414 



The structure of the Cordillera of the Andes, 

 that is, its disposition in several chains nearly 

 parallel, which are rejoined by knots of moun- 

 tains, is very remarkable. Our maps indi- 

 cate this structure in the most imperfect man- 

 ner; and what LaCondamine and Bouguer had 

 guessed, during their long stay on the table- 

 land of Quito only, has been generalized and 

 ill-interpreted by those who have described the 

 whole chain according to the type of the equa- 

 torial Andes. The following is what I could 

 collect that was most positive by my own re- 

 searches, and an active correspondence of 

 twenty years with the inhabitants of Spanish 

 America. The group of islands very near each 

 other, vulgarly called Land of Fire, in which 

 the chain of the Andes begins, is a plain from 

 the Cape of Saint Esprit as far as the canal of 

 Saint Sebastian. The country on the west of 

 this canal, between Cape Saint Valentin and 

 Cape Pilares, is bristled with granitic moun- 

 tains that are covered (from Morro de San 

 Agueda toCaboRedondo) with calcareous shells. 

 Navigators have greatly exaggerated the height 

 of the mountains of the Land of Fire, among 

 which there appears to be a volcano still burn- 

 ing. JVL de Churruca found the western peak 

 of Cape Pilares (lat. 52° 45" south) only 218 

 toises * ; even Cape Horn is probably not more 



* Relation del viage al Eslrecho de Magellanes. dppendice, 

 1793, p. 76. 



