168 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



Physical Features. 



The island- of Margarita as seen from the mainland thirty-two 

 kilometers distant appears as two conical mountains separated by a 

 long stretch of lowland. It may be seen on the accompanying map 

 that it consists of two irregular polygonal areas connected by a narrow 

 strip of land, each of these areas rising from the lowlands of the plain 

 to the foothills and mountain ridge of the center, thus giving the 

 conical appearance in the distance. 



Located about eleven degrees north, and sixty-four degrees west, 

 Margarita is sixty-seven kilometers long and thirty-two wide. It is 

 eleven kilometers from the desert islands Cubagua and Coche, and 

 is the largest of the Venezuelan islands that extend along the coast 

 from Cura9oa to Trinidad. The highest peaks of the two ends are 

 about forty-two kilometers apart. The relative extent of plains, foot- 

 hills, and mountains can best be understood by considering the two 

 ends separately and in detail. 



The mountains of the eastern end rise to an altitude of 795 meters 

 and have many spurs jutting out in different directions. Surrounding 

 the mountain and its spurs are the valleys and plains which in some 

 cases extend to the sea. On the eastern and northern sides are what 

 may be termed outlying mountains which are less extensive than the 

 central mountain mass, San Juan Mountain, and border directly on 

 the sea. The top of San Juan Mountain, between the altitudes 650 

 and 795 meters, is destitute of trees. Bare rock ledges jut out from 

 beneath the low shrubbery. Occasionally the summit is in clear 

 sunshine, but quite as often the heavy clouds laden with moisture are 

 rapidly flitting over, now completely enveloping it, and now exposing 

 it to the warmth of the sun. Within thirty meters of the top is one 

 spring on the El Valle side, and fifteen meters below that is another. 

 Though these are entirely exposed they never seem to dry up. The 

 dense woods which cover the mountains above 400 meters collect and 

 retain the moisture of the clouds, thus together with the two springs 

 furnishing a source for small streams below. 



On the map of the island it is shown that the mountain ridge as a 

 whole not only extends from northeast to southwest, but also rises 

 gradually from the west in a succession of hills to the highest point 

 which is iibove El Valle and San Juan, thence lowering a little for a 

 distance of one and one half kilometers, and then dropping abruptly 



