402 



i where they bound the Caribbean sea, in that 

 part which we denote by the name of Chain 

 of the shore of Venezuela, do not attain the 

 extraordinary height (2,500 toises) which they 

 reach in their prolongation towards Chita and 

 Merida. In considering separately the groupes 

 of the east, those of the shore of Venezuela, Pa- 

 rime, and Brazil, we see them diminish from 

 north to south. The highest summits of each 

 groupe are the Silla de Caraccas (1350 toises), 

 the peak Duida (1300 toises), theltacolumi and 

 the Itambe * (900 toises). But, as I have already 

 observed in another place -f~, it would be an 

 error to judge the height of a chain of moun- 

 tains solely from that of the most lofty sum- 

 mits. The peak of the Himalaya most ex- 

 actly measured, is 676 toises higher than the 

 Chimborazo; the Chimborazo 900 toises higher 

 than Mont Blanc ; and Mont Blanc 653 toises 

 higher than the peak Nethou ^. These differ- 



* According to the measure of MM. Spix and Martins, 

 the Itambe de Villa de Principe is 5590 feet high. {Martin's 

 Physiognomy of Pflanzenreichs in Brazilian, 1824, p. 23.) 



t See my first memoir on the mountains of India, in the 

 Annales de chimie et de physique, 1816, Vol. iii, p. 313. 



J The Peak Iewahir, lat, 30° 22' 19" ; long. 77° 35' 7" 

 east of Paris. Height 4026 toises, according to MM. Hodg- 

 son and Herbert. 



§ This peak, called also peak of Anethou or Malahita, or 

 eastern peak of Maladetta, is the highest summit of the 

 Pyrenees. It rises 1787 toises, and consequently exceeds 



