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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I Myself Laboured Under
This Error In My First Geologic Studies.
A coast chain (Serra do Mar) runs nearly parallel with the coast,
north-east of Rio Janeiro, lowering considerably towards Rio Doce, and
losing itself almost entirely near Bahia (latitude 12 degrees 58
minutes).
According to M. Eschwege* some small ridges reach Cape Saint
Roque (latitude 5 degrees 12 minutes). (* Geognostiches Gemulde von
Brasilien, 1822. The limestone of Bahia abounds in fossil wood.)
South-east of Rio Janeiro the Serra do Mar follows the coast behind
the island of Saint Catherine as far as Torres (latitude 29 degrees 20
minutes); it there turns westward and forms an elbow stretching by the
Campos of Vacaria towards the banks of the Jacuy.
Another chain is situated westward of the shore-chain of Brazil. This
is the most lofty and considerable of all and is called the chain of
Villarica. Mr. Eschwege distinguishes it by the name of Serra do
Espinhaco and considers it as the principal part of the whole
structure of the mountains of Brazil. This Cordillera loses itself
northward,* between Minas Novas and the southern extremity of the
Capitania of Bahia, in 16 degrees latitude. (* The rocky ridges that
form the cataract of Paulo Affonso, in the Rio San Francisco, are
supposed to belong to the northern prolongation of the Serra do
Espinhaco, as a series of heights in the province of Seara (fetid
calcareous rocks containing a quantity of petrified fish) belong to
the Serra dos Vertentes.) It is there more than 60 leagues removed
from the coast of Porto Seguro; but southward, between the parallels
of Rio Janeiro and Saint Paul (latitude 22 to 23 degrees), in the knot
of the mountains of Serra da Mantiquiera, it draws so near to the
Cordillera of the shore (Serra do Mar), that they are almost
confounded together. In the same manner the Serra do Espinhaco follows
constantly the direction of a meridian, towards the north; while
towards the south it runs south-east, and terminates about 25 degrees
latitude. The chain reaches its highest elevation between 18 and 21
degrees; and there the spurs and table-lands at its back are of
sufficient extent to furnish lands for cultivation where, at
successive heights, there are temperate climates comparable to the
delicious climates of Xalapa, Guaduas, Caracas and Caripe. This
advantage, which depends at once on the widening of the mass of the
chain and of its spurs, is nowhere found in the same degree east of
the Andes, not even in chains of more considerable absolute height, as
those of Venezuela and the Orinoco. The culminant points of the Serra
do Espinhaco, in the Capitania of Minas Geraes, are the Itambe (932
toises), the Serra da Piedade, near Sabara (910 toises), the
Itacolumi, properly Itacunumi (900 toises), the Pico of Itabira (816
toises), the Serras of Caraca, Ibitipoca and Papagayo. Saint Hilaire
felt piercing cold in the month of November (therefore in summer) in
the whole Cordillera of Lapa, from the Villa do Principe to the Morro
de Gaspar Suares.
We have just noticed two chains of mountains nearly parallel but of
which the most extensive (the littoral chain) is the least lofty. The
capital of Brazil is situated at the point where the two chains draw
nearest together and are linked together on the east of the Serra de
Mantiqueira, if not by a transversal ridge, at least by a mountainous
territory. Old systematic ideas respecting the rising of mountains in
proportion as we advance into a country, would have warranted the
belief that there existed, in the Capitania of Mato Grosso, a central
Cordillera much loftier than that of Villarica or do Espinhaco; but we
now know (and this is confirmed by climateric circumstances) that
there exists no continued chain, properly speaking, westward of Rio
San Francisco, on the frontiers of Minas Geraes and Goyaz. We find
only a group of mountains, of which the culminant points are the
Serras da Canastra (south-west of Paracatu) and da Marcella (latitude
18 1/2 and 19.10 degrees), and, further north, the Pyrenees stretching
from east to west (latitude 16 degrees 10 minutes) between Villaboa
and Mejaponte). M. Eschwege has named the group of mountains of Goyaz
the Serra dos Vertentes, because it divides the waters between the
southern tributary streams of the Rio Grande or Parana, and the
northern tributary streams of Rio Tucantines. It runs southward beyond
the Rio Grande (Parana), and approaches the chain of Espinpapo in 23
degrees latitude, by the Serra do Franca. It attains only the height
of 300 or 400 toises, with the exception of some summits north-west of
Paracatu, and is consequently much lower than the chain of Villarica.
Further on, west of the meridian of Villaboa, there are only ridges
and a series of low hills which, on a length of 12 degrees, form the
division of water (latitude 13 to 17 degrees) between the Araguay and
the Paranaiba (a tributary of the Parana), between the Rio Topayos and
the Paraguay, between the Guapore and the Aguapehy. The Serra of San
Marta (longitude 15 1/2 degrees) is somewhat lofty, but maps have
vastly exaggerated the height of the Serras or Campos Parecis north of
the towns of Cuyaba and Villabella (latitude 13 to 14 degrees,
longitude 58 to 62 degrees). These Campos, which take their name from
that of a tribe of wild Indians, are vast, barren table-lands,
entirely destitute of vegetation; and in them the sources of the
tributary streams of three great rivers, the Topayos, the Madeira and
the Paraguay, take their rise.
According to the measures and geologic observations of M. Eschwege,
the high summits of the Serra do Mar (the coast-chain) scarcely attain
660 toises; those of the Serra do Espinhaco (chain of Villarica), 950
toises; those of Serra de los Vertentes (group of Canastra and the
Brazilian Pyrenees), 450 toises. Further west the surface of the soil
seems to present but slight undulations; but no measure of height has
been made beyond the meridian of Villaboa.
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