308 



nas limpias* in the same parallel, between the 

 sources of the Mao and the Rio de Aguas 

 Blancas, to the South of the Sierra de Paca- 

 raima. These last savannahs are inhabited by 

 Caribbees, and nomade Macusis ; they lie near 

 the frontiers of Dutch and French Guyana. 



Having just described the geological consti- 

 tution of South America ; we shall now mark 

 it's principal features. The coasts of the West 

 are bordered by an enormous wall of moun- 

 tains, rich in precious metals, wherever the 

 volcanic fire has not pierced through the eternal 

 snows. This is the Cordillera of the Andes. 

 Summits of trap porphyry rise beyond three 

 thousand three hundred toises, and the mean 

 height of the chain -f* is one thousand eight hun- 

 dred and fifty toises. It stretches in the di- 

 rection of a meridian, and sends into each he- 

 misphere a lateral branch, in the latitudes of 

 10° North, and 16° and 18° South. The first of 

 these branches, that of the coast of Caraccas^ 

 is not so wide, and forms a real chain. The 



* Open savannahs, without trees, limpias de arboles. 



f In New Grenada, Quito, and Peru, according to mea- 

 surements taken by Eouguer, La Condamine, and myself. 

 See, on the traces of resemblance displayed in the Pyrennees, 

 the Alps, the Andes, and Himalaya, in their highest sum- 

 ' mits, and the mean elevation of the chain (two particulars so 

 often confounded), my researches on the mountains of India, 

 (Ann. de Chimk et de Physique, 1816, t. iii, p. 310.) 



