34 
SMALL ELEVATION OF THE LLANOS. 
Cliiquitos and of the sources of the Guapoie, is very rich in 
gold, and widens toward the east, in Brazil, into vast table- 
lands, having a mild and temperate climate. Between these 
two transverse chains, contiguous to the Andes, an isolated 
group of granitic mountains is situated, from 3° to T north 
latitude ; which also runs parallel to the Equator, but, not 
passing the meridian of 71°, terminates abruptly towards 
the west, and is not united to the Andes of New Grenada. 
These three transverse chains have no active volcanos ; we 
know not whether the most southern, like the two others, 
be destitute of trachytes or trap-porphyry. None of their 
summits enter the limit of perpetual snow; and the mean 
height of the Cordillera of La Parime, and of the littoral 
chain of Caracas, does not reach six hundred toises, though 
some of its summits rise fourteen hundred toises above the 
level of the sea . # The three transverse chains are separated 
by plains entirely closed towards the west, and open towards 
the east and south-east. When we reflect on their small 
elevation above the surface of the ocean, we are tempted to 
consider them as gulfs stretching in the direction of the cur- 
rent of rotation. If, from the effect of some peculiar attrac- 
tion, the waters of the Atlantic were to rise fifty toises at 
the mouth of the Orinoco, and two hundred toises at the 
mouth of the Amazon, the flood would submerge more than 
the half of South America. The eastern declivity, or the 
foot of the Andes, now six hundred leagues distant from the 
coast of Brazil, would become a shore beaten by the waves. 
This consideration is the result of a barometric measurement, 
taken in the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, where the 
river Amazon issues from the Cordilleras. I found the mean 
height of this immense river only one hundred and ninety- 
four toises above the present level of the Atlantic. The 
intermediate plains, however, covered with forests, are still 
five times higher than the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and 
the grass-covered Llanos of Caracas and the Meta. 
Those Llanos which form the basin of the Orinoco, and 
which we crossed twice in one year, in the months of March 
* We do not reckon here, as belonging to the chain of the coast, the 
Nevados and Paramos of Merida and of Truxillo, which are a prolongs 
Don of the Andes of New Grenada. 
