THE LACUNA GBANDE. ll 



contain nearly five per cent, of potash, sulphnret of iron, 

 peroxide of iron, carbon, &c. The contact of so many 

 moistened heterogeneous substances must necessarily lead 

 them to a change of state and composition. The efflores- 

 cent salts that abundantly cover the aluminous slates of 

 Kobalo, shew how much these chemical effects are favoured 

 by the high temperature of the climate ; but, I repeat, in a 

 rock where there are no crevices, no vacuities parallel to the 

 direction and inclination of the strata, native alum, semi- 

 transparent and of conchoidal fracture, completely filling 

 its place (its beds), must be regarded as of the same age 

 \\iththe rock in which it is contained. The term " con- 

 temporary formation" is here taken in the sense attached 

 to it by geologists, in speaking of beds of quartz in clay- 

 >hite, granular limestone in mica-slate, or feldspar in gneiss. 

 After having for a long time wandered over barren scenes, 

 amidst rocks entirely devoid of vegetation, our eyes dwelt with 

 pleasure on tufts of malpighia andcroton, which we found in 

 descending toward the coast. These arborescent crotons 

 were of two new species,* very remarkable for their form, 

 and peculiar to the peninsula of 'Araya. We arrived too late 

 at the Laguna Chica, to visit another rock situated farther 

 east, and celebrated by the name of the Laguna Grande, or the 

 Laguna del Obispo.f We contented ourselves with admiring 

 it from the height of the mountains that command the view ; 

 and, excepting the ports of Ferrol and Acapulco, there is 

 perhaps none presenting a more extraordinary configuration. 

 It is an inland gulf two miles and a half long from east to 

 west, and one mile broad. The rocks of mica-slate that form 

 the entrance of the port, leave a free passage only two 

 .mndred and fifty toises broad. The water is everywhere 

 from fifteen to twenty-five fathoms deep. Probably the 

 government of Cum ana will one day take advantage of the 

 possession of this inland gulf, and of that of Mochima,J eight 

 leagues east of the bad road of Nueva Barcelona. The family 

 ! NavaivU- \\vre waiting for us with impatience on the 



* Croton argyrophyllug, and C. tnarginatus. 

 f Great Lake, or the Bishop's Lake. 



J This is a long narrow gulf, three miles from north tc south, timtiat 

 to the fiords of Norway. 



