38 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



each other than they are to the more westerly chain, called 

 in South America the Cordilleras of Peru and Chili, and 

 in North America the Rocky Mountains. The Brazilian 

 system of mountains forms an isolated group, of which the 

 highest summits (the Itacolumi and Itambe) do not rise 

 above the height of 900 toises (5755 English feet). The 

 most easterly ridges, which are nearest to the Atlantic, follow 

 a uniform direction from SSW. to NNE. ; more to the 

 west the group becomes broader, but diminishes considerably 

 in height. The Parecis hills approach the rivers Itenes 

 and Guapore*, and the mountains of Aguapehi (to the 

 south of Yillabella) approach the lofty Andes of Cocha- 

 bamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. 



There is no immediate connection between the eastern and 

 western chains, the Brazilian mountains, and the Cordilleras 

 of Peru, for the low province of Chiquitos, which is a 

 longitudinal valley running from north to south, and open- 

 ing into the plains both of the Amazons and of the river 

 Plate, separates Brazil on the east from the Alto Peru on 

 the west. Here, as in Poland and Russia, an often almost 

 imperceptible rise of ground (called, in Slavonian, Uwaly) 

 forms the separating water-line between the Pilcomayo and 

 the Madeira, between the Aguapehi and the Guapore, and 

 between the Paraguay and the Rio Topayos. The swell of 

 the ground runs to the south-east from Chayanta and Poma- 

 bamba (lat. 19 20), traverses the province of Chiquitos, 

 which, since the expulsion of the Jesuits, has again become 

 almost a terra incognita, and forms, to the north-east, 

 where there are only detached mountains, the "divortia 



