420 



the Rio Vermejo (longitude 64°). Finally, the 

 third, and most majestic counter-fort, the Sierra 

 Nevada de Cochabamba and Santa Cruz (from 

 22° to 17i° of latitude), is linked with the knot 

 of the mountains of Porco. It forms the point of 

 partition (divortia aquarum), between the basin 

 of the Amazon and that of the Rio de la Plata. 

 The Cachimayo and the Pilcomayo, which rise 

 between Potosi, Talavera de la Puna, and La 

 Plata or Chuquisaca, run towards the south- 

 east, while the Parapiti and the Guapey (Gua- 

 paiz, or Rio de Mizque), pour their waters into 

 the Mamori, towards the north-east. The ridge 

 of partition being placed near Chayanta, south 

 of Mizque, Tomina, and Pomabamba, nearly on 

 the southern declivity of the Sierra de Cocha- 

 bamba in the 19° and 20° of latitude, the Rio 

 Guapey is forced to flow around the whole group, 

 in order to reach the plains of the Amazon, 

 like the Poprad in Europe, a tributary stream 

 of the Vistula, to attain the southern part of 

 the Carpathes of Tatra in the plains of Poland. 

 I have already observed above, that where the 

 mountains cease (west * of the meridian of 



* I suppose, with Captain Basil Hall, that the port of 

 Valparaiso is 71° 31' west of Greenwich, and I place Cor- 

 dova 8° 40 ; , and Santa Cruz de la Sierra 7° 4' east of Val- 

 paraiso. The longitudes indicated in the text, and constantly 

 referring to the meridian of the Observatory of Paris, are 



