Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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A Transverse Valley, Lying Generally North And
South, Led Us Into The Llanos, By The Villages Of Parapara And Ortiz.
It Grows Very Narrow In Several Parts.
Basins, the bottoms of which
are perfectly horizontal, communicate together by narrow passes with
steep declivities.
They were, no doubt, formerly small lakes, which,
owing to the accumulation of the waters, or some more violent
catastrophe, have broken down the dykes by which they were separated.
This phenomenon is found in both continents, wherever we examine the
longitudinal valleys forming the passages of the Andes, the Alps,* (*
For example, the road from the valley of Ursern to the Hospice of St.
Gothard, and thence to Airolo.) or the Pyrenees. It is probable, that
the irruption of the waters towards the Llanos have given, by
extraordinary rents, the form of ruins to the Morros of San Juan and
of San Sebastian. The volcanic tract of Parapara and Ortis is now only
30 or 40 toises above the Llanos. The eruptions consequently took
place at the lowest point of the granitic chain.
In the Mesa de Paja, in the ninth degree of latitude, we entered the
basin of the Llanos. The sun was almost at its zenith; the earth,
wherever it appeared sterile and destitute of vegetation, was at the
temperature of 48 or 50 degrees.* (* A thermometer, placed in the
sand, rose to 38.4 and 40 degrees Reaumur.) Not a breath of air was
felt at the height at which we were on our mules; yet, in the midst of
this apparent calm, whirls of dust incessantly arose, driven on by
those small currents of air which glide only over the surface of the
ground, and are occasioned by the difference of temperature between
the naked sand and the spots covered with grass.
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