598 MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



Andes, which commences immediately to the southward of the 

 Isthmus of Panama, extends along the whole stretch of the western 

 coast, and finally terminates in the rocky archipelago of Tierra del 

 Fuego. This chain is locally distinguished into the Columbian, 

 Peruvian, Bolivian, Chilian, and Patagonian Andes. Its widest 

 extension occurs between the 20th and 25th parallels, where it 

 measures upwards of 400 miles across. Throughout its entire course 

 it attains a very considerable elevation. Its volcanic character is 

 very marked. Thus, in the Columbian Andes, Antisana and Cotopaxi 

 are still active ; in the Chilian, Aconcagua is the loftiest volcano on 

 the globe ; in the Patagonian, four active volcanoes occur. The 

 region at the base of the Chilian Andes suffers more from volcanic 

 convulsion than any other part of the world, and its towns are 

 repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes. 



The principal summits are : Aconcagua, 2 3, 9 4 4 feet; Chimborazo, 

 21,415 feet; Sahama, 22,350 feet; Cotopaxi, 18,867; Antisana,. 

 19,136 feet; Sorata, 21,286 feet; arid lUimanni, 21,149 feet. 



On the eastern coast we meet with the Mountains of Guiana and 

 the Mountains of Brazil, never reaching a higher level than 5000 

 feet. Mount Sarmiento, in Tierra del Fuego, is 6900 feet above the 

 sea. In the West Indies the loftiest point is found in the Blue 

 Mountains of Jamaica, 7278 feet. 



CHAPTER V. 



VEGETABLE LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 



THE same changes that we observe in the characters of vegetable life 

 as we advance towards the Pole reproduce themselves, the reader 

 will easily understand, as we ascend the mountain-sides. Only, in 

 the former case the gradation is slow and scarcely perceptible ; in the 



