571 



the characteristic name of men of the moun- 

 tains (Callilehet) or Serranos. From the pa- 

 rallel of the mouth of the Rio Negro to 

 that of Cabo Blanco (lat. 41°— 47°), scat- 

 tered mountains on the eastern Patagonia 

 coast denote more considerable inequalities 

 in the inlands. All that part however of the 

 strait of Magellan, from the Cape of Virgins 

 to the North Cape, on a breadth of more than 

 30 leagues, is surrounded by savannahs or 

 Pampas, and the Andes of western Patagonia 

 only begin to rise near the latter cape, exert- 

 ing a marked influence on the direction of 

 that part of the strait nearest the South Sea, 

 and going from S. E. to N. W. 



If we have given the plains or great basins of 

 South America, the names of the rivers that 

 flow in their longitudinal furrows, we have 

 not meant by so doing to compare them to 

 simple vallies. In the plains of the Lower 

 Oroonoko and the Amazon, all the lines of the 

 declivity reach no doubt a principal recipient, 

 and the tributaries of tributary streams, that is 

 the basins of different orders, penetrate far into 

 the groupe of the mountains. The upper part 

 or high vallies of the tributary streams are con- 

 sidered in a geological table, as belonging to 

 the mountainous region of the country, and 

 placed beyond the plains of the Lower Oroo- 



