ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



931 



Splendent foilage. Creeping plants, 

 mantling in rank luxuriance, inter- 

 lace the smooth trunks with end- 

 less festoons. Dense woods of this 

 composition, interrupted only by 

 some rivers, extend over a space 

 of more than 1,500 miles, from the 

 banks of the Oronooko to the 

 shores of the Amazon, The chief 

 inhabitants of these fo-ssts are 

 monkeys, which multiply exceed- 

 ingly among the fruitful boughs. 

 Some of them live in pairs, melan- 

 choly, shy, and avoiding even their 

 own species. Others go in troops 

 of eighty or a hundred, springing 

 from branch to branch in quest of 

 food. 



•• In the torrid zone, the blue 

 sky takes a deeper tint; the nights 

 are resplendent, and the vault of 

 heaven, exhibiting in succession the 

 whole of the constellations, appears 

 studded with fixed stars, which 

 shine like planets, with a clear 

 and steady light. In the upper 

 regions of the atmosphere, the at- 

 tenuated air reflects only a dark 

 azure. The cyanometer, which 

 at Paris marked sixteen degrees, 

 indicated twenty-three near the 

 shores of Cumana, and forty-six 

 on the heights of the Andes. So 

 transparent is the air of those cli- 

 mates, that, in the mountains of 

 Quito, one may distinguish with 

 the naked eye, the poncho, or 

 white mantle of a person on horse- 

 back, at the distance of seventeen 

 miles. 



*' But the equatorial regions of 

 America, possessing, in conse- 

 quence of their vast range of ele- 

 vation, every possible degree of 

 temperature, concentrate all the 

 diversity of the vegetable tribes. 

 From the shore of the Atlantic to 

 the heights of the Andes, the dif- 



ferent kinds of plants follow each 

 other in almost regular succession. 

 Similar transitions, on a small 

 scale, are observed among the 

 Alps of Switzerland. Ascending 

 these mountains from the lower 

 valleys, we meet successively with 

 chesnuts, beeches, oaks, and then 

 pines, which, covering a much 

 broader space, advance till they 

 become stunted, and gradually 

 disappear, not far from the verge 

 of perennial snow. To trace the 

 geography of plants in the low 

 grounds of Europe, is rendered pe- 

 culiarly difficult by the activity of 

 cultivation; but in those boundless 

 desarts, each species still occupies 

 its own distinct territory. The vine 

 occupies a narrow belt towards the 

 north of the latitude of 30 degrees. 

 Chesnuts grow in the same parallel. 

 Next succeeds the oak, which ex- 

 tends almost to the sixtieth degree 

 of latitude. In this temperate zone 

 wheat and barley are cultivated. 

 Oats prefer a colder climate, but will 

 seldom thrive beyond the latitude 

 of sixty-three degrees. 



" The lofty chain of the Andes, 

 running along the western coast of 

 America, extends on both sides of 

 the equator to near the thirtieth 

 degree of latitude. It is of unequal 

 height, sinking, in some parts, to 

 600 feet from the level of the sea, 

 and, at certain points, towering 

 above the clouds, to an elevation of 

 almost four miles. The colossal 

 Chimborazo lifts its snowy head to 

 an altitude which would equal that 

 of the Peak of Teneriffe, though 

 placed on the top of Mount iEtna. 

 The medium height of the chain 

 under the equator may be reckoned 

 a^ 14,000 feet, while that of the 

 A; IS and Pyrenees hardly exceeds 

 8,000; its breadth is proportion- 



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