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CHAPTER II. 



A GENERAL VIEW OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



!HREE separate mountain -systems exist in South 

 America : that of the Andes on the west, Guiana 

 and -Venezuela on the north, and the serras-of- 

 Brazil in the centre. The surface of the remainder of the 

 continent is occupied by vast level, or undulating tracts of 

 different elevations. The chief portion of the region through 

 which the Amazon flows, but slightly raised above its sur- 

 face, is covered with the richest and most varied vegetation 

 to be found on any part of the globe, extending on either 

 side of its course, as also along the shores of the Atlantic, 

 north and south, for many hundreds of miles. Here enormous 

 trees of many descriptions, of varied shapes and heights, grow 

 in wonderful profusion. The candelabra, sumaumera, the 

 maiiicaria, and raphia, with their enormous leaves, and other 

 palms innumerable, tower towards the sky. To the south of 

 the Orinoco is another thickly-wooded region, known as the 

 Silvas ; which, united to the woods of Guiana and those of 

 Brazil, Eastern Peru and Bolivia, form one enormous forest 

 From the north bank of the last-named river, the ground 

 gently rises towards the interior at the rate of five feet in a 



