The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

10 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA.
tropical vegetation ;
hence the same species occur on their slopes and summits as
on the surrounding plains, and their thickets everywhere present the sume
obstacles to the progress of the wayfarer. The winter fogs also, which creep up
to the highest summits, make all observations almost impossible.
Of two hundred peaks scaled by Coudreau not more than three rise above the
forest vegetation, so that from these alone it is possible to obtain a complete
view of the horizon and to follow the outlines of the surrounding heights. Of
these natural observatories the finest appears to be Mitaraca, a summit 1,900 feet
high, terminating in a bare granite cone, which affords not a single tuft of grass
to help the climber and save him from a dangerous fall. Nevertheless, Coudreau
Fig. 3.—TuMtro-HuMAO MomiTAma.
S^W/-, —:
Scale 1 : 2,400,000.
West oPGneenwich 54' 53-
. «0 Miles.
assures us that the ascent and the unrivalled prospect commanded by Mitaraca is
worth the journey from Paris to the Guianas." *
Viewed as a whole, the Tumuc-Humac range is disposed in the direction of
the east by south, parallel with the section of the coast comprised between the
Maroni and Oyapok estuaries. In the western region the sj'stem develops two
distinct chains separated by an intervening space of some 25 miles. In the
northern chain rises the Mitaraca " belvedere," while the culminating peaks,
Tiinotakem and Temomairem, dominate the southern ridge.
Towards the east the two chains are connected by transverse offshoots, and
towards the north they throw off ramifying ridges, which enclose the Maroni
basin and separate it from that of the Oyapok. Farther on the eastern section
of the system is prolonged in the direction of the east, without, however, forming
u continuous divide between the river valleys.
* Etude rft la ckainc des monts Tumuc-Humac ; MS. Memoir.