Some authorities give the aggregate navigable channels of the Sao Francisco as 4350 M. The upper valley of the Sao Francisco is partly forested, has a temperate See also:

CLIMATE

climate, with a mean annual temperature of 85° and a rainfall of 1637 millimetres. The See also:

RAINY, ROBERT (1826-1906)

rainy See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season is from See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December to See also:

March, but on the lower river the rainfall is light and the season much shorter, sometimes varied by droughts covering several years. An admirable description of this great river is given by See also:

Richard See also:

Burton in The See also:

HIGHLANDS, THE

Highlands of Brazil (2 vols., See also:

LONDON

London), and a more technical description by E. Liais in Hydrographie du Haut See also:

San-Francisco et du Rio das Velhas (Rio de Janeiro, 1865).

End of Article: SAO FRANCISCO

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