THE VENEZUELAN ANDES. 83 



ments as with lace veils of their silvery spray. " Roraima, red mountain, 

 wrapped in clouds, fruitful mother of streams ! " sing the Arecuua Indians, 

 encamped in the surrounding valleys. 



These tremendous cliffs were for the first time scaled by Ira Thurn and 

 Perkins in 1884, and since then the summit has been visited by the collectors of 

 orchids, Mr. E. Cromer and Mr. Seyler, the former alone in 1888, and both 

 together in 1891. On the last occasion the surface was explored, and towards 

 the south many gigantic and marvellously-shaped rocks discovered, resembling 

 majestic palaces, churches, and fortresses. Other smaller rocks assumed the 

 fantastic forms of umbrellas, kettles, or pyramids, and one bore a striking likeness 

 to the statue of a man Between these grotesque masses of rocks were innumer- 

 able lakelets, some connected by canals generally shallow, but occasionally 5 or 

 6 feet deep. The plateau seemed almost destitute of animal life, though the lakes, 

 one of which was 150 yards wide, swarmed with a species of blackbeetle. Some 

 small frogs and lizards, a few spiders, and one black butterfly were also seen, 

 besides a small dark-coloured mammal, apparently a species of kibihee {Nasua 

 fusca?), which when approached gave a sound like a whistle and swiftly disap- 

 peared amid the rocks.* 



The Venezuelan Andes. 



In Venezuela the Andes proper begin on the very shores of the Dragon's 

 Mouth over against the north-west point of Trinidad, whence the Paria range 

 runs westwards, with perfect regularity, but at a moderate elevation. Never- 

 theless, a crest at the eastern extremity overtops the highest peaks in Trinidad, 

 attaining an altitude of 3,510 feet. The sj'stem, which is entirely of igneous 

 origin, extends for a distance of about 160 miles, being limited southwards first by 

 an inlet of the Grulf of Paria, and farther west by the Gulf of Cariaco. Between 

 these two deep bights it skirts a low-lying plain, where is seen a still flooded 

 depression, remnant of a former marine inlet. This level tract, which is watered 

 by a few sluggish streamlets, may one day serve to connect the two opposite gulfs 

 which it now separates. 



Even to the most ignorant observer of the physical aspects of nature, the 

 Gulf of Cariaco presents the unmistakable appearance of a mountain valley skirted 

 by two parallel ranges. It looks, in fiict, like a rent in the mountains, so accu- 

 rate is the correspondence between the headlands and inlets along its northern and 

 southern shores. Hence the local Indian legends speak of a sudden irruption of 

 the sea, which, according to some chroniclers, occurred only a few years before the 

 voyage of Columbus. The Paria range itself is pierced by a transverse breach 

 south of the picturesque bay of Carupano. 



The mountains of Cumana, which rise to the south of the Paria chain, present 

 a far less regular aspect, developing a line of uneven masses disposed in the same 

 direction from east to west, and dominated by summits much higher than those of 

 the coast range. Mount Turumiquire, towards the centre of the system, attains a 



* Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society, April, 1892, p. 242. 



