GEOLOGICAL VIEW. 85 



may be reckoned among our timber; among our lianes, the 

 Bauhinia and Bambusa (Chusquea), with many Orchids. 



The resemblance between the island and the continent, how- 

 ever, becomes more striking still, when we come to consider the 

 geological structure, and consequent surface disposition of the 

 country. We can follow the direction of the mountains of Paria 

 to Cape Galera, through the Dragon's Mouth : the islets which 

 contribute to the formation of the passages, representing so many 

 peaks which, having resisted the convulsions of nature, and remained 

 above the waters when the lower parts were submerged, are to us 

 as so many witnesses of a past cataclysm : just as the highest 

 summits between Diego-Martin and Cuesa, and those to the west- 

 ward of the latter, might probably become if the valley they form 

 were sunk and invaded by the sea. All our vallies are trans- 

 versal to the northern ridge and directed southward only a few 

 insignificant glens opening to the north, exactly as in the penin- 

 sula of Paria. 



" The chain of calcareous mountains of the Brigantine and 

 Cocollar," says Baron von Humboldt, " sends off a considerable 

 branch to the north, which joins the primitive mountains of the 

 coast. This branch bears the name of Sierra de Meapire. 



" When standing on the summit of the Cerro de Meapire, we 

 see the mountain currents flow on one side to the Gulf of Paria, 

 and on the other, to the Gulf of Carriaco ; east and west of the 

 ridge there are low marshy grounds, spreading out without inter- 

 ruption ; and if it be admitted that both gulfs owe their origin to 

 the sinking of the earth, and to rents caused by earthquakes, we 

 must suppose that the Cerro de Meapire has resisted the convul- 

 sive movements of the globe, and hindered the waters of the Gulf 

 of Paria from uniting with those of the Gulf of Carriaco. But for 

 this rocky dyke, the isthmus itself, in all probability, would have 

 had no existence ; and from the Castle of Araya, as far as the 

 Cape of Paria, the whole mass of the mountains of the coast would 

 have formed a narrow island, parallel to the island of Mar- 

 garita." 



No such dyke existing where the mountains were rent in for- 

 mation of the Bocas, Trinidad was thus and then severed from the 

 continent ; arid even at the epoch of the discovery of Trinidad by 

 Columbus, the Indians entertained the opinion that the catas- 

 trophe had taken place at a not very remote period. Previous to 



