THE SIEERA DE SANTA MAETA. 



141 



intervening terraces, precipices, and lateral ridges render all direct approach 

 absolutely impossible. The formations are chiefly granites and metamorphic racks, 

 besides a few more recent lavas. Tradition even speaks of violent eruptions during 

 the last century in the very heart of the mountains, and earthquakes are still of 

 frequent occurrence. 



Even on the north side, where they attain their greatest development, the 

 permanent snows scarcely descend below the line of 13,000 feet. The glaciers 

 are also few and of small size, though Acosta found clear traces of older glaciers 



Fig. 52. — SiEBEA Nevada de Santa Maeta. 

 Scale 1 : 2,0C0,000. 



Depths. 



to 500 

 Fathoms. 



500 Fathoms 

 aud upwaids. 



50 Miles. 



6,500 feet below their present limit. During the last glacial epoch they may even 

 have descended to sea-level. 



The heights of the Goajira peninsula, east and north-east of the Sierra Nevada, 

 also constitute, if not an isolated mass, at least a group of detached hills, hillocks, 

 and ridges, connected neither with the Santa Marta nor with the Andes system. 

 They may be regarded as belonging, with the Paraguana peninsula, to the chain 

 of islands here fringing the seaboard. The southern section of Goajira, con- 

 tracted between an inlet of the Caribbean Sea and the bay of Ensenada de Calaboso, 

 is a level plain diversified by a few isolated hills, such as the Teta Goajira (1,200 

 feet), a perfectly symmetrical trachytic cone visible from both inlets. Farther 



