One of the most curious circumstances attendant on the scenery of the Cordillera of the Andes, and which is, from local causes, in a great measure peculiar to those mountains, is the extreme regularity with which the inferior term of congelation or lower limit of perpetual snow, is described on their heads; this feature has therefore been introduced into the drawing, and that in such a manner as to show by the scales placed on its sides, the various heights at which the phenomenon takes place, in the different latitudes the mountains are situated in. Some of the principal cities, towns and volcanoes, and a few of the most extraordinary scenes in the Andes, have also been introduced, and a scale of miles has been adapted to the right hand, as well as a scale of feet to the left, in order to afford every facility to the reader of the work, in forming just notions of the singular situations of those objects, which may be better done in a graphic manner, than by any description; but as the immediate object of this plate is to exhibit comparative magnitude, on a determinate scale, it is with this view only that it has been constructed, no regard having been paid to the effect as a drawing. In the centre is introduced the Mountain island of SOCORRO, one of the REVILLAGEGIDO group, off the western coast of New Spain, which attains a great elevation for so small a spot, and is remarkable as being nearly on the same parallel as the volcanic summits of _Popocatepetl_ or the _Smoky Mountain_, _Citaltepetl_, or _Pico de Orizaba_, or the _Starry Mountain_; _Iztaccihuatl_, or the White Woman; _Nauhcampatepetl_, or _Cofre de Perote_, or the Square Mountain; the _Volcan de Xorullo_ and the _Volcan de Colima_, on the continent, and as being itself evidently the produce of an ancient eruption. [Illustration: _Comparative Altitudes_ of the Mountains, Towns, &c. of _Spanish America_. _London, Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown. July 22, 1818_] The ensuing list will be found to contain an enumeration of most of the works which may be referred to as the best authorities for the early and modern history, &c. of the Spanish colonies in the western world. LIST OF WORKS ON, OR RELATING TO SPANISH AMERICA, QUOTED IN THIS PUBLICATION, OR WHICH CONTAIN THE MOST VALUABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING THOSE COLONIES. ACCOUNT of the Expedition to the Mississippi, and to the interior of New Spain, by ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE, 1810. ACOSTA, Historia Natural y moral de las Indias, 1591 and 1603. A Journey through Peru, from Buenos Ayres on the great Rio de la Plata, by Potosi, to Lima, 8vo. in German, by HELMS, Dresden, 1798. ALCEDO'S Dictionary (Geographical and Historical) of America and the West Indies, edited by THOMPSON, 5 vols. 4to. 1810. London. ALZATE, DON J. A. Descripcion de las Antiguedadas de Xochicalco. Mexico. 1791. ANQUETIL, Precis de l'Histoire Universelle, 12 vols, Paris, 1801. ANSON'S Voyage round the world.