iiiKOB Giiours or the aisdeb. 
299 
from San Juan de la Prontera and San Juan de la Punta to 
the town of Cordova. The second spur, called the Sierra 
de Salta and the Jujui, of which the greatest breadth is 
23“ of latitude, widens from the valley of Cataniarca and 
San ifiguel del Tucuman, in the direction of the Eio ^ erinejo 
(longitude 64°). Pinally, the third, and most majestic spur, 
the Sierra ^Nevada de (Cochabamba and Santa Cruz (from 
22“ to 171° of latitude), is linked with the knot of the moun- 
tains of Porco. It forms the points of partition (divortia 
aquarum, between the basin of the Amazon and that of the 
Kio de la Plata. The Cachimayo and the PilcomayO, which 
ri.se between Potosi, Talavera de la Puna, and La Plata or 
ChuQuisaca, run in the direction of south-east, while the Para- 
piti and the Guapey (Guapaiz, or Rio de Mizque), pour their 
Waters into the Maraori, to north-east. The ridge ol partition 
being near Cliayanta, south of Mizque, Tomiiia, and Poma- 
hamba nearly on the southern declivity of the Sierra de 
Cochabamba in lat. 19° and 20°, the Rio (Tuapey flows round 
the whole group, before it reaches the plains of the Amazon, 
as in Europe the Poprad, a tributary of the Vistula, makes a 
circuit in its course from the southern part of the Carpathians 
to the plains of Poland. I have already observed above, that 
where the mountains cease (west * of the meridian of 66^ ), 
the partition ridge of Cochabamba goes up towards the 
north-east, to 16“ of latitude, forming, by the mtersection of 
two slightly inclined planes, only one ridge amidst the savan- 
iiahs, aTid separating the waters of the Guapore, a tributary 
of the Madeira, from those of the Aguapehy and Jauru, 
tributaries of the Rio Paraguay. This vast country between 
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Villabella, and Matogrosso, is one 
of the least known parts of South America. The two spurs 
of Cordova and Salta present only a mountainous territory 
of small elevation, and linked to the foot of the Andes of 
Chile. Cochabamba, on the contrary, attains the limit of 
perpetual snow (2300 toises), and forms in some sort a lateraj 
branch of the Cordilleras, diverging even from their tout 
between La Paz and Oruro. The mouiitaius composing thia 
* I agree with Captain Basil Hall, in fixing the port of A alparaiso m 
71“ 31’ west of Greenwich, and 1 place Cordova 8 40 , and Santa Crua 
de la Sierra 7 ° 4' east of Valparaiso. The longitudes mentioned n the 
text refer always to the meridian of the Observatory of Pans. 
