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The former of these systems, partly covered by the ocean, may be compared, with respect to its relative position and form, to the Sierra Parime; the latter, to the Brazil chains, running also from south-west to north-east. The culminant points of those two systems rise to 1138 and 1040 toises.
Rivers which have a course parallel to the coast, and are nowhere farther distant from it than five or six nautical miles, characterize the whole of the shore between the Orinoco and the Amazon. Ten leagues distant from Cape Barima, the great bed of the Orinoco is divided for the first time into two branches of two thousand toises in breadth.
One of its banks is generally barren and sandy from the effect of inundations; the other is higher, and covered with lofty trees. In some parts the river is bordered by forests on each side, and forms a straight canal a hundred and fifty toises broad. The manner in which the trees are disposed is very remarkable. A copse of cedar, brazilletto, and lignum-vitae, rises behind this hedge.
I have chosen this last volcano in preference, because its summit* enters scarcely within the limit of the perpetual snows. This mountain has not, however, the regular form of a cone. Column 2: Total height in toises. Column 3: Height of the cone covered with ashes. Column 4: Proportion of the cone to the total height. Vesuvius : 606 : 200 : 1/3. Peak of Teneriffe : 1904 : 84 : 1/22.
We tarried so long in this spot, that night surprised us as we entered the savannah, at the elevation of upwards of nine hundred toises. As there is scarcely any twilight in the tropics, we pass suddenly from bright daylight to darkness. The moon was on the horizon; but her disk was veiled from time to time by thick clouds, drifted by a cold and rough wind.
For Sound, according to what I have observed, travels about 180 Toises in the time of one Second, or in about one beat of the pulse. But this supposition ought not to seem to be an impossibility; since it is not a question of the transport of a body with so great a speed, but of a successive movement which is passed on from some bodies to others.
A new event, for every thing was an event for wretches for whom the universe was reduced to a flooring of a few toises in extent, who were the sport of the winds and waves, as they hung suspended over the abyss; an event then happened which happily diverted our attention from the horrors of our situation.
We had to descend the north-east slope of the calcareous Alps of New Andalusia, which we have called the great chain of the Brigantine and the Cocollar. The mean elevation of this chain scarcely exceeds six or seven hundred toises: in respect to height and geological constitution, we may compare it to the chain of the Jura.
The stone fell, and daylight was visible, brilliant, radiant, flooding the cavern through the opening, and the blue sea appeared to the delighted Bretons. They began to lift the bark over the barricade. Twenty more toises, and it would glide into the ocean. It was during this time that the company arrived, was drawn up by the captain, and disposed for either an escalade or an assault.
There have been employed in making the said new cage, ninety-six horizontal beams, and fifty-two upright joists, ten wall plates three toises long; there have been occupied nineteen carpenters to hew, work, and fit all the said wood in the courtyard of the Bastille during twenty days." "Very fine heart of oak," said the king, striking the woodwork with his fist.
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