41 
admired, in the solitude of their deserts, thoes 
objects only which strike the imagination by the 
greatness of their masses ; and their productions 
bear the stamp of the savage nature of the Cor- 
dilleras. 
A part of this Atlas is appropriated to sketches 
of the great scenes of this savage nature. I have 
been less studious to delineate those, which pro- 
duce only a picturesque effect, than to give an 
exact representation of the shapes of the moun- 
tains, the vallies by which their sides are fur- 
rowed, and the tremendous cascades formed by 
the fall of their torrents. The Andes bear the 
same proportion to the chain of the Alps, as 
these to the chain of the Pyrenees. Whatever I 
have beheld of picturesque or awful on the 
borders of the Saverne, in the north of Ger- 
many, on the Euganean mountains, the central 
chain of Europe, or the rapid declivity of the 
peak of Teneriffe, I have found all assembled 
in the Cordilleras of the New World. It would 
require ages lo observe these beauties, and dis- 
cover the wonders which nature has lavished 
over an extent of two thousand five hundred 
leagues, from the granitic mountains of the 
Strait of Magellan to the coasts bordering on 
the east of Asia. I shall think I have accom- 
plished my purpose, if the feeble sketches con 
