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AMERICA
the coastal belt is covered with tropical vegetation ; but from Guayaquil southward to latitude 30 much of the coast is a sandy, arid, and barren alkali desert. This arid belt is crossed here and there by streams flowing down from the high mountains, and along these streams are fertile valleys. Many of the streams, however, do not reach the sea, but dry up on their way across the coastal plain. The great mountain chain is neither a single continuous sharp range nor a pair of ranges, but a broad ridge upon which rise many great isolated peaks. Towards its ' northern end, however, this great range divides Cordillera. _Qne |-)ranc}1) the Western Cordillera, continuing northward along and near the coast; another, the Merida, swinging away to the east, and, after certain breaks, ending east of Caracas in Venezuela, or, more properly, on the northern side of the island of Trinidad ; while a third branch, the Sierra de Perija, runs northward between the valley of the Magdalena and Lake Maracaibo. On its west side the main Cordilleran ridge is scored by Peaks of the Andes. narrow steep-sided valleys, while on its eastern slope the average grade is more gentle and the valleys are less precipitous. Upon the Cordilleran ridge rise many of the highest mountain peaks in the world. The following are some of the highest and most noted of these peaks Snow-line Elevation. (approximate). 17,500 23,080 Aconcagua, Argentina . 22,315 Mercedario, Argentina 21,550 Tupungato, Argentina 21,500 Illampu (Sorata), Bolivia Illimani, Bolivia 21,030 21,028 Sajama, Bolivia 16,700 20,545 Chimborazo, Ecuador 20,180 Juncal, Chili . 20,020 San Jose, Chili 15,500 Cotopaxi, Ecuador 19,613 16,000 19,335 Antisana, Ecuador 15,000 Cayambe, Ecuador 19,186 19,000 Tacora, Bolivia Tolima, Colombia 18.300 Misti, Peru 17,934 Altar, Ecuador 17,730 14,000 Maipo, Argentina 17,670 Sangai, Ecuador 17,464 Illiniza 17,405 Torlola, Argentina 17,350 Carihuairazo 16,750 15,000 Tunguragua, Ecuador 16,690 Sierra de Santa Marta, Colombia 16,640 Sincholagua 16,365 15,300 Cotocachi, Ecuador 16.301 14,500 Pichincha, Ecuador 15,918 Sara-urca 15,502 14,000 There are several other peaks whose elevations exceed some of those given, but they have never been measured. The elevation of the snow-line upon these mountains varies somewhat, but it is lower on the east than on the west side. Of these peaks Cotopaxi, Tunguragua, Maipo, and Sangai are the largest active volcanoes in the world. There are glaciers in the Andes immediately beneath the equator. The largest of these are upon Antisana, Cayambe, and Chimborazo, Altar, Carihuairazo, Cotocachi, Illiniza, Sara-urca, and Sincholagua (Whymper). Farther south in Chile and Argentina there are glaciers upon Aconcagua, Tupungato, &c., while in Patagonia along Smyth Channel and in the Strait of Magellan they are very large and flow down to the sea. The high Andes regions, even far below the lofty peaks, are cold, bare of vegetation, monotonous, and desolate. At a very few
[south
places there are cities and towns in the high mountains; Quito in Ecuador has an elevation of 9343 feet, Bogota in Colombia of 8665 feet, while La Paz in Bolivia is 12,000 feet above the sea. The highest habitable portion generally has an elevation of about 8000 feet. But for the most part the lofty regions are unpeopled, so much so that this belt is known as the Despoplado or the unpeopled country. The high barren belt is comparatively narrow in Peru, but it widens southward through Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. It has an average width of about 150 miles. (For further details see Andes.) The mountainous character of the western side of the continent ends abruptly in the Strait of Magellan. ISTorthward along the east side of the continent the coast is flat as far as the northern part of Rio Grande do Sul. From latitude 33° 30' to latitude 29° 30' the coast is bordered by large brackish lakes. At latitude 29° 30' the coast mountains of Brazil (the Serra do Mar) are near the ocean and follow the shore northward as far as latitude 19° 30'. This piece from 29° 30' to 19° 30' is the most picturesque portion of the Brazilian coast. The mountains rise in many places directly from the seashore to an elevation of more than 2000 feet. Where their sides are not smooth bare granite, they are covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation from base to summit. The port of Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful in the world, and the ports of Santos and Victoria as well, are formed by a late depression of the coast that admitted the sea to narrow submerged valleys that had been cut by denudation on the margins of granite mountains. From latitude 20° northward the mountains swing inland, and the coast is low as far as Prado, latitude 17° 25'. North of Prado the coast is bordered by a wall of brightly coloured bluffs from 50 to 250 feet high, which continue with interruptions almost to the mouth of the Amazon. About Cape St Roque the coast is covered with sand dunes. From the Abrolhos Islands (lat. 18°) northward to Cape St Roque there are many coral reefs. In some places these reefs are several miles off shore, as they are near the Abrolhos, and many miles in length and breadth ; in other places they follow the coast line for a hundred miles or more with few interruptions, now touching the shore and now standing out two or three miles from land. Occasionally there are small ports behind them. The most considerable break in their continuity is between the Bay of Bahia and the mouth of the Rio Sao Francisco. Along this same coast are reefs of hard sandstone that are often mistaken for coral reefs. These stone reefs stand like artificial walls or breakwaters across the mouths of the smaller rivers and the choked-up valleys, and thus form several of the ports on this part of the coast; such are Pernambuco, Natal, Porto Seguro, and several others of minor importance. The Serra do Mar, or Brazilian coast range, is the most prominent topographic feature of the eastern side of the continent. This range, or group of ranges, backed by a high plateau, is within sight of the ocean from the north-eastern corner of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil (lat. 29 30 ) to the mouth of Rio Doce, in S. latitude 19° 30'. The following are the highest points that have been measured on the Brazilian highlands:— • Peak. Elevation. Itatiaya, State of Rio de Janeiro . . 9840 feet Itajuba or Tembe, State of Sao Paulo . . 7800+ ,, Organ Mountains, State of Rio de Janeiro . 7323 „ Frade, State of Espirito Santo . . . 6770 ,, Cara9a, State of Minas Geraes . . . 6234+ ,, Itambe, State of Minas Geraes . . . 5900+ ,, Itacolomi, State of Minas Geraes . . 5748 ,, Morro do Lopo, State of Sao Paulo . . 5250 „ Serra da Onija, State of Rio de Janeiro. . 4592 ,, Pyrenees, State of Goyaz . . . 4544 ,,
