aveeage TTEianTU. 
351 
form, to the Sierra Parime ; the latter, to the Brazil chains, 
running also from S.W. to N.B. The culminant points of 
those two systems rise to 1138 and 1040 toises. Such^ are 
the elements of this curve, of which the convex summit is in 
the littoral chain of Venezuela: 
AMERICA, EAST OF THE ANDES. 
SYSTEMS or MOEKTAIXS. 
MAXIMA OF HEIGUTS. 
Itacolmni 000 1. 
(south lat. 20-^“). 
Duida 1300 
Littoral Chain of Venezuela 
Group of the West Indies 
Chain of the AUeghanies 
(north lat. 34°). 
Silla of Caracas 1350 
(north lat. lOV)- 
Blue Mountains 1138 
(north lat. 18i°). 
Mount Washington 1040 
(north lat. 444°), 
I have preferred indicating in this table the culminant 
points of each system, to the mean height of the line of 
elevation; the culminant points are the results^ of diiect 
measures, while the mean height is an abstract idea some- 
what vague, particularly when there is only one group of 
mountains, as in Brazil, Parime, and the West Indies, •'RR 
not a continued chain. Although it cannot be doubted 
that, among the five systems of mountains on the east of 
the Andes, of which one only belongs to the southern 
hemisphere, the littoral chain of Venezuela is the most 
elevated (having a culminant point oi 1350 toises, and a 
mean, height from the line of elevation of 750), we yet 
recognise with surprise, that the mountains ot eastern 
America (whether continental or insular) difi'er very incmi- 
Bidcrably in their height above the level of the sea. The 
