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the table-land of Caraccas towards Catia. A 

 design has long been formed of making a wag- 

 gon road through this ravin, and of abandoning 

 the ancient road to La Guayra, which resem- 

 bles the passage over St. Gothard. According 

 to this plan, the port of Catia, equally large and 

 safe, would replace that of La Guayra. Un- 

 fortunately, however, all that shore, to leeward 

 of Cape Blanco, abounds with mangroves, and 

 is extremely unhealthy. I ascended to the 

 summit of the promontory, that forms Cabo 

 Blanco, in order to observe at the look-out the 

 passage of the Sun over the meridian. I wished 

 to compare in the morning the altitudes taken 

 with an artificial horizon and those taken with 

 the horizon of the sea ; to verify the apparent 

 depression of the latter, by the barometrical 

 measurement of the hill*. By this method, 



* Barometer, at the level of the sea, 337*3° j therm. 28°. 

 Barometer at the look-out, on the summit of Cape Blanco, 

 832*8° (in lines of the ancient pied da Roi) ; Therm. 27*2°. 

 Height, 65 toises. I found at the look-out the angle be- 

 tween the house of the Manilla Company at La Guayra, and 

 the tower of Maiquitia, 11° 31/ 25*; between that house 

 and Point Niguata, 14° 58' 35". The longitudinal axis of 

 the Cape, forming an elongated promontory, is in the direc- 

 tion of N. 81° east j the most salient part, that in the middle, 

 points N. 47° east j at La Guayra, (the elevation of my eye 

 being thirty-three feet) t saw the look-out of the Cape at 

 an angle of 1° 12' of altitude ; which, combined with the 

 barometrical measurement, gives 3316 toises for the distance. 



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