142 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



east the chain of hills running from the Cabo de la Vela south-eastwards consists of 

 steep crags, huge blocks strewn about or piled up in disorder, heights destitute of 

 vegetation, a vast chaos of rocks and boulders, affording a safe retreat to the 

 Goajira Indians. The system culminates with Mount Yuripiche (2,-300 feet), stand- 

 ing near its southern extremity in the midst of other scarcely less elevated summits. 

 Parallel with this chain runs a second almost equally desolate ridge, disposed 

 north-west and south-east between Bdhia Honda and the Tucacas lagoon ; here 

 the highest crest is the Cerro Aceite, the Guajarepa of the natives (2,200 feet). 

 This is followed by another parallel ridge, skirting the north-east coast, which 

 takes the name of Macuira from its culminating peak, 2,600 feet high. All 

 these little sierras consist of eruptive rocks disposed in a line wich crevasses 

 transverse to the main axis of the Andean Cordilleras. 



The Eastern Cordillera. 



The Andes properly so calM begin at the neck of the Goajira peninsula with 



the forest-clad Montes de Oca, a range of low elevation, forming the political 



frontier between Venezuela and Colombia. But the heisrhts soon attain an eleva- 



o 



tion of 6,500 feet and upwards in the Sierra de Perijaa, whose loftiest section 

 usually takes the name of Sierra IN^egra (" Black Range "), doubtless from the 

 gloomy forests clothing its limestone slopes, and contrasting above the Upar 

 valley with the pink or whitish granites and snows of the Nevada. 



The Cerro Pintado, loftiest summit of the system, presents the aspect of a 

 citadel raised above the lower terraces. This superb eminence takes its name of 

 the " Painted Mountain " from its white limestone ramparts, diversified with belts 

 of woodlands and grassy gorges, flanked at the base with pink sandstone 

 buttresses, and towering to a height of 9,850, or, according to Simons' estimate, 

 11,800 feet. 



South of the Cerro Pintado the range, which is disposed in the direction of 

 the meridian, falls gradually to a mean altitude of not more than 5,000 feet, with 

 a culminating peak 8,200 feet high, in the Motilones district. The system con- 

 tinues to fall still lower in the region about the headwaters of the Colorado affluent 

 of the Magdalena, and of the Rio del Oro, flowing through the Catatumbo to 

 Lake Maracaibo ; here the range is crossed by passes not more than 3,000 feet 

 high, affording relatively easy communication between the two basins. 



South of these passes the system maintains its southerly trend, though no 

 longer presenting the aspect of a normal cordillera, but developing a number of 

 irregular ridges spread over a very wide space. Here Mount Bobali attains an 

 altitude of 6,740 feet ; but the Simana crests nowhere exceed 5,000 feet, and the 

 cordillera is crossed by a pass as low as 4,270 feet, near the latitude of Ocaûa, 

 on the Maracaibo slope. 



Farther on the lateral ranges increase in height and length, the intervening 

 valleys stand at a greater mean elevation, several peaks exceed 8,000 feet, while 

 the ]\[acho Ptucio and the Cerro Pelado attain the respective heights of 9,850 

 and 11,000 feet. Secondarv chains run from the central nucleus between Ocafia 



