3'S'4 Oeologieal Delineation of South America. 



micaceous schistous cordillera of Maniquare and Paria orvlv' 

 W the Cerro de Mcapire, which, analogous tc the branche?; 

 of Tovlto and los Tequcs, which separate the basons of 

 Alonai, Aragua, and Caracas^' extends north and south 

 tVoni (juacharo and Catouaroy to the mountain Paria,- and 

 separates the valley of Cariaco (the dried up bank of the 

 (iulph of Cariaco) from the vallev of St. Boniface, which 

 fornierlv belonged to the Golfo Triste. It will be seen 

 hereafter, that the accumulation of calcareous formation 

 on the eastern part of the coast of this country seems tO' 

 have been more exposed to earthquakes ; and that the Cerro- 

 dc Mcapirc, at the time of the irruption of the Gulph of 

 Cariaco, and the Golfo Triste, prevented the water iron* 

 convertinc; the laii-d of Araya avid the ridge of Paria into an 

 island. 



The dcGlivlty of the cordillera of the coast of Venezuela 

 is ccntler towards the south than towards the north, which 

 is particularly striking when one descends from the heights 

 of Guigue, through St. Juan, Parapara, and Ortiz towards 

 the Mera de Paja, which belongs to the great Llano de 

 Calabozo. The northern declivity is every where very 

 steep, and there is scarcely found,- Mont Blanc excepted, 

 above Cotirmayeur, a more frighful precipice than the per- 

 pendicular wall of Silla de Caracas, beyond Caravallcdo, 

 which rises to the height of 1300 toises. An accurate mea- 

 surement of this wall of rock was of great importance to^ 

 naviffatorb', as they could find ils distance from the coast 

 only by taking the angle of its elevation : its longitude^ 

 therefore, of 60° 37' 33" west iVom Paris, will enable theui 

 to discover it. 



The phenomenon of a more gentle declivity towards the 

 south seems to contradict the observations made in other 

 Cordilleras of the earth, as it is asserted that they all decline^ 

 more abrtiptlv tov/ards the south and west. This contra- 

 diction, however, is only apparent as the northern part of 

 tiic cordillera, during the great catastrophe which produced 

 the Gulpk uf Mexico, was torn away by the force of the 

 water J nnd therefore the northern declivity might at that 

 time be gentler than the southern. 



If the form of the coast be considered, it appears to be 

 pretty regularly indented. The headlands of Ties Puntas, 

 Codera, S. Roman, and Chichibacoa, on the west, from 

 Cabo dc la Vela, form a row of promontories, the western 

 of which runs more to the nortli than the eastern. To the 

 windward of each of these capes a creek has been formed j 

 and one caamothelp seeing, in this singular formation, the 



actioa 



