SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. 



ON STEPPES AND DESEETS pp. 1-21. 



Coast-chain and mountain- valleys of Caracas. The Lake of Tacarigua. 

 Contrast between the luxuriant abundance of organic life and the 

 treeless plains. Impressions of space. The steppe as the bottom of an 

 ancient inland sea. Broken strata lying somewhat above the surface, 

 and called Banks. Uniformity of phenomena presented by plains. 

 Heaths of Europe, Pampas and Llanos of South America, African 

 deserts, North Asiatic Steppes. Diversified character of the vegetable 

 covering. Animal life. Pastoral tribes, who have convulsed the world 

 —pp. 1-5. 



Description of the South American plains and savannahs. Their 

 extent and climate, the latter dependant on the outline and hypso- 

 metrical configuration of the New Continent. Comparison with plains 

 and deserts of Africa — pp. 5 — 10. Original absence of pastoral life in 

 America. Nutriment yielded by the Mauritia Palm. Pendant huts 

 built in trees. Guaranes — pp. 10-13. 



The Llanos have become more habitable to man since the discovery 

 of America. Eemarkable increase of wild Oxen, Horses, and Mules. 

 Description of the seasons of drought and rain. Aspect of the ground 

 and sky. Life of animals; their sufferings and combats. Adapt- 

 ability with which nature has endowed animals and plants. Jaguar, 

 Crocodiles, Electric Fishes. Unequal contest between gymnoti and 

 horses — pp. 13-19. 



Eetrospective view of the districts which border steppes and deserts. 

 Wilderness of the forest-region between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. 

 Native tribes separated by wonderful diversity both of language and 

 customs; a toiling and divided race. Figures graven on rocks prove 

 that even these solitudes were once the seat of a civilization now extinct 

 —pp. 19-21. 



Scientific Illustkations and Additions . . .pp. 22-152. 



The island-studded Lake of Tacarigua. Its relation to the mountain- 

 chains. Geognostic tableau. Progress of civilization. Varieties of 

 the sugar-cane. Cacao plantations. Great fertility of soil within the 

 tropics accompanied by great atmospheric insalubrity. — pp. 22-26. 



Banks, or broken floetz-strata. General flatness. Land-slips— pp. 



26-28. 



Eesemblance of the distant steppe to the ocean. Naked stony crust, 

 tabular masses of syenite ; have they a detrimental effect on the atmo- 

 sphere 1— pp. 28-29. 



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