rowEmiiG OE THE eahge. 
349 
not by a transversal ridge, at least by a mountainous territo^ . 
Old systematic ideas respecting the rising of mountains 
in proportion as we advance into a country, would have 
warranted the belief that tliero existed, in the Capitania of 
blato Grosso, a central Cordillera mircli loftier than that of 
Villarica or do Espinha^o; but we now know (and this is 
confirmed by climateric circumstances) that there exists no 
continued chain, propei-ly speaking, westward of Eio San 
Francisco, on the frontiers of Minas Gcraes and Goyaz. 
We find only a group of mountains, of which the culminant 
points are the Serras da Canasti'a (south-west of Paracatu) 
and da Marcella (lat. 18i° and 1910°), and, further north, 
the Pyrenees stretching from east to west (lat. 16° 10') be- 
tween Villaboa and Mejaponte). M. Esehwegc has named 
the gi'oiip of mountain's of Goyaz the Serra dos Vertentes, 
because it divides the waters between the southern tributary 
streams of the llio Grande or Parana, and the northern 
tributary streams of llio Tucautines. Tt runs southward 
beyond the llio Grande (Parana), and approaches the chain 
of'Espinpapo in 23° latitude, by the Serra do Franca. It 
attains only the height of 300 or 400 toises, with the excep- 
tion of some summits N.W. of Paracatu, and is consequently 
much lower than the chain of Villarica. 
Further on, west of the meridian of Villaboa, there are 
only ridges and a series ot low hills which, on a length of 
12°, form the “division of water” (lat. 13° — 17°), between 
the Araguay and the Paranaiba (a tributary of the Parana), 
between the Itio Topaj'os and the Paraguay, between the 
Guapore and the Aguapeliy. The herra of San Marta is 
(long. 15-J°) is somewhat lofty, but maps have vastly exagge- 
rated the height of the Serras or Campos Parecis north of 
the towns of Cuyaba and Villabella (lat. 13 ^14 , long. 
58°— 62°). These Campos, which take their name from that 
of a tribe of wild Indians, are vast, barren table-lands 
entirely destitute of vegetation; and in them tlie sources of 
the tributary streams of three great rivers, the Topayos, the 
Madeira, and the Paraguay, take their rise. 
According to the measures and geologic observations ot 
M. Eschwege, the high summits of the Serra do Mar (the 
coast-chain) scarcely attain 660 toises; those of the Seri’a 
do Espinhafo (chain of Villarica), 950 toises ; those of Serra 
