85 



rocks, at an enormous distance from the soil, 

 that we should place the focus of volcanic ac- 

 tion. The greater progress we make in geology, 

 the more we feel the insufficiency of theories, 

 founded on observations merely local. 



Meridian heights of the Southern Fish, ob- 

 served in the night of the 7th of September, 

 gave 10° 16' 11" for the latitude of Cumana- 

 coa; the error in the most esteemed maps is 

 consequently a quarter of a degree. The dip 

 of the magnetic needle was 42*6° ; and the in- 

 tensity of the magnetic force corresponded to 

 228 oscillations in 10 minutes time ; being 

 consequently 9 oscillations, or 125 less than at 

 Ferrol. 



On the 12th we continued our journey to the 

 convent of Caripe, the principal place of the 

 Chayma Missions. We chose, instead of the 

 direct road, that by the mountains of Cocollar* 

 and Turimiquiri, the height of which little ex- 

 ceeds that of Jura. The road first runs toward 

 the East, crossing during three leagues the ta- 

 ble-land of Cumanacoa, in a soil formerly le_ 

 veiled by the waters, and then turns toward the 

 South. We passed the little Indian village of 



* Is this name of Indian origin ? At Cumana they de- 

 rive it in a manner somewhat farfetched from the Spanish 

 word cogollo, signifying the heart of oleraceous plants ; the 

 Cocollar forming the centre of the whole group of the moun- 

 tains of New Andalusia. 



