106 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



group, in which, according to Indian tradition, vast 

 treasures are buried. The torrent which flows under 

 the remarkable natural bridge of the rocky ravine of 

 Icononzo rises in this Paramo. In my Latin memoir 

 entitled " De distributione geographica Plantarmn se- 

 cundein coeli temperiem et altitudinem montium, 1817," 

 I have sought to characterise those mountain regions : 

 "Altitudine 1700-1900 hexapod. Asperrirnse solitudines, 

 quae a colonis hispanis uno nomine Paramos appel- 

 lantur, tempestatum vicissitudinibus mire obnoxise, ad quas 

 solutae et emollitse defluunt nives; ventorum flatibus ac 

 nimborum grandinisque jactu tumultuosa regio, quae seque 

 per diem et per noctes riget, solis nubila et tristi luce fere 

 nunquam calefacta. Habitantui in hac ipsa altitudine sat 

 magnse civitates, ut Micuipampa Pemvianorum, ubi thermo- 

 metrum centes. meridie inter 5 et 8, noctu 0.4 consistere 

 vidi; Huancavelica, propter cinnabaris venas celebrata, 

 ubi altitudine 1835 hexap. fere totum per annum temperies 

 mensis Martii Parish's." (Humboldt de distrib. geogr. 

 Plant, p. 104.) 



( l *) p. 8. " The Andes and the eastern mountain* 

 send forth detached spurs which advance towards 

 each other" 



The vast region situated between the eastern coast of 

 South America and the eastern declivity of the Andes is 

 narrowed by two mountain masses, which partially divide 

 from each other the three valleys or plains of the Lower 

 Orinoco, of the Amazons, and of the River Plate. The 



