41 



admired^ in the solitude of their deserts, thoes 

 objects only which strike the imagination by the 

 greatness of their masses ; and their productions 

 bear the stamp of the savage nature of the Cor- 

 dilleras. 



A part of this Atlas is appropriated to sketches 

 of the great scenes of this savage nature. I have 

 been less studious to delineate those, which pro- 

 duce only a picturesque effect, than to give an 

 exact representation of the shapes of the moun- 

 tains, the vallies by which their sides are fur- 

 rowed, and the tremendous cascades formed by 

 the fall of their torrents. The Andes bear the 

 same proportion to the chain of the Alps, as 

 these to the chain of the Pyrenees. Whatever I 

 have beheld of picturesque or awful on the 

 borders of the Saverne, in the north of Ger- 

 many, on the Euganean mountains, the central 

 chain of Europe, or the rapid declivity of the 

 peak of Teneriffe, I have found all assembled 

 in the Cordilleras of the New World. It would 

 require ages to observe these beauties, and dis- 

 cover the wonders which nature has lavished 

 over an extent of two thousand five hundred 

 leagues, from the granitic mountains of the 

 Strait of Magellan to the coasts bordering on 

 the east of Asia. I shall think I have accom- 

 plished my purpose, if the feeble sketches con 



