Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
p. 6—“_The Cordilleras of Cochabamba and the Brazilian mountains
approximate to one another by means of separate transverse chains_.”
The immense space between the eastern coasts of South America and the
eastern declivity of the chain of the Andes is contracted by two
mountain masses, which partially separate from one another the three
valleys or plains of the Lower Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Rio de la
Plata. The more northern mountain mass, called the group of the Parime,
is opposite to the Andes of Cundinamarca, which, after extending far
towards the east, assume the form of one elevated mountain, between the
parallels of 66° and 68° west longitude. It is connected by the narrow
mountain ridge of Pacaraima with the granitic hills of French Guiana, as
I have clearly indicated in the map of Columbia which I drew up from my
own astronomical observations. The Caribs, in their long expeditions
from the missions of Carony to the plains of Rio Branco, and even to the
Brazilian frontier, are obliged to traverse the crests of Pacaraima and
Quimiropaca. The second group of mountains, which separates the valley
of the Amazon from that of La Plata, is the Brazilian, which
approximates to the promontory of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the
province of Chiquitos, west of the Parecis hills. As neither the group
of the Parime, which gives rise to the cataracts of the Orinoco, nor the
Brazilian group, is directly connected with the chain of the Andes, the
plains of Venezuela and those of Patagonia are directly connected with
one another.[CW]
Footnote 15:
p. 6—“_Herds of wild dogs_.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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