American Geographical Society

Minas Geraes and Its Mineral ResourcesDie Bodenschatze des Staates Minas Geraes (Brasilien) by B. von FreybergReview by: Preston E. JamesGeographical Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1935), pp. 166-167Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209227 .

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Between the posing of the problem and the conclusion are twelve chapters, one devoted to "The Land and the People," one to the question of mine ownership, and the others to the ores and industries of the individual countries. For the factual background of their interpretation Bain and Read have "drawn freely upon the published literature as well as on their personal notes made while working in one or the other of the countries discussed. " They pay their respects to the excellent study of mineral deposits by Miller and Singewald, which, although now more than ten years old, remains the best source of information on this subject. They have drawn much, also, from the up-to-date books by Clarence F. Jones and E. W. Shanahan. The chapter on the land and the people would profit by geographical revision. It is here that the lack of maps is most serious-the whole book contains only two maps of the continent, one a political map not quite up to date and the other a relief map the interpretation of which is not easy for the untrained reader. Some of the climatic

comparisons in this and later chapters are unhappy. To compare the climates of Lima and Sacramento or to draw a parallel between the climate of central Chile and that of the east coast of North America at the same latitudes is to miss the essential facts of climatic distribution on the earth.

In the chapters on the individual countries careful attention is given to the size of the ore reserves and the present condition of the industries engaged in exploiting them. It is here that the work offers its most important contribution. In the treatment of Brazil, where the reviewer finds himself best able to form judgment, the authors have presented an excellent description and interpretation of the industrial development, and their summary of the existing situation with suggestions concerning the future should command the careful attention of any one interested in that part of the world.

This timely book will fill a real need in the field of Latin American interpretation.

PRESTON E. JAMES

MINAS GERAES AND ITS MINERAL RESOURCES

B. VON FREYBERG. Die Bodenschatze des Staates Minas Geraes (Brasilien). xvi and 453 PP.; maps, diagrs., ills., index. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuch- handlung, Stuttgart, 1934. Mk. 54. 10 x 634 inches.

The state of Minas Geraes, Brazil, bears a somewhat misleading name: the appella- tion may indeed be justified by the variety of minerals discovered in the state but not by the importance of mineral products whether measured in terms of numbers of people employed or in terms of value. These facts are set forth at length in Professor von Freyberg's volume. In 1926, the last normal year for which figures are available, agricultural products were far in the lead in the value of goods exported, making up 59 per cent of the total; cattle and dairy products came second with 16 per cent; industrial products came third with 15 per cent; and mineral products came last with only 7 per cent. The mineral wealth, however, is very great. Not only does the state possess the world's largest reserve of iron ore, but it has also an extraordinary variety of lesser minerals. Gold and diamonds were historically of great significance, but neither is of more than local importance today. Manganese must be listed well up among the mineral products. Then follow a large number of different colored gem stones. Mineral waters, also, must be ranked among the more important of these resources.

In his description of "The Land," which constitutes Part I of this book, Von Freyberg does little to dispel the confusion that exists regarding the surface features. He continues the rather surprising custom of giving the name serra to the main drainage divides, regardless of whether or not these divides are important as relief features. The main divide between the short streams draining to the Parahyba and the north-flowing streams tributary to the Sao Francisco or the Doce is named

Between the posing of the problem and the conclusion are twelve chapters, one devoted to "The Land and the People," one to the question of mine ownership, and the others to the ores and industries of the individual countries. For the factual background of their interpretation Bain and Read have "drawn freely upon the published literature as well as on their personal notes made while working in one or the other of the countries discussed. " They pay their respects to the excellent study of mineral deposits by Miller and Singewald, which, although now more than ten years old, remains the best source of information on this subject. They have drawn much, also, from the up-to-date books by Clarence F. Jones and E. W. Shanahan. The chapter on the land and the people would profit by geographical revision. It is here that the lack of maps is most serious-the whole book contains only two maps of the continent, one a political map not quite up to date and the other a relief map the interpretation of which is not easy for the untrained reader. Some of the climatic

comparisons in this and later chapters are unhappy. To compare the climates of Lima and Sacramento or to draw a parallel between the climate of central Chile and that of the east coast of North America at the same latitudes is to miss the essential facts of climatic distribution on the earth.

In the chapters on the individual countries careful attention is given to the size of the ore reserves and the present condition of the industries engaged in exploiting them. It is here that the work offers its most important contribution. In the treatment of Brazil, where the reviewer finds himself best able to form judgment, the authors have presented an excellent description and interpretation of the industrial development, and their summary of the existing situation with suggestions concerning the future should command the careful attention of any one interested in that part of the world.

This timely book will fill a real need in the field of Latin American interpretation.

PRESTON E. JAMES

MINAS GERAES AND ITS MINERAL RESOURCES

B. VON FREYBERG. Die Bodenschatze des Staates Minas Geraes (Brasilien). xvi and 453 PP.; maps, diagrs., ills., index. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuch- handlung, Stuttgart, 1934. Mk. 54. 10 x 634 inches.

The state of Minas Geraes, Brazil, bears a somewhat misleading name: the appella- tion may indeed be justified by the variety of minerals discovered in the state but not by the importance of mineral products whether measured in terms of numbers of people employed or in terms of value. These facts are set forth at length in Professor von Freyberg's volume. In 1926, the last normal year for which figures are available, agricultural products were far in the lead in the value of goods exported, making up 59 per cent of the total; cattle and dairy products came second with 16 per cent; industrial products came third with 15 per cent; and mineral products came last with only 7 per cent. The mineral wealth, however, is very great. Not only does the state possess the world's largest reserve of iron ore, but it has also an extraordinary variety of lesser minerals. Gold and diamonds were historically of great significance, but neither is of more than local importance today. Manganese must be listed well up among the mineral products. Then follow a large number of different colored gem stones. Mineral waters, also, must be ranked among the more important of these resources.

In his description of "The Land," which constitutes Part I of this book, Von Freyberg does little to dispel the confusion that exists regarding the surface features. He continues the rather surprising custom of giving the name serra to the main drainage divides, regardless of whether or not these divides are important as relief features. The main divide between the short streams draining to the Parahyba and the north-flowing streams tributary to the Sao Francisco or the Doce is named

I66 I66

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

"Serra da Mantiqueira" on his map, though in the text he makes it clear that certain

parts of the alleged mountain axis are not at all mountainous. Actually the break in this mountain system around the headwaters of the Rio Pomba, a tributary of the

Parahyba draining southeastern Minas Geraes, is of great importance not only geographically but also geologically.

The book contains many interesting observations regarding the relations between the natural vegetation and the geognosy. The general lines of forest-savana dis- tribution are quite clearly related to the climatic conditions; but the details of vegeta- tion distribution, as elsewhere, are more closely related to edaphic factors. The forest, it seems, extends farthest toward the dry areas on deeply decomposed rocks, such as

granites, gneisses, and schists. The relatively shallow regolith developed on the

quartzites, sandstones, or limestones, on the other hand, is mostly grass covered, even well within the rainy parts of the state. Thus the quartzites and iron forma- tions of the Serra do Espinhago support only a cover of grass with scattered clumps of buriti palm. A general geological map of Minas Geraes helps greatly to explain the distribution patterns of many of the elements of the geography of this region.

PRESTON E. JAMES

RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES

ERICH W. ZIMMERMANN. World Resources and Industries: A Functional Appraisal of the Availability of Agricultural and Industrial Resources. xix and 842 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr., indexes. Harper and Brothers, New York and

London, I933. $5.00. 9 X x 6 / inches.

An admirable, highly modern (1930-I932) handbook. Very clear, easy reading, much new and interesting matter about most significant things. The chapters on wheat, cotton, sugar, petroleum, and rayon are particularly attractive. The

up-to-dateness is important today when change is so dominant in distribution of resources.

The chapter on petroleum has generous excursions into technology, transporta- tion, finance, and law, to its great advantage. It might serve as a model for the treatment of other topics kept within narrower bounds. If any one of the secondary aspects of resources is almost uniformly well handled throughout the book, it is the

technological one. The subject is attractive. It comes out well in the chapter on

oils and fats. Illumination by considerations of transportation and finance (money, banking, credit) is less regularly supplied. The transportation of petroleum and natural gas by pipe lines is fully enough detailed, but the rail and boat and steamer

handling of wheat is little more than mentioned, yet the railway is just as vital to Kansas wheat as the 24-inch pipe line to Chicago is to Texas gas. Railways, in fact, get inadequate mention in the volume.

This raises the interesting question-what besides amount and location of the raw materials and products belongs in such a book? The author's picture of the food resources of Great Britain is suggestive. He groups them under seven topics, the

headings not always corresponding closely to the amplifications given: (I) the navy;

(2) the Empire; (3) finances; (4) commerce; (5) invisible services (insurance, credit,

brokerage); (6) institutional and other forces; and (7) British home food products. One might regroup them-raw materials and products, technology of extraction or

elaboration, transportation, and finance. Transportation has perhaps undergone as many and as important changes in the

last 30 years as technology and is particularly interesting in these days when rail-

ways the world over are awakening with dismay to the growth of a rival that threatens to replace them as ruthlessly as they replaced the waterways almost a century ago, the while the airplane offers unguessable developments.

The financial (banking, credit, insurance) side of making resources available is

"Serra da Mantiqueira" on his map, though in the text he makes it clear that certain

parts of the alleged mountain axis are not at all mountainous. Actually the break in this mountain system around the headwaters of the Rio Pomba, a tributary of the

Parahyba draining southeastern Minas Geraes, is of great importance not only geographically but also geologically.

The book contains many interesting observations regarding the relations between the natural vegetation and the geognosy. The general lines of forest-savana dis- tribution are quite clearly related to the climatic conditions; but the details of vegeta- tion distribution, as elsewhere, are more closely related to edaphic factors. The forest, it seems, extends farthest toward the dry areas on deeply decomposed rocks, such as

granites, gneisses, and schists. The relatively shallow regolith developed on the

quartzites, sandstones, or limestones, on the other hand, is mostly grass covered, even well within the rainy parts of the state. Thus the quartzites and iron forma- tions of the Serra do Espinhago support only a cover of grass with scattered clumps of buriti palm. A general geological map of Minas Geraes helps greatly to explain the distribution patterns of many of the elements of the geography of this region.

PRESTON E. JAMES

RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES

ERICH W. ZIMMERMANN. World Resources and Industries: A Functional Appraisal of the Availability of Agricultural and Industrial Resources. xix and 842 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr., indexes. Harper and Brothers, New York and

London, I933. $5.00. 9 X x 6 / inches.

An admirable, highly modern (1930-I932) handbook. Very clear, easy reading, much new and interesting matter about most significant things. The chapters on wheat, cotton, sugar, petroleum, and rayon are particularly attractive. The

up-to-dateness is important today when change is so dominant in distribution of resources.

The chapter on petroleum has generous excursions into technology, transporta- tion, finance, and law, to its great advantage. It might serve as a model for the treatment of other topics kept within narrower bounds. If any one of the secondary aspects of resources is almost uniformly well handled throughout the book, it is the

technological one. The subject is attractive. It comes out well in the chapter on

oils and fats. Illumination by considerations of transportation and finance (money, banking, credit) is less regularly supplied. The transportation of petroleum and natural gas by pipe lines is fully enough detailed, but the rail and boat and steamer

handling of wheat is little more than mentioned, yet the railway is just as vital to Kansas wheat as the 24-inch pipe line to Chicago is to Texas gas. Railways, in fact, get inadequate mention in the volume.

This raises the interesting question-what besides amount and location of the raw materials and products belongs in such a book? The author's picture of the food resources of Great Britain is suggestive. He groups them under seven topics, the

headings not always corresponding closely to the amplifications given: (I) the navy;

(2) the Empire; (3) finances; (4) commerce; (5) invisible services (insurance, credit,

brokerage); (6) institutional and other forces; and (7) British home food products. One might regroup them-raw materials and products, technology of extraction or

elaboration, transportation, and finance. Transportation has perhaps undergone as many and as important changes in the

last 30 years as technology and is particularly interesting in these days when rail-

ways the world over are awakening with dismay to the growth of a rival that threatens to replace them as ruthlessly as they replaced the waterways almost a century ago, the while the airplane offers unguessable developments.

The financial (banking, credit, insurance) side of making resources available is

I67 I67

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.101 on Fri, 9 May 2014 16:17:26 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions