MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 19] 
the steppes appear far more extensive than they really 
are. It haseven been imagined that 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 thisis 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 is the Silla of Caraccas, and which is con- 
nected 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 Ori- 
noco, the Marony, and the Essequibo, toward French 
and Dutch Guiana. This, which is named the cor- 
dillera of Parime, may be followed for a length of 
863 miles, and is separated 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 Chiguitos, dividing the rivers flowing into the 
Amazon from the tributaries of the Plata. 
These three transverse chains or groups, extend- 
ing from west to east within the limits of the torrid 
zone, are separated by level tracts forming the plains 
of Caraceas or of the Lower Orinoco, the flats of 
the Amazon and Rio Negro, and those of Bue- 
nos Ayres or La Plata. The middle basin, known 
by the colonists under the name of the bosques or 
selvas of the Amazon, is covered with trees; the 
southern, the pampas of Buenos Ayres, with grass ; 
and the northern, the anos of Varinas and Carac- 
eas, with plants of various kinds. 
