88 LBTEL ASPECT OF THE STEPPES. 



considerable extent on the backs of the mountains of Mexico, 

 Peru, and Quito ; but its most extensive steppes, the Llanos 

 of Cumana, Caracas, and Meta, are little raised above the 

 level of the ocean, and all belong to the equinoctial zone. 

 These circumstances give them a peculiar character. They 

 have not, like the steppes of southern Asia, and the deserts 

 of Persia, those lakes without issue, those small systems of 

 rivers which lose themselves either in the sands, or by sub- 

 terranean nitrations. The Llanos of America incline to the 

 east and south ; and their running waters are branches of 

 the Orinoco. 



The course of these rivers once led me to believe, that the 

 plains formed table-lands, raised at least from one hundred 

 to one hundred and fifty toises above the level of the ocean. 

 I supposed that the deserts of interior Africa were also at a 

 considerable height ; and that they rose one above another 

 as in tiers, from the coast to the interior of the continent. 

 No barometer has yet been carried into the Sahara. With 

 respect to the Llanos of America, I found by barometric 

 heights observed at Calabozo, at the Villa del Pao, and at 

 the mouth of the Meta, that their height is only forty .>i 

 fifty toises above the level of the sea. The fall of the rivers 

 is extremely gentle, often nearly imperceptible; and theio 

 fore the least wind, or the swelling of the Orinoco, causes a 

 reflux in those rivers that flow into it. The Indians believe 

 themselves to be descending during a whole day, when 

 navigating from the mouths of these rivera to their sources. 

 The descending waters are separated from those that flow 

 back by a great body of stagnant water, in which, the 

 equilibrium being disturbed, whirlpools are formed very 

 dangerous for boats. 



The chief characteristic of the savannahs or steppes of 

 South America is the absolute want of hills and inequalities, 

 the perfect level of every part of the soil. Accordingly 

 the Spanish conquerors, who first penetrated from Coro to 

 the banks of the Apure, did not call them deserts or 

 savannahs, or meadows, but plains (llanos). Often within a 

 distance of thirty square leagues there is not an eminence 

 of a foot high. This resemblance to the surface of the sea 

 strikes the imagination nost powerfully where the plains ara 



