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The steppes of Asia are all beyond the tropics, 

 and form very elevated table-lands. America 

 also displays savannahs of considerable extent on 

 the backs of the mountains of Mexico, Peru, and 

 Quito ; but it's most extensive steppes, the 

 Llanos of Cumana, Caraccas, and Meta, are 

 little raised above the level of the ocean, and all 

 belong to the Equinoctial zone. These circum- 

 stances give them a peculiar character. They 

 have not, like the steppes of southern Asia, and 

 the deserts of Persia, those lakes without issue, 

 those small systems of rivers, that lose them- 

 selves either in the sands, or by subterraneous 

 nitrations. The Llanos of America are inclined 

 toward the East and South ; and their running 

 waters are branches of the Oroonoko. 



The course of these rivers had once led me to 

 believe, that the plains formed table-lands, raised 

 at least from one hundred to one hundred and 

 fifty toises above the level of the ocean. I sup- 

 posed, that the deserts of interior Africa were 

 also at a considerable height; and that they 

 rose one above another like stages, from the 

 coast to the interior of the continent. No baro- 

 meter has yet been carried into the Sahara. 

 With respect to the Llanos of America, I found 

 by barometric heights observed at Calabozo, at 

 the Villa del Pao, and at the mouth of the Meta, 

 that their height is only forty or fifty toises above 

 the level of the sea. The fall of the rivers is 



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