The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-10-28

I'LL VIC iedFU L0dI tue lOp vi Tue lalleSt
mountain 10 North America is nearly
mile beneath the untroddeu dome of CHM
borazo; nor any Just view Of the vast d.
mansions of the Amazonian Valley till we
find that all the United States could be
packed in it without touching its bounda-
ries; nor any idea Of the Amazon itself
till we ascertain that it discharges into the
sea one hundred thousand cubic feet per
second more than our Mississippi-rolling
its turbid waters ten thousand miles exact
ly as it pleases, with an island in its mouth
twice the size of Massachusetts, and tribu-
taries thirty miles wide.
South America is a triangular continent,
with its axis, the Andes, not central as in
Europe, but lying on its extreme western
edge, and in harmony with the well known
law that the highest mountains and the
grandest volcanoes face the broadcast ocean.
The highlands Of Brazil and Guiana have
neither volcanic nor snow-clad peaks; like
all the dry land which first appeared, these
primitive mountains on the Atlantic Dor
Der trend east and west. The result of this
position is triple river systematic 0rino-
co, Amazons and La Plata, draining three
immense plains-the llanos of Venzuela,
the sylvas of Brazil, and the pampas of the
Argentine Republic. The continuity and
extent of these vast depressions are more
remarkable even than the height and length
of the mountain chains.
Such are the Characteristic features of
South America; they are not repeated in
any other continent. Not one feature
could be changed without destroying those
peeuliarities Of soil and climate which so
remarkably distinguish South America.
Its position on the equator places it on the
path of the vapory trade winds which con-
Continually sweep over it westward till
they strike the Andes, which, like great
condenser, roll thousand streams east
ward again to feed the mighty Amazons.
So effectual is that barrier, not drop Of
moisture passes it, and the trade wind is
not felt again on the Pacific till you are
one hundred and fifty miles from the coast.
Were the Andes on the Atlantic side,
South America would be turned into a vast
Sahara. As it. is, the interest which at
taches to the continent, save few relics
of the Incas, is exclusively that of pure
nature Nowhere does nature affect US
more deeply with the feeling of grandeur;
nowhere does she exhibit wilder freaks or
more startling contrasts; nowhere do We
find such a theatre for the free develop
ment of vegetable and animal life.
The long and lofty chain Of the Andes
is certainly one of the sublimest products
of the last grand revolution Of the earth's
crust. While the waves of the Pacific,
from Panama to Patagonia, submissively
kiss the feet Of the Andes, and the show
ers that swell the Amazon's fall within
sight Of the mariner on that peaceful ocean,
the Rocky Mountains are situated five
hundred miles from the sea. While the
compact Andes have an average width of
sixty miles, the struggling mountain sys-
TEN beyond the Mississippi has the breadth
of the Empire State; but its mean eleya-
ton would scarce reach the bottom of the
Quito Valley. The mountains of Asia
may surpass the Cordilleras in height, but
situated beyond the tropics, and destitute
of volcanoes, they do not present that in
exhaustfble variety of phenomena which
characterizes the latter. There are no
tree-ferns, bamboos, palms or orchids on
the Himalayas, and organic life ceases three
thousand feet lower than on the Andes.
There is in Peru a coal-bed, lifted up to
the enormous height Of IA, 700 feet, and on
the side of the Chimborazo there is salt
spring 1900 feet above the sea. Marine
shells have not been found in Europe above
the summit of the Pyrenees, or IL, 1000
feet; but the Andes can show some 1000
feet higher. A strange sight, to see shells
once crawling on the bottom Of the ocean
now resting on an elevation twice the
height Of Mount Washington.
Beneath the Southern Cross, out of
sea perpetually swept by fearful gales, rise
the rocky hills of Terra del Fuego. 1t is
the starting point of that granite chain
which winds around the earth in majestic
curve-frst northwesterly, TO the Arctic
sea; thence by the Aleutean and Japanese
Isles to Asia, crossing the Old World
southwesterly from China to South Africa.
Skirting the bleak shores Of Patagonia
in single narrow sierra, the Andesenter
Chile, rising higher and higher until they
eliminate in the gigantic porphyritic peak
of Aconcagua. At the boundary line of
Bolivia, the chain, which has so far fol-
lowed a precise meridional direction, turns
to the northward, and at the same time
separates into two Cordilleras, inclosing
the great table land of Desaguadero. This
wonderful yalley-the Thibet of the New
World-has four times the area of New
York State, and five times the elevation of
the Catskill Mountain House At one end
of the valley, perched above the clouds, is
silyery Potosi-the highest city in the
world f; at the other stands the once golden
capital of Cuzco. Between them is Lake
Titacaca-probably an ancient crater-
within which is an island celebrated as the
cradle of the strange empire of Peru,
which. though crushed by Pizarro in its
budding civilization, ranks as the most ex-
traordinary and extensive empire in the
aunals of American history. The Cordil-
lera, of which Sahama, Sorata and Hi
mani are the pinnacles, so completely
incloses this high valley that not drop
of water can escape except by evapora-
tion.. At the silver mines of Pasco, the
Andes throw off third Cordillera, and
with this triple arrangement, and lower
altitude, they enter the Republic Of Ecua-
dor. There they resume the double line,
and surpass their former magnifcence.
Eighteen volcanoes, presided over by the
princely Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, sur
round the famous valley of Quito. In
New Granada, there is fine and unique
display of Andine grandeur; the Cordil-
leras combine Just above the equator into
one dizzy ridge, and then spread ont like
fan, or rather like the graceful branches
of the palm. One sierra bends to the
east, holding in its lap the city of Bogota.