251 



only from 5 to 6 leagues from that port to the 

 Embarcadere of Rio Naipi, and the whole ter- 

 ritory is a plain (tereno enter anient e Llanos)." 

 From the facts I have mentioned it cannot be 

 doubted that this part of the northern Choco is 

 of the highest importance for solving the pro- 

 blem under our consideration ; but, in order to 

 form a precise idea of this absence of moun- 

 tains at the southern extremity of the isthmus 

 of Panama, we must bear in mind the general 

 outline of the Cordilleras. The chain of the 

 Andes is divided at the 2° and 5° of latitude into 

 three chains*, and the two longitudinal vallies 

 that separate those chains form the basins of 

 the Magdalena and the Rio Cauca. The eastern 

 branch of the Cordilleras inclines towards the 

 north-east, and joins itself by the mountains of 

 Pamplune and Grita, to the Sierra Nevada de 

 Merida, and the chain of the coast of Vene- 



* Eastern Chain, that of Suma Paz, Chingasa, and Gua- 

 ehaneque, between Neiva and the basin of Guaviare, and 

 Santa-Fe de Bogota and the basin of Meta ; intermediary 

 chain, that of Guanacas, Quindio, and Erve (Herveo), be- 

 tween the Rio Magdalena and the Rio Cauca, the la Plata 

 and Popayan, and between Ibague and Carthago ; western 

 chain, between the Rio Cauca and the Rio San Juan, the 

 Cali and Novita, and between Carthago and Tad5. (See my 

 Geogr. Atlas, pi. 24.) This last chain, which separates 

 the provinces of Popayan and Choco, is generally very low ; 

 it is, however, said to rise considerably in the mountain of 

 Tora, at the west of Calima. (Pombo, de las Quinas, p. 67.) 



