476 



removed 400 leagues on the north from the 

 source of the River de la Paix. The Andes of 

 Chili may be considered as the maritime Alps*, 

 while, in their most northern continuation, the 

 Rocky Mountains are a chain of the interior of 

 a continent. There exists no doubt, between 

 23° and 60° of latitude, from the Cape Saint 

 Lucas in California to Alaska, on the western 

 coast of the Sea of Kamtschatka, a real Cordil- 

 lera of the shore ; but it forms, as we observed 

 above ^, a system of mountains almost entirely 

 distinct from the Andes of Mexico and Canada. 

 This system, which we shall call the Cordillera 

 of California, or of New Albion, is linked be- 

 tween lat. 33° and 34° with the Pimeria alta, and 

 the western branch of the Cordilleras of Ana- 

 huac; and between 45° and 53° of latitude, 

 with the Rocky Mountains, by transversal 

 ridges and counter- forts that widen towards the 

 east. We shall learn from well-informed tra- 

 vellers who may one day pass over the unknown 

 land between Cape Mendocino and the source 

 of the Rio Colorado, if the connexion of the 

 maritime Alps of California or New Albion, with 



* A chain of the shore, geognostically speaking, is not a 

 range of mountains that forms of itself the coast - 3 this name 

 is extended to a chain separated from the coast by a narrow 

 plain. 



f Vol. vi, p. 410, &c. 



