Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Second Chain May Bear The
Name Of The Chain Of Guanacas Or Quindiu, After The Two Celebrated
Passages Of
The Andes, on the road from Santa Fe de Bogota to Popayan.
The third chain may be called the chain
Of Choco, or of the shore.
Some leagues south of Popayan (latitude 2 degrees 21 minutes north),
west of Paramo de Palitara and the volcano of Purace, a ridge of
mica-slate runs from the knot of the mountains of Sacoboni to
north-west, and divides the waters between the Pacific and the
Caribbean Sea; they flow from the northern declivity into the Rio
Cauca, and from the southern declivity, into the Rio de Patias.
The tripartition of the Andes (north latitude 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 degrees)
resembles that which takes place at the source of the Amazon in the
knot of the mountains of Huanuco and Pasco (latitude 11 degrees
south); but the most western of the three chains that bound the basins
of the Amazon and the Huallaga, is the loftiest; while that of Choco,
or the shore, is the least elevated of the three chains of New
Grenada. Ignorance of this tripartition of the Andes in that part of
South America near the Rio Atrato and the isthmus of Panama, has led
to many erroneous opinions respecting the possibility of a canal that
should connect the two seas.
The eastern chain of the Andes of New Grenada* preserves its
parallelism during some time with the two other chains, those of
Quindiu and Choco; but beyond Tunja (latitude 5 1/2 degrees) it
inclines more towards the north-east, passing somewhat abruptly from
the direction north 25 degrees east to that of north 45 degrees east.
(* I employ a systematic denomination, for the name of the Andes is
unknown in the countries situated north of the equator.) It is like a
vein that changes its direction; and it rejoins the coast after being
greatly enlarged by the grouping of the snowy mountains of Merida. The
tripartition of the Cordilleras, and above all, the spreading of their
branches, have a vast influence on the prosperity of the nations of
New Grenada. The diversity of the superposed table-lands and climates
varies the agricultural productions as well as the character of the
inhabitants. It gives activity to the exchange of productions, and
renews over a vast surface, north of the equator, the picture of the
sultry valleys and cool and temperate plains of Peru. It is also
worthy of remark that, by the separation of one of the branches of the
Cordilleras of Cundinamarca and by the deviation of the chain of
Bogota towards the north-east, the colossal group of the mountains of
Merida is enclosed in the territory of the ancient Capitania-general
of Venezuela, and that the continuity of the same mountainous land
from Pamplona to Barquisimeto and Nirgua may be said to have
facilitated the political union of the Columbian territory. As long as
the central chain (that of Quindiu) presents its snowy summits, no
peak of the eastern chain (that of La Suma Paz) rises, in the same
parallels, to the limit of perpetual snow. Between latitude 2 and 5
1/2 degrees neither the Paramos situated on the east of Gigante and
Neiva, nor the tops of La Suma Paz, Chingasa, Guachaneque, and Zoraca,
exceed the height of 1900 to 2000 toises; while on the north of the
parallel of Paramo d'Erve (latitude 5 degrees 5 minutes), the last of
the Nevados of the central Cordillera, we discover in the eastern
chain the snowy summits of Chita (latitude 5 degrees 50 minutes), and
of Mucuchies (latitude 8 degrees 12 minutes). Hence it results that
from latitude 5 degrees the only mountains covered with snow during
the whole year are the Cordilleras of the east; and although the
Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is not, properly speaking, a continuation
of the Nevados of Chita and Mucuchies (west of Patute and east of
Merida), it is at least very near their meridian.
Having now arrived at the northern extremity of the Cordilleras,
comprehended between Cape Horn and the isthmus of Panama, we shall
proceed to notice the loftiest summits of the three chains which
separate in the knot of the mountains of Socoboni, and the ridge of
Roble (latitude 1 degree 50 minutes to 2 degrees 20 minutes). I begin
with the most eastern chain, that of Timana and Suma Paz, which
divides the tributary streams of the Magdalena and the Meta: it runs
by the Paramos de Chingasu, Guachaneque, Zoraca, Toquillo (near
Labranza Grande), Chita, Almorsadero, Laura, Cacota, Zumbador and
Porqueras, in the direction of the Sierra Nevada de Merida. These
Paramos indicate ten partial risings of the back of the Cordilleras.
The declivity of the eastern chain is extremely rapid on the eastern
side, where it bounds the basin of the Meta and the Orinoco; it is
widened on the west by the spurs on which are situated the towns of
Santa Fe de Bogota, Tunja, Sogamoso and Leiva. They are like
tablelands fixed to the western declivity, and are from 1300 to 1400
toises high; that of Bogota (the bottom of an ancient lake) contains
fossil bones of the mastodon, in the plain called (from them) the
Campo de Gigantes, near Suacha.
The intermediary, or central chain, runs east of Popayan, by the high
plains of Mabasa, the Paramos of Guanacas, Huila, Savelillo, Iraca,
Baraguan, Tolima, Ruiz and Herveo, towards the province of Antioquia.
In 5 degrees 15 minutes of latitude this chain, the only one that
shows traces of recent volcanic fire, in the summits of Sotara and
Purace, widens considerably towards the west, and joins the western
chain, which we have called the chain of Choco, because the
platiniferous land of that province lies on the slope opposite the
Pacific ocean. By the union of the two chains, the basin of the
province of Popayan is close on the north of Cartago Viejo; and the
river of Cauca, issuing from the plain of Buga, is forced, from the
Salto de San Antonio, to La Boca del Espiritu Santo, to open its way
across the mountains, along a course of from 40 to 50 leagues.
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