THE SIEEEA DE MEEIDA. 85 



Although, according to Aveledo, 380 feet lower than Naiguata, the Silla ("Saddle") 

 is much better known, and has been far more frequently scaled, thanks to its 

 proximity to the capital. A difficult track, which is now abandoned, formerly 

 led from Caracas over the " saddle-back " down to the harbour. The second or 

 southern chain, dominated by the Rincon del Valle, scarcely attains half the 

 elevation of the coast range. It culminates eastwards in a peak 4,200 feet high. 



Towards the point where the coast begins to trend northwards round the 

 crescent- shaped Gulf of Triste, the main axis of the system strikes south-westwards, 

 and here is developed the first section of the Cordilleras to which, in the popular 

 language, is exclusively applied the name of " Andes." But the space thus shut 

 off between the Gulf of Triste and Lake Maracaibo is itself traversed by some- 

 what irregular ridges, mainly disposed in the direction from south-west to north- 

 east, parallel with the Andean range itself. Here also crystalline rocks crojj out 

 above more recent formations, and the highest peak, the Cerro San Luis, rising 

 4,000 feet above the south side of the Gulf of Coro, consists of limestones and 

 argillaceous schists. The neighbouring Paraguana peninsula, connected by a 

 tongue of shifting sandhills with the mainland, is also traversed by several 

 rocky ridges, all running in the normal north-easterly direction. Here the 

 highest point is the isolated peak of Santa Ana (1,310 feet). 



The Sikrra de Merida, 



That section of the Venezuelan Andes which is known as the Cordillera de 

 Merida is limited north-eastwards by a ridge 1,200 feet high, forming a divide 

 between the Yaracui basin and that of the Cojedes, which flows through the 

 Rio Portuguesa and the Apure to the Orinoco. Sievers even tries to show that 

 this gap completely separates the two orographic systems, the " Andes " on the 

 west, and the " Carib Mountains " on the east, and according to this geologist the 

 Venezuelan coast ranges should be regarded as belonging rather to the West 

 Indian than to the Andes orographic system.* It cannot be denied that great 

 contrasts exist between the Carib Mountains and the Andes properly so-called, 

 and the former would appear to be far the older and more decayed of the two. 

 Nevertheless, from the orographic standpoint they form a direct prolongation 

 of the Colombian Andes, and the two systems present the same parallelism in 

 the disposition of their crests, with intermediate groups and spurs occurring at 

 intervals, and with the same cretaceous strata overlying the crystalline core. 



Of all the Venezuelan chains the Merida range alone has earned the name of 

 Nevada, the " Snowy." Several of its peaks rise to 13,000 feet, while the five 

 loftiest summits penetrate high above the snow-line. The Concha and Coluna 

 peaks, specially designated as " snowy," attain a height of 15,420 feet, and a 

 small glacier even descends from Concha, yielding a constant supply of ice to the 

 inhabitants of Merida. Several parallel ridges, consisting for the most part of 

 crystalline rocks and old schists, are connected together by oblique offshoots, the 



* W. Sievers, Venezuela. Die Cordillère ron Mérida, Geographische Abhandlungen, von Albrecht 

 Penck, III., i., 1888. 



