Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 542 of 635 - First - Home
On The East Of The
Sporadic Groups Of Rocks (Between The Meridian Of The Bifurcation Of
The Orinoco And That Of The Confluence Of The Essequibo With The
Rupunuri) The Lofty Mountains Of The Parime Commence Only In 3 Degrees
North Latitude; Where The Plains Of The Amazon Terminate.
The limits of the plains of the Amazon are still less known towards
the south than towards the north.
The mountains that exceed 400 toises
of absolute height do not appear to extend in Brazil northward of the
parallels 14 or 15 degrees of south latitude, and west of the meridian
of 52 degrees; but it is not known how far the mountainous country
extends, if we may call by that name a territory bristled with hills
of one hundred or two hundred toises high. Between the Rio dos
Vertentes and the Rio de Tres Barras (tributary streams of the Araguay
and the Topayos) several ridges of the Monts Parecis run northward. On
the right bank of the Topayos a series of little hills advance as far
as the parallel of 5 degrees south latitude, to the fall (cachoeira)
of Maracana; while further west, in the Rio Madeira, the course of
which is nearly parallel with that of the Topayos, the rapids and
cataracts indicate no rocky ridges beyond the parallel of 8 degrees.
The principal depression of the basin of which we have just examined
the outline, is not near one of its banks, as in the basin of the
Lower Orinoco, but at the centre, where the great recipient of the
Amazon forms a longitudinal furrow inclining from west to east, under
an angle of at least 25 degrees.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 542 of 635
Words from 148700 to 148979
of 174507
