338 CHAIN OF SIPAPO. 



Siamacu, and the mountains (lat. 5 50 ) that separate the 

 sources of the Erevato and the Caura from those of the 

 \ 7 entuari. 5th. The chain of Carichana and of Paruaci 

 (lat. 6 25'), wild in aspect, but surrounded by charming 

 meadows. Piles of granite crowned with trees, and insu- 

 lated rocks of prismatic form (the Mogote of Cocuyza and 

 the Marimaruta or Castillito of the Jesuits), belong to this 

 chain. 6th. On the western bank of the Orinoco, which is 

 low and flat, the Peak of Uniana rises abruptly more than 

 3000 feet high. The spurs (lat. 5 35' 5 40') which this 

 peak sends eastward are crossed by the Orinoco in the first 

 Great Cataract (that of Mapura ur the Atures) ; further on 

 they unite together, and, rising in a chain, stretch towards 

 the sources of the Cataniapo, the rapids of Ventuari, situated 

 on the north of the confluence of the Asisi (lat. 5 10') and 

 the Cerro Cunevo. 7th. Five leagues south of the Atures 

 is the chain of Quittuna, or of Maypures (lat. 15 13'), 

 which forms the bar of the Second Great Cataract. None 

 of those lofty summits are situated on the west of the 

 Orinoco ; on the east of that river rises the Cunavami, the 

 truncated peak of Calitamini, and the Jujamari, to which 

 Father Gili attributes an extraordinary height. 8th. The 

 last chain of the south-west part of the Sierra Parime is 

 separated by woody plains from the chain of Maypures ; it 

 is the chain of the Cerros de Sipapo (lat. 4 50'); an enor- 

 mous wall, behind which the powerful chief of the Guay- 

 punabi Indians intrenched himself during the expedition of 

 Solano. The chain of Sipapo may be considered as the 

 beginning of the range of lofty mountains which bound, at 

 the distance of some leagues, the right bank of the Orinoco, 

 where that river runs from S.E. to N.W., between the 

 mouth of the Yentuari, the Jao, and the Padamo (lat. 

 3 15'). In ascending the Orinoco, above the cataract of 

 Maypures, we find, long before we reach the point where it 

 turns, near San Fernando del Atabapo, the mountains dis- 

 appearing from the bed of the river, and from the mouth of 

 the Zama there are only insulated rocks in the plains. The 

 chain of Sipapo forms the south-west limit of the system of 

 mountains of Parime, between 70 and 68 of longitude. 

 Modern geologists have observed that the culminant points 

 of a group are less frequently found at its centre thaa 



