ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 215 



ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 



(f) p. 205. " Characteristic names in Arabic and Persian." 

 More than twenty different terms might be cited as used by Arabs 

 in speaking of steppes (tanufah), to denote deserts without water, 

 entirely bare, covered with silicious sand, or interspersed with spots 

 affording some pasture (sahara, kafr, mikfar, tih, and mehme). 

 Sahl is a low plain ; dakkah, a desolate elevated plain. In Persian, 

 "beyaban" signifies the arid sandy desert as do the Mogul 

 "gobi," and the Chinese "han-hai" and "scha-mo." "Yaila" is 

 a steppe covered rather with grasses or herbage than with herbaceous 

 plants ; so are also the Mogul " kiidah," and the Turkish "tala," or 

 "tschol," and the Chinese "huang." " Deshti-reft" is ah elevated 

 plain devoid of vegetation. (Humboldt, Relation hist. t. ii. p. 158.) 



( 3 ) p. 205. " In the old Castilian idiom" 

 Pico, picacho, mogote, cucurucho, espigon, loma tendida, mesa, 

 panecillo, farallon, tablon, pena, penon, penasco, penoleria, roca par- 

 tida, laxa, cerro, sierra, serrania, cordillera, inonte, montana, monta- 

 nuela, cadena de montes, los altos, malpais, reventazon, bufa, &c. 



( 3 ) p. 208. " Where tJie map had exhibited Montes de Cacao" 

 On the range of hills which had been converted into the lofty 

 Andes de Cuchao, see my Rel. hist. t. iii. p. 238. 



( 4 ) p. 211. "Hermesia." 



The genus Hermesia, the Sauso, has been described by Bonpland, 

 and figured in our Plantes equinoxiales, t. i. p. 162, tab. xlvi. 



( 5 ) p. 212. " The fresh-water dolphin" 



These are not sea-dolphins, ascending the rivers for a great dis- 

 tance, as is done by some species of Pleuronectes (flat fish, which 



