ORINOCO DELTA. 97 



bifurcate the river is some 12 miles wide and of great depth ; the engineer 

 Fajardo's soundings revealed 400 feet in the year 1734. 



Between the chief mouth and Vagre Bay at the entrance of the Manamo 

 branch ihe delta develops a coastline of over 186 miles ; the extent is even much 

 greater if the channels of the Amacuro and of the Isla Barima be included on the 

 east side, and the secondary deltas of the small streams rising in the coast hills on 

 the west. The low-lying deltaic plains, where few rising grounds stand higher 

 than the level of the flood waters, are carved into thousands of islands and banks 

 by the endlessly ramifying branches, channels, stagnant and running waters of 

 all sorts. Of the 48 or 50 arms flowing directly seawards, seven only are acces- 

 sible to large vessels, and even these have often changed their beds and names. 

 The most frequented, not for its depth but because it offers the most direct pas- 

 sage from Port of Spain (Trinidad) to Ciudad Bolivar, is the Macareo, which is 

 taken as the dividing-line between the upper or western and the lower or eastern 

 delta. The deepest bar, which faces the main channel, has 14 or 16 feet at ebb 

 and from 24 to 30 at flow. 



On reaching the coast the various branches are intercepted by the much 

 stronger marine current which sets south-east and north-west, in the direction of 

 the Serpent's Mouth, between the delta and Trinidad. Although the opening is 

 not wide or deep enough to admit the whole current, this great ocean stream, 8 or 

 9 miles wide at its narrowest point, has none the less a volume of several million 

 cubic yards per second. After passing the Serpent's Mouth, it is swollen by the 

 contributions of all the branches of the western delta, and then expands into the 

 broad basin of the Gulf of Paria, the Golfo Triste of Columbvis, which has also been 

 called the " Freshwater Sea," from the Orinoco currents spreading in a thin layer 

 on the surface of the heavier marine waters. It might also be called a "Yellow 

 Sea," so deeply coloured is the whole basin by the sedimentary matter washed 

 down by the Orinoco, and by the coast streams which also discharge their turbid 

 waters into the Gulf of Paria.* 



Although of short length, these tidal coast streams are accessible, like the Orinoco 

 itself, to large vessels, and the Colorado, which receives the Guarapiche afiluent, 

 is much frequented by shipping. West of the Cumana mountains, a breach in the 

 Andean system affords a seaward passage to the Unare, a considerable stream, 

 unfortunately obstructed at its mouth by quicksands, and consequently accessible 

 only to light craft. Farther on the running waters are mcstly little more than 

 rivulets, the only exceptions being the Aroa and the Tocuyo rising north of the 

 Sierra de Merida, and several streams descending to Lake Maracaibo from the 

 snowy Andean heights. The alluvia brought down by these rivers have partly 



* Statistics of the Orinoco : — 



Approximate length, according to Michelena 

 Superficial area of the catchment basin 

 Length of the navigable waters .... 



Approximate discharge at low water, according to Orton 

 Mean discharge ,, ,, 



Discharge during the floods ., ,, 



Mean rainfall in the basin, according to Codazzi 



1,600 miles. 



365,000 square miles. 



4,500 miles. 



240,000 cubic feet per second. 



470,000 cubic feet per second. 



880,000 cubic feet per second. 



• . 74 inches. 



