Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3Humboldt, Alexander von
History
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3
Humboldt, Alexander von
Natural history -- South America; Scientific expeditions; South America -- Description and travel
I have not yet noticed the extraordinary widening of the Andes near
the Apolobamba. The sources of the Rio Beni being found in the spur
which stretches northward beyond the confluence of that river with the
Apurimac, I shall give to the whole group the name of "the spur of
Beni." The following is the most certain information I have obtained
respecting those countries, from persons who had long inhabited
Apolobamba, the Real das Minas of Pasco, and the convent of Ocopa.
Along the whole eastern chain of Titicaca, from La Paz to the knot of
Huanuco (latitude 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 degrees) a very wide mountainous
land is situated eastward, at the back of the declivity of the Andes.
It is not a widening of the eastern chain itself, but rather of the
small heights that surround the foot of the Andes like a penumbra,
filling the whole space between the Beni and the Pachitca. A chain of
hills bounds the eastern bank of the Beni to latitude 8 degrees; for
the rivers Coanache and Magua, tributaries of the Ucayali (flowing in
latitude 6 and 7 degrees) come from a mountainous tract between the
Ucayali and the Javari. The existence of this tract in so eastern a
longitude (probably longitude 74 degrees), is the more remarkable, as
we find at four degrees of latitude further north, neither a rock nor
a hill on the east of Xeberos, or the mouth of the Huallaga (longitude
77 degrees 56 minutes).
We have just seen that the spur of Beni, a sort of lateral branch,
loses itself about latitude 8 degrees; the chain between the Ucayali
and the Huallaga terminates at the parallel of 7 degrees, in joining,
on the west of Lamas, the chain of Chachapayas, stretching between the
Huallaga and the Amazon. Finally, the latter chain, to which I have
given the designation of central, after forming the rapids and
cataracts of the Amazon, between Tomependa and San Borja, turns to
north-north-west, and joins the western chain, that of Caxamarca, or
the Nevados of Pelagatos and Huaylillas, and forms the great knot of
the mountains of Loxa. The mean height of this knot is only from 1000
to 1200 toises: its mild climate renders it peculiarly favourable to
the growth of the cinchona trees, the finest kinds of which are found
in the celebrated forest of Caxanuma and Uritusinga, between the Rio
Zamora and the Cachiyacu, and between Tavacona and Guancabamba. Before
the cinchona of Popayan and Santa Fe de Bogota (north latitude 2 1/2
to 5 degrees), of Huacarachuco, Huamalies and Huanuco (south latitude
9 to 11 degrees) became known, the group of the mountains of Loxa had
for ages been regarded as the sole region whence the febrifuge bark of
cinchona could be obtained. This group occupies the vast territory
between Guancabamba, Avayaca, Ona and the ruined towns of Zamora and
Loyola, between latitude 5 1/2 and 3 1/4 degrees. Some of the summits
(the Paramos of Alpachaca, Saraguru, Savanilla, Gueringa, Chulucanas,
Guamani, and Yamoca, which I measured) rise from 1580 to 1720 toises,
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