ry
raised above the rest of the earth. It is there that nature, in
elevating land, has proceeded upon a larger scale. Here, therefore, in
the operations of water upon the surface of the earth, we are to look
for effects proportioned to the cause.

Let us cast our eye upon the southern continent of the new world; there
is not, from the one end to the other, any great river that flows to the
sea upon the west side. A ridge of mountains, at no great distance from
the coast, divides the water of this continent; a small part runs to the
west; the most part runs to the east; and forms a country which, for
fertile plains and navigable rivers, has not its equal upon the globe.

But let us observe the course of the rivers; while confined by the
ridges of the Andes and Cordeliers; they run either south or north, and
are thus for some time constrained to take a course very different from
that which they are afterwards to pursue. It is while thus retained
within the ridges of the Andes that those rivers water plains which they
had formed; and it is here that we find countries so much elevated above
the rest of the world, that, under the direct rays of the sun, their
inhabitants are made to suffer from the cold.

It is the collection of those waters running from south to north, and
descending from an enormous height, that have formed in the plain those
appearances that struck so much the French philosopher, as to make
him give us a detail, which, though out of his line, is extremely
interesting in the natural history of the earth.

It is in the valley of the Madelena that M. Bouguer found those grand
relicts of the wasted strata; but we are now to take a view of a country
situated high above the level of that valley. It is that of Santa Fee de
Bogota; a fertile plain estimated at 1600 toises, almost about two miles
above the level of the sea; and which pours its water into the valley
of the Madelena about a degree above Honda, which is mentioned by M.
Bouguer as giving so fine an example of those water-worn rocks. The
extreme singularity in the situation of this country, and at the same
time the perfect similarity which is here to be observed of this country
with all the rest of the earth, as the work of water, will excuse my
transcribing from M. le Blond, _(Journal de Physique,_ Mai 1786) what I
judge to be interesting to my readers.

"Si un observateur attentif parcourt les plaines immenses de l'Amerique
meridionale, s'il mon