zone. midity, that produces fevers of a more or less destructive BOOK nature, and spreads through the whole animal and vege- LXXXVI. table world the agitation of an exuberant but deranged vital principle. The temperate zone, by possessing only a mode- Temperate rate and constant warmth, like that of a hot-house, excludes from its limits both the animals and vegetables that delight in the extremes of heat and cold, and produces its own peculiar plants, which can neither grow above its limits, nor descend below them. Its temperature, which does not brace the constitution of its constant inhabitants, acts like spring on the diseases of the hot region, and like summer on those of the frozen regions. Accordingly, a mere journey from the summit of the Andes to the level of the sea, or vice versa, proves an important medical agent, which is sufficient to produce the most astonishing changes in the human body. But, living constantly in either one or the other of these zones, must enervate both the mind and the body by its monotonous tranquillity. The summer, the spring, and the winter are here seated on three distinct thrones, which they never quit, and are constantly surrounded by the attributes of their power.* tree. Vegetation presents a greater number of gradations, of vegetation which it becomes necessary to point out the principal. From the shores of the sea to the height of 1083 yards, we meet with magnificent palms, the Musa, Heliconia, the Theophrasta, the most odoriferous lilies, the balsam of Region of Tolu, and the cinchona of Carony. The large-flowered the palm jessamine, and the Datura arborea, exhale at night their delicious perfuine round the city of Lima, and, placed in the hair of the ladies, acquire an additional charm, by heightening the graces of female loveliness. On the arid shores of the ocean, under the shade of the cocoa nut tree, the Mangrove springs, with the cactus, and various saline plants, and, amongst others, the Sesuvium portulacastrum.† A single variety of the palm, the Ceroxylon andicola, has * Lefebre, Treatise on the Yellow Fever, ch. I. A. de Humboldt, Descrip tion of the Equatorial Regions. + A. de Humboldt, Description of the Equatorial Regions, BOOK separated itself from the rest of its family, to inhabit the LXXXVI. heights of the Cordillera, at from 5400 to 8700 feet of ele Region of the chin chona. vation. Above the region of the palm commences that of the arborescent fern,* and of the Chinchona, or cinchona. The former no longer grows at 4800 feet, while the latter stops at 8700. The febrifuge substance, which renders the bark of the cinchona so precious, is met with in several trees of a different species, some of which grow at a very low elevation, even on the sea-shore; but as the true cinchona does not grow lower down than at a height of 2118 feet, it has not been able to pass the isthmus of Panama. In the temperate region of the cinchona grow some of the lily tribe; for example, the Cypura and the Sisyrinchium; the Melastoma, with large violet-coloured flowers; the Passionflower-tree, as lofty as our northern oak; the Thibaudia, the Fuchsia, and Alstræmeria, of singular beauty. It is there that majestically arise Macrocnemum, the Lysianthus, and the various Cucullarias. The ground is covered, in moist places, with mosses that are always green, and sometimes form an under verdure of as great beauty as those of Scandinavia or England. The ravines conceal the Gunera, Dorstenia, Oxalis, and a multitude of unknown Arums. At about 1032 feet of elevation we meet with the Porlieria, which marks the hygrometrical state of the air; the Citrosma, with odoriferous leaves, and fruit; and numerous species of Symplocos. Beyond the height of 2392 yards the coldness of the air renders the Mimosas less sensitive, and their leaves no longer close on being touched. From the height of 2668 and especially of 3078 yards, the AcæRegion of na, Dichondra, the Hydrocotyles, Nerteria, and Alchemilla, the grasses form a very thick and verdant turf. The Mutisia climbs and up the loftiest trees. The oaks do not commence in the equatorial regions at a lower elevation than 1842 yards. These trees alone sometimes present, under the equator, the appearance of spring; for they lose all their leaves, * Polypodium arboreum, spinosum and horridum of Linnæus. See Spec. Plant. II. p. 1554. shrubs, and others sprout out, the young verdure of which is min- BOOK gled with that of the Epidendrum, which grows on their LXXXVI. branches. In the region of the equator, the great trees, those of which the trunk measures more than ten or fifteen fathoms, do not rise beyond the level of 2925 yards. From the level of the valley of Quito the trees are smaller, and their height is not to be compared with that which the same species attain in the more temperate climates. At 3600 yards almost the whole vegetation of trees entirely disappears; but at this elevation the shrubs become so much the more common. This is the region of the Berberis, Duranta, Region of and Barnadesia. These plants characterise the vegetation of the plateaus of Pasto and of Quito, as that of Santa Fe is distinguished by the Polymnia and the Datura arborea. The soil is covered with a multitude of calceolarias, the golden coloured corolla of which enamel the verdure of the turf in a beautiful manner. Higher up, on the summit of the Cordillera, from an elevation of 5760 to 6800 feet, we find the region of the Wintera and the Escallonia. The cold but always humid climate of these heights, called by the natives Paramos, produces shrubs, of which the trunks, Vegetation short and stunted, divide into an infinite number of branches, covered with coriaceous ieaves of a shining verdure. Some trees of the orange cinchona, the Embothrium and Melastoma, with violet and almost purple-coloured flowers, grow at this elevation. The Alstonia, the leaf of which, when dry, yields a salutary tea, the Grenadian wintera, and the Escallonia tubar, which extends its branches in the shape of a parasol, form wide spread groups. of the Pa ramos. plants. A broad zone, from 6000 to 12,600 feet, presents us Region of with the region of alpine plants, that, namely, of the Alpine Stæhlina, the Gentians, and the Espeletia frailexon, the velvet leaves of which often serve as a shelter to unfortunate Indians who have been benighted in these regions. The turf is adorned with the Dwarf lobelia, the Sida of Pichincha, the ranunculus of Gusman, the gentian of Quito, besides many other new species. At the height of 12,600 LXXXVI. BOOK feet the Alpine plants are succeeded by the grasses, the region of which extends 1800 or 2400 feet higher. The Jarava, Stipa, and many other new species of the Panicum, Region of the grasses. Agrostis, Avena, and Dactylis, cover the ground. At a distance it has the appearance of a gilded carpet, and, by the natives of the country, is called Pajoual. Snow occasionally falls in this region of the grasses. At the height of 15,160 feet, the phaenogamous plants entirely disappear. From this boundary to that of perpetual snow only the lichens cover the rocks. Some of these plants appear to grow even under eternal ice. Cultivated plants. The cultivated plants are met with in zones that are neither so narrow nor so rigorously defined. In the region of the palms the natives cultivate the banana, jatropha, maize, and cocoa. Europeans have introduced the sugar-cane and indigo plant. After passing the level of $100 feet, all these plants become rare, and only prosper in particular situations. It is thus that the sugar-cane grows even at the height of 7500 feet. Coffee and cotton extend across both of these regions. The cultivation of wheat commences at 3000 feet; but its growth is not completely established lower than 1500 feet above this line. Barley is the most vigorous, from a height of 4800 to 6000 feet. One year with another it produces twenty-five or thirty grains for one. Above 5400 feet the fruit of the banana does not easily ripen; but the plant is still met with, although in a feeble condition, 2400 feet higher. The region comprehended between 4920 and 5160 feet is also the one which principally abounds with the cocoa, or Erythroxylum Peruvianum, a few leaves of which, mixed with quicklime, support the Peruvian Indian in his longest journeys through the Cordillera. It is at the elevation of 6000 and 9000 feet that the Chenopodium quinoa, and the various grains of Europe are principally cultivated, a circumstance which is greatly favoured by the extensive plateaus that exist in the Cordillera of the Andes, the soil of which being smooth, and requiring little labour, resembles the bottom of ancient lakes. At the height of 9600 or 10,200 feet, frost and hail often destroy the crops of BOOK wheat. Indian corn is scarcely any longer cultivated above LXXXVI. the elevation of 7200 feet; 1000 feet higher and the potato is produced; but it ceases at 12,600 feet. At about 10,200 feet barley no longer grows, and rye only is sown, although even this grain suffers from a want of heat. Above 11,040 feet all culture and gardening cease; and man dwells in the midst of numerous flocks of lamas, sheep, and oxen, which, wandering from each other, are sometimes lost in the region of perpetual snow. plu kingdo he plains es. To complete this physical description of south Ame- Animal rica we shall now proceed to consider the various animals that live at different heights in the Cordillera of the Andes, or at the foot of those mountains. From the level of the sea to 3012 feet, in the region of the palm tree and the scitamineæ, we meet with the sloth, which lives on the Cecropia peltata; the boa, and the crocodile, who sleep or drag along their frightful mass at the foot of the Conocarpus and the Anacardium caracoli. It is there that the Cavia capybara hides himself in the marshes that are covered with the Heliconia and the Bambasa, to conceal himself from the pursuit of the carnivorous animals. The Animals of Tanayra, the Crax, and the Paroquet, perched on the and marsh, Caryocar and Lecythis. mingle the brilliance of their mage with that of the flowers and leaves. It is there that we see the glittering of the Elater noctilucus, which feeds on the sugar-cane; and there, too, the Curculio palmarum lives in the heart of the cocoa tree. The forests of these burning regions resound with the howlings of the alouates and other sapajou or marmoset monkies. The Faguar, the Felis concolor, and the black tiger of the Orinoko, still more sanguinary than the yaguar, there relentlessly chase the little stag, (Cervus Mexicanus,) the Cavia, and the ant-eaters, whose tongue is fixed to the end of their sternum. The air of these lower regions, especially in the woods and on the banks of the river, swarms with those countless myriads of the maringuin or mosquito, a fly which renders a large and beautiful portion of the globe |