Louisa May Alcott - "Little Men: Life at Plumfield With Jo's Boys"

Raphael Sabatini - "Love at Arms"

William Gardner - "The Life of Stephen A. Douglas"

Charles E. Morris - "The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: Equinoctial Regions of America V3

A >> Alexander von Humboldt >> Equinoctial Regions of America V3




In the immense extent of land east of the Andes, comprehending more
than 480,000 square sea leagues, of which 92,000 are a mountainous
tract of country, no group rises to the region of perpetual snow; none
even attains the height of 1400 toises. This lowering of the mountains
in the eastern region of the New Continent extends as far as 60
degrees north latitude; while in the western part, on the prolongation
of the Cordillera of the Andes, the highest Summits rise in Mexico
(latitude 18 degrees 59 minutes) to 2770 toises, and in the Rocky
Mountains (latitude 37 to 40 degrees) to 1900 toises. The insulated
group of the Alleghenies, corresponding in its eastern position and
direction with the Brazil group, does not exceed 1040 toises.* (* The
culminant point of the Alleghenies is Mount Washington in New
Hampshire, latitude 44 1/4 degrees. According to Captain Partridge its
height is 6634 English feet.) The lofty summits, therefore, thrice
exceeding the height of Mont Blanc, belong only to the longitudinal
chain which bounds the basin of the Pacific Ocean, from 55 degrees
south to 68 degrees north latitude, that is to say, the Cordillera of
the Andes. The only insulated group that can be compared with the
snowy summits of the equinoctial Andes, and which attains the height
of nearly 3000 toises, is the Sierra de Santa Marta; it is not
situated on the east of the Cordilleras, but between the prolongation
of two of their branches, those of Merida and Veragua. The
Cordilleras, where they bound the Caribbean Sea, in that part which we
designate by the name of Coast Chain of Venezuela, do not attain the
extraordinary height (2500 toises) which they reach in their
prolongation towards Chita and Merida. Considering separately the
groups of the east, those of the shore of Venezuela, of the Parime,
and Brazil, we see their height diminish from north to south. The
highest summits of each group are the Silla de Caracas (1350 toises),
the peak of Duida (1300 toises), the Itacolumi and the Itambe* (900
toises). (* According to the measure of MM. Spix and Martius the
Itambe de Villa de Principe is 5590 feet high.) But, as I have
elsewhere observed, it would be erroneous to judge the height of a
chain of mountains solely from that of the most lofty summits. The
peak of the Himalayas, accurately measured, is 676 toises higher than
Chimborazo (* The Peak Iewahir, latitude 30 degrees 22 minutes 19
seconds; longitude 77 degrees 35 minutes 7 seconds east of Paris,
height 4026 toises, according to MM. Hodgson and Herbert.); Chimborazo
is 900 toises higher than Mont Blanc; and Mont Blanc 653 toises higher
than the peak of Nethou.* (* This peak, called also peak of Anethou or
Malahita, or eastern peak of Maladetta, is the highest summit of the
Pyrenees. It rises 1787 toises and consequently exceeds Mont Perdu by
40 toises.) These differences do not furnish the relative average
heights of the Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps and the Pyrenees, that
is, the height of the back of the mountains, on which arise the peaks,
needles, pyramids, or rounded domes. It is that part of the back where
passes are made, which furnishes a precise measure of the minimum of
the height of the great chains. In comparing the whole of my measures
with those of Moorcroft, Webb, Hodgson, Saussure and Ramond, I
estimate the average height of the top of the Himalayas, between the
meridians of 75 and 77 degrees, at 2450 toises; the Andes* (at Peru,
Quito and New Grenada), at 1850 toises (* In the passage of Quindiu,
between the valley of the Magdalena and that of the Rio Cauca, I found
the culminant point (la Garita del Parama) to be 1798 toises; it is
however, regarded as one of the least elevated. The passages of the
Andes of Guanacas, Guamani and Micuipampa, are respectively 2300,
1713, and 1817 toises above sea-level. Even in 33 degrees south
latitude the road across the Andes between Mendoza and Valparaiso is
1987 toises high. I do not mention the Col de l'Assuay, where I
passed, near la Ladera de Cadlud, on a ridge 2428 toises high, because
it is a passage on a transverse ridge joining two parallel chains.);
the summit of the Alps and Pyrenees at 1150 toises. The difference of
the mean height of the Cordilleras (between 5 degrees north and 2
degrees south latitude) and the Swiss Alps, is consequently 200 toises
less than the difference of their loftiest summits; and in comparing
the passes of the Alps, we see that their average height is nearly the
same, although peak Nethou is 600 toises lower than Mont Blanc and
Mont Rosa. Between the Himalaya* (* The passes of the Himalaya that
lead from Chinese Tartary into Hindostan (Nitee-Ghaut, Bamsaru, etc.)
are from 2400 to 2700 toises high.) and the Andes, on the contrary,
(considering those chains in the limits which I have just indicated),
the difference between the mean height of the ridges and that of the
loftiest summits presents nearly the same proportions.

Taking an analogous view of the groups of mountains at the east of the
Andes, we find the average height of the coast-chain of Venezuela to
be 750 toises; of the Sierra Parime, 500 toises; of the Brazilian
group, 400 toises; whence it follows that the mountains of the eastern
region of South America between the tropics are, when compared to the
medium elevation of the Andes, in the relation of one to three.

The following is the result of some numerical statements, the
comparison of which affords more precise ideas on the structure of
mountains in general.* (* The Cols or passes indicate the minimum of
the height to which the ridge of the mountains lowers in a particular
country. Now, looking at the principal passes of the Alps of
Switzerland (Col Terret, 1191 toises, Mont Cenis, 1060 toises; Great
Saint Bernard, 1246 toises; Simplon, 1029 toises; and on the neck of
the Pyrenees, Benasque, 1231 toises; Pinede, 1291 toises; Gavarnic,
1197 toises; Cavarere, 1151 toises; it would be difficult to affirm
that the Pyrenees are lower than the average height of the Swiss
Alps.)

TABLE OF HEIGHTS OF VARIOUS RANGES.

COLUMN 1 : NAMES OF THE CHAINS OF MOUNTAINS.
COLUMN 2 : THE HIGHEST SUMMITS IN TOISES.
COLUMN 3 : MEAN HEIGHT OF THE RIDGE IN TOISES.
COLUMN 4 : PROPORTION OF THE MEAN HEIGHT OF THE RIDGES TO THAT A THE
HIGHEST SUMMITS.

Himalayas (between north latitude : 4026 : 2450 : 1 : 1.6.
30 degrees 18 minutes and 31 degrees
53 minutes, and longitude 75 degrees
23 minutes and 77 degrees 38 minutes)

Cordillera of the Andes (between : 3350 : 1850 : 1 : 1.8.
latitude 5 and 2 degrees south)


Alps of Switzerland : 2450 : 1150 : 1 : 2.1.

Pyrenees : 1787 : 1150 : 1 : 1.5.

Littoral Chain of Venezuela : 1350 : 750 : 1 : 1.8.

Group of the Mountains of the Parime : 1300 : 500 : 1 : 2.6.

Group of the Mountains of Brazil : 900 : 500 : 1 : 2.3.

If we distinguish among the mountains those which rise sporadically,
and form small insulated systems,* (* As the groups of the Canaries,
the Azores, the Sandwich Islands, the Monts-Dores, and the Euganean
mountains.) and those that make part of a continued chain,* (* The
Himalayas, the Alps, and the Andes.) we find that, notwithstanding the
immense height* of the summits of some insulated systems (* Among the
insulated systems, or sporadic mountains, Mowna-Roa is generally
regarded as the most elevated summit of the Sandwich Islands. Its
height is computed at 2500 toises, and yet at some seasons it is
entirely free from snow. An exact measure of this summit, situated in
very frequented latitudes, has for 25 years been desired in vain by
naturalists and geologists.), the culminant points of the whole globe
belong to continuous chains--to the Cordilleras of Central Asia and
South America.

In that part of the Andes with which I am best acquainted, between 8
degrees south latitude and 21 degrees north latitude, all the colossal
summits are of trachyte. It may almost be admitted as a general rule
that whenever the mass of mountains rises in that region of the
tropics much above the limit of perpetual snow (2300 to 2470 toises),
the rocks commonly called primitive (for instance, gneiss-granite or
mica-slate) disappear, and the summits are of trachyte or
trappean-porphyry. I know only a few rare exceptions to this law, and
they occur in the Cordilleras of Quito where the Nevados of Conderasto
and Cuvillan, situated opposite to the trachytic Chimborazo, are
composed of mica-slate and contain veins of sulphuret of silver. Thus
in the groups of detached mountains which rise abruptly from the
plains the loftiest summits, such as Mowna-Roa, the Peak of Teneriffe,
Etna and the Peak of the Azores, present only recent volcanic rocks.
It would, however, be an error to extend that law to every other
continent, and to admit, as a general rule, that, in every zone, the
greatest elevations have produced trachytic domes: gneiss-granite and
mica-slate constitute the summits of the ridge, in the almost
insulated group of the Sierra Nevada of Grenada and the Peak of
Malhacen,* (* This peak, according to the survey of M. Clemente Roxas,
is 1826 toises above the level of the sea, consequently 39 toises
higher than the loftiest summit of the Pyrenees (the granitic peak of
Nethou) and 83 toises lower than the trachytic peak of Teneriffe. The
Sierra Nevada of Grenada forms a system of mountains of mica-slate,
passing to gneiss and clay-slate, and containing shelves of euphotide
and greenstone.), as they also do in the continuous chain of the Alps,
the Pyrenees and probably the Himalayas.* (* If we may judge from the
specimens of rocks collected in the gorges and passes of the Himalayas
or rolled down by the torrents.) These phenomena, discordant in
appearance, are possibly all effects of the same cause: granite,
gneiss, and all the so-styled primitive Neptunian mountains, may
possibly owe their origin to volcanic forces, as well as the
trachytes; but to forces of which the action resembles less the
still-burning volcanoes of our days, ejecting lava, which at the
moment of its eruption comes immediately into contact with the
atmospheric air; but it is not here my purpose to discuss this great
theoretic question.

After having examined the general structure of South America according
to considerations of comparative geology, I shall proceed to notice
separately the different systems of mountains and plains, the mutual
connection of which has so powerful an influence on the state of
industry and commerce in the nations of the New Continent. I shall
give only a general view of the systems situated beyond the limits of
the region which forms the special object of this memoir. Geology
being essentially founded on the study of the relations of
juxtaposition and place, I could not treat of the littoral chain and
the chain of the Parime separately, without touching on the other
systems south and west of Venezuela.

A. SYSTEMS OF MOUNTAINS.

A.1. CORDILLERAS OF THE ANDES.

This is the most continuous, the longest, the most uniform in its
direction from south to north and north-north-west, of any chain of
the globe. It approaches the north and south poles at unequal
distances of from 22 to 33 degrees. Its development is from 2800 to
3000 leagues (20 to a degree), a length equal to the distance from
Cape Finisterre in Galicia to the north-east cape (Tschuktschoi-Noss)
of Asia. Somewhat less than one half of this chain belongs to South
America, and runs along its western shores. North of the isthmus of
Cupica and of Panama, after an immense lowering, it assumes the
appearance of a nearly central ridge, forming a rocky dyke that joins
the great continent of North America to the southern continent. The
low lands on the east of the Andes of Guatimala and New Spain appear
to have been overwhelmed by the ocean and now form the bottom of the
Caribbean Sea. As the continent beyond the parallel of Florida again
widens towards the east, the Cordilleras of Durango and New Mexico, as
well as the Rocky Mountains, merely a continuation of those
Cordilleras, appear to be thrown still further westward, that is,
towards the coast of the Pacific Ocean; but they still remain eight or
ten times more remote from it than in the southern hemisphere. We may
consider as the two extremities of the Andes, the rock or granitic
island of Diego Ramirez, south of Cape Horn, and the mountains lying
at the mouth of Mackenzie River (latitude 69 degrees, longitude 130
1/2 degrees), more than twelve degrees west of the greenstone
mountains, known by the name of the Copper Mountains, visited by
Captain Franklin. The colossal peak of Saint Elias and that of Mount
Fairweather, in New Norfolk, do not, properly speaking, belong to the
northern prolongation of the Cordilleras of the Andes, but to a
parallel chain (the maritime Alps of the north-west coast), stretching
towards the peninsula of California, and connected by transversal
ridges with a mountainous land, between 45 and 53 degrees of latitude,
with the Andes of New Mexico (Rocky Mountains). In South America the
mean breadth of the Cordillera of the Andes is from 18 to 22 leagues.*
(* The breadth of this immense chain is a phenomenon well worthy of
attention. The Swiss Alps extend, in the Grisons and in the Tyrol, to
a breadth of 36 and 40 leagues, both in the meridians of the lake at
Como, the canton of Appenzell, and in the meridian of Bassano and
Tegernsee.) It is only in the knots of the mountains, that is where
the Cordillera is swelled by side-groups or divided into several
chains nearly parallel, and reuniting at intervals, for instance, on
the south of the lake of Titicaca, that it is more than 100 to 120
leagues broad, in a direction perpendicular to its axis. The Andes of
South America bound the plains of the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Rio
de la Plata, on the west, like a rocky wall raised across a crevice
1300 leagues long, and stretching from south to north. This upheaved
part (if I may be permitted to use an expression founded on a
geological hypothesis) comprises a surface of 58,900 square leagues,
between the parallel of Cape Pilesar and the northern Choco. To form
an idea of the variety of rocks which this space may furnish for the
observation of the traveller, we must recollect that the Pyrenees,
according to the observations of M. Charpentier, occupy only 768
square sea leagues.

The name of Andes in the Quichua language (which wants the consonants
d, f, and g) Antis, or Ante, appears to me to be derived from the
Peruvian word anta, signifying copper or metal in general. Anta chacra
signifies mine of copper; antacuri, copper mixed with gold; and puca
anta, copper, or red metal. As the group of the Altai mountains* takes
its name from the Turkish word altor or altyn (* Klaproth. Asia
polyglotta page 211. It appears to me less probable that the tribe of
the Antis gave its name to the mountains of Peru.), in the same manner
the Cordilleras may have been termed "Copper-country," or Anti-suyu,
on account of the abundance of that metal, which the Peruvians
employed for their tools. The Inca Garcilasso, who was the son of a
Peruvian princess, and who wrote the history of his native country in
the first years of the conquest, gives no etymology of the name of the
Andes. He only opposes Anti-suyu, or the region of summits covered
with eternal snow (ritiseca), to the plains or Yuncas, that is, to the
lower region of Peru. The etymology of the name of the largest
mountain chain of the globe cannot be devoid of interest to the
mineralogic geographer.

The structure of the Cordillera of the Andes, that is, its division
into several chains nearly parallel, which are again joined by knots
of mountains, is very remarkable. On our maps this structure is
indicated but imperfectly; and what La Condamine and Bouguer merely
guessed, during their long visit to the table-land of Quito, has been
generalized and ill-interpreted by those who have described the whole
chain according to the type of the equatorial Andes. The following is
the most accurate information I could collect by my own researches and
an active correspondence of twenty years with the inhabitants of
Spanish America. The group of islands called Tierra del Fuego, in
which the chain of the Andes begins, is a plain extending from Cape
Espiritu Santo as far as the canal of San Sebastian. The country on
the west of this canal, between Cape San Valentino and Cape Pilares,
is bristled with granitic mountains covered (from the Morro de San
Agueda to Cabo Redondo) with calcareous shells. Navigators have
greatly exaggerated the height of the mountains of Tierra del Fuego,
among which there appears to be a volcano still burning. M. de
Churruca found the height of the western peak of Cape Pilares
(latitude 52 degrees 45 minutes south) only 218 toises; even Cape Horn
is probably not more than 500 toises* high. (* It is very distinctly
seen at the distance of 60 miles, which, without calculating the
effects of terrestrial refraction, would give it a height of 498
toises.) The plain extends on the northern shore of the Straits of
Magellan, from the Virgin's Cape to Cabo Negro; at the latter the
Cordilleras rise abruptly, and fill the whole space as far as Cape
Victoria (latitude 52 degrees 22 minutes). The region between Cape
Horn and the southern extremity of the continent somewhat resembles
the origin of the Pyrenees between Cape Creux (near the gulf of Rosas)
and the Col des Perdus. The height of the Patagonian chain is not
known; it appears, however, that no summit south of the parallel of 48
degrees attains the elevation of the Canigou (1430 toises) which is
near the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees. In that southern country,
where the summers are so cold and short, the limit of eternal snow
must lower at least as much as in the northern hemisphere, in Norway,
in latitude 63 and 64 degrees; consequently below 800 toises. The
great breadth, therefore, of the band of snow that envelopes these
Patagonian summits, does not justify the idea which travellers form of
their height in 40 degrees south latitude. As we advance towards the
island of Chiloe, the Cordilleras draw near the coast; and the
archipelago of Chonos or Huaytecas appears like the vestiges of an
immense group of mountains overwhelmed by water. Narrow estuaries fill
the lower valleys of the Andes, and remind us of the fjords of Norway
and Greenland. We there find, running from south to north, the Nevados
de Maca (latitude 45 degrees 19 minutes), of Cuptano (latitude 44
degrees 58 minutes), of Yanteles (latitude 43 degrees 52 minutes), of
Corcovado, Chayapirca (latitude 42 degrees 52 minutes) and of Llebean
(latitude 41 degrees 49 minutes). The peak of Cuptana rises like the
peak of Teneriffe, from the bosom of the sea; but being scarcely
visible at thirty-six or forty leagues distance, it cannot be more
than 1500 toises high. Corcovado, situated on the coast of the
continent, opposite the southern point of the island of Chiloe,
appears to be more than 1950 toises high; it is perhaps the loftiest
summit of the whole globe, south of the parallel of 42 degrees south
latitude. On the north of San Carlos de Chiloe, in the whole length of
Chile to the desert of Atacama, the low western regions not having
been overwhelmed by floods, the Andes there appear farther from the
coast. The Abbe Molina affirms that the Cordilleras of Chile form
three parallel chains, of which the intermediary is the most elevated;
but to prove that this division is far from general, it suffices to
recollect the barometric survey made by MM. Bauza and Espinosa, in
1794, between Mendoza and Santiago de Chile. The road leading from one
of those towns to the other, rises gradually from 700 to 1987 toises;
and after passing the Col des Andes (La Cumbre, between the houses of
refuge called Las Calaveras and Las Cuevas), it descends continually
as far as the temperate valley of Santiago de Chile, of which the
bottom is only 409 toises above the level of the sea. The same survey
has made known the minimum of height at Chile of the lower limit of
snow, in 33 degrees south latitude. The limit does not lower in summer
to 2000 toises.* (* On the southern declivity of the Himalayas snow
begins (3 degrees nearer the equator) at 1970 toises.) I think we may
conclude according to the analogy of the Snowy Mountains of Mexico and
southern Europe, and considering the difference of the summer
temperature of the two hemispheres, that the real Nevadas at Chile, in
the parallel of Valdivia (latitude 40 degrees), cannot be below 1300
toises; in Valparaiso (latitude 33 degrees) not lower than 2000
toises, and in that of Copiapo (latitude 27 degrees) not below 2200
toises of height. These are the limit-numbers, the minimum of
elevation, which the ridge of the Andes of Chile must attain in
different degrees of latitude, to enable their summits to rise above
the line of perpetual snow. The numerical results which I have just
marked and which are founded on the laws of distribution of heat, have
still the same importance which they possessed at the time of my
travels in America; for there does not exist in the immense extent of
the Andes, from 8 degrees south latitude to the Straits of Magellan,
one Nevada of which the height above the sea-level has been
determined, either by a simple geometric measure, or by the combined
means of barometric and geodesic measurements.

Between 33 and 18 degrees south latitude, between the parallels of
Valparaiso and Arica, the Andes present towards the east three
remarkable spurs, the Sierra de Cordova, the Sierra de Salta, and the
Nevados de Cochabamba. Travellers partly cross and partly go along the
side of the Sierra de Cordova (between 33 and 31 degrees of latitude)
in their way from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza; it may be said to be the
most southern promontory which advances, in the Pampas, towards the
meridian of 65 degrees; it gives birth to the great river known by the
name of Desaguadero de Mendoza and extends from San Juan de la
Frontera and San Juan de la Punta to the town of Cordova. The second
spur, called the Sierra de Salta and the Jujui, of which the greatest
breadth is 25 degrees of latitude, widens from the valley of Catamarca
and San Miguel del Tucuman, in the direction of the Rio Vermejo
(longitude 64 degrees). Finally, the third and most majestic spur, the
Sierra Nevada de Cochabamba and Santa Cruz (from 22 to 17 1/2 degrees
of latitude), is linked with the knot of the mountains of Porco. It
forms the points of partition (divortia aquarum, between the basin of
the Amazon and that of the Rio de la Plata. The Cachimayo and the
Pilcomayo, which rise between Potosi, Talavera de la Puna, and La
Plata or Chuquisaca, run in the direction of south-east, while the
Parapiti and the Guapey (Guapaiz, or Rio de Mizque) pour their waters
into the Mamori, to north-east. The ridge of partition being near
Chayanta, south of Mizque, Tomina and Pomabamba, nearly on the
southern declivity of the Sierra de Cochabamba in latitude 19 and 20
degrees, the Rio Guapey flows round the whole group, before it reaches
the plains of the Amazon, as in Europe the Poprad, a tributary of the
Vistula, makes a circuit in its course from the southern part of the
Carpathians to the plains of Poland. I have already observed above,
that where the mountains cease (west* of the meridian of 66 1/2
degrees (* I agree with Captain Basil Hall, in fixing the port of
Valparaiso in 71 degrees 31 minutes west of Greenwich, and I place
Cordova 8 degrees 40 minutes, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra 7 degrees 4
minutes east of Valparaiso. The longitudes mentioned in the text refer
always to the meridian of the Observatory of Paris.)) the partition
ridge of Cochabamba goes up towards the north-east, to 16 degrees of
latitude, forming, by the intersection of two slightly inclined
planes, only one ridge amidst the savannahs, and separating the waters
of the Guapore, a tributary of the Madeira, from those of the Aguapehy
and Jauru, tributaries of the Rio Paraguay. This vast country between
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Villabella, and Matogrosso, is one of the
least known parts of South America. The two spurs of Cordova and Salta
present only a mountainous territory of small elevation, and linked to
the foot of the Andes of Chile. Cochabamba, on the contrary, attains
the limit of perpetual snow (2300 toises) and forms in some sort a
lateral branch of the Cordilleras, diverging even from their tops
between La Paz and Oruro. The mountains composing this branch (the
Cordillera de Chiriguanaes, de los Sauces and Yuracarees) extend
regularly from west to east; their eastern declivity* is very rapid,
and their loftiest summits are not in the centre, but in the northern
part of the group. (* For much information concerning the Sierra de
Cochabamba I am indebted to the manuscripts of my countryman, the
celebrated botanist Taddeus Haenke, which a monk of the congregation
of the Escurial, Father Cisneros, kindly communicated to me at Lima.
Mr. Haenke, after having followed the expedition of Alexander
Malaspina, settled at Cochabamba in 1798. A part of the immense herbal
of this botanist is now at Prague.)