207 



there are scarcely any spots on the declivities of these moun- 

 tains capable of being cultivated. The same is the case with 

 respect to the range of lofty secondary mountains of lime- 

 stone, of mica-slate, and gneis-granite, that extend along the 

 coast of Venezuela, from Cape Paria towards the lake of 

 Maracaybo. This chain of the coast has not a sufficient 

 mass to furnish those extensive table-lands which in Quito 

 and Mexico unite the whole cultivation of Europe. The lands 

 with temperate climates, (consequently above 300 toises,) of 

 the ancient Capitania-general of Caraccas, are 1st. the moun- 

 tainous part of the missions Chaymas * in New Andalusia 

 that is, the Cerro del Impossible (297 toises), the savannahs 

 of Cocollar and Tumiriquiri (400-700), the vallies of Caripe 

 (412 toises), and of la Guardia de San Augustin (533 toises) : 

 2d. the declivities (faldas) of Bergantin +, between Cumana 

 and Barcelona, the height of which is not exactly known, but 

 appears to exceed 800 toises : 3d. the small table-land of 

 Venta-grande, between La Guayra and Caraccas (755 toises) : 

 4th. the valley of Caraccas |, (460 toises) : 5th. the moun- 

 tainous and arid country between Antimano and the Hacienda 

 del Tuy, or the Higuerote and Las Cocuyzas §, are nearly 

 850 toises high j 6th. the granite table lands |j of Yusma, (320 

 toises) Guacimo, Guiripia, Ocumare, and Panaquire, between 

 the Llanos and the southern range of the mountains on the 

 shore of Venezuela ; 7th. the dividing ridge between the tri- 

 butary streams of the Caribbean Sea and the Apure, or the 

 groupe of table-lands and hills 350 to 500 toises high, which 

 connect the chain ^[ of the shore with the Sierra de Merida and 



* Vol. iii. p. 69, 86—119, 162, 163. 



+ Vol. ii. p. 204, 205 5 Vol. iii. p. 94, 95. 



J Vol. iii. p. 394, 447. 



§ Vol. iv. p. 19, 80. 



|| Vol. iv. p. 2 69. 



% Vol. iv. p. 248. 



