1825.] Climate of the Antediluvian World. 209 



given this mountain the improper name of a volcano. As it 

 stands nearly alone, it might be supposed that lightning from 

 time to time sets fire to the brushwood ; but this supposition 

 loses its probability when we reflect on the extreme ditiiculty 

 with which plants are set on fire in these damp climates. It 

 must be observed, also, that these little flames are said to appear 

 often where the rock seems scarcely covered with turf, and that 

 the same igneous phenomena are displayed on days entirely 

 exempt from storms on the summit of Guaraco, or Murcielago, 

 a hill opposite the mouth of the Rio Tamatama, on the southern 

 bank of the Oroonoko. This hill is scarcely elevated 100 toises 

 above the neighbouring plains. If the assertions of the natives 

 be true, it is probable that some subterraneous cause exists in 

 Duina and Guaraco, that produces these flames ; for they never 

 appear in the lofty neighbouring mountains of Jao and Mara- 

 guanca, so often wrapped in electric storms. 



" The first cause of these igneous phenomena is at immense 

 depths below the secondary rocks in the primitive formations : 

 the rains and the decomposition of water act only a secondary 

 part. The hottest springs of the globe issue immediately from 

 granite. Petroleum gushes from mica schist, and fright- 

 ful detonations are heard at Encaramada, between the rivers 

 Arauca and Cuchivero, in the midst of the granitic soil of the 

 Oroonoko and the Sierra Parima. Here, as every where else on 

 the globe, the focus of volcaiios is in the most ancient strata ; 

 and It appears that an intimate connexion exists between the 

 great phenomena that heave up and liquefy the crust of our 

 planet and those igneous meteors which are seen from time to 

 time on its surface, and which from their littleness we are 

 tempted to attribute solely to the influence of the atmosphere." 

 — (See Personal Narrative, vol. v. p. 552 et seq. and vol. ii. 

 chap. 5, p. 291, and vol. iv. chap. 14, p. 45.) 



In the first part of this essay, it was stated in a general way, on 

 the authority of Baron Humboldt, that the thermal springs of 

 South America received their heat from the primitive rocks. 

 The following passages are remarkable : — Speaking of thermal 

 springs in the neighbourhood of the lake of Valencia, he says, 

 " These springs gush out at three points of the grawiVic Cordillera 

 of the coast ; near Onato, between Turmero and Maracay ; near 

 Murisa to the north-east of the Hacienda de Cura; and near 

 Les Trencheras, on the road from Nueva Valencia to Porto 

 Cabello. I could examine with care only the thermal waters of 

 Mariara and Las Trencheras." The mountains of Mariara, he 

 says, " form a vast amphitheatre, composed of perpendicular 

 rocks, crowned by peaks with rugged summits," The granite 

 which constitutes the peak of Calavera is separated, he assures 

 us, by perpendicular fissures into prismatic masses. 



These extracts 1 have inserted not with a view of proving any 

 yiew Series, vol. ix. p 



