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#37 An ancient forest between Ubatuba and Jundicuara,
on the borders of two provinces, today the States of Rio
de Janeiro and Sao
Paulo.
Latin translation by
Ben Hennelly
From the illustrations which the "Maryana" people generously
put at our disposal, we had etching #37 published because it presents
to our view the singular character of the wooded ridge of Serra
do Mar ; this character both makes manifest the peculiar nature
of the whole region and, to no small extent, determines and governs
the agriculture of that tract.
Deep defiles are seen here, cut into the steep sides of the forested
mountains. The soil, which has been laid bare by the torrent of the
waters, consists of reddish, silicose clay; to judge from the lowest
part of the chasm, which is full of stagnant waters, it seems likely
that the defiles were opened up through erosion by the force of the
rains, and that the water still remaining there, since it lacks river
plants, is not permanent but gradually slips away through the soil and
rocks into the depths. These chasms are frequent throughout the Serra
do Mar : at the beginning of the rainy season they are full of
water throughout their deepest parts, and in time of drought, to the
contrary, are covered only with sparse, thin grasses. The fact that
a great part of the moisture which falls from the air does not flow
down into the depths across the surface, but instead settles into the
solid bottom, brings it about in a special way that the soil and plant
life appear in that extraordinary state in which we see it.
Evidently the entire ridge of the Serra do Mar is made up of granite or  foliaceous granite; above this kind of living rock lies,
through different steps of 2, 3, or 6-9 feet, red, sandy mud containing
very little clay; this sandy mud in its uppermost strata contains clay,
a lot of quartz (and sharp, pointed fragments of it not yet worn smooth
by friction), and a few thin layers of mica.
 
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