506 



is, however, not a syenite, but rather a granite 

 of new formation. We were three quarters of 

 an hour in reaching the summit of the pyramid. 

 This part of the way is not at all dangerous, 

 provided the traveller carefully examines the 

 stability of each fragment of rock on which he 

 places his foot. The granite superposed on the 

 gneiss does not present a regular separation into 

 beds ; it is divided by clefts, which often cross 

 one another at right angles. Prismatic blocks, 

 one foot wide and twelve long, stand out from 

 the ground obliquely, and appear on the borders 

 of the precipice like enormous beams suspend- 

 ed over the abyss. 



Having arrived at the summit, we enjoyed, 

 but only for a few minutes, all the serenity of 

 the sky. The eye commanded a vast space of 

 country, and looked down toward the north on 

 the sea, and toward the south, on the fertile 

 valley of Caraccas. The barometer was at 

 20 inches 7*6 lines ; the thermometer at 13*7°. 

 We were at thirteen hundred and fifty toises 

 of elevation. We gazed on an extent of sea, 

 the radius of which was thirty-six leagues. 

 Those persons, whose senses are affected by 

 looking down a considerable depth, should re- 

 main at the centre of the small flat, which 

 crowns the eastern summit of the Silla. The 

 mountain is not very remarkable for it's height, 

 which is nearly eighty toises less t han that of the 



