GENERAL SUMMARY 



CONTENTS OF VOL. L 



Preface to the First Edition p. vii. to p. ix. 

 Preface to the Second and Third Editions p. xi. to p. XT. 



Note by the Translator p. xvii. 

 Steppes and Deserts p. 1 to p. 26. 



Coast chain and mountain valleys of Caraccas. Lake of Tacarigua. 

 Contrast in respect to the luxuriance of vegetation between those 

 districts and the treeless plains. The steppe regarded as the bottom 

 of a Mediterranean Sea ; broken strata a little higher than the rest 

 of the plain called "banks." General phenomena of extensive 

 plains ; the Heaths of Europe, the Pampas and Llanos of South 

 America, the African Deserts, and the Steppes of Northern Asia. 

 Different characters of the vegetable covering of the surface. 

 Animal life. Pastoral nations, and their invasive migrations. 16 



Description of the South American plains and prairies their extent 

 and climate ; the latter dependent on the outline of the coasts, and 

 on the hypsometric conformation of the New Continent. Comparison 

 with the plains and deserts of Africa . . . . 7 13 



Original absence of pastoral life in America. Food furnished by the 

 Mauritia palm ; the Guaranis' huts raised on trees . 13 17 



VOL. I. U 



