166 



MOUNTAINS OF SODTU AMERICA. 



tie Andca 



CHAP. XV. a wall of mountains, pierced at intervals hy volcanic 

 C^ninicra of ^^^^' ^"^ constituting the celebrated cordiliera of the 

 Andes, the mean height of which is 1 ] ,830 feet. It ex- 

 tends in the direction of a meridian, sending out two 

 lateral brandies, one in lat. 10° north, being tliat of the 

 coast of Caraccas, the other in lat. 16° and 18° south, 

 forming the cordiliera of Chiquitos, and widening cast- 

 ward in Brazil into vast table-lands. Between these 

 lines* is a group of granitic mountains, running from 3° 

 to 7° north latitude, in a direction parallel to the 

 equator, but not united to the Andes. These three 

 chains have no active volcanoes, and none of their sum- 

 mits enter the line of perpetual snow. They are 

 separated hy plains, which are closed toward the west 

 and open toward the east ; and they are so low, that 

 were tlie Atlantic to rise 320 feet at the mouth of the 

 Orinoco and 1280 feet at the mouth of the Amazon, 

 more than the half of South America would be covered, 

 and the eastern declivity of the Andes would become a 

 shore of the ocean. 



We now accompany the travellers on their route from 

 the northern side of the Llanos to the banks of the 

 Aj)urc, in the province of Varinas. After passing two 

 nights on horseback, they arrived at a little farm called 

 El Cayman, where was a house surrounded by some 

 small huts covered with reeds and skins. They found 

 an old negro who had the management of the farm 

 during his master's absence. Although he told them of 

 herds composed of several thousand cows, tliey asked in 

 vain for milk, and were obliged to content themselves 

 witli some muddy and fetid water drawn from a neigh- 

 bouring pool, of which they contrived to drink by using 

 a linen cloth as a filter. When the mules were unloaded, 

 tiiey were set at liberty to go and search for water, and 

 the strangers following them came upon a copious reser- 

 voir surrounded with palm-trees. Covered with dust, 

 and scorched Ijy the sandy wind of the desert, they 

 plunged into the pool, but had scarcely begun to enjoy 

 its coolness when the noise of an alligator floundering in 



Wnnt fif 

 H'Llcr 



