131 TrLTURES Of TUB LLANOS. 



peaii frog, lizartl, sand- martin, and marmot. If the hibernal 

 lethargy be observed, both in cold-blooded and in hot- 

 blooded animals, we shall be less surprised to learn, that 

 these two classes furnish alike examples of a summer-sleep. 

 In the same manner as the crocodiles of South America, 

 the tanrecs, or Madagascar hedgehogs, in the midst of the 

 torrid zone, pass three months of the year in lethargy. 



On the 25th of March we traversed the smoothest part 

 of the steppes of Caracas, the Mesa de Pavones. It is 

 entirely destitute of the corypha and moriche palm-trees. 

 As far as the eye can reach, not a single object fifteen 

 inches high can be discovered. The air was clear, and the 

 sky of a very deep blue ; but the horizon reflected a livid 

 and yellowish light, caused no doubt by the quantity of 

 sand suspended in the atmosphere. "We met some large 

 herds of cattle, and with them flocks of birds of a black 

 colour with an olive shade. They are of the genus Croto- 

 phaga,* and follow the cattle. We had often seen them 

 perched on the backs of cows, seeking for gadflies and other 

 insects. Like many birds of these desert places, they fear 

 so little the approach of man, that children often catch them 

 in their hands. In the valleys of Aragua, where they are 

 very common, we have seen them perch upon the hammocks 

 on which we were reposing, in open day. 



We discover, between Calabozo, Uritucu, and the Mesa 

 de Pavones, wherever there are excavations of some feet 

 deep, the geological constitution of the Llanos. A formation 

 of red sandstone (ancient conglomerate) covers an extent 

 of several thousand square leagues. We shall find it again 

 in the vast plains of the Amazon, on the eastern boundary 

 of the province of Jaen de Bracamoros. This prodigious 

 extension of red sandstone in the low grounds stretching 

 along the east of the Andes, is one of the most striking 

 phenomena I observed during my examination of rocks in 

 the equinoctial regions. 



The red sandstone of the Llanos of Caracas lies in a 

 concave position, between the primitive mountains of the 

 shore and of Parime. On the north it is backed by the 



* The Spanish colonists call the Crotophaga ani, zamurito (little car- 

 rion vulture, Vultur aura minuta), or garapatero, ' the eater of ^ara- 

 p.as/ insects of the Acarus family. 



