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band, of that very Cordillera with the moun- 

 tains on the coast of the provinces of Cumana 

 and Caraccas, has not been recognized. The 

 chain of the shore of Venezuela, of which the 

 different ranges form the Montana de Paria, 

 the isthmus of Araya, the Silla of Caraccas, 

 and the mountains of gneiss-granite north and 

 south of the lake of Valencia, is joined between 

 Portocabello, San Felipe and Tocuyo (by the 

 Torito, thePicacho de Nirgua, the Palomera, and 

 Altar), to the Paramos de las Rosas and Niqui- 

 tao, which form the north-east extremity of the 

 Sierra de Merida and the eastern Cordillera of 

 the Andes of New Grenada. It is sufficient to 

 have here indicated the connexion, so impor- 

 tant in a geognostic point of view ; for the de- 

 nominations of Andes and Cordilleras being 

 altogether in disuse for the chains of mountains 

 which stretch from the eastern gulph of Mara- 

 caybo to the promontory of Pari a, we shall con- 

 tinue to designate those chains, stretching from 

 west to east, by the names of the chain of the 

 shore, or coast-chain of Venezuela. 



One of those insulated groups of mountains, 

 that is, of those which are not branches of the 

 Cordillera of the Andes and its continuation 

 towards the shore of Venezuela, is on the north, 

 and the other two west of the Andes ; the for- 

 mer is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta ; the 

 two others are the Sierra de la Parime, between 



