376 INCLINATION or THE ROCKS. 



I passed, contains much more granite* than gnetsa, and 

 other rocks distinctly stratified, the direction of the layers 

 could be observed in this group only on a small number of 

 points ; but I was often struck in this region with the con- 

 tinuity of the phenomenon of loxodromism. The amphibolic 

 slates of Angostura run N. 45 E., like the gneiss of Gua- 

 pasoso which forms the bed of the Atabapo, and like the 

 mica-slate of the peninsula of Araya, though there is a 

 distance of 160 leagues between the limits of those rocks. 



The direction of the strata, of which we have just noticed 

 the wonderful uniformity, is not entirely parallel with the 

 longitudinal axes of the two coast chains, and the chain of 

 Parime. The strata generally cut the former of those 

 chains at an angle of 35, and their inclination towards the 

 north-west becomes one of the most powerful causes of the 

 aridity which prevails on the southern declivityf of the 

 mountains of the coast. May we conclude that the direc- 

 tion of the eastern Cordillera of New Grenada, which is 

 nearly N. 45 E. from Santa Ee de Bogota, to beyond the 

 Sierra Nevada de Merida, and of which the littoral chain is 

 but a continuation, has had an influence on the direction 

 (hor. 3-4) of the strata in Venezuela ? That region pre- 

 sents a very remarkable loxodromism with the strata of 

 mica-slate, grauwacke, and the orthoceratite limestone of 

 the Alleghanies, and that vast extent of country (lat. 56 

 68) lately visited by Captain Franklin. The direction N. E. 

 S. "W. prevails in every part of North America, as in 

 Europe in the Eitchtelgebirge of Eranconia, in Taunus, 

 "VYesterwald, and Eifel; in the Ardennes, the Vosges, in 

 Cotentin, in Scotland, and in the Tarentaise, at the south- 

 west extremity of the Alps. If the strata of rocks in Vene- 

 zuela do not exactly follow the direction of the nearest 

 Cordillera, that of the shore, the parallelism between the 

 axis of one chain, and the strata of the formations that 

 compose it, are manifest in the Brazil group. J 



* Only the granite of the Baragon is stratified, as well as crossed by 

 veins of granite : the direction of the beds is N. 20 W. 



t This southern declivity is however less rapid than the northern. 



J The strata of the primitive and intermediary rocks of Brazil run very 

 regularly, like the Cordillera of Villarica (Serra do Espinhaco) hor. 1'4 

 or hor. 2 of the compass of Freiberg (N. 28 E.) 



