Restinga Paralela = Parallel Restinga

(Vicente Mussi-Dias) #1

Bellegarde and Niemeyer returned to the scene in 1865,
with the New Corographic Chart of the Province of Rio de Janei-
ro, much more detailed than that of 1839. Below Macaé is the
Imboacica lagoon and, between that city and Furado, appear the
coastal lagoons Jurubatiba, Carapebus, Paulista, Jaguareaba
and Ribeira (called "arm of Feia Lagoon"). In addition to those
ones, others appear unnamed. The Campos-Macaé channel is
seen very clear throughout all its extension. In the north restin-
ga, the representation of the Iguaçu River is vigorous, like a very
massive waterway in which the rivers Onça, Novo do Colégio,
Castanhete and Furado flow down, all born in Feia lagoon.


Above Barra do Açu or Iguaçu River the Veiga River is
seen, parallel to the coast line, as if it was flowing in a north-
south direction towards the Açu mouth. The lagoons of Iquipari
and Guruçaí are positioned in the same direction, suggesting
continuity with Veiga River. From the two channels crossing the
necklaces of the lagoons, between the restinga and the alluvi-
al plain, only one remained, interconnecting the lagoons of Taí
Pequeno, Jacarés, Bananeiras and Salgada, to also reach the
Iguaçu basin through Colégio River. In the segment of the north-
ern restinga, on the banks of the Paraíba do Sul River, the car-
tographers registered the sand and beach fields, with the infor-
mation that in both it was carried out livestock raising activities.


It can be deduced that the northern restinga, from the
eighteenth century on, became a field of economic exploration
much more intense than the southern restinga, although this
one did not remain outside the economic circuit, conclusion, in-
deed, already expressed in this work. On the left bank of Paraíba
do Sul River, still within the scope of the northern restinga, the
great Campelo lagoon, the lagoons of Bamburro, Macabu and
Cacimbas, connected by the Cacimbas’ channel, opened in the
first half of the century to flow the production of the hinterlands
of Cacimbas by the Paraíba do Sul River and São João da Barra
port. Next to Gargaú, it is still possible to notice an unnamed
lagoon(33).


In 1866, another New Corographic Chart of the Province
of Rio de Janeiro, published by G.W. and C.B. Colton, appears in
New York. Contrasting that with the previous one, it is possible
to believe that it is the same cartographic work(34). On the other
hand, the letter of the Province of Rio de Janeiro, organized by
the engineer Manoel Maria de Carvalho in 1888 did not add any-
thing significant to the previous works, but rather impoverished
them. The letter resembles a map intended to inform on roads
rather than on geographical features(35).


As this work was not intended to undertake an exhaus-
tive surveying of restingas of the northern Fluminense, the nine-
teenth century narrative will be ended with the plant of Feia La-
goon and Its Surroundings. Which was drawn in the scale of 1:


20,000, originated by works executed between 1894 and 1898
by the Sanitation Studies Commission of Baixada do Estado
do Rio de Janeiro, headed by Marcelino Ramos da Silva. As the
plant depicts only the south of Feia lagoon on a scale that al-
lows the observation of minutiae, there is no panoramic view of
the entire southern restinga. In which lies Sabão and Jagoroaba
fields where are located the lagoons of the Ribeira (already sep-
arated from Feia lagoon), Pires, Jurumirim, Jagoroaba, Carrilho,
Canema, Piripiri, Cafelo, Velasco and Capãozinho. In addition to
infinity of well characteristic marshes present in depressions
between strands of restingas, there is also the controversial and
unsuccessful Jagoroaba channel, designed to centralize the
drainage of the water from Feia lagoon to the sea, and Furado
channel(36).

Plants and animals. On his journey from Rio de Janeiro
to Salvador, between 1815 and 1817, Maximilian of Wied-Neu-
wied crossed vast stretches of restinga. With the attention more
focused on the fauna, especially birds, he did not fail to make
records about the native coastal vegetation. He perceived the
configuration of the "low and treacherous woods that stretched
into the forest, attesting to the violence of the prevailing winds."
He also noted, the presence of typical species of this region,
such as bromeliads, quadrangular, pentagonal and hexagonal
cacti, which he suspected belonged to the same species or, at
most, to two. He noticed the lagoons formed in restinga depres-
sions, separated by ripples covered with vegetation, as well as
reported the existence of pitanga (named by him Eugenia pe-
dunculata, now Eugenia uniflora) and cashew, already identified
by him with his current scientific name, Anacardium occidentale
L. In one of the marshes, the expedition's naturalists discovered
the specimen of a tree related to Bonnetia palustris; a beautiful
specimen of Evolvulus; a small Cassia with yellow flowers; an
Asclepiadaceae vine with white-pink flowers; a new Androme-
da, palm trees abundant in hearts of palm, tucum, an exemplar
of Stachytarpheta crassifolia, barrel Cactus, similar to mamillar-
is considered by Sellow a new species; Turnera ulmifolia, in the
sandy soil; two Nymphaea, the indica and erosa, in the marshes
and a tall Alisma species.

Regarding the fauna in the southern restinga he record-
ed a firefly, common pauraque, the black and white kites a large
number of vultures (according to Olivério Pinto, red headed buz-
zard, explanation given by Maximilian in his major work, Beit-
rägezur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien) flocks of parrots (blue-
winged macaw and parakeets), toucans, plumbeous kite (Falco
plumbeus for Maximilian, Ictinia plumbea today), a legion of
oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus), ferruginous pygmy owl
(Glaucidium brasilianum); tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus
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