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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The Most Remarkable Of These Dikes, Or Natural Dams, Are
Purimarimi, Manimi, And The Leap Of The Sardine (Salto De La Sardina).
I Name Them In The Order In Which I Saw Them In Succession From South
To North.
The last of these three stages is near nine feet high, and
forms by its breadth a magnificent cascade.
I must here repeat,
however, that the turbulent shock of the precipitated and broken
waters depends not so much on the absolute height of each step or
dike, as upon the multitude of counter-currents, the grouping of the
islands and shoals, that lie at the foot of the raudalitos or partial
cascades, and the contraction of the channels, which often do not
leave a free navigable passage of twenty or thirty feet. The eastern
part of the cataract of Maypures is much more dangerous than the
western; and therefore the Indian pilots prefer the left bank of the
river to conduct the boats down or up. Unfortunately, in the season of
low waters, this bank remains partly dry, and recourse must be had to
the process of portage; that is, the boats are obliged to be dragged
on cylinders, or round logs.
To command a comprehensive view of these stupendous scenes, the
spectator must be stationed on the little mountain of Manimi, a
granitic ridge, which rises from the savannah, north of the church of
the mission, and is itself only a continuation of the ridges of which
the raudalito of Manimi is composed.
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