﻿Eigenmann: south America West of the Maracaibp 



9 



"Infolge der Flachheit des quart aren Landes ist es fiir flache 

 Fahrzeuge moglich, vom oberen Daule in einen der zufltisse des 

 Esrneraldas, Quininde, zu gelangen. Der Esmeraldas wird aus 

 dem Rio Toachi, dem Rio Blanco und dem Guaillabamba gebil- 

 det, hat also seine Quellen tief in der Cordillere am Iliniza und 

 Cotopaxi. Alle drei fliessen in oft wechselnden Betten als char- 

 akteristische Tieflandsfliisse durch die Ebene, sind aber Quers- 

 trome, die genotigt werden, in engem, schluchtartigem Tale mit 

 senkrechten Wanden durch die Kiistenkette hindurchzubrechen, 

 so dass der wasserreiche gemeinsame Unterlauf fiir die Schiffahrt 

 unbrauchbar ist. 77 



The southern part of the former gulf is drained thru the Vin- 

 ces, Caracol, Chimbo, and Barranca Alta into the southward- 

 flowing Guayas, an extension of the Rio Vinces. Paralleling the 

 Vinces, the Daule drains the area west of it to within about 30 

 miles of the coast. 



Colombia. In Colombia conditions are complicated. The 

 western Andes of Ecuador are continued thru the whole of Col- 

 ombia to Cartagena. 



The eastern Andes, as the Cordillera Central, are also con- 

 tinued thru the whole of Colombia to Santa Marta^ but are cut 

 in two by a great fault valley occupied by the valley of the lower 

 Cauca and lower Magdalena. 



The two chains coalesce near Medellin in central Colombia. 

 South of Popayan the valley between the two old chains of the 

 Cordilleras is drained by the Patia into the Pacific. North of 

 Popaj r an it is drained by the Rio Cauca, which starts in the high 

 interandean plateau about Popayan, flows to Cart ago, where it 

 begins a turbulent course thru the "knot" of the western and cen- 

 tral Cordilleras to Caceres, from where it flows more gently to 

 the Magdalena at a point where, in former times, it probably 

 emptied into a bay similar to the present Lake Maracaibo. 



The complications in Colombia are due to the formation of 

 two younger chains of Cordilleras. One of these is the Cordil- 

 lera Oriental of Colombia or the Cordillera cle Bogota. 



The Cordillera of Bogota and the plains of Bogota have been 

 studied by Hettner ("Die Kordillere von Bogota," Erg' nzhft. No. 

 104 zu Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1892). He finds that the Cor- 

 dillera of Bogota begins between latitude 1° and 2° north, as low 

 hills, joined onto the eastern Cordillera of Ecuador. These hills 

 are cut thru by the tributaries of the Amazon flowing from the 

 eastern Cordilleras. They gain in height at 2° and are no longer 



