491 



of Caraccas, that mountain did not sink 50 or 

 60 toises, as several North American journals 

 asserted. Four or five leagues south of the 

 northern chain, which is that of Mariara,ia Silla, 

 and Cape Cod era, the mountains of Guiripa, 

 Ocumare, and Panaquire, form the southern 

 chain * of the coast, which stretches in a parallel 

 direction from Guigue to the mouth of the Rio 

 Tuy, by the Guesta of Yusma, and the Guacimo. 

 The latitudes of the Villa de Cura and San Juan, 

 so erroneously placed on our maps, enabled me 

 to ascertain the mean breadth of the whole Cor- 

 dillera of Venezuela. Ten or twelve leagues *f* 

 may be counted from the descent of the 

 northern chain which bounds the Caribbean 

 Sea, to the descent of the southern chain 

 which bounds the immense basin of the Llanos. 

 This latter chain, designated also by the name 

 of the Inland Mountains, is much lower than 

 the northern chain ; and I scarcely believe that 

 the Sierra de Guayraima attains the height of 

 1200 toises, although this has been recently 

 affirmed. 



The two partial chains, that of the interior, 

 and that which lies along the coast, are linked 



* Vol. iv, p. 107, 269, 273. 

 t The breadth is very considerable towards the east, re- 

 garding the Cerro de Flores (lat. 9° 28/) south-west of Para- 

 para and Ortis, as placed on the limit of the Llanos de 

 Calabozo. 



