399 



first ridge forms the partition of the waters 

 which throw themselves into the Lower Oroo- 

 noko on the north-east, and into the Rio Negro 

 and the Amazon on the south and south-east ; 

 the second ridge divides the tributary streams 

 of the right bank of the Amazon and the Rio 

 de la Plata. The direction of these lignes de 

 faites is such, that if they were marked by the 

 chains of mountains they would unite the group 

 of the Parime to the Andes of Timana (Per. 

 Nar. Vol. v, p. 326), and the mountains of Bra- 

 zil to the promontory of the Andes of Santa 

 Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamba, and Potosi. 

 We make a supposition so vague, only that the 

 outline of this vast portion of the globe may be 

 more easily perceived. These risings in the 

 plain, in the intersection of two plains slightly 

 inclined, those two ridges, of which the exist- 

 ence is only manifested, as in Volhinia * by the 

 course of the waters, are parallel to the chain 

 of the coast of Venezuela; they present, it may- 

 be said, two systems of counter-slopes little deve- 

 loped, in the direction from west to east, between 

 the Guaviare and the Caqueta, and between 

 the Mamori and the Pilcomayo. It is also wor- 



* On the partition of the waters between the Dnieper (or 

 the Black Sea), and the Niemen (or the Baltic), See the ky- 

 drographic map of Poland, by MM. Perthes and Komarcewsky , 

 1809. 



VOL. VI. 2 E 



