ILLUSTRATIONS (5). THE ANDES. 31 



Timana and Cocliabamba. These relations, to which very 

 little attention has hitherto been directed, form the basis of mv 

 division of South America into three depressions or basins, 

 viz., those of the Orinoco in its lower course, of the Amazon, 

 and of the Rio de la Plata. Of these three basins, the exterior 

 ones, as I have already observed, are Steppes or Prairies; 

 but the central one between the Sierra Parime and the 

 Brazilian chain of mountains must be regarded as a wooded 

 plain or Hylcea. 



In endeavouring by a few equally brief touches to give a 

 sketch of the natural features of North America, we must first 

 glance at the chain of the Andes, which, narrow at its origin, 

 soon increases in height and breadth as it follows an inclina- 

 tion from south-east to north-west, passing through Panama, 

 Veragua, Guatimala, and New Spain. This range of moun- 

 tains, formerly the seat of an ancient civilization, presents a 

 like barrier to the general current of the sea between the 

 tropics, and to a more rapid intercommunication between 

 Europe, Western Africa, and Eastern Asia. From the 

 1 7th degree of latitude at the celebrated Isthmus of Tehuan- 

 tepec, the chain deflects from the shores of the Pacific, and 

 inclining from south to north becomes an inland Cordillera. 

 In Northern Mexico, the Crane Mountains (Sierra de las 

 Grullas) constitute a portion of the Rocky Mountains. On 

 their western declivity rise the Columbia and the Rio 

 Colorado of California; on the eastern side the Rio Roxo 

 of Natchitoches, the Canadian river, the Arkansas, and the 

 shallow river Platte, which latter has recently been converted 

 by some ignorant geographers, into a Rio de la Plata, or a 

 river yielding silver. Between the sources of these rivers rise 

 in the parallels of 37° 20' and 40° 13' lat,, three huge peaks 

 composed of granite, containing little mica, but a large pro- 

 portion of hornblende. These have been respectively named 

 Spanish Peak, James or Pike's Peak, and Big Horn or Long's 

 Peak.*' Their elevation exceeds that of the highest summits 

 of the North Mexican Andes, which indeed nowhere attain 

 the height of the line of perpetual snow from the parallels of 

 18° and 19° lat., or from the group of Orizaba, (2717 toises, 

 or 17,374 English feet), and of Popocatepetl (2771 toises, or 

 17,720 English feet) to Santa Fe and Taos in New Mexico. 



* See my Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne. 2me 6dit., t. i., 

 pp. 82 and 109. 



