158 PEJLK OT DITTDA. 



of Hind x)klio, and of Himalaya, furnish frequent examples, 

 We saw the appearance of flames in many parts of eastern 

 America subject to earthquakes, even from secondary rocks, 

 as at Cuchivero, near Cumanacoa. The fire shows itself 

 when the ground, strongly heated by the sun, receives the 

 first rains ; or when, after violent showers, the earth begins 

 to dry. The first cause of these igneous phenomena lies at 

 immense depths below the secondary rocks, in the primitive 

 formations : the rains and the decomposition of atmospheric 

 water act only a secondary part. The hottest springs of 

 the globe issue immediately from granite. Petroleum 

 gushes from mica-schist; and frightful detonations are 

 heard at Encaramada, between the rivers Arauca and 

 Cuchivero, in the midst of the granitic soil of the Orinoco 

 and the Sierra Parima. Here, as everywhere else on the 

 globe, the focus of volcanos is in the most ancient soils; 

 and it appears that an intimate connection exists between 

 the great phenomena that heave up and liquify 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. 



Duida, though lower than the height assigned to it by 

 popular belief, is however the most prominent point of the 

 whole group of mountains that separate the basin of the 

 Lower Orinoco from that of the Amazon. These mountains 

 lower still more rapidly on the north-east, toward the Puru- 

 nama, than on the east, toward the Padamo and the Bio 

 Ocamo. In the former direction the most elevated summits 

 next to Duida are Cuneva, at the sources of the Rio Paru 

 (one of the tributary streams of the Ventuari), Sipapo, 

 Calitamini, which forms one group with Cunavami and the 

 peak of Uniana. East of Duida, on the right bank of the 

 Orinoco, Maravaca, or Sierra Maraguaca, is distinguished 

 by its elevation, between the Rio Caurimoni and the 

 Padamo; and 011 the left bank of the Orinoco rise the 

 mountains of Guanaja and Tumariquin, between the Rios 

 A.maguaca and Grehetto. It is almost superfluous to repeat 

 that the line which passes through these lofty summits 

 (like these of the Pyrenees, the Carpathian mountains, and 

 BO many other chains of the old continent) is very distinct 



