336 OEIGIN OF THE PARIME BANG1. 



The system of the mountains of Parime separates the 

 plains of the Lower Orinoco from those of the Eio JS T egro 

 and the Amazon ; it occupies a territory of trapezoidal form, 

 comprehended between the parallels of 3 3 and 8, and tho 

 meridians of 61 and 70^. I here indicate only the elements 

 of the loftiest group, for we shall soon see that towards 

 south-east, the mountainous country, in lowering, draws near 

 the equator, as well as to French and Portuguese Guiana. 

 The Sierra Parime extends most in the direction N. 85 W., 

 and the partial chains into which it separates on the west- 

 ward generally follow the same direction. It is less a Cor- 

 dillera or a continuous chain in the sense given to those 

 denominations when applied to the Andes and Caucasus, 

 than an irregular grouping of mountains separated the one 

 from the other by plains and savannahs. I visited the 

 northern, western, and southern parts of the Sierra Parime, 

 which is remarkable by its position and its extent of more 

 than 25,000 square leagues. From the confluence of the 

 Apure, as far as the delta of the Orinoco, it is uniformly 

 three or four leagues removed from the right bank of the 

 great river; only some rocks of gneiss-granite, amphibolic 

 slate, and greenstone advance as far as the bed of the 

 Orinoco, and create the rapids of Torno and of La Boca del 

 Infierno.* I shall name successively, from N.N.E. to S.S.W., 

 the different chains seen by M. Bonpland and myself as we 

 approached the equator and the river Amazon. 1st. The 

 most northern chain of the whole system of the mountains 

 of Parime, appeared to us to be that w r hich stretches (lat. 

 7 50') from the Eio Arui, in the meridian of the rapids of 

 Camiseta, at the back of the town of Angostura, towards 

 the great cataracts of the Eio Carony and the sources of 

 the Imataca. In the missions of the Catalonian Capuchins, 

 this chain, which is not 300 toises high, separates the tri- 

 butary streams of the Orinoco and those of the Eio Cuyuni, 

 between the town of TJpata, Cupapui, and Santa Marta. 

 Westward of the meridian of the rapids of Camiseta (long. 



* To this series of advanced rocks also belong those which pierce the 

 soil between the Rio Aquire and the Rio Barima ; the granitic and amphi- 

 bolic rocks of the Vieja Guayana and of the town of Angostura; the 

 Cerro de Mono on the south-east of Muitaco or Real Corono ; the Cerro 

 cf Taramuto near the Alta.Gracia, &c. 



