499 



gotten, that one great irruption of the Ocean 

 appears to have taken place between Trinidad 

 and Grenada*, and that no where else in the 

 long series of the Little Antilles, two neigh- 

 bouring islands are so far removed from each 

 other. We recognize the effect of the current 

 of rotation in the direction of the coast of Trini-* 

 dad, as in the coasts of the provinces of Cumana 

 and Caraccas, between Cape Paria and Punta 

 Araya, and between Cape Codera and Porto 

 Cabello «f*. If a part of the continent has been 

 overwhelmed by the Ocean on the north of the 

 peninsula of Araya, it is probable, that the 

 enormous sand-bank which surrounds Cubagua, 

 Coche, the island of Marguerita, Los Frailes, 

 la Sola, and the Testigos, marks the extent and 

 outline of the submerged land. This sand-bank 

 or placer of 200 square leagues, is only well 



* It is affirmed that the island of Trinidad is traversed in 

 the northern part by a chain of primitive slate, and that 

 Grenada furnishes basalts. It would be important to ex- 

 amine of what rock the island of Tobago is composed ; it 

 appeared to me of a dazzling whiteness (Vol. ii, p. 27 j 

 Vol. iv, p. 45)5 and on what point, in going from Trinidad 

 towards the north, the trachytic and trapean system of the 

 Little Antilles begins. 



f The same effects of the current of rotation, and the 

 same regular direction E, and W., may be remarked oppo* 

 site the coast of the main-land, on the shore of Portorico, of 

 Haiti or Saint-Domingo and the island of Cuba, between the 

 Punta Maysi and Cabo Crux. 



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