Footnote 65:
p. 191.—“_Characteristic denominations in Arabic and Persian._”
More than twenty words might be cited by which the Arabs distinguish
between a Steppe (tanufah), according as it may be a Desert without
water, entirely bare, or covered with siliceous sand, and interspersed
with spots of pasture land (Sahara, Kafr, Mikfar, Tih, Mehme). Sahl is a
depressed plain; Dakkah a desolate elevated plateau. In Persian Beyaban
is an arid sandy waste (as the Mongolian Gobi and the Chinese Han-hai
and Scha-mo); Yaila is a Steppe covered with grass rather than with
low-growing plants (like the Mongolian Küdah, the Turkish Tala or
Tschol, and the Chinese Huang). Deschti-reft is a naked elevated
plateau.[IK]
Footnote 66:
p. 191.—“_The old Castilian dialects._”
Pico, picacho, mogote, cucurucho, espigon, loma tendida, mesa,
panecillo, farallon, tablon, peña, peñon, peñasco, peñoleria, roca
partida, laxa, cerro, sierra, serrania, cordillera, monte, montaña,
montañuela, cadena de montes, los altos, malpais, reventazon, bufa, &c.
Footnote 67:
p. 194.—“_Where the map had indicated Montes de Cacao._”
On the range of hills from which the lofty Andes de Cuchao have
originated, see my _Relation historique_, t. iii. p. 238.
Footnote 68:
p. 197.—“_Hermesia._”
The genus Hermesia, the Sauso, has been described by Bonpland, and is
delineated in our _Plantes équinoxiales_, t. i. p. 162, tab. xlvi.
Footnote 69:
p. 199.—“_The fresh-water dolphin._”
These are not sea dolphins, which, like some species of Pleuronectes
(flat fish which invariably have both eyes on one side of the body),
ascend the rivers to a great distance, as, for instance, the Limande
(_Pleuronectes Limanda_), which is found as far inland as Orleans. Some
forms of sea fish, as the dolphin and skate (_Raia_), are met with in
the great rivers of both continents. The fresh-water dolphin of the
Apure and the Orinoco differs specifically from the _Delphinus
gangeticus_ as well as from all sea dolphins.[IL]
Footnote 70:
p. 199.—“_The striped nocturnal monkey._”
This is the Douroucouli or Cusi-cusi of the Cassiquiare which I have
elsewhere described as the _Simia trivirgata_,[IM] from a drawing made
by myself of the living animal. We have since seen the nocturnal monkey
living in the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris.[IN] Spix
also met with this remarkable little animal on the Amazon River and
called it _Nyctipithecus vociferans_.