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Show ANNOTATIO S AND ADDITIONS. 43 ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. (1) p. 25.-" The Lake of Tacarigua." IN proceeding through the interior of South America from the Caraccas or Venezuela shore towards the boundary of Brazil, from the lOth degree of north latitude to the Equator, the traveller crosses first an elevated mountain-chain running in an east and west direction, next vast treeless Steppes or Plains (los Llanos), which stretch from the foot of the above-named mountains (the coast chain of Caraccas) to the left bank of the Orinoco, and lastly the range which occasions the Cataracts of Atures and Maypure. This latter range of mountains, to which I have given the name of the Sierra Parime, runs in an easterly direction from the Cataracts to Dutch and French Guiana. It is a mass of mountains divided into many parallel ridges, and is the site of the fabled Dorado. It is bordered on the south by the forest plain, through which the river of the Amazons and the Rio Negro have formed the channels in which their waters flow. Those who desire a fuller acquaintance with the geography of these regions, will do well to consult and compare the great map of La Cruz-Olmedilla, bearing date 1775, (from which almost all t.he more recent maps of South America have been formed,) and the map of Columbia constructed by me from my own astronomical determinations of geographical positions, and published in 1825. The coast chain of Venezuela, geographically considered, is a part of the chain of the Andes of Peru. The chain of the Andes divides itself, at the great mountain junction at the sources of the Magdalena, south of Popayan, (between 1° 55' and 2° 20' latitude,) into three chains, the easternmost of which terminates in the snow-covered mountains of 1\ferida. These mountains sink down towards the Paramo de las Rosas into the hilly land of Quibor and Tocuyo, which connects the coast chain of Venezuela with the Cordilleras of |
