as high as the town of Assumption, at the distance of near 1200 miles from the sea. The third great river of South America is the Oronoko, which, according to La Cruz, rises in latitude 5° 10′ northIts course is exceedingly tortuous, and it receives many large rivers. One striking peculiarity is observable in regard to the Maranon, or river of Amazons, and the Oronoko. The streams issuing from the lake of Parima form three different communications between those immense rivers, and that lake may be regarded as the centre of this singular connection. It is easy to conceive what great advantages those countries may, at some future period, derive from this remarkable inland navigation, which nature has prepared, and art may exceedingly improve. : The mountains of South America may be ranked among the grandest objects of nature. They are the loftiest on the face of the globe, and are intermixed with the most sublime and terrific volcanos. The immense chain of the Andes extends from the southern almost to the northern extremity of this continent, at the medial distance of about 100 miles from the western coast, beginning near the Strait of Magellan, and expiring on the west side of the Gulf of Darien, the whole length, allowing for the windings, being not less than 4500 miles. The highest summits are those of Peru, near the equator: towards the north and the south, but especially the latter, their height greatly decreases. About two degrees north of the equator, it diminishes nearly one-fourth and the Andes of Peru are asserted to be near seven time as high as those of Chili.* Chimborazo, the most elevated summit of the Andes, is about 100 English miles to the south of Quito, in the northern division of Peru. Its height was computed by the French mathematicians to be 20,280 feet above the level of the sea. The next in elevation is supposed to be Cotopashi, a tremendous volcano, which is said to eject stones of eight or nine feet diameter, to the distance of more than nine miles, a circumstance which would be absolutely incredible, were it not attested by so respectable an authority. The height of Cotopashi is estimated at about 18,600 feet. It is † Bouguer, p. 66. * Ulloa, Mem. vol. 1. p. 362. situated about twenty-five miles to the south east of Quito. The mountain of Sanguay, the summit of which is covered with perpetual snow, is a constant volcano; and its explosions are sometimes so tremendous, as to be heard at the distance of 120 miles. Many other summits of prodigious elevation, noticed by Bouguer, Uiloa, and others, might be added to those already mentioned. It ought, however, here to be observed, that the loftiest mountains of the Andes rise from the elevated plain of Quito, which constitutes more than one-third of the computed height. Chimborazo being, as already observed, 20,280 feet above the sea, is therefore about a fourth part higher than Mont Blanc; but if its elevation be computed from the level of the plain, it is considerably lower than that celebrated mountain of the old continent. Besides the Andes, the chief of the South American mountains, there are, according to Humboldt, three remarkable ranges lying in a direction from west to east, nearly parallel to the equator, the first between 9o and 10°; the second between 3o and 7o north latitude; and the third between 15° and 20° south. This author's account, however, is extremely confused; and of these chains, only the first and its projecting branches can be said to be sufficiently known to merit a place in geography. These northern mountains extend in different branches from the Andes eastward into the province of St. Martha. The two Sierra Nevadas of St. Martha and Merida, are supposed to be about 15,000 or 14,000 English feet above the level of the sea. Ulloa says, that the mountains of St. Martha are visible from the ocean, and perpetually covered with snow. In Terra Firma, Brazil, and some other parts of this vast continent, are several ranges of mountains, which are little known, and do not indeed appear very considerable. The whole interior of South America, comprising the vast countries watered by the Rio de la Plata, the river of Amazons, the Oronoko, and all their tributary streams, is an immense plain, of which many extensive districts are annually inundated by their redundant The most considerable lake yet known on this division of the new continent, is that of Titicaca, in Peru, which is of an oval figure, and about 240 miles in circuit. There are, however, many temporary lakes of great extent, which exist only during the annual inundations of the great rivers, that deluge large tracts of country. One of the chief characteristics which distinguish America from the old continent, is the superior degree of cold that reigns in the same parallels. This is still more striking in the southern division. It has already been observed, that Canada, in the temperate latitudes of France, has a climate as rigorous as that of Russia: and it may here be also remarked, that the island, or rather collection of islands, known by the name of Terra del Fuego, in the latitude of 55° south, is exposed to the almost perpetual winter of Greenland. This predominan. cy of cold in the new above what is perceived in the old continent, may be accounted for in a great measure by the superabundance of wood, and the want of cultivation and drainage; but the superior cold of the southern to that of the northern hemisphere, is a phænomenon, which, though long remarked and made the subject of many ingenious hypotheses, has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Except the French and Dutch settlements of Cayenne and Surinam, the latter of which is now in the hands of the English, and the countries yet unconquered and unknown, the whole of this vast continent, so famed for the richness of its mineralogy, is subject to Spain and Portugal. SPANISH DOMINIONS, SOUTH AMERICA. СНАР. І. Situation.....Extent.....Boundaries.....Face of the Country......Mountains..... Rivers....Canals....Lakes......Mineralogy.....Mineral Waters.....Soil....Climate..... Vegetable Productions....Zoology......Natural Curiosities.....Antiquities and Artificial Curiosities. THE Spanish Empire in South America extends, according to their own geographers, the whole length of that continent; but in a more restricted sense, its actual boundary may be fixed at the 44th degree of south latitude. In this view its length may be computed at 3360 geographical, or about 3900 English miles, on a medial breadth of at least 900 of the former, or about 1000 of the latter measure. The boundaries, except on the coasts, are doubtful: between the Spanish possessions and those of the Dutch and Portuguese, they are sometimes ascertained by rivers or ranges of mountains, but often consist only of an ideal line; and towards the unconquered countries, the frontier can be fixed only at the point to which the Spaniards may think it proper to extend their settlements. Face of the country.]-The face of the country has in a great measure been delineated in the preceding general description of the South American continent. It may here, however not be amiss to exhibit a general sketch of the Spanish possessions, proceeding from the northern to the southern provinces. Terra Firma, comprising the greatest part of the isthmus of Darien, extends from twelve degrees north latitude to the equator. This country is extremely mountainous and rug ged. The Sierra Nevadas of St. Martha and Merida have alrea dy been mentioned. The mountainous tracts, however, are in. terspersed with extensive plains of extraordinary fertility, but subject to inundations in the season of the tropical rains. Peru, stretching along the coast of the Pacific Ocean from the equator to twenty-five degrees south latitude, an extent of 1500 geographical, or about 1740 British miles, consists for the most part of an elevated plain, presenting a high bold coast, in many parts sandy towards the sea, afterwards rising into swelling eminences, succeeded by more considerable elevations, which terminate in the stupendous ridges of the Andes. It may here be observed, that the Andes, in their most elevated part, from the north of Popayan, in the province of Terra Firma, to the south of Cuenza, in Peru, an extent of about 500 miles, form a double chain, having between them the high plains of Quito. In the eastern ridge are Sanga, the volcano of Cotopashi, &c. The western ridge is crowned with the lofty summits of Ilinissa, Pichincha, and Chimborazo. On Chimborazo the region of perpetual snow commences at about 2400 feet from the summit. Chili, to the south of Peru, presents nearly a similar aspect, except that the Andes are, as already observed, much lower, and, according to Ulloa's representation, diminish to the height of Snowden in Wales, and some other of the British mountains. In Chili, as well as in Peru, the chain of the Andes runs at about the medial distance of 100 miles from the coast. Chili, extending from the extremity of Peru, in 25° to 44° south latitude, is the southernmost of the Spanish provinces. The vast country of Paraguay, extending from 12° to 37° south latitude, and from 50° to 75° west longitude, supposed to contain about 1,000,000 square miles, is an immense plain, so uniformly level, as not to be interrupted by the least eminence for several hundreds of Ulloa, liv. 4. ch. 1, &c. Dampier says, that he has seen the snowy mountains of St. Martha in 12 degrees latitude, at the distance of thirty leagues at sea. He thinks them higher than the peak of Teneriffe. Dampier's Voy. vol. 1. ch. 3. † Bouguer, p. 32. Ulloa's Mem. p. 363. It is however, thought by some, that Ulloa reduces too much the height of the mountains of Chili. |