509 



which are seen constantly on the north * in na- 

 vigating from Santa Barbara to the Esmeralda), 

 forms the south-west limit of the system of 

 mountains of Parime, between the 70£° and 68° 

 of longitude. The modern geognosts have ob- 

 served that the culminant points of a groupe 

 are placed less frequently at its centre than to- 

 wards one of its extremities, preceding, and 

 announcing in some sort, a great depression -f- 

 of the chain. This phenomenon is again ob- 

 served in the groupe of the Parime, the loftiest 

 summits of which, the Duida and the Mara- 

 guaca, are in the range of the most southerly 

 mountains, where the plains of Cassiquiare and 

 Rio Negro begin. 



These plains or savannahs, which are not co- 

 vered with forests in the vicinity of the rivers, 

 do not, however, display the same uniform con- 

 tinuity as the Llanos of the Lower Oroonoko, of 

 the Meta, and of Buenos Ayres. They are inter- 

 rupted bygroupes of hills (Cerros deDaribapa ;£,) 

 and by insulated rocks of grotesque forms § 



* Vol. v, p. 613. 

 + Montblanc, Chimborazo. 

 % Lat. 3°, long. 69° 12 ; between the Itiniveni or Conan- 

 chite and the sources of the Tama, a tributary stream of the 

 Alacavi and the Atabapo. 



§ Piedra de Kemarumo (lat. 3° 20'), Piedra de la Guahiba, 

 Piedra de Astor, on the banks of the Atabapo j rocky wall 

 of Guanari with two towers near the Rapids of Cunanivacari, 



