ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 29 



sea, which became suddenly connected with the ocean. The 

 islands of Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica, still contain the rem- 

 nants of the lofty mountains of mica slate which bounded 

 this sea to the north. It is remarkable that where 

 these three islands approach each other most nearly the 

 highest summits are found ; and we may conjecture that 

 the highest part of this Antillean chain was situated 

 between Cape Tiburon and Point Morant. The Copper 

 Mountains (Montanas de Cobre) near Santiago de Cuba 

 have not yet been measured, but their elevation is probably 

 greater than that of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, (1138 

 toises, 7277 English feet,) which somewhat exceeds the 

 height of the St. Gothard Pass. My conjectures on the 

 valley-form of the Atlantic Ocean, and on the ancient 

 connection of the continents, were given more in detail 

 in a memoir written in Cumana, entitled Fragment d'un 

 Tableau Geologique de FAmerique Meridionale (Journal de 

 Physique, Messidor, An. IX.) It is worthy of remark, that 

 Columbus himself, in his Official Reports, called attention 

 to the connection between the direction of the equatorial 

 current and the form of the coast line of the larger 

 Antilles. (Examen critique de 1'hist. de la Geographic, 

 p. 104-108.) 



The northern and most cultivated part of the province of 

 Caraccas is a country of mountains. The coast chain is 

 divided like the Swiss Alps into several subordinate chedns 

 enclosing longitudinal valleys. The most celebrated of these 

 is the pleasant valley of Aragua, which produces a great 

 quantity of indigo, sugar, cotton, and, what is most re- 



