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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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. The
difference of the level is very remarkable in the bottom of the two
parallel basins of Cauca and Magdalena. The former, between Cali and
Cantago, is from 500 to 404 toises; the latter, from Neiva to
Ambalema, is from 265 to 150 toises high. According to different
geological hypotheses, it may be said either that the secondary
formations have not accumulated to the same thickness between the
eastern and central, as between the central and western chains; or,
that the deposits have been made on the base of primitive rocks,
unequally upheaved on the east and west of the Andes of Quindiu. The
average difference of the thickness of these formations is 300 toises.
The rocky ridge of the Angostura of Carare branches from the
south-east, from the spur of Muzo, through which winds the Rio Negro.
By this spur, and by those that come from the west, the eastern and
central chains approach between Nares, Honda, and Mendales. In fact,
the bed of the Rio Magdalena is narrowed in 5 and 5 degrees 18
minutes, on the east by the mountains of Sergento, and on the west by
the spurs that are linked with the granitic mountains of Maraquito and
Santa Ana.
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