Geological Dtlhiealion of Suuih America, 33 



thought he found, bv calculation, that the great flattening 

 of the earth must be on the west side of ihe north pole. 

 Has the axis of rotation been changed ? What will be the 

 inclination of the si rata in the southern hemisphere ? We 

 are not acquainted with the cause; let us rather continue to 

 examine the plia^nomena. 



This falling of the strata of the original mountains in 

 the Cordillera of Venezuola has a great and melancholy 

 influence on the fertility of the provinces of Caracas, Cu- 

 mana, and Barcelona ; the water which filtres through at 

 the summit of the mountain flows dov\n according to the 

 direction of the strata, and for this reason there is great 

 want of water in the whole large district which lies on the 

 south side of the cordillera, and therefore so many springs 

 and small streams burst forth on the northern declivity, 

 which, by this great quantity of moisture, and the super- 

 abundance of wood, which shelters it almost the whole day 

 from the sun's rays, is rendered as unhealthful as it is fruit- 

 ful. 



The alluvial mountains which f have hitherto observed 

 arc almost under the same circumstances as in Europe. The 

 oldest seem to have experienced the action of the same 

 causes which determined the strata of the original moun- 

 tains, as they rise in the league 3 — 4, or as the seamen ex- 

 press it, N. 50 11. They often tall towards the south-east, 

 as in the Alps of Bern, the Valais, Tyrol, and Steyermark; 

 but the greater part of then), and particularly the newest, 

 which where I have been are the most numerous, follow 

 no certain law ; their strata often lie horizontally, or rise 

 towards the edge of the large dried-up basons, which in 

 America are called Llanos, and in Africa Deserts. 



La Coiidamine says that in Peru and Quito he observed 

 no petrifactions. The cordillera of Ouito, however, is not 

 like that of Parima, naked granite, for at Cuenca, and on 

 the south side, there is gvpsum and alluvial chalk. Jjullbii 

 dwells much, in his Epoqiies di- la Naf/n-i^, on the question 

 whether South America contains petrifactions ? I have 

 found an immense quantity of them in calcareous alluvial 

 sandstone which covers the northern and southern decli- 

 vity of the coast of Venezuola, from the summit of St. 

 Bernandin^ and the Altos de Conoma, to the Cerrode Mca- 

 pirc, or the headland of Furia and Trinidad. 'J'he same 

 stratum is found also in Tobago, Guadaloupe, and St. Do- 

 mingo. An immense quantity of sea and land shells, 

 which in Europe are seldom found mixed together, cellu- 

 laria?, niarlrcpores, corallines, and astroitcs, are found in- 



V01-. XVHl. No. ()9. C tcrsperscd 



