440 



just stated, (nor. lat. li° — 2i °) reminds the 

 geognost of that which takes place at the 

 source of the Amazon in the knot of the moun- 

 tains of Huanuco and Pasco (south 'lat., 11°) ; 

 but the most western of the three chains that 

 bound the basins of the Amazon and the Hual- 

 laga, is the loftiest ; while that of Choco, or the 

 shore, is the least elevated ot the three chains 

 of New Grenada. It is ignorance of this tri- 

 partition of the Andes in that part of South 

 America near the Rio Atrato and the isthmus 

 of Panama, which has led to so many erroneous 

 judgments on the possibility of a canal of junc- 

 tion between the two seas *. 



The eastern chain of the Andes of New Gre- 

 nada, (I employ a systematic denomination, for 

 the name of the Andes is unknown in the 

 countries situated north of the equator,) the 

 eastern chain preserves its parallelism during 

 some time with the two other chains, those of 

 Quindiu and Choco; but beyond Tunja (lat. 

 5j°), it inclines more towards the north-east, 

 passing somewhat abruptly from the direction 

 N. 25° E. to that of N. 45° E. It is like a vein 

 that changes its direction, and rejoins the coast 

 after an extraordinary enlargement which it 

 undergoes by the grouping of the snowy moun- 

 tains of Merida. The tripartition of the Cor- 



* See above, Vol. vi, p. 248. 



