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mountains, namely, the Cordillera of the Andes, 

 which the geognost may follow without inter- 

 ruption, from Cape Pilares, in the western part 

 of the strait of Magellan, to the promontory of 

 Paria, opposite the island of Trinidad; the insu- 

 lated group of the SierraNevada de Santa Marta, 

 the group of the Mountains of the Oroonoho, or 

 of la Parime, and that of the Mountains of Bra- 

 zil. The Sierra de Santa Marta being nearly in 

 the meridian of the Cordilleras of Peru and 

 New-Grenada, navigators fell commonly into 

 the error of supposing the snowy summits 

 which they descry in passing the mouth of the 

 Rio Magdalena, to be the northern extremity 

 of the Andes. I shall soon prove that the co- 

 lossal group of the Sierra de Santa Marta is al- 

 most entirely separate from the mountains of 

 Ocana and Pamplona, which belong to the 

 eastern Cordillera of New Grenada. The hot 

 plains through which runs the Rio Cesar, and 

 which extend towards the valley of Upar, sepa- 

 rate the Sierra Nevada from the Paramo de 

 Cacota, south of Pamplona. The ridge which 

 divides the waters between the gulph of Ma- 

 racaybo and the Rio Magdalena, is in the plain 

 on the east of the Laguna Zapatoza. If the 

 Sierra de Santa Marta has long been erroneously 

 considered, on account of its eternal snows, and 

 its longitude, to be a continuation of the Cordil- 

 leras of the Andes, the connexion on the other 



