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We felt somewhat timid at the commencement of our excursion among these minor Andes, but we gained confidence as we proceeded, and finding our horse sure-footed and quite familiar with mountain paths, we soon learned to gallop, without fear, along the highest cliffs, and through the most dangerous passes. We were once put in some jeopardy by a drove of mules, laden with coffee.
I shall continue, with Father Caulin and the Spanish geographers, to call the river Esmeralda the Orinoco, or Upper Orinoco; but I must observe that if the Orinoco, from San Fernando de Atabapo as far as the delta which it forms opposite the island of Trinidad, were regarded as the continuance of the Rio Guaviare, and if that part of the Upper Orinoco between the Esmeralda and the mission of San Fernando were considered a tributary stream, the Orinoco would preserve, from the savannahs of San Juan de los Llanos and the eastern declivity of the Andes to its mouth, a more uniform and natural direction, that from south-west to north-east.
"The wool of the vicuna being so much in demand, it will be easily conceived that hunting the animal is a profitable pursuit; and so it is. In many parts of the Andes there are regular vicuna hunters, while, in other places, whole tribes of Peruvian Indians spend a part of every year in the chase of this animal and the guanaco.
As he thought, there crept into his feeling a sense of irritation against the unknown man who was obstructing his friendship with the woman he had carried half through the Andes Mountains. Then the longing for his work came over him, and there were times when he felt he must do something. He spoke needlessly sharp words to Claire.
A late writer insinuates that if the English had spent their millions in levelling the Andes, instead of excavating the table-lands, society might have been benefited.
When we consider geologically the basin of the Caribbean Sea, and of the Gulf of Mexico, we find it bounded on the south by the coast-chain of Venezuela and the Cordilleras of Merida and Pamplona; on the east by the mountains of the West India Islands, and the Alleghanies; on the west by the Andes of Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains; and on the north by the very inconsiderable elevations which separate the Canadian lakes from the rivers which flow into the Mississippi.
Its altitude is about thirteen thousand feet, and it is, therefore, the highest city in the world. It is situated on the bleak side of the Andes, from whose snow-clad peaks cold, piercing winds sweep down over the city. Towering above it is a mountain, honeycombed with shafts, tunnels, and drifts, from which has been taken silver to the value of two billion dollars.
This people was anciently conquered by the Peruvians, after having taken possession of the northern part of Chili; and on the road across the Andes from Cujo to Chili, there still are some small stone buildings, or tambos, which had been erected for the accommodation of the Peruvian officers and messengers.
The latter region, on the east of the Andes, comprises more than 424,600 square leagues, half of which consists of savannahs; that is to say, it is covered with gramina. In the preceding section we have examined the inequalities of the surface of the soil, that is to say, the general structure of the mountains and the form of the basins rising between those variously grouped mountains.
Whymper determined the height to be 20,498 feet; Reiss and Stübel make it 20,703 feet. Whymper thinks there may be a crater concealed beneath the dome of snow. Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator, by Edward Whymper . Whymper states that there is a prevalent idea that Cotopaxi and a volcano called Sangai act as safety-valves to each other. Ibid., p. 73.
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