742 



or 1^300 toises in elevation ; and from la Grita 

 as far as Neiva (from 7*5° to 3° of latitude) the 

 eastern branch of the Cordillera presents nume- 

 rous Paramos from 1800 to 1900 toises high*; 

 and only one group of Nevados, that is of moun- 

 tains which surpass 2400 toises., in the five Pica- 

 dios of Chita. The three great western tributary 

 streams of the Oroonoko rise from the Paramos 

 de Cundinamarca, which are destitute of snow. 

 The secondary tributary streams only, which fal 

 into the Meta and the Apure, receive some aguas 

 de nieve, such as the Rio Casanare, which de- 

 scends from the Nevado de Chita, and the Rio 

 Santo Domingo which descends from the 



* From north to south $ the Paramos of Porqueras and of 

 Laura (near la Grita) j of Cacota ; of Almorzadero, Zoraca, 

 Guachaneque, and Chingasa (between Pamplona and Santa 

 Fe de Bogota) 5 la Suraa Paz, between Pandi and Neiva. 

 See my Atlas Geogr., PL 17, 19, 21, 24. The mean temper- 

 ture of the mountainous deserts, which the Spanish inhabit- 

 ants of the equinoxial zone call Paramos, is 9°. I sometimes 

 found the centigrade thermometer there at 4°. I saw no snow 

 fall sporadically under the equator below 1860 or 1900 toises 

 of absolute height. See the Memoir which 1 have just cited, 

 p. 36. 



f The Nevado de Mucuchies, the eastern part of the Sierra 

 Nevada de Merida, gives rise on the south to the Rio de Santo 

 Domingo ; and on the north to the Rio Chama, which runs 

 into the gulf of Maracaybo. A tributary stream of the first 

 of these rivers, the Paguay, comes from the western part 

 of the Sierra Nevada de Merida. There is therefore, in the 

 whole circumference of the basin of the Oroonoko, no other 



