Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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All The
Enormous Remains Found In The Plains Of The New Continent, Either
North Or South Of The Equator, Belong, Not To The Torrid, But To
The Temperate Zone.
On the other hand, Pallas observes that in
Siberia, consequently also northward of the tropics, fossil bones
are never found in mountainous parts.
These facts, intimately
connected together, seem calculated to lead to the discovery of a
great geological law.) the great mastodons of the Ohio, and the
fossil elephants of the Susquehanna, in the temperate zone), but on
table-lands having from six to fourteen hundred toises of
elevation.
As we approached the southern bank of the basin of Cumanacoa, we
enjoyed the view of the Turimiquiri.* (* Some of the inhabitants
pronounce this name Tumuriquiri, others Turumiquiri, or
Tumiriquiri. During the whole time of our stay at Cumanacoa, the
summit of this mountain was covered with clouds. It appeared
uncovered on the evening of the 11th of September, but only for a
few minutes. The angle of elevation, taken from the great square of
Cumanacoa, was 8 degrees 2 minutes. This determination, and the
barometrical measurement which I made on the 13th, may enable us to
fix, within a certain approximation, the distance of the mountain
at six miles and a third, or 6050 toises; admitting that the part
uncovered by clouds was 850 toises above the plain of Cumanacoa.)
An enormous wall of rocks, the remains of an ancient cliff, rises
in the midst of the forests. Farther to the west, at Cerro del
Cuchivano, the chain of mountains seems as if broken by the effects
of an earthquake.
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