699 



commonly substituted for it. The inhabitants 

 of those countries find it difficult to recognize 

 on our maps, in Santiago de Leon and Santo 

 Thome, the two capitals of Venezuela and Guy- 

 ana. 



Angostura, the longitude and latitude of which 

 I have already indicated from astronomical ob- 

 servations, stands at the foot of a hill of amphi- 

 bolic schist * destitute of vegetation. The 

 streets are regular, and for the most part parallel 

 with the course of the river. Several of the 

 houses are built on the bare rock ; and here, as 

 at Carichana, and in many other parts of the 

 missions, the action of black and strong strata, 

 when strongly heated by the rays of the Sun, 

 upon the atmosphere, is considered as injurious 

 to health. I think the small pools of stagnant 

 water (lagunas y anegadizos), which extend 

 behind the town toward the south-east, are 



by the trade carried on by the Catalonians in the Carony bark, 

 which is the beneficial bark of the bonplandia trifoliata. This 

 bark, coming from Nueva Guayana, was called corteza or 

 cascarilla del Angostura, cortex Angostura. Botanists so little 

 guessed the origin of this geographical denomination, that they 

 began by writing Augustura, and then Augusta. Very recent 

 political events have rendered the names of the small towns 

 of Angostura, Calabozo, and even of San Fernando de Apure, 

 familiar to those who feel an interest in the struggle between 

 the colonies and the mother-country. The Randal of Canii*- 

 seta is called Angitstura in the maps of Gumilla and D'Anville. 

 % Hornblendschiefer. 



