446 Bendrat — Notes on Region, about Caicara, Venezuela. 



which suggests a possihle intrusion of the gneissic series by 

 granites from the same magma. 



The Cerro de los Spiritos is situated about five kilometers 

 east of Pan de Azugar and nearly eight kilometers S.S.E. of 

 the village of Caicara. About 200 feet high it trends in a 

 general N.W.-S.E. direction for over five kilometers. With 

 the possible exception of Pan de Azugar, as indicated above, 

 it is the only cerro southeast of the Orinoco within the region 

 which is entirely composed of granite. It is of a coarse- 

 grained, feldspathic, rather hornblendic type and exhibits joint 

 planes which run N.-S., E.-W. and N.W.-S.E. The backbone 

 of the hill is a quartz vein from 53 to 54 feet wide. In 

 samples from this vein traces of gold were found by assays by 

 a firm in New York City. Other quartz veins also occur, 

 while near the top a dike of pink felsite, about two feet thick, 

 stands out above the surrounding granite with E.-W. trend. 



While the flanks of the cerro exhibit gentle slopes, with only 

 occasional steep cliffs, and are dissected by ravines, for the 

 most part parallel to the main quartz veins, the top is flat and 

 comparatively smooth. 



About 26 kilometers S.S.E. of Caicara the Cerro de Morano 

 rises above the plain of the sabana to a height of 375 and 396 

 meters above sea-level. Its topographic outlines seem to be 

 determined by two quartz veins, a minor one, running almost 

 due E.-W., and a prominent one which constitutes the back- 

 bone of the cerro and has apparently determined the N.-S. 

 direction of its longer axis. In approaching the cerro from 

 the north one encounters knobs and cliffs emerging from the 

 sabana which consist of coarse-grained feldspathic granite at 

 places overlaid by limited beds of ferruginous coarse-grained 

 sandstone. The bulk of the cerro is, however, made up of fine 

 to coarse-grained hornblende-gneiss. It contains other quartz 

 veins as well as dikes of amphibolitic gneiss, traversing the 

 cerro in various directions. 



The Sabana Deposits. 



Dealing with the deposits of the sabana above which rise 

 the isolated cerros just described, one must distinguish between 

 the so-called " Laterite" and what Dr. S. Passarge terms 

 " Upper Llanos" beds. 



Laterite. — This very peculiar deposit is apparently com- 

 posed of a series of more or less fine and soft clays of a light 

 gray color, which have been found by Dr. S. Passarge along 

 the banks of the Cuchivero, as well as the Caura, and, by the 

 writer, overlying the gneisses on the banks of the Orinoco. 

 As long as this clay is under water or still charged with moist- 



