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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This Narrowing Of The Bed Of The River Is In The Same
Parallel With That Of The Cauca, Near The
Salto de San Antonio; but,
in the knot of the mountains of Antioquia the central and western
chains join each
Other, while between Honda and Mendales, the tops of
the central and eastern chains are so far removed that it is only the
spurs of each system that draw near and are confounded together. It is
also worthy of remark that the central Cordillera of New Grenada
displays the loftiest summit of the Andes in the northern hemisphere.
The peak of Tolima (latitude 4 degrees 46 minutes) which is almost
unknown even by name in Europe, and which I measured in 1801, is at
least 2865 toises high. It consequently surpasses Imbabura and
Cotocache in the province of Quito, the Chiles of the table-lands of
Los Pastos, the two volcanoes of Popayan and even the Nevados of
Mexico and Mount Saint Elias of Russian America. The peak of Tolima,
which in form resembles Cotapaxi, is perhaps inferior in height only
to the ridge of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which may be
considered as an insulated system of mountains.
The eastern chain, also called the chain of Choco and the east coast
(of the Pacific), separates the provinces of Popayan and Antioquia
from those of Barbacoas, Raposo and Choco. It is in general but little
elevated, compared to the height of the central and eastern chains; it
however presents great obstacles to the communications between the
valley of Cauca and the shore.
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