10. From the main system three transverse ridges are thrown off. The first is the Cordillera* of the north coast, which terminates at the Gulf of Paria. The second, the Cordillera of Parimé, separates the basins of the Orinoco and the Amazon. The third separates the latter basin from that of the Plata.

11. The mountains of Brazil form a separate system. They are of moderate height and occupy a great breadth of territory, forming an irregular plateau with sharp ridges running approximately parallel to the east coast.

12. South America is also remarkable for its great rivers, the chief of which are the Amazon, La Plata, the Orinoco, the Tocantins, and the San Francisco. But there are many others of vast extent, and many of the tributaries of these great rivers form water-ways such as are not found in Europe, and, with but few exceptions, in Asia and Africa. The volume of water carried down by the Amazon is equal to that of eight of the largest rivers of Asia; the volume of the La Plata is probably equal to that of all the rivers of Africa, while one of its tributaries -the Parana, carries more water than all the rivers of Europe.

13. There are but few lakes in South America, and many of these are mere lagoons formed by the overflow of the rivers. The most remarkable lake is that of Titicaca in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes.

14. The eastern equatorial regions of South America receive a copious rainfall from the winds which constantly blow from the Atlantic. This, combined with the hot climate produces the dense humid forest growth of the Atlantic slopes. Being deprived of their moisture before reaching the eastern side of the Andes the winds blow over the Pacific sea-board as dry winds; hence those regions are rainless and barren. Over the southern part of South America the prevailing winds blow from the north-west over the Pacific and strike the western sea-board. Here the west side of the Andes is forest-covered, and the east side in great part dry and barren.

*Spanish name for height.

15. The forests of South America are rich in valuable woods. Their chief ornament is the palm. Here, too, are found trees that yield various dye stuffs, as well as mahogany and rosewood; also the cacao, the india-rubber tree, and the cinchona, from whose "Peruvian bark” quinine is obtained. "The spotted jaguar, the deer for which it lies in wait, the long-nosed tapir, the chattering monkey, the terrible anaconda, the lazy alligator, the noisy parrot, bright-winged humming birds, lend life to these vast forests."

16. In the warmer regions maize, rice, coffee, sugar, cotton, tobacco, and tropical fruits, are raised in abundance. Here, as in Mexico, the banana is an important article of food; an acre of bananas yield as much nourishment as twenty-five acres of wheat. From the root of the manioc, a shrub which grows wild in Brazil, and is cultivated elsewhere, meal is prepared, on which a large part of the people subsist. In the temperate regions wheat and barley are grown. Chili is noted for its wheat, and Paraguay for its maté, used instead of tea.

LESSON LXIV.

THE NORTHERN STATES OF SOUTH AMERICA. THE REPUBLICS OF COLUMBIA AND VENEZUELA, AND THE COLONIES OF GUIANA.

1. The Republic of Columbia consists of nine States and six Territories. The three great spurs of the Andes (known as the Western, Central, and Eastern Cordilleras) traverse the whole length of country from south to north, the last named (which is the largest) containing a number of extensive, cool, and healthy table-lands. Between these chains are broad, deep, and hot valleys, watered by rivers, the chief of which is the Magdalena, between the Eastern and Central Cordilleras. The disposition of the

land into valleys and mountain ranges, many of whose heights are within the limits of perpetual snow, gives a

great diversity to the climate. "All the zones of the earth are here represented, from the cold of the polar regions on the mountain tops to the heat of Senegal in the sweltering valleys, with the mild climate of the temperate zones on the intermediate elevated table-lands and slopes of the hills.”

2. The llanos of the Orinoco already referred to form an almost unbroken level of treeless plains on the east, but towards the south-east the forests encroach on them n; and in places hillocks, rising to the height of from 300 to 600 feet, interrupt the dead level of these flat lands of the equator. The scenery of Columbia is, as might be expected from such a land of river, mountain, forest, and lake, grand in the extreme.

3. The area of the whole of the States is variously estimated from 320,000 to 500,000 square miles, and less than one-tenth are under cultivation. Its population is a little under three millions. Coffee, cotton, and tobacco, are cultivated and Peruvian bark, indigo, india-rubber, and emeralds, are also among the chief exports. None of the towns are of very great importance. Bogota, the Federal capital, is the largest. Panama and Aspinwall are ports on either side of the isthmus. They are connected by a railway forty-eight miles long, which, in the commerce of the world, is of no slight importance, as it reduces the distance from New York to Hong Kong by 5,000 miles.

4. Venezuela is another of the South American Republics. It occupies an extent of territory along the Caribbean Sea and southwards to Brazil about equal in area to five times that of Great Britain. It has three mountainous regions. First, there is the Alpine region of the Andes in the north-west. In this region, besides extensive Savannas, are the Paramos, or Cold Desert, where often furious icy blasts chill the blood. During the civil wars whole regiments of soldiers have perished in attempting to cross these wastes. The second region is that of the coast chains. Among these chains are rich valleys which produce coffee, cocoa, maize, cotton, indigo, sugar-cane,

&c.

The third region is that of the Sierra Parima in the

south-east, for the most part covered with virgin forest. Besides the mountain regions, two other striking physical features of Venezuela are the llanos* and the river Orinoco.*

5. Only a small part of the country is under cultivation, but all the products of the tropics may be raised in abundance. The coffee-plant constitutes the chief source of wealth, but other important productions of the country are cacao, sugar, cotton, Peruvian bark, and sarsaparilla. About two-thirds of the country is covered with forests full of noble trees, among them the Lignum vitæ, with so hard a wood that it turns the edge of the sharpest tools.

6. The State of Guayara is the largest and the richest of the States, though not the most thickly populated. Cotton grows wild, the forests abound in fine dye and cabinet woods, and cattle are bred in such quantities that all Europe might be supplied with beef from the herds. which pasture on the llanos.

7. Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, is delightfully situated in a valley of the northern coast-range, at an elevation of 2,900 feet above the Caribbean Sea. port is La Guayara, twelve miles distant.

Its

8. Guiana is a huge ill-defined region cut out from the north-east of Brazil. It comprises the colonies of European States-British Guiana on the west, French Guiana on the east, and Dutch Guiana in the centre. These colonies closely resemble each other in their physical features, and in their productions. The coast is in general low, and inland a low unbroken level, covered with a rich tropical vegetation, extends from ten to forty miles. Behind this alluvial coast-land the country rises by low terraces until it reaches in the interior table-land a height of 2,500 feet. The rivers in their descent from this elevation form a series of cataracts, which usually stop all navigation, at a distance of 50 to 100 miles from the sea. The temperature on the coast-lands is very high, the rainfall is great, and the atmosphere is like that of a hothouse and vapour-bath combined.

9. One of its earliest and ablest explorerst thus lucidly

• See next Lesson.

↑ Sir Robert Schomburgk.