586 



whole system of very new beds appears to me to 

 constitute but one formation, which is found at 

 Cerro de la Papa, near Carthagena, and in the 

 islands of Guadaloupe and Martinico. 



Such is the geological distribution of the soils 

 in the mountainous part of Venezuela, in the 

 groupe of Parime, and in the Cordillera of the 

 shore. It remains to characterize the forma- 

 tions of the Llanos (or of the basin of the Lower 

 Oroonoko and the Apure) ; but it is not easy to 

 determine the order of their superposition, be- 

 cause in this region ravines or beds of torrents 

 and deep wells dug by the hands of man are 

 entirely wanting. The formations of the Llanos 

 are, 1st. a sandstone or conglomerate, with 

 rounded fragments of quartz, lydian, and kei- 

 selschiefer * joined by a ferruginous clayey ce- 

 ment, extremely tenacious, olive brown, some- 

 times of a vivid red : 2d. a compact limestone, 

 (between Timao and Calabozo) which, by its 

 smooth fracture, and lithographic aspect, ap- 

 proaches the Jura limestone : 3d. alternate 

 beds of marl and lamellar gypsum (Mesa de 

 San Diego, Ortiz, Cachipo). These three for- 

 mations appeared to me to succeed each other 

 in the order I have just described, the sand- 



* See Humboldt, Essai geognostique, p. 219, and above^ 

 Vol. iv, p. 384—387. 



t Vol. iv, p. 384 ; Vol. vi, p. 49, 



