254 



The third chain, the most southerly of the whole 5 

 the Cordillera of Bergantin and of Cocollar, con- 

 tains rocks only of secondary formation ; and, 

 what is remarkable enough, though analogous 

 to the geological constitution of the Alps to the 

 west of St, Gothard, the primitive chain is much 

 less elevated than that which was composed of 

 secondary rocks # . The sea has separated the 

 two northern Cordilleras, those of the island of 

 Margaretta, and the peninsula of Araya ; and 

 the small islands of Coche and of Cubagua, are 

 remnants of the land that was submerged. Far- 

 ther to the south, the vast gulf of Cariaco 

 stretches away, like a longitudinal valley form- 

 ed by the irruption of the ocean, between the 

 two links of Araya and Cocollar, between the 

 mica-slates and the Alpine limestones. We 

 shall soon see, that the direction of the strata, 

 very regular in the first of these rocks, is .not 

 quite parallel to the general direction of the gulf. 

 In the high Alps of Europe, the great longitudi- 



* In New Andalusia, the Cordillera of Cocollar no where 

 contains primitive rocks. If these rocks form the nucleus of 

 this link, and rise above the level of the neighbouring plains, 

 which is scarcely probable, we must suppose, that they are all 

 covered with lime-stone and sand-stone. In the Swiss Alps, 

 on the contrary, the link which is designated under the too 

 vague denomination of lateral and calcareous link, contains 

 primitive rocks, which, according to the valuable observations 

 of Escher and Leopold von Buch, are often visible to the 

 height of eight hundred or a thousand toises. 



