340 
MOrNTAIIfS or BEAZII.. 
rise only to tlie lieiglit of 194 toises. The distinctive cha- 
ractenstics of the group of tlie mountains of Parime are 
the rocks of granite and gneiss-granite, the total absence of 
calcareous secondary formations, and the shelves of bare 
rock (the foy of the Chinese deserts), which occupy im- 
mense spaces m the savannahs. 
V. Group of the Brazil Mouktains.—TIus group 
has hitherto been marked on the maps in a very erroMous 
temperate table-lands and real chains of 300 to 
000 toises high, have been confounded with countries of 
exceedingly hot temperature, and of which the uiidulatiuo' 
surface presents only ranges of hills variously grouped” 
But the observations of scientific travellers have recently 
thrown great light on the orography of Portuguese 
America. Ihe mountamoua region of Brazil, of which the 
mean height rises at least to 400 toises, is comprehended 
within very narrow limits, nearly between 18° and 28° 
south latitude ; it does not appear to extend, between the 
proYiices of Goyaz and Matogrosso, beyond long. 63° west 
01 the mendia?! of Paris. ° 
When we regard in one view the eastern configuration of 
Aorth and South Amenca, we perceive that the coast of 
Brazal and Guiana, from Cape Saint Eoque to the mouth of 
the Orinoco strotehing from S.E. to N.W.), corresponds 
y ith that of Labrador, as the coast from Cape Saint Eoque 
to the Eio do la Plata corresponds with that of the United 
States (stretching from S.W.toX.E.). The chain of the Lllecr- 
hanies is opposite to the latter coast, as the principal Cor- 
dilleras of Brazil are nearly parallel to the shore of the 
provinces of Porto Seguro, Eio Janeiro, and Eio Grande. 
Ihe .^leghanies, generally composed of grauwacke and 
transition rocks, are somewhat loftier than the almost 
priiintive mountains (of granite, gneiss, and mica-slate), of 
the Brazilian group ; they are also of a far more simple 
structure, their chains lying nearer to each other, and pre- 
senniig, as in the Jura, a more uniform parallelism. 
It, instead of comparing those parts of the new continent 
situated north and south of the equator, we confine ourselves 
to bouth America, we find cn the western and northern coasts 
