LA GUAIRA. 



Ill 



some beds of a coal which burns with a very long flame, leaving but a slight 

 quantity of ash. These carboniferous sandstones would appear to belong to the 

 Permian system.* 



La Giiaira — Caracas. 

 West of the Neveri the low and marshy beach develops a semicircle of over 

 120 miles to Cape Codera, the eastern headland of the Caracas range. Farther 

 on lies the deep inlet of CaraveUada, former port of Caracas, abandoned in 1587. 



Fisf. 37. — Caracas ; View taken above the Guatre. 



Since then the foreign trade of the country has been mainly centred in the port 

 of La Guaira, which occupies a narrow shelving rock between the mountains and 

 the deep sea. A few rows of houses, following the windings of the shore-line 

 for some miles, are continued westwards by the palm-groves and villas of Maiquetia, 

 and eastwards by the hotels and baths of Macuto. Planted thus against lofty 

 cliffs, exposed to a blazing sun, La Guaira, although not unhealthy, is one of the 

 hottest places in the New World, a " hell " like Mascat, and some other " warm 

 corners" in the Eastern hemisphere. Although its mean temperature of 82° to 

 * Maurice Chaper, Mission sur la côte nord du Venezuela. 



