54 



the Alps and the Pyrenees, present scenes of the 

 wildest aspect, and fill the soul with astonish- 

 ment and terror. These vallies are crevices, the 

 sides and bottom of which are clothed with 

 vigorous vegetation ; and the depth in many 

 parts is so great, that were Vesuvius and the 

 Puy de Dome seated in these abysses, their 

 summits would not exceed the ridge of the 

 nearest mountains. M. Ramond's interesting 

 travels have made us acquainted with the valley 

 of Ordesa, which descends from Mount Perdu, 

 and the mean depth of which is nearly nine 

 hundred metres (four hundred and fifty-nine 

 toises). In travelling on the ridge of the Andes, 

 from Pasto to the town of Ibarra, and descending 

 from Loxa to the banks of the river of Amazons, 

 M. Bonpland and myself traversed the well- 

 known crevices of Chota and Cutaco, which on 

 measuring I found to be, one fifteen hundred, 

 and the other thirteen hundred metres in perpen- 

 dicular depth. To give a more complete idea 

 of the grandeur of these geological phenomena, 

 it must be remarked, that the bottom of these 

 crevices is only a fourth part less elevated above 

 the level of the sea, than the passages of St. 

 Gothard and Mount Cenis. The valley of 

 Icononzo, or Pandi, part of which is represented 

 in the fourth plate, is less remarkable for its di- 

 mensions, than for the singular form of its rocks, 

 which seem to have been carved by the hand of 



