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 Andes are
twice only divided into three chains; in the knot of Huanuco, near the
source of the Amazon, and the Huallaga (latitude 10 to 11 degrees) and
in the knot of the Paramo de las Papas (latitude 2 degrees), near the
source of the Magdalena and the Cauca.
Basins, almost shut in at their
extremities, parallel with the axis of the Cordillera and bounded by
two knots and two lateral chains, are characteristic features of the
structure of the Andes. Among these knots of mountains some, for
instance those of Cuzco, Loxa and Los Pastos, comprise 3300, 1500 and
1130 square leagues, while others no less important in the eye of the
geologist are confined to ridges or transversal dykes. To the latter
belong the Altos de Chisinche (latitude 0 degrees 40 minutes south)
and the Los Robles (latitude 2 degrees 20 minutes north), on the south
of Quito and Popayan. The knot of Cuzco, so celebrated in the annals
of Peruvian civilization, presents an average height of from 1200 to
1400 toises, and a surface nearly three times greater than the whole
of Switzerland. The ridge of Chisinche, which separates the basins of
Tacunga and Quito, is 1580 toises high, but scarcely a mile broad. The
knots or groups which unite several partial chains have not the
highest summits, either in the Andes or, for the most part, in the
great mountain ranges of the old continent; it is not even certain
that there is always in those knots a widening of the chain. The
greatness of the mass, and the height so long attributed to points
whence several considerable branches issue, was founded either on
theoretic ideas or on false measures. The Cordilleras were compared to
rivers that swell as they receive a number of tributary streams.
Among the basins which the Andes present, and which form probably as
many lakes or small inland seas, those of Titicaca, Rio Jauja and the
Upper Maranon, comprise respectively 3500, 1300, and 2400 square
leagues of surface.* (* I here subjoin some measures interesting to
geologists. Area of the Andes, from Tierra del Fuego to the Paramo de
las Rosas (latitude 9 1/4 degrees north), where the mountainous land
of Tocuyo and Barquesimeto begins, part of the Cordillera of the shore
of Venezuela, 58,900 square leagues, (20 to a degree) the four spurs
of Cordova, Salta, Cochabamba and Beni alone, occupy 23,300 square
leagues of this surface, and the three basins contained between
latitude 6 and 20 degrees south measure 7200 square leagues. Deducting
33,200 square leagues for the whole of the enclosed basins and spurs,
we find, in latitude 65 degrees, the area of the Cordilleras elevated
in the form of walls, to be 25,700 square leagues, whence results
(comprehending the knots, and allowing for the inflexion of the
chains) an average breadth of the Andes of 18 to 20 leagues. The
valleys of Huallaga and the Rio Magdalena are not comprehended in
these 58,900 square leagues, on account of the diverging direction of
the chain, east of Cipoplaya and Santa Fe de Bogota.) The first is so
encompassed that no drop of water can escape except by evaporation; it
is like the enclosed valley of Mexico,* (* We consider it in its
primitive state, without respect to the gap or cleft of the mountains,
known by the name of Desaghue de Huehuetoca.) and of those numerous
circular basins which have been discerned in the moon, and which are
surrounded by lofty mountains. An immense alpine lake characterizes
the basin of Tiahuanaco or Titicaca; this phenomenon is the more
worthy of attention, as in South America there are scarcely any of
those reservoirs of fresh water which are found at the foot of the
European Alps, on the northern and southern slopes, and which are
permanent during the season of drought. The other basins of the Andes,
for instance, those of Jauja, the Upper Maranon and Cauca, pour their
waters into natural canals, which may be considered as so many
crevices situated either at one of the extremities of the basin, or on
its banks, nearly in the middle of the lateral chain. I dwell on this
articulated form of the Andes, on those knots or transverse ridges,
because, in the continuation of the Andes called the Cordilleras of
the shore of Venezuela, we shall find the same transverse dykes, and
the same phenomena.
The ramification of the Andes and of all the great masses of mountains
into several chains merits particular consideration in reference to
the height more or less considerable of the bottom of the enclosed
basins, or longitudinal valleys. Geologists have hitherto directed
more attention to the successive narrowing of these basins, their
depth compared with the walls of rock that surround them, and the
correspondence between the re-entering and the salient angles, than to
the level of the bottom of the valleys. No precise measure has yet
fixed the absolute height of the three basins of Titicaca, Jauja and
the Upper Maranon;* (* I am inclined to believe that the southern part
of the basin of the Upper Maranon, between Huary and Huacarachuco,
exceeds 350 toises.) but I was fortunate enough to be able to
determine the six other basins, or longitudinal valleys, which succeed
each other, as if by steps, towards the north. The bottom of the
valley of Cuenca, between the knots of Loxa and Assuay, is 1350
toises; the valley of Allansi and of Hambato, between the knot of the
Assuay and the ridge of Chisinche, 1320 toises; the valley of Quito in
the eastern part, 1340 toises, and in the western part, 1490 toises;
the basin of Almaguer, 1160 toises; the basin of the Rio Cauca,
between the lofty plains of Cali, Buga, and Cartago, 500 toises; the
valley of Magdalena, first between Neiva and Honda, 200 toises; and
further on, between Honda and Mompox, 100 toises of average height
above the level of the sea.* (* In the region of the Andes
comprehended between 4 degrees of south latitude and 2 degrees of
north, the longitudinal valleys or basins inclosed by parallel chains
are regularly between 1200 and 1500 toises high; while the transversal
valleys are remarkable for their depression, or rather the rapid
lowering of their bottom.
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