500 



known in all its extent, by the tribe of the 

 Guayqueries; it is frequented by these Indians 

 on account of its abundant fishery in calm wea- 

 ther. The Gran Placer is believed to be sepa- 

 rated only by some canals or deeper furrows of 

 the bank of Grenada, which have almost the 

 same form as the island of that name, from 

 the sand-bank that extends like a narrow dyke, 

 from Tobago to Grenada, and which is recog- 

 nized by the lowering of the temperature of the 

 water*; finally, from the sand-banks of Los 

 Roques and Aves. I know that able navigators 

 deny these communications, because they con- 

 sider the bottom of the sea in a different point 

 of view from the geologist. Marine maps ap- 

 propriated to the wants of navigation, indicate 

 no banks where there are 50 or 60 toises of 

 water ; but what is so slight a depression in 

 the eyes of one who seeks to study the inequa- 

 lities of the surface of the globe, in mass, below, 

 and above the level of the sea ? The Guay- 

 queries Indians, and the inhabitants in general 

 of the coast of Cumana and Barcelona, are im- 

 bued with the idea that the water of the sand- 

 banks of Marguerita and the Testigos dimi- 

 nishes from year to year; they believe that in 

 the lapse of ages, the Morro de Chacopata on 

 the peninsula of Araya, will be joined by a neck 



* Vol. ii, p. 28. 



