240 



SEPULCHRAL CAVE. 



pelago of islands covered with palms. Towards the 

 west, on the left bank of the Orinoco, extended the 

 savannas of the Meta and Casanare, like a sea of 

 verdure, the misty horizon of which was illuminated 

 by the rays of the setting sun. The mighty orb, 

 like a globe of fire suspended over the plain, and the 

 solitary peak of Uniana, which appeared more lofty 

 from being wrapped in vapours that softened its out- 

 lines, contributed to impress a character of sublim- 

 ity upon the scene. We looked down into a deep 

 valley enclosed on every side. Birds of prey and 

 goatsuckers winged their solitary way in this inac- 

 cessible circus. We found pleasure in following 

 their fleeting shadows as they glided slowly over the 

 flanks of the rock. 



" A narrow ridge led us towards a neighbouring 

 mountain, the rounded summit of which supported 

 enormous blocks of granite. These masses are 

 more than 40 or 50 feet in diameter, and present a 

 form so perfectly spherical, that, as they seem to 

 touch the ground only by a small number of points, 

 it might be supposed that the slightest shock of an 

 earthquake would roll them into the abyss. I do 

 not remember to have seen anywhere else a similar 

 phenomenon amid the decompositions of granitic 

 deposites. If the balls rested upon a rock of a dif- 

 ferent nature, as is the case with the blocks of Jura, 

 it might be supposed that they had been rounded by 

 the action of water, or projected by the force of an 

 elastic fluid ; but their position on the summit of a 

 hill of the same nature renders it more probable 

 that they owe their origin to a gradual decomposi- 

 tion of the rock. 



" The most remote part of the valley is covered 

 by a dense forest. In this shady and solitary place, 

 on the declivity of a steep mountain, opens the cave 

 of Ataruipe. It is less a cave than a projecting 

 rock, in which the waters have scooped a great hol- 

 low, when, in the ancient revolutions of our planet, 



