PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP PERU. 



25 



soil, covered with verdure and foliage, is^ interrupted by innu- 

 merable heaths and deep clefts, still it is very aptly described 

 by a philosopher who had occasion to examine this cordillera. 

 In ascending, says he, the rude and terrific mountains which look 

 towards the South Sea, it cannot possibly occur to the human mind, 

 that on their shoulders others of equal magnitude should rise, and 

 that all of them should serve to shelter, in their conmon bosom, that 

 happy country where Nature, in her most bountiful mood, or rather, 

 in her prodigality , has painted the image of terrestrial paradise^. 



The low world is situated, with the interposition of the 

 chain of mountains, between the western branch and the 

 ocean, which are distant from each other from ten to twenty 

 leagues. It consists of a multitude of sloping plains, which, 

 descending from this branch, from the Line to Tumbes, ter- 

 minate in immense forests, and hence advance towards the 

 borders of the ocean, as if with a design to limit its em- 

 pire. The above plains are separated from each other by val- 

 lies, which, originating at the coast of the ocean, with a 

 breadth of from three to eight leagues, take an eastern direc- 

 tion, being bounded on the north and on the south by a series 

 of hills, which, augmenting in proportion as they enter Sierray 

 divide the western chain, occasionally cross the subsequent 

 space, interse6t the eastern chain, and terminate in the plains 

 of the country of the Amazons, preserving a great resemblance 

 to their origin •f. 



By 



Andes mountains, asserts, that there is another of these jundlions in the province 

 of Jaen De Bracamoros. 



* Bouguer, Figure de la Terre, p. 31. 

 . f. By the description we are about to give, it will be apparent that Peru consists 

 , E entirely 



