S3 
LEVEE ASPECT OF THE STEPPES. 
considerable extent on the backs of the mountains of Mexico, 
Peru, and Quito ; but its most extensive steppes, the Llanos 
of Cumana, Caracas, and Meta, are little raised above the 
level of the ocean, and all belong to the equinoctial zone. 
These circumstances give them a peculiar character. They 
have not, like the steppes of southern Asia, and the deserts 
of Persia, those lakes without issue, those small systems of 
rivers which lose themselves either in the sands, or by sub- 
terranean filtrations. The Llanos of America incline to the 
east and south ; and their running waters are branches of 
the Orinoco. 
The course of these rivers once led me to believe, that the 
plains formed table-lands, raised at least from one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty toises above the level of the ocean. 
I supposed that the deserts of interior Africa were also at a 
considerable height ; and that they rose one above another 
as in tiers, from the coast to the interior of the continent. 
No barometer lias yet been carried into the Sahara. With 
respect to the Llanos of America, I found by barometric 
heights observed at Calabozo, at the Villa del Pao, and at 
the mouth of the Meta, that their height is only forty or 
fifty toises above the level of the sea. The fall of the rivers 
is extremely gentle, often nearly imperceptible ; and there- 
fore the least wind, or the swelling of the Orinoco, causes a 
reflux in those rivers that flow into it. The Indians believe 
themselves to be descending during a whole day, when 
navigating from the mouths of these rivers to their sources. 
The descending waters are separated from those that flow 
back by a great body of stagnant water, in which, the 
equilibrium being disturbed, whirlpools are formed very 
dangerous for boats. 
The chief characteristic of the savannahs or steppes of 
South America is the absolute want of hills and inequalities, 
— the perfect level of every part of the soil. Accordingly 
the Spanish conquerors, who first penetrated from Coro to 
the banks of the Apure, did not call them deserts or 
savannahs, or meadows, but plains (llanos). Often within a 
distance of thirty square leagues there is not an eminence 
of a foot high. This resemblance to the surface of the sea 
strikes the imagination most powerfully where the plains are 
