Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

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ANDES.
Andes, close the extensive and elevated valley of Desaguedero, and
—^ exhibit some stupendous peaks that almost rival the altitude
of the Himalayas of the East. After running parallel to
each other to Lat. 19. 30. S., they again coalesce, and con¬
stitute one central chain to the Straits of Magellan, in Lat.
53. The Andes of South America then have a range of
about 4200 miles. The most western of the two longitu¬
dinal ridges runs parallel to the Pacific, and is called the
Cordillera of the Coast; the eastern chain is generally
termed the Cordillera of the Interior, and its northern pro¬
longation Cordillera Real. The valley of Desaguedero
extends from Lat. 15. 5. to Lat. 19. 30. S., with a varying
breadth from 35 to 60 miles, presenting an area of 16,000
square geographical miles. It contains the celebrated Lake
of Titicaca, the cradle of Peruvian civilisation. It was on
the shores of this lake that Manco Capac, the first Inca,
was miraculously discovered by the Quichu, the ancestors
of the Peruvians.
The Andes send out, nearly at right angles from their co¬
lossal ridge, between the latitudes of 14° and 20° south, three
dependent branches, called by the Spaniards also Cordilleras.
Of these secondary chains, the first and most northern is
that of the coast of Venezuela, which is likewise the highest
and narrowest. With an irregular altitude, it bends east¬
wards from the Atrato, forming the Sierra of Abibe, the
mountains of Cauca, and the high savannahs of Folu, till it
reaches the stream of Magdalena, in the province of St Mar¬
tha. It contracts as it approaches the Caribbean Sea, at
Cape Vela; and thence extends to the mountain of Paria,
or rather the Galley Point, in the island of Trinidad, where
it terminates. This secondary chain attains its greatest
known elevation where it rears the snowy summit, or Sierra
Nevada, of St Martha and of Merida, the former being
nearly 14,000 and the latter above 15,000 feet in altitude.
These insulated mountains, covered so near the equator
with eternal snow, yet discharging boiling sulphurous water
from their sides, are higher than the Peak of Teneriffe, and
can be compared only with Mont Blanc. In their descent
they leave the Paramo or lofty desert of Rosa and of Mu-
cachi; and on the west side of the Lake Maracaibo they
form long and very narrow vales, running from south to
north, and covered with forests. At Cape Vela the moun¬
tain chain divides into two parallel ridges, which form three
confined valleys ranging from east to west, and having all
the appearance of being the beds of ancient lakes. These
ridges, of which the northern is the continuation of the
Sierra Nevada of St Martha, and the southern the extension
of the snowy summits of Merida, are united again by two
arms which seem to have been placed by the hand of nature
as dikes to confine the primeval collections of water. The
three valleys thus inclosed are remarkable for their eleva¬
tion above the sea, rising like steps one above another the
eastmost, or that of the Caraccas, being the highest. This
plain was found by Humboldt to be elevated 2660 feet
while the basin of Aragua was only 1350 feet in height’
and the Llanos, or reedy plains of Monai, spread within 500
or 600 feet above the level of the shore. The lake of the
Caraccas appears to have forced a passage for itself through
the quebrada or cleft of Tipe, while that of Aragua has
been gradually dissipated by a slow process of evaporation
leaving some vestiges of its former existence in pools
charged with muriate of lime, and in the low islets called Apa-
recidas. The medium height of the Cordillera of the coast
is about 4000 or 5000 feet; but its loftiest summit, next to
the Sierra Nevada of Merida, is the Silla (or saddle) of the
Caraccas, which was visited by Humboldt, and ascertained
from barometrical measurement to have an elevation of
8420 feet. Farther to the eastward the mountain chain
becomes suddenly depressed, especially its primitive rocks ;
the beds of gneiss and mica slate meeting as they advance
with accumulations of secondary calcareous substances
which envelope them completely, and rise to a great eleva¬
tion. The incumbent mass of sandstone, with a calcareous
base, extending from Capelluari, forms a detached range of
mountains in which no trace of primitive rock is found.
The second branch, which stretches from the Andes across
the American continent, and exhibits a chain of primitive
mountains, is named by Humboldt the Cordillera of the
Cataracts of Orinoco. This very enterprising traveller
surveyed it over an extent of upwards of 600 miles, from
the Black River to the frontiers of the Great Bara ; but the
rest of the chain is very little known, running through un¬
explored wilds and regions almost inaccessible, occupied by
fierce and independent tribes of savages. It leaves the
great trunk between the 3d and 6th degree of southern la¬
titude, and runs eastward from the Paramo or high desert
of Tuquillo and St Martin, and the sources of the Guaviari,
rearing the lofty summits of Umama and Canavami, and
pouring forth the large rivers Meta, Zama, and Ymerida,
which form the roudals or tremendous rapids of Ature and
Maypure, the only openings existing at present between
the interior of the continent and the plain of the Amazon.
Beyond these cataracts the chain of mountains again ac¬
quires greater elevation and breadth, occupying the vast
tract inclosed between the rivers Caura, Cavony, and Pa-
damo, and stretching southward to the boundless forests
where the Portuguese settlers gather that valuable drug
the sarsaparilla. Farther eastward this chain is not traced,
no European or civilised Indian having ever explored the
sources of the Orinoco; all access in that quarter being
prevented by the ferocity of the Guaicas, a dwarfish but very
fair and warlike race, and by the valour of the Guajaribos,
a most desperate tribe of cannibals. Beyond these recesses,
however, we are made acquainted with the continuation of
the chain of the cataracts, by the astonishing journey per¬
formed by Don Antonio Santos, who, disguised like a savage,
his body naked, and his skin stained of a copper colour, and
speaking fluently the several Indian dialects, penetrated from
the mouth of the Rio Caroni to the Lake of Parime and the
Amazon. The range of mountains sinks lower, and con¬
tracts its breadth to 200 miles, where it assumes the name
of Serrania de Quimeropaca and Pacaraimo. A few de¬
grees farther eastward it spreads out again, and bends south
to the Canno Pirara along the Mao, near whose banks ap¬
pears the Cerro or hill of Ucucuamo, consisting entirely of
a very shining and yellow mica slate, which has therefore
procured from the credulity of early travellers the magnifi¬
cent appellation of Dorado or Golden Mountain. East
from the river Essequibo this Cordillera stretches to meet
the granitic or gneiss mountains of Dutch and French
Guiana, inhabited by confederated bands of negroes and
Caribs, but giving birth to the commercial streams of Ber-
bice, Surinam, and Corentin.
The chain of the cataracts of Orinoco has only a mean
height of about 4000 feet above the level of the sea. The
greatest elevation occurs where the mountain of Duida rears
its enormous mass from the midst of aluxuriant plain, clothed
with the tropical productions of palms and ananas, and dis¬
charges from its steep sides, about the close of the rainy
season, volumes of incessant flames. No one has yet had
t e resolution or perseverance to climb through the tangling
an rampant bushes to its peak, which, measured trigono-
metncally, gives an altitude of 8465 feet above the sea.
I he whole mountain group which forms this Cordillera is
distinguished by the abrupt descent of its south flank; nor
is it ess remarkable for containing no rock of secondary
ormation, or exhibiting any vestige of petrifactions and or¬
ganic remains. It contains only granite, gneiss, mica slate,