ILLUSTRATIONS (1). LAKE OF TACAHIGITA. 23 



which is adorned with the purple-flowering Befaria (the red- 

 blossomed American Alpine rose), rise 1350 toises, or 8633 

 English feet above the level of the sea. The coast of the Terra 

 Firm a everywhere bears traces of devastation, giving evidence 

 of the action of the great current which runs from east to 

 west, and which, after the disintegration of the Caribbean 

 Islands, formed the present Sea of the Antilles. The tongues of 

 land of Araya and Chuparipari, and more especially tht coasts 

 of Cumana and New Barcelona, present to the geologist a re- 

 markable aspect. The rocky islands of Boracha, Caracas, and 

 Chimanas rise like beacon-towers from the sea, affording 

 evidence of the fearful irruption of the waters against the 

 shattered mountain chain. The Sea of the Antilles may 

 once have been an inland sea, like the Mediterranean, which 

 has suddenly been connected with the ocean. The islands of 

 Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica still exhibit the remains of the 

 mountains of micaceous schist which fornibd the northern 

 boundary of this lake. It is a remarkable fact that the 

 highest peaks are situated at the very point where these islands 

 approach one another the closest. It may be conjectured that 

 the principal nucleus of the chain was situated between Cape 

 Tiburon and Morant Point. The height of the copper moun- 

 tains (montanas de cobre) near Saint lago de Cuba has not 

 yet been measured, but this range is probably higher than the 

 Blue Mountains of Jamaica (1138 toises, or 7277 English feet), 

 whose elevation somewhat exceeds that of the Pass of St. 

 Gothard. I have already expressed my conjectures more 

 fully regarding the valley-like form of the Atlantic Ocean, and 

 the ancient connection of the continents, in a treatise written 

 at Cumana, entitled Fragment dun Tableau geologique de 

 rAmerique meridionale, which appeared in the Journal de 

 Physique, Messidor, an IX. It is remarkable that Columbus 

 himself makes mention, in his official report, of the connection 

 between the course of the equinoctial current and the form of 

 the coast-line of the Greater Antilles.* 



The northern and more cultivated portion of the province 

 of Caracas is a mountainous region. The marginal chain is 

 divided, like that of the Swiss Alps, into many ranges, enclosing 

 longitudinal valleys. The most remarkable among these is 



* Examen critique de I' Hist, de la Geographic, t. iii., pp. 104 



108. 



