94 JAGUARS—SEARCH FOR A GOLD MINE. 
and thorny plants; but the inhabitants becoming 
interested in the researches of the travellers, and 
being desirous to know what the German miner 
thought of the gold ore which they imagined to 
exist in it, cleared a path through the woods. On 
entering the ravine they found traces of jaguars ; 
and the Indians returned for some small dogs, 
upon which they knew these animals would spring 
in preference to attacking aman. The rocks that 
bound it are perpendicular, and what geologists 
term Alpine limestone. The excursion was rendered 
hazardous by the nature of the ground ; but they at 
length reached the pretended gold mine, which was 
merely an excavation in a bed of black marl contain- 
ing iron pyrites, a substance which the guides in- 
sisted was no other than the precious metal. 
They continued to penetrate into the crevice, and 
after undergoing great fatigue, reached a wall of 
rock, which, rising perpendicularly to the height of 
5116 feet, presented two inaccessible caverns inha- 
bited by nocturnal birds. Halting at the foot of one 
of the caves from which flames had been seen to 
issue, they listened to the remarks of the natives 
respecting the probability of an increase in the fre- 
quency of the agitations to which New Andalusia had 
so often been subjected. The cause of the luminous 
exhalations, however, they were unable to ascertain. 
On the 12th they continued their journey to the 
convent of Caripe, the principal station of the Chay- 
ma missions, choosing, instead of the direct road, 
the line of the mountains Cocollar and Turimiquiri. 
At the Hato de Cocollar, a solitary farm situated on 
a small elevated plain, they rested for some time, 
and had the good fortune to enjoy at once a delight- 
ful climate and the hospitality of the proprietor. 
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