602 



nate by layers, or pass often from one to the 

 other*. These alternations, and these passages, 

 appeared to me less common in the Cordillera 

 of the shore of Venezuela than in the Sierra 

 Parime. We recognise successively, in the 

 former of these two systems of mountains, above 

 all, in the chain nearest the coast, as predo- 

 minating rocks from west to east, granite (long. 

 70°— 71°) gneiss, (long. 68j°— 70°), and mica- 

 slate (long. 651° 66|°) ; but considering in mass 

 the geognostic constitution of the shore, and 

 the Sierra Parime, we prefer to treat of granite, 

 gneiss, and micaslate, if not as one formation, 

 at least, as three co-ordinate formations strictly 

 linked together The clayey primitive slate 

 (urthonchiefer), is subordinate to micaslate, of 

 which it is only a modification. It no more 

 forms an independant soil in the New Conti- 

 nent, than in the Pyrenees and the Alps. 



a. Granite which does not pass to gneiss is 

 the most common in the western part of the 

 chain of the shore, between Turmero, Valencia, 

 and Porto Cabello, as well as in the circle of 

 the Sierra Parime, near the Encaramada, and 

 at the Peak of Duida. At Rincon del Diablo 

 (Vol. iv. p. 167) between Mariara and Hacienda 



* See my Essay on the position of rocks in the two hemi- 

 spheres, p. 67, 69, 71, 74, 76. 



f See above, Vol. iv, p. 277 j Vol. v, p. 857, 858. 



