BOTAFOGO BAY, RIO DE JANEIRO. 
SOUTH AMERICA. 
Aren, 6,850,000 square miles; greatest extent from north to south, 4,600 miles; and from east to west, 3,200 miles ; popula- 
tion, 29,350,000 ; persons to square mile, 4. 
South America comprises the southern portion of the 
American continent from the Isthmus of Panama. Itis 
bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea; on the west 
by the Pacific Ocean; on the south by the Antaretie 
Deean; and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. 
Like the Northern Continent, South America may be 
divided into four great regions, besides the narrow strip of 
land befween the Andes and the Pacific, viz. : the north- 
eastepn slope, or valley of the Orinoco; the great central 
plain, or valley of the Amazon, extending from the Andes 
9n the Pacific coast to the Atlantic Ocean, across the widest 
Part of the continent; the Atlantic slope from the moun- 
lains of Brazil eastward; and the south-eastern slope, or 
valley of La Plata, consisting chiefly of vast pamvas or 
desert plains. 
The great chain of the Andes, over 4,000 miles in 
length, extends from the extreme north to the southern 
Point of the continent, parallel with the Pacific coast, 
[rom which it is never more than 200 miles distant. The 
Andes are only exceeded in height by a few peaks of the 
Himalayas, but even these they surpass in the vast ex- 
tent and size of their rugged masses. In the north they 
COnsist of three parallel chains, soaring to their greatest 
height when they unite in the high table-lands of Quito, 
in Keuador, which are 6,000 feet above the sea. Here 
hey form a mass of active volcanoes from 18,000 to 
20,000 feet above the sea, their summits covered with 
Derpetual snow. Amongst these are Chimborazo (20,650):