394 GYPSUM OF THE LLANOS. 



formation than the secondary rocks. "We must not be sur- 

 prised that the doubts which arise in the mind of the geo- 

 logist when endeavouring to decide on the relative age of 

 the limestone of the high mountains in the Pyrenees, the 

 Apennines (south of the lake of Perugia), and in the Swiss 

 Alps, should extend to the limestone strata of the high moun- 

 tains of New Andalusia, and everywhere in America where 

 the presence oi red sandstone is not distinctly recognized. 



IX. SANDSTONE OF THE BEEGANTIN. Between Nueva 

 Barcelona and the Cerro del Bergantin a quartzose sandstone 

 covers the Jura limestone of Cumanacoa. Is it an arena- 

 ceous rock analogous to green sandstone, or does it belong 

 to the sandstone of Cocollar ? In the latter case, its presence 

 seems to prove still more clearly that the limestones of 

 Cumanaco and Caripe are only two parts of the same system, 

 alternating with sandstone, sometimes quartzose, sometimes 

 slaty, 



X. GYPSUM OP THE LLANOS OE VENEZUELA. Deposits 

 of lamellar gypsum, containing numerous strata of marl, are 

 found in patches on the steppes of Caracas and Barcelona ; 

 for instance, in the table-land of San Diego, between Ortiz 

 and the Mesa de Paja ; and near the mission of Cachipo. 

 They appeared to me to cover the Jura limestone of Tisnao, 

 which is analagous to that of Caripe, where we find it mixed 

 with masses of fibrous gypsum. I have not given the name 

 formation either to the sandstone of the Orinoco, of 

 Cocollar, of Bergantin, or to the gypsum of the Llanos, 

 because nothing as yet proves the independence of those 

 arenaceous and gypsous soils. I think it will one day be 

 ascertained that the gypsum of the Llanos covers not only 

 the Jura limestone of the Llanos, but that it is sometimes 

 enclosed in it like the gypsum of the Golfo Triste on the 

 east of the Alpine limestone of Cumanacoa. The great 

 masses of sulphur found in the layers, almost entirely clayey, 

 of the steppes (at Guayuta, valley of San Bonifacio, Buen 

 Pastor, confluence of the Bio Pao with the Orinoco), may 

 possibly belong to the marl of the gypsum of Ortiz. These 

 clayey beds are more worthy of attention since the interesting 

 observations of Yon Buch, and several other celebrated 

 geologists, respecting the cavernosity of gypsum, the irre- 



