HEIGHT OF THE EANGE8. 
289 
systems of counter-slopes partially developed, in tlie direction 
from west to east, between the Giuaviare and the C^ueta, 
and between the Mamori and the Pilcomayo._ It is also 
Worthy of remark, that in the southern hemisphere, the 
Cordillera of the Andes sends an immense counterpoise 
eastward in the promontory of the Sierra IS'evada de Cocha- 
bamba, whence begins the ridge stretching between the 
tributary streams of the Madeira and the Paraguay to the 
lofty group of the mountains of Brazil or Minas Geraes, 
Three transversal chains (the coast-mountains of Venezuela, 
of the Orinoco or Parime, and the Brazil mountains) tend 
to join the longitudinal chain (the Andes), either by an in- 
termediary group (between the lake of Valencia and locuyo), 
or by ridges formed by the intersection of counter-slopes in 
tlie plains. The two e.xtremities of the three Llanos which 
communicate by land-straits, the Llanos of the Lou er 
Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Bio de la Plata or of Buenos 
Ayres, are steppes covered with gramina, while the inter- 
mediary Llano (that of the Amazon) is a thick forest. 
Mhth respect to the two land-straits, forming bands directed 
from north to south (from the Apure to Caqueta across the 
Provincia de los Llanos, and the sources of the Mamori to 
Bio Pilcomayo, across the province of Mocos and Chiquitos) 
they are bare and grassy steppes like the plains of Caracas 
and Buenos Ayres. 
In tli6 immense extent of land east of the Andes, com- 
prehending more than 480,000 square sea leagues, of which 
92,000 are a mountainous tract of country, no group rises 
to the region of perpetual snow' ; none even attains the 
height of 1,400 toises. This lowering of the mountains in 
tlie eastern region of the New Continent, extends as far as 
60° north latitude ; while in the western part, on the pro- 
longation of the Cordillera of the Andes, the highest 
summits rise in Mexico (lat. 18° 59'), to 2770 toises, and in 
the Hocky Mountains (lat. 37° to 40°) to 1900 toises. The 
insulated group of the Alleghanics, corresponding in its 
eastern position and direction with the Brazil group, does 
not exceed 1040 toises.* The lofty summits, therefore, 
* The culminant point of the Alleghanics is Mount M ashington, in 
New Hampshire, lat. 441°. According to Captain rurtridge. its height is 
6034 English feet. 
VOL. HI. ® 
