In The Group Of The Parime, As Well As In The Group Of The Mountains Of Central Asia, Between The

Himalaya and the Altai, the partial chains are often interrupted and have no uniform parallelism. Towards the south-west, however

(Between the strait of Baraguan, the mouth of the Rio Zama and the Esmeralda), the line of the mountains is generally in the direction of north 70 degrees west. Such is also the position of a distant coast, that of Portuguese, French, Dutch and English Guiana, from Cape North to the mouth of the Orinoco; such is the mean direction of the course of the Rio Negro and Yupura. It is desirable to fix our attention on the angles formed by the partial chains, in different regions of America, with the meridians; because on less extended surfaces, for instance in Germany, we find also this singular co-existence of groups of neighbouring mountains following laws of direction altogether different, though every separate group exhibits the greatest uniformity in the line of chains.

The soil on which the mountains of Parime rise, is slightly convex. By barometric measures I found that, between 3 and 4 degrees north latitude, the plains are elevated from 160 to 180 toises above sea-level. This height will appear considerable if we reflect that at the foot of the Andes of Peru, at Tomependa, 900 leagues from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the Llanos or plains of the Amazon rise only to the height of 194 toises. The distinctive characteristics of the group of the mountains of Parime are the rocks of granite and gneiss-granite, the total absence of calcareous secondary formations, and the shelves of bare rock (the tsy of the Chinese deserts), which occupy immense spaces in the savannahs.

5. GROUP OF THE BRAZIL MOUNTAINS.

This group has hitherto been marked on the maps in a very erroneous way. The temperate table-lands and real chains of 300 to 500 toises high have been confounded with countries of exceedingly hot temperature, and of which the undulating surface presents only ranges of hills variously grouped. But the observations of scientific travellers have recently thrown great light on the orography of Portuguese America. The mountainous region of Brazil, of which the mean height rises at least to 400 toises, is comprehended within very narrow limits, nearly between 18 and 28 degrees south latitude; it does not appear to extend, between the provinces of Goyaz and Matogrosso, beyond longitude 53 degrees west of the meridian of Paris.

When we regard in one view the eastern configuration of North and South America, we perceive that the coast of Brazil and Guiana, from Cape Saint Roque to the mouth of the Orinoco (stretching from south-east to north-west), corresponds with that of Labrador, as the coast from Cape Saint Roque to the Rio de la Plata corresponds with that of the United States (stretching from south-west to north-east). The chain of the Alleghenies is opposite to the latter coast, as the principal Cordilleras of Brazil are nearly parallel to the shore of the provinces of Porto Seguro, Rio Janeiro and Rio Grande.

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