This Last Snowy Summit, Situated Near Guamachuco (In 7 Degrees 55 Minutes Latitude), Is The More Remarkable, Since From Thence On The North, As Far As Chimborazo, On A Length Of 140 Leagues, There Is Not One Mountain That Enters The Region Of Perpetual Snow.

This depression, or absence of snow, extends in the same interval, over all the lateral chains; while, on the

South of the Nevado de Huaylillas, it always happens that when one chain is very low, the summits of the other exceed the height of 2460 toises. It was on the south of Micuipampa (latitude 7 degrees 1 minute) that I found the magnetic equator.

The Amazon, or as it is customary to say in those regions, the Upper Maranon, flows through the western part of the longitudinal valley lying between the Cordilleras of Chachapayas and Caxamarca. Comprehending in one point of view, this valley, and that of the Rio Jauja, bounded by the Cordilleras of Tarma and Huarocheri, we are inclined to consider them as one immense basin 180 leagues long, and crossed in the first third of its length, by a dyke, or ridge 18,000 toises broad. In fact, the two alpine lakes of Lauricocha and Chinchaycocha, where the river Amazon and the Rio de Jauja take their rise, are situated south and north of this rocky dyke, which is a prolongation of the knot of Huanuco and Pasco. The Amazon, on issuing from the longitudinal valley which bounds the chains of Caxamarca and Chachacocha, breaks the latter chain; and the point where the great river penetrates the mountains, is very remarkable.

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