376 



to the angles of elevation * taken on the shore 7 

 appeared to be only two hundred toises. It is 

 perpendicular on the north, the west, and the 

 east. In these grand profiles the dip of the 

 strata appears to be distinguishable. Judging 

 from the fragments of rock found along the 

 coast, and from the hills near Higuerota, Cape 

 Codera is not composed of granite with a gra- 

 nular texture, but of a real gneiss with a foli- 

 ated texture. It's laminae are very broad, and 

 sometimes sinuous They contain large no- 

 dules of reddish feldspar, and littie quartz. 

 The mica is found in superposed lamellae, not 

 isolated. The strata nearest the bay were in 

 the direction of N. 60° E., and dipped 80° to 

 the N. W. These relations of direction and of 

 dip are the same at the great mountain of the 

 Silla, near Caraccas, and to the east of Mani- 

 quarez in the isthmus of Araya. They seem to 

 prove, that the primitive chain of that isthmus, 

 after having been ruptured or swallowed up by 

 the sea through a space of thirty-five leagues ^, 

 appears anew in Cape Codera, and continues 

 toward the west as a chain of the coast. 



I was assured, that in the interior of the land, 

 south of Higuerota, limestone formations are 



* The apparent angle is 1° 25' 20*. 

 f Dickflasriger gneiss. 



t Between the meridians of Maniquarcz and Higuerota. 



