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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(* 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.
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