512 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



supplies the neighboring city of Merida with ice. Low chains 

 also stretch along the coast as far as the delta of the Orinoco. 

 These mountains for the most part run in parallel ranges, between 

 which lie elevated valleys. In these valleys are most of the culti- 

 vated lands of the country. Here also are the chief cities, al- 

 though many of the seaports are of considerable size. Caracas, 

 the capital, is nine miles back from the coast, at an elevation of 

 three thousand feet, but the railroad which runs to it from La 

 Guaira is obliged to take a tortuous way of twenty-three miles, 

 passing through many cuts and tunnels. There are no stations 

 along the route, and the country is not cultivated except near the 

 termini. In many places the track winds around a mountain on 

 the verge of a sheer descent of hundreds of feet. Caracas lies in 

 one of the mountain valleys, which slopes toward the south and is 

 traversed by the Guaire River. Its temperature is equable ; the 

 mean of its coldest month, January, being 68 F., and of its hot- 

 test month, May, being 93. Rain falls abundantly in April, 

 May, and June, though not so constantly as in other tropical 

 regions. The rest of the year is rather dry. 



Between the mountains and the Orinoco stretch the broad 

 llanos or grassy and partly tree-covered plains which form the 

 basin of the great river on the northwestern side. The extensive, 

 thinly populated territory south and east of the Orinoco is made 

 up of alternating hills and valleys, and is heavily wooded. This 

 region has some mountains of moderate elevation, among which 

 is Roraima, of much interest to explorers, standing on (or near) 

 the boundary of British Guiana. Its tablelike upper portion, a 

 mass of pink sandstone rising sheer sixteen hundred feet, was first 

 ascended in 1884 by Im Thurn and Perkins after many unsuccess- 

 ful attempts had been made. " Obviously Roraima was formerly," 

 says Reclus, " part of an elevated table land, which has been grad- 

 ually isolated by a process of cleavage and erosive action. It sur- 

 vives to present times as a superb witness to former geological 

 conditions. Streams have their rise on the upper platform, over 

 the edge of which they fall in cascades, draping the pink escarp- 

 ments as with lace veils of their silvery spray. ' O Roraima, red 

 mountain, wrapped in clouds, fruitful mother of streams ! ' sing 

 the Arecuna Indians encamped in the surrounding valleys." 



Venezuela has no volcanoes, but traces of ancient eruptions 

 are to be found among the highlands. Certain flames often seen 

 hovering over the ground were formerly thought to be connected 

 with subterranean fires, but this idea has been dispelled by ad- 

 vancing knowledge. " This curious phenomenon," says Reclus in 

 his description of it, " has been noticed on the slopes of Duida, on 

 Mount Cuchivano, in the province of Cuman^, and in the marshy 

 valley of the Catatumbo and of other streams flowing to Lake 



