A little below the capital, Parahyba, at the mouth of the Rio Parahyba do Norte, is the seaport Cabedello, where port works are planned.
Rio Grande do Norte is the first of several States which have the Atlantic Ocean on the north. It is on the east also, forming a coast line of 290 miles. Parahyba is south and Ceará west. Here, too, cotton and sugar are the chief products, though 180 tons of rubber annually, from the maniçoba trees, are of value; the cattle and goats are important; carnaüba wax and vegetable oils come from the forests; the State, from natural salines, supplies much of the salt used in Brazil. Dried and salt fish are supplied to the rest of the northern States, and much cotton cloth and thread are exported. Natal, the capital, is near the mouth of the Rio Grande. A great reservoir with a dam 160 feet high and a capacity of 2,200,000,000 cubic metres of water is to be constructed, the irrigation of 250,000 acres thereby transforming a large district; others here and in Ceará.
Ceará, smaller than Pernambuco, is nearly twice the size of Rio Grande do Norte, which with Parahyba is on the east; Pernambuco is south and Piauhy west. Cotton is the chief product though coffee, sugar, cacao and cereals are also raised. Cultivated rubber is exported as from Bahia; the cattle industry is important, though affected by occasional severe droughts. However there are approximately 2,000,000 head of cattle. Minerals and precious stones are found in variety.
The capital and port, Fortaleza, is one of the worst on the coast. Three powerful dredges are maintained by the Government for the continual dredging of the channel into which sand from the dunes is ever drifting. Two smaller ports require similar dredging.
Piauhy, eighth of the States in size, with a deep interior has the smallest coast line, only 43 miles. It has Ceará and Pernambuco east, Bahia south, and Maranhão west, from which it is separated by the Parnahyba River. The State has the expected agricultural products, vast herds of cattle and large flocks of goats; important forest wealth of rubber, timber, wax, and medicinal plants, and a variety of minerals. It has one seaport, Amarraçao, but a good deal goes out from a port of the next State, Tutoya, on the other side of the river Parnahyba. Therezina, the capital, is of some importance.
Maranhão, a little larger, has Piauhy east and south, Goyaz south and west, almost touching Bahia between these two; it has Pará also on the west. Its coast line is 100 miles more than Piauhy’s. Cotton is the chief agricultural product, but others exist; the cattle industry is important, much live stock going to Amazonas; there is good forest wealth, various minerals, and important cotton factories.
São Luis do Maranhão, the capital, population 50,000, is called the chief port though troubled by sand, while Tutoya is excellent.
Pará, a name at last familiar to all, is third of the States in area, equal to Texas and California, with West Virginia thrown in. It has Guiana on the north, with the Atlantic northeast; east are Maranhão and Goyaz. Matto Grosso is south, and Amazonas west. Its chief products are of the forest, particularly rubber, also Brazil nuts, medicinal plants, oils and timber. Little is done in agriculture though many plants grow freely such as cotton, rice, tobacco, and especially cacao, of which 3500 tons a year have been exported. There are large herds of cattle, perhaps 2,000,000 head, and various minerals are found. One railway, with branches, leads from Pará to Bragança, near the ocean, and to other towns; and one is open for a short distance in the valley of the Tocantins, the beginning of an ambitious project.
The capital, Belém, usually called by foreigners Pará is a fine city of 200,000 and the only considerable seaport, if so it may be termed, as it is on a bay of the Pará River 80 miles from the ocean. Mean temperature 78°. Harbor works, begun in 1906, and costing over $60,000,000, have been of immense value. They include a fine quay a mile and a half long with a depth of water part of the way of 30 feet, docks and storehouses, two floating docks, a Custom House, oil storage tanks, etc. One thousand steamers formerly entered yearly with tonnage of 1,500,000; imports at one time were valued at $15,000,000 and exports at $30,000,000. A channel from the outer river, 30 feet in depth, is marked by 26 buoys lighted by acetylene gas. The city is notable with attractive plazas, a unique forest park, a museum, a white marble theatre, and a good hotel. The various cities or villages are coast or river ports, some on the Amazon, others on the Tapajós, Xingú, Tocantins, Araguary, or smaller streams.
Amazonas, first of the inland States, and the largest of all, has Colombia and Venezuela north, Pará east, Matto Grosso, Bolivia, and Acre south, and Peru and Colombia west. Its area is equal to that of our three Pacific Coast States with Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Colorado. In this great space the population, estimated at 435,000, is about one person to 1¹⁄₂ square miles. Manaos, the capital, and the various other centres of population by the river side mean rubber. There are no roads except of water, no paths save those made by rubber gatherers, with a few by Indians, the number of whom is a mere guess. All tropical products thrive but their production is negligible save that of rubber. Various minerals are unexploited. Manaos, 924 miles from Pará, 1030 from the ocean, and 2000 from Rio, is the first real city in the wilderness, though Obidos, still in the State of Pará, is a port where 300 vessels call in a year, and a number of smaller places claim that title.