20 



SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



as well as in the number of their parallel or divergent chains. The great central 

 plateau, which may be called the heart of the Andes, is one of those where the ramifi- 

 cations are most numerous ; but these ramifications are mere ridges compared with 



Fig-. G. — Outlines of the Andes and of the Eastern Highlands. 

 Scale 1 : 56,000,000. 



to 1,600 1,600 Feet. 



Feet. and upwards. 



The thickness of the black lines is in proportion to the height of the ranges : jlz vich to 3,300 feet. 



1,-240 Miles. 



the huge pediment of the elevated tablelands, which have a mean altitude of 

 from 14,000 to 16,000 feet for a space of over 80,000 square miles. 



From the Pacific shores eastwards to the plains watered by the Amazon and 

 La Plata afiluents, the uplands of the Bolivian Andes have a breadth of from 460 



