MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 1G5 



flats or convex mounds, rising gradually to the height CHAP. XV. 

 of a few yards. The uniform aspect of these flats, the x'nifi^ 

 extreme rarity of inhabitants, the fatigue of travelling aspect of 

 under a burning sky amid clouds of dust, the continual ' "^ "''^ 

 recession of the horizon, and the successive appearance 

 of solitary palms, make the steppes appear far more ex- 

 tensive than they really are. It has even been imagined 

 tliat the whole eastern side of South America, from the 

 Orinoco and the Apure to the Plata and the Straits of 

 Magellan, is one great level ; but this is not the case. 

 In order to understand their limitations it will be 

 necessary to take a general view of the mountain- 

 ranges. 



The Cordillera of the coast, where the highest summit Cordillera, 

 is the Silla of Caraccas, and which is connected by the 

 Paramo de las Rosas to the Nevado de Merida, and the 

 Andes of New Grenada, has already been described. 

 A less elevated but much larger group of mountains 

 extends from the mouths of the Guaviare and the 

 Meta, the source of the Orinoco, the Marony, and the 

 Esscquibo, toward French and Dutch Guiana. This, 

 which is named the cordillera of Parime, may be 

 followed for a length of 863 miles, and is sepai'ated from 

 the Andes of New Grenada by a space 276 miles in 

 breadth. A third chain of mountains, which connects 

 the Andes of Peru with the mountains of Brazil, is the 

 cordillera of Chiquitos, dividing the rivers flowing into 

 the Amazon from the tributaries of the Plata. 



These three transverse chains or groups, extending Transvcrso 

 from west to east within the limits of the torrid zone, chains of 

 are separated by level tracts forming the plains of Car- < 

 accas or of the Lower Orinoco, the flats of the Amazon 

 and Rio Negro, and those of Buenos Ayres or La Plata. 

 The middle basin, known by the colonists under the 

 name of the basques or selvas of the Amazon, is covered 

 with trees ; the southern, the pampas of Buenos Ayres, 

 with grass ; and the northern, the llanos of Varinas and 

 Caraccas, with plants of various kinds. 



The western coasts of South America are bordered by 



