54 
the Alps and the Pyrenees^, present scenes of the 
wildest aspect^ and fill the soul with astonish- 
ment and terror. These vallies are crevices, the 
sides and bottom of which are clothed with 
vigorous vegetation ; and the depth in many 
parts is so great, that were Vesuvius and the 
Fuy de Dome seated in these abysses, their 
summits would not exceed the ridge of the 
nearest mountains. M. Ramond’s interesting 
travels have made us acquainted with the valley 
of Ordesa, which descends from Mount Perdu, 
and the mean depth of which is nearly nine 
hundred metres (four hundred and fifty-nine 
toises). In travelling on the ridge of the Andes^ 
from Pasto to the town of Ibarra, and descending 
from Loxa to the banks of the river of Amazons, 
M. Bonpland and myself traversed the well- 
known crevices of Chota and Cufaco, which on 
measuring I found to be, one fifteen hundred, 
and the other thirteen hundred metres in perpen- 
dicular depth. To give a more complete idea 
of the grandeur of these geological phenomena, 
it must be remarked, that the bottom of these 
crevices is only a fourth part less elevated above 
the level of the sea, than the passages of St. 
Gothard and Mount Cenis. The valley of 
Icononzo, or Pandi, part of which is represented 
in the fourth plate, is less remarkable for its di- 
mensions, than for the singular form of its rocks, 
which seem to have been carved by the hand of 
