Group of the Brazil Mountains; a little lower than the
Cevennes 900 to 1000 toises.
Andes of Popayan and Cundinamarca. Chain of Guacas, Quindiu, and
Antioquia. More than 2800 toises. : Group of Parime Mountains; little
lower than the Carpathians; 1300 toises.
Insulated group of the Snowy Mountains of Santa Marta. It is believed
to be 3000 toises high. : Littoral Chain of Venezuela; 80 toises lower
than the Scandinavian Alps; 1350 toises.
Volcanic Andes of Guatimala, and primitive Andes of Oaxaca, from 1700
to 1800 toises. : Group of the West Indies, 170 toises higher than the
mountains of Auvergne, 1140 toises.
Andes of New Mexico and Upper Louisiana (Rocky Mountains) and further
west. The Maritime Alps of New Albion, 1600 to 1900 toises. : Chain of
the Alleghenies; 160 toises higher than the chains of Jura and the
Gates of Malabar; 1040 toises.
This table contains the whole system of mountains of the New
Continent; namely: the Andes, the maritime Alps of California or New
Albion and the five groups of the east.
I may subjoin to the facts I have just stated an observation equally
striking; in Europe the maxima of secondary systems, which exceed 1500
toises, are found solely on the south of the Alps and Pyrenees, that
is, on the south of the principal continental ridge. They are situated
on the side where that ridge approaches nearest the shore, and where
the Mediterranean has not overwhelmed the land. On the north of the
Alps and Pyrenees, on the contrary, the most elevated secondary
systems, the Carpathian and the Scandinavian mountains* do not attain
the height of 1300 toises.
