prefented by Canada and Yutacan, the inland of St. Domingo, the north of Sierra de S. Martha, the province of Barcelona, and the land between Monte-Video and Mendoza, New Holland, the eastern part of Hungary, and the country of Hanover. They are feparated from each other by the cordilleras, and are as far from lying in the fame plane as the defarts of Africa, and the fteppes of Tartary, which rife by gradations, according to the distance from the fea-coaft.

When one confiders the irruptions which the North Sea, the Mediterranean, &c. have made into the Old World, the direction of its cordilleras appears not to be very different from that of those in the New World, as most naturalifts have afferted. We are acquainted alfo with the traces of several high chains of mountains which extend from north to fouth, and run out from those which extend east and weft. The garnet and iicaceous fchiftus of Norway, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, the province of Gallicia, Alemtego, Cape Bogador, (I have found the fame with granite on Teneriff,) the upper part of Guinea, Congo, and the Table Mountain, as also the original mountains of Orenburg, Caucafus, Lebanon, of Aby finia, and Madagascar, feem at firt to have formed nothing else than two large cordilleras parallel to the meridian.

In the New World these cordilleras run parallel to the meridian from Cape Pilar to the north of California beyond Nootka and Prince William's Sound towards the Aleganhey mountains, which were difcovered in 1792 by Mr. Stewart, on his journey to the fources of the Mifloury, the northern part of the Andes, which is inhabited by Indians nearly as much civil ized as the Peruvians were fifteen hundred years ago. From this cordillera proceed ramifications of the original mountains, which extend from welt to eat. With thofe of North America I am not acquainted, but it appears that fome exift in Canada under the latitude of 50°, and 42° north latitude, as in the deftroy ed continent of the Gulf of Mexico un-. der 190 and 22°, as is proved by the mountains of Cuba and Saint Domingo. In South America there are three chains of original mountains which run parallel to the equator: the chain of the coaft under 9° and 10°; that chain which is in the great cataracts of Autures (in latitude s 39') is between latitude 3° and 7°; and that in Maipure in 5° 12′ 50′′, which I therefore call the chain of the cataracts or that of Parime, and the chain

of Chequitos under 15° and 20o south la- titude.

Thefe chains in the old continent on this fide of the Western Ocean can be traced, and it is feen how the original mountains of Fernambouc, Minas, La Bahia, and Janeiro, correfpond, under the fame latitude, to thofe of Congo, as the immenfe plains near the river Amazon lie oppofite to the plains of Lower Guinea, the cordillera of the cataracts oppofite to thofe of Upper Gu nea, and the Llanos of the Miffiflippi, fince the irruption of the Gulf of Mexico, a property of the fea, oppofite to the Defart of Serah. This view will appear to be lefs hazarded when one reflects in what manner the old conti nent has been separated from the new one by the force of the water. The form of the coafts, and the falient and re-entering angles of America, Africa, and Europe, are a fufficient proof of this catastrophe. What we call the Atlantic Ocean is nothing elfe than a valley scooped out by the fea. The pyramidal form of all the continents, with their fummits turned fouth. wards, the great flattening of the earth at the fouth pole, and other phenomena, oblerved by Dr. Foriter, seem to fhew that the influx of the water was from the fouth. On the coaft of Brafil, from Rio Janeiro to Fernambɔuc, it found refiftance, and taking a direction from the latitude of 50° north towards the north east, where it fcooped out the Gulf of Guinea, near Loango Benin and Mine, it was obliged by the mountains of Upper Guinea to direct itself north-weft, and feparated, to the latitude of 23° north, the coaft of Guinea from Mexico and Florida. The force of the waters was still broken by the cordillera of the United States of America, and once moté turned towards the northeaft, and feems to have fpared lefs the western coaft of Europe than the northern of America. The leaft breadth of this channel is at the Brafils and Greenland; but, agreeably to the geographical history of plants and animals, it feems to have been formed at a time when the organic creation had not been properly expanded, It would be of great importance to geology if a fea-voyage were undertaken, at the expence of fome government, to examine the rifing and depreffion and the relative fituation of the mountains to the falient and re-entering angles of America and Africa. The fame analogy would be found here as is obferved in the English Channel, in the Sound, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Hellefpont; finall creeks which are as new as the condary forma

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tion of the chalk-rocks of Jura, of Pappenheim, La Mancha, Marseilles, Derby fhire, and Suez, which have all been pròduced at the fame time by precipitation.

Of the three cordilleras of primitive mountains which traverfe South America from west to eat, the most northern, that of Venezuela, is the highest, but narroweft. The real chain of the Andes extends from the large plain of Quito, through Popayan and Choco, to the western fide of the river Atrato, (or Rio San Juan,) between the valley of Tatahé, in the provinces of Zitara and Biruguete, towards the ifthmus, where it forms a mountainous diftri&t of not more than two or three hundred toifes in height on the bank of the Chagre. From thefe Andes arifes the cordillera on the coast of Venezuela. Rows of mountains higher, but forming groups lefs regular, extend on the east fide of the Rio Atrato, under the name of the Sierra de Abibé and the Montes de Cauca, through the high favannahs of Jolu towards Magdalen River and the province of St. Martha. The cordillera of the coaft contracts itself like that of the Gulf of Mexico, approaches nearer to Cape Vela, and then proceeds firft from fouthsouth west to north north east, and then from west to eaft to the ridge of Paria, or rather to the Punta de la Galera in the Inland of Trinidad. Its greatest height is found at that place where it has the name of Sierra de Nevada de St. Martha, in latitude 10° 2', and of Sierra Nevada de Merida, in latitude 8° 30'; the former is about 5000, the latter 5400 Spanish ells, (varas) or 2350 toiles in height. The Paramo de la Rofa and de Macuchi, and alfo the mountain of Merida, are continually covered with fhow: boiling water, with hydrogenated fulphur, iffues from their fides, and they exceed in height the Peak of Teneriff, and are, perhaps, equal to Mont Blanc, which has been more accurately measured. Thefe coloffal maffes and St. Martha ftand almost infulated, being furrounded by few high ridges.To the west of Santa Fé, or as far as the Sierra of Zuindiu, no fnow-clad peaks are feen, and the Sierra Nevada de Merida ftands at the edge of the plain of Caraccas, which is fcarcely forty toifes above the level of the lea. Mont Blanc, which terminates the high ridge of the Alps, exhibits the fame phenomenon. The altitude of the higheft mountains, however, is fo very mall in proportion to the magnitude of the earth, that it would appear that very fmali local caufes ought to have accumulated more matter in theie points.

On the other hand, that part of the cordillera which extends from Merida to Trinidad inclofes three valleys, lying eaft and west, which shew by certain, figns, like Bohemia, or the Haflithal of Swifferland, that they have formerly been lakes the water of which has evap rated or run off by opening for itfelf a paffage. These three valleys are inclofed by the two pa rallel rows of mountains, into which the cordillera of the coaft divides itself, from Cape Vela to Cape Code: a; the northern row is a continuation of Saint Martha, the fouthern a prolongation of Sierra Nevada de Merida. The firit extends through Burburuta, Rincon del Diablo ; through the Sierras de Mariara, the mountain Aguainegras, Monte de Arila, and the Silla de Caracas, to Cape Codera. The fecond from three to four miles more to the fouth, extends through Guigni, La Palma, the high summits of Guairaima, Tiara, Guiripa, and the Savana de Ocu mare, as far as the mouths of the Tuy. Thefe two chains unite with two arms, which run from north to fouth, like, as it were, dykes, by which thefe old lakes were confined within their boundaries. Thefe dykes are, on the well, the mountains of Carora, Tonto, Saint Maria, Saint Philips, and Aroa; they separate the Llanos de Monai from the valleys of Aragua: on the east they are the naked fummits of Los Teques, Coquiza, Buena Vifta, and the Altos de S. Pedro, by which the valley of Aragua or the fources of the Tuy (for there is only one valley between the bottom of Coquiza, or the Hacienda de Brifenno, to Valencia,) from the valley of Caraccas. On the east, from Cape Codera, the greater part of the cordillera of the coaft of Venezuola was deftroyed and laid under water by the great catastrophe which formed the Gulf of Mexico. The reft of it is distinguished in the high mountain-peaks of che il nd of Margaretha, (Macara and the Valle S. Juan,) and in the cordlera of the Ifthmus of Araya, which contains the micaceous fchiftous mountains of Manigu

ftructure, the fame direction, and the fame inclination of the ftrata. The three hollows, or valleys of Caracas, Aragua, and Monai, are remarkable on this account, that the level of them is above the furface of the sea; they become lower by gradations, and the highest ftep is the eastern, which may ferve as a proof that they were formed at an earlier period than the Llanos, whose declivity proceeds from eat to weft, like the whole continent of South America. By repeated barometric meafurement I found the height of the valleys of Caracas to be 416 toifes, of Aragua 212 toifes, above the furface of the fea; the Llanos of Monai, the western bafon, appears to have an elevation of no more than eighty or one hundred toifes. The valley of Caracas has once been a lake, which formed for itself an efflux through the Quebrada de Tipe, Catia, and Rio Mamon; the bafon of Aragua appears, on the other hand, to have become dry by gradual evaporation; for the remains of the old water (loaded with muriate of lime,) are till feen in the lake of Valencia, which becomes lefs every year, and difcovers iflands which are known under the name of Aparecidas. The height of the cordillera of the coaft is commonly from 600 to 800 toifes; the highest peaks, Sierra de Nevada de Merida and the Silla de Caracas, (to which we undertook a laborious journey with our inftruments,) are 2350 and 1316 toifes in height. To the welt they always become lower, and the height of Cape Codera is only 176 toifes. The Macanao, on the ifland Margaretha, which I measured trigonometrically, is not more in height than 342 toifes; but this speedy depreffion takes place only in the primitive moun.. tains of the cordillera. On the eastern coaft fecondary accumulations of lime rife from Cape Unare to a more confiderable height than the gneis and micaceous fchiftus; thefe calcareous rocks, which are covered with fandítone of a calcareous bafe, and which accompany the cordillera of the coaft in its fouthern declivity, are very low on the fide towards Cura, but rife in a mass towards the eastern extremi. ty of the continent.

In Bergantin they are 702 toifes high, in Coccollard 392, in Cucurucho du Tuminiquiri (the highest fummits of the province of Cumana) 976 toifes, and the pyramid of the Guacharo rifes above 820 toifes: from Cape Unare they form a feparate ridge of mountains, in which the original ridge totally difappears; they are connected alfo with the micaceous MONTHLY MAG. No. 113.

fchiftous cordillera of Maniquare and Paria only by the Cerro de Meapire, which, analogous to the branches of Torito and los Teques, which feparate the bafons of Monai, Aragua, and Caracas, extends north and fouth from Guacharo and Catouaro, to the mountain Paria, and feparates the valley of Carisco (the driedup bank of the Gulf of Cariaco) from the valley of St. Boniface, which formerly belonged to the Golfo Trifte. It will be feen hereafter, that the accumulation of calcareous formation on the eastern part of the coast of this country feems to have been more expofed to earthquakes; and that the Cerro de Meapire, at the time of the irruption of the Gulf of Cariaco, and the Golfo Trifte, prevented the water from converting the land of Araya and the ridge of Paria into an island.

The declivity of the cordillera of the coaft of Venezuela is gentler towards the fouth than towards the north, which is particularly ftriking when one defcends from the heights of Guigue, through St. Juan, Parapara, and Ortiz, towards the Mera de Paja, which belongs to the great Llano de Calabozo. The northern declivity is every where very steep, and there is fcarcely found, Mont Blanc excepted, above Courmayeur, frightful precipice than the perpendicular wall of Silla de Caracas, beyond Caravalledo, which rifes to the height of 1300 toifes. An accurate measurement of this wall of rock was of great importance to navigators, as they could find its diftance from the coaft only by taking the angle of its elevation: its longitude, therefore, of 60° 37′ 32" weft from Paris will enable them to discover it.

a more

The phenomenon of a more gentle declivity towards the fouth feems to contradict the obfervations made in other cordil leras of the earth, as it is afferted that they all decline more abruptly towards the fouth and west. This contrad etion, however, is only apparent'; as the northern part of the cordillera, during the great catastrophe which produced the Gulf of of Mexico, was torn away by the force of the water; and therefore the northern declivity might at that time be gentler than the fouthern.

If the form of the coaft be confidered, it appears to be pretty regularly indented. The headlands of Tres Puntas, Codera, S. Roman, and Chichibacoa, on the west; from Cabo de la Vela, form a row of promontories, the western of which runs more to the north than the eaftern. To the windward of each of these capes a creek I i

bas

has been formed; and one cannot help feeing, in this fingular formation, the action of the tropical currents, which may be called the currents of the earth's rotation; an action which fhews itself alfo in the direction of the coaft from Cuba, St. Domingo, Porto Rico, Yucatan, and Honduras, as in the feries of the Windward Islands, Grenada, Orchila, Rocca, Aves, Buenos-Ayres, Curaçoa, and Aruba, the ruins of the cordillera from Cape Chichibacoa, which are all parallel to the equator. It was this headland of Chichibacoa, notwithstanding its inconfiderable height, which, by its refiftance to the influx, preferved the kingdom of New Grenada from lofing fo much land as the general government of Car cas.

The fecond original cordillera of South Amer.ca, which I have called the cordillera of the Cataracts of Orinoco, is yet very little known. During the journey which we made on the Black River, to the borders of the Great Bara, we travelled more than two hundred leagues, first from north to fouth, from Cerro de Uruana to Atabapo and Tuamini; then from west to eat, from the mouths of the Ventuari to Vulcan de Duida, which I have found to be in latitude 3° 13' 26", and longitude 60° 34' 7" weft from Paris. Since the journey of Meffers. Ituriaga and Solano, a paffage over thefe cordilleras, which be called alfo Parima or Dorado, (Golden) a name which has occafioned to much misfortune in America, and fo much ridicule in Europe, has been poffible; but as all the European fettle ments on the Alto Orinoco, and the Rio Negro, (Black River,) contain at this time no more than four hundred Indian Families; and as the way from Efmeralde to Erevato and Caura has been totally loft, our researches in a land fo little civilized prefented more difficulties than Condamine experienced during his tedious navigation on the river Amazon, the banks of which for many years have been inhabited.

may

The cordillera of the Cataracts, or of Parima, feparates itself from the Andes of Quito and Popayan, in the longitude of from 3 to 6°. It extends from west to east, from Paramo de Tuquillo and St. Martin, or the fources of the Guaviare, the theatre of the gallant deeds of Philip de Urre, and the old refidence of the Orneguas, through Morocote, Piramena, and Macuco, ftretching through the country of the Indians of Guajibus, Sagi, Dagueres, and Poigraves, according to the direction of the great rivers Meta,

Vichada, Zama, Guaviere, and Ymerida, in the longitude of 70° weft from Paris, between the high fummits of Uniama and Cunavami. They form the Raudals of Atures and Maypuré, tremendous waterfal's, which afford the only paffage by which one can penetrate into the interior of the land in the valley of the River Amazons.

Thefe Cordilleras of the Cataracts rife from the longitude of 70°, and spread out in fuch a manner that they comprehend the whole immenfe tract of country between the rivers Caura, Erevato, Cavony, Paraguamufi, Ventuari, Jao, Padamo, and Manariche, and then afcend fouth towards the fources of the Pafimona, Cachevaynris, and Cababury, towards the forefts, where the Portugueze, penetrat ing into the Spanish districts, collect the beft farfaparilla known (Smilax Sarfaparilla. Linn.). In this district the cordilleras of the Cataracts are above one hundred and twenty miles in breadth. Their continuation more towards the east, between the longitude of 680 and 60% weft from Paris, is little known. I proceeded with aftronomical inftruments only, as far as Rio Guapo, which difcharges itself into the Orinoco, opposite the Cerro de la Cauclilla, in longitude 68° 33' west from Paris. The Indians of Catarapeni and Maquiritares, who refide in the fmall miffion of Efmeralde, came fifteen miles further east over the mountains Guanaja and Yamariquin to the Canno Chiguire; but neither the Europeans, nor Indians with whom Europeans have had any intercourfe, are acquainted with this fource of the Orinoco, which is here called Canno Paragua, and is fcarcely 150 or 200 toiles in breadth, whereas at Boca de Apuré, in latitude 7° 32′ 20", it is 4632 toifes, as I myself found. The wildness of the Indians of Guaicas, who are only four feet in height, but who are a very white and warlike people, and particularly the favage ftate of the Guajarib s, greater men eaters than any of the other nations which we vifited, prevent any one from penetrating over the final cataracts (Raudal de Guajaribos,) east from Chiguire, unless a military expedition were undertaken on purpofe. But by the wonderful journey undertaken by D. Antonio Santos, who married Onotho, and who dreffed fometimes as a Carib, and fometimes as a Macacy, whofe languages he fpoke, from Orinoco (the mouth of the Rio Caronis) to the finall lake Parima and the river Amazon, we have obtained in

formation

formation refpecting the continuation of the cordillera of the Cataracts. Under the latitude of from 4° to 5° and longitude 63°, it becomes fo narrow that it is fcarcely fixty miles in breadth. It af fumes here the name of Cerrania de Quimiropaca and Pacaraimo, and forms a chain of not very high ridges, by which the waters were divided. The water of the northern declivity, the Nocapray, Paraguamuci, Benamo, and Mazurini, flow towards the Orinoco and Rio Elquibo; the waters of the fouthern, the Rio Curuicana, Parime, Madari, and Mao, pour themfelves into the River Amazon. Some degrees further towards the east, the cordillera again extends in breadth as it afcends fouthwards towards the Canno Parara along the Mao. It is here that the Dutch give to the Cerro d'Ucuamo the magnificent name of the Gold Mountain, or Dorado, because it confifts of a very thining micaceous fchiftus, a foffil which has brought into celebrity the fmall island of Ypamucena in the Lake of Parima.

(To be continued.)

For the Monthly Magazine.

CANTABRIGIANA.

CLIV.A HINT to HARD STUDENTS.(From Mr. Whifton's Memoirs of his Life and Writings, written by himself in the 79th, 80th, 81ft, and 82d Years of his Age.)

"While I was an undergraduate, an accident happened to me, which may deserve to be here related, for the caution and benefit of others in the like circumftances.I one fummer obferved that my eyes did not fee as ufual, but dazzled after an awkward manner; upon which I imagined this might arife only from my too much application to my studies; and I thought proper to abate of that application for a fortnight, in hopes of recovering my ufual fight by walking during that time much abroad in the green grafs and green fields, but found myself disappointed, which occafioned fome terror to me, efpecially because of my father's loss of fight before. At this time I met with an account, either in conversation or in writing, that Mr. Boyle had known of a perfon who had new-whited the wall of his study, or chamber, upon which the fun fhone, and used to read in that light, and thereby loft his fight for a time, till upon hanging the place where he ftudied with green, he recovered it again; which was exactly my own cafe, in a lefs degree, both as to the caufe and the remedy for

I

and my chamber-fellow had newly white. ened our room, into which almost all the afternoon-fun fhone, and where I used to I therefore retired to my study, read. and hung it with green, by which means I recovered my ufual fight, which, God be praised, is hardly worfe now, that I perceive, at four-fcore years of age, than it was in my youthful days.'

CLV. LADY MARGARET, the FOUN

DRESS of ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, (From Baker's MS. History of that College.)

"She was daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerfet, grandfon of John of Gaunt, and fo defcended from Edward III.; confort of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, fon of Catharine of France, and fo allied to the Crown of France; and mother of Henry VII. King of England, from whom all our Kings of England, as from his elder daughter Margaret, who bore her name, all the Kings of Scotland are ever fince defcended. And though the herfelf was never a Queen, yet her fon, if he had any lineal title to the crown, as he derived it from her, fo at her death fhe had thirty Kings and Queens allied to within the

Iiz

fourth